iWorld
Lockdown binge-watching a boon for OTT
MUMBAI: This unprecedented crisis called COVID-19 has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for OTT platforms. With people locked indoors, the only refuge has been their smartphones, giving way to, possibly, the next wave of growth for OTT companies. New-age entertainers, such as ZEE5, MX Player, Voot, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, seem to be the obvious beneficiaries as people stay cocooned in the comforts of their homes for weeks.
Will ad and subscription revenue go up along with the viewership?
According to the BARC-Nielsen report, the time spent on smartphones, the main device to consume online content in India, has increased by almost three hours per week in week 2 of COVID-19 disruption. Time spent on video streaming apps also grew by 11 per cent which was driven by original series and movies. Hence data has proved what experts predicted at the beginning of the crisis.
“There will be an impact on all industries. OTT is one of the few sectors which will have a silver lining. Bandwidth for data consumption for telcos will also shoot up. A lot of reality shows and soap-operas which are on a running model have suddenly dried up for short to mid-term and TV channels have to show alternate content. However, when you are confined at home, content consumption both on TV and OTT will go up dramatically. While the supply chain has certainly been affected, content creators and media players will have to be smart enough to see how they build their business continuity plan of content and how they maximise the increased TV or OTT viewership,” says PwC India media, entertainment and sports advisory, partner and leader Raman Kalra.
SBICap Securities institutional equity research head Rajiv Sharma reaffirms that this is a great thing for the sector. He believes the industry will see a quantum jump in OTT viewership and consumption. Sharma adds that while TV channels are running out of content, OTT platforms have a lot of content which has not yet been consumed by all viewers. According to him, some platforms like Netflix can always have more English content. He, however, reminds that if the lockdown gets prolonged to three to six months, then OTT platforms too will struggle to churn out fresh content.
Sharma adds that movies can play a role here. Those that were slated for a theatrical release, but had to be called off due to the current situation, can be released digitally through OTT platforms. Irrfan Khan-starrer Angrezi Medium had a short run in theatres before it decided to make its digital debut on Disney+ Hotstar.
Kalra believes that the situation could even boost subscription for OTT platforms. As more people consume content, some of them will get converted into paid subscribers, bringing in revenue to the digital medium. Sharma also believes that these new subscribers will rake in the moolah for OTT platforms once the situation stabilises.
The next 90 days will witness growth for the space, according to Sharma. Ad spends will shift to digital, but at a lower rate than the normal. According to him, overall ad sales combining TV and digital may decline by 15-20 per cent if COVID-19 disrupts the business for more than 30 days.
“With this surge in traffic, telecom operators are struggling to provide adequate bandwidth. When bandwidth consumption reaches the threshold, the user experience gets affected. At this point, companies wouldn’t want to show ads because that will put an extra burden. Currently, ad-dollar is down and no brands want to push them. The only ones that can break through are those that can create relevant content around COVID-19,” says DigitalKites senior vice president Amit Lall says.
The promise of innovative offerings
Eyeing opportunities, some platforms have opened up their premium content for free viewing during this period. Some others are trying to push their content to television or partnering with payment gateways. These are inorganic growth mechanisms that are being targetted.
Amazon Prime Video has brought out a special catalogue of children and family content, available for free; and ZEE5 has also made an array of premium content available on the AVOD side. Eros Now is offering a free two-month subscription. Three of Alt Balaji's shows are being run on Zee TV.
While media planners laud the social cause behind these moves, they also mention that this is a big opportunity for the SVoD players to get consumers to sample premium content. Media professional Lalit Agrawal says that this sampling will help consumers make an informed choice about the quality of content when they would want to subscribe in the future after the turmoil is over.
Lall says, “For two to three months, consumers will get to taste the content and since everybody has a sizable inventory in terms of content, once viewers are habituated, they can stick. These people who are now getting into the wheel will move up to pay.”
Indeed, this phase, caused by a sudden change in lifestyle, is scripting a new chapter for online content with more consumers adapting to streaming services and existing ones increasing the uptake and sampling more platforms. Both AVOD and SVOD platforms will try to convince new floating users with not only great content but also volume.
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
