Indrani Sen: The Gamechanger: Storytelling through online video

By Indrani Sen

Recently read an interesting article in The Guardian arguing how today’s brands can learn story telling lessons from Shakespearean theatre (http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/marketing-agencies-association-partner-zone/2016/may/03/shakespeare-lessons-interactive-immersion-marketing?CMP=ema-1698&CMP=) which made me again conscious about the disappearing line between the creative agencies and the media agencies in the rapidly changing media scenario where innovation through online content is emerging as a major player.

Online video is being increasingly used for creating branded content which is storytelling beyond advertising. These videos are not constrained by duration like TV commercials; they are free to air and easy to share. They can be interesting and interactive with potential to go viral. It is free for all playing fields today with digital marketing agencies, creative agencies and media agencies competing with each other.

Last year, an article by Satrajit Sen in afaqs quoted from a report by the IAMAI and IMRB (http://www.afaqs.com/news/story/42895_Online-Advertising-The-Rise-of-Video) saying spends on video ads will grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56 per cent and contribute 12 per cent to overall digital advertising spends in 2015 up from seven per cent in 2014. According to ComScore report, one in five internet users watch videos online daily and on an average, a user watches seven hours of online video a month of the 55 million unique video viewers in India. Today, the number of unique video viewers is growing exponentially, thanks to improving Bandwidth, mobile internet speed and cheaper 3G plans.

ComScore has been continuously reporting on the growth of Indian’s online video consumption. Back in 2013, an article by Saloni Surti in exchange4media.com quoted from a report by ComScore, stating India’s online video consumption per month had doubled in the last two years.  The article talked about the limitations of the ecosystem of online video advertising in India (http://www.exchange4media.com/digital/online-video-ads-gaining-popularity-amongst-advertisers_51425.html). However, over the last three years, the proliferation of branded online video content beyond advertising has changed the game plans of Indian advertisers. Initially, we saw only youth-centric brands using this medium, but now advertisers regardless of their primary TG have pitched in.

A recent report on Digital Media by Deloitte explores the global and Indian situations in relation to consumption of on demand digital video content. The report concludes with (https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/in-tmt-rise-of-on-demand-content.pdf) “More and more media consumption is happening on digital media, and people are more time on digital media as compared to traditional media. This increase can be credited to the improvement in mobile devices technology and internet connectivity, which has provided the viewers with the option of accessing digital media content on the go…….Like digital music players, digital video players are also adopting both subscription and ad monetization models and offering personalised offerings to maximize adoption. Going forward, digital audio and video on-demand services will see a lot of activity. As this space heats up, getting business model right will be critical for success.”

The FICCI-KPMG – M&E Report 2016 “The future now streaming” quotes “An increase in transactions in the digital content creation segment has been witnessed in 2015 and this trend is likely to continue in 2016”. So, we can expect that the use of on demand digital video content over the Internet will continue to change and evolve.

What are the trends which are taking place in the western countries which we can expect to see in India in near future? In my view, we can expect the following trends:

i/ Video services providers will market and promote the quality of their content independently and through digital/ media and creative agencies.

ii/ There will be demand for affordable digital storage in the high growth areas

iii/ Videos have traditionally required cinema type workflows with pre- and post-production activities. Automation of video creation / specialised tools will eliminate the need for extensive production hours and will offer cost-effective solutions.

iv/ There will be rapid growth of various business applications for videos as the delivery vehicle across first and second screens.

v/ Finally, webcasting will become an everyday part of the Unified Communications Continuum (UCC) and is likely to play a role in the education segment.

To sum up, storytelling through online videos is going to be a gamechanger in our industry in the near future. It will continue to be an open playing field for all interested parties and a major contender for awards for innovations.

Indrani Sen is a media services veteran, having worked with JWT, later Mindshare and then with Emami. In recent years, she is an independent consultant and academic. She is Adjunct Professor in charge of the Media Management programme at the Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune. The views expressed here are her own.