MxMIndia

Tag: Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication

  • Indian advertisers will follow global trends and podcast will emerge as an additional advertising option in the next

    Podcast: The Crawling Baby is Walking Now!

     

     

    By Indrani Sen

     

    Our students at Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication have been surprising us with their online co-curricular activities ever since we opened our campus virtually. Recently, we noticed a keen interest among them to use and explore podcasts.

     

    The Public Relations students of PR Club have started an initiative of regular podcast using Spotify Live on “PR in Post Covid World” from July 2020 and are inviting various senior people from PR industry for featuring in the podcasts. Media Management students of MM Club organised a panel discussion on “Growing podcast culture in the audio streaming industry” and invited three bright young professionals, Ishani Dasgupta of Jio Saavan, Kavita Rajwade of IVM Podcast and Daniel Fenandes, a stand-up comedian and SIMC alumnus to share their perspectives with the students.

     

    Encouraged by the students’ interest, I was trying to update myself on podcast in India during last week when www.emarketers.com came up with an interesting article on podcast adspending in the US on August 4, 2020. “Podcast listenership in the US has been soaring in recent years and advertising dollars are following…… By the end of 2020, podcast ad spending in the US will reach $782.0 million, up 10.4% from last year, giving it a 21.0% share of the US digital radio ad market. And in 2021, spending will jump nearly 45% to $1.13 billion.” (https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-podcast-ad-spending-surpass-1-billion-next-year?ecid=NL1009).

     

    The term “podcast” was first used in February 2004 by combining “iPod” and “broadcast” by Ben Hammersley, a Guardian columnist and BBC journalist. The term was coined before Apple introduced its formal support for podcasting to the iPod, or launched its iTunes software. Apple rolled out iOS 8, a standalone ‘Podcast’ app in 2014, which accelerated the process of growth in podcasting.

     

    Today, many podcasts can be downloaded free; some are underwritten or sponsored by organisations with the inclusion of advertisements. Advertising, subscription, licensing content and content generation as a service are the revenue generation models in podcasting.  Lately, many people have made business ventures in the area of podcasting supported by combination of a paid subscription model and advertising.

     

    Podcasting in India began around 2005 with Indicast launched by Abhishek Kumar and Aditya Mhatre and caught up very fast with younger people as a verbal storytelling platform. Within a year, the number of podcasters rose to nearly 3000 in India and since then has been growing at a steady pace. Though China and the USA are globally most advanced podcast markets, it is estimated that India is on its way to become one of the top five podcast markets. Google indicates similar trends by observing that India is one of the top five countries using its podcast app.

     

    In India, there is a definite demand for local, Indianised content and podcasters are looking at audio-streaming as the new battleground. Industry experts agree that Indian podcasting may see exponential growth in both audiences and content during the next few years, making it an independent, economically viable standalone media.

     

    “As of December 2019, 40 million Indian internet users have listened to podcasts in India….this market is just one small fraction of the bigger OTT video and music streaming industry.” claimed an article mapping the Indian podcast market released on April 14, 2020 (https://inc42.com/features/mapping-the-market-indias-podcast-landscape/). Another article published in The Hindu Businessline on May 22, 2020 wrote about five home grown apps for podcasting in India.  (https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/five-homegrown-podcast-apps-for-indian-listeners/article31650585.ece).

     

    The article in The Hindu Businessline observed: “…compared to western markets, India has all the right growth variables. The emergence of digital marketing to grab more users and revenue, entry of celebrities in podcast creation (Neha Dhupia, Kunal Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin and others); entry of foreign players (Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts, Audioboom and others); adoption of podcasts as a content stream by media companies (Hindustan Times, BBC, NPR etc.) as well as local music streaming platforms such as JioSaavn, Gaana have all played a crucial role in the growth of podcasts in the Indian market.”

     

    As of today, it is estimated that we have 40+ players, including local and international apps as well as aggregators in our podcast market. In the post Covid era of online teaching, podcast is being considered as an alternative platform for teaching. We can safely assume that Indian advertisers will follow the trends in US and other markets and podcast will emerge as an additional advertising option in the next decade.

     

     

  • The theme, "Transforming the world through Collaboration" stresses on the evolution of the research industry as a result of widening horizons

    SIMC’s ‘Research Clairvoyance’ explores the world of Collaboration

    By A Correspondent

     

    Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication, Pune hosted the Research Clairvoyance on January 24, 2016 as a part of the “Inspire Series” which is a series of events and lectures to commemorate 25 years of the Institute. The theme, “Transforming the world through Collaboration” stresses on the evolution of the research industry as a result of widening horizons, new technological innovations and focus on effective and time-saving methods of research through collaboration.

     

    Preeti Reddy

    The speakers comprised of eminent market research professionals, namely, Preeti Reddy (President & CEO at IMRB International), Shobha Prasad (Director at Drishti Strategic Research Services Pvt. Ltd) and Raj Sharma (Co-Founder and President, Majestic MRSS). These renowned gurus spoke about the need to walk the fine line with neurological measurements, which has revolutionized the way research is conducted and disseminated in the digital age, along with talent acquisition.

     

    The keynote speaker, Preeti Reddy kick started the event by addressing the dramatic change that the market research industry has witnessed. With the creation of new cohorts, new touch points have also emerged. She expounded that this can be attributed to the growing pervasiveness of digital technologies, which allows us to connect and synthesise data through collaboration, leading to a shift in the way research is being undertaken. She continued to explain that technology allows us to ameliorate from a sample to census, leveraging behavioral data more than ever, which leads to collaboration of disparate sources of data. Thereby, the role of research will be to bring the “Whys to the Whats” to analyse consumer behaviour patterns. Addressing the industry changes, she has identified trends such as social listening analytics, processing behavior data in motion, movement away from direct questioning to implicit understanding and data scientists becoming the new insights experts. As a result, it is inevitable for research agencies to be multi disciplinary.

     

    Continuing the discussion on changing trends, Shobha Prasad spoke about the blurring boundaries within qualitative research, stressing on the fact that co-creation can lead to richer insights and a more meaningful dialogue between the marketers and consumers. She further explained, “It allows us to reach them better and get real time insights to gauge their thoughts and emotions.” She opined that brands today are seeking methods to discern customers better and have an in-depth  understanding and experience with them. She espoused, “Marketing has become one on one, so you need to have a deeper human understanding of that one person.” In conclusion, she believes that brands have realised the importance of being flexible and try and engage individual consumers through storytelling.

     

    Raj Sharma

    Talking about ‘Revolutionizing the way research is conducted and disseminated in the digital age,’ Raj Sharma stated, “We’ve moved to implicit research.” He explained that the research methodology being employed has changed exponentially and there exists a possibility of all stakeholders becoming active participants. Further, he elucidated that platforms like mobile applications are being exploited to undertake usability research. Eye trackers, access panels and perception analysers are being put incorporated in research, along with methods like neuromarketing, sensory panels and facial decoding to gauge the most accurate feedback from the consumers.

     

    Shobha Prasad emphasized on the ease of training business graduates to understand consumer psychology rather than going about it the other way round. On being asked about the attributes of aspiring researchers, Preeti Reddy suggested that aspirants must be more curious about consumers and their motivations. They should be open to solving problems and seeking solutions.

     

    The Research Clairvoyance was insightful and gave the students a new perspective into the world of research and the changing dynamics within it. “We have experienced an introductory level of research till now, but the experts have shed light on real time industry exposure. It also gave us an overview of the various innovative tools available for carrying out processes,” said Nupur Kedia, a first year Media Management Student at SIMC.

     

  • The keynote speaker, Amit Ray, Founder Partner, Media First set the tone for the discussions of the day by delving into the current trends in the industry

    Experts discuss the Future Media Landscape at Media Management Conclave by SIMC, Pune

    By A Correspondent

     

    Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication (PG), Pune hosted its annual Media Management Conclave on September 6, 2015. A part of the ‘Inspire Series,’ which is a series of lectures and events that celebrate the completion of 25 glorious years of academic excellence at SIMC, this event brought together some of the finest minds of the industry to discuss the theme ‘Navigating the Future Media Landscape.’

     

    The speakers comprised eminent industry experts like Tanmay Mohanty, MD, Performics, Resultrix, Anil Fernandes, Associate Publisher, India Today, Atrayee Chakraborty, Managing CP Media Business, RedFuse Communications, MEC, Paritosh Joshi, Board of Governors, Media Research Users Council (MRUC), Ankit Desai, Head of Media & Digital Marketing, Marico India, Romil Ramgarhia, Chief Business Officer, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), Mallikarjun Das, CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group, and Vanita Keswani, COO, Madison Media Sigma.

     

    The keynote speaker, Amit Ray, Founder Partner, Media First set the tone for the discussions of the day by delving into the current trends in the industry. The pervasive nature of digital and the growing power of the mobile phone emerged as some of the key insights from his talk. “There is a lot of work happening on mobile, which will make it the next big thing for advertising.” Elaborating on the importance of brands he said, “Today, brands are deciding the enterprise’s wealth. You (students) are here to support the creation of brands, because it is brands who create value”

     

    This interaction with the students was followed by the first panel discussion which included personalities such as Tanmay Mohanty, Anil Fernandes, and Atrayee Chakraborty. This panel deliberated on the topic ‘Drivers of Growth for Media Businesses.’ Building upon the trend highlighted by Amit Ray in his speech, Anil Fernandes said, “Digital is going to be the key driver of change as it reshapes the consumer’s purchase journey, and it will be aided by content and context.” Taking this discussion further, Atrayee Chakraborty said, “Create, optimize, promote, measure and analyze the content”. Based on her observation of the current consumer, Atrayee put forth a very interesting take on digital, “I do not consider digital to be a media. It is a behaviour.”

     

    Tanmay Mohanty spoke about the changing platforms for reaching consumers. Emphasising it further, he said, “Tech companies are investing big time in understanding the consumer journey and behaviour.” Shedding light on the synergy between media and content, Anil Fernandes said, “Content is king. If media owners understand the relationship of their content with the media, they will definitely inch closer to change and growth.”

     

    This first panel was followed by a showcase wherein the second year MBA students from the Media Management cohort devised a ‘Tool Innovation’ for media agencies that could help them serve clients better. This showcase witnessed five teams presenting their creations before a panel of judges, comprising Romil Ramgarhia, Paritosh Joshi and Ankit Desai. These innovative ideas ranged from an influencer measurement tool, to testing the ability of content to go viral, as well as measurement of multiple screen usage. The winning team brought before the judges a tool that could comprehensively measure OOH advertising using GPS-enabled technology, while a team that created an application to digitally track radio listenership came a close second.

     

    Steering the discussion to one of the most important phenomena in the industry today, the second panel brought together experts such as Paritosh Joshi, Ankit Desai, Romil Ramgarhia and Mallikarjun Das to discuss the topic, ‘The New face of Media Research & Analytics.’ Paritosh Joshi opened the floor for the second panel discussion by emphasizing the importance of understanding one’s audience. “It is not enough to know who my audience is, but also why my audience is what it is.”

     

    The panel deliberated extensively on the adequate and efficient usage of data by media.  “There’s a conflict between the mental model and the mathematical model. This is the conflict that all media planners face. Out of the 35-40,000 crore industry that we have, 55% is driven by gut feel.The same people who are willing to use gut feel for television, suddenly want nuclear-physics-level mathematics for digital,” said Mallikarjun Das The panelists unanimously voted for a platform-agnostic audience measurement tool to overcome the ‘tyranny of relative error’ as stated by Mallikarjun Das.

     

    After the engaging conversation moderated by Mr Joshi, the conclave continued into the final panel discussion, that explored the topic ‘Talent Management: Changing Roles and Skillsets.’ The panelists included Mallikarjun Das and Vanita Keswani. On being asked for her views on the requirement of talent in the industry today, Vanita expressed, “We recommend the freshers to have an understanding of the basics of digital. Training of a structured kind is important, but on-the-job training is what you need in media. Today, a lot of what you’re learning here at SIMC and your internships is great.” In addition to this, Mallikarjun Das pointed out that future media professionals must ideally be planners, with a deep understanding of the industry, in order to bridge the gaps. He stressed on the fact that if students are trained in the worldview of media, they will be ready to work from day one.

     

    The event lent the students a fresh perspective of the media management industry. The aspiring media managers had an opportunity to understand the multiple facets of this dynamic industry that would be instrumental in their careers.

     

  • The conclave discussed the rising importance of PR and social media in marketing communications and how aspirants should be equipped with the right skills for the changing dynamics of the industry

    SIMC, Pune hosts its annual PR Conclave to discuss the reinvention of PR

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication (PG), Pune, hosted its annual Public Relations Conclave on August 2 with the theme ‘Reinventing PR.’ The conclave discussed the rising importance of PR and social media in marketing communications and how aspirants should be equipped with the right skills for the changing dynamics of the industry.

     

    The speakers comprised eminent industry experts such as Madan Bahal, Founder and Managing Director, Adfactors, Senjam Raj Sekhar, Head of Corporate Communications at Flipkart, Sanjay Tripathy, Senior EVP, HDFC Life, Valerie Pinto, CEO, Weber Shandwick India, Hareesh Tibrewala, Founder and Joint CEO, Social Wavelength, Chetan Mahajan, Joint CEO of MSLGroup, Paresh Chaudhry, CEO, Madison PR, Nitin Mantri, Director, Avian Media, Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Genesis Burson Marsteller and Bhairavi Jhaveri, Communication Manager, Twitter India

     

    The event kick started with a keynote speech by Mr Bahal, who emphasised the need to discuss the theme afresh and spoke about adding dimensions to the worldwide PR discourse. Dwelling upon the current trend in the industry, he said: “The empowerment of the common man has created many citizen journalists.”  He further delved into the theme of the event by talking about the growth of digital, and the crucial role it plays in the reinvention of PR.

     

    He explored key issues in the industry and how they need to be addressed to even out the process of adaptation. “Robust theoretical knowledge is missing in PR professionals. Many of us have become templates. Process is a structure that is against creativity.”

     

    Mr Bahal concluded his speech by talking about the role of academia and students in defining PR in the Indian context. Building further on this he said, “After going through the syllabi of several top media institutes, I must say that the syllabus of SIMC is highly robust.”

     

    The first panel, comprising distinguished personalities such as Sanjay Tripathy, Valerie Pinto and Senjam Raj Sekhar, witnessed an interesting exchange of opinions and insights from agencies and corporate alike. The topic of discussion was ‘PR: Climbing the value chain in marketing communication ladder’. Shedding light on it, Senjam Raj Sekhar said, “Marketing campaigns are becoming a lot like PR campaigns. Public Relations is about engagements, conversations and influences, and marketing is now talking that language. The recent marketing campaigns that you have seen are essentially Public Relations campaigns”.

     

    The panel drew parallels between marketing and PR. They emphasized the importance of PR in bringing credibility to a campaign vis-a-vis marketing. “The marketers know how to spend money and get ROI. What PR essentially does is drive and shape the conversations with a lot of credibility,” opined Valerie Pinto.

     

    Steering the discussion to one of the most important phenomena in the industry today, the second panel brought together experts such as Hareesh Tibrewala, Deepshikha Dharmaraj and Bhairavi Jhaveri to discuss the topic ‘Social Media- The Belle of the PR Ball’. They deliberated upon how social media has triggered the democratization of communication.  “Agencies need to understand the power of digital as a medium, rather than developing ventures around digital,” said Harish Tibrewala. Identifying the problem of traditional PR professionals trying to operate in digital, Deepshikha Dharmaraj expounded on the need for working in specialized units of domain experts, “We have a dedicated team that works on social. We have a live newsroom which actively monitors and listens to conversations online.”

     

    In an age when talent is the key driver to any industry, the third panel discussion deep-dived into the issue, ‘Talent Acquisition- Industry Expectation versus Trained and Untrained Talent’. The panelists included Nitin Mantri, Chetan Mahajan, Joint CEO of MSLGroup and Paresh Chaudhry, CEO, Madison PR. Highlighting the importance of dabbling with multiple skills, Chetan Mahajan said, “You can’t have one specialisation. Each one of us is a journalist here. Any person with a smart device, who is socially connected, is a journalist.”

     

    Building further on this theme, Chetan Mahajan, noted that the industry must invest in people from the perspective of growth. “Once you have achieved that, there are structured training programs for everyone. These resources need to think in terms of India, of regional as well as of global.”