Media planning is not about commodity buying anymore: Avinash Kaul

What started in 2007 - seemingly like an isolated crash in the US housing market - blew into a global recession by 2009. India, too, was affected by falling demand; the popular sentiment was to hold back on the cash spends. There were new industries that came in with the optimism of 2008 and some old ones that were wiped out. And while so much was changing, what didn't reduce was the consumers' engagement with the Indian media and entertainment sector.

In the last few years, there has been a gradual shift in the way news is consumed. In 2014, the emphasis is moving back to news and less to views. With digital consumption of video content on the rise, broadcasters have had to reinvent ways to deliver and reach the discerning audience. Traditional news media houses would see their readers getting attracted towards news based on good content; now news gets directed to the reader based on his or her interests. And this is a paradigm shift in the way we consume news.

With digitalisation yet to translate into significant gains, bigger broadcasters in Q4 2014 announced a tariff structure with cable platforms, one based on uniform pricing, as opposed to bilaterally negotiated deals. While this may lead to greater transparency, will it make a shift in the mind set, the time will only tell. One may wonder with digital media gaining prominence, how can traditional reinvent itself?

What matters to people hasn't changed, what has changed is the way we live. It is a world of multiple screens now - TV, desktop, mobile, tablet, wearable and out-of-home (in-car etc). We may start consuming a live event on the biggest screen but may end up satiating our appetite on the smallest screen. Content providers need to curate their content with changing formats.

These changes are unfolding at a fast pace. The time taken to reach 1 billion user base has been halving with each new technology. Where telephony took 110 years, TV took 49 years. Internet took 14 years while Facebook reached out in nine years and smartphones, eight years. The next leap will perhaps come in less than five years, says a BCG analysis.

While television is still the preferred medium for entertainment in India, viewers are increasingly consuming content on alternative screens. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for a broadcaster or a publisher. Challenge from the point of view of a change in the mindset and changes to the content supply chain. Opportunity as content created for alternate screens can come with new monetisation opportunities.

Viewers today are spoilt for choices. Granular segmentation by special interest groups, location and ethnicity is no more fiction. This, to my mind, is unleashing the true potential of the new age delivery platform for the advertiser.

Media planning is all about knowing who the real consumer is and where the "consumption" lies. Planning agencies/market research agencies and clients need to spend to know the consumer. The biggest research exercises in the country are just with a sample size of less than 2.5 lakhs. Planning needs good data, which needs investments and this is an area that we as an industry underinvest. Consumer insights are key to deliver the best ROI.

Interestingly, brand custodians and advertisers have realised the power of consumer insights. Brands are setting up war rooms to monitor sentiments. With this granular segmentation, access to real time consumer insights influence spends. And this lends more teeth and faith in ROI driven spending by advertisers, which in turn makes media planning far more effective.

Avinash Kaul
CEO, IBN News Network