Digital experts put the spotlight on the infinite possibilities of digital videos

There are various industry estimates as to the growth of the digital advertising industry in India, and all of them project a tremendous growth potential for this industry. GroupM estimates the Digital Adex to continue to grow by 30 per cent in 2018 to Rs 12,337 crore. Meanwhile, the Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) Digital Report pegs the digital advertising industry growth at a CAGR of 32 per cent to reach Rs 18,986 crore by 2020. 

GroupM’s TYNY 2018 Report states that video advertising on digital is estimated to grow at 54 per cent as bandwidth improves and data and mobility device become more economical for the consumer. The DAN Digital Report reveals that spends on video ads have shown a significant increase and accounted for 19 per cent (Rs 1,598 crore) of the overall spends in digital advertising. This category is estimated to witness the highest CAGR of 38 per cent from 2016 to 2020. Its share of spends is expected to increase from the current 19 per cent to 22 per cent by 2020. 

According to a recent Search Report by Google, 54 per cent of Internet users view online videos to learn something new. Another research by Hubspot shows that 45 per cent of people watch an hour or more of video per day. Over 32 per cent of Internet users view online videos to stay up-to-date with trends, ‘How to’ searches grew by 3X on YouTube in 2016. As per a research by Cisco, by 2020 there will be almost a million minutes of video per second crossing the Internet. Cisco adds that by then 82 per cent of all consumer web traffic will be video. 

Adgully spoke to a cross-section of digital industry experts to know more about the growth potential for digital video in India, the growth drivers, and the road ahead... 

Growth opportunities 

According to Prasad Shejale, Co-Founder & CEO, Logicserve Digital, “Video is a powerful way to communicate your brand story, explain your value proposition, and build relationships with your customers and prospects. All the latest statistics highlight the fact that not only is video content effective, its demand is also rising at a rapid pace. As per WordStream, 51 per cent of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI. Also, marketers who use video grow revenue 49 per cent faster than non-video users while a social video generates 1200 per cent more shares than text and images combined. 

He further added, “Some of the key benefits of video content marketing include improved SEO, stronger consumer attention, improved engagement, enhanced retention rates, better emotional connect, better consumer conversions.” 

Gerard Jayaranjan, National Creative Head, Social Kinnect, too considers the growth opportunities to be aplenty. He remarked, “It’s becoming a video world, if not already. Video consumption is at an all-time high. All data point towards it. Even mega-mediums like Facebook have constantly been tweaking their algorithms to push videos more on to your timeline. And in this world, brands have a massive opportunity to tap into this consumption habit and work with the kind of videos people are watching and finding a brand story that is not intrusive but participative. That is the biggest challenge and also the biggest opportunity to grow.” 

For Varun Duggirala, Co-founder & Content Chief, The Glitch, digital and video are two things that have the highest growth trajectory in today’s world of brand speak. So when combined, they form a lethal combination where creativity, innovation and propagation of brand value reach their highest potential. “The opportunities in digital video lie in the simple fact that it allows the freedom for brands to find their voice to reflect their own values and show their value while also ensuring that the same piece of content is engaging content for publishers to put on their platform. What more can agencies and marketers asks for?” he remarked. 

Infinite scope 

Duggirala further said that the scope was infinite. He noted, “Digital video, in its smallest sense of being a piece of micro content to as large as a digital series, allows flexibility in scale of any idea; and with AR around the corner and VR coming a little down the line, these layers will keep expanding. But at the core of it is the ability to have more freedom to tell stories of all forms that is always going to be next level.” 

Adding to this, Gerard Jayaranjan stated that personalisation of videos is the next big thing. “We have already seen a few dabbling into interactive videos with mixed success. The tech bit of videos is evolving so fast that there are numerous opportunities to take digital video to the next level. But there is one thing that will always stand the test of time, one that was important back then, one that is critical now – stories,” he pointed out. 

“If you get that right from your brand, then there are multiple things out there that can help you tell your story in a more engaging way,” he added. 

Agreeing with this, Prasad Shejale remarked, “With the increased availability of HD quality cameras and various video editing tools on most smartphones these days, video production has become more accessible and easier. Also, with the increasing number of users preferring video content over other forms of content, video is gradually becoming an important aspect of the online marketing strategies for brands.” 

He further stated that video marketing can provide positive results with the right messaging, plan and execution. Also, with online video quickly becoming an important medium for people to satisfy their information and entertainment needs, businesses that fail to include it in their internet marketing strategies will do so at their peril. 

Summing up, Shejale concluded, “Video is peerless. It has the potential to quickly go viral, is easy to understand and connect with. Looking at the way people are consuming video content, it definitely stands out as a smart way to marketing strategies in the future. It has an unmatched ability to create emotion driven sales. When done right, this surely has the potential to cause a real impact on your audiences and your business.”

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