With India at tipping point of content explosion, media marketers have a strategic role

Authored by Neville Bastawalla, SVP & Head - Marketing & On Air Promotions, Sports Channels at Sony Pictures Networks India. This blogpost originally appeared on SPNI’s corporate website.

The media is a fundamental pillar in any country. Besides being the source of information, it plays a considerable role in storytelling and evoking emotions. When we look at the content sphere today, it is all about what stories work and what emotions they evoke. Everything speaks of emotion, whether a TV show, movie, event, news broadcast, article, or even something on social media. So much so that India is at the tipping point for a content explosion, which will only grow by leaps and bounds. TV will continue its steady march as it has always done; however, its growth will continue parallel to OTT and other digital platforms. This rapid focus on the digital space will also ensure that the news media grows parallelly to satiate the consumer appetite in India today.

Content is everywhere. Broadcasters and creators entice you with new offerings daily, often putting consumers into a dilemma on what to watch.

While some follow influencers for suggestions, others voraciously sample whatever content comes their way. Many are platform loyalists and stick to what is provided by the platforms. For instance, with the brand loyalty that Sony commands in India, consumers are always assured of a specific guarantee on the quality of content.

In short, today, myriad messages and communication are hitting viewers in just one day. And this makes the job of content marketers rather important today.

Content Formats & Offering:

Content has evolved today. From daily soaps, which would only air at a particular time and for a fixed duration, to OTT, which has brought about the binge-watching culture. Shows have a shorter shelf life of up to 3 months, contrasting with evergreen gems like Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, which still grabs the eyeballs on Sony SAB.

Even sports content is now available in the shorter format like the UFC numbered fight events or marquee global sporting events like Olympic Games & UEFA EURO, as well as recurring seasonal properties like UEFA Champions League and Australian Open, besides key cricketing action and many others.

Given the above scenarios - What should the media marketeer do to win over consumers' hearts, so they stick to the content launched on their platform? What should the qualities of the media marketeer be, and what should they bring to the table?

The creative gut
Storytelling ability
Knowing the pulse of the consumer
Never-say-die attitude
Constant hunger to do new things – "Kuch naya karna hai, kuch hatke karna hai, kuch bada karna hai!"
'Dil se' relationships
Launch of 30 brands (content launches) a month on average by the marketing lead, resulting in 30 brand positioning strategies and 30 multimedia campaigns
Media planning & buying
Digital world expertise

Media owners have their inventory, which marketers often undervalue. The reality is different - even a small TV channel can generate 25-30 crore annually if the promo inventory has value. Therefore, marketers must be driven creatively and guided by their instincts as they are the 'conductors' who orchestrate many creative units across different platforms.

While a strategic mindset is critical, having a creative gut is sacrosanct for a media marketer.

Let's reference a recent Sony Sports Network case study of how the nation came together and rallied behind the Indian contingent at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, held in July-Aug 2021.

The Background:

In India, cricket is a religion for fans. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other sports.
Sony Sports Network, the official broadcasters of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, took it upon themselves to galvanize the nation and make these athletes household names in the country.
The Olympics has never previously been a heavily promoted sports property, and marketing budgets for this property have always been a constraint.

The Big Idea

Approach India's biggest heroes, influencers, and celebrities to come on board honourably and support the nation's athletes with the war-cry 'Hindustan dekh raha hai ek hi khwab, Hum Honge Kamyab."
The campaign was a resounding success, thanks to the many dignitaries who joined us in our endeavour - from the honourable Prime Minister of India himself to the sports minister, industrialists, sports personalities, philanthropists, Bollywood superstars, social media influencers and many more. Sony Sports Network collaborated with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and eminent personalities like the Union Minister for I&B and Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri. Anurag Singh Thakur, Late General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defense Staff and Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee. Shri. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Law & Justice and former Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports, along with Bollywood Superstars and personalities like Mr Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Farhan Akhtar, Rana Daggubati, and Shankar Mahadevan also ensued the battle cry. Industrialists like Mr Sajjan Jindal and Mr Gautam Adani, philanthropists like Mrs Sudha Murty and Mrs Nita Ambani, sports personalities like Yuvraj Singh, Anjali Bhagwat, Adille Sumariwala, Pullela Gopichand, Vijender Singh, Harsha Bhogle, current athletes like Neeraj Chopra, and social media influencers like Beer Biceps catalyzed the Olympic momentum in the nation for the landmark event.
Shoestring budgets, the in-house team travelling across the country through the pandemic, churning out creatives by the dozen and filming more than 35 films across multiple locations resulted in the grandest Olympics campaign the country has ever seen.
There was unprecedented pure creativity from the in-house marketing & creative teams.

The Results

Medal Results

India broke its medal tally in a single Olympics with seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics – 1 Gold, 2 Silver, and 4 Bronze.

Neeraj Chopra won India's first Gold medal in athletics in the javelin throw.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya won a Silver medal in Wrestling, and even though his opponent was biting his hand, he kept his opponent pinned down.
Mirabai Chanu won a Silver medal in weightlifting.
PV Sindhu won a Bronze medal in Women's Singles Badminton.
PV Sindhu became the first female Indian athlete to win two silver medals in the Olympic games. She did it with pure dedication and hard work. She has much more to conquer, and we want her to touch new heights.
Lovlina Borgohain won a Bronze medal in Women's Boxing.
Indian Hockey Team won a Bronze medal and created history by winning an award in Olympics after 40 years. A special mention must be made about the Indian Hockey Women's team as they made it to the semifinals for the first time in the history of India at the Olympics.
Bajrang Punia won a Bronze medal in Wrestling.

On air results

The LIVE telecast of the Olympics Games Tokyo 2020 achieved close to 450 million gross impressions on our network, making it the most watched Olympics Games ever on India pay TV (BARC, All India U+R, Olympics LIVE telecast, gross impressions on pay TV channels)
The average time spent on Tokyo Olympics increased by 95% compared to the Rio Olympics.
Over 100 mn reach – comparable to pre-NTO numbers showcasing immense growth.

Digital results

Over 250 million impressions #HumHongeKamyab
200+ real-time clips with thousands of real-time tweets generating over a billion impressions and #TOKYO2020 trending throughout
Over 60 million organic video views on the @SonySportsIndia handles

The Ultimate Result

When the athletes returned to India, they said this was the first time they felt the entire country's support. This motivated them and ignited that momentum and zeal to perform their best.

It also showed the massive role effective media marketing could play in the content sphere. It is all about ideating a campaign that will go miles in reach and effect.

To sum it up, hiring for media does not necessarily require a vanilla approach of a pedigree college or industry experience, but a creative gut that screams, "passion kitna hai?"