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1 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India

FOREWORD
There’s been a significant rise in the number of individuals accessing the internet through
their phones and today this number has grown to 99%. The mobile device has become
a central part of our connected lives – right from controlling features in a car, streaming
TV, connecting with friends on social media, to on-the-go entertainment. Globally, more
than 5 billion people use a mobile phone, of which 4.54 billion are connected to the
internet, while 3.80 billion are active social media users. India alone hosts 700 million
unique mobile phone subscribers, comprising 451 million internet users.

Due to this, most brands have adopted a mobile-first approach while addressing all
their digital marketing initiatives. But should the mobile-first approach be limited only to
digital marketing? It is but obvious to note, that the mobile device has changed various
aspects of our lives, be it in the way we consume news, the way we get entertained or
the way we shop and as a result, it has raised multiple challenges and opportunities for
marketers. In this report, we look at various trends impacting consumers and marketers
and highlight reasons why it’s necessary to go beyond the traditional realms of digital
marketing to drive business and brand outcomes.

The Mobile Marketing Association India has been consistently striving to create a pool of
resources that marketers can consult while building futuristic strategies, to stay abreast
and adopt mobile advertising at scale. It also continues to build on its vision, ‘Shape
The Future’ through breakthrough studies, thought leadership, setting standards and
optimising current activities and constantly monitoring mobile marketing trends. Today,
India has around 1.16 billion mobile phone users. Cheaper data tariffs and smarter features
have further enhanced the usage of mobile. The integration of AI and technology in
advertising will lead to a new revolution and it’s imperative to be ahead of the curve.

Collaborating with WPP Agency – GroupM, this report is a true testament to the depth of
insight that can be gained when a trade association and an agency come together. Based
on combined learnings, local expertise and market insights, this report looks deeper into
where mobile marketing stands today, what has led us here and what the future holds.
For marketers to better leverage mobile as a platform, it is important to understand
how the landscape is changing and offering increased scope for impactful advertising.
From neuroscience-based consumer understanding to an acknowledgement of the fact
that trends which die out can also resurface; from AI becoming more human to humans
becoming wary of safety and security – this report touches upon a variety of topics to
ultimately provide a holistic picture of mobile marketing. Marketing to a generation of
mobile users in the most effective way is only possible with a true understanding of
these users and the platforms they so ubiquitously utilise.

2 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


INDEX
1
Mobile Landscape
• Large Share, Larger Potential ..................................................................9
• Mobilising The Internet .............................................................................11
• Growth Of Mobile Users ...........................................................................12
• Data Tariffs – Cheaper Than
The Cheapest ...............................................................................................12
• Smartphones Are Proliferating
While Feature Phones Are
Becoming Smarter .....................................................................................13
• The Jio Experience – Superlative
Mobility ..........................................................................................................13
• Xiaomi - Shipping Smart, And
How ................................................................................................................14
• Mobile Apps Becoming
An Integral Part Of Mobile
Ecosystem ...................................................................................................15
• With Data Usage High, We Ask
Why ................................................................................................................16

2
Emerging Trends
• How Voice And Audio Is
Changing The Way We Use Our
Device ...........................................................................................................18
• Everyday Living Influenced By
AI And Channelised Through
Mobile Interactions ....................................................................................23
• E-Wallets Enabling Increased
Transaction ..................................................................................................23
• New Dimensions Of Gaming
Done Through Mobile ..............................................................................25
• Rise Of Ephemeral Content ....................................................................29
• Rise Of OTT .............................................................................................29
• Original Content Sees The Light
Of Day ........................................................................................................30

3 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


3
Changing Landscape of
Mobile Advertising
Content:
• With Short Attention Spans Of Consumers,
Short Format Advertising Content Is Key..............................................30
• Influencer Driven Content On The Rise...................................................43
• In The Areas of Content and Ad Formats..............................................44
Measurement:
• Mobile Devices Critical in Attributing
Online to Offline Sales: MMA POV ..........................................................48
• Business Impact of Mobile Advertising .................................................50
Brand Safety:
• Above and Beyond Ad Exposures
for Effectiveness Validation in Mobile
Advertising .......................................................................................................54
Technology:
• Header Bidding Spurring Further Mobile
Ad Monetisation .............................................................................................56

• The Role and Potential of Marketing


Technology .......................................................................................................57

4 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


4
Initiatives by MMA
Given the changing landscape, trends and growth in mobile,
MMA and the MMA board is working towards enabling
cutting edge solutions, guidelines and best practices to
address need gaps in content, measurement and brand
safety, identified as key industry gaps.
Content Charter focus areas: Establish Guidelines & best
practices for short format advertising content

• From A Blink To An Imprint To A Heartbeat | MMA ..............................................61

• From A Blink To A Heartbeat | MMA And Facebook ...........................................63

Measurement Charter focus areas: Enable POV on cross


media reach and effectiveness of mobile versus other
media
• MMA Measurement Effectiveness Industry Survey ...........................................64
• POV On Metrics That Matter .........................................................................................65
• Smox Cross Media Case Studies: How Brands Can
Make Smarter Decisions In Mobile Marketing. ........................................................66
• MMA Multi-Touch Attribution Journey Map .............................................................67

Brand Safety Charter focus areas: Build guidelines & best
practices to enable brand marketing and performance
marketing respectively

• Mobile Ad-Fraud In India Report ...............................................................................68


• Mobile Ad-Fraud Roadshow ..........................................................................................68

5 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


5
Annexure
• About MMA ...............................................................................71
• MMA India Board ..................................................................71
• MMA 2019 POV Articles ......................................................73
• Smarties 2019 Jury .................................................................81
• Smarties 2019 Winners .........................................................82
• Sources ......................................................................................86

6
Acknowledgement
& Disclaimer

6 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


PART 1
MOBILE
LANDSCAPE

7 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


A lot is changing in the world of mobile, and with the increase in internet usage on
the go, everything from subscriptions to the time spent on mobile is rising fast. Social
media platforms are created with mobile as a platform in mind, and OTT providers have
subscription plans and UI/UX strategies with mobile usage at the centre. The next few
sections explore various aspects of the mobile landscape – what’s growing, what’s not,
and what shows potential.

LARGE SHARE, LARGER POTENTIAL


As of 2018, Asia-Pacific represents the largest number of internet users, with 53% of the
global share, and 48% internet penetration in the region. The most interesting aspect of
these numbers is that the Asia-Pacific region also shows the highest potential for further
internet growth. A developed region like North America has 89% internet penetration.
Therefore, as Asia-Pacific moves towards further development, the internet users are
bound to grow manifold.

INTERNET USERS BY REGION

Internet users by region


Source: Mary Meeker Report Internet Trends 2019

As of mid 2018, India was second in internet usage, with 12% of the global internet
user base. As of Q1 2019, India has an active user base of 451 million while the internet
penetration hovers over 36%. The internet user base is forecasted to grow at a CAGR
of 10% from 2019 to 2023. Rural India which is the largest population segment has low
internet penetration. So, there is an immense scope for growth which will be driven
primarily by cheap mobile handsets and low tarrif data.

8 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


INTERNET USERS IN INDIA

Source: India, Statista Digital Market Outlook

Source: India, Statista Digital Market Outlook

INTERNET USERS: TOP COUNTRIES

China - 21%

India- 12%

United States- 8%

% of Global Internet
users

Source: Mary Meeker Report Internet Trends 2019

9 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


MOBILISING THE INTERNET
From the desktop to the laptop, tablet, and finally the mobile – the internet has become
accessible on more and more devices alongside the consumer embracing new gadgets.
Currently, across both rural and urban areas in India, 99% of users are using the internet
on their mobile phones.

DEVICES USED TO ACCESS INTERNET

Source: India Internet 2019 Report: IAMAI


This report is powered by Indian Readership survey 2019. Sample coverage is pan India. Survey methodology is multi-stage
stratified random sampling.

POINT OF INTERNET ACCESS

Points of internet access, India


Source: India Internet 2019 Report: IAMAI

This is mostly because of the fact that along with cheaper data plans, smartphones have also
become more affordable, allowing wider access. However, with connectivity and service
quality still not at optimum levels in rural areas, on-the-go use for everyone is not yet
possible, meaning that the number of people using the internet while traveling is still low.

10 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


GROWTH OF MOBILE USERS
Globally, more than 5 billion people use mobile phones, an increase of 2.5% as compared
to the previous year. Out of a population of 1.3-1.4 billion, India has 1.16 billion mobile
subscribers, comprising 700 million unique mobile subscribers. The growth has been
gradual in the past few years, mainly fostered by an increase in consumer spending and
entry of low-cost handsets, like Jio phone. With the increase in the number of mobile
phones, the time spent on mobile also grew to 3.7 hours per day which is a 25% jump as
compared to 2017 data.

TOTAL WIRELESS TELEPHONE SUBSCRIBERS IN INDIA 2015-2019

Source: Telecom Statistics India 2019

DATA TARIFFS – CHEAPER THAN THE CHEAPEST


With the entry of Reliance into the mobile telecom market, Jio came and revolutionised
data in India, with the lowest prices in the world. Currently, data in India is priced at USD
0.26 for 1 GB, as compared to the global average of USD 8.53 per GB. Even the highest
cost for data in India, i.e. USD 1.4 is well below the global average. The Indian smartphone
and telecom markets are especially competitive in nature, resulting in these exceptionally
low prices. Since Jio’s launch in 2016, the brand has successfully amassed 280 million
customers owing to its hugely affordable plans and services.

11 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


SMARTPHONES ARE PROLIFERATING WHILE FEATURE PHONES ARE BECOMING
SMARTER
The global smartphone devices are estimated to be around 3.8 billion. While China has
the most number of active smartphone users, India stands at 2nd position with 502
million smartphone users. Compared to 2018, the user base has increased by 15% and it
is estimated to reach the 650 million - 700 million mark by 2023.
Alongside smartphones, the feature phone market too has seen a healthy growth in
the past few years. This growth in feature phone market can be attributed to Jio which
launched Lyf handset in early 2018. According to India Times, Jio phone is now one of the
most popular feature phones in the world. Every year new feature phones are introduced
in the market with increased capabilities, thus making the feature phone smarter.

Feature Phone

Source: IDC

THE JIO EXPERIENCE – SUPERLATIVE MOBILITY


Jio took the mobile network world by storm and continues to lead as of October 2019,
with its 4G availability measurements growing up to 97.8% in the last six months. This
means that Jio users are connected on a 4G network 97.8% of the time. This is an
especially brilliant performance for the Indian market. In terms of the video viewing
experience, while Airtel led the race, Jio came in close behind, offering a rated ‘fair’-
viewing experience. For voice-app experience as well, Jio lined up almost as well as
the three leading brands, behind by just 2% age points. Overall, in the most challenging
bracket of them all, i.e. 4G availability, Jio has come out strong.

4G AVAILABILITY (% OF TIME)

Source: Mobile Network Experience Report I October 2019 I Opensignal Limited

12 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


XIAOMI – SHIPPING SMART, AND HOW
In the third quarter of 2019, the smartphone market in India shipped a whopping 46.6
million units, fueled by launches of new models, online sales and price corrections.
Xiaomi led the shipment volumes by a significant margin and contributed to 27.1% of the
market share, followed by Samsung and Vivo.

INDIA SMARTPHONE MARKET, TOP 5 COMPANIES, SHIPMENT IN


MILLIONS, MARKET SHARE, YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH, 3Q19

Source: IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, November 2019

Under Xiaomi, Redmi 7A and Redmi Note 7 Pro were the models that saw the highest
shipping volumes. A major factor contributing to Xiaomi’s success was the demand for
phones in the price segment of INR 20k to 35k. Of the five top models, four were under
Xiaomi.

INDIA TOP 5 SMARTPHONE COMAPNIES, UNIT MARKET SHARE 3Q19

Source: IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, November 2019

13 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


MOBILE APPS BECOMING AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE MOBILE ECOSYSTEM
In 2019, consumers downloaded a record of 204 billion apps worldwide, spending close
to $120 billion which is 2x of 2016 spending. This growth was mainly fueled by emerging
markets such as Brazil, India and Indonesia. While the global growth in app downloads
has been 45% in last the three years, India witnessed a mindboggling growth of 190%
since 2016 reaching around 40 billion app downloads by 2019. Mobile apps are touching
every aspect of human life, right from managing finances, planning travel, maintaining
fitness to even finding a life partner.
TOP COUNTRIES BY APP STORE DOWNLOADS

Source: App Annie – State of Mobile 2020

In the finance sector, fintech apps have topped traditional banking apps mainly enabled
and accelerated by mobile devices. India tops the global entertainment market in terms
of highest users of entertainment apps. India is also the 2nd largest market for YouTube
Music. Social apps are becoming hyper-local and filling a niche as consumers look for
smaller circles. These in turn will compete or complement existing social apps which have
had a first mover advantage and have become a part of daily habits.

TOP APPS (Monthly Active Users in India, 2019)

Source: App Annie – State of mobile 2020

14 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


WITH DATA USAGE HIGH, WE ASK WHY
Among all active mobile internet users in India, which stands at approximately 451
million, entertainment is the purpose for a whopping 84%. This is followed closely by
communication at 79% and the use of social media at 67%. Net commerce and online
shopping fall quite far behind in numbers at 40% and 23% respectively. This clearly
indicates the need for digital video and OTT platforms to continue making the interface
mobile-friendly, thereby ensuring a wide reach to all those actively consuming content
on the go.

PURPOSE OF INTERNET USAGE

Source: Kantar ICUBE 2019

• Entertainment : Active Internet user who is either an Online Video watcher or Online Music
Listener or has been an Online Gamer in last one year.

• communication: Active internet user who have used services like voice chat, text chat ,
video call or email in last one year. (as discussed, WhatsApp is included in this category)

• Social Media : Active internet user who have used social media platform for posting/
blogging / uploading or sharing photos, videos, information etc./ playing games/ watching
videos etc. in last one year.

• Netcommerce: Active Internet user who is has bought any product or services online in last
one year.

•Online shopping: Active Internet user who is has bought any product online in last one year.

15 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


PART 2
EMERGING
TRENDS

16 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


By 2023, close to 666 million people will be accessing the internet. Meanwhile, the number
of smartphone users will stand in the range of 650 million to 700 million by 2023

As mobile devices become integral to the lives of consumers, it becomes critical to


understand some of the reasons that fuel this growth. This section highlights related
consumer trends and shines the spotlight on some of the changes that we can expect in
times to come.
HOW VOICE AND AUDIO IS CHANGING THE WAY WE USE OUR DEVICE
The arrival of touch-enabled technology led to a complete overhaul of the digital market,
and the massive response to touch-screen devices was instrumental in driving sales for
up-scale technologies. Soon, voice technology entered the milieu and elicited customer
enthusiasm. Voice assistants have evolved from text-to-speech enablers that helped a
user seek information from devices that take care of routine functions around the house
and daily errands that had to be earlier accomplished manually. Today, brands have
begun to leverage audio technology to reach out to their audience. Additionally, as voice
assistants take over a regional tone i.e. they are available in multiple languages, we have
seen the widening of the customer base and the opening up of new markets.

According to Niraj Ruparel, National Head, Mobile and Voice, Mindshare India, voice is
the next big trend in the digital world. He supplements this by sharing an example: On
an internet enabled smartphone, a user can type close to 40 words but, can speak up to
150 words. This plays an instrumental role for brands seeking to position themselves as
solution-oriented in front of their audience. Voice technology combined with Artificial
Intelligence, Machine Learning and Augmented Reality is all set to bring about a make-
over to the marketing landscape as we know it. This will in turn have a domino effect on
verticals such as OTT, Online Gaming and Virtual Reality to name a few.

Rise of Conversational Living


India has witnessed enormous growth in the arena of voice searches. Be it seeking out
automobile specifications, or aligning in-home security features with existing mobile
apps, smart devices have penetrated the lives of every consumer, urban and rural alike,
bringing about a new digital-age revolution. Apple’s ‘Siri’ or Microsoft’s ‘Cortana’, has led
to the evolution of how consumers search for information. To put it simply, Voice Search
has taken the Search Engine Optimization industry by storm.

Voice interactions are truly changing the way we search for information and it has also
helped us in learning something new. The ‘Bolo’ app designed by Google that was
launched in March 2019 with an open beta program, aids children in improving their
reading skills.

Available in the Hindi language with in-built features that convert text-to-speech and a
user-friendly interface with hi-tech speech recognition, it can also function offline without
internet connectivity. Upgradation of the Kindle, ‘Audible’ by Amazon has allowed readers
to listen to audiobooks based on voice commands.

17 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Listed below are a few examples of brands using voice-based solutions:

• Talk To Godrej Hit: Godrej Hit integrated its Dengue Helpline and Platelet Donation
Campaign with Alexa and Google Assistant helping consumers get real time information
on donor availability and precautions for vector borne diseases.

• On World Oral Health Day, the ‘Sensodyne’ chatbot was introduced to consumers
for providing an engaging means of being educated about tooth sensitivity and the
importance of oral hygiene.

• Mindshare India has launched a new voice-driven platform called ‘Audio Conferencing
Bridge’ - ‘mSamvaad’ which helps connect brands to the audience in media dark areas
on the largest voice conferencing infrastructure with a capacity of 25,000 concurrent
calls.

Conversational Commerce: Platform Thinking versus Campaign Thinking

Indian internet user


BY 2021 will be Vernacular language
Speaker

Source: Year in Search-India: Insights for Brands

• Since voice assistants purely work based on user intent, they have now evolved into
more than mere information touchpoints. Right from switching off the lights without
having to move, to hassle-free shopping experiences, to issuing automated bill
payments, it’s all a matter of convenience and agility. All this data that captures user
intent can then be a bedrock on which marketing campaigns can be built on.

18 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


VOICE SEARCH HABITS

Source: A study conducted by Google in association with Northstar

Other than voice, the text also is playing a more significant role in conversational
commerce today. Engaging via messaging platforms such as Messenger or WhatsApp
can be a powerful way to connect with shoppers where they are and on their terms.

Transcending Language Barriers


Late in 2019, Amazon launched a multilingual mode in Alexa for users to access the voice
assistant in Hindi. Google Assistant, on the other hand, already boasts of Hindi being the
second-most utilised language for voice globally. Soon, these are bound to create a level
playing field for the customer to initiate voice commands in vernacular languages. As of
2017, 68% of internet users preferred digital content to be in the local language, believing
that it adds to its overall credibility. By 2021, in India, 75% of internet users would be
comprised of vernacular content user base.

INTERNET USERS PREFERENCES IN DIGITAL CONTENT

75%
75%

68%

Internet Users prefer Internet Users would be


digital content in local comprised of vernacular content
language user base

2017 2021

Source: Indian Languages- Defining India’s Internet Study by KPMG and Google

19 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


PERSPECTIVE ON
VOICE AND AUDIO
Niraj Ruparel,
Head- Mobile, Mindshare
EMERGENCE OF VOICE AND AUDIO ON ADVERTISING
When devices powered by touch entered the market, they changed our lives as we
know it. Today, this is being increasingly replaced by voice run technology, which
has made its way into almost every aspect of functionality, from our cars and homes
to our smart devices, white goods, ERPs and more.

Sensing the opportunity, brands have jumped onto this bandwagon, and are now
including voice as a discipline under digital strategy when imagining customer
interactions. Voice assistants are today more than just information touchpoints.
They carry out functions like turning off lights, hailing a cab, managing navigation,
making calls, automating bill payments, and adding items to shopping carts. As
brands adopt this technology, they are now thinking about it on a macro level,
moving away from mere campaign-based uses, to strategic platform thinking.
The use for voice also extends to content marketing in an audio format, to create
stickiness, engagement, and customer delight.

With Google Assistant available on even lower models of smartphones, and Alexa
functioning in two languages, voice has transcended language barriers that even
web and digital could not so far. It has created a level playing field for customers
speaking a multitude of languages. Through ML and AI, it understands the customer’s
intent, and is able to respond meaningfully.

At home too, the conversion to smart living is a lifestyle that is quickly being adopted
across the country. India observed an import of over 6.6 million Echo devices in the
second quarter of 2019. Additionally, India being a country with multiple festivals
and languages, no two houses are alike and each of them has a creative solution to
use voice commands that sprouts from the age-old habit of ‘Jugaad’.

Millennials, for example, are faster in adapting to newer technologies, and seek
help from voice powered assistants during festivals which could range from
understanding the process of the ‘Pooja’ or asking the device to play the ‘Arti’.
Interestingly, one of the highest played skills is Alexa’s recognition of commands to
play ‘Hanuman Chalisa’.

Voice technology is one of the most disruptive technologies of our time, and for
a time starved urban dweller, it becomes an ideal source to help in being more
productive. Through Alexa, which has become synonymous with voice assistants,
consumers spend less time on apps and websites, enjoy simplified experiences, and
increased efficiency. What was once thought of as a futuristic technology, is now
here, and will only grow bigger in time.

20 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Perspectives on Voice and Audio, Niraj Ruparel

VOICE TECHNOLOGY PREDICTIONS FOR 2020 IN INDIA:


Increased functionality
Instead of staying within a specific environment of skill or AOG, developers will
be able to create integrated solutions and source information from one to another
giving users a more holistic and connected experience on voice.

Contextual voice solutions


With voice assistants reaching more devices, the penetration and overall occasions
of humans interacting with machines through voice are increasing. This is going
to lead to a rise in situational content. For example, the rise of smart earbuds with
Alexa built-in could help the users with public transport navigation, replying to texts,
listening to music and be a travel guide, all through voice.

Brand presence to become strong on voice


Earlier, brands were hesitant in joining the voice revolution but now, there’s a growing
awareness and understanding that voice is not just a viral trend, it is a necessity.
Companies must now include voice in their annual budgets and explore engaging
use-cases to explore the space.

Data collection and Privacy


As more services and brands make their presence known on voice, users will have
increased questions around data and their privacy. Security would take the centre
stage in 2020 and Service Providers would need to be clear in terms of what is
required and how it is collected.

Inclusive shopping experience


The combination of voice technology, increasing user penetration and brands joining
the voice revolution is guiding shoppers as they conduct their transactions through
voice. From discovery to selection to checkout, users would expect the shopping
journey to remain on Voice without having to access apps or other platforms.

Content
For the earbud generation, not only music but also podcasts as a source of audio
entertainment would see a rise. A larger audience will consume content across genres
in a language they love. It would be interesting for companies to explore telling their
brand stories in this new format.

Arrival of NBU on the Internet


Voice is the most natural form of communication and as it surpasses barriers of
literacy, Voice will adapt to more regional languages to welcome users on the internet.
In a country like India which has 22 official languages, brands would have to build
solutions in local languages that make technology useful for ‘Bharat’ as well.

Siri breaks the iOS boundaries


Siri, the first voice assistant, launched in 2011, has since been within a contained
environment of iOS devices. As Apple seeks to relax the reigns on Siri, it is possible
to see Apple’s voice assistant powering devices in homes. This might bring in a
significant impact on market dynamics.

21 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


EVERYDAY LIVING INFLUENCED BY AI AND CHANNELISED THROUGH MOBILE
INTERACTIONS
A decade ago, if you wanted to watch a movie, or experiment by cooking a new dish,
or indulge in a fine-dining experience, you would have to ask the respective enthusiasts
for recommendations. However, with the entry of Siri, Alexa and Cortana, everyday life
is made simpler with AI technology manifested in Voice Assistants to serve the end
customer.
HERE’S WHAT A TYPICAL DAY LOOKS LIKE FOR TODAY’S NETIZEN

About 80% of large corporate giants have adopted some or the other form of machine
learning in building new competent systems, complementing their core business.
This trend is spreading to smaller businesses, with about 30% of the new generation
start-ups considering the integration of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
into their existing mobile applications. Apart from providing great scope for continuous
improvement, it allows for faster search and more secure detection of online fraud.
E-WALLETS ENABLING INCREASED TRANSACTION
With a host of players in the digital payments space, such as the likes of Paytm, Google
Tez, PhonePe, a recent report by Credit Suisse forecasts the digital payment market to
quintuple up to $1 trillion by 2023. Google Tez in India has had a breakout year adding 26
million new downloads marking a 35% YoY growth.

DIGITAL PAYMENT SPACE

22 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Source: TRAI Report 2019 Source: KPMG: Fintech In India

India’s local UPI (Unified Payments Interface) platform crossed the 1000 million user
mark in October 2019, making it one of the fastest adopted payment gateways in the
world, leading to a massive rise in social commerce.

23 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


In recent years, the fintech industry has transformed the banking system. Globally,
consumers are transferring their financial activities to mobile apps. A lot of banks
are falling behind their fintech peers and the growth of fintech apps is a worldwide
phenomenon. Monthly active users (MAU) of fintech app is expanding at 20% while that
of banks is still growing at 15%. This is also one area which does not as yet have one
single app worldwide like Facebook for social; Netflix for streaming etc.

The introduction of mobile banking has propelled a steady growth in digital transactions
and the use of e-wallets has been on the rise. This fact can be inferred clearly through the
Big Billion Days Sale conducted online by Flipkart, an e-commerce platform. According to
the numbers, this year the sale saw two-times the growth on the opening day, compared
to last year. Owing to the early-access feature, the growth in transactions conducted was
thrice that of the last year.

Another example is Meesho.com which has proved to be a go-to reselling platform for
sellers with zero-investments. This goes to show that in a mere couple of years, the
number of retailers, vendors and small-time shopkeepers accepting digital payments
through e-wallets has increased to over 10 million.

The World Advertising Research Centre forecasts that by 2025, for just over 1.3 billion
consumers, mobile will become a primary device for accessing the internet, presenting
a great scope for businesses to showcase and sell their products across a multitude of
online platforms.

Categories of e-commerce such as personal care and beauty are witnessing a boom
through online shopping. The diverse culture in India is further supplementing the growth
of gifting, a transaction that can be initiated with a single click through any smartphone.

NEW DIMENSIONS OF GAMING DONE THROUGH MOBILE


With the growth in micropayments, low data costs, improved ratio of the pixel, rise
in disposable income, and penetration of smartphones with bigger screens, India has
exponentially witnessed an enormous rise in the number of online gamers in the last few
years. Gaming proficiently continues to ace as one of the most preferred leisure activities
online.

Source : The state of online gaming 2019 by Limelight networks


The report is based on responses from 4500 consumers across nine countries who play video
games at least once a week.
Age: above 18

24 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Mobile Gaming Landscape
Tier 2 and 3 cities display huge potential in terms of strengthening mobile gaming
foothold with this platform surpassing PCs in its overall contribution to market revenues,
increasing the share from 18% (2012) to 51% (2018).

Mobile gaming contributes close to 80-90% in the overall online gaming

In fact, according to the Kantar IMRB report there are approximately 250 million mobile
gamers in India, spending about 60 minutes every day playing mobile games.

A Lens to the Sea-Changes of the Previous Year


India is the third-largest consumer market for mobile gaming, followed by the USA and
China. The global gaming industry is rising fast, and a classic example of this encouraging
rise is the popular mobile game, PUBG, with an active base of 100 million mobile users
monthly. In this context, India is already ranked amongst the top five markets for mobile
gaming.

Source: Kantar IMRB Report

25 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


MOBILE GAMING AND
MARKETING
Rohit Sharma, Founder and CEO of
Pokkt Mobile Ads
Over the last 12 months, mobile marketing has evolved into one of the hottest platforms
to reach consumers. One particular mobile marketing approach stands out in terms
of user experience and engagement: mobile gaming. Games are everywhere. By the
end of 2021, there will be over 2.7 billion mobile gamers in the world.

Contrary to popular belief, gaming isn’t the exclusive domain of young males.
According to the 2018 MMA and Pokkt Market Study. 48% of Indian mobile gamers
are female and over 40% are over the age of 25. A reach disparity exists between
older, more TVC-oriented audiences and the younger, cord-cutting crowd. As a
new marketing medium, gaming enables brands to circumvent the budget dilemma
this creates. Mobile gaming is popular across age groups and gender. In POKKT’s
experience, mobile gaming has been found to be one of the most effective ways to
connect with mothers and women in general. 45 % of mobile gamers are women,
and 58 % of moms are gamers . It is, truly, a platform that transcends demographic
groupings like no other. Brands have a plethora of options to engage different
segments—from puzzle games to shooters, and everything in between. Mobile games
allow brands to achieve high levels of engagement while also ensuring a positive,
non-intrusive user experience.

Mobile gaming is a global phenomenon. However, the APAC region is especially


conducive to users gaming on their smartphones. There are two key factors behind
this: fewer alternative options for entertainment and longer commutes (only
applicable in less-developed markets such as India). It is also important to note that
overall, gaming holds fewer negative connotations in Asia than the West.

Across the world, brands struggle to reach Millennial and Gen Z audiences. These
audiences are technologically adept and prefer to use their smartphones for
media consumption over other platforms. Their widespread use of ad blockers on
conventional forms of advertising (mainly web), presents a real challenge to brands
trying to reach them. However, this challenge is also indicative of one of the largest
opportunities for brands in APAC: Reaching these audiences on mobile gaming apps
via rewarded video (also known as user-initiated video).
What kind of products can best be promoted through mobile gaming? POKKT
finds that, over the past 2-3 years, FCMG brands in particular have been investing
significantly in mobile game advertising.

26 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Mobile Gaming And Marketing, Rohit Sharma

Mobile gamers love receiving rewarded video ads, where a gaming app grants an
in-game incentive, such as currency or power-ups, in return for watching a video
ad. 82% of APAC mobile gamers said that this is their preferred method of receiving
ads.

Rewarded video allows users to have control over when and how they receive ads
in a respectful and transparent manner. This, in turn, converts into a positive user
experience with the brand.

Consumers in a gaming environment tend to engage with the advertising they


receive. Research by TapJoy shows that gamers are more than twice as likely to pay
attention to advertisements placed in mobile games (41%) than ads placed on the
internet (17%), in magazines (15%), or on billboards (15%). A fondness for rewarded
video and the willingness to engage with brands who play in this space hold true
for different demographics - three in four millennials preferred opt-in rewarded ads,
and 67% of parents said they are more likely to engage with a video ad in exchange
for a reward.

Mobile gaming is also great from the marketer’s perspective. Mobile games are an
interactive experience where user input is essential. This means that key KPIs such
as engagement, targeting, and completion rates can be identified and measured
far more effectively than with passive modes of advertisement like TV ads and
billboards.

27 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


RISE OF EPHEMERAL CONTENT
Ephemeral content is a rich media format that disappears after a short duration. Stories
across apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and Messenger are all
ephemeral content. In fact Snapchat which has gained popularity among its niche audience
is built entirely around this idea. Due to its temporal nature, ephemeral content forces the
creator to be more spontaneous and thus increases the likelihood of the content being
authentic. Ephemeral content has continuously evolved and has become more popular
with large type of format such as gifs, polls and stickers. Stories also match how people
are already interacting with their phones. People hold their phones vertically about 90%
of the time and Stories are optimised for a vertical, full-screen view that feels natural and
allows people to enjoy videos and photos quickly. There are one billion Stories shared
every day across the Facebook family of apps while more than a half billion people use
them every day.

Brands are able to command greater engagement and achieve focussed targeting with
ephemeral content. Firms have been exploring different ways to define a brand and
connect with the audience using ephemeral content. There are four million advertisers
using Stories ads every month. Sony collaborated with Snapchat to promote the release
of Venom using an interactive SnapAd which had an option to buy tickets. Sony was
successful in creating a buzz around this story as well as in achieving incremental ticket
purchases.
RISE OF OTT
Globally, video and audio content have been dominating internet consumption.
Capitalising on this, Over-The-Top players (OTT) have created a stir in the market with
original content across genres. Incorporating innovative business models to increase the
network of distribution through retail, e-commerce, OEM partnerships, and much more,
OTT players international and domestic alike, have imbibed product and service offerings
that allow consumers to experience a premium value package of consuming content on
the go with mobile device proliferation.

With more than 30 OTT players and 10 music streaming apps in existence catering to
various entertainment and media demands, Indians are prone to consuming content
across an array of digital formats and platforms. At this rate, soon, the focus is bound to
shift towards the monetisation of content.

28 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


ORIGINAL CONTENT SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY
Identifying an immense potential for original content, OTT players are estimated to
make hefty investments of approximately INR 2.5 billion for content creation as well as
distribution.

Pioneered by YouTube, original content creation and programming for the space of digital
media has come a long way. The journey began with independent Youtubers engaging
their followers with User Generated Content, further giving birth to large-scale content
creators such as Dice Media and TVF that introduced original webisodes, specifically
catering to the taste of the Indian consumer.

To balance out the above capital investments, OTT players have further strategically
introduced basic affordable packs, for example the ‘Hotstar VIP’ low-cost subscription
pack and Netflix powered ‘mobile only’ plans introduced at 50% cheaper rate. Amazon
Prime and Netflix have even tied up with multiple renowned film production companies
to produce cutting-edge original content. The latest entrant in the industry that has
meticulously targeted regional content is ZEE5 by ZEE Entertainment – providing 100,000
hours of content at the time of launch.

29 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Entertainment on Mobile-
the rise of “made-for-
mobile” original content
Sameer Singh, Vice-President, Monetization,
TikTok India
Market Opportunity
In a decade from now, the Indian consumer market will jump up a position to
become the third largest after the US and China, as per Bain & Company report.
The report also adds that the country’s consumer spend is expected to grow four
times. While continuing to be among the youngest nations in the world, India will
also boast of over one billion internet users.

The market is also witnessing a steady increase in income levels at the bottom of
the pyramid which is expanding the middle-class segment. In addition to the above,
the consumption growth will come from rich and densely populated cities and
thousands of developed rural towns. However, the consumption for India is driven
by millennials and Gen Z. They are now highly accessible because of increasing
mobile and internet penetration making it easier for brands to connect with. The
prevalent market scenario presents a huge opportunity for companies to drive
visibility.

How has Advertising changed


Over the years, video has changed the world of advertising and the format is no
more restricted to just a television commercial (TVC). The shrinking attention span
of consumers is forcing companies in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG),
banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), pharma, fashion and cosmetics,
entertainment and technology among other sectors, to move away from the one size
fits all, cookie-cutter strategy and embrace newer ways and formats of advertising.

Short Format Video Gaining Traction


UGC platforms are gaining traction due to increased mobile penetration in Tier II and
III cities as well as semi-rural and rural areas. This has opened up a massive market,
which was earlier difficult to reach and hence called for a distinctive engagement
strategy. These users are constantly watching, sharing and uploading video content
via mobile phones across digital platforms. They have an inherent need to co-create
giving brands an opportunity to connect with them. Using short, imaginative mobile
videos can thus become a catalyst in not only building brand awareness but also
engaging directly with this rapidly growing, immensely aspirational market.

30 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Entertainment on Mobile- The Rise of “made-for-mobile” original content, Sameer Singh

A brand campaign that grabs attention of its target consumers, in a matter of few
seconds, makes it valuable. The message not only leaves a long lasting impact but
also gives the brand a ‘game changer’ status in the market. Short format video
advertising, enables brands to achieve this and more. Marketers are now realising
its potential for business growth.

Aiding them in this approach are mobile application platforms thriving on user
generated content (UGC) thanks to their huge active user base. Given the huge
potential offered by this format, industry players need to wake up to the reality.
Advertising strategies need to ensure significant traction as well as higher levels
of consumer engagement.

Some companies have taken to this medium for new product launches and
enhancing visibility for existing ones and the results have been encouraging.
Among recent examples are brands like ITC and PepsiCo India whereby the
companies have optimised this format enabling content that goes viral thus
creating a multiplier effect.

Strategy to Go Beyond
Short video platforms with a user base that is spread across the country thus
becomes the most appropriate medium for companies and brands to engage
with. Video advertising is not new. The sheer volume of videos available online,
coupled with the consumers shrinking attention span, highlights the urgency for
brands to create campaigns that communicate effectively in the shortest possible
time. TikTok, pioneers in the short video format space, has successfully enabled
advertisers reach and engage with their audiences in an effective and relatable
manner. The platform has already witnessed multiple innovative and wildly
successful campaigns based on this engagement format led by user generated
content and experiences.

Short video platforms are beginning to play a meaningful role in the brand’s
journey. Short format videos will also be the way forward for companies seeking
higher consumer engagement, visibility and market share through increased sales.

31 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


With Mobiles, On-the- go
Entertainment gets a move
on
Gulshan Verma, SVP & Head, Client & Agency,
Hotstar
We see them everywhere. People staring at their mobile phones, rarely looking
away, seemingly mesmerised. They do this while walking to work, in trains or taxis,
while eating their meals and even while another screen – the TV – is flickering right
in front of them. So engrossed are we in our phones that we check them more than
100 times a day.

This is the new, connected consumerism practised by the ‘mobile customer’. It isn’t
just that consumers are now always on; they are empowered and evolved.

Many businesses, however, stick to traditional marketing methods weighed down


by years of legacy thinking. We often notice that marketers fail to apply personal
preferences as consumers to their methods. Digital transformation requires not
just a change in processes, but mindsets. Nowhere is this more important than in
the entertainment content industry.

Entertainment and mobiles: Growing together


There is an unprecedented availability and consumption of mobile entertainment
content: streaming media, video on demand, mobile TV, games. There is no doubt
anymore whether the demand for such services exists. The only question is how
fast entertainment on mobile will grow. In fact, the entertainment industry has
understood not only the potential for going mobile-first to reach this growing
audience but – and this is critical – also to re-engineer production and distribution
for this new reality. One of the manifestations of this is entertainment as a social
watching experience and the introduction of gamification into the mix.

Take the VIVO Indian Premier League (VIVO IPL) 2019. Hotstar elevated the
broadcast to India’s first social cricket viewing experience. The streaming app
enabled viewers to invite friends and family to Hotstar, enabling them to watch
matches and participate in the Watch N’ Play game together. Fans could compete
through a leaderboard and chat about the match with each other as well as with
experts and celebrities.

Strategic partnerships ensured an even greater value add. Winners of Watch N’ Play
could redeem their points through a partnership with Amazon Pay. A partnership
with food delivery app Swiggy meant viewers could order food from Hotstar itself,
ensuring they didn’t miss any of the action on the field and didn’t have to leave the
app.

32 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


With Mobile on-the-go Entertainment gets a move on, Gulshan Verma

Advertisers, meanwhile, were offered more efficiency than ever before – they could
target 24 cohorts during the live streaming in addition to contextual branded cards
showcasing offers, mini games and polls, which created a unique opportunity to
engage viewers at scale.

The customer journey is now fully mobile


It is a mistake to believe that customers use phones only to buy things. It’s a lot
more sophisticated; customers use phones for research, to educate themselves and
to make informed choices. This is creating a new marketing paradigm. Marketers
understand that modern mobile use is also a quest to be more productive. It’s
a journey of discovery and also of convenience wherein app use saves time
but technology allows us to also customise as per user behaviour, location and
demographic, thus making content more relevant, cost-effective and likely to be
consumed.

This is why we’re pushing a new measurement paradigm. Marketers would focus
on click-through rates but advertising units have moved beyond clicks. The range
of ad formats today spans the gamut from branded cards to carousels, drive-to-
store, native images, mid-rolls and even lead generation options.

Branded content is here to stay


With branded content, the key is to grab the audience’s attention and drive
engagement through content. We find that branded content entertains, teaches
and results in better engagement than standard content.

A recent Quaker Oats campaign comes to mind. As the category leader, it wanted
to be in tune with younger consumers. The brand understood that, as this audience
moved away from TV towards digital, it needed an innovative and a non-intrusive
approach. The research was the key – it indicated that consumers were actively
searching for upcoming shows and binge watching them on their phones. They
were also actively searching for healthy, quick and tasty breakfast recipes.

Partnering with Hotstar, Quaker Oats developed a show in which celebrity chef
Vikas Khanna came up with delectable recipes featuring the product. The show
also featured celebrities like Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar and leading actors
from the South like Vishu Vishal and Raiza Wilson.

The show leveraged multiple ad formats to target health enthusiasts identified


from the apps they used, from mid-rolls and pre-rolls to billboards and display
units, to drive awareness and purchase intent. Social media posts by celebrities
made the show resonate with millennials.

The data was clear about the impact: there was a significant rise in key brand
metrics, aiding awareness and purchase intent. The campaign reached over 22
million users and became Hotstar’s No. 2 English show after ‘Koffee with Karan’.

33 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


With Mobile on-the-go Entertainment gets a move on, Gulshan Verma

The new measurement paradigm


How should marketers measure on mobile? The answer lies in the leveraging of
first-party data. Let’s understand this through a CEAT campaign that ran during the
last ICC Cricket World Cup. It aimed to establish CEAT as the preferred two- and
four-wheeler tyre brand by delivering its core proposition of ‘long-lasting tyres’.

The campaign used the medium wonderfully. The brand became synonymous with
match highlights through the ‘Highlights by CEAT’ video that got more than 300
million views, cutting through the ad clutter and reaching audiences beyond the
live match. The campaign drove local engagement through six language feeds and
retargeted website visits to drive purchase intent.

Here’s what CEAT’s data said about the campaign: direct searches for the website
rose threefold, resulting in a 10% increase in website sessions as well as a 40%
growth in website leads.

As you can see, we need to go beyond click-throughs to actions that tie in more
closely to business objectives.

Even as content creators and marketers put in place relevant measurement systems,
there is a lot of work left in terms of content discovery and user interface. However,
it is an unstoppable force. As devices and data access get cheaper, we will see
greater mobile entertainment consumption and newer technologies – all of which
will make our mobile viewing experience richer.

To summarise, I’ll leave you with the following to consider:

· Mobile video is a key tool for brand-building now

· The creative must be more than a 30-second ad spot or impression. Without


social, gamification and content-driven experiences, it’s unlikely to work

· RoI measurement must link to core business and marketing goals – whether
that’s incremental sales to new footfalls or consumer perception changes

34 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


The Trends That Will
Shape Mobile Internet in
2020 and Beyond
Sandeep Bhushan, Director and Head of Global
Marketing Solutions, Facebook
The last decade was one of unimaginable innovation, social enterprise, and personal
expression, and the driving force behind these changes was the mobile phone. If
the first decade of the millennium brought the power of mobile into our lives, the
second decade taught us how to harness this power for larger social, economic,
and personal good. As we enter the new decade, the possibilities are limitless.
Here are four key trends and insights that can help the marketer in the mobile-age
navigate the next decade.

Build for the consumer who doesn’t have time for you
Mobile has fundamentally changed the consumer. It is the most engaged-with
device; it's where people turn to be inspired, entertained, and informed. Mobile
has significantly contributed to the speed at which people process ideas and
information, and there has been a massive shift towards mobile video consumption
due to both data democratization and the ease mobile phones provide for video
viewing - it can be on-the-go and viewed with sound-off. Marketers and creative
agencies need to urgently understand and embrace this consumer-shift, and
rethink advertising to consumers with short-form mobile video storytelling.

Create content that is built for mobile


The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and Facebook recently released a
whitepaper on short-form video strategy titled ‘From a Blink to a HeartBeat’. The
most important insight from this study is that the cognitive process is faster than
we thought, and that the human brain needs less than half-a-second to engage
with mobile advertising and trigger a reaction, positive or negative. The main
implication of these findings is that brands have less time than they thought
they did to win consumers in a fast-paced advertising environment. This is the
fundamental idea behind Facebook Thumbstoppers, an industry-wide capability
building program launched in 2019 in partnership with leaders from the advertising
and marketing industry to transform storytelling for mobile video ads.

The rise of visual and video content enables greater expression for the millennial
consumer and has also contributed towards the meteoric rise of ephemeral
communication - content that fades away after some time. At Facebook for
instance, we are continuing to see fast adoption of ephemeral content and across
the Facebook family of apps 1 billion ‘Stories’ are shared every day [2].

35 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


The Trends That Will Shape Mobile Internet in 2020 and Beyond, Sandeep Bhushan

Mobile phones have also democratized the content space; Today everyone has
the ability to express themselves, and influence their immediate social circles.
Platforms such as Instagram are enabling people to unleash expression in ways
that were unthinkable earlier. A Facebook-commissioned survey by IPSOS revealed
that 64% percent of people on Instagram have interacted with influencers that
matter to them, and that 40% end up learning about products through influencers.
The tables have turned and brands are no longer the ones doing all the talking.
The marketer in the mobile-age needs to figure out how to change things up to
influence the Influencer.

We live in an era in which people are using their mobile phones for purchasing
everything from electronics and clothes to groceries and services. This makes
it important for businesses to think about making the consumer journey more
seamless and personalized on mobile. At Facebook, we enable people to Click-
to-WhatsApp and and Click-to-Messenger from an Ad on Facebook to help them
have personalized conversations to answer queries, and receive guidance as well
as a more customized experience.

Measure the right business outcomes to drive impact


As we embark on the next decade, it’s imperative that brands focus on measuring
the right business outcomes as much as they focus on building exciting campaigns.
Since 2014 digital ad spends in India have consistently grown, yet the industry
lacks robust measurement standards. Nielsen India has been the torchbearer
when it comes to bridging this gap in particular for the FMCG industry. In 2019,
Nielsen launched Custom Mix Modeling (CMM) in India, which is a traditional-
trade heavy market. This solution will help FMCG advertisers measure sales ROIs
of individual digital publishers using the same method as for TV and Print. The
solution was piloted by Facebook, successfully deployed by Mondelez, and is now
being adopted by other FMCG organisations.

Empower the consumer by giving greater control and transparency


As we navigate the new rules of mobile Internet, we need to also become more
committed to setting new standards of transparency to empower the consumer.
Brand safety is at the heart of Facebook apps and technologies. With the aim of
giving people more transparency and control over their data, Facebook recently
rolled-out the Off-Facebook Activity tool, which enables users to see and control
the data that other apps and websites share with Facebook.

The next decade is going to play a crucial role in shaping the future of the
internet, and as the world’s largest democracy with a burgeoning mobile-internet
population, India has a unique opportunity to influence the new rules that will
shape the evolving mobile internet ecosystem. This should be the spirit in which
we should work together to take the industry towards the next phase of innovation,
entrepreneurship, and growth.

36 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


PART 3
CHANGING LANDSCAPE
OF MOBILE ADVERTISING
(AN ADVERTISER’S PERSPECTIVE)

37 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


We live in a world where change is the only constant. This environment of volatility and
change is largely influenced by the rapid advancement in technology. Even in the ad
tech world technology is being used to find more effective ways in which advertisers
can connect with consumers. However, this can only be possible when we are able to
navigate the complexity that’s born out of a continuously evolving ecosystem of content
formats and audiences. Even with this complexity, if we were to look at the growth of ad
spends on digital media the picture looks quite promising. According to the This Year
Next Year (TYNY) Report, 2019, published by GroupM with ad revenue of $294 billion in
2019, internet-related advertising is the foremost medium across the globe. Even in India,
we have seen a 30% growth and internet media spends command close to 22% of the
share which is expected to grow to 26% of the share by 2020 with mobile commanding
the largest part of the pie.

The significant shift in the way consumers consume content today has opened multiple
windows of opportunity for advertisers. Most Indians today access the Internet through
their mobile phones. 80% of the web traffic is traced back to mobile devices and it is
observed, users spend approximately 3.7 hours on mobiles per day. The number of
smartphone users in India is expected to reach 650 to 700 million by 2023, and this
number is not restricted to tier-1 or urban areas. Smartphone users in rural areas, mini
metros and tier-2 cities do not lag behind in usage of online applications and browsing
in comparison to their metro counterparts. Given this context and the expected upsurge
in mobile and internet usage in the country, it is necessary to understand the mobile
advertising ecosystem and the changes we expect in times to come. This part of the
report explores various aspects of how the mobile landscape in India is steadily evolving.

CONTENT
WITH ATTENTION SPANS OF CONSUMERS BEING SHORT, SHORT FORMAT
ADVERTISING CONTENT IS KEY

The MMA First Second Strategy Cognition Research studied two key metrics of how
consumers process advertising on mobile:

1. Attention: Percentage of Ads seen


What percentage of ads are consumers seeing?

2. Cognitive Processing: Cognitive Load (CL)


Are consumers processing the information given? Are they experiencing information
overload and stress?

38 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Motivation/Emotional Response (FAI)
Do consumers display interest and desire? Are they motivated to approach or avoid?
The human brain needs less than second to engage with mobile advertising & trigger a
reaction, positive or negative. A testament to the huge impact that short videos can have
are Facebook’s Thumb-stopper videos, a concept built on multiple meta-analyses of
thousands of campaigns. MMA’s First Second Strategy Checklist and Facebook’s Thumb-
stopper Creative Best Practices are both path-breaking studies to win with short video
ads.

The purpose

1. It aims to help marketers and agencies develop the right short video creative for
mobile

2. The recommendations are supported by MMA Cognition study and Facebook's


understanding of successful short videos.

3. The playbook is useful for both marketers and creative agencies and is designed to
help in creating a Thumb-stopper or evaluate one.

Five creative best practices for Thumb-stopper videos:

MMA in partnership with Facebook recommends the following considerations for


effective short video creatives on mobile. They are based on MMA’s Cognition research
and Facebook’s understanding of Thumb-stopper videos.

DURATION: Short video ads under 10 seconds work better

BRANDING: Showcase your brand early and often

VISUALS: Use striking visuals, colour and contrast to catch attention and move hearts

SOUND: Design for sound off, but delight with sound on

OPENING: Make the first frames of a video count

What is the human behaviour we want to change with this Thumb-stopper?


In India, sons receive preferential treatment v/s daughters in the same household by
parents because the former is seen as a future breadwinner & the latter a liability.

39 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Motivation/Emotional Response (FAI)
Do consumers display interest and desire? Are they motivated to approach or avoid?

The human brain needs less than second to engage with mobile advertising & trigger
a reaction, positive or negative. Testament to the huge impact that short videos can
have, are Facebook’s Thumbstopper videos, a concept built on multiple meta-analyses
of thousands of campaigns. MMA’s First Second Strategy Checklist and Facebook’s
Thumbstopper Creative Best Practices are both path-breaking studies to win with short
video ads.

Thumbstopper Case Study 1:

In early 2019, Facebook gave filmmaker Kiran Rao a brief to change a big cultural behaviour
using a thumbstopper video. Filmmaker Kiran Rao tells a charming yet deep story in just
ten seconds. She manages to do this by choosing to focus on the right moment. The
close-up of the milk being shared acts as a visual concept, a sticky image, that quickly
and memorably conveys a huge cultural tension.

40 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Thumbstopper Case Study 2:

In life, resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. It is our duty to
support the ailing. Facebook’s challenge to Wunderman Thompson was to tell a moving
story and show a big life moment in under 10 seconds. In this 10 second film conceptualised
by Wunderman Thompson, an arresting face in a dramatic opening moment makes it
Thumbstopping

41 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


INFLUENCER DRIVEN CONTENT ON THE RISE
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are gaining popularity specially among the millennial
generation. These platforms are homes to many influencers with consumers engaging
with them actively to know more about their passion. The reason for the rise of influencer,
is mainly fostered by the young, more expressive generation of today.

Influencer marketing isn’t restricted to celebrities anymore. Mobile has spurred user
-generated content to become the hero, thus empowering people from every corner
of the world to present their talent and put forth their opinions. This has led to the rise
of influencers from remote regions of India who previously had low visibility on social
platforms. Celebrities too prefer to interact with their fans directly through these platforms
as the interaction is more personal and authentic. With Instagram’s latest declaration of
IGTV allowing the smartphone user to create personal web series, local content creators
can now rejoice for yet another social platform to engage with their followers.

The influencer marketing industry is flourishing and would continue to grow in the future
as marketers are spending more on influencer marketing to promote their products. In
a survey conducted by Buzzoka, 18% of the brand custodians informed that they spend
more than $1 million annually on influencer marketing. Marketers believe that influencer
marketing helps them engage with customers in an interactive way and thus 80% of them
would increase ad spend next year. In terms of platform preference, marketers preferred
Instagram as the primary choice followed by Youtube and Tiktok.

PREFERRED INFLUENCER MARKETING PLATFORMS

Source: Influencer Marketing outlook – Buzzoka

A case in point is the digital-first L’Oreal Paris makeup campaign in collaboration with
Sabyasachi who is a fashion designer known for his festive collection. L’Oreal Paris
had previously launched campaigns with international designers, but this was the first
time when L’Oreal Paris associated with an Indian designer. The entire campaign was
launched on Sabyasachi’s Instagram handle featuring a variety of L’Oreal Paris limited
edition products. This campaign was a huge success and helped L’Oreal gain traction in
the Indian market reaching over 10 million people in India and abroad.

42 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


IN THE AREAS OF CONTENT AND AD FORMATS
Video Leads the Way
In 2019 we have seen all key platforms introducing new formats across all forms, be it
voice, static or video. These format innovations are being done to drive better relevance
and consumer engagement leading to better returns for ad spends. For instance, in 2019,
we saw Google introducing discovery ads and gallery ads to make the user experience
far more relevant while Facebook introduced Instagram explore, FB search ads and
placement ads to drive better user interactions.

Video is the most popular ad format globally and in India. Currently, India is the sixth
largest market in the consumption of video ads. As per Jio, their video consumption
was almost 460 crore hours per month. Native video ads have already found themselves
layered within different social media apps, engaging users in non-intrusive, short-
video formats. Investing in new types of video formats like vertical videos, 360-degree
immersive videos (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) and VR enabled videos will result in
higher revenue and engagement from users.

India is the sixth largest market in consumption of video ads

Along with video, several social media platforms have new features to keep the users
engaged. Since the average span of attention of a consumer is decreasing day-by-day,
‘stories’ have proven to be a perfect format for brands to communicate their message.
The interactive avenues provided by stories like quizzes, polls, etc help in understanding
consumer behaviour and need of the hour. Millennials prefer snackable content which
doesn’t require much efforts and allows them to share updates instantly.

Brands can leverage this format to showcase behind the scenes activities at their
workplace, humanise their brand and establish a connection with their target audience.
One in three of the highest viewed stories are from brands and businesses and sponsored
videos receive three times more comments than sponsored photos. Not only is Instagram
a choice place for marketers and advertisers, but Instagram videos are the go-to format.
In a survey conducted by Instagram, 38% of the participants said that Instagram had Ads
relevant to them and 87% of the respondent said that they took actions such as visiting
the brand website, following a brand or making a purchase online

43 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


With each and every platform having its unique format combined with the fact that all
platforms have their own sizeable number of users, the challenge for advertisers is that
independent strategies need to be developed for each ad campaign. Added to this is the
need for customisation of creatives to fit each format and adapt to various vernacular
languages to ensure maximum reach.

Compounding these challenges is the fact that 90% of new internet users over the next five
years are expected to prefer regional languages to access the internet, according to the
INMOBI Mobile Marketing Handbook, 2019. Content needs to be customised accordingly
for easy understanding and access in multiple different languages. Additionally, with the
rise of local influencers on platforms like Instagram and Tiktok, their impact and potential
needs to be taken into consideration as well.

The Opportunities On Voice


Today, the concept of a smart home is no more a novelty. With a single voice command,
one can control everything within those four walls and enjoy the luxury provided by an
array of voice assistants available like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana
and Google Assistant. Google states that of the next set of Internet users, over one billion
users will be through voice as it eliminates the literacy barrier. Indian users in particular
have taken a special interest in this comfortable medium of communication as India is
one of the fastest-growing markets in this area with 52% of Indian smartphone users
making use of these voice assistants every single day.

In a survey it came to light that 49% of respondents preferred Google Assistant, 24%
chose Google Home, 17% opted Alexa and 10% went for Siri on iPhone. Amazon’s range
of Echo speakers in the country in February 2018 has launched a huge opportunity for
Indian consumers to make the most of voice technology. This has led to India becoming
the second fastest-growing market for Amazon. And this is not surprising as 25% of
search queries in India are through voice commands.

38% of consumers who have engaged with voice ads find it less interfering as compared
to other forms of advertising. The ease with which a message can be conveyed through
speech and the pace at which technology is advancing to understand customer speech
with more precision has led to this major technological revolution.

PREFERRED VOICE ASSISTANTS IN INDIA

Source: Entertainment Infomation gathering tops voice use in India: Isobar

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Apparently, India is the only country where Uber has the provision of a call center,
thereby reinforcing our country’s state as one that is heavily dependent on voice.
Understanding this increased demand in voice-enabled searches, Indian marketers are
incorporating voice into their marketing strategies either by direct integration with these
voice assistants or infusing them into their products. India being a country with diverse
culture and languages, voice can be used for personalised communication to cater to
regional customers. Alexa is being designed in a manner which understands multiple
pronunciations of a single word and as per the makers, they are making it as Indian as
possible. This becomes convenient for users in rural areas who have recently onboarded
the bandwagon of internet facilities and are not comfortable with text-based online
searches. In a country like India, this becomes essential, as it is expected that not more
than 3% of YouTube videos here will be in English by the year 2020.

270% YoY growth in voice queries is reported by Google and this is majorly from non-
metro cities. Like Idea 4G’s #IndiaKaLiveNetwork which launched a video chatbot, a
combination of voice and video, majorly targeting the rural audience. With over 7.2 million
users responding to their campaign, the launch was a huge success.

Customer engagement becomes a cakewalk when voice is involved in your marketing


strategy as customers need to make only minimal efforts to connect with your brand. In
a recent marketing campaign, Royal Enfield commenced a ‘Guess The Price’ contest on
Google Assistant before the launch of their Royal Field Interceptor 650 and Continental
GT 650. Not only did this help them reinforce their conviction about their products,
but also garner huge traction and experience an engagement rate, 3X of their average.
Personal interaction with customers paves the way for improved customer experience.

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The interactive way of ordering food initiated by KFC saw interactions up to 4000 since
the launch of Alexa and is expected to grow in the upcoming years. SBI Life Insurance
has their insurance concepts explained on both, Alexa and Google Assistant so that
customers can acquire knowledge about them anywhere, anytime without having to rely
on their staff who will be available for a stipulated period of time only. Reliance Jio boasts
an average voice consumption around 794 minutes, on a per user basis.

To be a part of this technological wave, brands need to understand the changes they
need to introduce in their strategies to leverage the benefits of marketing through voice.
To attain the ‘zero position’ on SERP, early adopters have started to rely on innovative
methods. Conduct an in-depth analysis of your competitors and the nature of information
available for their products online. Accordingly, prepare content for your brand’s voice.

While optimising content, ensure it is aligned with technical aspects like, enabling HTML
H2 headings to questions, marking the origin using HTML mark up and enhancing your
content through sitemap optimisation and technical SEO.

While voice has the capability to be an integral part of consumers’ daily lives and brands
are actively looking for ways to accomplish this, there are certain challenges that are yet
to be overcome. For instance, the difficulty in developing an efficient voice conversation
given the various language barriers and the various dialects and accents prevalent in
different parts of our country. Given that there are quite a few companies already trying
to address some of these challenges, it won’t be surprising if 2020 turns out to be the
year where we move from touch to voice.

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MEASUREMENT
MOBILE DEVICES CRITICAL IN ATTRIBUTING ONLINE TO OFFLINE SALES – MMA
POV

For the FMCG players especially those who have been big spenders overall, traditional
media has been holistically evaluated, but robust sales ROI measurement for digital
spends has been lacking. Nielsen, India along with Facebook, India have devised an India-
first Custom Mix Modeling (CMM) solution.

What is a CMM solution


With the growing digital consumer base and rapidly changing preferences, platforms are
jumping on the band-wagon to make the most of the favourable trend. In recent years,
Media viewing time has increased many folds and so has the number of publishers - for
which there are no proven outcomes.

The advertisers are spending heavily on Digital but investments are attributed amongst
multiple platforms with campaigns barely lasting for a shorter duration, so the measurement
requires more granular data points for robust evaluation. Nielsen’s marquee Marketing
Mix Modeling solution has been solving for optimisation questions within the marketing
mix. However, retail sales data for FMCG in traditional trade heavy markets like India is
available only at a monthly cadence. The lack of weekly retail sales data for building
MMMs leads to missing out a comparable (with traditional media) and robust evaluation
of the more nascent and discontinuous digital investments.

The solution to this challenge is Nielsen’s Custom Mix Modeling – launched with a retail
panel of traditional trade outlets to collect sales data from sampled stores on a weekly
basis and integrates with Mix Modeling to evaluate the impact of Digital Advertising on
the sales of selected FMCG brands.

Key insights enabled

How does Digital compare with Other Media channels?

Within Digital, which platforms provide a better ‘bang for the buck’?

Which Digital formats can be prioritized for future planning?

Are long duration ads really more effective than shorter ads?

Is there a headroom to increase in a particular platform without saturating?

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How it works

Weekly retail sales trends from custom panel + monthly retail sales from nielsen’s rms
services + nielsen’s gold standard modeling techniques & experience = robust & granular
digital insights

Benefits & usage

Granular insights: dive deeper into digital execution at a platform, format, assets and
duration level to identify what works and what can be prioritized for future planning

Robust & quick turn around: find the confidence to make tactical changes with robust
recommendations being delivered in under four weeks from data sign off

Maximise testing abilities: before deploying heavy investments on creatives and


placement decisions that are untested, advertisers can now test them at a small scale for
brief periods with quick results to gauge their impact

Best in class analytics: we are recognised as a leader in analytic best practices and we
use these learning to continuously improve the precision and speed of our models. We
dedicate significant resources for innovation to ensure we keep our clients on the cutting
edge.

Source: Nielsen launches India-First ROI Measurement Solution

Custom Mix Modeling vs Marketing Mix Modeling

In India, and globally too, Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is prevalent in helping
brands estimate the impact of marketing tactics on their sales and formulating optimal
media plans. But MMM typically needs past data over a period 24 to 36 months, and
unless a brand has a huge amount digital spends over a long period of time, it can only
provide digital data as a chunk, without individual publisher-related insights. Whereas,
CMM basically looks at the impact of media platforms on sales, and provides digital ROI
insights. It also enables quick tests that can evaluate sales impacts of different creatives,
ad formats and placement decisions vis-a-vis sales ROI. CMM focuses on outcomes that
marketers want, instead of an endless list of input metrics.

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BUSINESS IMPACT OF MOBILE ADVERTISING

The role played by a mobile device to influence a consumer to purchase in a physical


store has become significant today. Researching a product for most consumers starts
on their mobile phones and the platform they choose to make the purchase depends on
their convenience. More than half of modern consumers discover a product online and
multiple studies have shown that content discovered online plays a critical role in their
purchase decision. This makes it important for advertisers and marketers to analyse the
revenue generated through their mobile campaigns which is often difficult as compared
to offline campaigns.

Limiting your results to ‘clicks’ received online will not give you a true picture of your
sales. In fact, according to Google, a single makeup purchase is a result of 40 organic
searches and 125 touch points digitally. The final step was finding a nearby location
suitable for the consumer to complete the buying process. Online to offline attribution
is no more restricted to large enterprises with retail presence as the consumer journey is
not linear anymore.

Measuring walk-ins as a result of mobile-driven campaigns has always been a challenge.


However in 2019 many retail brands have tried adopting various solutions to try and
get approximations in the number of walk-ins and incremental sales driven by mobile
campaigns. Some of the solutions adopted are as follows,

• Geo-targeting can be used by stores to ensure that people walking into their stores
are due to the mobile ads targeted to individuals within a particular radius of the store.

• Solutions provided by Google analytics and Lifesight can be used to drive an


approximation on the number of walk-ins attributed to campaigns done on mobile.

• Assigning specific codes to vouchers obtained from mobile ads so that brands receive
an exact number of customers who are present in the store because of their mobile
marketing campaign.

• Some brands especially in the auto category prefer to use the traditional approach of
matching PI data with web data. This happens when a store manager requests for PI
data at the counter or store and sends that feed to the common customer database
where details are mapped on given parameters.

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• Foot traffic can be measured through beacon technology, which allows your attribution
partner to capture IDs of mobile devices and trace it back to your campaign.

• Point-of-Sale Data method solely depends on the credit card purchases and the
association of your credit card company with a data company.

• Panel Data relies on the location data entered by customers and then is matched with
your campaign.

Different brands adopt different means to measure outcomes. A recent study ‘Online to
offline attribution playbook’ by GroupM and Lifesight, found that costs needed to drive
footfalls to stores differ from category to category.

For example, the average cost incurred to drive consumer footfall is the highest for
consumer durables and automobiles, and the least for quick service restaurants and
fashion outlets. The Retail Sector takes only 2-3 days to experience walk-ins from an
exposure. On the other hand, the fashion industry requires the most number of exposures
to expect a considerable number of walk-ins.

AVERAGE INDEXED COST PER VISIT (CPV) ACROSS THE CAMPAIGNS


THAT LIFESIGHT HAS SPLIT BY VERTICAL

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Evaluating of Online Media
on Offline Metrics
Madhubanti Banerjee, Director, Marketing
Effectiveness, Nielsen Media, South Asia
The most popular story in the media and advertising scene in the past couple of
years has been the rise and rise of digital. This encompasses increase in internet
penetration as well as increase in time spent on smartphones. Understandably, the
highly competitive race for the consumer’s mind space and basket space has got
a nitro-boost. Digital ad spends have seen the highest increase in the media mix.
Added to that is the fact that the increase in digital hasn’t been only off the back
of the usual suspects selling the usual ware of format and asset types. The ever
growing digital user base has inspired digital marketers to be creative about their
creatives, not only within the creatives, but also on newer ways of serving the ads
– new formats, new assets. Think of Facebook’s Thumbstoppers or Google’s Home
Feed. While ad monies too have been increasing year-on-year, the fragmentation
of the media fabric is only enhancing the advertiser’s dilemma – “where would you
put your money?”

The key to answering this question is a thorough evaluation of the attribution of


the advertiser’s KPI to these media channels. When we’re looking at this attribution
from an online media to an online KPI, we find that tech advancement has provided
us with quite a few optimal and sub-optimal options. However, when we focus
on the attribution of offline KPIs to online media, we mostly depend on rigorous
modelling options. The important point on the latter is that, in order to fetch us the
best results, the data used to build our models have to be extremely granular – be it
the media input, or the KPI. This granularity has to exist in both a cross-sectional, as
well as time series level. Both are easy to do with the right expertise in this field. For
sectors like auto, ecommerce, BFSI, etc., at times the data availability is so high that
modeling through that can be quite the task. However, the data challenge often rises
for specific sectors like FMCG when we hunt for a time-series granularity in Sales,
in traditional-retail heavy markets like India. The sales offtake data in these markets
are usually available at a monthly cadence. On the other hand, digital activations
are often shorter, weekly, and are also too many at the same time. Putting these
two data together can often lead to a less than desired outcome in terms of smaller
online channels getting missed out, shorter campaigns not rendering a robust result,
etc. Nielsen found a way out of this a couple of years back by launching a retail
panel which would sample stores from top metros and provide a weekly sales index
for a bunch of brands. We leveraged this and our industry vetted mix modelling
approach to provide advertisers with the digital results that might not have been
possible earlier.

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Evaluating of Online Media on Offline Metrics, Madhubanti Banerjee

The most popular story in the media and advertising scene in the past couple of
years has been the rise and rise of digital. This encompasses increase in internet
penetration as well as increase in time spent on smartphones. Understandably,
the highly competitive race for the consumer’s mind space and basket space has
got a nitro-boost. Digital ad spends have seen the highest increase in the media
mix. Added to that is the fact that the increase in digital hasn’t been only off
the back of the usual suspects selling the usual ware of format and asset types.
The ever growing digital user base has inspired digital marketers to be creative
about their creatives, not only within the creatives, but also on newer ways of
serving the ads – new formats, new assets. Think of Facebook’s Thumbstoppers
or Google’s Home Feed. While ad monies too have been increasing year-on-year,
the fragmentation of the media fabric is only enhancing the advertiser’s dilemma
– “where would you put your money?”

Some of the ways we could utilize this for the advertisers’ benefits are:
• Understanding the impact of 2 different creative formats and helping decide
which one truly works better in driving sales
• Doing a deep dive into a digital publisher to assess how the different asset
types were working for the particular brand
• Proving robust ROIs for each publisher separately for an advertiser who had
recently started investing in digital

Since the digital explosion in India is nowhere near saturation, there will be research
and studies to assess how the consumer’s consumption of media is changing.
However, we should not lose focus on the true and robust attribution of these
media channels to end KPIs, that impact business directly.

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BRAND SAFETY
ABOVE AND BEYOND AD EXPOSURES FOR EFFECTIVENESS VALIDATION IN
MOBILE ADVERTISING
The overarching realm of Brand safety, Ad fraud and Viewability, includes multiple
risks and security issues that advertisers face in the digital supply chain. These include
the financial risks of viewability and fraud, as well as the reputational risks of content
appearing in the wrong or inappropriate environment, thereby adversely affecting the
user experience. When such risks are averted, it results in a quality impression, i.e. one
that is viewable, devoid of invalid traffic and in a secure environment.

Because of the large risks run by advertisers in terms of their ads appearing alongside
inappropriate or aggressive content, there is an increasing trend towards creating
original branded content. Others are still identifying the true definition of viewability and
understanding the need for a common metric for digital video.
The Challenges Around Effectiveness
While mobile advertising is being adopted by several brands, it comes it with its own set
of challenges. Along with lack of efficient technology to measure the viewability acquired
through mobiles, factors like ad load speeds, distraction for users while browsing through
other content and absence of a global standard to measure results decrease the benefits
of mobile advertising. With India at the forefront of mobile ad fraud in Asia, with a rate
of 62%, marketers are spending increasing amount of resources on the prevention of the
same. This is a result of the instant rise in smartphone users and illegal methods opted
by fraudsters to meet their demands and grow quickly.

According to the Ad Fraud Benchmark Report, 95% of the respondents to their survey,
felt that a lack of effective penalties and measures was the reason for sustained increases
in ad fraud incidences. Experts have said that the use of Blockchain technology could be
a measure to counter this problem.
BAV isn’t just about Tools, but also about Measures
• Tech and Tech Experts: According to YouTube’s transparency report from December
2018, the platform removed 8 million inappropriate videos in the fourth quarter, of
which 81% were detected by machines. This clearly indicates that the use of AI in
the elimination of controversial or suggestive content, can be a strong solution. And
considering Google’s collaboration with the Media Research Council, YouTube sees
95% viewability in multiple markets.

53 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


• Third-Party Verification: Adding to the measures of inclusion and exclusion lists and
avoidance categories, 2019 has brought with it sentiment analysis tools which classify
content on the basis of whether the topic falls into a negative, neutral or positive
sentiment. Currently, there is a need for sophisticated technology such as image
recognition and computer vision to be easily and openly available to all.
• Ensuring Ad Space is from Reputed Publishers: Though this often means increased
expenditure because of the expensive deals from premium, reputed publishers such
as Google, it is an investment that several advertisers are making because cheaper,
longtail inventory-based deals often carry risk with them.

• Brand Safety Awareness: With the trigger of ads appearing alongside extremist
and terrorism-based videos, 2017 started the wave of awareness on Brand Safety.
However, as the scale of digital advertising is increasing, the concept of brand safety
is expanding to include public safety and supply chain integrity. With the increased
utilisation of user data for targeting, it has also become important to consider their
privacy and data protection. Under bodies such as the Global Alliance for Responsible
Media, collaboration across industries is also being encouraged, which will ultimately
result in more holistic and systemic solutions.

• The Accountability of Social Platforms: While harmful, often illegal content is


introduced to viewers and readers via artificial intelligence that is ignorant or even
trained to do so, these technologies are now flipping to include trust indicators built by
conscientious and legitimate media. Social platforms that wisely choose to incorporate
these measures are trusted more and therefore patronised more by advertisers and
buyers who are actively protecting their brands. Facebook has significantly improved
BAV benchmarks through its brand safety controls such as Block lists, inventory filters
etc. These controls allow you to block certain URLs or sensitive content on in-stream
video, Instant Articles and Audience Network. Facebook also ensures that only apps,
websites and Facebook Pages that comply with Facebook policies can be part of
Audience Network.

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Driving Mobile Effectiveness, and How
Apart from adopting BAV tools, brands are also looking at several other initiatives that
can be executed to bring forth mobile effectiveness. These include:

• Incorporating a 360-degree view of the customer’s journey. Being aware of the sales
generated is not enough, understanding the ‘how’ part of it is equally important.
• Working only with MRC-certified partners, have a SDK integrated inventory and make
payment for properly measured impressions only.
• Ensuring that hygiene metrics are in place and no frauds such as click spamming and
ad stacking occur.
• Demanding for complete transparency in every stage while working with AdTech
partners, right from reporting to pricing.
• Acquiring a comprehensive understanding of multiple attribution models to gain a
complete understanding of ROI of the mobile campaign.
• Placing your ads in mobile apps in a manner, which is visually appealing and does not
obstruct the user’s attention.
• Partnering with third-party vendors to eliminate clicks or installs which are done by
you.
• Encouraging users to view your content and ensure it is personalized and relevant as
47% of the consumers worldwide have installed ad blockers.

TECHNOLOGY
Header Bidding Spurring Further Mobile Ad Monetisation
Until recently, a sequential or waterfall model was being used by publishers to offer ad
spaces to advertisers. They used to pay a certain amount for a particular number of
impressions and when this number was exhausted, visitors were made to enter a real-
time auction scenario and advertisers used to bid their ads to visitors. Ad spaces used to
be auctioned once the ad placements start loading on a webpage. The overall revenue
generated from this system was less for publishers.

With the introduction of header bidding, an advanced programming technique, now


publishers can make their inventory available to a huge number of ad exchanges
simultaneously, thereby increasing their monetary benefits. Along with this, they also
obtain complete control of the system, aware of whom they are selling it to. Advertisers
also get access to complete transparency of the inventory and can analyse the price of
each ad space.

Publishers have witnessed an increase in their revenue by 70% when header bidding was
implemented within their Fuse platform. To make things easier for publishers, header
bidding wrappers are available, to assist them in having an organised procedure for bidding
in place like rules for auction, the buyers list, triggers for each auction, etc. Exchange
Bidding is a product by Google which depends on server-to-server connections in order
to reduce the page latency experienced with page tags and also to increase views and
yield.

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As we move today to a mobile-only future, header bidding has found its space among
mobile apps and revolutionised mobile ad monetisation. Technological barriers earlier
faced due to header bidding in apps have been reduced and a bidding model for mobile
applications has been developed. Considering the fact that on average, a person has
over 80 apps installed on their phone, mobile in-app advertising is a competitive space.
Mobile header bidding has increased by 41% and the amount of money spent on mobile
ads in line with header bidding in APAC has increased by 26% in Q3. This has garnered
attention from advertisers as they are now able to auction in real-time instead of following
a hierarchy even in mobile applications. Also, publishers are able to see individual bids for
each impression and understand the actual highest bidder for an impression, resulting in
greater revenue.

The Role and Potential of Marketing Technology


With AI and ML being among the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends of 2019. Data-driven
professionals, in particular, use technology for fraud prevention, customer acquisition and
lead generation, personalisation and programmatic buying. AI and ML also give unique
insights into what customers need and expect. AI algorithms ensure that the consumer
experience is specially tailored to their needs. Together with machine learning, systems
learn the various kinds of personalisation in a context-dependent manner. Nuanced and
quick analyses of the customer journey can also act as predictors for future consumers
and their needs.

This also helps to determine what strategies and tactics worked in the past and might
work in the future. From CRM to Programmatic Ad Buying, automation and artificial
intelligence are already making the advertising process more efficient and also more
insightful. Going a step forward in terms of customer satisfaction and user experience,

Zero UI essentially means the absence of any clicking or typing, and instead resorting
to voice, gestures and touch to input information. One primary goal of Zero UI is to
ensure that machines understand humans’ natural behaviours. Marketing technology is
slowly but steadily taking us in this direction, where the user-device interaction is utterly
seamless.

Altogether, the correct implementation of technology in marketing and advertising


ensures that every decision in terms of strategy and execution is made with the customer
at the centre, and is derived from accurate and precise consumer insights, rather than
hits and misses or the results of painstaking, manually collected and possibly biased user
information.

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Brand Safety is Taking
Ad-Fraud to Boardrooms
Amit Relan, Co-Founder & Director, mFilterIt
The issues emanating out of ad-fraud are changing the outlook of C-Suite with
increased realization of how damaging bad placements can impact the reputation
of the brand.
Over the past 2 years there has been a phenomenal rise in the stature of Ad-Fraud
where earlier Ad-Fraud was being seen as a tactical level challenge primarily focused
around optimizing the marketing spends. Now Ad-Fraud and Brand Safety is at the
centre stage of organisations where C-Suite is trying to resolve by prioritizing in
terms of Trust and Safety framework and embedding within digital transformation
charter.
mFilterIt has held several C-level workshops with clients to empirically establish the
relationship between Ad-Fraud and Brand Safety. This has completely changed
the perspective of the respective managements who have been since developing a
charter around keeping Brands Safe.

Campaign Quality Assessment: There is a need to have a holistic proactive assessment


of campaigns. Rather than being reactive where Brand Safety issues would already
have tarnished the reputation of the brand, thorough assessment of campaigns
prior to them being activated can not only eliminate Ad-Fraud to a greater extent
but also ensure any of the Brand Safety issues does not creep up.

Standardisation and Code of Ethics: It is frustrating at times for brands to do an


equitable objective measurement and assessment of campaigns. Every publisher
would have subtle nuances in their terms and conditions. Also, the levels of tolerance
for IVT (invalid traffic), etc., would differ. Advertisers would be much relieved to have
a standard measuring framework as well as code of ethics to evaluate a publisher
against. These inputs would give them a lot of insights to identify the best partner.
At the same time, publishers doing a great job, would be able to leverage from their
track record.

Specialised Skillset: Holistic Ad-Fraud and Brand Safety can be effectively steered
only by specialists having an in-depth view of the niche domain. They need to have
a view of the strategic implications as well as an understanding of the tools and
techniques used in deciphering the issues. The ecosystem has to build platforms
for domain-specific education to devise effective strategies as well as empower the
operational managers with the requisite tools and techniques.

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Brand Safety is Taking Ad-Fraud to Boardrooms, Amit Relan

With the digital space getting as excited as it could be, and some transformational
disruptions around, Ad-Fraud and Brand Safety is only gaining in the priority index
of CXOs. Brands are increasingly becoming Direct to Consumer and that is pushing
them for ‘delightful’ and ‘intelligent’ Digital Transformation.

Brand Safety and Ad-Fraud cannot be addressed by one single partner of the
ecosystem. It has to be a collective effort of advertisers, agencies , publishers,
enablers and influencers. While advertisers and publishers would many a times fall
at the opposite side of the equation for their genuine business interests, it is the
job of enablers and influencers to create such platforms where these priorities are
curated resulting in neutral, unbiased and structured framework reaping benefits
for all to cherish.

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PART 4
INITIATIVES BY
MMA

59 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


MMA WORKING COUNCILS
The MMA has enabled council formation on the MMA board with a mission to shape the
future for modern marketing and adopt it at scale. With this goal in mind, the councils in
2019 focussed on driving change and enabling POV in areas of content, measurement and
brand safety and building guidelines, standards and best practices in mobile marketing

CONTENT CHARTER
The creative committee continues to strive to build guidelines and best practices for
effective short format advertising content-a primary focus area. MMA’s What’s your First
Second Strategy based on Cognition Study: From a Blink to an Imprint to a Heartbeat
and the From a Blink to a Heartbeat – Playbook by MMA & Facebook formed the bulk of
the initiatives under this charter.

MMA’s What’s your First Second Strategy based on Cognition Study: From a Blink to an
Imprint to a Heartbeat

Using neuroscience to really understand the human brain’s reaction to advertising (actual
cognitive process) is a relatively new technique applied to advertising that pushes our
knowledge boundaries beyond what previous eye tracking studies allowed. This study is
focused on the ‘opportunity to see’ both in mobile and desktop. The research builds on the
MMA´s commitment to science and truth in marketing for brands. Additionally, this is the
first project the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) has reviewed as part of their drive
for ‘radical transparency’ and truth in advertising research.

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One of the world’s first and most extensive neuroscience-based studies on consumer
response to mobile ads – Cognitive Processing of Advertising in a Mobile Environment by
the Mobile Marketing Association, has brought to light the fact that consumers now take
less than half a second to process the message of an ad viewed on their mobile phones
The Questions Being:

Attention: What % of ads are consumers seeing?

A simple, straightforward question, this is compounded by the numerous questions asked


and answered with regards to cognition.

Cognition: Are consumers processing the information? Are they experiencing information
overload and stress? Is there interest and desire? Are consumers motivated to approach or
avoid?

The Takeaways:

With the human brain requiring less than half a second to process the information in an ad,
the trigger is quick but the reaction could be positive or negative. In the case of mobile feed
environment, attention and cognition are significantly faster than on desktop feeds.

In terms of the disproportionality, attention does not differ for aspects such as: well-known
brands vs lesser known brands, and video ads vs static ads. In fact, even low performing ads
get attention at roughly the same time as high performing ads.

The defining factor then is the differences in cognitive load, and thus the impact this has on
emotional responses, recall value and persuasion power. Colours, handles, visual elements
and complexity, all decide how impactful a mobile ad is. This research by MMA covers all
these key points, providing insights into the kind of research that should go into building an
effective mobile ad strategy.

Source: From a Blink to an Imprint to a Heartbeat

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From a Blink to a Heartbeat – Playbook by MMA & Facebook

As you finish reading the first word of this sentence, mobile users have already processed
the overall sentiment of the latest video ad to pop up on their social media feeds. One of
the world’s first and most extensive neuroscience-based studies on consumer response to
mobile ads – Cognitive Processing of Advertising in a Mobile Environment by the Mobile
Marketing Association, has brought to light the fact that consumers now take less than half
a second to process the message of an ad viewed on their mobile phones. The reaction that
is triggered can be either positive or negative, and for ads that show poor performance,
negative emotions from viewers have already decided the brand’s fate in the first second itself.
Testament to the huge impact that short videos can have, are Facebook’s Thumbstopper
videos, a concept built on multiple meta-analyses of thousands of campaigns.

Five creative best practices for Thumbstopper videos:

MMA in partnership with Facebook recommends the following considerations for effective
short video creatives on mobile. They are based on MMA’s Cognition research and Facebook’s
understanding of Thumbstopper videos.

DURATION: Short video ads under 10 seconds work better

BRANDING: Showcase your brand early and often

VISUALS: Use striking visuals, colour and contrast to catch attention and move hearts

SOUND: Design for sound off, but delight with sound on

OPENING: Make the first frames of a video count

Together, the MMA’s First Second Checklist and Facebook’s Thumbstopper Creative Best
Practises, form a detailed and insightful guideline of sorts for marketers and creative agencies
to ace the game of the short video ad. From colour and contrast to the need of designing for
sound-off modes, while still incorporating impactful audio for sound-on viewers – these two
sets of recommendations provide an effective breakdown of the do’s and don’ts of short ad
video making, all backed by scientific research and deep consumer insights.

Source: From a Blink to a Heartbeat

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MEASUREMENT CHARTER
The measurement committee has been working extensively to enable POV on cross-media reach
and effectiveness of mobile versus other media and assess the impact of new media on business
outcomes.

MMA measurement effectiveness industry survey


To gauge the industry view and pattern of how marketers measure impact, MMA along with board
members carried out a survey on effectiveness measurement. The survey which had 30 respondents
in all including PepsiCo India, HUL, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, ICICI Bank, Vodafone Idea Ltd, Godrej
Consumer, Marico, L’Oreal, Tanishq, GCPL, BMW, TATA Motors Limited, Johnson and Johnson and
VIP Industries, to name a few, helped in understanding the gaps in media metrics and the current
measurement methods being used to measure effectiveness.

When these organisations were asked about the biggest challenges / gaps in marketing measurement
today, this is what they had to say:
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE/ GAPS IN MARKETING MEASUREMENT TODAY

MEASURES RANKED IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE FOR BUSINESS

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POV on metrics that matter
The results of the survey enabled in initiating a POV with regard to Cross-Media and Cross-Platform
measurement. Two key concerns that were often heard were ‘What are the metrics that matter and
must be measured?’ and ‘How do we measure the cross-media impact of advertising in a comparable
way across all digital and non-digital media?’
Hence the measurement effectiveness council set out to focus on the following metrics that matter:
1. Brand Metrics
2. Sales Metrics
This is true for both brand advertisers and performance advertisers, regardless of industry verticals.
For example, e-commerce clients as well as CPG advertisers run brand advertisements across media
channels, with the objective of improving mind measures via-a-vis their brand or positioning in the
market. Similarly, CPG advertisers expect that such brand advertising will have an impact on actual
sales and expect a meaningful return through incremental sales from their brand spends. Likewise,
e-commerce companies and banks rely on digital performance ads and expect higher traffic on
their web assets and apps, in addition, they expect higher sales online sales conversions or offline
conversions (account opening etc. for banks).

Output Vs Input metrics


The key metrics that matter to business are output metrics, the Brand and Sales metric described
above. Very often, advertisers measure input metrics (such as TV GRPs, Click on ads, etc.) as a way
to quantify or metricize their advertising efforts. While these metrics are important to ensure hygiene
and efficiency of campaign input, these are not output metrics that ultimately matter to business
growth.
Output metrics are quite hard to measure. Mind measures are subtle and changing, and sales is
influenced by a variety of factors; throw in the reality of an ever-changing multimedia environment
and shifting consumer behavior – and it becomes clear that isolating and measuring the impact that
advertising alone had can be a challenging task.

Key Brand outcomes that matter to businesses are listed below:


• Ad Recall (did the consumer recall seeing an ad for the brand?)
• Brand Awareness (is the consumer aware of the brand?)
• Message/Campaign Awareness (did the intended communication register in the con-
sumer’s mind?)
• Consideration and Purchase Intent (did the advertisement improve consumer inten-
tion to purchase the product?)

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SmoX Cross Media case studies: How Brands Can Make Smarter Decisions in Mobile
Marketing.

An extensive global study called SMOX carried out by MMA to understand cross media reach
and effectiveness has irrefutably proven that mobile is 1.9 times more effective than other media
It helps to learn how Brands Can Make Smarter Decisions in Mobile Marketing

It highlights results from 11 case studies the MMA conducted for top brands, including Allstate,
Unilever, AT&T and the Coca-Cola Company. Each of the 11 studies in the report determines the
effectiveness of a real cross-marketing campaign against its own marketing-associated goals.
The details for it have been published by ARF and can be viewed on the below link:
Source: SmoX- Case Studies, How brands can make Smarter Decision in Mobile
Marketing

The larger challenge in this context is to carry out accurate attribution across all marketing
channels. With all these insight gaps in mind, MMA’s research provides some perspective on
better decision-making in marketing. Other observations highlighted in the study include:

Produce Creative Content Specifically for Mobile: The current research validates that marketers
can maximize the impact of their advertising when they align creative concept, format, advertising
unit, data, and delivery to communicate a brand message that is relevant in the specific moment
in the customer journey.

Target More Deeply: Most of the data targeting approaches assessed in the current case-study
series more than justified their premium (cost) and significantly improved the impact of mobile
advertising per dollar spent. This validates the theory that marketers can find great value in
understanding the customer journey and operationalizing planning insights to target “moments
of relevance” across the customer journey.

Adapt to Continuous Optimisation: This research, therefore, has implications for how a marketer
organizes teams and agencies around continuous optimization, as opposed to an annual
planning cycle.

Over and above this, MMA has launched a guidebook to delineate a MTA (Multi-Touch Attribution)
solution to maximise marketing impact

For marketing efforts to be successful in a data-driven, real-time attribution age, it’s crucial to
use an MTA solution. About 80% of the marketers agree that MTA (multi-touch attribution) is
important for maximum marketing impact but the adoption has been slow with only 40% of the
marketers actually implementing MTA till the first half of 2019.

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MMA Multi-Touch Attribution Journey Map

MTA can be simple, straightforward to apply as well and can maximise the return on advertising.
To apply it’s required to follow a process through five different stages, each having five common
components. Along the way, things to do and not do, previously released MATT tools and
documents have been included to help in the deployment and success of MTA.

Stage 1: focuses on understanding how MTA will benefit your organisation and what is required
to successfully apply it.

Stage 2: one has assess whether the necessary data is available to create MTA models.

Stage 3: focuses on setting up the first MTA project.

Stage 4: the first MTA project will be implemented.

Stage 5: The final stage requires one to maintain and expand the value of MTA to the organisation.
Instead of conventional marketing, marketers can deploy multichannel marketing strategy to
engage users in impactful ways. This makes way for a smoother experience along multiple
checkpoints which can effectively be measured by MTA (multi-touch attribution) which is
used to measure user data across channels, while linking the mobile phones to a single point of
reference.
Source: MTA Journey Mapping

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BRAND SAFETY CHARTER

The Brand Safety Committee has been working extensively on enabling best practices, standards
and guidelines for brand marketing and performance marketing by driving compliance at
various levels in the ecosystem amongst stakeholders to deter ad-fraud. The aim was to provide
guidance and learnings to brands and performance marketers. Global and local councils are
working closely to enable a brand safety guide.

Mobile Ad-Fraud India Report

MMA has also released Mobile Ad-Fraud in India Report in 2019 to enable insight and learnings
on marketer challenges on ad fraud, most common frauds and barriers to investing in robust
solutions.

The top challenge faced by marketers is Mobile Ad Fraud, which will continue or even magnify in
the future. An absence of a clear system to penalise the perpetrators and a lack of transparency
have contributed to the rise of mobile fraud.

The three highly unsafe categories of frauds are:


• Traffic Fraud
• Misrepresentation Fraud
• Attribution Fraud

Out of which traffic fraud poses the highest risk followed by misrepresentation and attribution
fraud respectively. Marketers have resorted to outsourcing the task of tackling the issue to
external parties.

The most popular vendors which provide solutions for preventing and tackling frauds are Mfilterit
and Appsflyer and Moat and IAS from an overall brand safety standpoint

Source: Mobile Ad-Fraud in India

Mobile Ad-Fraud Roadshow


Thought leadership and collaborative learning enabled by MMA by bringing experts and
marketers under one roof from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. 5 most impacted verticals being
travel, e-commerce, finance, gaming and foodtech.

Source: Mobile Ad-Fraud Roadshow 2019

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PART 5
ANNEXURE

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About MMA
The MMA’s mission is to enable marketers to drive innovation and enduring business
value in an increasingly dynamic and mobile connected world. Comprised of over
800-member companies globally and 14 regional offices, the MMA is the only marketing
trade association that brings together the full ecosystem of marketers, tech providers
and sellers working collaboratively to architect the future of marketing, while relentlessly
delivering growth today.
Anchoring the MMA’s mission are four core pillars; to cultivate inspiration by driving
innovation for the Chief Marketing Officer; to build the mobile marketing capabilities
for marketing organizations through fostering know-how and confidence; to champion
the effectiveness and impact of mobile through research providing tangible ROI; and to
advocate for mobile marketers.
MMA India Board Members

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MMA INDIA MEMBERS

70 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


71 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India
Perspectives on
Mobile Marketing
The author of this article is
Moneka Khurana, Country
Head – MMA, India.

Spamming leads to making the consumer immune or even hostile to the brand'

'Over the years, the mobile marketing ecosystem has become a fertile playground
for marketers and brands for targeted advertising. Keeping pace with the seismic
changes, in terms of technology, knowhow and best practices, requires agencies and
publishers collaborating with brands, to constantly adapt to the changing milieu.
Professionals who are at the highest rung of the ladder need to come together
to deliberated over innumerable challenges and innovative solutions to create an
environment that thrives on creativity and knowledge sharing.

Applying a digital filter to every single value chain in a business is a must


In any business today, it is imperative for brands to have a purpose which transcends
the financial matrix or the market share matrix. What’s even more significant is not
just that brands should have a purpose which is revalidated, redefined or even
created, but it’s also important to apply a digital filter to every single node of the
value chain. Since age, size, reputation, current sales and equity don’t guarantee
the existence of even a well-established brand of the future, what marketers need
to pay heed to is to be self-disruptors. Supplying benefit and additionally creating
demand by reducing the cost and not adding to the cost is a mantra that needs to
be adopted across the board by all business units.

What mobile marketers need to acknowledge while navigating this environment

One of the burning questions when it comes to mobile marketing rests on how to
leverage the medium to provide maximum mileage for the brand while ensuring
that malpractices are kept at bay. A key point that is being discussed is how mobile
works very well as a support to TV in supplementing reach. While the reach at
a higher frequency might still be a deterring factor that mobile marketers are
grappling with, spamming leads to making the consumer immune or even hostile
to the brand. One of the most effective ways to communicate on mobile is through
creating authentic content with the help of relevant targeting. But, using artificial
intelligence to think for the consumer might be dystopian.

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Leveraging content platforms


Video and audio streaming platforms are rich avenues for brands to advertise on.
While video streaming platforms are dealing with the challenges in the current
milieu and trying to figure out ways and means to deliver maximum ROI through
mobile advertising, what’s also essential for marketers is to be future ready. While
homogenous content dominates television today, content on streaming platforms
is heterogeneous in nature. Platforms where content is essentially user generated
by Gen Z, brands before leveraging these avenues must realise that this is probably
the first generation that is native born small screen users. They are multi-taskers,
using, on an average, at least five apps at the same time. However, their attention
spans are that of a goldfish (about eight seconds) and are almost dismissive of
formats which are longer in length. They are the generation that is fuelling the
growth of short-format video content.
The recent shift of consumers towards ephemerality where the content lives for 24
hours and fades away, hence brands need to gear up for ephemeral assets such as
stories. While audio streaming platforms are still at a nascent stage, there is a fair
degree of promise which marketers believe that the medium holds. However, what
has not been taken to them is empirical evidence and that’s where the task really
lies in order to establish the power of this medium. As for the OTT platforms,
marketers and brands are increasingly looking at the OTT medium to tell their
brand stories, engage with their consumers and develop long-term sustainable
relationships. In the evolution of the consumers, the brand challenges and goals
are also evolving. Digital offers all brand owners myriad ways of engaging with
consumers. It can no longer be the standard approach that they used to adopt,
whether it is in terms of creative strategies or media mix strategies.

Innovative tools that aid mobile marketing


While advertising on mobile, there are various tools which aid marketers to tell
their stories and target the consumer who is eventually the one aiding purchase,
completing the cycle. Precision marketing is leveraged by brands to communicate
with their consumer. Talking of targeting, the sweet spot is somewhere in between
a very precise audience definition to extremely broad definitions. The data being
generated by consumers with the time that they spend on a mobile device, is a
signal to the world about what they want to do more of. It’s a great opportunity
to target that intent. With precision marketing, there is some amount of data
out there giving signals. So, this is the time to leverage it. Either there is too much
information, or we are not able to go cross platform. So, it is important to invest
in capabilities like a tech-backend, capabilities of brand managers knowing how
to read data, analyse it and feed that back into campaigns. Also, use that data to
course correct campaigns midway.

Meanwhile, customising videos for digital will require re-framing, re-thinking and
re-shooting. Videos are a large chunk of what consumers end up seeing and how
you can really make those videos better. Whether they are 15 second videos which
are going up and down on a screen or they are square videos, the fundamentals
of film craft for digital remain the same. A few tweaks will be required for every
platform.

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The features which determine a thumbstopper video include duration, branding,


visuals, sound and opening. What’s even more essential is to keep in mind how
marketers only have the quarter of a second to generate a positive or negative
influence in the user when it comes to short-format video content.
Lastly, mobile voice is a tool which is going take the industry by storm in the
future. There are various ways in which marketers can prepare for the mobile
evolution. Voice cannot be a standalone gimmick and has to be integrated in
the larger marketing plan. While designing content for the audio-visual medium
has been learned and unlearned, the need to learn how content is designed for
voice is of utmost significance. One of the biggest challenged when it comes to
marketing through mobile voice is optimisation of answer box during search. The
current design only throws up the top search result which is not fruitful in the long
run. Also, what needs to change is the keyword strategy because when it comes
to voice, the focus shifts from just words to a conversation. Lastly, the UI and UX
of the interface has to be conversation friendly.
Better safe than sorry
Data suggests that 60% of marketers think that brand safety poses a serious risk.
Earlier this year, the World Federation of Advertisers did a research which said
that 70% of marketers are more worried about brand safety this year than they
were in the last year. Consumers are hearing about fake news, disinformation
and data breaches. The consumer’s trust in media has never been lower. While
technology and knowhow are being developed to help marketers practise brand
safety, a lot more work needs to be done. While marketers the world over are
taking significant efforts, tools and technologies are developing to address billions
of dollars of questionable consumer reach that we are talking about. But India is
still low on the curve.

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How Lack of Transparency


and Industry Regulations
are contributing to Mobile
Ad-Fraud
The author of this article is Moneka Khurana,
Country Head – MMA, India.
Surveys on state of ad fraud in India have revealed that the growing lack of
transparency amongst various stakeholders that are a part of today’s mobile ad
publishing chain, coupled with the absence of standardised regulatory practices,
are two of the leading menaces that allow the existence of fraudulent activities in
mobile advertising. Although marketers are adopting several methods, including
both in-house prevention measures and external partnerships to help detect and
prevent ad fraud, 90 per cent feel that they aren’t doing enough. For marketers,
it is essential to understand how data transparency and regulatory practices in
the mobile marketing space can help them reduce their vulnerability to mobile ad
fraud.
Marketers around the world have been battling the evil of ad fraud across various
platforms for a few years now, but the success rate hasn’t improved much.
According to a report on the state of mobile ad fraud in India, over 50 per cent
of Indian marketers feel that mobile ad fraud will either increase or remain the
same in 2019. Evidently, ad fraud has become a glaring issue that needs to be
addressed immediately, and to do so, it is important to identify the various factors
that contribute to its growth.

The need for transparency


Digitisation has made consumers more accessible in a hyper-personalised manner
through one single device, but it has simultaneously given rise to a complicated
web of ‘middle-men’ involved in getting a marketer’s message across to a
consumer. The emergence of different types of platforms like demand/supply side
platforms, data management platforms, ad networks, etc. has created a chain of
sorts through which an ad travels before it finally reaches the consumer, making
it highly vulnerable to fraudulent activities at any given point in this supply chain
from the marketer to the consumer.
Earlier, the process of sending out an ad was fairly simple; there was a fixed
process for every media outlet – and each had a fixed price, fixed placement and
fixed measurements of the advertising space. Marketers were completely aware of
what they were paying a certain amount for, and what return on investment they
could expect from a particular ad campaign.

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While the emergence of personalised, data-driven mobile advertising has definitely


made it easier for marketers to know where, when and why a consumer is available
on a certain platform, it has taken away their ability to know whether or not their
targeted audience even saw their advertisement.
The placement and positioning of any advertisement contributes greatly to how
it is received by the intended audience. If an ad is placed next to inappropriate
content, a user is likely to either ignore or develop a negative impression of not
only the advertisement itself but also the brand, in turn harming the relationship
between a brand and its target audience. Meanwhile, the marketer is completely
unaware of this, and is therefore unable to understand the lack of returns from a
seemingly successful mobile ad campaign.

The placement and positioning of any advertisement contributes greatly to how


it is received by the intended audience. If an ad is placed next to inappropriate
content, a user is likely to either ignore or develop a negative impression of not
only the advertisement itself but also the brand, in turn harming the relationship
between a brand and its target audience. Meanwhile, the marketer is completely
unaware of this, and is therefore unable to understand the lack of returns from a
seemingly successful mobile ad campaign.

Standardised industry regulations


Results from surveys conducted with Indian marketers have also revealed that the
lack of industry regulations is one of the major factors that contribute to the rise of
ad fraud. The global ad fraud spend is said to hit a value of USD 26 billion by 2020.
Regulatory practices must be put into place because that value is just too high to
be left unattended. The reason behind the absence of such measures is the rapid
advancement of technology. Marketers have just begun to get a grip on digital
marketing, whereas fraudsters have already found several loopholes to exploit
the online ad space being used by marketers for their campaigns. Although some
brands are working towards taking legal action against such fraudulent activities,
fraudsters are much too fast to be held back by litigatory actions that take years
to process.
Standardised industry regulations designed keeping the digital age in mind
are required for the basic safety of not only marketers looking to save their ad
expenditure, but also for publishers of online content, and consumers as well.
Rules that protect every aspect and every stakeholder in the new advertising chain
between a brand and a consumer will help protect the privacy and data generated
by consumers, along with helping marketers reduce their costs on ad fraud.

In a world that is connected 24x7, consumers create opportunities for both,


marketers and fraudsters, with every scroll and click on their screens. In order to
maintain authenticity and trust between a brand and its users, transparent and open
communication channels must be established between the various stakeholders
involved in a digital ad chain. This will help in not only reducing the money wasted
in ad fraud, but will also help brands create a stronger, deeper relationship with
their users as well. Industry regulations that are made for the digital age will help
both brands and consumers better understand how to protect their data from
fraudulent platforms, hence creating a safer advertising space where even the
smallest of brands can be protected from fraudulent activities.

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Stuff that Award Winning


Campaigns are made of
The author of this article is Moneka Khurana,
Country Head – MMA, India.
Digital and mobile are now pretty much synonymous. Number of mobile users
as well as the time being spent on handsets is also significantly increasing.
What’s more, India is a country with the lowest cost of accessing data on the
mobile phone. All these factors have made for a plush opportunity for mobile
advertising and we are seeing a deluge of them. But how does a mobile ad cut
through the clutter; how does it leave an impression…how does it become the
‘utterly butterly Amul’ of print ads. Here are some suggestions:
Ads need to get the context down pat
Two-thirds of mobile ad campaigns that win awards exhibit one thing in common
- they all use multimedia to communicate with their consumer. These campaigns
also ensured that the context was correctly understood. Context essentially
means the media environment in which the digital ad is placed. Along with
context, marketers need to take into consideration the mood and the mindset
of the consumer when he or she is interacting with the ad.
While looking for videos, consumers are in a lean forward environment and they
are looking for entertainment. On social media, the marketer is competing with
the consumer’s friends and family. As a result, they are in a lean back environment.
They are looking for distraction to spend time. Therefore, content needs to be
tailored according to the platform to reap maximum benefit. Advertising on
category relevant sites becomes important for a brand if the objective is to
achieve purchase intent. On the other hand, if it is awareness that the brand
seeks to achieve then it can be category agnostic. Campaigns that use native
content to interact with their consumers and also spoke to the consumer in their
vernacular, have seen more success that those who don’t.
Synergy between media and content is a must
Multimedia campaigns work well when they have synergy between various
media platforms. If a campaign is made for television, then it can be customized
for online as well as social media usage, helping marketers to control marketing
spends.
Synergy between the media and the content becomes an important factor in
setting a winning campaign apart from the others. To put it simply, winning
entries usually use the full power of devices.

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Consumer engagement and experience rank high


Based on the objective of the ad, there is an exchange that the brand can have with
consumers by providing something back to them. It can be achieved by providing
tangible value, by being interactive with them and by respecting them. More than
half of the winning entries use interactive campaigns and a fair number also use
mobile location targeting apps as a means of reaching consumers and providing
them relevant experiences.

Measuring the impact of campaigns adds value


However, while we need technology to put together winning ads, the most
memorable ones are those that hit the right chord at an emotional level Designing
a mobile marketing campaign is an opportunity to widen your reach as much as
possible by looking beyond your own offerings and taking inventiveness from the
ecosystem around you. There are too many variables to really pinpoint a winning
strategy. But, it never hurts to try.

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SMARTIES JURY 2019

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SMARTIES WINNERS 2019

80 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


81 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India
82 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India
83 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India
Sources:
Part 1
• Is India Reaching The Saturation Point For New Mobile Subscribers?
• India has the cheapest mobile data in world: Study
• Not dumb anymore: Riding on new tech, feature phone challenges smartphone’s clout
• Smartphone sales slow, Long live feature phones
• Digital 2020: global digital overview
• State of Mobile 2020– App Annie
• Statista Digital Market Outlook
• IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Nov 2019

Part 2
• McKinsey Global Institute Digital India Technology to transform a connected nation
• Trends in mobile content consumption and content marketing in India
• WhatsApp reaches 400 million users in India, its biggest market
• Women and mobile games: learnings for developers
• Nearly three quarters of the world will use just their smartphones to access the internet
by 2025
• Instagram Users Stats and Facts [2019 Update with Infographic]
• WhatsApp reaches 400 million users in India, its biggest market
• Mobile gaming is a $68.5 billion global business, and investors are buying in
• Hindi second-most used ‘Assistant’ language globally, says Google
• Digital payments growing in India at 12.7% CAGR: KPMG
• Alexa gets support for multi-lingual mode in India
• India’s digital future Mass of niches KPMG in India’s Media and Entertainment report 2019
• Stories Ad Format

Part 3
• TYNY report 2019
• Smartphone users expected to rise 84% to 859m by 2022: Assocham-PwC study
• Instagram for Businesses, September, 2019
• Instagram Users Stats and Facts [2019 Update with Infographic]
• Instagram Statistics That Matter for Marketers in 2020
• Facebook users in India February 2019
• Instagram users in India January 2019
• 46 Eye-Opening LinkedIn Statistics for 2020
• WhatsApp reaches 400 million users in India, its biggest market
• India leads mobile ad fraud in Asia, blockchain can help fix issues: Report

84 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


• 60+ Fascinating Smartphone Apps Usage Statistics For 2019 [Infographic]
• Your Beginner’s Guide To Zero UI
• The Enabler of The Future: AI and ML in Mobile Marketing and Advertising
• Your Beginner’s Guide To Zero UI
• Entertainment and information gathering tops voice use in India: Isobar, 2019
• 47% of Consumers Worldwide have Installed Ad Blockers: Global Web Index, 2019
• Voice Ads Are More Engaging Than Other Formats, Consumers Say
• The Changing Face of the Indian Mobile User - 2019 Mobile Marketing Handbook,
InMobi
• What is Header Bidding and Why Should you Care: Publift, 2019
• Influencer Marketing outlook – Buzzoka

Part 4
• From a blink to an imprint to a hearbeat MMA
• From a blink to a hearbeat-MMA and Facebook
• MTA Journey Mapping
• SmoX- Case Studies, How brands can make Smarter Decision in Mobile
Marketing
• Mobile Ad-Fraud in India
• MMA Global charters, reports and whitepapers

85 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Acknowledgement
We would like to extend our thanks to the following people for their continued
support, invaluable inputs and expert guidance at every juncture:
Tushar Vyas, President, GroupM South Asia

Vishal Jacob, Principal Consultant-Transformational (Digital) & Change Planning,

Pratik Borkar, Strategy Team, GroupM India

MMA Working Council Members

Special thanks to our key partners IDC, Kantar Group, App Annie

Special thanks for authored articles:

Perspective On Voice And Audio


Niraj Ruparel, Head- Mobile, Mindshare

Mobile Gaming And Marketing


Rohit Sharma, Founder and CEO of Pokkt Mobile Ads

With Mobiles, On-The-Go Entertainment Gets A Move On


Gulshan Verma, SVP & Head, Client & Agency, Hotstar

Entertainment On Mobile-The Rise Of “Made-For-Mobile” Original Content


Sameer Singh, Vice-President, Monetization, TikTok India

Brand Safety Is Taking Ad-Fraud To Boardrooms


Amit Relan, Co-Founder & Director, mFilterIt

Evaluating Impact Of Online Media On Offline Metrics


Madhubanti Banerjee, Director, Marketing Effectiveness, Nielsen Media, South Asia
The Trends That Will Shape Mobile Internet In 2020 And Beyond
Sandeep Bhushan, Director & Head of Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook
About GroupM:
GroupM India is a data-centric, digitally charged marketing services conglomerate. With
our six agencies including Wavemaker, MediaCom, Mindshare, mSix, Motivator, Essence,
and speciality services, GroupM India gives clients the advantage of global operation
and learnings, along with local expertise and market insight. With our investment in data,
technology and diverse talent, GroupM India aims to shape the future and transform
challenges into opportunities for our clients.

Discover more about GroupM at www.groupm.com.


Follow @GroupMIndia on Twitter
Follow GroupM on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/groupm

86 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India


Disclaimer
The information contained in this Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report India 2019 (“Report”) provides
the readers a comprehensive overview of the mobile marketing ecosystem in India and the various
factors that influence it. The information contained herein is purely for reference purposes only and we
assert that no business or investment decisions be made solely based on the information presented
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The information provided herein is on "as is" basis and is based on data sourced from, or provided
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87 Mobile Marketing Ecosystem Report 2020, India

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