'The gaming media has space for every brand,' say industry heads
e4m GameOn summit saw a panel discussion on ‘Gaming: Driving The Next Wave Of Media Consumption’
The e4m GameOn summit hosted industry leaders to discuss several facets of the gaming industry – the consumers’ PoV, the stake for brands and the gaming community at large.
One such interesting panel discussion was on ‘Gaming: Driving The Next Wave Of Media Consumption’. The session was chaired by Nikhil Mayne, Vice President Mindshare South Head. The panellists were Sameer Pitalwalla, Head of Gaming, APAC, Google Cloud; Lalita Nayak, In-charge Marketing NPCI; Shristi Giri, Regional Marketing Head - South, Monster Energy; Suyash Dongare, Head of Digital Marketing, VIP; Pradeep Srinivas, Head of Marketing, Mercedes-Benz India; Piyush Chhaperwal - Vice President, Sales - India and Emerging Market, POKKT, AnyMind Group; Anirudh Nagpal, CEO, Ebullient Gaming India.
On utilizing the gaming space, Nayak of NPCI, said, “As NPCI, we have two relationships with the gaming community, one of which is transactions happen via gaming. We position Rupay as cool and contemporary and therefore for us sports is an inevitable space that we have tried to occupy. Naturally, esports is the next step for us because we believe that esports is an extension of sports. We are looking forward to exploring this sport.” She also shared that they created a metaverse version during IPL and they are trying to expand that further.
Sharing more insights was Dongare of VIP Bags, “We all know VIP is the first brand we see when we want to carry something. We saw this community growing. We got this insight that they are into gaming. We took one of the stalwarts of the gaming community and took their help to make us understand their requirements. We now cater to around 60-70 million people from the gamer community. This bag range is coming around August. Our association with gaming has come out as a need to provide for the community.”
As for Chapperwal of POKKT the shift has happened post-Covid in the last three years. “The number is showing. At our server, we are seeing approx. 280 million which is around 20% of India’s population and it is a huge number. That’s reflecting more on the casual gaming side. So the media consumption has changed a lot.”
Mayne said the gaming community as a consumer was much bigger than any other media vehicle for AdEx.
Nagpal of Ebullient Gaming also had an interesting take as he explained how the industry has become the most vital media now in the country. “Gaming has become a very wide and established media now, very much like cricket in India. So, it is getting products, brands, and people out there. The gaming media has space for every brand. India is seeing a great media transformation wherein gaming, tech, and lifestyle are coming together.”
Giri of Monster said, “We decided that gaming is going to be a co-pillar for us in India, specifically because of how people have moved on to the smartphone segment.”
