‘A world with frictionless content discovery will be far more impactful’

The e4m TechManch 2022 conference witnessed an illuminating keynote address by Devika Sharma, Director - APAC - O & O Business, InMobi, on the topic ‘Seeing the Unseen in a Whirlwind of Digital Content’.

In what was a short but powerful speech, Sharma began by asking the gathering of marketing and advertising legends to take off their marketing hats, and engage as just ordinary people, all of whom consume a lot of content.

“I don’t think it’ll surprise anyone to know that more than 12000 hours of content are put out in the world on a daily basis. And it also wouldn’t be surprising for anyone to know that most of this content comes out in walled gardens,” she said, adding that on average, we consume about 4-5 hours of content every day, whether for information, or entertainment.

She illustrated the user journey of finding something to watch on YouTube, noting the steps users take to first unlock the screen, scroll through multiple apps, find and open the app, search on the app and then scroll to find the content they want to watch, play the video, with all these clicks leading to an ad, and then have it interrupted by yet another ad, involving nine clicks to watch one video. “The journey is not Short(s),” she quipped.

“When you see content, how much time do you spend on it? While some content may be engaging and relevant to you and you’ll pay attention to it, most of the things you watch you quickly forget,” said Sharma, noting that instead it would be far more impactful to imagine a world with frictionless content discovery, without having to click so many clicks. This would require a paradigm shift, a reinvention, and not just a new app.

Adding that the place and time you spent the most looking at was in fact your phone lock screen, with our devices having become our closest companion throughout the day, with users checking their lock screen at least 50-100 times a day, Sharma said. “Whether checking it during a meeting or while on the road, lock screens are where we spend so much of that day. So, what if your lock screen could be your platform, where you get updates on what you want? What if it surfaces content that it thinks would be of interest to you? What if you could shop from your lock screen, or even go live from your lock screen?”

This is what Glance is, she asserted. “It’s not an app, not where you have to go through multiple clicks on your journey, but where your content comes to you, seamlessly and without friction,” she concluded, ending her speech with a demonstration of what Glance can actually do for consumers, leading to much appreciation from the audience.