Advertisers relying on mobile to reach rural markets: Kantar report
As per Kantar’s ‘Communicating with Rural Bharat’ report, 69% advertisers said they plan for rural markets separately
Kantar has unveiled a report - Communicating with Rural Bharat - which evaluates the power of technology in rural India. The report was launched at the GroupM Brew 2023 event on Monday.
According to the report, advertisers acknowledge that rural India needs separate planning, with an emphasis on winning in media dark markets. 69% advertisers said they plan for rural markets separately while 63% said that it was very important for their business to reach media dark markets of rural India. Meanwhile, 57% of advertisers shared that they have a strong understanding of rural markets and 31% shared that they are repurposing Urban advertising for Rural India.
The report also stated that voice tech and Word of Mouth (WOM) are perceived as critical for messaging in rural. The data shows that 89% of marketers believe that word-of-mouth recommendation is vital in rural India. Whereas 77% shared that voice tech is a vital option to reach rural consumers. Another 49% marketers said that the distribution is the best way to create salience in Rural India.
Also, to communicate with rural markets, advertisers rely on mobile (Voice Tech and Unicode SMS), said the report. It stated that rural influencers could be utilised much more given the high preference amongst marketers.
Brands are also developing intelligent Interactive Voice Platforms for rural customers, allowing consumers to have a two-way communication with marketers. As per the data, 14% of marketers agreed that they have set up an interactive voice platform whereas 49% said no but planning in the near future. Another 37% denied. 43% budget of FMCG is allocated to rural marketing efforts, while M&E industry allocates 17% of their budget towards rural marketing efforts.
As per the report, voice tech dominates advertiser preference and share of spends Base. The influencer marketing needs to be dialled up in line with advertiser preferences. Clearly, it's an opportunity for agencies to address through capability build and ROI assessment.
The report also talks about the rural consumer and factors impacting reach. U.P, Bihar and West Bengal represent 38% of Rural India. The report indicates that TV reaches only 1 in 3 individuals in UP & Bihar (less than half that of other 7 states), mobile makes up for it in these media dark states (combined TV + Mobile reach being at par with other 7 states). And the advantages of communicating on mobile in media dark states is that the reach is 2.1x as compared to TV for UP and Bihar and it always on and at hand.
However, ownership of mobile doesn't mean internet access, particularly in U.P\Bihar. The devices are basic and voice driven which clearly indicates that the voice tech is critical for brand communication via voice platforms. Interestingly, more than 1 in 4 individuals in UP & Bihar use voice-based search, more so amongst older age groups and amongst males.
According to the report, voice messaging provides a platform for sharper consumer targeting – higher recalls for female-specific campaigns amongst women and male-specific campaigns amongst men.
