e4m e-Conclave: ‘Industry getting back on track by embracing changing consumer behaviour’

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the media and entertainment ecosystem in a myriad number of ways. As part of the latest edition of e4m e-Conclave 2020 webinar held on Friday industry heads from the M&E ecosystem shed light on COVID-19’s impact on the industry in India.

The esteemed panel shared insights on the media platforms that were likely to grow post-COVID, and the best sustainable business models for media & entertainment companies in these uncertain times.

On the panel were Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer, Advertisement Revenue, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd; Pradeep Dwivedi, CEO-India, Eros International Media Ltd; Rajan Bhalla, Group CMO, HT Media Ltd; Rana Barua, CEO, Havas Group India; and Rohit Jain, MD, Lionsgate South Asia. The session was chaired by Jehil Thakkar, Partner, and Leader, Media & Entertainment, Deloitte India.

Covid has changed consumer behaviour and companies in the M&E sector are re-looking at strategies, business models and monetization for a better recovery, now that we are in the unlocking stage.

Starting off the discussion, Bhalla shared that the news genre has clearly picked up in this period. “COVID had also given rise to fake news with WhatsApp messages. The traditional media brands are being seen as credible and are emerging strongly as go-to brands for credible information,” he said.

Speaking on changing media habits Bhalla remarked, “This whole advent of online news has seen a dramatic shift and we have seen an almost 43% increase in online user base. We are also looking at more than 40% growth in time spent in some of this media. Digital consumption is slowly going up. My sense is that over a period of time this will form a part of consumer behaviour which will only speed up online adoption and how they are going to be looking at it. There are certain consumer behaviours that are going to stick but certain other aspects will slowly start coming back to normal but when that happens is pure contention.”

Sharing similar perspectives, Dwivedi said, “When change is imposed due to external environment and in this case due to COVID, habit formation for a new nature takes a lot of time. It is a bit of a spring effect and people tend to spring back to their natural state of comfort. When this situation eases out, you will see consumers falling back to older habits - where people will see value whether it is in consumption of news in digital platforms or engaging with one another in terms of meetings or creation of media. Those habits will tend to be long term in nature not because they are constrained by the environment but primarily because now they have become short-cuts and more efficient ways of doing things. When we look at OTT consumption trends, we see a large number of people now diving deeper into OTT content that is available beyond the first hints. Typically an EROS Now user would come in and see the initial list of movies that is there but now they are going deeper to discover more content. We believe that a similar trend will follow. If you have good content and good methodology of content discovery content producers will actually find richer returns.”
According to Jain, technology will play a big role in breaking communication barriers. “Certainly, COVID has fast-forwarded that massively, both on the media side and just a massive change in terms of digitizing the economy. The bigger impact has been more on business models, again because things have got fast-forwarded. Our businesses are ready for it, in terms of being able to adapt and being agenda-ready. It is also a great time for innovation, I think the locking of the world has unlocked the minds. Everybody I talk to is doing what they didn’t think about six months ago. It is a lot of change in terms of how do we see businesses.”
Given that the country is in Unlock 1.0, are consumers coming back to old consumption patterns?
Sharing an advertisers’ perspective, Barua remarked, “Consumers, at least from an advertising and media perspective, have kind of got conditioned to a certain environment. We saw certain habits forming and some habits become innovative. Most markets and advertisers were working around that environment. A total lockdown environment had a certain behavior and the media was behaving in a certain way. What we see now and these are very early days, a lot of brands are positive. We are seeing a lot of sentiment of spends coming back, we are seeing different figures quoted in different places. Another point is that the way we have classified there are certain things that are very essential and that became the reason why we were supporting hygiene, food, etc. Now, a lot of spends will come back to other businesses like mobile phones and so on. The movement has started, I am pretty positive with what we are seeing as initial results and that is a good sign for us.”
Sehgal remarked, “It’s a time capsule which got forwarded in time. Human behavior is continuously changing. It would have changed gradually if the pandemic didn't happen. The fundamental change to advertisers is when brands are asking for ROI on every action. Even during this period, they were asking for COVID. Brands are spending more on digital for their marketing. June has been better than May. We've seen a 20% jump this month. So we're going to get back on track soon. Live events will start happening, sports should see a comeback soon.”
Speaking about how content producers can target audiences post COVID, Bhalla shared, “There is a difference between GEN Y and millennials. They both require different content. We need to make content far more relevant. Brands need to start connecting to millenials more. Print and Digital is a new approach.”
Dwivedi believes that the whole ecosystem of new releases going directly to OTT platforms is commendable. “Today people are confident that they can pick up revenues via streaming platforms. A strong B2C connection based on value delivered is what will determine customer intimacy. You have to delight the consumer whether you have COVID or don't,” commented Dwivedi.
Barua says if you look at consumer insights, a lot will change and things will be so fascinating. “Right now it’s back to basics of roti, kapda, makaan. But brands need to ensure that they stay on the consumer's mind,” he advised.
In conclusion, Dwivedi said, “With the whole mythological scenario running, despite being so well-travelled, people want to come back to their roots. Lots of other studios are looking at compelling stories that will bring back the consumer mindsets back to their origin from all across the world.”