How 91mobiles is helping MediaTek build salience among Indian smartphone and gadget buyers

Most of us would know MediaTek as a leading chipset maker today, but up until a couple of years ago, only hardcore tech enthusiasts were aware of what this Taiwanese brand had to offer. Qualcomm, the US-based chipset maker, dominated the narrative when it came to the capabilities of smartphone chipsets and the devices consumers were looking to buy. 

But things started to change in 2019 – MediaTek was growing in resonance in the popular smartphone segment:

• Almost 40% of phones in the ₹10k to ₹20k price range was powered by MediaTek
• The MediaTek Helio G series was revolutionizing the affordable smartphone segment – bringing high-end features to the masses

The time was ripe for MediaTek to make some noise among consumers and the tech ecosystem about its range of SoCs and their capabilities. Hence, in early 2020, MediaTek collaborated with 91mobiles, the largest gadget site in India, to create awareness about its chipsets among smartphone shoppers and gadget enthusiasts.

Our strategy to help MediaTek educate consumers about its offerings

As the largest gadget site in India, we have deep insights into how people shop for smartphones and how they consume content. Our strategy was focused on two key types of audiences who visit 91mobiles.

Segment 1 – Smartphone and gadget shoppers (~70% of our site visitors)

These are hi-intent shoppers looking to buy a new phone or gadget in the next 2 to 4 weeks, and are most receptive to information about the devices they are researching. We tapped such smartphone shoppers in their path to purchase with subtle messaging around the capabilities of MediaTek chipsets to build affinity for MediaTek-powered phones. Here’s how.

We identified 3 types of smartphone shoppers for MediaTek

• Shoppers already looking for MediaTek-powered phones
• Shoppers looking for phones by price or feature
• Shoppers looking at competitor devices

In Phase 1, we decided to focus on shoppers already looking for MediaTek phones. Now, these people were directly visiting the product pages of MediaTek devices on 9mobiles as part of their research journey. To build awareness about MediaTek’s chipset and its capabilities among them, we:

• Integrated a stamp called Powered by “MediaTek” in all the products pages of MediaTek-powered devices
• Embedded a custom / native widget that highlights content specific to the MediaTek chipset in that device

Example of a live integration on a smartphone product page on 91mobiles

Once these shoppers left our site, we targeted them with articles subtly reinforcing the superiority of MediaTek-powered devices.

Snippets from content published on Facebook

Segment 2 – Gadget enthusiasts (~40% of our site visitors)

These people love following tech news and updates, and are key opinion makers who influence the purchase decisions of their families and peers. We wanted to showcase the new and emerging technologies powered by MediaTek among this influential cohort. So, we built a custom microsite called MediaTek Hub. The site highlights the most popular smartphones powered by MediaTek, deep dives into the capabilities of MediaTek chipsets, and also features other gadgets powered by MediaTek such as TVs, Chromebooks, and internet of things (IoT).

Speaking on the partnership, MediaTek's Sr. Director & GM Global Marketing & Communications, Kent Davis stated: "At MediaTek, we have adopted a holistic 360-degree marketing strategy to reach out to consumers with information and enhance experiences. Our strategies are focused on meeting the consumer in an environment where they are spending most of their time, which is online. This is where our 'MediaTek Hub' on the 91Mobiles platform plays a critical role. The platform serves as a complete information hub wherein consumers can find all the latest updates, reviews, and information about our products – from the latest smartphones and smart devices powered by MediaTek processors to upcoming ones." 

What has been the impact so far?

We have delivered some impressive numbers in the last 1.5 years of our collaboration.

• Reached ~80 million smartphone shoppers with our MediaTek integrations on product pages
• Total user time spent on MediaTek pages on 91mobiles is 4 million hours
• Curated 70+ custom article and video content for MediaTek
• Generated 4 million views for MediaTek content

Beyond campaign numbers, we were also able to influence the purchase intent of smartphone buyers with our marketing interventions.

Since we integrated the MediaTek widgets on our site:

• We have seen a 40% jump in clicks to e-commerce stores from the pages with the MediaTek integration
• We have helped sell 55,000+ MediaTek phones via buyers on our site who clicked out to e-stores
• And we have generated USD 10million+ in revenue via 91mobiles for MediaTek-powered phones sold on e-commerce stores

Quote from Nitin Mathur, Co-Founder 91mobiles.com: “When we started our collaboration with MediaTek, our goal was clear – make more people aware of MediaTek’s role in making good phones, which in turn would lead to more people demanding MediaTek-powered phones and more OEMs launching phones with MediaTek chipsets. Since we have the largest gadget shopper audience in India after Flipkart and Amazon, it made sense to target this hi-intent audience with marketing interventions to establish the superiority of MediaTek chipsets. The results that we have seen in the past 1.5 years highlight that our targeted approach is working for MediaTek.”