With fall of Media and Advertising, will India see a rise in Digital PR?

61! Yes, the rupee is 61 against the dollar (as of September 20, 2013). It looks like the dollar is

on an escalator and the rupee is on a ventilator!

The falling rupee has indeed hit the citizens of the country professionally and it seems to have caught up with the Indian media in the past few months. Apart from the usual layoffs, cost reduction and restructuring, we have observed newspapers and magazines getting thinner, TV channels cutting back on programming and several publications and channels are on the block. Due to tight marketing spend, even advertisers are shortening their commercials while maintaining or increasing the number of times they are aired to ensure maximum spread for their ad spends.

That said, few examples below will help understand the changes that the Indian media industry has been going through in the past few months:

• In May, NDTV Profit cut back on all non-market-hour programming which meant the channel only needed a handful of anchors and reporters.
• In August, the TV 18 group laid off around 500 employees including many people responsible for its features programming.
• In July, Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd discontinued the publication of three foreign titles, Marie Claire, Geo, and People—around 130 people were laid off—and also converted its personal finance magazine from a fortnightly into a monthly.
• Business Standard sold its motoring magazine to Delhi Press.
• Bloomberg India TV laid off 30-40 people.
• HT Business  and HT Shine (Supplements of The Hindustan Times) discontinued and became a part of the main paper – The Hindustan Times
• Bengal Post paper in Kolkata discontinued and all employees were laid off
• Business World was sold to exchange4media
• CRN, UBM Channel Unit was sold to Management
• In September, Mint announced that they will be reducing the number of pages, from 28 to 24, four days a week, Tuesdays through Fridays. The Monday and Saturday papers will remain unaffected.

It is rightly said that PR and journalism are interdependent. With the economic slowdown, we are observing slight difficulty in traditional PR activities along with the rate at which newspapers/magazines are shutting down, number of pages getting reduced and broadcast channels cutting back on the hours of programs/news.

With the ever increasing competitive eco-system and never ending client demands, traditional PR is surely set to face challenge in India.

However, I believe that the PR agencies should take this as an opportunity than a challenge. With such alterations in the media industry, the PR agencies get a window to get more creative and embrace newer avenues. It gives an opportunity for both the clients and traditional PR agencies to explore social media platforms more aggressively than before. India now has nearly 74 million Internet users, according to ComScore report and it’s time for the next big leap in the way PR agencies work in India.

Getting Digitally Evolved

The current alterations in the media industry can surely mean a faster move into the digital domain in the Indian marketplace. Sooner than expected, many media houses have started looking at digital as their next step. Kasturi and Sons Ltd, publisher of The Hindu, has, in the last six months, launched iPad and mobile apps for its general and financial newspapers.

In the past one decade, there has been a steep fall in the number of those who prefer thumbing through the newspaper with the sip of morning tea. Now, checking news feeds on smart phones, scrolling through one’s tweeter handle, checking updates on blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and other online networks have become part of the urban lifestyle.

Interesting statistics from Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) states that:

• The size of the digital advertising market in the current fiscal year is estimated at Rs.2,260 crore and is expected to touch Rs.2,938 crore by the end of the next year
• Ad spending on social media has shot up from Rs.94 crore in FY2012 to Rs.300 crore in FY2013

Also, estimates by media buyers states that video advertising on the Internet has been growing at a rapid 40% over the past one year and is expected to speed up further to 60% in the next few months.

Considering all these statistics, we surely are seeing a faster shift to the digital platforms and are expecting digital PR to catch up the trend sooner than expected.

PR evolution in India

Persuading and pitching to journalists via phone calls, e-mails, and SMSes for publishing stories in newspapers are not the only way of building brands anymore. Holding events both online and offline is now part of media management. Debate/Discussions on Hangouts and live chat on Facebook or Twitter have become a new promotional trend.

But what will be interesting to see in the coming months is how many brands are really willing to jump on the digital bandwagon and dedicate proper marketing budgets to it. Today, getting the news release online is of not much value to the clients compared to a good spread of print coverage. However, with the changing media landscape, it will be fascinating to see if the clients start to value the online promotional mediums as much as they value the print medium. What are your thoughts on it?

This post was first published at Vikypedia.in

#SocialNetwork in the air...

Call it social media, social network or internet; this web is not just restricted to connecting people on earth but now also in the air! Meet & Seat, the new social tool is going to be introduced this year by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines - part of Air France KLM. While this tool definitely sounds interesting but personally, I’m unsure about the success of this tool due to various factors which follow below:

· Will I really bother to find an air-mate for few hours?

· Will I bother to while away time online for searching the one-an-only person who I could talk to in the aircraft?

· Will I be comfortable sharing my personal information with a stranger?

These were some basic questions that were spinning around my head when I read about this latest concept. While I may worry about the questions stated above but somewhere this tool can work wonders for people - may be you can crack a business deal sitting with a person from the same industry….or you can make a friend for lifetime!

It’s interesting to observe that the tool will work with Facebook and Linkedin, but not Twitter. I wonder why they opted out Twitter.

Social media is not just a tool anymore; it has become like a nerve in a human body. If it breaks down, you are so dead!

Social Media – A Boon or a Bane

Are you on Facebook, twitter? Oh I forgot and how about LinkedIn? Well these are some typical questions which we get to hear these days. When we meet someone, before taking their contact we usually ask them for their e-mail id’s and well it’s assumed that they would be on one of these social networking sites or may be on all of them. Hmm interesting indeed. Isn’t it? Commonly known as the Web 2.0, these sites are not just a rage amongst the youngsters but it’s surprising to see how people from all walks of life are taking fancy to social media tools.

Interestingly enough, while for some, these remain to be a mere tool or a means to connect with friends, for many it is an extension of their personality. Parallels can also be drawn how enterprises use these social media tools – while some imbibe the ethos of customer driven marketing, for others it fails to feature or qualify as an integral part of their IMC programme.

Social media is considered to be an offspring of promotion mix. The advent of social media on the internet has made it possible for a person to communicate about his products & the company that provides the same to a mass of people. It helps the companies to talk to their consumers directly thereby unlocking the secrets of consumer perception and buying behaviour. At the same time it enables the customers to talk directly to one another. But this lies in contrast to the integrated marketing communications epitome whereby a high degree of control is present unlike in social media marketing where there is no control over the frequency and content of conversation amongst the consumers. Thus the managers need to keep the vision and mission of their company in mind and evolve the consumer discussion around it.

Social media tools are not just used for marketing but companies are making a judicious use of this tool for recruiting people as well. According to a survey it is observed that 45% of employers use Facebook/twitter to screen job candidates. Recruiters feel that hiring people through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn is a lot easier than doing the same through job boards etc. If there is a vacancy in a company, it simply tweets about it and the job is done! Within a few days only one would be able 2 decide upon the candidate.

It’s surprising to see how much we are dependent on these sites from Hiring people, marketing products to communicating our views to the world outside, having discussions, making reservations for dining, and the list goes on. The latest here would be to address complaints to the Delhi Traffic Police on facebook (http://bit.ly/bI3Amn)! With internet enabled portable devices, information is available on the move and it makes it easier to be connected from anywhere.

On one hand, the Web 2.O sites have proved to be very useful for people from all walks of life but at the same time I (and many others) believe that they are making people less emotionally attached to each other. I’m sure most of you who are reading this post will agree. Isn’t that true that back in time we used so much use of the landlines, then came the cell phones and now internet through cell phones. In this fast moving life, no one’s got the time to spare on the phone but surprisingly enough people tend to connect through facebook, twitter, orkut etc. Isn’t that making you less emotionally attached to your peers? Don’t you think instead of writing on your friend’s wall on facebook, it’s a good idea to call them up? It does not really take much of an effort though. Do you expect birthday calls anymore right at 12am, or do you just open up facebook and other such sites to see the whole list of wishes? I guess the latter would be true in most of the cases for this generation. Then how do you think these sites are doing any good to you when you can’t even feel that bond with your near and dear ones?

Succinctly put, although Web 2.O sites have been a very effective tool of communication, it has made a lasting (read negative) impact on our lifestyles. It has given rise to a new cult which is here to stay! Think about it, most of us have the time to tweet, but make no efforts to meet?

My 2c worth!