Vernacular is a Goldmine for Marketers. Here’s Why?
The vernacular market’s astonishing growth is making it a rescue for most businesses today. Today, it stands at a rebellious CAGR of 18% compared to English which is going down by 3%. Vernacular used to be an invisible army, but with a little push, it’s now ready to take on the world and sustain with giant strides in the industry.
Today, the revenues are pouring in, numbers are striking and businesses are succeeding. And, the vernacular is on the highest cloud of success.
When internet access became a big part of people’s lives, vernacular magic started. The master timing of the internet and vernacular collaboration worked like a charm in the commoner’s life. And, the gut-wrenching thirst for content that started since the pandemic is getting fulfilled.
Check out How Way2News is shaping rural India.
Before the massive growth of vernacular, industry experts had different views on it. It looked like a beat in the heat that will soon be stagnated. The views were contradictory because of the quintessential lingua ‘English’. Nobody thought anything could beat the timeless demand for English content. Even the data admitted that solid results of English content, and marketers were in love with it.
But the real counterpart was just around the corner and turned the whole story upside down. Vernacular gave cut-throat competition to English content and finally succeeded in beating it with invincible results and proving that it’s here to stay.
The Internet had a fluttering journey in India, and it took about 2 decades to have unlimited internet access across the country. But as they say, timing is everything. The fusion of the Internet and vernacular designed a whole new digital space for consumers and marketers.
The Journey of The Internet In India Over The Years:
Let’s go back to 1986 when the internet was heard and said for the very first time in India. In this era, the internet was only available for education and research communities. Despite getting introduced to the internet in the 80s, we Indians had to wait for a whole decade, as the internet was still in the making, and technology experts were working to make it available to the public.
Finally, in 1995 the internet became public, but accessing the internet fully was still a challenge. Cut to the 2000s, we got acquainted with the Google era. It was the time for dynamites like search engines, and digitization. This was the beginning of the reckoning army that’s content.
Leaping to 2008, there was an outpouring of the internet across the country. The massive wave was infusing immense technology transformation throughout the country. And, it has expanded digitization with flying colors.
People started to look for answers on Google. The hunger to learn, to get entertained, and for information rose like a wind, but little did we know, it turned into a hurricane and took over. There was content everywhere.
The Evolution of Content:
- Offline to Digital
Internet penetration in India stands at 48.7%. Since 2023 began, 692mn people are active users of the internet which equates to 60% of the population of India.
- Reading to Watching
After the revolution of smartphones, video content became a viable thing. Individuals started to look at YouTube as a career opportunity as already 30% of the Indian population was watching content in 2010, and millennials began to pursue YouTube as a full-time career.
- Entertaining content is king.
The attention span in people is reducing. No wonder short news and video apps are booming. Short news average user base stands at 300mn users and is estimated to add 15 million new users every quarter across the country.
Short content and vernacular are bridging the gap between local users and businesses.
- Regional content over English
Since digitization, English content was preferable by the audience, due to the limited internet penetration that was only affordable for urbanites. But in 2015, the internet was accessible at lower costs and smartphones became affordable, and the internet made its way to rural parts of India. Non-English speakers were accessing the internet, which is 90%. This insight was eye-opening, and it was a great time to head-start with vernacular for marketers.
From here, regional content gained immense popularity and has never looked back since.
Marketers and their Rave for Vernacular
Vernacular is a giant shot for marketers as it has an ample share of audiences and a fruitful future. Since vernacular got popular among the masses, marketers can’t stop gushing about it and are striving to try every permutation to succeed in it.
Here’s The Voice of Way2News
And, here’s why marketing is raving about vernacular.
1. Vernacular speaks to everybody
When it comes to the Indian audience, the more local, the better. It’s because of the redundant diversity of the country, where the cultures change every 100 kilometers. So, what can be better than a platform that can speak to people in their language? Right.
There are roughly 900mn internet users in India, out of which 736 mn are vernacular language, consumers. This makes vernacular a legitimate hero in the digital age, and brands implementing a multilingual strategy will surely win the market.
2. Vernacular seizes regional distinctions
We Indians are particular about our dialects, accents, and pronunciations, and vernacular hits this spot in the right way. Marketers are speaking to their audiences in regional expressions, and covering regional nuances from the core.
3. Personalized messaging and communication
Audience research and vernacular are a match made in heaven. As a marketer, you have to go through in-depth audience research, craft a relatable, and go public.
But post vernacular era, the ads are 45% more relatable and engaging because of breaking the language barrier and giving a touch of personalization to the ads.
Today, marketers capture insights, leverage facts and emotions, and create and communicate their message in the regional language.
Marketers have used this well-balanced strategy, and it is no wonder, it has worked favorably.
The Future Awaits
Marketers and business have shifted their business approaches to fit in with the parameters of the vernacular, and everything changed. The whopping growth of the internet in India will be 1bn, and 80% of the internet subscribers will consume vernacular content by 2030.
Vernacular content is surpassing every other content strategy and is on its way to becoming a pinnacle by 2025.
It’s estimated that advertisers will increase the vernacular ad spend by 74% there by 2025.
The growth is going to be impeccable.
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