In 2019, Content And Creators Will Be Kings In India

More people are coming online in India than ever before and that is going to have a bearing on what content Indian creators will have to put out to stay relevant in 2019. Since the introduction of Jio in 2016, affordable mobile internet has become the norm in both urban and rural India. This has led to greater consumption of mostly video content on platforms like YouTube, JioTV, Hotstar and others. The change in where this content is coming from tells a story. A story which content creators would do well to pay attention to.

Growth beyond top metros

In April 2018, Google revealed that 2 in 3 searches in the country originate outside the top 6 metros. The same report also showed a phenomenal 100% growth in regional entertainment watch time in the country over the previous year. Content creators would do well to create content which resonates with that audience. Beauty, food and parenting are among the most popular content categories on YouTube today. With India’s love for entertainment — movies and movie music, especially — it is no surprise that the biggest story of the year on YouTube has been the imminent rise of T-Series to the top of the platforms most subscribed channels. That T-Series’ growth has rapidly increased since the arrival of Jio tells us that most of their subscribers are coming from people who previously were not online.

As Jio has grown in rural areas by propagating their affordable JioPhone, internet penetration has followed. The launch of Google Maps, Facebook, WhatsApp and other popular apps on their platform has ensured that these markets are now addressable by digital marketers. In fact, Facebook has tied up with the Indian telecom company to hit the road in these areas and train locals to use WhatsApp to stay connected with one another. As WhatsApp cements its place as the world’s (and India’s) premier messaging platform, expect businesses to concentrate on connecting directly with customers and field agents using the platform. WhatsApp for Business is the biggest effort by Facebook to monetise the platform after acquiring it for close to $19 billion in 2014. Betting that India will be a big part of these plans would be pretty safe.

Old platforms, evolving formats

Source: Buffer

Despite having a rocky 2018, much is expected of Facebook and companies owned by them in 2019. After initially facing flack for cloning Snapchat’s popular story format, Instagram rapidly brought in innovation after innovation this year and calling it a Snapchat clone at this point would really be a disservice to the efforts put in by the company. This feature is immensely popular with both creators and brands today. In fact, its popularity is so much, that vertical videos are now the norm. However, we cannot overlook the troubles faced by Facebook in 2018 without wondering about its long-term viability. The company was caught in scandal after a scandal related to data security, privacy, and the ethics of its decision makers. The founders of WhatsApp and Instagram both quit abruptly, and unhappy with the direction their platforms were being steered towards by Facebook. In light of all these developments, Facebook itself has seen a decline in user growth and active users among younger age groups have declined rapidly.

Across all platforms, growth in consumption of video content has seen a steady rise with no signs of it abating. According to Zenith Media, the average time spent watching videos is expected to rise to 67 minutes per day in 2019 from 52 in 2018. Content creators would do well to focus on video content rather than the platform. Honing skills in this area is likely to help improve the quality of their content irrespective of their primary preferred platforms. YouTube continues to remain the world’s second most popular search engine, behind only parent, Google.

As 2019 approaches, there is a world of opportunities across online platforms. As more people come online, creating a niche for oneself will be the winning strategy for upcoming creators. Each niche is now large enough to be viable for building personal brands with a narrow focus. Focusing on the needs of those who are new to the internet will also inform the content that will work (expect big gains in education, healthcare, and how-tos) well.

Untapped potential in regional languages

If you need guidance on what languages to focus on, it’s probably a good idea to mimic what Star Sports is currently doing. The popular sports network has, in the past couple of years, increased the number of regional language focused channels in its offering. The channels in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu have already been launched with Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi expected before the end of 2019. This strategy makes sense since the states in which these languages are popular are among the best educated in the country. It is a reasonable expectation that these markets are also the ones with the highest enthusiasm to get online.

Globally, the market of influential content creators on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter has been quite lucrative. With India’s vast population coming online in larger numbers each year, there is scope for many such creators to cater to this audience’s needs. If they do so, monetisation and brand associations will allow them to turn from hobbyists to full-time professionals in the world of content creation.

Fastest growing, but are we close to saturation?

Will 2019 be the year the Indian internet market reaches its inflexion point? We’re not sure. However, we do know that studies indicate over 650 million Indians will be online in 2020, with 500 million of them on smartphones. Last we checked, India is a country of 1.2 billion people. In 2020, that would mean India has an internet penetration of a little over 50%. The United States of America is currently at 85%. We’ll let you draw your own conclusion.

So what’s the point of all this? India is a rapidly growing internet market — the fastest in the world. As Jio continues to increase internet penetration outside of the top 6 metros (the company recently celebrated 250 million customers, all of them online since theirs is a 4G only network), there is a new market opportunity for content creators to create niches for themselves. South and West India (along with Bengal) are likely to lead in terms of content consumption. Rather than focusing on what platforms to use, creators should focus on producing quality content for these markets with their platform strategy coming in based on the content created. The platforms themselves are in the throes of change, both in terms of leadership and feature set. Staying up to date with them will be important, but adapting content to new formats will only be one part of the puzzle. The main thing will be to leverage these new formats in ways that make the most of their native features. With so many different variables, it is difficult how things will turn out in the new year. One thing is for sure, though — content (and creators) will be king.