Along with the Indian consumer, online advertising is on a roll

India is the fastest growing economy in the world and is going digital with a vengeance. Online advertising will play a large part in this transformation as well as metamorphosing into a more effective marketing tool.

A little over 15 years and online advertising has moved from simple e-mails, text ads to increasingly sophisticated and effective innovations like SEM (Search Engine Marketing) honed by SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Mobile ads, trying to attain the maximum reach with the consumer.

Today online advertising is not confined to any single platform like Internet, mobile or television. You can start on one device, perhaps a mobile or a TV, and move onto a computer to place your order. It has to meet today’s ‘Instant Gratification’ demand.

Innovations and new trends are rapidly evolving and changing in the global online advertisement market. India has been able to adapt and implement new trends at times better than more developed demographics.

Since online advertisement is going to be increasingly multiplatform, multi device and personalized or tailored for specific demographics, some old concepts like auctions of fixed costs per day or publication irrespective of user interaction and measuring tools have changed globally.

Adapting to new innovations and trends
Technology is replacing humans and Programmatic advertising today is gaining importance. It is the purchasing of digital ads by software technology eliminating human intervention. It costs less and is more efficient.

Another innovation is Real Time Bidding; it is the selling and purchasing online impressions in milliseconds by real-time auctions.

According to Digiday, “As an ad impression loads in a user’s Web browser, information about the page it is on and the user viewing it is passed to an ad exchange, which auctions it off to the advertiser willing to pay the highest price for it. The winning bidder’s ad is then loaded into the webpage nearly instantly; the whole process takes just milliseconds to complete.”

RTB support services like ‘demand side platforms’ help advertisers determine the ad impressions they need to purchase taking into account sites and user behaviour as well as how much to bid. Supply side platforms and ad exchanges aid RTB auctions.

These concepts that cut costs and also ensure real prospective customers are reached along with the RTB support services need to be augmented in India.

Tracking capabilities and personalisation
For a productive advertising, companies emphasise on ensuring the tracking of consumers through cross devices and touch points. Indian eCommerce companies have started mobile affiliate tracking on Apps.

Today companies have realized that personalisation needs effective usage and interpretation of big data collected, so that the right product is offered to the customer at the right time and on the right device.

The old measuring tools have been replaced by more accurate measuring tools indicating brand metrics. This brings down the advertising costs and helps firms to focus on innovative marketing strategies and real buyers.

Based on this collaborative approach, companies have been using core metrics to improve customer requirements and forecast sales more accurately.

Media and entertainment
India’s online advertising is closely related to the Media and Entertainment industry with about 161 million TV households (TV industry will grow to US $ 14.72 billion by 2018), 94,000 newspapers, and 2000 multiplexes as per a FICCI-KPMG report. TV already holds a major share at 42.7% and is expected grow to 46% in 2015.

Video remains the most important and fastest growing platform for online advertising. Universal servers like Google, Yahoo and Facebook have made considerable investments in ‘Video ad serving’.

Micro Videos are expected to be important platforms. Short, catchy and entertaining videos could convey the message or create additional branding.

Second screen synching is a new method to capture TV viewers when they go online during breaks. It works in many ways, adding value and extending TV ads, complementary product targeting or even work against competitors by targeting their ads.

Social platforms
Facebook has already successfully linked up with efficient online advertising, earning revenues and at the same time satisfying its users. Other social sites like Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram are following the suit but still have a long way to go.

Facts and figures
Online advertising in 2014 was to the tune of Rs 2,750 crore (approx US $ 444.5 million). Out of this eCommerce spend was almost 41%, about Rs 1,150 crore (US $ 213 million), contributing 3.6 % of the 16.4% growth registered in advertisement last year.

Indian eCommerce is expected to have a massive growth by 33% in 2015, valued at US $ 22 billion. Major eCommerce players in India like Flipkart and Snapdeal have also increased their online advertising budgets.

In 2015, according to studies by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International online advertising in India will grow to Rs 3575 crore (approx. US $ 578 million).
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