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<ul><li>The events industry that was steadily growing on a double-digit growth rate industry has seen a halt since Covid-19 has entered the global economy.</li><li><keyword id="209150" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Manish-Singh">Manish Singh</keyword>, Co-founder and Managing Director, <keyword id="10866752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="vouchpro">VouchPro</keyword> writes how the pandemic has brought the <keyword id="9291054" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="event-industry">event industry</keyword> closer to the digital world and given birth to a new hybrid model. </li></ul>The pandemic has acted as a double-edged sword in many ways. On one side it has given rise to social distancing and reduce gatherings, on the other has also brought the world closer via the digital medium. Businesses and people have become used to working-from-home and doing everything virtually meetings, conferences and events. But as the relaxations continue, and people come back to their normal lives, the question is will digital continue to rule or will we come back to doing physical events? Disruptions by COVID have created some fundamental shifts in how businesses will operate in the coming years. More reliance on <keyword id="1039596" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-technologies">digital technologies</keyword> is one of this shift. The prevalence of a contactless environment and mandatory social distancing has pushed us to new innovations and replace old practices with a technology led approach. When we speak of events, digital has opened a new pandora’s box which have made physical events almost redundant in many situations. A survey by Martech from May 2020 highlighted that 66 percent of marketers agreed that they will not attend an in-person conference until there was an effective vaccine in place. Digital is not going anywhere but has in turn given rise to a new concept of events – a hybrid model. <keyword id="9154092" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hybrid-events">Hybrid events</keyword> are a combination of an in-person experience over a virtual platform, which is now becoming popular. Hybrid events will be the trend going forward, even post the pandemic, as they continue to grow in popularity. A very common example of hybrid events is industry events that allow both in person and virtual access for an attendee or visitor. So, whether it is due to geographical factors or social distancing, one has the option to attend the event virtually. The focus of hybrid events is enabling the flexibility for an enhanced customer experience. Allowing people to choose their options is an approach which is now become mainstream. The future seems all in for hosting hybrid events, whether we speak of external or internal business events. Many film festivals, gaming championships, expos and federations have successfully hosted hybrid events in the last one year. These hybrid-events are beneficial as the limit the gatherings and make the whole process of event organisation more cost effective. Of course, with a virtual format, one can track and analyse their audience more effectively, and allowing thousands of people to be a part of the same gathering at the same time. A well-managed hybrid event also translates into a lesser crowded and more <a href="https://www.vfairs.com/4-ways-your-business-can-be-eco-friendly/">eco-friendly</a> with minimal wastage- a fact that is often overlooked and undervalued. While the pandemic did stall many events that were supposed to take place, life must move on. And perhaps, a hybrid event style is a long-term solution for the world. A key to hybrid events relies heavily on smart and effective digital collaboration. While the usage of digital technologies has improved a lot in 2020, the trend is expected to continue, to make events exciting, interactive, and experiential. There’s room for many opportunities in the burgeoning hybrid event space, and the trend has just kicked off. Various events like conferences, trade shows, job fairs, entertainment expos will soon be spun with innovative that combines both the physical and the virtual element perfectly.

Hybrid events are the next big innovation in the event space

<div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Netflix</div></div></div><ul><li><keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">Media</keyword> giants are looking to further ties in India, where the mobile economy is booming.</li><li>News companies, like <a href="https://www.adweek.com/digital/wall-street-journal-expands-to-india/">the Wall Street Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.nytco.com/bizday-expands-technology-coverage-in-china-and-india/">the New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2018/03/28/597596242/nprs-international-desk-expands-east">NPR</a> have expanded staff or products in India over the past few years to cover the growth story.</li><li>Western companies already have big stakes in the Indian market. Twenty-first Century Fox-owned TV streaming company Hotstar is by far the <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/global/fox-hotstar-india-1202795869/">biggest over-the-top TV provider in India </a>with roughly 100 million subscribers.</li></ul>As tensions with China grow deeper, media giants could look to further ties in India, where the mobile economy is booming.Why it matters: India is one of the fastest-growing internet markets in the world. But few consumers have the disposable income to pay for multiple services, which will make it hard for some companies to conquer the country.</div><div id="hidden-ea101fbb-ec96-40f3-8c8f-01372337a24a" aria-hidden="false" aria-expanded="true">Background: Like many developing countries, India is mostly a mobile-only internet economy.<ul><li>"India's story is not an evolution story, it's a revolution story," says Ravi Agrawal Managing Editor of Foreign Policy and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/India-Connected-Smartphone-Transforming-Democracy-ebook/dp/B07HCFJTSQ">"India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy."</a></li><li>"Hundreds of millions are getting online through smartphones with cheap data plans....That growth is the reason corporate America is bee-lining there."</li></ul>By the numbers: Unlike the <a href="https://www.axios.com/americans-digital-use-television-mobile-facebook-70eb92da-760b-4704-ac09-ae6bc39ded09.html">largely saturated</a> North American digital market, India's still has room to grow.<ul><li>With <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/internet-users-in-india-expected-to-reach-500-million-by-june-iamai/articleshow/63000198.cms">nearly 500 million internet users</a> and roughly <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/india-set-to-have-530-million-smartphone-users-in-2018-study-4893159/">530 million smartphone users</a>, India is the second-largest online and smartphone market in the world next to China.</li><li>Roughly 40% of the country's total population is using smartphones and is accessing the internet.</li><li>The number of internet users is expected to roughly double over the next four years, according to <a href="https://qz.com/india/1483368/indias-smartphone-internet-usage-will-surge-by-2022-cisco-says/">Cisco's latest Virtual Networking Index</a>.</li></ul><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Adapted from eMarketer; Chart: Axios Visuals</div></div></div></div>Internet adoption is driving unprecedented <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> growth in India, as many consumers are more comfortable with paying for content via data-based ads.<ul><li>India will be the third-biggest contributor to ad spend growth globally between 2018 and 2021, according to a new report from global media agency Zenith.</li></ul>The media scramble: Western tech and media companies have been expanding their presence in India to take advantage of and cover the growing economy.<ul><li>News companies, like <a href="https://www.adweek.com/digital/wall-street-journal-expands-to-india/">the Wall Street Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.nytco.com/bizday-expands-technology-coverage-in-china-and-india/">the New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2018/03/28/597596242/nprs-international-desk-expands-east">NPR</a> have expanded staff or products in India over the past few years to cover the growth story.</li><li>Tech companies like Google and Facebook, that serve as big distributors of information in India, have pushed to expand internet access in the region to increase the internet population. Google <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/11/google-india-mobile-market-neighbourly-app">launched</a> its "The next billion users" plan to conquer India last year. Facebook's "Free Basics" program was <a href="https://mashable.com/2016/02/09/why-facebook-free-basics-failed-india/#zzeHflfISuqW">rejected</a> by regulators in 2015.</li><li>From a social media perspective, Google is now looking to take on <a href="https://qz.com/india/1249016/whatsapp-is-looking-to-hire-an-india-head-for-the-first-time-ever/">Facebook's social media and messaging dominance</a> in India with a new hyper-local social network called <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/21/tech/google-india-neighbourly-app/index.html">Neighbourly</a>, Amazon officially rolled out its social e-commerce site <a href="https://www.digit.in/general/amazon-rolls-out-social-ecommerce-platform-spark-in-india-45150.html">Spark</a>, in India last week.</li></ul>Major streamers are also looking to conquer the territory. India will remain the fastest-growing video market, per <a href="http://www.media-partners-asia.com/article.php?id=2298">Media Partners Asia</a>.<ul><li>Netflix, which has been in India since 2016, scored big last summer with its massive hit "Sacred Games," its first piece of Indian original content with a mix of Hindi and English. Netflix has said it would <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-17/netflix-considers-cheaper-prices-to-chase-boom-in-india-viewers">consider cheaper pricing tiers</a> to lure more subscriptions in India.</li><li>Amazon, meanwhile "has no fewer than 30 Indian originals in different stages of production and recently developed a dedicated Hindi-language version of its platform for India," according to the <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/netflix-disney-amazon-who-wins-war-streaming-india-1164252">Hollywood Reporter</a>.</li><li>Spotify, a Swedish company, is expected to launch in India within the next 6 months, per <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-27/spotify-is-said-to-secure-rights-to-booming-indian-music-market">Bloomberg'</a>s Lucas Shaw. But it may face challenges: "Streaming services have about 100 million users in India, but a tiny fraction pay for the services."</li><li>YouTube, as Shaw notes, is the "most popular online music source in the country," in part because it's free. It's grown so big that one of India's largest record labels is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-15/youtube-king-pewdiepie-surrenders-crown-to-indian-record-label">expected to surpass</a> the most-subscribed-to YouTube channel in the world, PewDiePie, which has held the top spot for the past five years.</li></ul>Between the lines: Compared to China, India is a much more lenient entry-point from a regulatory perspective. Recent trade tensions between China and the U.S. have helped strengthen the trade relationship between China and India. That could be driving India to start erecting new barriers to U.S. companies.<ul><li>"As for protectionist policies, we have taken much relaxed approach than China," says Manish Singh, a tech reporter in New Delhi who contributes to CNBC and VentureBeat. "It was <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-looks-to-curb-u-s-tech-giants-power-1534178721">only recently</a> that the Indian government began to think about things like having Silicon Valley companies store specific data such as payment transaction info in locally stored servers," says Singh.</li></ul>India's slow middle class growth means fewer internet users are willing to pay for subscription services. Language and cultural differences can also be a challenge.<ul><li>Cash payments have been used by Indian internet upstarts to drive transactions, says Agrawal. For example, Flipkart (India's Amazon equivalent) and Ola (India's Uber equivalent) accept cash payments upon delivery or a completed transaction.</li><li>"Indians don't trust credit cards and generally don't like to pay online. There's a local distrust of digital commerce - for now at least. Western players need to be aware of it," says Agrawal.</li><li>Language barriers also presented a barrier to digital growth in India, which hosts hundreds of dialects and over 20 official languages. Today, voice technologies and artificial intelligence help bring down those barriers to entry, though there are still <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kannamaneni/2018/12/04/for-netflix-and-amazon-indias-many-languages-present-a-unique-challenge/#5e01f250491d">difficulties with content production</a>.</li></ul>Be smart: Western companies already have big stakes in the Indian market. Twenty-first Century Fox-owned TV streaming company Hotstar is by far the <a href="https://variety.com/2018/biz/global/fox-hotstar-india-1202795869/">biggest over-the-top TV provider in India </a>with roughly 100 million subscribers, followed by Voot, which is jointly-owned by Viacom and Mumbai's TV18.<section>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.axios.com/internet-giants-looks-to-india-as-next-battleground-ea101fbb-ec96-40f3-8c8f-01372337a24a.html">Axios.</a></section> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-spy-cameras-from-amazon-2018-11">We tested out $30 tiny spy cameras from Amazon by spying on our co-workers</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

US media companies are looking to India as the next battleground, and some have already made huge investments

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Hybrid events are the next big innovation in the event space

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US media companies are looking to India as the next battleground, and some have already made huge investments

Sara Fischer, Axios

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