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<ul><li>International Cricket Council has announced a partnership with Facebook for four years. </li><li>The social media giant will showcase match recaps, in-play key moments and other match and feature content for four years. </li><li>The highlights will play on Facebook Watch, the social media platform on-demand video service. </li></ul>The International Cricket Council has announced a partnership with Facebook, making the social media giant its exclusive digital content rights partner. Facebook, through this partnership, will showcase match recaps, in-play key moments and other match and feature content for four years. “We are excited to partner with the ICC to bring the most exciting moments in cricket to Facebook Watch and to chart the next stage of technology led transformation in cricket. The future of AR and VR is being charted by Facebook and we are excited about the possibility of bringing the best of our innovations to fans around the world,” said Ajit Mohan, VP and Managing Director Facebook India. The move comes in with the rise of digital streaming across platforms. “The combination of one of the world’s most watched sports with one of the world’s largest platforms is exciting for the future of our game. The record-breaking growth in digital consumption at this summer’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup demonstrated the continued power of cricket to connect and engage more deeply with diverse audiences around the world,” said ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney. The highlights will play on Facebook Watch, the social media platform on-demand video service. Facebook Watch was initially launched in August 2017.

Now, watch cricket on Facebook as ICC partners with the social media giant

<ul><li>Recently, <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="mark-zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword>, CEO, Facebook reiterated the importance of India for Facebook in its global scheme of things. </li><li>Over the years, Facebook has been testing and rolling out new features from here. Currently, its testing <keyword id="6662415" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="instagram-lite">Instagram Lite</keyword> in India, to make the platform accessible to everyone.</li><li>We spoke to <keyword id="248909" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Manish-Chopra">Manish Chopra</keyword>, Director and Head of Partnerships, <keyword id="736869" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Facebook-India">Facebook India</keyword>, to understand the organization’s areas of focus for the next year and how its working on making its offerings more accessible to users and more effective for businesses and advertisers.</li></ul>While the world almost came to a standstill in 2020, owing to the pandemic-induced lockdown, it was digital players like Facebook that kept the world moving, even while people stayed indoors. The pandemic led to people spending more and more time on the internet, and understandably, Facebook saw an increase in the time people were spending on their platform. According to data from eMarketer, in H1 2020, people flocked to Facebook so they could share information and keep in touch with friends and family while staying at home. That led to user increases in nearly every world region. Currently, India has the largest user base of Facebook users. With around 272.2 million users in India in 2020, the country’s user base is expected to swell to 329.1 million by 2024. It therefore shouldn’t come as a surprise that the company is serious about its presence and growth here. During Facebook’s Fuel for India event recently, Mark Zuckerberg reiterated India’s importance in the global scheme of things for Facebook. During the chat, he said that the largest communities for Facebook and WhatsApp are in India and <keyword id="819905" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Instagram">Instagram</keyword> is also getting there. Facebook has been testing and rolling out new features from here. From the launch of Reels on Instagram, to Watch on Facebook and Payments on WhatsApp, India is playing a crucial role in the way products are being designed for the future. Facebook is currently testing Instagram Lite in India. The app, which is less than 2 MB in size, has been created to bring the core Instagram experience to people currently unfamiliar with the app. The platform is also giving a push to its video offerings, opening up opportunities for advertisers and businesses to get closer to their target audience, virtually. We recently caught up with Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India, to understand the organization’s areas of focus for the next year and how its working on making its offerings more accessible to users and more effective for businesses and advertisers. Excerpts: Q) You're currently testing Instagram Lite in India. What are your plans for taking it to the market? When will you launch it officially? Our research conducted in India to ascertain the attractiveness and comprehension of new products showed that compromised internet experience as a result of low memory phones and heavy-sized apps was a barrier. This set the context for the test of Instagram Lite, and India is a primary test country for it. The Instagram Lite app is created to bring the core Instagram experience to people who do not have an Instagram experience today. The app is made for Android and this new version has improved speed, performance, and responsiveness. The experience is similar to the core Instagram app experience, though there are some features that are not currently supported such as Reels, Shopping and IGTV. The app will be available in Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. However, we don’t have the timing to share on when the app will be rolled out more broadly. Q) The pandemic led to many behavioural changes among consumers. What were some of the biggest changes you noticed during the past few months, especially in India? In the context of 2020, there’s been a fundamental change in digital consumption, which we’ve witnessed by the engagement we’ve seen on the Facebook family of apps. In many countries hit hardest by the virus, total messaging increased by more than 50% on WhatsApp and Messenger, in March. Similarly, in places hit hardest by the virus, voice and video calling doubled on Messenger and WhatsApp. In India, there was a 60% rise in Instagram Live views in March, on a week-on-week basis. Creators focused on keeping their communities informed and inspired. This began with social messages delivered through challenges like the #SafeHandsChallenge and the use of the ‘Stay Home’ sticker. It went on to keep people inspired, like Deepika Padukone and The Live Laugh Love Foundation released a Guide on Instagram that focussed on mental health. On Facebook, new Groups were formed to help people. These include groups like Mahita Nagaraj’s ‘Caremongers India’, a purely volunteer driven group providing frontline assistance ranging from cooked meals to transportation, to the needy, senior citizens, expecting mothers, and the physically challenged during the lockdown. A bunch of national and regional musicians, such as Armaan Malik and Lisa Mishra, performed in Live music concerts called ‘Live In Your Living Room’ to keep people entertained and people also raised funds for COVID-19 relief efforts through our platforms. We facilitated this with the launch of Facebook Fundraisers, which has an in-live donation option too, using which creators like Varun Purthy and Ashish Chanchalani raised funds as part of Facebook Social for Good Live-athon. The year also offered new opportunities, for instance, with short-form content, offered by new features like Reels. This has helped discover a new generation of influencers who’ve grown exponentially on Instagram. Few creators like Ankush Bahuguna and Sakshi Sindwani have also focussed on breaking stereotypes associated with gender and body types. Q) We saw people warm up to live videos during the pandemic, artists, musicians etc used it extensively to stay connected to their fans. What will your strategy be to make sure that people keep using your live features even once they start going out and once things get back to normal? Our community is at the heart of our platforms. We’re hearing them and constantly innovating. For e.g at the start of the lockdown, we saw the rise in Live’s and need from people to save that content to their IGTV and hence we introduced that feature. Earlier this month, we also launched Live Rooms, which gives people the ability to go live with upto three additional people on Instagram Live. With this feature, creators have more opportunities to have conversations with their communities, and to expand their reach and use cases for Live, such as starting a talk show or a podcast, hosting a jam session or co-creating with other artists, leading to more engaging Q&amp;As with those they’re going Live with, or simply hanging out with friends. This feature first was tested in India with creators, and then India was among the two countries it has launched in, ahead of a global rollout. Even with Instagram Lite, the context for the launch is research done in India, where people mentioned a compromised internet experience, as a result of low memory phones and heavy-sized apps. Hence Instagram Lite is less than 2MB in size and is built to deliver an Instagram experience that remains fast and reliable for more people. Beyond product innovation, we continue to work with public figures, creators, groups and organizations to discover opportunities where our platforms can add value to people’s lives. Q) How are advertisers making the most out of your Social Video offerings? Instagram launched a bunch of branded content updates at the end of November. These include: Branded content tag on Reels and Live - To help increase transparency, the Branded Content tag has launched in Reels, and will begin testing in Live in the coming weeks. New creation flow for Branded content ads - Until today, Branded Content ads could only be created by promoting the existing posts from creators. Instagram is now launching a new workflow where advertisers can create Branded Content ads without the need for creators to post organically on Instagram first. Now brands have more flexibility with fewer constraints when they want to run Branded Content ads. This new process has been designed with creator control in mind - creators can approve and pause any ads published from their handle. Branded Content ads in Stories - Branded Content ads in Stories can now include tappable elements, such as @mentions, location and hashtags. We want brands to have access to organic Stories’ creative that is native and authentic to the Stories experience. Branded Content ads with Product Tags - We’re introducing the ability for businesses to promote branded content posts with product tags. Q) How are you strengthening your offerings for advertisers? How are you making sure they are able to make the most of your video offerings to connect with their audiences? As a company, we are deeply committed to supporting the economic recovery of both small and large businesses, and especially understand the support that small businesses need right now to recover from the crisis. As part of our $100 million global grant program to support small businesses across 30 countries, we recently announced a grant of USD 4.3 million for small businesses in India. More businesses are moving online as a result of the digital acceleration fueled by the pandemic, and we’re keen to make this journey seamless for them through skilling, tools, and customized support. We recently released a local offline to online SMB Guide in Hindi and English that is free and publicly available but we also proactively reached out to 9 million small businesses across the country to ensure that it reaches the businesses that need it the most. We’ve also taken several of our industry-leading digital skilling programs online to ensure seamless learning and support in these times; Our flagship program for skilling small businesses, ‘Boost With Facebook’ is now being delivered in Hindi and English through Facebook Lives. We have video ad solutions for all the distinct ways in which people create, connect with, and consume video. Keeping in mind the increasing time being spent on mobile phones, and the reducing attention spans, we encourage advertisers to make Thumbstoppers - short-form mobile video ads that are built for the mobile, and tell the story effectively in a few seconds. We also have In-Stream ads for videos that are longer than three minutes on Facebook. These ads enable advertisers to tell a more complex story to people who are actively engaged in watching content with sound-on. We’re also focused on developing formats that are interactive and embrace the way people want to consume in feed. That’s why we have ad solutions including Poll ads, Augmented Reality (AR) ads, Instagram poll stickers for Stories ads, and Brand Playables. Interactive Ads enable instant two-way communication and get people involved, which is a natural fit for how people, especially the youth, engage on mobile phones. Q) Facebook has now started actively advertising in India, with the IPL as well as the Diwali ad. Why did you start advertising now, and what will your marketing strategy be going ahead? Consumer marketing is a relatively new strategic area of focus for Facebook and one that will significantly increase our global investment in communicating directly to consumers. Over the past year, our consumer marketing team has been focused on two important things - building trust with people who use our products and services and to build value around each of our apps. We launched the ‘More Together’ campaign for Facebook in India, earlier this year in March as a demonstration of our core belief that people can do more together than alone. Over the past few months, we have seen numerous instances where these stories have played out on our platform, where people can connect and come together to find and offer information, help, and support in the face of these unprecedented times. Many of these stories are on display at our first Facebook Fuel for India annual dialogue event. Q) Going ahead, what will your key focus areas be, to further grow your presence in India? One of our key agendas is to focus on providing social video experiences, through both <keyword id="4243508" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="facebook-watch">Facebook Watch</keyword> and Instagram. Videos now make a third of all posts for Instagram in India, and India is one of the leading markets for Facebook Watch. Our video strategy for India is truly reflective of the width of consumer tastes in the country. We are investing in forging partnerships to bring culturally relevant, of-the-moment videos across sports, entertainment, news and lifestyle like ICC, FilmFare Awards and IIFA Awards to people. Additionally, we are also launching India-first products on Watch in line with the local consumer tastes and content preferences on the platform in response to the growing consumer affinity for video. India was among the first countries where music videos have been launched along with a music destination on Facebook Watch to enable people to view their favorite music videos and come together through music. We’re also listening and taking inspiration from what our community wants - and they’re telling us they want the opportunity to create and watch short-form, edited videos. Keeping that in mind, we launched Reels. The unique part of Reels is a dedicated tab, which allows people to be discovered by Instagram’s large and diverse community. We continue to innovate with IGTV too. This year, we partnered with a set of creators, such as Kusha Kapila, Arjun Kanungo and Shirley Setia for launching their own IGTV shows with original content. Moving forward, we will continue to invest in creating and facilitating active social viewing experiences on our platforms where the consumers can not only watch, but also have an opportunity to comment, like, share groups messages, use reactions and polls, and even hold Watch Parties; making the experience interactive and personalized.

Facebook is strengthening its social video experience for its next phase of growth in India

<ul><li>While festivals will still be celebrated either virtually or in small groups this year, consumer sentiment has already shown early signs of improvement due to recently concluded Ganesh Chaturthi.</li><li>With a steady monsoon, plump harvest so far and IPL returning, <keyword id="34612" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising-industry" source="Orion">advertising industry</keyword> is hopeful that the ongoing <keyword id="36208" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="festive-season" source="Orion">festive season</keyword> will bring in cheer and serve as a respite from the pandemic-associated slumber. It will help the ad world bounce back to normalcy.</li></ul>India is the land of festivals and every festival is celebrated with great pomp and joy in this country. While the recently concluded festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, which is otherwise known for its fanfare and grand celebration, was affected due to the pandemic, it has brought in early improvement in consumer sentiment. According to Axis My India report, 42% of families said they will shop more or the same as compared to last year. This gives an indication that there is a sense of cautious optimism and the pent-up demand or degree of revenge shopping that happened last year might not be the same this year. This expected increase in spends is higher among private and government service employees. The spends increase on essentials like personal &amp; household care is at 47%, an increase of 4 percentage point over last month. Consumers are spending a little extra money to spruce their homes now to welcome Maa Durga and then prepare for India’s biggest festival, Diwali. Ergo, brands are pinning a lot of hopes on the festive season this year to help them bounce back. They have started working on their advertising campaigns in full swing to win back consumer trust and help shape the market sentiment. The progress of the advertising industry has always been in tandem with consumer sentiment and about 40-45% of the annual ad spends in India happen between Raksha Bandhan and New Year. In many ways, advertising is a lag and lead indicator for our country -- if the country's GDP is growing at 8%, advertising grows at 12%. If GDP falls, ad revenue falls even lower. In 2020, when ad revenue had reached as low as -60% in April, a lot of hopes are banking on the festive season this year for industry’s overall revival. Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group India said, “With the increase in the vaccination numbers and positive market sentiments, the festive period is poised for a stronger, and better recovery from 2020. It is estimated that the festive season will generate advertising upwards of INR 7000 Crore, which is approximately 12-15% higher than last year’s festive season and is expected to provide big support to the growing economy.” This Indian festive season is coupled with IPL, which is a gigantic festival in itself that drives advertising industry’s revenue and holds the power to alter market sentiment. Joshi said that the return of IPL 2021 and a slew of high-impact properties like the ICC T20 World Cup coupled with reality shows like the KBC 13, Bigg Boss 15, Dance+6, and several mega OTT releases will make it a festive bonanza for all stakeholders. Hari Krishnan, CEO, Mullen Lintas is also optimistic about seeing a better recovery than 2020. He said, “Last year, it was cautious optimism. This time around, there seems to be a lot more confidence post-vaccination and the optimism appears to be a lot more reassured. That apart, there are two big cricketing events and that’s definitely going to bring a lot of eyeballs back to television. It’s a great reach platform and something that brands would be eager to be a part of. There’s every chance that this festive season could see a lot of pent-up shopping happening which different categories could benefit from.” Experts said that digital will lead the game as advertisers have been shifting their monies from traditional to virtual platforms. Sahil Shah, Managing Partner, WATConsult said, “I reckon it will be a 60-70% jump in certain categories who will go even more aggressive. And compared to pre-covid levels, overall spends should be 15-20% higher. I think digital invariably will see the maximum percentage-wise growth followed by TV and then other mediums. From a marketing point of view, data-led communication will gain more importance and so will eCommerce investments. Also, marketers are experimenting with newer ways of reaching the consumer through innovative content and experiences which is an area that the overall <keyword id="618493" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-marketing" source="Orion">digital marketing</keyword> industry will surely move towards.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Digital media to take lead, followed by TV and print" text="Digital media to take lead, followed by TV and print">Digital media to take lead, followed by TV and print</cmsannotation> Rishabh Mahendru, AVP, Client Servicing, AdLift is expecting to see ad revenue grow by 10%-15% this year. While digital is likely to get the bigger chunk of the pie, he said that Facebook (Instagram), OTT and YouTube will be in lead within that sector. He also said if there’s another lockdown, e-commerce will still continue to flourish. “Time was more uncertain last year, still the e-commerce industry saw a growth of more than 50% festive orders. This year, we should see same or better results,” said Mahendru. On the other hand, Unmisha Bhatt, Chief Strategy Officer &amp; Director, India and MENA Region at Tonic Worldwide said that brands will explore LinkedIn this year. She said, “Innovative campaigns will be seen by brands on LinkedIn considering the rise in engagement by professionals on LinkedIn. High Reach/Awareness platforms like TV and Outdoor will remain a part of the integrated pie and will see the same demand as earlier. However, the platform which will see the most growth over the previous years is digital since its gained relevance.” Sharing a few other trends which we could see in digital marketing, Bhatt added, “Video commerce and live stream shopping is one of the new trends that we will see coming up soon. And remember teleshopping? We will soon see the rise of that on digital too! Seamless user journey and functionalities will emulate the retail environment to ensure consumers don’t miss the retail experiences. This means, technology-based experiential marketing with AR/VR and Mixed reality to ensure consumer recall, as well as engagement, will see a rise too along with experience commerce which enables sales. Conversation commerce will also pick up in the form of chatbots as it leads to faster responses for the impatient consumer.” Digital adoption accelerated by the pandemic has drastically changed the way audiences consume media. This has also paved the way for content creators, bringing them into the spotlight. Prachi Bali, National Head Client Partnerships &amp; Business Head (North), FoxyMoron (Zoo Media) said, “Besides the usual engagement platforms of FB, IG &amp; YT, regional and nano influencers are seeing a great deal of interest. Also, regional and smaller content/publishing platforms are finding their way into media plans. Brands want to build a stronger consumer connect by making the content work harder, multiplied by language and platform, rather than making stand-alone traditional pieces of content. Consumer-facing technologies that drive engagement such as filters, interactive ads, shoppable videos are the trends we will see brands adopt as they all encourage social commerce. ” While brands and advertisers are extra cautious this year to commit big monies on media after 2020 and will be looking at ROI from their media investments, they still want to make hay while the sun shines. Prasad Shejale, Founder and CEO, Logicserve Digital said, “Advertisers will tend to focus on all the possible mediums and attract more and more audiences. I am positive that they will scale up equally across different mediums now and hence, all the mediums are sure to grow. With such a focus, I foresee even the bottom-funnel channels to grow. Looking at consumer behaviour and preferences over the past few months or years, I feel video channel will witness a huge growth as there is a dire need to break the clutter nowadays. When I say video, it will be video in every way whether it is video on demand or on social media or OTT. Having said that, while we know that the advertisers will try to make the most out of the festive season and explore different formats or platforms, a lot of them are also focusing on the right measurement infrastructure that helps them understand the impact properly and also provides useful insights to plan for future activities.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Auto industry, e-commerce and travel to be the big spenders" text="Auto industry, e-commerce and travel to be the big spenders">Auto industry, e-commerce and travel to be the big spenders</cmsannotation> As per the data from Gipsi, (Tonic’s AI and HI research arm), search queries have risen by 3x across categories like online shopping, travel, automobile (specifically SUV’s segment), fashion, and gadgets over 2019. Experts also opined that auto will see a boom because consumers are now avoiding public transport. Other categories that popped up in our discussion were EduTech, E-commerce, OTT and travel. “People have begun travelling, offices are slowly opening up. Traffic is back on the roads and the restaurants are filling up slowly. This year, fashion &amp; accessories, FMCG, Durables, EdTech, FinTech and most of the new e-commerce/online brands should be active. We could see some action from auto sector as well,” said Krishnan. Joshi also shared his optimism about spends from the auto and e-commerce industry. He said, “Automobile, gaming, education, beverages, FMCG, cement, tyres &amp; consumer durables are some of the categories that will re-activate their marketing plans in H2. Given the advertising clutter during the festive period, brands will need to drive awareness and stay top-of-mind throughout the consumer’s purchase and consumption journey.” Apart from these obvious ones, Shejale highlighted that the travel industry, which suffered the most during 2020, has finally started picking up. He said, “Firstly, I am sure travel will revive and has already started picking up. As the travel industry flourishes, the hotel and hospitality will grow too. Apart from these, retail (online as well as offline) will also recuperate and continue to grow.” Trends so far have only indicated that consumer sentiment is improving, which is more likely to continue growing during the ongoing festive season.

Experts are hoping to see the advertising industry generate around Rs 7000 crore, 12-15% higher than last year’s festive season

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Now, watch cricket on Facebook as ICC partners with the social media giant

Sanchita Dash

Facebook is strengthening its social video experience for its next phase of growth in India

Samarpita Banerjee

Experts are hoping to see the advertising industry generate around Rs 7000 crore, 12-15% higher than last year’s festive season

Karuna Sharma

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