According to the Ficci-EY media and entertainment industry report, the share of regional language consumption on OTT platforms will cross 50% of total time spent by 2025, and regional languages will clock 60% of television consumption in 2025.
The Indian M&E industry is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making significant strides. The industry has largely been driven by increasing digitization and higher internet usage over the last decade. The Internet has almost become a mainstream media for entertainment for most people. The M&E industry will grow at a CAGR of 13.5 percent during FY19-FY24. It is expected to reach around US$ 44 billion by 2024.
With 22 official languages, 121 languages, and more than 19,500 mother tongues spoken in India, and 121 crore population, the growth of Regional content is phenomenal. It will continue to grow, particularly the Tier 3 and 4 markets – that are being considered the most extensive high-growth areas.
The growth of regional language content in India is offering a myriad of opportunities to brands.
Brands are also banking on regional events to reach their TGs So, how are brands reaching the core of India through regional events?
“Regional events are bringing alive local consumer context for brands. India is one of many countries in one, and regional events allow us to tap these insights and bring them alive in the local context,” said Priti Murthy, CEO, OMD India.
Apart from the standard media vehicles of TV, Print and Radio, where the regional SKEW is already sizable and growing, the explosion of digital and social media has meant that brands now have a plethora of options to reach their target consumer, observes Murugan, CEO Southern Health Foods Pvt Ltd
“The ever-expanding list of content creators in regional languages across all digital platforms and the creativity they are bringing in has meant much more relevant and engaging options for brands. I understand that the top 10 youtube ads in 2020 were in regional languages. Google translate was used 17 billion times to render web pages in regional languages, and 75% of users use Social media in regional languages. Every big brand is using local social media influencers to promote its brand. So, brands have a plethora of options to go regional, and they are starting to gear up,” added Murugan.
“Regional events bring forth a flavor that the local culture carries while gaining organic visibility via word of mouth & social media. It creates an interpersonal connection which helps in better brand recall and creating a brand personality. At hoichoi, an event is mainly treated as a celebration, where we celebrate our content and our audiences. A viewer is more likely to advocate the brand when they feel like a part of the celebration. It’s a win-win for both the platform and the audiences,” said Vishnu Mohta, Co-Founder, hoichoi.
The pandemic-induced lockdown opened up growth avenues in video-streaming like never before, and experts believe India’s OTT industry has the potential to become the world’s sixth-largest by 2024.
Speaking about the growth of regional content in the OTT space, Vijay Subramaniam Director and Head, Content, Amazon Prime Video India, said, “At Amazon Prime Video, we constantly listen to our consumers’ preferences and bring in innovations to our content strategy to deliver compelling stories across regions, languages, and formats. With our localization efforts, we strive to offer diversity in terms of content and user interface on the platform. Starting off with 4, we have now ramped up our local offering to 9 languages, coupled with hosting one of the largest libraries of Indian languages movies in the video streaming space.
“In addition to this, we have 3 languages UIs and have also been offering dubbed and subtitled versions of our essential originals and licensed content to help stories travel further. We deep dive into different cultures and ecosystems to understand the sensibilities and curate stories accordingly,”
“Hosting events and conversations focused on languages allow us the unique opportunity to dive deep, surface trends, and tease out the many nuances of our incredibly diverse country and its choices – entertainment and story-telling included. As an organization that places the consumer first, always, participation in such efforts is another excellent way to understand our customer better, know her preferences and inhabit her world,” he added.
‘The next phase of growth in the OTT business in India will be through regional programming and connecting with the consumer in their native language. Only by focussing on the regional will we achieve national growth. And hence such events are of key importance,” Saugata Mukherjee, Head of Originals – SonyLIV Sony Pictures Networks India.
In this context, Promax, which has always had an extraordinary relationship with India and keeps the rise of regional in mind, is organizing India Regional Conference & Awards 2021’.
The PROMAX AWARDS are the world’s premier celebration of outstanding achievement in entertainment marketing and design. The Promax India Regional Awards will witness the most exceptional creative works in entertainment, marketing, promotion, and design from all regional markets of India across 25 categories.
Hear from the experts as they share their views on the rise of ever-better quality of content creation and consumption in regional languages across the country.
On Friday, June 11, 2021, from 2 pm onwards as the most prominent names ranging from FMCG to Media take us through their thoughts and insights on the rise of Regional content, grow newer audiences, uncover the latest trends, and unfold the new set of rules in the regional story of Media & Entertainment.
