Q&A with Abhijeet Ranjan, Chief Revenue officer, Public App, from the Inshorts Group.
How is Public App different from other short video apps?
Public App was launched in 2019. We are covering news in video format and also in short video format. Most of the other apps in this space are a mix of text and video. We got an insight that most of the user base that we are reaching out to, in metros and across tier 1 and 2 towns in the country, they prefer content in video format that too short video format. That’s how the format of Public App is differentiated.
Coming to other differentiators, we are available in 12 languages and covering most of the top languages spoken across India. Wherever the app is downloaded the user will get the feed in the regional language and there is an option to change to English if required and also to any other location.
The third differentiating factor is that we saw a big need for providing authentic hyperlocal and regional information. We have more than 7,000 creators on the platform which is spread across over 700 districts in India. Overall, 40,000 stories are churned out on the app on a daily basis.
All the creators on our platform are verified. We do a proper e-KYC check for all the creators. During one of our researches, we understood that when people want hyperlocal news content, they are keen on the authenticity of the same. On other social media platforms, there is a lot of fake news being published. It’s almost an engineered process, anyone can create an anonymous id and post the video which might later go viral and there is no way to check the authenticity of it.
The first criteria Public App follows while onboarding creators is that they are authentic for which we have the KYC documents like phone number, Aadhar Card details etc. Once a video has been uploaded by the creator, we have a software which has geo and location check, through which a creator cannot upload or send something which has happened six months ago or in a different location. Before the content goes live, there is a fact checking team who cross checks whether there is any element of hate speech, violence etc. Through these processes we ensure that the videos are completely authentic and credible.
It also helps as the brands we approach for advertising as safety is a big concern for them.
There is no direct competition for us. But all the news publishers and any publishers playing in the tier 1, 2, 3 (overall Bharat as a market), they will be in the same space as us. Also, because we have clear differentiation in the kind of services we offer, the amount of news we bring to the different regions of India, we are unique.
Who is using the app?
The users who are coming to Public App can be from a metro or hail from tier 1, 2, 3 cities. The ones who are more interested in what is happening in and around their locations. If you take regional newspapers which are very much popular in India, out of every 16 pages almost 50 to 60 pc of content is related to that particular state and then there will be news from adjoining cities. We are catering to that set of user base who are moving to digital and consuming news from there. Those users who want to consume authentic regional news are coming to the Public App. We have launched internal channels in different genres. As of now, we have internal channels for education, sports, technology etc.
Once the app is downloaded by the user, they start getting content like an Instagram kind of feed. Every page will have one news story and then you swipe up to get the next news story. Now we have a feature to follow, if you like a certain journalist, content creator, or internal channel, you can follow them. Then you get content focused on the choices. Our core TG is from the age group of 18 to 34 years. If you look at the broader TG would be from 18 to 45 – around 89 to 90 pc of our user base comes from that age group.
What are the monetisation methods and how is Public App helping brands to reach consumers?
We have created a lot of native formats. We always wanted our ad experience to be as native as possible because the insights we have drawn is that people generally don’t like excessive or intrusive ads. We created an ad format called native in-feed video. Like the content creators’ channel where the videos come with headline and sharing options, we created a similar native format where a brand can take a handle with the logo and name displayed. It is exactly like content which will come within the feed as the user keeps swiping each story up. That is accompanied by a native banner as well. We are witnessing adequate traction for it because it is very contextual and relevant. It also gives a feeling to the user that it is part of the story. We definitely call it sponsored or label it as an ad. Banner ads are also getting good CTR.
The advertisers are a mix of regional and national players, and more and more national players are coming on board. We have onboarded top national advertisers across categories like FMCG, BFSI, auto, OTT etc.
Star Sports did a campaign with us during the start of the IPL. They opted for the in-feed format; they had a 5 pc-plus engagement rate. They had a very high reach for that campaign and more than 5 million impressions. Amazon has taken a roadblock with us (interstitial full-page). They got more than 20 million impressions and close to 1 pc CTR and again very high reach as well.
What are the current user numbers?
We hit 10 million downloads within three to six months of launch.
After that it has grown from strength to strength. Overall download numbers have now crossed 200 million plus on App Annie (mobile data and data analytics platform). The monthly active user base is 70 million. We are fairly strong across languages, but HSM accounts for 50 to 60 pc of our user base, followed by Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, and Bengali.
How are brands leveraging hyperlocalisation?
One big strength of ours is that we are getting the most amount of information updated at a district or sub district level. The person who is giving it is the one who has been with us for the last 2 to 3 years. They have a good follower base on their own. The person is acting like a micro influencer in his/her district.
Brands are leveraging the power of that local influencer while asking to cover new launches or something of that sort. Brands are leveraging them to do hyper targeted campaigns only in a specific district, hence there is no spillover. Users who are coming from that particular district on the app are very unique and that option is not available on other platforms.
We have also started supporting brands covering their store openings or launches. Recently we have covered Allen Solly and Duroflex store launches in different districts. What we do is we have a content creator who is popular in that specific district and the person will visit the place and cover the launch as a news story which is also benefiting the brand.
What has worked for the App so far?
The numbers have grown hugely within two years of launch though we haven’t done much ATL marketing. It is because there is a clear need for this App in the country. In India as a country, there is a need to be connected to the community, that’s the clear need gap we have solved. We made content our biggest differentiator. If you look at our parent company Inshorts, they cracked the UI, UX experience well earlier. That is something we have continued on the Public App, but the format is changed from text to video. We also understood that we need to provide the users with more relevant content. Then we started giving the users updates or announcements from the government in regional languages. We come out with compelling stories which are a combination of what is happening on a regular basis plus snippets and facts. The average duration of the videos is 60 seconds. We are doing a lot of education and evangelisation of how to reach out to the Bharat consumers. Right now we don’t see too many brands getting into vernacular creators which is the way forward.
