‘Bharat – The Neo India’ Report Launch At ET Brand Equity’s Brand Bharat Summit

In the last few years, there has been an explosive growth in the online presence of internet users beyond metros.

It is imperative for brands to pay close attention to this emerging market, by deep diving into its behaviour. Setting this tone, the recently concluded Brand Bharat Summit 2021 – organised by ET Brand Equity and powered by ShareChat – featured industry veterans offering marketers the directions to engage with this massively growing user base.

Short videos – the emerging growth opportunity

In an insightful session, Ajit Varghese, Chief Commercial Officer, ShareChat and Moj, discussed how the short video space is fast emerging as the digital growth frontier for Bharat. Social media, he said, has seen a massive uptick in Indian users within the last five years, thanks to cheaper smartphones and data plans. He further elaborated that the short video space is on the verge of significant growth – from 240 million users today to 80-90 crore users in the next five years.

He especially pointed out how marketers must engage with creator-driven, hyperlocal, personalized content in the short video space – it promises to shorten buyers’ purchase cycles thanks to their relatability. And lastly, he shed light on the power of micro-influencers, who command 2x - 3x better engagement and are the driving force behind the massive projected growth of social commerce.

Unveiling ‘Bharat – The Neo India’ Report

The next session saw the official launch of the ‘Bharat – The Neo India’ report. ShareChat, with GroupM, has created a report that reveals the behaviour of the Bharat consumer. ET Brand Equity’s Ainee Fatima talked to Ajit Varghese, Tushar Vyas (President, GroupM) and Prasanth Kumar (CEO, GroupM) about some of the key highlights of the report.

At the outset, Ajit Varghese explained the need for this report – it highlights how Bharat users, with their language-first preference, have led to the massive growth of internet users in the last two years. Further, it contradicts the myth that Bharat users aren’t well-versed with technology; they exhibit digitally-savvy behaviour. This is evident by their adoption of digital payment technologies such as wallets and UPI, and investments in modern financial assets like cryptocurrency.

Overall, the report provides brands with a better understanding of the Bharat user right from their interest areas to their lifestyle choices and their consumption patterns.

In closing, Fatima asked the panel how brands can leverage the report to improve engagement with Bharat users. Kumar said that as Bharat is fragmented and present their peculiar consumer behaviours, there are several opportunities and challenges for media planners and marketers.

To get deep insights about Bharat users and ready guidance on formulating strategies for meaningful conversations, download ‘Bharat – the Neo India’ report.

To watch the report launch, CLICK HERE