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Tuesday, 10 July 2012

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Driving viewership via mobile

“With more than ten million watching IPL on their mobile brands must integrate all social media vehicles together with mobile communication like SMS amd MMS. May be the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) can take a cue based on the consumer behaviour of IPL edition five”


Rohantha Athukorala

Given that Sri Lanka is to launch IPL version later this year branded Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) and there is a trend globally for sports to be integrated to business, I thought of picking some insights that are emerging from the recently conclude Indian Premier League (IPL).

IPL

A key pick up from the 5th edition of the (IPL) is that TV ratings has slipped to 3.53 from last year number of 3.88, which can be attributed to many factors such as the changing lifestyle, product fatigue or it can be even much more exciting options challenging the consumer. Whatever the reason is, there is a clear trend emerging and the world where some of the best known business principles are being tested in the business of sports marketing and Sri Lanka must identify them and apply them to practice so that we can learn from the mistakes that the world has made.

Shine off

Whilst it is a fact that IPL continues to be profitable, the recent data that is unfolding is somewhat alarming. The organizers have no option but take the insights and do some value engineering so that the lost luster can be restored to make next year’s version of IPL generate a stronger pull. The pull must be focused to the distinctive groups of TV audience, advertisers (marketing companies) and the owners is my view.

From a business perspective the overall TV ratings has dropped by 9% as cumulative reach has taken a beating from a 140 million last year to settle at 137 million viewers, which means things are cooling down on this brand and shine is weaning off. Lets accept it the bubble has burst on the interest on IPL which means that Sri Lanka needs to carefully plan the strategy for SLPL. This is all.

However, if one evaluates the top ten programmes of India, IPL is yet in the running as per the data revealed by Indian Television.com. I guess what’s important is TVR’s and not popularity from a typical branding perspective. But the attendance at the matches were encouraging with the top brands continuing to be part of the event which I feel is good for the IPL brand. I feel that any programme that gets a rating of 3.5 across a country is a relatively a strong programme to advertise on. However, this must be coupled with below the line activity at the event, so that consumer engagement becomes part of total marketing programme. I yet remember when Anchor milk powder some years back sponsored the New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka, whilst the media was bombarded by Anchor at the event too there was a penguin nemonic parading the grounds that endorsed the promise that Anchor comes from the grean pastures of New Zealand. This is the type of consumer engagement that can be benifitial to a brand.

Mobile Viewership


With 18.5 million mobile phone subscribers in Sri Lanka driving branding via mobile phones becomes key

A key insight doing the rounds is that the 5th edition of IPL there is a shift from standalone TV viewership to mobile streaming. Some mobile TV operators have registered almost 11 million viewers which is similar in numbers to those who watched IPL on You Tube. A company called Apalya technologies stated that they have exceeded their set target by eleven percent which is encouraging. But the strange news is that Nokia happens to be the mobile set that has reported the most viewing of IPL from the mobile front that I phone from Apple.

The IPL website on the other hand has recorded 1.37 million viewers in week one of IPL, as against 0.88 million viewers in the last season which means that this medium is growing at 56% over last year which is something marketers must take in to consideration when planning the next communication burst for their brand..May be the originator of IPL Lalith Modi must be given due recognition for taking the decision in the 3rd edition for live streaming of IPL. The consumption patterns on growth is very encouraging is my view but now a more structured plan must come to play to boos this number.

May be a higher migration of viewers will happen in the 6th edition next year from fixed TV to mobile TV, provided that band-width issues does not happen. Sri Lanka which has clocked almost 18.5 million owners of mobile phones as per the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRC’s) is a staggering number as the population is only a 21 million in the country which is a 88% penetration discounting the double ownership of mobiles by an average Sri Lankan.

This phenomenon will extend further is my take in South Asian, provided that countries like Sri Lanka must move away from buying media on the hype and use tools like TRP’s and viewership in making their media decision. This requires marketers to be skilled with art of making decisions with data and also evaluating the performance of media buying than just listening to qualitative data when taking media selection decisions.

Disadvantage

Whilst the advantage of using a mobile has infused convenience to a modern day consumer, the adverse impacts can include blurring vision, headaches, earaches and some even say that it can cause cancer. On the other hand mobile use also creates social problems like people living in one’s own world of confining them self to the interaction on email, facebook, play stations forgetting the real worl interactions that happens face to face..

Another issue faced by marketers is that most mobile phone users are youngsters who think that an extension of their personality is the phone they carry and the personalization that they do with custom ring tones and attractive wall papers which is effecting the have nots in a school. This leads to running up of mobile phone bills and habits like SMS’ing for fun creating social tension at home.

A new hazard coming to play is cyber bullying. This is where offensive SMS’s, MMS’s come through the system which can be stopped on the home computer but not in the mobile phone. Latest research reveals that cyber bullying causes psychological discomfort more than face to face encounters. There is also privacy issues when it comes camera phones. Recently Saudi Arabia banned camera phones being imported into the country.

These are some of the areas that Sri Lanka must watch so that we do not get into a situation where the mobile phone becomes a social taboo than an asset that simplifies life in general.

Next Steps

1) Profile ones target market and check on the habit of mobile communication, so that trends can be picked up.

2) In some segments the increasing power costs and being always mobile are driving people to watching TV on mobiles. This needs to be analysed from a Sri Lankan scenario as its holds grounds in India and Pakistan where energy is a serious problem. May be in the Jaffna peninsula this must be trend given that almost 13 days of the month a power shortage is experienced as per the President of the Yalpanam Chamber of Commerce.

3) There is also a trend of where people are turning to selective exposure when it comes watching TV and hence the mobile becomes the ideal tool to use than a fixed TV in ones home. This behaviour is seen in particular to cricket enthusiasts.

4) Whilst its good to base decisions on TRPs some times a qualitative judgement on the image fit between programs and brands must be done so that consumer imptact is greater.

5) Integrate Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, email and SMS campaigns which are all accessible using a mobile phone so that personal communication takes place between a brand and a consumer.

The author is a marketer by a profession. The thoughts expressed are his own and not the views of any organization he serves in Sri Lanka or internationally.

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