Driving viewership via mobile
By Rohantha Athukorala
“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. |