I firmly believe that media business is business of attention.
AND
Right content strategy and placement is what drives attention!
With consistent decline in attention span of consumers, marketers have started to realise that instead of driving consumers to the place of promotion, they need to be taking the message where the consumer is, basically work around the journey of targeted consumer.
This is how google remarketing was conceptualized and got popular.
We are moving away from B2C and B2B marketing, the brands have realized the way forward is H2H – Human to Human marketing.
What is H2H Marketing – H2H marketing is communicating and engaging with your TG according to the mood they are in – with kind of content they would like to consume.
When this happens successfully, ads become information , which get absorbed the way brands want them to be absorbed.
Various studies indicate that online audio, video and podcast streaming is consistently on a rise. And the best part is consumers are willing to spend to access content which is personalized and customised. Talk Netflix, Amazon or any of the audio streaming platforms globally like Spotify, Deezer or Anghami.
Few facts:
Talking podcasts alone, Right now, there are more than 700,000 active podcasts and more than 29 million podcast episodes.
- Smartphones are driving podcast ( and audio ) consumption by demonstrating an 157% increase in usage for podcast consumption since 2014, compared to marginal increases in case of PCs, tablets, and laptops.
- 77% of podcast consumers prefer to click on a podcast and listen immediately. 41% of them prefer to download podcast episodes manually and listen later. 27% of them prefer to subscribe to a podcast to download automatically to listen later.
( Source: Podcast Stats 2019, musicoomph.com)
Context to MENA: Smart phone penetration is playing a key role in growth of audio consumption thru digital and MENA is one of the most lucrative geographies with 
extremely impressive smartphone penetration.
Here are 3 ways you can tap into this untapped & uncluttered audience:-
- Vanilla Ads ( though I am not the fan of Vanilla Advertising) however it can be an entry start to level to start tapping in to extremely targeted audience. And being a very less cluttered platform at the moment, with right content and creative strategy, this can drive extremely acceptable results.
- Sponsored Playlists with tailor-made messaging This is where things start to get interesting. Imagine you are a brand targeting fitness enthusiasts. The messaging when appears tactically only with ” Top gym songs” can create the required impact and reach to the required audiences when they are in mood to listen such messages.
Taking it one step forward, I am imagining an upcoming mega Bollywood movie of Salman Khan or James bond which can have a time-sensitive playlist available for download, of the best Salman Khan songs or James Bonds tracks available for users . This kind of innovation will be laser-targeted and help not only creating traction for the upcoming release but give fans a life-time opportunity to access a collector’s item with brand messaging which is going to stay forever in their drives.
3. Customised content creation thru Podcasts, Tapping special events etc. This is the ultimate level which brands need to be targeting on audio streaming platforms to get the best value.
Indeed an opportunity for brands when the message is going to straight ears of the target audience!
About the Author:
When I first discovered what creative content integrations with brands can do for clients and their advertising campaigns, I was immediately obsessed!
It made total sense that why majority of sales people struggle for conversions and …
- Why regular advertising campaigns do not work
- Why marketing managers, media planners, CEOs and CFOs always axe marketing budgets in tough times.
I originally started applying creative content strategies with my clients during my successful stints with B4U Network , Zee Network , Star Network and Hello! Magazine where majority of campaigns not only delivered the required results on quantitative metrics but were also able to impact sales.
Hence, for past 15 years I have been passionately integrating creative concept selling with music, movies and entertainment thru digital and traditional platforms.
Any media business is business of attention. And content is what drives attention!
Lets connect: www.linkedin.com/in/zeeshansamin
