The increased connectivity and technology penetration in India have opened up newer rural and urban markets for the businesses to tap into. The role of advertising becomes paramount for any business venture to reach out to these consumers and capture the market share. According to some statistics1, the Indian companies are estimated to be spending a whopping Rs.57,000 crore in 2016 for advertising. Spending in digital marketing is growing the fastest and around 10% of the ad spending was devoted to it in the concluded year. Radio is also showing a revival and the spending curve for radio ads is predicted to grow upwards.
The Mobile Vaani platform, with its 1,00,000 users in Jharkhand and its equally strong presence in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and many other states of India, stands to contest with the radio and digital media as an advertising platform. The low cost low-end equipment requirement, high mobile penetration, large rural audience and unique accessibility are some of the factors that make MV a different breed of media. It offers a combination of features provided by two of those media platforms from the two ends of the spectrum, radio and digital media.
Google ads and YouTube non-skippable ads are the most typical examples of digital media advertising. Google ads’ click-through rates are around 0.1%, i.e. only 1 click out of 1000 times when the ad is placed next to some search results. On Mobile Vaani, typical click-through rates are 7-8%, or say 5% to be on the conservative side. This is because on MV the person is actually listening to the ad, unlike on Google where most people just ignore the ads. Thus, MV ads can be argued to be 50 times more effective than Google ads. Typical cost per impression for Google ads is around Rs 6 while we price our ad impressions at Rs 2.5. In YouTube, the impression is assured like on Mobile Vaani, and ads are priced at a cost per view of Rs 6-10.For a radio that broadcasts to a population of 5 lakhs, the cost for advertising will be around Rs. 1500 for a 30s ad spot with 5 repeats daily. But, a 40% listenership and a mere 10% tune-in at a time, the number of daily impressions come down to around 20,000. The cost per user, then, becomes Rs. 2.6.
Unlike radio, Mobile Vaani customers can avail auditable data about the listeners including demographic and contact details. It also has the unique facility to custom the ad campaigns and tailor make it to regional and timely requirements. Also, while on the internet users pay their telecom provider to watch the ad; it is free for the users to access MV.
