Unlike last few pandemic quarters which was predominantly digital led there is an opportunity for brands this year to take a multi media channel route to reach their potential customers- Boby Paul tells MediAvataar India
Here’s the full Q & A:
1.Throw some light on demographics of Malayala Manorama readers?
ManoramaOnline network clocks 36 Million Malayalee users worldwide on an average per month. Average session duration of near about 6 minutes with a Male to female ratio of 60:40 along with Traffic from more than 200 Geographies which makes us the No.1 Malayalam Only Digital News Network. It is not the sheer number of visitors that makes ManoramaOnline a highly influential medium in Kerala but also the high engagement & time spend which makes us the default medium which shapes popular opinion.
2.Tell us how things have changed with the lock down and pandemic?
There is no doubt that Pandemic induced Lock down has put a lot of stress on the emotional & economical well being on people and business. During this period Digital turned out the only ray hope for the society. The entire world embraced digital with more passion that ever before as the sole connecting grid to get their life on through the Covid onslaught. People started telecommuting as Businesses kicked in the WFH Mode,Students leaned on to Online Class-rooms for their day to day learning when schools shut and OTT/Online News became the sole source of entertainment & news when cinema halls & traditional media distribution faced challenges.
3. How has been the response for the Onam campaign this year? Which categories have shown an uptick in festive spends?
We had a tremendous response to our Onam Campaign this year named ‘Kerala’s Biggest Super Star – coming soon”.Both local & national brands lapped up our various Onam engagements/activation’s with a never before seen gusto this year. The most entrenched categories for this Onam turned out to be Automotive,Consumer Durables followed by Retail including but not limited to Home Decor,Fashion & Gold.
4. Have you noticed any specific festive trends this year?
Unlike last few pandemic quarters which was predominantly digital led there is an opportunity for brands this year to take a multi media channel route to reach their potential customers. This will really help the entire media verticals to get a fair share of brand spends which is most welcome but with a heavy digital skew which is never going to diminish.
5. How is digital transformation changing the digital marketing industry?
We have to treat the ongoing digital transformation as an ongoing Industrial revolution which will decide the next century of World Business Order. The advent of powerful computing & mobile technologies which will soon step into 5G revolution in India will shake up the already shaken traditional business models, there will be no business which is not digital business in the near future.
6. Digital platforms are facing major challenges because digital platforms are free to air. Is Programmatic and AdTech way forward for publishers?
Digital Publishers should start treating their content for its fair value and bring more conviction to make a feasible business model out of it which can include ad-monetiastion, subscriptions,syndication or any other tech collaborations which will make their content more available,consumable & valued. Bottom line is to make sure that their ARPU needle keeping going in a Northern Direction, however slow the current trajectory.
7. The Best Businesses Are Built Around Passion. What are your views on this?
Yes – Cent percentage. Our passion is the State of Kerala & its Language called Malayalam. This is our single minded passion which make us keep going & this is just not possible with out the support of our internal stake holders and our beloved readers.
8. On a personal note, what have been the highlights of your career so far? Your key learnings?
Looking back I feel lucky to have been worked with all 3 sides of the digital media ecosystem which includes agencies,publishers & tech enablers which helped me get a well rounded view how the business operates from each others angle. My key learning is to “Keep Learning” and this is more true in the ever evolving digital domain where I am an eternal student. Always gather your actions not behind things which generate too much heat but least bit of light.
