In today's world, digital media has reached new heights with its capability to cater to audiences with personalised and quick access to content. However, along with the boom it has seen in recent times, the industry also faces numerous challenges to stay relevant.
In a recent interaction with Business Today TV, Ashwin Padmanabhan of GroupM India and Pankaj Krishna, Founder and CEO of Chrome DM at the Goafest 2023, the leaders shared insights on how the digital media landscape is changing each minute and how organisations have to find innovative ways to stay connected with the audiences constantly.
Talking about what changed in the recent past in terms of media advertisement in the post covid world and after the digital peak, Padmanabhan said, “The challenge we face is the challenge that our client faces too. Today we do not have customers' undivided attention on anything, so we have to find different places to connect with them and have a conversation with them.”
“So the challenge for us is how do I get to a consumer and have a conversation with them because I cannot find them in those defined places where I could find them earlier. They are scattered all over the place, and that challenge translates into an agency’s challenge because now the agency must build the story of how you get to the consumer and how you measure that you have reached the consumer and put a cost to the whole process of reaching consumer through an effective medium. So, it has actually become terribly complicated," he added.
Responding to the question of whether technology has helped reduce the complications of this whole process or added to the difficulties, he said, “It does both, it adds to the complications, and it helps as well. Technology helps consumers to access content anywhere, anytime and on any kind of a device, but that adds to the challenge of tracking them for us.”
He further added that the technology that allows the consumer to consume content in different ways on different devices is much more fast-paced than the technology that tracks consumers and drives measurement.
Sharing his take on the whole scenario and giving more technical detail on how the organisations are working to track the consumers' digital footprints, Krishna said, “As far as measurement is concerned, it is a challenge to track multiple devices.”
“But, the beauty of digital is that it is hardware independent. So, if you want to measure the digital reach, you need to insert a simple application on the device if it does not violate any privacy laws. Then, you will get the return path data, and through this, we are measuring the reach of live content on live cable and satellite and the incremental reach of the same content on multiple devices,” he added.
This tracked path helps organisations cater to the audiences with their desired content, allowing them to understand the consumer's interests and patterns more closely. However, constant tech innovation is the only way forward when it comes to staying relevant in today’s time.