The pandemic has not been kind to businesses. In the same vein, the pandemic affected the advertising industry pretty badly too. The demand for new brands and products saw a sharp decline in 2020. Consequently, advertisers and marketers postponed their brand launches and advertising campaigns. As a result, the advertising agencies had nothing to do but to wait for the situation to get better.
However, not all hope was lost. Since people were stuck in homes, self-quarantining, the advertising trend shifted to digital marketing and mobile advertising. As the internet consumption of people increased, the advertising agencies started tracking the trending applications or platforms. They then used these platforms and applications to advertise their brands and products. Thus, COVID-19 accelerated the shift to the digital era in India.
Below mentioned are the most popular platforms suited for advertising in 2021:
1. Advertising during IPL on Hotstar
IPL, or the Indian Premier League, is one of the largest sporting events in the world. The finest of players from all over the world find their place in Indian League games, competing against each other. However, the organizers postponed the event indefinitely in 2020 due to the pandemic. However, 2020 saw no IPL matches and people waited for the IPL with bated breath. As a result, IPL 2021 became the most-watched event in 2021.
However, soon after, the event got discontinued. But, according to Google Trends, people IPL 2020 searched the most after Coronavirus. Needless to say, advertisers raked in quite a few bucks advertising on Hotstar during IPL. The event remains the most sought-after media ad platform for 2021.
Media platform type: OTT (Digital)
Popular Outreach Options: Audience, Device, Geo, Language Feed
Popular ads: Pre-roll videos, Mid-roll videos, Branded Cards.
2. App Advertising on Inshorts
Inshorts is a popular news app where people can read the most important national and international news quickly. The app summaries the news stories in English and Hindi in 60 words or less. Thus, the app is best for people being up-to-date on the go. As a result, the app is widely popular in India and has the maximum 5-star ratings on Google Playstore.
In the same vein, advertisers love to market their brand on the Inshorts app as millennials use it the most for their daily news dose.
Media platform type: News (Digital)
Popular Outreach Options: Geo
Popular ads: Fact card, Video ads, Magazine Card, Roadblock, Logo Integration, Native ads, Article, Banner ads.
3. App Advertising on Hotstar
People have now switched to streaming and OTT platforms for their daily dose of entertainment. Among all the digital OTT platforms, Hotstar is one of the most-watched streaming apps in India. Last year, the popularity of the OTT platform was equivalent to that of YouTube. This is because of the live streaming of IPL, the most awaited cricketing and entertaining event of the year.
Moreover, there are very few OTT platforms that offer as diversified a content mix as Hotstar. Above all, the streaming platform merged with Disney+ last year to make the viewing experience better.
Media platform type: OTT (Digital)
Popular Outreach Options: Geo, Age, Gender, Language, Interest, Device, Genre
Popular ads: Video ads, Banner ads, Masthead Banners, App Installation.
So, choose your medium and reach niche audiences for your branding.