TV.NXT 2014: Can multiple devices have a positive effect on viewership, after all?

Kedar Gavane, vice president, sales, comScore, illustrates through data the transition of TV to online viewership.

Day one of TV.NXT 2014 was about a lot of discussion and an equal amount of learning. As views were exchanged and points were made, data was also shared to show exactly how content consumption is changing in the present scenario.

Kedar Gavane, vice president, sales, comScore, Inc ensured that the delegates went home with much more than just theories. Gavane presented a research report on 'Television & Online Video - The India Picture' in the morning session and spoke about the trend of watching videos online.

comScore started measuring online video consumption in India roughly three years back. Around 32 million viewers were already consuming content online back then. But according to Gavane's research this number has doubled since then - both in reach and consumption. Gavane compared the consumption of digital videos in India with other countries. While the audience for online videos in India is at 59 million, that of China stands at 447 million. And between the sexes, male consumers watch more videos online - especially the age group of 15 to 35 years.

Gavane's data also showed that some of these independent content creators have a bigger reach than many regional channels. And with a user base of people between 15 and 34 years, consumption only increases with age. The same pattern, however, is not clear about television.

According to the research findings, Brazil, Russia and India have similar consumption patterns. The minutes spent on watching a video online are usually much longer in these countries, compared to the US or China. However, while Indians are more interested in consuming entertainment, or social content, in the US, it is more of entertainment and news.

In the last one year, the number of smart phones and tablets has gone up considerably. This led to the question of cannibalization by other devices, which he tackled next. Gavane said that as people move to multiscreen devices, the total number of viewers also increases. He explained this with the help of a case study done on the National Basketball Championship (NBC) and the Olympics. It was noticed that while viewers with a single screen (television, in this case) consumed as much as 250 minutes per day of Olympic content, it increased to 268 when the viewer had multiple screens. So, unlike what the industry fears, multiple devices can often lead to increase in viewership, instead of a cannibalization of content.

"What we are trying to say is that anyone who wants to produce content out there has to think not just TV but go beyond just one channel and start producing experiences across platforms - something that is also viable at a syndicated monetization level. We must think of content creation for every consumer with every device. I think in India we have started seeing those trends with Sony and Star. Star during the IPL season showed cricket live. And the opportunity for advertisers to showcase the brands is also very, very high."