What Divya Dixit teaches about brand purpose

It's about something that you've grown up with, you're most comfortable with, it reminds you of home and I think language is a great play to work with. Tell me, how do you see this current dynamic of content consumption playing out? On one side, we're primed with content that we have been consuming with Netflix, Amazon, homegrown content with Eros and Balaji. So what is the dynamic with homegrown or Indian versus global content platforms today? So I think it is a country with multiple layers, right? Multiple sections of the society, multiple languages.

I think there's place for everybody, honestly. However, I also think real India is outside Bombay. Real India is outside Delhi, right? There is a certain amount of elitist population which will look at global content because if you look at the data also, 10 million new internet users are coming in India every month, right? And these users, if you look at this data further segmentation, 9 out of 10 are looking for content in their native language. So that era of English language person is gone. There's pride in your own language, right?

And therefore, they're looking for content which is their own content on the net, right? And that's the empowerment story that we have over there. Now, how is it that the homegrown players can leverage this opportunity and look at that user converting on board, right? And that is the game we are after. So let me say this, that for our Amazon Prime Video, I'm sure the market is a little larger thanks to the fact that they have an e-commerce service bundling offering, etc. And therefore, Prime Video gets bundled as per that.

However, for a Netflix, it's a much more elitist story, you know, with the kind of content, with the kind of imagery, etc. they have. And I have actually spoken to a few consumers and they have said, you know, that's their reaction to it. In fact, if you know of, there's a study in US which was done because somebody said, you know, when I get on to Netflix, I'm browsing for 30 minutes and I can't make up my mind what to see. Now, too much offering at a certain point of time can also become an issue.

However, we at Ault believe in the fact that you need to reach out to the masses and speak in their language. And that is when they're going to be interested in your content. And that's the art of storytelling that we are doing in their language. Now, Hindi is the main space area, right, that we work with. We have also dabbled in regional content which we'll continue doing in future. And we are priced very sharply. So, you could safely say that we are going after the Indian masses. And I think global and homegrown players all have a fair turf to play on.

Tell me, because you spoke of regional and regional is the next part of growth in terms of consumption anyways. So, what is your, in terms of, if you had to give me a breakup of today's so much content, obviously I understand because you're reaching to the masses is Hindi primarily. But what is the kind of investment you are making as a company when it comes to regional? How is that kind of poised to grow? Sure. So, in terms of investment, I think it's not just about money. It's about investment of time. It's about investment of incubating a project.

Understanding what will work with the masses and, you know, developing a script, putting together the project and then seeing if it should take off in a particular direction. Are we going to take that step right now? Maybe not. Are we first going to conquer the Hindi market? Yes, for sure. But, like I said, we have done our own little sets of experiments. Let's say with a Bengali show. We've done it with a Tamil show. We've done it most recently with a Bhojpuri show. And it's been a huge success for us. Because we have a Hindi audience in Bhojpuri.

It's very, very close to Hindi language. These are the kind of experiments we'll keep doing with. Right. And that is the idea to cater to an audience who has pride in their own language. Who want to see content in their own language. Who want to be entertained by the content and not intimidated by the content. And that is the core theory we are chasing. Also, there's a sense of comfort that we're being spoken to in your own language. Correct. Absolutely. Absolutely. Which is why, if I may say so, the earlier brand that I launched, the slogan was,

Apni Bhasha mein feele. Because, you know, when you're angry, when you're sad, what is the first thing that comes out of your mouth is your own language. The words come out in the language. If you're excited, if you're angry. And it's all about your language. It's about something that you've grown up with, you're most comfortable with. It reminds you of home. And I think language is a great play to work with. Say by 2020, in the next two years time also, if you'd like to look at it that way.

How much of you think growth is going to come from regional language consumption from where it is now? Because it is still that small base that's growing. Sure. Sure. So if you look at the latest ENY media report as well, the largest growth of internet users has come from rural areas. Correct. Right? Yes. Now that's an absolute indication of the fact that it is the language which is going to be the driver of the content consumption in this country. Now that language can be Hindi. That language can be Tamil. That language can be Telugu, Bengali, Marathi.

But it's definitely not English. Because like I said, the Google report itself says that. So the indicators are there, but you're not committing to seeing so much kind of growth. You're not giving me that rough number. It doesn't make sense for me to put a number on there because I, frankly, if I was to dissect it down, Hindi today still commands 70% of the market in the language market. Right? So the rest are all dissectable. The next two years, where do you think our homegrown players would actually stand in terms of market share?

You don't have to give me a percentage again, but a benchmark to say this would be the kind of growth we would see. People, whoever meets me says, oh, OTT is so hot. But what I feel is going to happen is there are two kinds of people who will survive. So forget about a homegrown or an international at this point in time. Let's just talk about OTT, right? If I just talk about OTT, what's going to survive? What's going to survive is the storytelling. So either a sharp, small, even if it's small, a great OTT player that pulls people towards

it with the power of the content, the power of irreverent and maverick marketing. Or you have players with absolute high pockets, deep pockets that have the money to go out, spray and display and put out content over there. These are the only two kind of people that are going to survive this game. Is there going to be a consolidation? Yes. It has to. There is no way 32 players will survive. Are they going to be all of them national? May not be true. Because you also have a Sun TV down south. You also have a Bengali regional and growing.

Are they going to all consolidate at some platform? Yes, I think so. And there have been examples in other industries if you look at it, like a broadcast, right? There was a point of time there were 15 GEC channels. Today there are five surviving. So consolidation is the name of the game. Thank you. Thank you.