ith the advent of streaming media technology and the increasing penetration of broadband in India, live webcasting is no longer limited to corporate, HR, internal and marketing communication.
Recently, Sify.com, the official internet partner of Lakme Fashion Week, 2007, held in Mumbai, did a live webcast of the event on sifymax.com from March 27-31. Mint, the business newspaper, also did a live webcast of the HT Mint Luxury Conference on its news portal, livemint.com. Dozens of TV news channels have also webcast live events on their respective news portals.
While the webcast of Lakme Fashion Week received approximately 10,000 viewers on each day, the HT Mint Luxury Conference had a claimed total of approximately 25,500 visitors.
Does this mean that Indian consumers and advertisers are receptive to live webcasting? Rashmi Chugh, internet head, Mint says, "HT Mint luxury Conference was an editorial product and we wanted a large audience to log on to our news portal. So, the event was webcast. Now, with the phenomenal response that we have got, we plan to make this a regular feature on our portal."
Arun Rajamani, deputy general manager, consumer channels, Sify, says that consumers, today, are receptive to live webcasting because of the value it gives - that is, access to content away from home. The viewer and the presenter can be at different locations; yet, the message gets across instantaneously.
The opinion is seconded by Minoo Shah, marketing head of 24 Frames Digital, one of the top webcasting service providers in India. She says, "Webcasting is no longer a distant reality or a niche technology. Also, with broadband players stepping up the availability of bandwidth, both upstream and downstream, reception of webcasting has improved multifold. A very affordable technology, which has global reach and no heavy infrastructure requirements, webcasting has become increasingly popular."
Reliance Webstore recently organised Sri Sri Ravi Shanker's address in Bangalore, along with 24 Frames Digital. Darayus Mehta, head, broadband application of Reliance, points out that with the live coverage of events on television, content plays an important role. It is essential to have compelling content in order to attract traffic.
This leads to an important question: What is the revenue model and what kind of brands are interested in live webcasting? Rajamani explains that since webcasting cuts across geographical areas, it enables advertisers to reach a wider audience. "The revenue model is advertising-based.. Currently, a lot of brands are waking up to live webcasting, but it is not yet mainstream. However, this is changing rapidly and the sheer availability of high speed broadband will create traffic and bring in more players," says an optimistic Rajamani.
Some other events that were webcast live on Sifymax.com were the one-day international cricket matches between India and England in 2006, the 'Mumbai Marathon' and so on.
"The target group for webcasts is the TV audience; it is the location that differs, "asserts Rajamani. He explains further, "The target group of Lakme Fashion Week was made up of people who were interested in Indian fashion; they could be located in any place. Similarly, in the case of the India and England ODI in 2006, men watched the live webcasting from their offices."
What is the future of live webcasting? According to Rajamani, live webcasting will grow sharply over the next three years. Two distinct products are events targeted at niche audiences - for instance, a rock show or a fashion show - and corporate events. The players who provide quality viewing experience in webcasting will dominate the market.
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