Straight Talk 2021: The quantum leap in the digital consumption is going to come from the rural markets, Anand M Charles, VerSe Innovation
“India still has a long headroom for growth in terms of video adoption which is 59% when compared to its global counterparts like China, USA, and Brazil which are 92%, 83%, and 74% respectively,” said Anand M Charles, Director, Ad Sales-VerSe Innovation while speaking at the 3rd edition of Medianews4u Straight Talk.
“Content which is getting distributed and consumed on digital platforms has created huge opportunities and space for the media and brand owners. The increased content consumption among the public has grown on a large scale and that’s one of the reasons that can be attributed to the increased growth and relevance of Digital Media during the pandemic period,” Charles said.
Charles further spoke about Josh – a short video app from Verse Innovation and why it matters to a billion Indians. He also spoke on the advantages provided by Josh to users, content creators, and brands.
“We came up with a platform where we started giving people an opportunity to present their own skill set. Josh encourages the creator in each of us and has democratized content creation with tools and an exhaustive audio library,” he added.
The content creation prompt of Josh app is spread across 13 languages with a broad range of genres namely entertainment, dance, sports, food and many more. The product tools offered by Josh includes Static and Dynamic AI/AR filters, pre-edited video uploads, video enhancements effects and many more. Josh’s audio library has partnered with leading music labels like T series, Sony Music, Saregama, Zee Music etc.
Charles spoke about the growth of Josh Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, “Technology plays a huge role in our products. The consumption pattern for every user will be different and it varies depending on the individual interests. We started creating an environment in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The reason why we gave emphasis on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is that people have aspirations and the quantum leap in digital consumption is going to come from the rural market. Hence, Josh created different concepts, where we brought across engagement units for these sets of people to come across, learn and can create video content with a basic amenity like a mobile phone.”
“When it comes to the monetisation part, Josh connects the right creators with the right brands. We also extend creative and content support for branded campaigns. It’s just been a year since Josh has been launched, we already have more than 120 million users consuming the content. We believe that content is the king until the user is not going to stay around until you are providing them with a complete content which he enjoys,” Charles added.
He further elaborated on the different types of product launches and on-ground activation events organised by Josh app.