Cracking the code of consumer psychology in India’s streaming boom

In today's rapidly evolving digital world, leveraging the psychological principles in selling techniques has become a crucial element for business success. In today’s post-COVID world, consumers are spending a disproportionate amount of time on streaming content on  Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and several other OTT (over-the-top) platforms integrated into smart televisions.

Currently, India has over 50 OTT platforms and their content is often tailored to various devices, i.e., smart televisions versus mobile devices.

However, content marketing on these platforms remains a puzzle, with no clear-cut pathways for content success—such as the type of content that guarantees success or the selling techniques that marketers should employ. In this context, it is imperative to understand the psychology behind content marketing, especially digital content tailored to OTT and other free-to-use platforms.

The streaming content revolution

When traditional TV ruled the drawing rooms, consumers had to set aside specific times of the day to watch their favourite soaps. They had to put up with myriads of advertisements during breaks and had no option but to wait for entire seasons if they missed any episodes.

That era has gone. Good content is no longer a monopoly of large broadcasters.

Currently, content can be sourced from small content producers, actors and production houses, and made available to end consumers via OTT platforms. With democratisation of the entertainment world, marketers often contemplate how they can ride the digital content tsunami.

From visual to multi-modal experiences

Content consumption has evolved from static visuals (pictures) to audio-visual (traditional television), to interactive audio-visual (e.g. Youtube) to audio-visual experiential (OTTs). The sensory experiences provided by OTTs are triggered by the modality of content consumption which emphasises a realistic heuristic by making consumers feel they are closer to the television character or web series.

Consumers feel as if they are part of the narrative. This often leads consumers to start a one sided conversation with themselves, developing an affective relationship with a television series or a character.

They may even impersonate the character(s), as if they were part of the real circle of the characters’ friends and families. This imaginary emotional relationship with a celebrity is known as para-social relationship, which ultimately leads to intimacy with the celebrity, thereby making consumers glued to the new OTT format.

Understanding the viewer psychology

This modality-driven content consumption fosters deeper viewer engagement through ‘narrative transportation’, where audiences become absorbed in the storyline. Every time consumers expect a ‘narrative completion’, marketers can grip them using a fresh story line and creative content through audio-visual elements such as improved resolution, surround sound, and social interaction, that shape audience perceptions.

For example, the content producers help the audience to access previous episodes and watch them at leisure, release a block of content (three to five episodes) so that they can binge watch together in an evening, give no or minimum number of ad breaks and finally invite them to talk about the experience in celebrity gossip shows.

Many a time, consumers come to OTT platforms to escape from reality. This escape from reality is a habitual diversion of mind to a purely imaginative activity, leading to entertainment.

For example, college students watch their favourite episodes of Game of Thrones before an exam. Here, the audience wants to engage in narrative transportation to escape from stressful events of life.

The higher the consumer need for escape, greater their gratification after watching their favourite web series. Hence, the marketers may consider timing their episode releases post-exams or in the evenings when viewers return home from work.

Bridging tradition and modern content

Content can be developed drawn from India’s rich traditions that may be overlooked by mainstream media. Currently, managers are equipped to launch genres of soap operas with the highest entertainment content (e.g., history or fantasy) for a specific audience that is fluent in English and follows western traditions or values. However, a large segment of audience in India, mainly from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, still follows local traditions and attends the performances of classical music and folk dances.

The absence of community space in tier-1 cities has pushed consumers to celebrate festivals in their own homes and with limited resources. As family life is confined to four walls and more time is spent on work or commuting, little time is left for community values and traditions.

The marketers can embed culture-specific nuances in their episodes highlighting values beyond family, i.e., celebrations in a mohalla (neighbourhood), public gathering of feeding the elderly, celebrating birth of a new child, etc.

For example, Tanishq celebrated Diwali with Ekatvam (Oneness) campaign in 2020, celebrating India’s unity in diversity. It depicted different communities coming together to celebrate Diwali, highlighting inclusivity and harmony. Another example can be Surf Excel’s coming together series, ‘Daag Achhe Hain’ (Dirt spots are good) giving a message that getting dirty is a part of growing up and learning in the childhood.

Innovating advertising in the OTT era

As the modal experiences continue to evolve, offering new possibilities for brand-consumer engagement, marketers and advertisers need to offer innovative options to technology-platform providers. Advertisers must take note of changing media consumption behaviours, wherein consumers choose to watch a few episodes of a series without advertising interruptions.

They can come up with innovative solutions for viewers. For example, they may reward viewers with 1–2 episodes of free television content for watching a one-minute advertisement or for filling up a small survey.

Alternatively, viewers may opt for a 10-second commercial break between two episodes of a series. Such innovations will retain the viewers’ narrative transportation experience and keep them engaged with platforms.

- Dr Ambika Prasad Nanda, associate professor-marketing, Jagdish Sheth School of Management (JAGSoM), Bengaluru.