Are content formats born out of the 2020 Covid crisis here to stay?

The Covid-19 crisis brought along with it a new set of opportunities for the content marketing space. In times of restrained budgets and restrictions on shooting, it gave unimaginable ideas to brands and creators alike to stand out as relevant and be sensitive to audiences amid the pandemic that forced people to stay at home.

But as consumption pattern is ought to evolve in the coming times, how many of these formats that were born out of the challenging times will sustain in a longer run?

BuzzInContent.com talks to experts to find out.

Karthik Hariharan

Karthik Hariharan, Business Director, South, FoxyMoron, doesn’t believe these were an outcome of the pandemic alone. Typically, such product changes are in evolution and testing for some time and would have been a part of the overall product roadmap anyway.

“The fact could be that the pandemic may have been a catalyst to get these formats go live given the explosion of content during this period and I believe they are here to stay as long as users familiarise themselves well. On the other side, users experimenting with content format types for story-telling will be an ongoing change. One important aspect to note is that all these formats enable better discovery and the story-telling is considerably veering towards video — in short form and long form as well,” he said. 

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown created a level playing field for all creators and everyone had to innovate to stay relevant.

Angad Bhatia

There were more options than before for viewers and with so much to choose from, you’d expect them to cherry-pick the best. The role of brands and creators has been driven by a deeper sense of consciousness. In any form of storytelling, relevancy, incorporating surroundings in the content and relatability became the key more than ever, said Angad Bhatia, Founder and CEO, MensXP.

For creators, this period served as an accelerant.

“In recent times, quirky and snappy short content is what is catching the eyes. With a rise in the number of creators and formats, attention span took a dip. Creators were wise to this and they found newer ways to keep their content engaging and ensure it stands out,” he said.

Short-format videos

The short, 15/30 second content became a rage despite the TikTok ban, and apps such as MX Takatak and Instagram’s Reels peaked. In the latest Instagram update, the main button on the app, the '+' to upload the picture, has been replaced with the Reels button, which shows the emphasis on the format. And many formats have been born out of it. For e.g., '15-second movie reviews’, '15-second dance performance’, ‘Hook steps’, '30-second rants’ and so on.

“While there is no one-size-fits-all content, most of these new content types are sustainable as they are short and creators can quickly adapt to the trends in question. The fact that they are not budget-intensive or need high production quality means there is low effort and high reward. And if not well-received, they can be easily be modified,” said Bhatia.

With TikTok being banned in India, which was its largest overseas market, Instagram launched Reels early in India to fill the void. There was a major shift of 200 million users from TikTok to Reels.

Shradha Agarwal

As Instagram Reels became more mature, Shradha Agarwal, COO and Strategy Head, Grapes Digital, says it will be interesting to see how brands and influencers leverage the popularity of the Instagram platform to make Reels work for their businesses.

Live and live streams

Though the collaborative ‘Live’ feature across social media platforms can be termed as a new content format, video as a master format continues to lead the foray into content marketing.

Rishi Sen

Rishi Sen, Managing Partner Jack in the Box Worldwide, said ‘Live’ opened a two-way engagement avenue for brands.

While not many content formats were specifically invented, there was a drastic shift in the narrative that better defined some existing formats and made them almost new in their existing shell.

“Being able to directly converse with the end consumer is an extraordinarily strong feature that can backlash if not used wisely. The birth of this feature demands brands to build strong thought leadership and category expertise. As advertisers and marketers evolve over time, this format will see significant results in the times to come. Live streams are primarily a content format that is widely using in the online gaming category where Amazon-acquired Twitch leads the charge. It is long format, highly engaging with ample opportunities for brand advertising through both paid and organic means. As we see the consumer turning towards digital video content at scale, live streams bring a sense of reality and relatability, which makes it my personal favourite content format that I am looking forward to seeing in the immediate future,” he said.

Brands are really trying to strike a chord with the masses through engaging long-form video because that is what consumers seem to be engaging more with these days. A format that is definitely here to stay, he added.

Storytelling became a restrictive format in the content marketing process due to lower attention spans, which led to much more functional branded content. The lockdown brought back the need for storytelling that eventually reincarnated the slightly longer formats of video content.

OTT

Amarpreet Anand

The explosion on OTT content will continue, said Amarpreet Anand, Executive VP and Portfolio Head, Marketing, Diageo India.

“The country got a good taste of some exciting local content during Covid times. There will be a hunger for more. The reach of content distribution has increased multi-fold, and in my view will continue to grow from strength to strength. Eyeballs will follow great content irrespective of platforms,” he added.

Harikrishnan Pillai

Harikrishnan Pillai, Co-founder and CEO, TheSmallBigIdea, believes that successful content formats are a function of great creative insights and the acceptability of the audiences to its treatment.

During the crisis, with people locked down and starved for entertainment, a lot of formats that laid latent found larger acceptability. Realism is one such narrative that got people excited.

“Look at the OTT shows that have the highest buzz rating. Look at what trends on social the most. They are real; they have an overlying emotion enabling connect. Now realism took a lot of avatars of gratitude, philanthropy, but the broad stroke still remained of being connected to the truth. Also the trend where creators are very comfortable creating content from their homes, appearing like their real selves, I truly believe is here to stay,” he added.

Basically, the OTT Genie is out of the bottle now.

Podcast

Audio as a concept isn’t new to Indians; they are used to sitting at home or in community to listen to radio commentary, whether it is cricket, news or religious music. With the heavy adoption of smartphones today, this has moved from radio to podcast.

Agarwal said audio is at a very nascent stage in India as the country is very heavy on video consumption with internet penetration. Listenership numbers despite India being one of the top internet using countries in the world, is far lower than the US, Australia or Europe.

However, she said it is growing steadily and the number will reach approximately 175 mn from the current 40mn by 2023. Gen X will drive the growth as 60-65% of them feel music and podcasts will be their preference for self-discovery.

Pillai said the need to learn and exchange ideas is here to stay.

“Looking around at the number of podcasts, interviews, e-summits that are happening, where people are sharing knowledge, these will build a blueprint for the future of business. The other things that blew were all anyway in the path of growth; the crisis was a mere catalyst,” he added.