India is one of the fastest growing Mobile Video markets in the world. How does SHAREit view this opportunity as compared to China and other major markets in the world?
SHAREit is one of top 10 most downloaded apps in the world. We have 1.5 billion users across 200+ markets with India being the single largest with more than 400 million users. Ever since we entered India, we’ve seen massive growth in video content consumption. SHAREit started out as a file sharing tool, but now it has developed into one of the largest and fastest growing video content eco-system. Users discover, consume & share multiple genres of content in language of their choice using SHAREit.
The content market in India is huge and has an extensive range of diversity, especially when it comes to languages. Users are now consuming content in multiple Indic languages beyond English & Hindi. SHAREit currently provides content in more than 8 Indic languages and we will be expanding into other languages over next few months. We are working with multiple content partners to cater to the needs of our consumers.
With over 400 million users, India is one of the largest markets for SHAREit. How did SHAREit achieve these numbers in such a short period of time? Can you tell us some key initiatives that have helped SHAREit attract new users and drive more community engagement on its platform?
The growth in India has been phenomenal and we are amongst top 5 most active apps in India. We started as an easy and simple utility tool that enables consumers to transfer files without any Internet connection. This function has brought us early success in India. Our user base is spread across pop-strata with largest base coming from Tier 2/3/4 markets.
SHAREit is a day ZERO app – when a user goes to buy new mobile phone, the shop owner recommends and even downloads SHAREit on the new device to transfer media & files from old device. Since we start the journey from day 1 the consumers start using us from the start and then it becomes habit over a period of time. Users share music, videos, pictures, apps & documents with their friends and colleagues using SHAREIt. Ease-of-use is the key reason for success, besides we are not dependent on data connectivity or data connection quality for file transfer or content consumption and this is our biggest differentiator. Did you know that you can watch video content even in airplane mode on SHAREit!
We found out that user preference is shifting with time, they are not only looking to transfer files, but they also want to discover and consume content on their handheld device. That’s why SHAREit is now building a digital ecosystem where consumers can discover, consume, and transfer content on one platform.
What are the key trends for content consumption in India? Are there any differences in demand from consumers in Tier II and Tier III markets?
Most people who are from metropolitan cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, etc already have a good internet connection and are keen on consuming English content. However, we at SHAREit not only focusing on metro, but also targeting the next billion who come from Tier 2/3/4 cities.
There was time when the consumers in these regional tier 2 and 3 markets did not have a strong internet connection. However, thanks to affordable internet packages and the consumers in the tier 2 and tier 3 markets having an easy access to internet these days there is an increasing demand for video content that consumers can consume in their preferred language.
More than half of the Indian Internet consumer base is Non-English. Regional language content consumption is not limited to their native states/cities anymore, but has become a countrywide trend. SHAREit becomes a solution for them to get content from their friends, family, or even from the shopkeeper who they purchased their phone from. Through filling the gap of the internet and digital entertainment, we have a solid user base in India.
Can you talk to us about some of the interesting advertising opportunities on SHAREit and how marketers here are responding to them?
SHAREit offers multiple high impact branding options ranging from rich media ads to roadblocks to video ads. We have deep appographic knowledge in terms of apps on device, apps used most often, most shared apps and so on. These insights triangulated with location and language preference allows us to offer sniper-sharp targeting.
How is SHAREIt helping brands & advertisers measure the impact of their marketing? Given Indian advertisers are also more focused on performance how is SHAREIt looking at metrics beyond branding?
We are capable of delivering various marketing KPIs that are beyond branding like task-incentive programs to drive behaviour shift; video sharing capability to add virality to branded content; influencing app shares and offering app popularity index providing deep insights on churn behaviour. We are getting very good traction from top tier brands on branding & impact options especially with companies that are chasing the bottom of pyramid across tier2/3/4. We are also in active discussion with various companies on task-incentive programs and adding virality to content or apps and in these cases we believe our association is much deeper.
Programmatic adoption in India is also growing. How do you see programmatic buying evolve?
We are actively engaged with most of the leading programmatic demand partners in the country. We believe programmatic buying will grow at a higher rate than the digital advertising growth rate over next few years.
SHAREit offers a very large user base spread across metro cities and tier2/3/4 markets. We offer high impact advertising solutions to reach millions of user base. We have deep user insights and we are re-inventing our reach to deliver unique KPIs through innovative marketing solutions and tools. Basically we are offering a combination of unique capabilities at scale to the brands & marketers.
