‘Marketers aiming to create good campaigns must understand audience on hyperlocal level’

As India’s digital advertising ecosystem evolves, the age-old one-size-fits-all marketing approach is rapidly becoming obsolete. Abhishek Jaggi, National Head - Digital Sales at Way2News, highlighted this shift at the 7th edition of the e4m ScreenAge Mobile Marketing Summit 2024. According to Jaggi, India’s vast diversity demands nuanced, region-specific strategies, especially in the realm of news consumption and mobile marketing.  

Jaggi began the session by addressing the growing complexity of India’s media landscape. “India isn’t a single market—it’s a collection of many. Each state, and often each region, has its own linguistic, cultural, and consumer nuances,” he said. “A campaign that resonates in Punjab might fail to strike a chord in Tamil Nadu, and vice versa. The same logic applies to how people consume news.” He stressed that marketers who aim to create impactful campaigns must first understand the audience on a hyperlocal level.  

Way2News, a hyperlocal short-news app, embodies this philosophy. Since its inception in 2015, the platform has chosen to focus exclusively on South India, where it has become a dominant player in states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Instead of attempting a pan-India rollout, Way2News concentrated on depth rather than breadth, ensuring its content is deeply resonant with its target audience.  

Jaggi elaborated on the rationale behind this regional approach: “We’re a Hyderabad-based company, and South India is our home turf. Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades across India, we chose to be masters of a few states. This has allowed us to build trust, engagement, and loyalty among our users.”  

The results speak for themselves. Way2News boasts 35 million monthly active users, with 80% hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Its average session duration of 28–30 minutes outpaces many of its competitors, a testament to the platform’s ability to deliver meaningful and relevant content.  

Jaggi noted that this success is deeply tied to the app’s use of local languages and culturally specific narratives. “Our news in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam isn’t just translations—it’s content crafted specifically for those audiences. This is why people trust us as a credible, hyperlocal source.”  

The discussion also underscored the limitations of pan-India campaigns in today’s fragmented digital environment. “There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution,” Jaggi asserted. “Running a single campaign for all of India assumes homogeneity, but the reality is the opposite. Cultural, linguistic, and behavioral differences are too significant to ignore.”  

Jaggi urged marketers to rethink their strategies and embrace the value of regional precision. He shared insights on how Way2News has encouraged brands to adopt localized campaigns instead of broad, ineffective national ones. “For markets like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, we are the go-to platform. Marketers who partner with us see first-hand how impactful targeted advertising can be.”  

In his address, Jaggi also touched on the broader shift in news consumption patterns. With traditional formats like newspapers and television facing declining engagement, platforms like Way2News are filling the gap. “Today, people are always on the go. They’re consuming news on their mobile devices, not in physical newspapers. Our platform delivers bite-sized, relevant updates in their local language, which fits seamlessly into their daily lives,” he explained.