Viren Anand is the Co-Founder & member of the New Management team of Networkplay India. After completing his MBA, he started his career as a Traniee at Mudra Communication. He later moved on to become the Sales Manager at Yahoo India. In 2008, Viren Anand gave up his corporate career and decided to translate his experience and ideas into a business as he co-founded Networkplay Pvt. Ltd.

In mid-2014, Viren was appointed as the new management to take over the responsibility as Networkplay continued to increase focus on mobile & online video advertising and reinforce its position as India’s fastest growing digital media company.

In an exclusive interaction with India Digital Review, Viren talks about Networkplay’s  journey from the start, the emerging trends in digital marketing and the changing patterns of data consumption. 

How has the journey been since your start in 2008?

Any company’s journey is as individual as you are. Our challenges, opportunities and ambitions are unique and it’s a merry-go-round but it is an addiction. Achieving one goal motivates you to build another bigger and better goal. Goal by goal, step by step you create something called a company.

Networkplay was launched in late 2008 by ex-Yahoo Employees with a vision to build a platform which can give an advertiser a choice to know where their ad dollars are being spent. We were the first network to give in-depth details of every impression served across our network sites. The business policy was to be completely transparent and follow the punch line 'Nothing is blind anymore!’

Soon we could see the need gap for the Brand Spends and decided to bring top international names to the Indian market, LinkedIn, Investopedia to name a few. Being a brand Ad-Network, we were very clear with our strategy to sell audience and not inventory. Convergence, Continuum, Change - It is with this thought in mind that Networkplay approaches the future.

We understood the potential of a burgeoning Travel Ticketing & Transactional Audience and started the first Transactional Ad-Network. We also realized the convergence story offered by the onset of the DTH Revolution in the country. Our tie-ups with Airtel, Sun Direct and Videocon prompted us to offer DTH Brand Audience solutions, a first in the country for any ad-network.

Indian Digital market is still in its nascent stage with a rapid changing economy. Our strong belief in technology and deeper penetration of internet help us to drive our current and future strategies.  Our initiatives in Videoplay, content marketing, RTB, programmatic buying and innovation driven by technology signifies the ethos of the company and we believe we still have to evolve a lot for the future.

Tell us about the emerging trends in digital marketing industry?

India with 36% Urban and 10% rural internet penetration is digitalizing information at a rapid pace. 14% of it is coming from Mobile devices. With information becoming personal, brands have to think beyond promotional content. Brands will need to create user-centric content and go beyond traditional use of media.

With video eating into impressive share of display it’s not to be missed. Video and Infographic are leading the go-viral tactic.

With Mobile emerging as “the new desktop” it plays an important role in changing buying decisions. In today times, with information just a tap away brands need to engage more smartly with the prospective buyer.

Could you shed some light on the changing patterns of data consumption?

The data consumption is growing and the number of data users has also increased. Mobile internet traffic seems to be increasing every year at an expected rate of 18%. With rapid penetration of smart and feature phones the trend will soon shift to mobile data consumption. A new generation of “Mobile only internet user” is predicted to grow to 41% of overall internet consumption in 2015. Communication (Email, social media, instant messaging) will however be the most popular activity followed by information gathering and video watching (entertainment & information).

How do you plan to increase the sales and marketing ROI for your clients?

Precise Measurement and reach are the major reasons to make digital marketing the most cost-effective mode of marketing. Our exclusive tie-ups with international affiliate management tool Tradedoubler and initiatives in programmatic buying help our clients to achieve their marketing ROI goals. Networkplay reaches over 55% of the Indian Digital audience through our Internet and Mobile offerings.

Any client will have their own set of challenges and we provide tailored-made solution for each. We began working with major automobile players in offering a digitalized verified lead management system to help them generate qualified prospects for automobile purchases. We endeavour to go beyond our Media buying role when it comes to achieving ROI goals for our clients.

With the Indian digital space getting more competitive, what steps do you plan to undertake to retain & expand your digital audience base?

As stated earlier, Indian Digital market is still in its nascent stage with a rapid changing economy. With 36% penetration in urban cities and just 6% in rural there is large part of population yet to be reached. We expect major growth to come from rural market and we are getting ready for it. Our strong belief in technology enabling the future media buy will help us achieve our goal.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

Networkplay from its inception has always been at the forefront to nurture the Indian Digital Marketing ecosystem. Our commitment to bring international exposure to the Indian marketer and create solutions will help lead us to the future. We see ourselves as one stop solution provider for digital marketing creating opportunities across all digital touch points. We want to be the bridge to bring technology and digital marketing ecosystem together.