CHENNAI : As we are entering the ‘Independence Day’ week, today let’s discuss a topic that many startup enthusiasts and foresighted investors are trying to solve — Content for the Digital India: Bharat. A recent study by Google and KPMG reported two interesting observations: Indian language internet users are expected to grow at a CAGR of 18 per cent vs English users at a CAGR of 3 per cent. And that 90 per cent internet Indians over next five years will be a vernacular language user, ie they will not speak English as their primary language. And yet the content today is only in English language.
Currently there are over 460 million Indian internet users and this number is expected to grow to 635.8 million by 2021. In this situation, where India has the second largest online population is coming over internet, we need content that in Indian languages. And today we will talk about the why.
Relatedness
One may not be able to relate with character that is based on American content or speaks a foreign language. But he can surely relate much more if the character is based in India. He can relate much more if the situations and locations and people shown in the drama are from the same land as him. Because he has similar problems as the protagonist and other characters. A side character of the story or the content piece is the same that he sees every day on the street.
Language
Some emotions and expressions that one can convey in one’s native language cannot be expressed in any other language with the same effect. For example, in English we refer all sorts of ‘Chachas’ and ‘Mamas’ and ‘Fufas’ and ‘Mausajis’ as uncles but in Indian languages we have different words for different relations. Similarly the meaning of the Hindi word — ‘jhootha’ which is for eating food already tasted by someone else; has no word in English language.
Identification
If you are talking about New Delhi to an Indian, you will not be required to explain its geographical location. You will not be able to tell him where India Gate is and where Tiruapti is and where Kashmir is and where Bay of Bengal is. But if you start talking about Boston and Ohio and Washington and San Francisco, you might be required to explain their geographical locations and importance to an average non-metro audience. This is because living in India, Indian content comes naturally to the Indian consumer and he can easily identify and associate certain qualities and aspects with a term that is based
in India.
For any queries, please write to me on Rajeev@TBSPlanet.com