1

Research Methodology

Qualitative Research Study on Consumer Behavior towards Sponsored

Digital Content in the youth

Akshay Gupta (10) | Dishant Bhatt (28) | Jayesh Gawde (34) |

Pulkit Tiwari (49) | RakhiJha (52)

Submitted to
Prof. Kallol Das
04. 12. 2014

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

Research Methodology
Qualitative Research Study on Consumer Behavior towards Sponsored Digital Content in
the youth

Introduction
In Todays age of rapid digitalization, Brands are also moving up in that direction to stay
relevant. Nowadays, Going Digital is not an added dimension but a necessity for the
companies. The number of people having access to internet is on the rise since last
decade or so. India leads the pack in this Digital revolution with estimated 263 million
users and is pegged to overtake US by the end of 2016 with around 280 million internet
users. With such ever increasing audience, Digital has become a platform too big for
brands to ignore. The dynamic nature of the medium and its global reach also means that
brands are susceptible to negative word of mouth much more than ever before. This has
led to a new form of advertising which we call Sponsored Content where brands
promote favorable content on the digital platform either by using Influencers or by
simply buying out space to initiate positive conversations.
In
his
article
on
www.smartinsights.com,
David
Chaffey talks about the difference
between types of content present
today on the digital platform. The
Article says With the rise in
importance of social media and
online PR, were seeing more
companies change their method of
budgeting, reporting and investing
in media to reflect the types of sites
where audiences spend their time
online. The trend is towards a
review of investments in the 3 main
media buckets of earned, shared
and paid which each give
opportunities to
influence
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

customers

Some of the biggest brands in the world are now regularly sponsoring content on various
social media platforms as more and more people spend considerable amount of time on
the internet. McDonalds came up with a sponsored twitter trend during the Football
World Cup in Brazil earlier this year. In India, many brands are taking this route to
promote their products or just to stay on top of mind of their target audience. Sprite got
young band from Chennai to play one of A.R. Rahmans tune using empty Sprite bottles
and glasses. This ad was promoted on YouTube where it appears before loading of the
actual video you clicked to watch. We can see many such videos on YouTube nowadays
which are promoted by some or the other brand.

Fig1. McDonalds sponsoring Twitter campaign

Fig 2.TrendSprite sponsoring glass orchestra

Along with content on such social media platforms, many Brands use the News Media as
well to promote their product. Banner ads occupy a considerable screen space of News
websites like FirstPost and Times of India. Around 30% of the screen space on these sites
is occupied by sponsored content. Brands are increasingly viewing Digital space as a part
of their integrated marketing objective. Hence, the spending too is increasing on social
media platforms and other general websites.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

Research Questions

RQ-1) How does the urban youth perceive sponsored digital content?
RQ-2) What are the associated brand recollections with regards to sponsored digital
content?

Research Methodology

In order to fetch consumer insights on consumer behavior trends on sponsored digital

content in urban youth, within the campus our availability of target audience was limited.
However our campus with its excellent internet connectivity and a varied pool of screenagers from all sections of the geographic regions in the country and from a holistic
background, we believe is a very valid turf to understand how sponsored content on the
internet is being perceived by the section of society who ages between twenty to twenty
five, and spends roughly eight to ten hours surfing the internet space daily.
Among the available tools for primary data collection: focus group discussions (FGDs)
and depth interviews (DIs) we chose to use the latter because we believe that internet
space is used individually on personalized screens by users and each consumer can have
his own criteria of how he or she spends time on the internet and how much they are
acceptable to the concept of digital marketing invading their space on the internet.
Interviewees were chosen at random in order to maintain heterogeneity and to prevent
skewness, subjects were chosen by different team members and interviewed without
transferring any information to other members in order to maintain zero bias throughout
the interview process.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

The following table describes our Interviewee list:

Subject
Piyush Narayan Sinha (A)
Anupriya Pandey (B)
Aditya Saraf (C )
Shreya Jain (D)
Deviprasanna Pradhan (E)
Ashwani Kumar Mishra (F)
Anagh Sharma (G)
A. Srikrishna (H)

Background
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Male, North India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Female, North India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Male, West India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Female, North India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Male, South India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Male, Central India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Male, Central India
SEC A, 20-25 years old, Male, South India

Data Collection Tool

Any research study that involves primary data collection will require an apt data tool to
be created in order to obtain information and derive insights. For depth interview, we
followed a discussion guide. This discussion guide which majorly shaped our broader
approach of questionnaire was not too rigid if the natural flow of the interview moved in
some unknown direction by the answering flow of the respondent. We adapted to the
unique style of questioning of each interviewer as well as to the distinct ways in which
each interviewee directed the flow of the conversation with his or her responses.
Depth interviews were conducted one on one, recorded alongside the conversation and
later re-studied to derive insights by following the entire conversation and breaking it into
the usage data codes. The pattern was unstructured to have no bias of the interviewer and
very conversational to ensure that respondent felt familiarized with the process, and gave
natural replies to the questions posed. Order in which the questions were asked was based
on the replies given by the respondent. The techniques of depth interviews in qualitative
research like probing and funneling were used extensively. The conversations with each
subject started out on a general friendly note of basic introductions and once the talking
process reached its natural flow, the conversation was narrowed down to make it more
focused. Average length of each interview was roughly half an hour. Technical
precautions such as use of good quality recorder in a peaceful, calm and noise-free
environment were ensured to have clear and understandable audio recordings. The
subject was informed about the audio recording process and a prior permission about the
same was taken from him or her well before hand. These recordings have been submitted
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

alongside this report and their use for any commercial non-academic purpose shall not be
done. Because the interviewees have shown no hesitation in mentioning their names and
backgrounds in the interviews, we have used the same in our mention in this research and
no breach of personal privacy has been caused. The primary language of interview
throughout has been English and the questions asked have been formulated in the most
understandable easy way. A constant effort has been made throughout the process to not
have any personal bias or judgment during any interview and not reveal any personal
emotions in terms of facial gesture of approval or dissonance. The pool of candidates
selected come from distinct backgrounds, regions and a well balanced mix of gender ratio
has been ensured to make an attempt of presenting a holistic picture in the end findings.
Data analysis, conclusion and marketing implications have been done on the basis of the
findings of the study alone, and no personal bias, influence or direction whatsoever
outside the purview of the research findings have been taken into account to reach the
same.

Discussion Guide
Below is the list of questions which were asked in most of our interviews
Note The structure and the order of the questions varied as per the replies of the
respondent.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

What is your name and age?

Where place do you belong to?
Can you please tell me what your hobbies are?
Do you like to surf the internet?
How many hours roughly in a day you spend online?
Do you interact with your family and friends on social media?
Can you name some of your favourite websites?
Have you ever come across any sponsored content during your web surfing time?
If you have to name one website, where you have been exposed to most online
advertisers, which one would it be?
10. How does sponsored comment and online advertisement affect your online surfing
experience?
11. Is there any particular memory that you have of an online sponsored story which
you would like to share with us?
12. Do you like watching videos on YouTube?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

13. What are your views on the increasing number of advertisements coming on
YouTube these days?
14. When I say online ad, which brand and advertisement comes first on your
mind?
15. Do you think online media will replace other mediums as the first choice for
brands to reach their consumers?
16. Do you trust recommendations by your friends of their favourite brands on social
media? Does this influence you in knowing about those brands or products?
17. If an advertisement doesnt suite your taste who would you blame the channel or
the brand promoting it?
18. How often do you trust the tweets related to brand promotions that appear on your
twitter time line?
19. What is the most memorable online banner ad that you have seen in recent times?
20. Do you browse through the suggestions that appear on the sideways on ecommerce sites?

Data Analysis and Implication

Data analysis was done using data reduction and display tool, which is both easy to
conduct and communicate. The table below sums up this stage of the research.
Subject Viewing Habits & Drivers
Response Drivers
A
Socially active on various
Relevant Brand/Product
platforms
Information quotient
Spends five to six hours on
internet
Educational content
Enjoys Sponsored Ads
B
Relevant Fashion Trends
Identification with the
brand and fashion trend
Display of Attractive pricing
Relevant Brand/Product
e-commerce
C
Interesting Messaging
News Article of interest
Technology Savvy
Favourite Celebrity
D
Academic Book
Relevance of the suggested
content
Suggestion based on Friends
usage
E
Availability of time
Conversation around the
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

Story telling approach

Relevance of the Sponsored
Trend
No Video Skipping facility
Interesting content in first 2-3
seconds
Sponsored content on relevant
device only
Favourite Brands
Page hopper
Politics related
Interesting
and
creative
content
Resonance with the author

trend on timeline
Tweets
from
known
individuals
Catchy jingle or music
Nostalgic feeling
Relevance
of
Brand/Product
Innovative communication
Rationale of the content
Creativity of content

Excerpts
Subject A is from Bareily, a town in Uttar Pradesh. He was born and brought up in a
joint family environment and his first preference of career was to be a cricketer. His
exposure to internet started in days when his career focus shifted from that of sports, to
that of becoming an engineer. His education and the work life that followed thereafter
took him away from home, to places like London. In that patch, he started using social
media as a primary tool to communicate with his family and friends. Today he has social
media accounts on a range of websites, from LinkedIn to twitter. He is currently pursuing
his masters degree in management and plans to take up a life in media. He spends
roughly five to six hours in the day surfing websites and uses both digital advertising as
well as sponsored media as a source to know about products and brands. He is a
YouTube addict and a loyalist and believes that its right for them to use sponsored
advertisements to earn revenue since they are a free site for millions of users. He enjoys
sponsored ads which are crisp in length and funny in content.
Subject B is from Bangalore. Due to the transferable nature of her fathers job in Army,
she was born and brought up in several cities in the country. She worked in an electronic
giant company before joining a business school to pursue masters. She believes that
internet has changed the way in which we live. Today everything, from personal life to
professional life has online dependency. She believes that its logical therefore that

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

brands and products are exploring means to reach their target segment online. She is
fashion savvy and follows all major fashion label pages on Facebook. She takes a note of
all the fashion brands that are talked about directly or indirectly on popular blogs and is
not hesitant to click on suggestive links for dresses and shoes, every now and then when
she gets time. She has been a regular e-commerce customer and she likes the way in
which her activity on the internet is used to save time by offering variety of preferred
choices. She giggles and says I like the attractive price range and offers that come in
online shopping and likes that fact that with the help of sponsored content, she gets a
timely suggestion so that I does not miss any offer. She is welcoming for this wave of
online content.
Subject C is from Pune. He is a currently pursuing study. He is a tech addict and spends
almost ten to twelve hours a day on either his i-pad or his MacBook. Seeing movie
streaming online and playing the latest video games on social gaming sites are his
primary hobbies. He also likes reading Wikipedia pages and learning trivia about the
world. He is a quizzing buff too and secretly plays quizzes using apps on mobile during
class hours. He follows celebrities on twitter and has a lot of interest in knowing about
Bollywood and Hollywood stars. He only pays heed to sponsored content which touches
his interest areas; else he skips or ignores those ads and suggestions. He is an avid reader
of news online and confesses that for me, what matters in a sponsored post is how much
it understands my likings. I will click on the small snapshot of a celeb gossip, or see a
clickable advertisement on YouTube, only if its content oriented. I do not like boring
irrelevant non creative adds like banners within a video of YouTube He is opinionated
and passionate about his virtual behavior.
Subject D is from Delhi. She is a prolific reader and spends her free time reading Novels.
She is very studious and watches a lot of documentaries on YouTube. She finds the
intrusion of long advertisement content within videos as an intrusion. She thinks it is
annoying. However she is okay with the suggestion to novels that she gets on Facebook.
She says I trust my friends and whatever book they suggest, usually works for me. Now
our lives are fast and sometimes we do not chat or talk that often, so when Facebook
suggest me a book because my friend has liked it, I find that information useful
Subject E is from Bhubaneswar in Orissa. He is completing his masters degree and
wants to take up a career in advertising. He is fascinated by the new form of storytelling
that has come up due to the flexibility that brand promotions have got in digital space. He
says I think I might have seen the Nescafe coffee ad which featured the story of
stammering comedians life many times. It was full of life and optimism and I find my
internet surfing experience enhanced when I get such videos in between the usual
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

10

working time on the laptop. He is very communicative too on social sites and shares the
graphic banners as well as brand videos that appeal to him with his friends. He also has a
friend circle with similar behavior pattern online and they believe in spreading positive
word on mouth about things they like using their social media voice depending on the
time they get from their busy schedules.
Subject F is from Madhya Pradesh. He has mixed ways in which he uses internet. He has
an I-phone which he uses to surf quick information, and hates the disturbance of any
direct or indirect advertisement during his net usage there. On the contrary he loves
seeing advertisements and uses suggested sponsored tweets to read and view content
when he is surfing social media online on the laptop. He is a sports buff and gets easily
induced to click on banners which have relevant information about that. He says I will
jump on from one page to another online, depending on suggestions that pops up in the
side space of the screen and sometimes spends hours without even noticing. It all depends
on how interesting and suitable to my liking the content it He is brand savvy and loves
to read about their recent activities online.
Subject G is from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He is very interested in politics and finds
himself glued to newspaper and television to know about the happenings of the world
affairs in his free time. His internet consumption can be split into two halves, one is when
he uses it for information gathering and other is when he uses it for leisure. He is addicted
to YouTube and twitter and continuously stays updated about things using that medium.
He adds on I love using YouTube as a medium of entertainment. Its like a box of
Pandora with lot of amazing stuff. I love promotional videos like the one which sprite
created using AR Rahman with empty bottles to make a mix. I love such creativity and
only on web, a brand can use such interesting concepts I feel He believes in meeting his
friends in person over chatting with them on the internet and is in his own words is old
fashioned in that sense.
Subject H is from Chennai in Tamil Nadu. He is somewhat a reserved person but loves
sports. His interests are music, books and current affairs. He is hooked on to social media
and browses through lot of content throughout the day. He regularly visits YouTube and
Twitter. He hates intrusion in personal space by various irrelevant sponsored contents and
ads. He would only go through ads or content which are innovative and customized to his
preference. He wants both content and context in sponsored ads only then he would view
one or suggest one. Also he believes in power of social media celebrities and would listen
to them rather than some mainstream celebrity. He particularly like Raymond ads for
good use of their tune through various instruments and feels a good catchy music can
grab his attention towards the content.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

11

Conclusion
We conducted Depth Interviews in the core group of urban youth and found some
interesting responses from the respondents. Type of Sponsored Content varies based on
the platform being used. Such content is in video form on YouTube, Banners on News
Media/Shopping/General Websites and suggestions on Facebook. We have segregated
our conclusion based on this criterion of type of content and platform being used. The
main conclusions that we draw based on our Depth Interviews are as follows:Sponsored Videos/ads
Many of our subjects said that they find YouTube ads as intrusion in their life.
They usually wait for the mandatory five seconds to end so that they can skip the
ad and move onto their video.
However, if the initial content is interesting, they go on and watch the full video.
One of our respondents did see the Nescafe stammering comedian ad in this
manner.
The Ads where you cannot skip the attention span is more. Ironically this happens
as people are waiting eagerly for the ad to get over so that they can move on to
their selected video. This results in remembrance of jingles if the frequency of
such sponsored ad is on the higher side.
Banners
Banner ads constantly keep scrolling on the side-lines of main content. This leads
to familiarization with the Brand and product. People sometimes inadvertently
also click on them and reach the page for sponsored content.
Celebrities catch attention in such content. Some of our Respondents said that they
do click on banner ads/ link to videos if it shows their celebrity of interest.
Sponsored Ads related to Fashion trends get attention from Female audience.
One of the studies conducted by Forbes reaffirms the trend we observed about the
recollection of Brands due to sponsored content. It discusses about the increase in
Intent to buy where Sponsored content is displayed on Forbes website in
comparison to when it is absent. It can be viewed at :http://contently.com/strategist/2013/10/30/you-like-me-you-really-like-mecontent-delivers-big-time-brand-lift/#!qPnNX

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

12

Posts/Trends/Suggestion on Social Media

Sponsored Trends on twitter catch the attention of regular users. They do check
out the sponsored trend at least once out of curiosity.
Recently, Virat Kohli promoted his clothing line wrogn through series of tweets.
It did create quite a buzz amongst twitter users and the promotion got noticed.
People do click on Facebook Suggestions which are based on their recent
activities. Some of our Respondents talked about reading movie reviews in this
fashion.
News articles with catchy line attract attention. Many people who are not inclined
towards regular news consumption do end up on News sites based on such content
on their social media page.

Marketing Implications
1. Content plays a critical role in digital sponsored marketing. A viewer is more
likely to show activity of a click or give attention to messages that are related to
his or her interest area. Thus the more interesting and personalized, the message it,
the larger it is likely to leave a positive impact.
2. Banner advertising needs to respect the virtual space of the users and it needs to be
positioned on page sideways or top and not move with the cursor as that is
considered an annoying gesture and can leave negative pushy brand impression.
3. Customized messaging which takes user activity on social media into account,
when directing relevant brand as per needs of the user is considered to be helpful
and data analytics needs to further work on that ground to appear friendly and
useful and not intrusive.
4. Business is, ultimately, all about connections -- and not just the professional
networking kind. If you want your message to resonate with customers, give them
something relatable and human to connect to.
5. Social media is a great way to create awareness and customer outreach. Still, it is
not the only way to put your business out there. A huge space on non social
websites like one sided communication driven blogs and e-commerce areas, need
to have innovation in terms of how to reach a customer without appearing pushy.
There is a critical role that personalized and creative messaging can play in this
area

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

13

Keywords : New Media, Sponsored content, Digital Marketing, Paid Tweets, Facebook
Pages, Indirect marketing, Digital branding, Youtube advertising

Appendix

Interview Transcript
Interviewer: Hi can you please introduce yourself.
Interviewee: Hey I am Srikrishna from Chennai, I am 24 years of age. I did my some part
of schooling in Kolkata and then from Chennai I did my engineering from Anna
university and later on I worked for cognizant the IT firm and after that I wanted to do
marketing that led me to joining MICA so here I am.

Interviewer: So Krishna tell me like apart from work schedule when you get free time
how do you spend that free time tell me about your hobbies in leisure time.
Interviewee: Well you can call me an introvert of sorts so I am not much of social animal
I dont really party hard or anything like that, I do enjoy party but I idea for good party is
something mellow . I dont visualize me doing all that. Apart from that from that if you
ask my hobbies I read a lot but nowadays I find it difficult to take time for reading I play
badminton I love any racquet sports tennis squash badminton Table tennis I have special
bond towards that and apart from that music is my passion I am classically trained for 8
year for local Carnatic classical those are my basic hobbies apart from that I do lot of
social media online so those are also my hobbies.

Interviewer: So there are different ways in which people use social media some use it to
interact with friends some use to stay updated basically more than search engine social
media s use to reach all kind of current affair what is your reason for using social media.
Interviewee: I have variety of reason no one particular reason to use social media. Social
media has now penetrated in many aspects of my life, to keep in touch with my friends
and family who are abroad. I use social media for basically information gathering thats a
huge part of social media. I use social media to get information about all thats happening
around world and just to browse and pull information from it need. I like change going
from one thing to another thing to another using twitter as base.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

14

Interviewer: So if I have to link your hobbies you must require them in easier format so
along the lines how technology has grown now most of hobbies which we use to practice
as child in real time now we practice as part of virtual reality.
Interviewee: Yes, basically what I do on social media is reflective of my hobbies and
likes so if have look at things I do at social media many of it be related to music or
related to books or movies many of its related to what I do with new social media so for
instance I keep a tab on few composer whom I really like , like Hans Zimmer , A R
Rahman so this are composer I keep an active watch on social media, helps me keep an
active tab on my activities, interests and my hobbies so in that case it complements and
supplements my hobbies so basically it adds new faade to my activities and knowledge
and in this area.
Interviewer: So Krishna you mentioned about you being an introvert so adding further I
believe you dont like intrusion in your personal space. So when you are listing a song on
YouTube and ad pops up so how much of the space intrusion do you feel you
comfortable with when there are suggestive d and sponsored content popping up in
between
Interviewee: In YouTube I find it very annoying where as in twitter there might be some
interesting content some brand some interesting activation. Going to YouTube I go to
watch the specific content and not ad so ad is major intrusion in twitter its more of you
clicking and that link and doing it in YouTube its like click to watch a video you meet
with an add which you dint even want to watch in first place s its extremely putting off.
There have been cases when I have actually not found it entertaining on any level but
there has been few cases which I like but on general level I felt very annoying because
thats not the purpose.

Interviewer: But Krishna interesting is very umbrella term for each person, it means
different to different people.
Interviewee: I meant it is interesting, nowadays attention span is very less and I also
belong to that category so in that when you take that particular case then there are few
ads in that small span, before you click that skip ad something catches our interest in
those 5 sec are very crucial somebody has to kindle my interest they have to do it in those
5 sec.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

15

Interviewer: At the Same time on twitter there are sponsored tweets that when you
scroll your own space and time line and you see sponsored content do you think you are
able to identify them or you skip them and read them, is there some pattern of same?
Interviewee: More often I dont read them but if hashtag is interesting and if the tweets
suggest something I might be interested in, again interesting is an umbrella term but there
might be anything it might be some interesting music video or some activation or viral
stuff so if I am curious to know more.so twitter thats the thing and its choice you make it
is not intrusive in that sense. It is not focusing you to watch something you dont want to
so you can easily filter it like a mental filter most of time sponsored ads is skipped there
is no compulsion.

Interviewer: Say if talk about Facebook and sport enthusiast website if you go ahead like
a page of Indian cricketer team you immediately get pages to like about players. So do
you find that end of suggestiveness helpful?
Interviewee: Yeah that I find help thats good about social media with all the data
analytics they give what you want and what you dont want so when they utilize it for a
good cause as in they give us good suggestions that helpful in the sense we get relevant
info what we like not that they publicize that mass content which bombards everyone. It
is personalized its more pertaining to you and what you like so in that sense we find it
more helpful.

Interviewer: So is that a change those suggestion when compared to using on mobile or

on laptop.
Interviewee: There is a difference the way ad comes on desktop then on mobile .on
mobile its not developed to that extent whereas on desktop and laptop its more
customized on mobile I dont click on suggestion. In mobile its more cumbersome to
navigate .So mobile need to adapt to mobile space.
Interviewer: So you mentioned some ad on general terms being annoying?
Interviewee: Yes for instance there was a recent ad of Nescafe one where he stammers
comedian that got my fancy fist five seconds caught my interest I went ahead and
watched complete ad but also it made me smile and it was a good ad.
Interviewer: There has been a good debate whether it was relevant or not.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

16

Interviewee: Yes it was not relevant it was good in content but it lacked context.
Interviewer: The amount of flexibility with story teller because of social media and
because of space of YouTube the trend flexibility they have some flexible do you think
its guiding them to come out with better story elaborate plots.
Interviewee: Yes definitely in the sense they have access all the activation that are going
on all the campaign all the content is watching all the storyteller are watching lot of other
story and getting exposed to lot of other good content so that in turn motivates them to
come up with something special and relevant so its not like that add of KFC which says
love for ever but it make no sense ad was good but there was no resonance with ad and
brand absolutely nil so when I see cases like that when content is good but no context so
it makes you smile but it doesnt make you go to brand, so it does not supports brand .

Interviewer: But then there is brand awareness and brand recall takes places.
Interviewee: Yes but I would like it more if there is a proper communication in better
way rather saying some feel good story and a brands name and making no sense what
brands stand for, their content is just for consumption. If what brands stands for is made
in proper story and delivered into proper way(eg. P&Git has always stood for that) it
makes more sense.

Interviewer: So example you are watching YouTube video and in between there is ad of
Rahman show which is about to happen in 5 sec with start with Rahman would you skip
it ?
Interviewee: No I would not .Again in 5 sec if Rahman would come after 5 sec I wouldnt
have watched it so it depends on grabbing attention. So if I go looking for content its
different if content is thrown at me it has to be really really good
Interviewer: Ok now with regards the way in which you see sports and television etc.
how do you see that segments space changing with intrusion of live tweeting of match
some people follow the hashtags .what are way such space can be explored on sponsor
content and suggesting media
Interviewee: This is a boon for sports enthusiasts , if there are many sponsored content
but if target according to our usage patterns for instance my sponsored content is not
same as some else then that would be very acceptable and would work according to me.
So I say customize sponsored content .So there can be lot of content but target should be
selective.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

17

Interviewer: If I talk about blogs which speaks about beneath there is a link of several
similar article is hat similar in sense of Facebook suggested content
Interviewee: Yes it is more of same thing in Facebook it talks about pages here it talks
about article that you have been reading so if youre visiting blogs again and again its
good chance you visit others block and it can create a chain reaction . So on that sense it
is good so anything which has use of technology which leverages your usage appetite and
leverages your interest and your hobbies and give you suggestion bases on that only
would work to certain extent in my opinion.

Interviewer: But example we talk about twitter and there are people who are followed by
huge mass even if they are not celebrity like Tendulkar he is sports buff and talks about
Indian sports follow I believe you might be following so if a brand utilize voice of such a
person how much you think trust worthy it is for the followers
Interviewee: It is very big I would say brand would really benefit because this people are
sole media giants they have identity of their own people listen to them example a person
called Ramesh Srivan he is famous for his one-liners and people scroll through his tweets
and read them and within sec he has 20 retweet if a brand uses a guy like him there would
be huge impact because social media celebrities who are not celebrities in real life those
can rally have huge impact on mass

Interviewer: If there is a coffee brand wants to promote itself an uses a popup banner ad
online with film star holding coffee as a banner support ad with option to close that ad
instead of that if they use a person that you follow like twitter celeb we talking about to
induce a positive word of mouth how do you think two things would be different impact
they have on you.

Interviewee: On me I would say guy with social media celebrity would have bigger
impact because I am saturated with banner content and all this is not helping and being
bombarded with so many ads I dont really care and I dont think I cross the close button.
Its a sub concise thing. But with leveraging powers of social media celebrity then its
different then you always need and have a special request to what he says so you hold his
tweets to high seem, so if he says something its believable and trust worthy so their

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

18

reliability quotient is very high and you buy into whatever he says and it cant be done in
overdoes it might affect image of social media celeb.
Interviewer: What use of jingle and music would make an impact on you if its catchy in
5 seconds?
Interviewee: It would you can never forget a catchy tune because it has such a signature
tune it so you can never get bored of that tune .Example Airtel Rahman tune and
everyone using that tune in cars and mobile . so if you create a tune like that and when
you use music to such a good extent and create a hook around it make it catchy and
hummable to audience then you start humming alone whenever it comes. Even Vodafone
ads also have nice hook to it.
Interviewer: Any recent brand which has used this proposition?
Interviewee: There are some old brands using to various form like Nescafe, Raymonds,
Titan. This guys have used signature tune is in so many version using saxophone a jazz
version a piano depending on context if they use old classy guy they use piano for young
jazzy guy they use sax so Raymonds have used music with best way possible.
Interviewer: So I believe the entire experience of a win-win situation between brands
promotion messaging as well primary purpose of content consumption can be enhanced
by customization
Interviewee: Surely nothing works better than customized content and if you work in
saturated world of ads it would be better if a person use a customize it his segment and
not really use mass media cause its not working any more.
Interviewer: Can we talk little bit about whole idea we discussed about YouTube there
are some skip-able ads others you have to watch. Example, Nescafe was catchy enough if
saw if same ad would have come in forceful viewing way would have held it in same
positive way.
Interviewee: This is an interesting question and I really cannot say for sure because ad
was good enough despite my frustration I might have watched the ad but if you catch me
in off moods then I would not have watched it.
Interviewer: So personal liberty is critical in spite of how liberating content is.
Interviewee: Definitely it should not intrude in your space and it should not be that
forceful in showing the content it should respect my space it also holds true with respect
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1

19

to twitter you can one sponsored tweet after 50 tweet if it keeps on bombarding my time
line it would ruin my entire experience of using twitter in first place so I think twitter is
so good platform for so many thing because of its crisp and concise and succinct nature.
Interviewer: Are you on Instagram?
Interviewee: Well I am on Instagram I dont really use it or follow it much.
Interviewer: If your friend and family member on Facebook like a certain content do you
hold their suggestion and you try to see that content.
Interviewee: Yes I do whatever they like is interesting. I do click and see what they like
then depending on what it is I decide whether to read it or not.

Interviewer: So last thing is if I want to like put in that bracket of the web activist you are
an introvert at start you would not necessary go and say on loudspeaker whatever you
like to buy, in the same way if I see your social behavior virtually you would be one of
those people who would post something you like to see in your pool of people.
Interviewee: Again if I like something I would definitely post it, if something that
touches me I would post it to. I am totally social media guy in that sense but again I dont
necessarily post everything I like. Its not so I share everything I like on Facebook I am
very choosey of what I share but I do share it. I am not an inactive guy who scots social
media for content and does noting with it.

Interviewer: So sponsored ad has to be very good to an extent that you can share it
further. That would be it Srikrishna thank you so much for your time.
Interviewee: Thank you too.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TERM-2

PGP-1