‘With 5G, the gaming industry will only be galloping from here’: Dolly Jha, Nielsen India

India has become more digital as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. More people are now gaming, shopping online, and streaming key life moments and gaming sessions. The metaverse, too, has generated enormous interest and investments. In an interaction, Dolly Jha, managing director of Nielsen India, shares here views on how companies can derive the best value from these technologies. Edited excerpts:

The gaming industry in India has seen unprecedented growth, especially after the pandemic. Do you expect this to grow further and why? 

If you just look at the incidence of gaming in the country, one in four consumers are on the internet or are doing some kind of gaming. And what is significant is that this number is not very different in rural areas where one in five are gaming. If you just look at the sheer size of our population that is interested in gaming, you're talking about a massive number. That's one. The second thing is that our adoption of technology has been very high. With all the impending changes which are going to be coming with the rollout of 5G, the gaming industry will only be galloping from here.

How does India compare with countries such as the US or China in terms of gaming consumption? 

If you look at the share of time spent on gaming, the average monthly time spent on gaming by consumers in the US on smartphones is close to about 8%. In India, that's about 4%. It shows that we are there, and I am sure we will move up. If you look at Facebook and social media in the US, the average monthly time spent is 30%. In India, it is 24%. 

How much influence do gaming creators and influencers in India have? Do you expect their importance to grow?

If you look at the age composition of gamers, about 70% are between 12 and 29 years of age. We're talking about a very young population and there is no surprise here. This is also a very attractive target for a lot of brands and advertisers. The role of influencers is going to become more and more important in the coming days.  

How is the interest in metaverse shaping up in India? How can brands and consumers cut through the hype? 

The metaverse holds significant potential for most industries. But brands need to understand that they need to identify and offer relevant use cases to engage with their consumers in a metaverse format. In industries such as real estate and auto, there is a lot of need to ensure that the right features and experiences are available to the consumers. 

Indian influencers are growing in stature. How important is the role of Indian influencers in the global landscape?

As a brand, what matters is that I have a group of influencers who are enabling me to engage better with my audience. Many brands in India are doing that with a body of influencers to ensure that they can engage with their audiences in a meaningful way. The number of followers an influencer is important but we should not get stuck with it. 

Fake social media accounts pose a serious problem and have resulted in financial losses too. How big is this challenge and how can it be addressed? 

Every publisher needs to ensure that it in terms of how many accounts are genuine is credible. What it does to show its credibility depends on how the publisher wants to deal with it. It is a genuine question to ask how solid or credible a platform is. As far as we're concerned, we measure digital advertising and have our methods for weeding out bots. The measurement practices will have to continuously evolve because people will keep on wanting to game the system.