Mumbai: In the recently concluded spectrum sale, India auctioned 51,236MHz of spectrum to incumbent operators for Rs 1,50,173 crore across multiple 5G networks. This means a faster experience for customers as mobile devices interact significantly faster with wireless networks and users see improved download and upload speeds. According to a Deloitte analysis, India’s digital economy is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2025 due to rising smartphone usage, rapid internet penetration and acceleration of mobile broadband and data connectivity. However, 5G is expected to be the main driver of this expansion.
5G, like radio, the internet and other disruptive technologies before it, will enable advertisers to better target customers by sending massive amounts of data at much faster speeds than current 4G technologies allow. Although 78 percent believe 5G technology will be superior to 4G, 95 percent do not know what 4G capabilities are currently available on their devices. More than 70 percent are willing to pay for new technology (using payment as a proxy for perceived value). Faster downloads matter to 71 percent of 5G users. Respondents do not understand the terms “connectivity”, “capacity” and “latency” and place little value on these benefits. These are the advantages for the advertising industry with the new 5G technology:
Make your creatives suitable for 5G users.
5G users are interacting with gadgets in unique ways, which can help personalize advertising to what interests them most. 5G has several tangible benefits, such as: For example, downloading a 2-hour HD movie in about 18 minutes, live streaming a concert or live event for friends or family in HD, and low-latency gaming with 30-50 milliseconds ping. However, tailoring your ads to consumer preferences is extremely important for 5G versus 4G. Users who have a strong interest in gaming, entertainment and live streaming are more likely (92 percent) to pay early for 5G technology and buy a 5G-enabled phone compared to the overall average (81 percent). With all the new 5G updates, there is also a great opportunity to get creative with brand promotion and innovate with new benefits.
5G technology unlocks AR/VR advertising
Because of the low latency and fast download rates of 5G, advertisers and publishers have more opportunities to create new streaming media formats with better capabilities. As customers spend more time on 5G phones, they want new experiences to justify the higher costs. So advertising needs to capitalize on that. AR and VR have multiple uses. Over the next year, 100 million consumers are expected to use augmented reality for shopping. The future of online engagement is creating ever more meaningful, immersive experiences, and 5G will introduce those opportunities more naturally.
Analytics is real-time
Already, a fraction of the data that we can process and analyze is considered real-time data. 5G will enable the integration of a greater variety of activities and impressions in real time. If a consumer makes a purchase in the future, they may no longer receive advertising associated with that product or category of products. Essentially, this will improve targeting, segmentation, customer experience and journey, and brand and consumer efficiency.
Place ads that take advantage of 5G
Users can interact with advertising in novel ways thanks to 5G’s ability for advertisers to create more creative and original immersive content. True, realistic on-device advertising experiences can be enabled in a number of ways with minimal latency. Advertisers can display full-screen commercials that allow viewers to see how a character or product appears in various settings that they can design and change directly from the creative. In addition, brands can use VR to present a 360-degree image of the gaming or social environment. A larger capacity also allows the production of advertisements in a variety of audio and video formats. 5G technology has a lot of untapped potential, so companies should commit to developing new approaches to engaging consumers through advertising.
As with previous technological breakthroughs, advertisers need to have their finger on the pulse in order to take full advantage of the new possibilities of 5G and not fall behind. Basically, it’s fantastic for innovation that our most imaginative ideas are now less constrained by technology. However, adapting our strategy to the new digital context will be a problem.
The author of this article is the founder and CEO of Hotstuff Medialabs, Arun Fernandes.
