3Vs for India’s next billion internet users

~ With non-English users expected to dominate India’s next billion internet population, what does it mean for stakeholders of the digital ecosystem? ~

India’s digital growth story is in its most exciting phase. While internet penetration and broadband connectivity is at an all-time high, smartphones have never been this affordable ever before. The booster shot truly came in the form of Reliance Jio, one of the key developments in the recent past that resulted in a spurt of internet adoption in the country. With so many Indians having access to the World Wide Web and coming online as a result at breakneck speed, brands, publishers and content creators need to be cognizant of the user demographic that’s shaping this phenomenon, among other things. At the core of this demographic lies a clear-cut message for stakeholders of the digital media ecosystem. It is a known fact that English is the most universally accepted language on the internet. But when you take into consideration that only 12% of India’s population is familiar with English, coupled with the fact that local language Indian internet users are on the rise, what does it tell you about the next billion of India’s internet users?

Numbers don’t lie

A Google-KPMG India report which came out in April 2017 suggested that English internet users in 2016 clocked 175 million in India, whereas local language internet users stood at an astonishing 234 million. What’s more, this gap is only slated to widen further as nine out of the ten internet users by 2021 are predicted to be users of local languages. At the turn of the millennium, operating systems (the universal one being Windows at that point in time) did not offer local Indian languages, alienating a large section of users. Today, there has been a revolutionary increase in local language searches owing to the increasing availability of Indic keyboards and smartphone keypads. The latest version of Windows supports over a dozen Indian languages today. Since a majority of Indians access the internet via the mobile phone, even smartphone companies have taken cognizance of the country’s increasing local-language internet preference, resulting in them creating phones that support as many Indian languages as possible.

Biting the digital-first regional bullet

When it comes to content consumption, the facts further validate India’s multi-lingual defining digital characteristic. Hindi content consumption is growing five times faster than English content. In fact, according to the same Google-KPMG India report I referred to earlier, English-speaking internet users will be comfortably overtaken by Hindi-speaking users alone by 2021, making Hindi the most accepted and used language on the internet in India. At Network18 Digital, we are closely monitoring trends pertaining to India’s dynamic digital population, and one of the proactive steps taken last year was the launch of Firstpost Hindi. But that was just the start of our ever-expanding regional digital footprint. With Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, and Telugu speaking internet users predicted to form 30 percent of the total Indian language internet user base in the next 3–4 years, we took the mantle of being India’s most diversified digital media group in terms of our regional wings. News18.com, another key pillar of our digital portfolio is spreading its regional imprint across the length and breadth of India to cater to our digital-first regional audience. Our future-ready digital vision has driven us to offer news in 12 different languages — including Kannada, Odiya, Punjabi, Assamese and more.

Opportunities galore

Surprisingly, E-commerce is yet to take advantage of India’s local-language internet dominance, and I’m not restricting to just online shopping. There are so many huge industries that have found a new lease of life thanks to the internet — real estate, travel & tourism, healthcare and many more such sectors are engaging consumers and seeing online transactions take place on a large scale. However, payment gateways are still heavily dependent on the user being familiar with the English language, throwing a huge chunk of users off guard when they wish to transact online. Already, financial security is a concern when it comes to paying online. Add to that a language barrier, and you’re basically estranging a sizable chunk of the internet population that can potentially boost these industries further. If this barrier can be cracked by making online transactions language friendly, imagine the enormity of the potential that would be unlocked across these sectors and the ensuing positive impact on our economy.

The 3 V’s shaping India’s digital ecosystem

Over the next decade, India’s digital ecosystem is going to be shaped by 3 V’s — Video, Voice, and Vernacular. And it is interesting how the third V is heavily influencing the first two. We are already witnessing how video-oriented content platforms like OTT are flourishing, and it is encouraging to see such a vast and ever-expanding regional language catalog existing on most of these platforms. Out of all the technologies that are currently abuzz in the digital universe, I’m genuinely most excited about voice, and how the phenomenon is touted to re-define the way we live and operate. Google supports voice-search for almost a dozen Indian languages today. But imagine a world where users can access and operate AI-powered voice assistants that are language-agnostic. If news reports are to be believed, Amazon is working towards implementing Hindi voice commands on Alexa, over and above the current situation wherein the voice assistant supports Hindi voice commands for limited skill sets. AI and voice will dominate the technological world in the near future, and making them language friendly will only strengthen their use cases further.

So the path is clearly laid out for India’s digital journey and the passengers that would come on-board this journey going forward. India’s next billion internet population is going to be dominated by non-English users, and it is this known future that needs to be a focal point of all the actions that would be taken by the stakeholders of this wonderfully exciting ecosystem.