Demonetisation has been the news everywhere these days in India. From newspaper headlines to articles, memes and videos in social media feeds, it has captured the imagination of the whole country. You can like it or hate it, but certainly cannot ignore it. Some say it is a monumental economic mismanagement by the government while others hail it as the move that will take India into a cashless and prosperous future. The move that has impacted everyone in the country has immediate repercussions for the FinTech industry. So how have they utilized it? Here’s our analysis on how they have used video marketing to educate the commoner and cash in on one of the biggest economic overhauls that India has ever witnessed:
Indian FinTech Brands and Online Video
2015 was an amazing year for Fin tech companies in India. The sector attracted over US$1.2 billion in funding and the trend has continued in 2016 with more and more companies wooing VC interest. While Paytm still remains as India’s only unicorn in the vertical, many predict that there will be more to come in the near future.
The Demonetisation move definitely is a shot in the arm for the companies and they have been utilizing all forms of marketing mediums (digital and non-digital) to attract the interest of the people and educate them at the same time. In this blog, we’re going to analyze how they have utilized online video as a medium. The analysis focuses on 10 Fin tech startups in the country:
Paytm, Freecharge, MobiKwik, Bankbazaar, PolicyBazaar, Vistaar Finance, Capital Float, IFMR Holdings, Mswipe and Citrus Pay
Before we move on to their video marketing efforts, let’s take a look at their social footprint. Do note that we have only focused on YouTube and Facebook in this article since those are the only two platforms that these brands have been focusing on when it comes to online video.
Fin tech companies on YouTube
Freecharge has the highest number of subscribers out of all the brands followed by Paytm.
In terms of the number of views on their videos, Bankbazaar leads the race with 28% of the total views followed closely by Paytm and Freecharge with 24% and 23% respectively.
With 420 and 207 video uploads, Bankbazaar and Policybazaar are the most active brands on the platform followed by Paytm, Freecharge and IFMR Holdings with 104, 63 and 63 uploads respectively.
Fin tech companies on Facebook
Freecharge and Paytm have an almost equal share of the total likes on their pages whereas Mobikwik and Bankbazaar also have a substantial number of fans.
With 99 video uploads, Bankbazaar is the most active brand on the platform followed by Paytm and Freecharge with 76 and 33 uploads respectively.
In terms of the number of views on their videos, Paytm leads the race with over 26 million views followed closely by Freecharge and Bankbazaar that have clocked 2.8 and 2.3 million views respectively.
With over 180 thousand likes on its videos, Paytm is the most loved brand followed by Bankbazaar and Freecharge that have over 28 and 22 thousand likes respectively.
Videos on Demonetisation
After the announcement of Demonetisation on 8th November, the brands have collectively uploaded 47 videos so far which is really low if you ask me. Out of them, only 28 videos have content exclusively related to Demonetisation. The brands could have used this historic event to increase their footprint on Facebook since its algorithm favors videos more now.
Out of the 28 videos on Demonetisation, here are a few noteworthy ones:
One of the videos that Paytm posted right after the move met with a lot of controversy. I’m pretty sure most of you might have seen it. The ad met with backlash from people, especially on Twitter for the condescending tone of the content. Paytm has promptly changed the ad now.
Freecharge has started running a TV commercial focusing on going cashless. The video has not been promoted much on YouTube, but it has been doing well on Facebook with over 500 thousand views.
Bankbazaar has been posting informative explainer videos on the note ban. But the videos have not been clocking a lot of views. Maybe they could promote them a bit more to grab more eyeballs.
Our take
Only 4 FinTech companies have focused on digital video to educate people about the repercussions of Demonetisation. Paytm’s videos on Demonetisation has reached over 4 million people so far whereas around 570 thousand people have watched Freecharge’s videos on Demonetisation.
I find this incredulous since there is such a huge opportunity to capture the attention of people as they scroll through their newsfeeds looking for any useful information on Demonetisation. If ever there was a time that these brands should focus on digital video marketing; THIS IS IT!
Aravinda Holla
An online junky who can't get enough of memes, movies and music. I'm a marketing specialist at Vidooly.
