Twitter twitter happened and I got access to the digital media outlook-2009. This is a report prepared by Webchutney with JuxtConsult as their knowledge partners. It's a study  of Indian digital scenario based on data collected from 500 of india's top advertisers.

Page after page you will find interesting information about trends in advertising spends, advertiser perceptions, consumer behavior and observations from the team that conducted this research. From what I understand, the outlook is optimistic as digital spending will move upwards because consumer presence will increase with technology improvisation and penetration. However the advertisers need to figure what they should spend on as current levels of satisfaction from the digital medium is not very high.

As a consumer, my time on the internet has increased as there is a percieved and tangible productivity improvement. Be it in terms of getting information, carrying out utilitarian tasks, entertainment,socializing or general time-pass. The internet is interactive and very dynamic. Search engines make it very convenient to find information. Average time spent on page is usually a couple of minutes unless I am wandering the cyber space with no specific objective. And, that is rare. There is someone on chat, I have work to be wrapped up, someones tweeting - oh hell I have to update my status. Here is another research report, this is from 2007, but the problems related to consumer behavior, competition and monetization are relevant even today.

Now in order to get someone to notice an advertisement amidst all this one needs to be relevant and more involved. An engagement on the internet will happen based only on how much you are part of my existence on the internet. Marketeers need to show much more human involvement.  If my general timepass existence on the internet is only 10% of my total time on the internet thats all you get. The rest of the time I am super focussed on what I am doing. So going by absolute numbers of increase in internet usage time may not be wise. Something needs to be done to create a need to spare time like in the case of dove with yahoo answers and tata docomo with twitter.

My school and college going neice and newphew like the internet because it gets them through their project reports even as they type out SMS's, scraps and IM's simultaneously. Life is tough at that age. TV ads get their attention in between the moves of priyanka chopra or Messi, depending on who has the remote. This could also be seasonal - IPL,NFL,F1!!! The older people at home still prefer to read the print end to end. Tea in hand, specs on the brow its a devoted ritual.

That leaves us with the bulk of our young nation with internet in their palms. What will you do to reach them?