Project report

On

“A study on the impact of Ephemeral content on Advertising industry”

SUBMITTED TO

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISE

Survey No. 1266, Shamirpet (V&M), R.R Dist, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500101

(2018-2020)

In partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the Award of the Degree of

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS)

BY

SANJAY CHOWDARY CHUNDRU

Roll No: 1804061

Under the esteemed guidance of

A S KALYANA KUMAR

Assistant Professor, IPE

1
 PREFACE

In order to complete my Post Graduate Diploma in Management- International Business (2018-

2020) and as per course curriculum, this present report is the outcome of the end trimester
project report on “A study on the impact of ephemeral content on Advertising industry.”

In this report, I have put in best information about “The impact and importance of the ephemeral
content in the marketing and advertising industry” and the experience of users about this forced
ephemeral content.

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the entire project work embodied in the dissertation entitled “IMPACT OF
EPHEMERAL CONTENT ON THE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING INDUSTRY” has
been independently carried out by me. As per my knowledge, no part of this work has been
submitted for any Post Graduation degree in any institution, university and organization
previously, I hereby boldly state that to the best of my knowledge my work is free from
plagiarism.

Signature of the Student: ………………………….

Name of the Student: SANJAY CHOWDARY CHUNDRU

Course: Post Graduation Diploma in Management- International Business

Roll No: 1804061

Date: ________________

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is really a matter of pleasure for me to get an opportunity to thank all the persons who
contributed directly or indirectly for the successful completion of the project report “IMPACT
OF EPHEMERAL CONTENT ON ADVERTISING AND MARKETING INDUSTRY”.

First and foremost, I wish to express my profound sense of gratitude and sincere thanks to Prof.
R.K. Mishra, Director, IPE for permitting me to do the project and extending his wholehearted
support.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to mentor Ass. Prof. A S Kalyana Kumar, IPE for
permitting me to do the project and giving his valuable guidance and sustained assistance at
every stage of my project work. He has taken pain to get through the project and make necessary
corrections needed.

I would also like to express my thanks to Dr. M. Karthik, Coordinator of PGDM-IB, IPE for
giving his valuable guidance and sustained support at every stage of the project.

I am thankful for all the Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff of Institute of Public Enterprise,
Hyderabad and my Friends for their direct and indirect help provided to me in completing the
project by giving their valuable time in completing the questionnaire.

SANJAY CHOWDARY CHUNDRU

1804061

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 ABSTRACT

Understanding the influence and the impact of the ephemeral content on the modern-day
marketing and advertising is necessary to tackle the toughest competition in the market from the
top most players as they are spending a lot on short living viral content marketing that lasts for
hardly 24hrs. This type of marketing defies the social media algorithms and reach to the top of
the stories to reach massive number of audiences in short period of time making the content
interactive and attractive to the audience.

Almost all the best brands in the world are adapting this content to increase their followers and to
keep in touch with the customers using this kind of creative and interactive ad campaigns.

The basic objective of this project is to understand the user experience, response and reaction
towards this type of ephemeral contents.

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 CONTENTS

PAGE NO
CHAPTER 1
1.1 Introduction 10
1.2 Need for the Study 11
1.3 Scope for the Study 12
1.4 Objectives of the Study 13
1.5 Methodology 14
1.6 Limitations 15
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 16-20
CHAPTER 3 INDUSTRY PROFILE 21-26

CHAPTER 4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 27-29

CHAPTER 5
Data Analysis and Interpretation 30-41

CHAPTER 6
7.1 Findings 42
7.2 SWOT Analysis 43
7.3 Suggestions 44
7.4 Conclusion 45

BIBLIOGRAPHY 46
ANNEXURE 47-49

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table No TITLE Page No

Table 5.1 Age group of respondents 32

Table 5.2 Gender of respondents 33

Table 5.3 Social media platforms used by users 34

Table 5.4 User exposure to the ads 35

Table 5.5 Willingness of users for ephemeral content 36

Table 5.6 Willingness to pay premium 37

Table 5.7 Effect of price on the decision to pay premium 38

Table 5.8 User opinion about influence of Ephemeral content 39

Table 5.9 How often users post ephemeral content 40

Table 5.10 How often does the users check out ephemeral content 41

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No TITLE Page No.

Fig 3.1 Screenshot from Instagram 1 23

Fig 3.2 Screenshot from Instagram 2 24

Fig 3.3 Screenshot from Instagram 3 24

Fig 3.4 Stories daily active users in Instagram (Statista) 25

Fig 3.5 Instagram stories versus Snapchat stories users 26

Fig 3.6 Snapchat’s daily active users 26

Fig 5.1 Age group of respondents 32

Fig 5.2 Gender of respondents 33

Fig 5.3 Social media platforms used by users 34

Fig 5.4 User exposure to the ads 35

Fig 5.5 Willingness of users for ephemeral content 36

Fig 5.6 Willingness to pay premium 37

Fig 5.7 Effect of price on the decision to pay premium 38

Fig 5.8 User opinion about influence of Ephemeral content 39

Fig 5.9 How often users post ephemeral content 40

Fig 5.10. How often does the users check out ephemeral content 41

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CHAPTER 1

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 INTRODUCTION

Advertising and promotion are part of every company as to capture the market and the audience
attention in selling the products and services effectively to the customers.

Lately the advertising trends have been transforming gradually and drastically with respect to the
shift of user attention towards various social media and online content.

The companies are more focused on reaching out to the customers using instantaneous marketing
techniques such as coming up with the viral content, using trending topics in market to gather
customer attention and loyalty. These trends slowly decreased the amount of expenditure of
companies on advertising, and increased the effectiveness of a campaign with minimal
expenditures and increased leads.

Ephemeral content is quite simply any visual content – video or photo that is the only available
for a certain period of time. On snapchat and Instagram which are considered to be the most
addictive social media platforms where most of the user base is concentrated in, this content can
only be viewed once or twice for a short period of time. Even many other social media apps
started focusing on including this type of content in their platforms such as whatsapp and
messenger where the stories are limited to only 24hrs.

So, focusing on this kind of trendy marketing will actually help organizations to keep up the pace
with the generational potholes and adapt with the changes in the society.

Ephemeral content is taking the digital world by storm. Major social media networks like
Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp have copied Snapchat’s concept of sharing disappearing
content. Now users can distribute short-lived content via Stories and Livestream that vanishes
within 24 hours.

Since ephemeral content has the FOMO (fear of missing out) effect, it provokes users to take an
action faster. Thus, more and more people consume and create short-lived content on social
media.

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 NEED FOR STUDY

This study is carried out to understand the customer experience and opinions about the currently
trending ephemeral content marketing where the companies are more focused in. In order to
understand the reach and effectiveness of the ad campaigns carried out by the companies so as to
learn whether investing in such marketing options would actually help in generating leads.

It also gives an idea of what users feel about these marketing strategies where the companies
forcefully protrude in to the user personal space, by paying to the social media platforms.

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 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of my study is to understand clearly about the “Impact of the ephemeral content on
the advertising industry” by keeping the user perception in mind and understanding their ad
experience with the social platforms which force users to pay attention to the ads un between the
stories and posts without any choice of removing them.

The study is confined to limited accuracy as the sample size I’ve considered to carry out the
research is less and limited to certain region i.e, 22 students within the states of Andhra Pradesh
and Telangana in India. I cannot generalize this research to all the localities and areas as there is
a chance of diverse responses from the rest of the users.

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

■ Understand the reach of ephemeral content to the users

■ Monitor the customer experience towards this content

■ Measure the level of acceptance of users

■ To study the importance of ephemeral content

■ Understand the impact of this ephemeral content on the users

■ Understand the willingness of the users to come across this content

■ Measure the user capability of paying premium to free out from ephemeral content

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 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

The study is based on the secondary data provided by the users of social media, friends and
family. Primary data collected through administered questionnaire.

For assessing the viability of the project various “MARKETING” techniques are used along with
detailed interpretation whether the project is viable or not.

Sources of Data

Primary data:

The primary data was collected through

➢ Online Questionnaire

Questionnaire: A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions (or

other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. The
questionnaire was invented by the Statistical Society of London in 1838.

Secondary Data:

Secondary data are second hand information collected from different source like

• Company profiles of various social media platforms such as Instagram, snapchat,

Facebook, WhatsApp.
• Pre-research data from various sites and sources

Sample Size: 22

Tools Used for Analysis: Simple Percentage Analysis

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 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

➢ As the research is carried out during the lockdown period there is no option to interact
with the users, so the research is carried out purely through online.
➢ Other major limitation for the study is that the lack of time to gather more information,
the time is limited but the study is vast so the sample size is limited to 22.
➢ Information is not so viable as the age groups and geometric reach of the questionnaire is
limited to confined users.

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

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This chapter is a concise review of the related literature available from the disciplines of sport,
communication, and marketing. Within the discussion, there are three hypotheses constructed
that are informed by the literature and related to the concepts of this study. The first section
introduces ephemeral social media while comparing and contrasting it to offline communication
and media as well as traditional social media. The next section outlines the literature in
permission marketing, laying out its historical findings and its relevance to ephemeral social
media. The third section describes and provides examples of relational marketing in sports,
showing how brands behave as if they are individuals and that some consumers desire a
relationship. The fourth section consists of literature related to transactional marketing, the
predominant marketing orientation before the mid 1990’s. At the end of the chapter is a
summary.

Ephemeral Social Media

Ephemeral applications are growing at an exponential rate. Each of these “apps” features a
predetermined time limit for all sent messages. Snapchat, the market leader, allows users to
choose from 1-10 seconds for messages sent person-to-person and content shared with all friends
is available for 24 hours. Snapchat users sent approximately 60 million photos daily in 2013
(Watson, 2013), and 700 million per day in 2014 (Shontell, 2014). Astoundingly, Snapchat users
send the most total picture messages of any application with only 200 million users, while
competitors Instagram (300 million users), Whatsapp (700 million users), and Facebook (1.39
billion users) are sending less (Morrison, 2015). Jott, a recently launched ephemeral messaging
application, acquired over 500,000 teen users in its first few months (Prigg, 2015). The growth of
ephemeral messaging is widespread, from the market leader down to its newest entrants.

The earliest literature related to ephemeral messaging is devoted to the topic of sexting in
Snapchat, where users utilize the brevity of content to share explicit photos and text (Hasinoff,
2012; Poltash, 2012). Lewd content is not the norm for most Snapchat users (Roesner, Gill, &
Kohno, 2014), providing more opportunities for scholars to investigate ephemeral platforms’
efficacy for mass marketing. An initial step in that direction may be to explain why ephemeral
messaging is experiencing growth.

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Ephemeral messaging investigations are scarce in the literature, but prior work in social media
and communication may provide some suggestions as to its popularity of social media and
messaging applications available to users, ephemeral messaging has been suggested as a user’s
highest priority in order to keep from missing out on content that will disappear or have less
importance in the future (Beese, 2013).

Research on the fear of missing out suggests that those who are increasingly fearful of missing
out on social activity spend more time on Facebook, experience more emotions when doing so,
and look at content while in class and while driving a vehicle (Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan,
& Gladwell, 2013). It stands to reason that those individuals may be even more prone to
prioritize an ephemeral message, because of the certainty of missing out after a predetermined
time period. Prior literature may offer another suggestion for the trend towards ephemeral
messaging. Aimed at social media in general, Hogan (2010) suggests that social media users can
perform an ephemeral act that draws in viewers/friends because of the aura surrounding a
seemingly live presence. For example, watching a clip of a friend at a football game while they
are actually at the game is a different experience than viewing the same clip days after the game
ended. The recording may illicit memories and feelings, but part of the exhibition will be lost
(Hogan, 2010) because the context, the game, will forever be over. The appeal of receiving
social media content in the present is truly found in livestreaming applications like Periscope or
Meerkat, yet those are broadcasted to mass, unknown audiences rather than limited groups of
friends. Thus, ephemeral apps that are used to communicate with known audiences (e.g.
Snapchat) are ideal for social media users interested in recent performances from friends.

While the fear of missing out or the experience of a live performance is intriguing, the most
compelling reason behind the frequent use of ephemeral communication may be more related to
its connection to offline communication. Berger (2013) suggested that online communication
differs from offline communication on five factors: reduced social presence, larger audiences,
anonymity, written content, and vague recipients. Ephemeral messaging, although online
communication, may not fit all of these assertions.

Piwek and Joinson (2016) found that Snapchat is primarily visual and used for private
communication directed at close family, friends, or small groups. These findings clearly stray
from the expectations of online communication. Rather than reduced socialpresence and written

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content in online communication, social presence is increased through visual media (Tu, 2002;
Aragon, 2003) and written content is secondary.

Furthermore, Piwek and Joinson (2016) suggest that messages are sent to smaller, known and
targeted recipients rather than large, unknown and vague recipients. Snapchat, as well as similar
ephemeral applications, may share more similarities with offline communication than online.

Offline communication is not documented, unlike traditional online communication (e.g. Facebook,

Twitter). Traditional social media users create content that is accessible even years after it is
created. Ephemeral communication provides users a unique environment that is more consistent
with offline communication that is inaccessible after the predetermined time is expired. As
people see traditional social media as a ‘permanent chronicle of people’s lives’ (Solove, 2007, p.
11), ephemeral messaging services may be the future of social media by mimicking the short-
lived nature of offline communication.

Offline communication, or talking, in personal relationships is categorized into six different

talking events: “gossip, making plans, joking around, catching up, small talk, and recapping the
day’s events” (Goldsmith & Baxter, 1996). These common, routine talking situations are what
establishes relationships between individuals (e.g. Duck & Pond, 1989). The inconsequential
nature of regular offline communication makes it a poor fit for the permanency of traditional
social media (i.e. who needs to see a picture of what they had for lunch 5 years ago?).
Championed by 3rd party applications (e.g. Timehop) or referred to on Facebook as “memories”,
permanency has become theexpectation of traditional social media. However, ephemeral
communication can allow for typical talking events to occur without being tied to the future.

Relevance to the audience is also a concern. Ordinary talk in traditional social media may be
quickly irrelevant for the sender and the audience. For example, asking around for a last-minute
ride to an 8am class (making plans) or commenting about television events (small talk) are
examples of communication that may quickly have no significance to the general social media
audience, if they ever did. In offline communication, such common conversation is not meant for
the future and its future relevancy is not likely a consideration for the sender. However,
traditional social media users expect some level of scrutiny from those viewing their content
(Krämer & Winter, 2008). A Facebook user posting for an 8am ride and getting no response

19
could expect negative evaluations from those viewing the post at a later time (e.g. this person
must not have any friends). A comment about how great a sports team is performing in the third
quarter may not look as good for the sender if they end up suffering a heartbreaking loss in the
fourth quarter. Ephemeral and offline communication, unlike traditional social media, offer
people the luxury of communicating about topics that will not matter minutes from the time the
message was sent without as strong of a need for considering future scrutiny.

Ephemeral and traditional online communication do share at least one thing in common. Even
ephemeral users are subject to their content being captured, shared and viewed by unintended
parties in the future. “Anything you publish onto the internet is public in some way, shape or
form” (England, 2015). Even for Snapchat content that is viewable for one second, it can still be
shared with others through a screen capturing process typically referred to as “screen-shotting”.
Keeping viewable content from being captured is impossible, and users are aware of this threat.
The potential for 3rd party evaluation may be perceived as less of a threat in ephemeral
communication as the size of the audience is limited to those who view the content before it
expires. Reducing the size of the audience can obviously be done manually by limiting the
number of recipients, but for untargeted content, ephemeral may be perceived as a way to handle

that task automatically. When creating social media posts, the sender considers an imagined
audience (Marwick, 2011) and as posts are more ephemeral (i.e. available for less time), users
could consider the audience to be more limited.

Ephemeral communication may offer the perception to users that there may not be a need to
imagine audiences of their content past the designated time limit, even though no Internet
environment can guarantee transience. From a marketing lens, ephemeral communication has
similarities to offline media and online social media. The synergies between “old” media (i.e.
offline) and “new” media (i.e. online including social media) are what make ephemeral social
media a new challenge for brands. Marketing campaigns cannot follow the same rules learned
from either environment. For example, offline campaigns are suggested to have a limited life
while online content can be shared on a continual basis (Scott, 2007). Ephemeral communication
may be online, yet it shares the offline attributes of a limited lifespan and is not meant for
sharing.

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21
 CHAPTER 3

INDUSTRY PROFILE

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 Advertising and Marketing Industry

The advertising industry is the global industry of public relation and marketing companies,
media services and advertising agencies - largely controlled today by just a few
international holding companies (WPP plc, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic and Dentsu).
It is a global, multibillion-dollar business that connects manufacturers and consumers.[1] The
industry ranges from nonprofit organizations to Fortune 500 companies.

The Indian advertising industry has evolved from being a small-scaled business to a full-fledged
industry. The advertising industry is projected to be the second fastest growing advertising
market in Asia after China. It is estimated that by 2018, the share of ad spend in India’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) will be around 0.45 per cent.

The Indian government has given tremendous support to the advertising and marketing industry.
Advertising expenditure is likely to increase in the financial sector, driven by Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) policies which could result in a more favourable business environment. Also,
proposed licences for new banks and better market sentiments render the advertising and
marketing industry in India a fertile space.

Market size:

Print contributes a significant portion to the total advertising revenue, accounting for almost 41.2
per cent, whereas TV contributes 38.2 per cent, and digital contributes 11 per cent of the total
revenue. Outdoor, Radio and Cinema make up the balance 10 per cent.

India’s digital advertisement market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 33.5 per cent to cross the Rs 25,500 crore (US$ 3.8 billion) mark by 2020.*

The Internet's share in total advertising revenue is anticipated to grow twofold from eight per
cent in 2013 to 16 per cent in 2018. Online advertising, which was estimated at Rs 2,900 crore
(US$ 435 million) in 2013, could jump threefold to Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) in five
years, increasing at a compound annual rate of 28 per cent.

Recent Developments:

There came a lot of developments in the field of social media advertising lately; where the users
are forced to experience and view the ads in between the video streams and in between the
stories in many popular social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube,
Twitter etc.

23
Some of these social media platforms are providing an opportunity for the users to skip the ads
by paying a premium and become members of the premium plan. They started charging a
monthly and annual charges for this kind of subscriptions.

But not every user is in a state to afford these subscription charges and are being forced to view
the unnecessary content in their personal space. It’s more like a business for the social media
apps as they tend to make money from selling the space to the corporates to advertise their
offerings in the stories as a top priority defying the site algorithm.

Even though these social media platforms are making money through the sale of customer
database under privacy agreements, they still are looking forward to these advertising revenues.

Ephemeral content is not just a buzzworthy trend but also an actionable marketing tool that helps
to reach your potential audience in a genuine way.

Instagram Stories has 300 million daily users

82% of brand audiences prefer live video from a brand to social posts

1 in 5 organic stories from businesses gets a direct message

Instagram Stories has increased the time spent on the platform from 15 to 32 minutes a day

Even though ephemeral content has many fans, it may seem to be useless to take it up as it
disappears after 24 hours.

However, there are seven proven reasons to use ephemeral content for your business

1. Stay Authentic (Go live)

2. Increase reach (Run Instagram story ads)

Fig 3.1

3. Boost Engagement (Add Nametags and Make posts interactive)

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 Fig 3.2
4. Get more followers (Use hashtags)

5. Boost sales (Show off your product, share deals, Inform about what’s new)

Fig 3.3

6. Earn trust (Share testimonials, Post UGC, Feature influencers, Take care of your
customers)
7. Be an expert in your niche (Organize Q&A sessions, Use tutorials, share hacks)

To be precise and clear, craving authenticity, its no wonder ephemeral content is getting so
popular now a days as it attracts customer attention towards the brand creating awareness of the
brand offerings to the users from time to time but advertising as a whole to the non-interested
customers might actually make you lose those customers as your actions may make them feel
uncomfortable.

25
Organic advertising is actually pretty good and beneficial for the organizations as it is only
viewed by the desired customers, but forced advertising is making them feel annoyed about the
brand and its offerings.

Road Ahead:

The advertising and marketing sector in India is expected to enjoy a good run. Growth is
expected in retail advertisement, on the back of factors such as several players entering the food
and beverages segment, e-commerce gaining more popularity in the country, and domestic
companies testing out the waters. The rural region is a potentially profitable target. For instance,
in the automobiles sector, the focus of two-wheelers on rural areas could mean more launches
and more advertising spends. The telecom sector could see growth as well, driven by better
smartphone penetration and service providers cutting down on prices.

There is a rapid growth of ephemeral content users lately

Fig 3.4

These platforms provide a higher chance to the organizations and the advertisers to reach
massive audience and new opportunities to keep them engaged with the company’s offerings.

26
Fig 3.5

Fig 3.6

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 CHAPTER 4

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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Relationship marketing is the practice of initiating, developing and sustaining relational
exchanges between brands and consumers (Morgan & Hunt, 1994). A plethora of literature on
the subject suggests a number of mediators and moderators are important in such exchanges (for
a review, see Palmatier, Dant, Grewal, & Evans, 2006). For example, a customer’s willingness to
exhibit word of mouth (WOM) behavior as a result of a relational exchange with a brand is
mediated by relationship satisfaction. The role of satisfaction may be integral to the success of a
brand investing in relationship marketing. The assumption in developing relational exchanges to
increase satisfaction, or any other latent construct, is that consumers desire a relationship with
the brand in that particular environment. Thus, relational exchanges are a moot point until a
relationship is initiated. A marketer interested in meeting the needs of their consumers ought to
be wary of assuming the desire for a particular interaction, especially within the confines of
ephemeral social media where individuals must give permission to the brand and then has the
power to stop receiving content from them at any time (i.e. opt-in or opt-out).

Grönroos (1997) suggests that consumers and marketers may have transactional or relational
intents, or orientations. For consumers, a transactional intent may be found in the process of
considering making a purchase while a relational orientation may constitute interactions with a
brand that are not tied directly to a purchase, such as consuming branded media. For marketers, a
transactional intent is any activity with thegoal of directly resulting in a purchase behavior while
a relational intent may be found in activity not directly leading to a sale (e.g. storytelling, brand
performances). Applying the findings of Grönroos (1997), a sports fan interested in consuming
more media about their favorite team are likely to respond favorably to the team’s offerings of
behind-the-scenes footage or content that may be relationally oriented. It is common for each
party to fluctuate between orientations, particularly when consumers’ environments change
(Chandler & Lusch, 2015). Within the ephemeral social media environment, relationships are
likely to be prevalent. A recent study found that Snapchat is used primarily within small groups
and close family members (Piwek & Joinson, 2016). Therefore, relationship marketing is likely
to be the better fit (i.e. compared to transactional) in an ephemeral social media environment as
relational interactions should be the primary purpose of social media marketing (Andzulis,
Pnagopoulos, & Rapp, 2012). Furthermore, if relational exchanges are the norm in a particular
space than that will be the expectation for users in the future (Lewin, 1939).

29
Sports brands, in particular, have been enacting relational marketing for years (Williams
& Chinn, 2010), reinforcing the use of relationship marketing in the sport context.
A further review of relationship marketing literature is found in Chapter II.

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 CHAPTER 5

DATA ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION

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In this chapter the data analysis and interpretation are included. In order to carry out the study on
the impact of the ephemeral content on the advertising industry and marketing, a detailed
questionnaire was forwarded to the people and filled by them to get the data about their level of
usage of social media and its role in their life and their perception about the ephemeral content
advertised by the companies.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN FORMULATION

Under this method, list of questions pertaining to the process are prepared for the users between
the age group of 15-30 who are more vulnerable in using this highly addictive ephemeral content
related apps such as Instagram and snapchat, I fully used the structured type of questions to get
the data as there is no personal interaction with the users during this period

Closed or Structured Questionnaires are a quantitative method of research. It is a positivist

research method. It includes the low level of involvement of the researcher and high number of
respondents.

TYPES OF QUESTIONS INCLUDED

Multiple Choice Questions: Where respondent is offered more than 2 choices.

Sample Size: 22

Steps followed in completing the study:

i. Gathered required information from the company sites and pre-research documents from
the media
ii. Data was thoroughly checked and interpreted.
iii. Gathered information from the users through questionnaire
iv. Data possessed was compared, evaluated and made a conclusion in giving necessary
statements regarding the study

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 Question 1: Age group?

Range Responses

15-20 20

20-25 1

25-30 1

Table 5.1

Figure 5.1

Interpretation: From the data above, the majority of the users who’ve responded to the
questionnaire belongs to the generation Z that varies between 1990s to early 2000s. This is the
age group which is most vulnerable to the social media changes and trends. Majority of them
belongs t o20-25 age group.

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 Question 2: Which company vehicles are you using currently?

Gender Responses

Male 18

Female 04

Other 0

Table 5.2

Figure 5.2

Interpretation:

From the Data above it is clear that majority of respondents are male around 81.8% and the
remaining female respondents. So, the results and data regarding the research is more biased and
leans towards the single gender-based responses.

34
 Question 3: Which of the following social media apps do you use?

Social media apps Users

Facebook 14

Instagram 21

WhatsApp 18

Snapchat 11

Twitter 7

Table 5.3

Figure 5.3

Interpretation: From the above graph we can interpret that out of all the social media apps
majority of the users are preferring to use Instagram followed by WhatsApp and Facebook. The
users who are into this ephemeral content are around 100% as around 21 respondents are using
Instagram and the other person is using snapchat. So, the overall ephemeral content exposure is
over 100%. This shows us how important is it to the companies to advertise through ephemeral
content

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Question 4: Have you ever came across the ads that are displayed in between the stories?

Options Response

Yes 21

No 0

Maybe 1

Table 5.4

Figure 5.4

Interpretation:

According to the data above, almost every user has experienced the ephemeral content advertised
between their stories. It shows the growing significance of ephemeral marketing, the reach and
effectiveness is quite high for such content as the users started noticing the brand advertised in
their personal space.

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Question 5: Do you actually prefer such kind of ads in your personal space?

Options Responses

Yes 4

No 14

Maybe 4

Table 5.5

Figure 5.5

Interpretation:

As observed in the above data, we can observe that majority of the users around 60% don’t wish
for having this forced ephemeral content in between their stories and feel insecure about the
portrayal of unwished ads in their personal space.

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Question 6: If No, are you ready to take up a premium subscription to avoid such ads?

Options Response

Yes 1

No 15

Maybe 6

Table 5.6

Figure 5.6

Interpretation:

It is highly evident that 68% of the users aren’t willing to pay a premium to avoid these ads.
Even though they don’t prefer such content in their feed they are willing to have them
irrespective the annoyance of the ads. There’s just one respondent out of 22 who prefer to pay
the premium to get over with the ads from their social media.

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Question 7: Will the price differences effect your decision of taking up the premium
subscription?

Options Response

Yes 13

No 3

Maybe 6

Table 5.7

Figure 5.7

Interpretation:

According to the data above, it is evident that majority of the users who don’t wish to pay
premium to get rid of ads from their feed are willing to pay it when there’s a reasonable pricing.
So if they have the opportunity to get rid of ads at a less price they’ll do it. It’s actually a better
insight for media companies to give a choice to users to get rid of ads in between their feed at a
reasonable price range that is affordable to the user range.

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Question 8: Do you think this kind of ephemeral advertising can capture the attention of
the users?

Options Responses

Yes 13

No 3

Maybe 6

Table 5.8

Figure 5.8

Interpretation:

According to the information gathered from the questionnaire, it is clearly evident that most of
the users feel that the ephemeral content is effective enough to gain the attention of the users, so
that the companies have a higher scope to gather leads and customer interest in their offerings
such as products and services.

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Question 9: How often do you post ephemeral content such as stories in instagram and whatsapp
or snaps?

Options Responses

Daily 4

More than twice in a week 3

Once a week 0

Occasionally 13

Never 2

Table 5.9

Figure 5.9

Interpretation:

From the information gathered from the questionnaire, it is clear that most of the users more than
50% of users post ephemeral content occasionally and aren’t posting content frequently. It means
that people are more focussed in watching out others stories instead of creating their own
content. Very less margin of users are creating ephemeral content regularly i.e, daily or twice a
week

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Question 10: How often do you check the stories of your friends on social media?

Scale Response
Very frequently 8
Frequently 8
Occasionally 2
Rarely 2
Very rarely 2
Table 5.10

Figure 5.10

Interpretation:

According to the data collected, majority of the users around 73% of users keep a track of the
posted ephemeral content frequently in the social media apps and has a higher chance getting
encountered with the advertisements in those respective social media sites. So it is clearly
evident that the brands that expend in marketing through ephemeral content has a higher reach
than the ones who prefer advertising through traditional advertising strategies.

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 CHAPTER 6

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND

CONCLUSION

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6.1 FINDINGS:

➢ Majority of the customers who are getting exposed to the ephemeral content in the social
media apps regularly
➢ Around 75% of customers are frequently checking out the content posted by their
contacts and are opening the stories and snaps each day.
➢ Though they are addicted to check out the content regularly they aren’t willing to post
ephemeral content on regular basis
➢ Around 60-70% of users feel that this type ephemeral content marketing could actually
capture the user’s attention
➢ Majority of the users are not interested in getting encountered with such ads in their
personal space
➢ It is clear that the users are not ready to pay the premium to get rid of the ads but if the
price range is affordable and reasonable, they expressed that they’re ready to pay
premium.
➢ Social media platforms, now a days are focused more on the profits they incur from the
third parties by displaying their content with top priority in the feed defying the
algorithmic rules of the social media.
➢ Corporates are also having a higher reach to the users through ephemeral content than
through the traditional marketing approach.
➢ Though this content lasts for less time and are temporary, they have a higher reach than
the content that lasts forever as the users nowadays are mostly looking towards the micro
celebs and instance viral marketing

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6.2 SUGGESTIONS:

After the detailed analysis of the data given by all the users, I can suggest few important points
throughout the research which are essential learnings to be carried out in terms of marketing to
focus on reaching high user base in short period of time.

➢ Ephemeral marketing is better than the traditional digital marketing so it is better to shift
into it before it’s too late.
➢ It is comparatively more essential for all the restaurant, apparel, accessories and e-
commerce platforms to adopt this trendy marketing strategies to create awareness of the
available stock, latest offers, new arrivals, etc through their social media sites
➢ Ensure that you are regularly updating latest content, appealing colour combinations,
Live sessions, interactive and engaging posts
➢ Use hashtags, polls, cross reference links, live videos, tutorials, new product
announcements, flash sales etc
➢ Make sure that you use some of the influencers and celebrities to refer the sites and
products as this type of marketing has a higher reach than the usual ones
➢ Marketing using the popular instances and viral current affair content attracts more
attention than the usual ones as people are more attached to the memes these days.
➢ Make sure you are using right aspect ratios while posting the pictures through cross
posting platforms
➢ Encourage user generated content such as reposting the stories in which you are tagged
in, appreciate them for their contribution in promoting the brand, responding to the
comments etc

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6.3 CONCLUSION

It is clear from the study that there is a huge user presence in the social media platforms where
the ephemeral content is used such as Instagram, snapchat, Facebook etc are some of the
platforms where the users are addicted to post the ephemeral content and to constantly check
their mobiles for at least 72 times a day on average, that’s like once for every 20 minutes in a
day. Maybe it’s where the future lies as there is massive shift in technology such as AI, IOT, chat
bots, Automation etc. but one thing never changes even after this drastic change i.e, tendency of
a human being to know about others lifestyle and compare theirs with them. So, nothing is too
early for companies these days in this highly competitive arena. It is better to shift and invest in
this ephemeral content marketing than focussing on to create some old, TV based
advertisements. The additional advantage a company can get through ephemeral content is that
they can easily reach the customers irrespective of the algorithm used by the social media
platforms as your content gets displayed on the top. Apart from this it is clear that most of the
users are ready to pay a premium to get rid of the ads from their personal space when the
premium prices are reasonable enough for them. It helps the companies to make money from an
alternative source than through these advertisings and can also gain user loyalty. Currently, only
few sites and social media platforms has adopted this strategy such as YouTube.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Web references:

➢ www.wikipedia.com
➢ www.google.com
➢ www.Digitalmarketinginstitute.com
➢ www.quora.com
➢ www.researchgate.net
➢ www.academia.edu
➢ www.statista.com

Materials and books:

➢ Marketing management: Analysis, Planning and control (Philip Kotler)

➢ Principles of marketing: Aa Global perspective (Philip Kotler)
➢ Digital marketing

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 ANNEXURE

DECLARATION

I, SANJAY CHOWDARY CHUNDRU studying PGDM-IB from INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC

ENTERPRISE have undertaken research on the topic “A study on the impact of ephemeral
content on the advertising industry”. I humbly request you to spare your valuable time in offering
your opinion on the various aspects relating to the topic and thus help me to complete the study.

This questionnaire is entirely for the purpose of educational research; its contents will be kept
strictly confidential, and will not be made known to anyone outside of the research study, and
will not be otherwise be disclosed or published except in an aggregated form in which
individuals cannot be identified.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Age group
a. 15-20
b. 20-25
c. 25-30
d. Other

2. Gender (Male/Female/Other)

3. Which of the following social media platforms do you use?

a. Facebook
b. Whatsapp
c. Instagram
d. Snapchat
e. Twitter
4. Have you ever come across the ads that are displayed in between the stories?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Maybe

48
5. Do you actually prefer such kind of ads in your personal space?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Maybe

6. If No, are you ready to take up a premium subscription to avoid such ads?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Maybe

7. Will the price differences effect your decision of taking up the premium
subscription?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Maybe

8. Do you think this kind of ephemeral advertising can capture the attention of
the users?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Maybe

9. How often do you post ephemeral content such as stories in instagram and
WhatsApp or snaps?

a. Daily
b. More than twice a week
c. Once a week
49
d. Occasionally
e. Never

10.How often do you check the stories of your friends on social media?
a. Very frequently
b. Frequently
c. Occasionally
d. Rarely
e. Very rarely

50