If you look at smart televisions in India, reckons the global vice president of Xiaomi, they’re not really that smart. “They might have Bluetooth, Wifi, and a few apps. But does that make them smart? No,” contends Jain, India head of what’s currently the country’s biggest smartphone brand. “The TV operating system has to be smart to be labelled smart,” he adds.
This is more than standard corporate smack talk considering Jain has managed to outsmart biggies like Samsung. “We will disrupt the smart TV market in India, the way we did with smartphones,” claims Jain, who recently rolled out Mi Smart TV in India at an aggressive price of ₹39,999 for a 55-inch set.
At almost one-fourth the price of the most expensive brands in the market, the world’s thinnest LED is 4.9mm slim, comes with an intelligent content-first PatchWall software, and brings together more than 10 different content partners, across 12 Indic languages.
PatchWall, claims Jain, is the first smart TV operating system in the world to intelligently connect to set-top boxes, allowing users to switch to any channel, or TV show with just one click.
“All this has been possible because of our content first approach,” he says. Users can personalise the viewing stream as integrated artificial intelligence learns from their behaviour and creates a unique interface.
“Our philosophy is to build highly innovative products with the best specifications, and make them accessible at an honest pricing,” avers Jain, who is replicating the marketing strategy he used to sell smartphones in India: online.
The televisions are available at company’s website, Flipkart and Mi Home. What’s making Jain bet heavily on smart TVs in India is low penetration. In 2016, the overall TV market size was estimated at 11 million units, and smart TV share was nearly 16%.
Last year, while the overall market size grew by 1 million, smart TV’s share leapfrogged to 20%. “The market has grown by almost 30% in the last two years and we see India maturing towards Smart TVs,” points out Jain.
Xiaomi, reckon, marketing experts is trying to transfer its small screen success to a bigger screen.
“It stands a realistic chance of disrupting the TV market,” says Ashita Aggarwal, head of marketing at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research. “Just word of mouth will have a domino effect for them as already there is a huge catchment population in terms of Xiaomi smartphone users,” she adds.
With Indians increasingly getting hooked to content of all sorts, watching it on a bigger screen is the most compelling proposition for millennials. Jain claims that what has worked for mobile will work for TV as well. Reason: Mi Fans. Launched on 20th June last year, Mi Community reached 19,000 registered users within four days.
Today, the Mi Community has over 4 million active users, and 20 fan clubs across India. Xiaomi, Jain lets on, is focused on cultivating loyal fans who then help promote the brand to friends, family, classmates, colleagues, and fellow netizens. “We largely drive all our marketing via our social platforms,” he adds.
Branding experts contend that the TV market is ripe for disruption. For decades, avers brand strategist Harish Bijoor, television had carved spaces for various players neatly laid out.
In terms of technology and quality. There was not much to differentiate. Price was the missing disruptor. “Television can create for Xiaomi its mobile moment, if it is able to play this game long and smart,” says Bijoor.
Over the last few decades, there have been many Indian and foreign players that tried to become ‘Samsung’ in terms of dominating multiple consumer durable segments. But most flattered to deceive.
“Xiaomi can be that exception,” adds Bijoor. The brand needs to get two things right: a price tag that is a nobrainer, and initiating a quicker replacement cycle for television; in the ballpark of the speed at which people replace their phones.
This can turn out to be the biggest challenge for Xiaomi. TVs are not mobiles that can be changed every year or so. The frequency of the mobile replacement cycle is due to a clever combination of a device slowing down, losing battery quicker and becoming more crash prone as it ages past the 18-month mark.
Suspicions that manufacturers were slowing down phones were proved true after a fashion, in the case of Apple. Helping customers make a switch is also a series of either seismic or at least ‘good enough’ feature additions every two years or so.
By comparison, a TV is relatively static, and irrespective of initial outlay, a device that consumers have traditionally expected to last longer than 18 months. A lot of what the TV industry touted as innovative – 3D and curved screens for instance – have proven disappointing and failed to excite the masses.
Mi TVs need to create appetite appeal, as opposed to the functional, standardized appeal that most televisions bank on. “This means updated versions need to flow fast and quick, possibly once every eight months,” says Bijoor.
Jain, for his part, is not as concerned about replacement cycles as he is about novelty. Well, who would have thought that people would shun big names in mobile and embrace Xiaomi? “With Xiaomi being the No. 1 smartphone brand, we have created a strong equity in India,” he believes.
Mi can click if Jain manages to transfer this equity, quickly and smartly.