Why suburban railway passengers matter to brand marketers

According to a study by Vyoma Media on ‘An Audience You Can’t Ignore’ study, 69% of all railway travellers own smartphones and over 30 million people travel by the railways on a daily basis across the country.

The study by Vyoma Media offers comprehensive insights on the everyday railway traveller, highlighting preferences and trends among this vast travelling population. The study has been conducted through ticket data, on-ground surveys and call to action campaigns.

Some specific interesting findings include: a whopping 83% of all travellers use the railways for short distance travel, 37% of all passengers are women and over 69% own smartphones. In addition, the study points to social and economic trends, which show that financial investments, education, health and fitness, e-commerce and real estate top the charts, reflecting an aspirational society relying on digital media for access to information.

Furthermore, it was found out that travellers look for investment products in the morning, while their interests shift to job portals in the evenings. Mumbai and Hyderabad have the highest number of travellers in the 20-35 years age bracket.

On a granular level, individual station ticket data also helps us understand the top 5 destinations commuters are travelling to. Peak and non-peak travel times are also featured and bring up some interesting observations especially on cities like Bangalore, where the peak travel time is reportedly mid-afternoon. Data touch-points relating to the auto sector also revealed that there is a growing aspiration of owning a car, driven by the Auto Expo and a number of car launches last year.

The report covers over 25 crore journey details and 50,000 passenger touchpoints, which were analysed. From the surge in the daily number of people who are travelling by the railways, their travel patterns, purchase intent and search preferences; the report illustrates how both the railways and the suburban commuter have evolved and grown over the years.

The insights, which were collated across Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, are expected to help marketers and brand owners understand this diverse and vast target audience.

Commenting on the launch of the report, Shriranga Sudhakara, Founder and Managing Director, Vyoma Media said, "This is the largest audience defining survey on the Indian Railway traveller ever done. Having analysed over 25 crore data points over the span of 6 months the sheer magnitude of the data indicates how brand conscious and aware the daily suburban traveller is and the untapped potential of this vast audience. We can now build a persona of the suburban traveller who is clearly upwardly mobile and spends more time on the go.

Rohan Srinivasan, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Vyoma Media said, “This ground-breaking survey brought up a number of insights that not only dispel current perceptions, but also highlight the opportunities that are associated with the Indian Rilways. Our findings, clearly illustrate a huge aspirational audience that brands should be engaging with and reaching out to.