After an invigorating first day at Goafest 2022, which returned to being a physical event after a two-year hiatus, the second day on Friday proved to be equally exciting and a roller-coaster ride.

The Goafest 2022 opened its second day with a Knowledge Seminar presented by MX Player, featuring India’s two-time Olympic medal winner PV Sindhu.

She shared her thoughts on her career, practice sessions, wins, losses, lessons, experience, family support, and tournaments lined up for 2022 in a conversation with TV presenter, actor and anchor Sameer Kochchar.

The crowd at the venue broke into an applause on seeing Sindhu as she fondly recollected the commencement of her badminton journey, where her parents played a very crucial role. Moving forward, she emphasized on 2012 being a breakthrough year, where she questioned herself, ‘If they can do it, why not I?’, referring to her opponent who was an Olympic champion.

Later, when Kochchar asked her about on-court strategies, she said, “I visualise who I am playing against and discuss strategies with my coach.” She also mentioned the importance of learning from one’s mistakes and coming back stronger.

While speaking about winning the bronze and not the gold medal, she recalled her father calling and reminding her, “There is a lot of difference between getting bronze and standing on the podium than being in the 4th position.”

The conversation also highlighted aspects of her training, her time on-court and off-court, her journey, and all the tournaments that 2022 has in store for her.

After her insightful knowledge session, artists Vikrant Massey and Ali Fazal along with Gautam Talwar, Chief Content Officer, MX Player, took the stage, talking about OTT Superpower: Freedom and Nuances of Creativity.

The panellists spoke about how OTT has changed consumer behaviour in regards to content and democratized content. “OTT has given a platform for creators to explore their skills and the exposure to international content made them pull their socks up, and I believe in the last two years, we did do that,” said Vikrant Massey.

Ali Fazal, when asked if there was a sense of competition among the two platforms (OTT and big screen), said, “Cinema must not die. Every person in the industry comes with the dream to be a part of movies and this dream always remains. Community watching must not be forgotten. While OTT shares a lot of stories, it doesn’t aim to make the viewer a couch potato.”

Talwar  was of the opinion that  OTT content is for “personal watching” and that 95 percent of the people “watch on their personal phones”.

“Only the elite audience will have access to Chromecast and television sets supporting the platforms and they are not necessarily the target always. Family viewing is far away for OTT or may never happen. There are chances that people wouldn’t want to sit with family and watch at all,” Talwar opined.

He further summed it up by saying that “India is a time rich and money poor country and that is what we consider while targeting”. The insightful session was moderated by Atika Farooqui, anchor and creative director.

Following this discussion was an engaging knowledge seminar, ‘How Brands win with Video Games’, presented by Disney Star. Sam Glassenberg, Founder & CEO Level Ex, talked about the potential of video games and how brands can reach audiences through this medium.

In his trademark way of delivering meaningful insights, Sam stressed that the video game industry, this year, crossed the $200 billion mark and is reaching more people than ever; video games, today, are poignant platforms for brands.

Further, he also shed light on the application of neuroscience in game designs. Sam pointed to the significance of optimising the placement of ads during games and creative ways of introducing them through an optimal time during the gaming period.

He also spoke of the perils of gamification versus the importance of emphasis on real game design, ending the presentation by explaining how game and gaming technology can assist even doctors and medical professionals in life sciences.

The first half of Day 2 also witnessed two masterclasses — first one from Sharechat with Ajit Varghese, Chief Commercial Officer, Sharechat & Moj; Simran Gaglani, National Lead, Brand Solutions, Sharechat & Moj and Palkush Rai Chawla Director, Product Management, Sharechat & Moj. All the speakers threw light on how the creator economy is driving brand success.

The second masterclass was from Google on YouTube Shorts where insights on how to reach out to consumers in a cool brand new way through Shorts were shared.