KOLKATA: Flipkart Video, the in-app video platform on Flipkart is continuing to carve a niche in the nonfiction genre, offering differentiated, interactive content, which is mobile-first.  With a deep understanding of the consumer ecosystem and a focus on interactive, short-form original content tied with tangible rewards, it has now introduced two new quiz based shows, Super Fan and Fake or Not?.

Both these shows will cater to diverse audiences. While Super Fan is a celebrity focused quiz show, Fake or Not? addresses the need to curb misinformation and identify real from fake in a fun and engaging manner. Hosted by renowned film critic Anupama Chopra, Super Fan will be the ultimate test for ardent Bollywood fans. It will bring forth the never-seen-before side of popular Bollywood celebrities and reveal details of their lives that only their inner circle has been privy to so far! The show has a star studded lineup of guests including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sara Ali Khan, Ananya Pandey, Taapsee Pannu and Jacqueline Fernandez, to name a few.

Flipkart Video in support of the United Nations’ ‘Verified’ campaign also recently launched Fake or Not? with actress, comedian and writer Mallika Dua who plays the role of news anchor ‘Mythika Dutt’, set out to quash fake news and beliefs. The show thoughtfully combines entertainment with a subtle touch of humor while still educating the audience to share and trust only verified information. Many questions that are part of the show address common misconceptions surrounding the Covid2019 pandemic.

Flipkart growth and monetisation vice president  Prakash Sikaria said, “A large percentage of the content consumed on the Flipkart Video platform today is interactive content, where there is something new for the viewers every day. As the mobile screen continues to be the primary access point for personalized commerce, content, games and entertainment experience for most of the Indian population today, our focus is to introduce short-form and interactive content, that not only entertains audiences from across the country but also enables these users to participate and build a sense of community, no matter where they are located.  We have seen tremendous acceptance amongst users for the last few concepts and are ready to expand this portfolio, with two new interactive shows that further strengthen our offering, giving consumers a compelling reason to visit us everyday and spend more time on the app.”

NEW DELHI: Affle (India) Ltd, the consumer intelligence technology company, today announced the appointment of Martje Abeldt as chief revenue officer - Affle RevX Platform to strengthen its leadership team as part of Affle2.0 growth strategy. In his new role, Abeldt will drive business and platform growth for RevX, and will be based out of Singapore.

An accomplished practitioner in digital domain, Abeldt joins Affle with 20+ years’ experience in leading and scaling high-growth businesses across AdTech, Mobile, SaaS, IT and Consumer Goods industries. Proficient in six languages and with an international perspective, he excels at creating sustainable competitive advantage for key platforms and products in the mobile apps ecosystem. In his most recent role at Remerge, he was spearheading the App Retargeting Platform business for APAC. Prior to Remerge, he has been instrumental in driving business performance for App Annie in Central Europe, Russia and CIS, preceded by the Country Manager role at Smart AdServer. He holds a Global EMBA from IE Business School in Madrid/Fudan University in Shanghai, a bachelor’s degree in International business & economics from London Metropolitan University and a degree in marketing communications from BAW in Munich.

Anuj Khanna Sohum, the Chairman, MD and CEO of Affle said, “We welcome Martje to our leadership team and wish him a successful journey at Affle. His cross-functional and relevant industry experience will enable us to drive further growth for our platforms and the CPCU business across all markets. We also welcome Raghav who has joined our Data Platforms and Operations team and look forward to achieving continued success as we strengthen our foundation for Affle2.0 growth journey.”

Abeldt said “I can't imagine a more exciting time to join Affle and look forward to complement the exceptional entrepreneurial capabilities of the leadership team. It gives me immense excitement to lead the RevX Platform to help drive business growth across markets through new strategic initiatives.”

This announcement comes along Affle’s another key appointment of Raghav Maheshwari as director – global account management, who joins with 10+ years’ experience. In his last stint, he was working for Inmobi as director – sales (south east Asia) and has played key roles in the ad tech ecosystem across APAC markets. He has previously driven growth initiatives for companies like Fidelity Investments and The Smart Cube.

NEW DELHI: Content-driven integrated DOOH media company, Eyetalk Media Ventures has launched PEOPLE - a unified data management platform that gathers, organises and activates first, second- and third-party data.

While the OOH industry post the Covid2019 pandemic moves from selling location - media to selling audiences, PEOPLE is an agglomeration of different data sets which come together to address four simple, but most important questions about the audience - who, where, how many & when.

The data is collected from multiple sources like mobile, RFID, POS, IoT driven devices and integrated into the proprietary automated dashboard that provides granular insights at the hyper-local level, making media investment decisions easy. 

Eyetalk Media Ventures group CMO Rahul Biswas said "In my various roles in top agencies and at the client side in the last decade, I have been working on many planning tools and data sets to harness the power of data for better ROI and to bring accountability to any media plan. That's exactly what PEOPLE does. With PEOPLE, you can do all four-market segmentation - Demographic, Psychographic, Behavioural and Geographic. People in Phase 1 will bring you location-based Audience Insights and help you do a pre-post campaign evaluation.”

Eyetalk Media Ventures managing director Gautam Bhirani said, "Fresh data and accurate insights have never been more important. Covid2019 not only has shifted business trends but also consumer priorities and the entire marketing landscape. Amid the economic crisis in these uncharted territories, with PEOPLE, we have tried to bring answers in the form of data to questions a marketer would have while investing in Out Of Home media.”

He added, “PEOPLE provides actionable audience insights daily, covering our network spread across 500+ unique locations. With this, the platform will help marketers Quantify - Classify audience and procure DOOH impressions at a price that complements footfalls. The platform also provides an opportunity to integrate our DOOH assets with mobile to amplify a digital campaign which will help measure brand lift and ROI.”

NEW DELHI: India’s leading entertainment ticketing platform, Paytm Insider is set to deliver theatre experiences digitally with its new initiative, ‘Front & Centre’. Created keeping in mind storytellers as well as theatre-lovers, this initiative aims to bring the experience of theatre alive, online. 

‘Front & Centre’ is launching with a showcase of notable plays Every Brilliant Thing by QTP and Iti Ninna Amrita (Kannada) by Rangashankara Theatre in July, followed in August by One on One - Unlocked by Rage Productions, Timeloss produced by Akvarious Productions and Doppelganger by The Company Theatre. A key focus for Paytm Insider with this is bringing theatre productions in regional languages from across India in the spotlight. The plays currently featured are in Hindi, English and Kannada and more productions in other languages will continue to be added.

Paytm Insider CEO, Shreyas Srinivasan, adds “Over the last year, we’ve brought several exciting theatre productions forward including plays by Aadyam, Salim-Suleiman’s Umrao Jaan and storytelling works by Kommune. The launch of Front & Centre reaffirms our investment in strengthening the vibrant theatre ecosystem in India.”

‘Front & Centre’ has conducted its first workshops with sessions on Audio Drama with Frederick Greenhalgh, Scriptwriting with Carl Miller, and Comedy writing with Anuvab Pal. With these workshops, Paytm Insider aims to provide a lens into the art of theatre for those already in the field, and even for those stepping into it. Paytm Insider is supported on this initiative by Shernaz Patel and Nadir Khan, using decades of their experience to re-imagine theatre for the digital world.

Speaking on the IP, Creative consultant, Front & Centre, Nadir Khan, said, “Lockdowns and social-distancing provide much disturbance to a form that is meant to be consumed live and is essentially a dialogue between a performer and a live audience. At its very core, however, theatre is about story-telling. Stories that need to be told and need to be heard. Stories that excite, entertain, provoke, educate and inspire. With Front & Centre, we’re hoping to provide a home for theatre practitioners to continue doing just that, albeit online for now. It’s a new medium, really, and the challenges that come with that are both exciting and daunting.  I’m very happy, therefore, that Paytm Insider has decided to dive head-first into it with Front & Centre and has allowed me to be a part of that journey. I’m certain that this will help Indian theatre to continue to work, grow, collaborate, innovate, stay relevant, engage and (most of all) continue that dialogue between the performer and  audience.”

Speaking on the IP, Creative consultant, Front & Centre, Shernaz Patel - "If I had been told three months ago that the internet would be my new stage and the sofa my new auditorium I would have laughed disbelievingly. I am a purist. I thrive on the live and immediate thrill of theatre and shy away from technology. And yet like it or not here we are. I could have hibernated. But Insider’s Front & Centre came along at the right time and made me embrace this new normal. Because it’s a platform that understands that theatre is vital. That theatre is where compelling stories get told. That theatre has a unique place in our collective culture to educate, inspire and entertain." 

Speaking on the launch, Paytm Insider Business Head Live entertainment (IPs & Partnerships) -  Varun  Khare said, “As large gatherings to watch theatre productions remain a thing of the distant future and live performing arts are adopting a new alternative of moving online. We're working hard to create a sustainable ecosystem for artists, producers, promoters & all those behind the scenes to come together to continue entertaining fans across the country. We strive to make it a great alternative medium to entertain fans. With Front & Centre, we hope to (re)connect fans with the power of theatre and storytelling.”

It’s a celebratory moment for all the Zee TV actors as they gear up to venture into the lives of the audience once again after almost four months through fresh episodes of Zee TV’s popular shows. With the lockdown gradually lifting and people across the country stepping out into the new normal, India’s leading Hindi GEC - Zee TV resumed shoots of its daily primetime dramas recently in line with government directives and on 13th July, they introduced naye kisse, naye episodes of their popular shows into the lives of their loyal viewers. Celebrating this much awaited moment of comeback, actors of shows like Kumkum Bhagya, Kundali Bhagya, Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega and Qurbaan Hua reunited virtually and they had a gala time. But they weren't alone! Their loyal fan base from across the world that has gradually become a part of the Zee Kutumb also joined them in this online celebration called 'Sunheri Shaam'.

 Setting an exciting and entertaining atmosphere for all their special fans, the actors just let their hair down and stepped into an unfiltered fun zone to depict their real side to the viewers. While Mugda Chapekar and Krishna Kaul from Kumkum Bhagya shared their individual experiences of reuniting with fellow s on set and how the new normal has them giving each other hug-like gestures from a few feet apart and new age high-fives in the air without the typical clapping of hactorands, Nishant Singh Malkhani from Guddan Tumse Na Ho Payega poked a little light hearted fun at actor Karan Jotwani from Qurbaan Hua for wearing a mask while attending the video call, saying "Videocall ke through Corona nahin hoga" ... Coming to Karan's defence was none other than his co-actor Pratibha Ranta along with Manit Joura from Kundali Bhagya, who mentioned that the actor was actually setting a good example for viewers to wear masks for their own safety.

Sharing their lockdown experiences as well as their #13thKiTayyari, the Zee TV actors also played a fun game of Antakshari in front of their fans. Singing turn by turn, they belted out various songs of their choice. While all the stars won the hearts of their fans irrespective of whether they sang perfectly in tune or just hummed a little, it was Mugda who swept fans off their feet with her sweet, trained voice. The way she sang Tu Mile Dil Khile had the other actors tease her about being a part of the current season of Li'l Champs! That's when some of the Li'l Champs landed up on the virtual call and regaled Zee TV's super fans with their melodious voices.

As viewers smiled seeing their favourite idols in front of them virtually, the actors decided to take their level of excitement a notch higher by interacting with them on a personal level. From answering questions related to their lockdown regimes to finally resuming shoot amidst all the necessary precautions, the actors were at their candid best and gave their fans an enjoyable evening to remember.

Sharing her experience on reuniting with her fans and fellow actors, Kumkum Bhagya actress Mugda Chapekar aka Prachi said, “It’s been a while that we all have been away from each other and it was an absolute delight to be able to connect with our fellow Zee TV actors and especially our fans, who have been painstakingly waiting for us to return. The delight on their faces brought a smile on ours and we had a wonderful evening interacting with them and entertaining them. We just hope they keep watching Kumkum Bhagya and showering us with their love.”

Adding to her experience, Qurbaan Hua actor Karan Jotwani aka Neel said, “The feeling of resuming work was quite exciting, but what was more thrilling was to see our fans as excited on our return. The wait has been quite long for us and them too, but we can definitely say it was all worth it as the new set of episodes will bring in several intriguing twists and turns that will keep them at the edge of their seats. We are delighted to come back and I hope our fans shower all their love on us by tuning into Qurbaan Hua.”

MUMBAI: The young and wiry-looking Barun Das is in a pretty belligerent mood. The CEO of Associated Broadcast Networks that runs the No 2 news channel in India TV9 Bharatvarsh has responded to the allegations that have been hurled against its meteoric rise by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

In a release issued today, Das has stated that the NBA’s reasoning about TV9 Baratvarsh’s rise in ratings possibly reveals “a lack of basic understanding of the television news business. The fundamental reason behind our success is a concerted strategy of content, distribution and promotion aided by the astronomical rise in viewership during the early weeks of the lockdown.”

Das has added in the release that the NBA is incorrectly giving “credence to anonymous WhatsApp videos and messages doing the rounds to defame the TV9 network. These videos have already been dismissed as fake by BARC as per media reports. The network has already lodged an official complaint against this with the Telangana police.”

According to Das, there is no question of TV9 rigging viewership numbers as it was he who wrote to the NBA to suspend the viewership measurement of news channels on 22 March, two days before the lockdown, so that lives of journalists and camera persons would not be impacted by the coronavirus in the quest for ratings by the news channels.

His request was turned down by the NBA committee. “Now that TV9 Bharatvarsh has garnered the biggest share of the market during the pandemic, obviously the shoe is on the other foot,” he says.

Das has questioned if the NBA through these efforts is trying to coerce him to renew his membership of the association. “After much persuasion, we chose not to renew it in June and one month later we are in the NBA’s bad books,” he has alleged in the press release.

The 50-year-old executive who has seen many a battle in his previous associations with media companies such as Zee News, ABP News and India Today has said there are some allegations which the NBA has made against the TV9 network which are defamatory and they will be addressed in an appropriate manner very soon.

Earlier in the day, the NBA officially sent out a release asking third party intervention into BARC to investigate any hanky panky associated with TV9 Bharatvarsh’s sudden rise.

On 14 April, Das also got into a conversation with Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari on all things related to news television and the current controversy.

You can watch the fireside chat here:

MUMBAI: With the huge audience shift from television to digital, staying relevant in the broadcast industry is challenging. With that goal, TV9 is all set to venture into the digital medium for its English news. In a fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari, TV9 Network CEO Barun Das said that the company will shut down its English channel News9 to focus on expanding its digital platform.

He said, “Traditional format of television would go and it will get more into the digital space. People below the age of 18 years are not watching news channels. If you see English news channels have shrunk to an extent that they will not sustain. We had News9, a Bangalore-based channel, but I believe city-based English news offerings in the Indian market are not ready yet. We had to take a business call, so we are coming up with a national version of that but on a digital platform. We are coming up with digital web TV.”

He further explained that the television news genre is overly crowded and even the regional channels are exploding. According to Das, news channels have more than “pure business reasons” to launch channels. So, that is the reason why fringe channels come in and the market gets crowded.

He added, “But I think viewers and advertisers filter them out. In the regional market, there are not more than four big channels. In Hindi it is a larger market, 45 per cent of our population speaks Hindi. Advertisers look at the top nine channels so every leading new channel gets the share of the pie.”

As per Das, in the past 10 years Hindi and regional news channels have moved in the same way print has moved in 10 years.

He pointed out that the channel will continue to grow in double digits leaving out exceptions like Covid2019 period and slowly it will taper into single-digit. Das also clarifies that the content on news will not disappear but the way it is being packaged and distributed will change.

“In India, digital revenue will overtake the traditional medium by 2025. This scenario will happen to Hindi and regional channels by 2028. We still have good seven to eight years to go. Hence we are currently focusing on the digital front. As TV9 group was not digital-savvy, our focus has turned to embark on a major expansion on the digital side,” he said.

Das highlighted that the channel has already set up an infrastructure for Studio9 where the team will look to work with clients to develop creative solutions. Studio9 will look at the convergence of television and digital revenue with a solution-driven approach. As a major expansion in the digital medium, TV9 Network has set up a new office of 20,000 square feet where it is briefing teams across the country. The company has recruited close to 400 employees.

He quipped, “Digital is a big game for us going forward. Raktim Das will be looking at the convergence side. Slowly you will see we will be moving with digital but also keeping a stronghold on TV side revenue. I am also planning to do anchoring in the coming future. I am working on a concept that will see the light of the day, but it will be on the English side.”

You can catch the full fireside chat here:

KOLKATA: The number of broadband subscribers reached 687.44 million at the end of March with a monthly growth rate of 0.93 per cent, slower rate compared to February. While it stood at 681.11 million at the end of February, it grew at 1.15 per cent that month. Surprisingly, fixed wireless subscribers have jumped up by 2.48 per cent whereas it fell by 1.72 per cent in February. Wired subscriber base has also increased by 0.51 per cent in contrast to a negative trend in the previous month.  

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the telecom subscription data as on March 2020. As per the report, the top five service providers constituted 98.99 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of March. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (388.39 million), Bharti Airtel (148.57 million), Vodafone Idea (117.45 million), BSNL (24.50 million) and Atria Convergence (1.61 million).

As on 31 March, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (8.08 million), Bharti Airtel (2.47 million), Atria Convergence Technologies I.e, ACT (1.61 million), Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.97 million) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (0.87 million). Notably, Atria has been on an upward ride until the beginning of this year. At the end of last December, its subscriber base was at 1.52 million.

Source: TRAI

While fixed-line broadband sector was struggling to get new subscribers for the last few years, especially due to surge of high-speed low-cost data offered by telco operators, a Crisil report spoke of a spike in fixed broadband subscriptions since 25 March. While the report has predicted a huge growth, TRAI’s April data will be able to show actual numbers based on reports from operators.

As on 31 March 2020, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (387.52 million), Bharti Airtel (146.10 million), Vodafone Idea (117.43 million), BSNL (16.43 million) and MTNL (0.18 million). 

NEW DELHI: The lockdown saw a double whammy – people stuck at home with an appetite for content and the inability to venture out and satiate that demand. While content creators tried to produce new and interactive content, this also gave an opportunity for brands to engage with online audiences by working with content creators. Pocket Aces VP sales and brand solution Vishwanath Shetty spoke to Indiantelevision.com on the new trends and shifts being observed in brand engagements in the pandemic and the change in consumption patterns among viewers.

As everything went into lockdown, shooting from home emerged as a new trend. According to Shetty, “Working remotely has been a great learning experience for all of us as we experimented with different methods of production and created content that was lockdown-friendly. During this phase, we have been able to maintain a steady flow of operations over the last four months. Our first piece of content produced remotely along with a popular whiskey brand saw a phenomenal response. We garnered over four million views on Filter Copy and around 215,000 conversations, as well as an engagement ratio of about 5.78 per cent, which motivated us to know that we are on the right track.”

There has been a different set of advertisers showing interest as well. “The lockdown has created a unique opportunity for brands to reach out to users through innovative ways and introduce new products specially catered to the needs of the hour. Ready to eat foods, dating apps, edutainment and ed-tech dominated this list. Fitness portals and health brands are actively promoting across channels. The new ‘big thing’ in the market today is Covid2019 insurance, a new offering from insurance brands, which is being widely advertised,” he shares.

“A lot of other large companies are also moving budgets internally, to promote relevant products, while staying sensitive to the situation at hand.  Food delivery aggregators and services have also increased their marketing and advertising activities. While on a less grand scale, festive sales will still take place, which will, of course, be boosted across channels. So, advertising spends while reduced in some areas, have gone up in others,” he adds.

Shetty asserts that it would be wrong to say that there has been absolutely no impact of the pandemic on the advertising industry. “Across the board, we have seen spends on OOH, TV, and others significantly drop. As brands and channel partners, we need to relook at our strategies and create value propositions that are mutually beneficial. Essential services and technology-powered brands will be drivers of the economy this year and will be the ones to invest in advertising. Brands are now focusing more on performance marketing, which is the need of the hour and this will continue to drive conversations and spends during the festive season and the rest of 2020.”

He shares that the second season of Firsts was entirely shot at the actors’ homes, and they saw 30 per cent more views than the first season. “As a result of the success, brands saw this as a good opportunity to engage with their target audiences and in this manner, we continue to produce short format shows. The more such content we uploaded, the higher our engagement rates went, even touching over 13 per cent.”

The brand's content channels have seen an overall 20 per cent rise in figures. Shetty shares, “The increase in views can also be attributed to curiosity, as audiences were exposed to new formats, which piqued their interest, and contributed to the success of our lockdown content.”

Pocket aces eSports platform Loco has seen a huge uptake when it comes to the amount of content being streamed. Partnerships with influencers too brought in new users, and today it has 24 million registered users with an average time of 30 minutes spent on the app.

BENGALURU: Among the bigger networks that have channels feature in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms, on the Pay and Free Platforms are DD, Network18/TV18/Viacom18 (or simply Viacom18) Star India, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), The Sun TV Network (Sun Network), and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel).  Many of the channels from these networks, as well as other networks were now available on Pay and Free Platforms, on the latter mainly because of their presence on Prasar Bharati’s free DTH service DD Free Dish.

Until recently, channels from these bigger networks found places mostly in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms and on the Pay Platform. And until the advent of the Covid2019 Lockdown, there were generally one to four channels from two major networks/groups that were present in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres. These two are pubcaster Doordarshan and channels from or associated with the Essel group’s Zeel. Initially, DD was represented by only one of its channels, DD Sports, and that too for only the first three weeks of 2020. Zeel was represented by four of its channels in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres lists– Big Magic (Hindi GEC), Big Ganga (Bhojpuri GEC), Zee Biskope (Bhojpuri Cinema) and Zing (Youth). Only Big Magic was present during all the first 12 weeks of BARC’s Free Across Genres weekly lists. As a matter of fact, Big Magic was present during all the first 26 weeks of these BARC weekly lists of the Top Free Channels Across. Besides Big Magic, normally there were at least two other Zeel channels and sometimes even three that were present in the weekly Free Channels Across Genres lists during the first 12 weeks of 2020. But, at the same time, least six of the channels were from the smaller networks such as Enterr 10 Television and B4U Network. Enterr 10 had three to four of its channels in each of the first 12 weekly Free Platform lists, while B4U had two or three of its channels in the lists during the same period. Enterr 10’s channels included Bhojpuri Cinema, Dangal, Fakt Marathi and Enterr 10, while B4U’s channels were B4U Bhojpuri, B4U Kadak and B4U Movies.

Week 13 of 2020, the first week of the Covid2019 Lockdown had four channels– one channel from DD and three channels from Zeel, with five channels from Enterr 10 (three channels) and B4U (two channels). The India Today group’s flagship Hindi News channel Aaj Tak entered BARC’s Across Genres weekly lists for the first time, in two Across Genres lists – Across Genres on All Platforms and Across Genres Free Platform.  In the absence of fresh programming, DD National started airing some of its library shows that had been very popular in the previous century, in Week 12 of 2020. These included Ramanad Sagar’s Ramayan and B R Chopra’s Mahabharat along with a number of other classics from its library. In Week 13, DD National became the most watched channel across genres on All Platforms and the Pay Platform and was also present in the Free Platform Across Genres list. DD National continued in the top 10 Across Genres lists until Week 18 2020. Week 14 saw DD Bharti enter BARC’s weekly list of Top Free Channels Across genres. The split was now five channels each between the bigger and other networks. And this split continued on till Week 22 of 2020. Weeks’ 23, 24, 25 and 26 of 2020 saw ratio of Bigger Networks: Other Networks at 7:3, 7:3, 8:2 and 7:3 respectively. Data for Week 26 of 2020 (Saturday, 27 June 2020 to Friday, 3 July 2020) is available at the time of writing of this paper. In Week 14 of 2020, the bigger networks were the same as in previous weeks – DD with two channels and Zeel with three channels. Similarly, the other networks mix was the same – Enterr 10 Television had three channels in the list while B4U Network had two channels. DD Bharti exited the Top 10 Free Across Genres list in Week 20, and DD National exited it in Week 24. For Weeks 20 and 21, there were 4 Zeel channels in the list, three channels from Enterr 10, 2 from B4U and one from DD. 

In Week 23, two channels, one each from SPN and Star India and two Vaicom18 channels replaced two Zeel channels and one channel each from B4U Network and Enterr 10 Television in the list. Post Week 22 of 2020, channels from these major networks have continued their presence in BARC’s Weekly list of Top Free Channels Across Genres lists at the cost of B4U Networks and Enterr 10 Television. The bigger networks have taken over BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres. 

Television consumption in terms of minutes, average time spent and reach has been declining from the highs of the lockdown weeks. Getting their second rung Hindi GEC and Movies channels on DD’s free DTH platform Free Dish is probably the best thing that the four major networks SPN, Star India, Viacom18 and Zeel could have done from viewership growth point of view is concerned. Analysis of BARC data in the public domain shows that 51.6 percent of Star Utsav’s viewership was on the Free Platform. In The case of Zee Anmol, Rishtey Cineplex and Sony Pay, viewership on the Free Platform was even higher. Channels such as Dangal which has seen viewership decline with the advent of Hindi GECs’ from the major networks in recent weeks had almost 70 percent of its viewership on the free platform in Week 26 of 2020.

Besides, as stated above, GEC share of viewership has increased from the lows of the Covid2019 lockdown period. Please refer to the chart below:

Hindi GECs have seen viewership growth on the Free Platform and in Rural Markets

As mentioned above, these channels have re-joined Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) Top 10 channels weekly lists on All Platforms and on the Pay and Free Platforms or have jumped up ranks in in general in their respective genres in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM), be it the combined urban and rural – HSM (U+R) or HSM (U) or HSM (R) over the past few weeks. After a slow and steady decline that started in Week 15 and continued in Weeks 17 to 22 of 2020 as compared to the immediate trailing week. Combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Hindi GEC’s on All Platforms in HSM (U+R) have now grown week on week. Weeks 23, 24, 25 and 26 of 2020 saw viewership of the Top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) grow by 4.9, 6.9, 4.4 and 2.5 percent respectively. 

The BARC-Nielsen yardstick is the average data between Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020. Using this reference point, the combined weekly impressions of Top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) have been consistently increasing starting Week 13 of 2020, except for a small fall of 0.3 percent in Week 22. Until Week 26 of 2020, consumption of the Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) in terms of weekly impressions has increased by 18.7 percent as compared to the Weeks two to four average and by 14 percent as compared to Week 1 of 2020. This growth has been led by the Free Hindi GECs and by the rural market or HSM (R) according to BARC data for the Top 10 Hindi GECs on the Free and Pay Platforms and in HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R). 
Exact comparison has not been done based BARC data because until Week 15 of 2020, BARC only listed the Top 9 Channels in HSM (R) and for the Free Platform in the public domain. But, considering the viewership growth of the Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) of 18.7 percent in Week 26 of 2020, viewership of Top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U) has increased by just 1.8 percent with respect to the average of Weeks 2- 4 of 2020. In the same period viewership of Top 10 Hindi GECs on the Pay Platform has declined by 2.1 percent, as compared to the average of the Top 10 channels in Weeks 2 to 4 of 2020.

The increase in viewership of GECs is also evident from the figure below based on BARC-Nielsen data for the top four most watched genres below. As is obvious the share of GEC viewership has started increasing and has come up to 48 percent in Week 26 of 2020 from the lows (40 percent) of the Covid2019 weeks, but has still to touch or exceed the pre-Covid2019 period’s 52 percent.

Some other trends in Top 10 Channels Across Genres lists in Week 26 of 2020

26 channels have appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres lists during the first 26 weeks of 2020. Of these 26, only three channels – Dangal, Sony Sab and Sun TV have appeared consistently in the lists during all the 26 weeks. Among the frontline channels – Star Plus was present in the list for 21 weeks, followed by its Telugu Sibling Star Maa, which was present for 20 of 26 weeks in the lists. Weeks 25 and 26 of BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Channels Across Genres saw Star India’s Hindi GEC Star Utsav at rank no 1.

20 channels appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres lists during the first 26 weeks of 2020. Here also only three channels appeared in the lists for all the 26 weeks – they were Sony SAB, Star Maa and Sun TV. Sun TV has been consistently ranked 1 during all the 26 weeks to date in this list.

22 channels appeared in BARC’s weekly lists of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres lists during the first 26 weeks of 2020. Here also only three channels appeared in the lists for all the 26 weeks – they were Dangal, Big Magic and B4U Kadak. Dangal has been consistently ranked 1 during all the 26 weeks to date in this list. Please refer to the figure below:

NEW DELHI: Moving Walls and TPS Engage have entered a global partnership to accelerate the adoption of automated and audience-driven OOH (Out-of-Home) and place-based advertising. 

As part of the initial deal, Moving Walls Group’s supply-focussed subsidiary, Location Media Xchange (LMX) will enable TPS Engage’s contextual OOH marketplace to provide advertisers with global access to an inventory of more than 30,000 screens across Southeast Asia and India. 

The outdoor advertising industry has faced the brunt of the population lockdowns put in place to combat the spread of Covid2019. However, it has also forced stakeholders to start adopting data and technology platforms that help link media spends to outcomes, which is standard for online advertising.

Moving Walls and TPS Engage have both established strong technology platforms to support OOH automation. However, their on-ground presence across different markets has the potential to complement each other. The Moving Walls group has a strong presence in seven markets including Singapore, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria and the United States while TPS Engage’s offices are spread across New York, Dubai, Seoul and Bucharest.

Scalable cross-border OOH executions now a reality

Both Moving Walls and TPS Engage acknowledge that OOH’s unique attributes mean that it cannot be traded just like another digital channel. 

Moving Walls has recently established independent offerings for both the buy-side and the sell-side stakeholders. To brands and media agencies, they provide cloud-based planning and analytics for all forms of OOH media powered by a multi-sensor location data platform. Meanwhile, LMX works with the asset owners to equip them with inventory management and sales automation tools.

Meanwhile, TPS Engage has a keen focus on enabling the contextual delivery of creatives on digital screens based on different rule sets in a scalable manner. This technology has attracted the world’s most innovative brands like Samsung, Coca Cola, Uber Eats, and Burger King, among others.

According to Moving Walls Group CEO Srikanth Ramachandran, “LMX was formed to enable media owners to connect to multiple demand-side partners while remaining in control of inventory allocation and pricing. TPS Engage’s vision of making audience data-driven media buying and creative decisions for OOH possible aligns with our own views. This partnership will enable global brands to have a holistic view of offline audience engagement just how they do it for their online channels. 

TPS Engage CEO Bogdan Savonea adds, “Our platform already provides access to more than 100,000 contextual content-enabled screens across Europe, North America, and, more recently, in Asia through our office in Seoul, South Korea. As we work with global clients who have a presence across multiple Asian markets, it is only natural that we choose to partner with the largest supply-side technology provider in this region.”

MUMBAI: Infotainment genre has become the top gainer in week 27, 2020 of Chrome Data Analytics and Media data. The genre grew by 0.52 per cent. In this genre, Animal Planet gained highest OTS with 89.0 per cent in all India 1 lakh+ market.

OTS is the actual census-based percentage connectivity of a channel spread across 81 million homes, as reported by Chrome DM, across analogue cable, digital cable, and DTH.

This week, Hindi news gained the second position and grew by 0.37 per cent in  HSM excluding <1 lakh market. In this genre, ABP News gained the highest OTS with 100 per cent.

Kids genre stood at the third position followed by religious genre at 0.34 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively. 

NEW DELHI: InMobi, the world's leading marketing cloud, announced the appointment of Jayesh Ullattil as vice president and general manager for India.  Ullattil will be a part of the Asia Pacific leadership team led by Vasuta Agarwal and will be based out of Bengaluru.

Ullattil will be responsible for growing the mobile advertising and marketing business for InMobi across its portfolio of products, including programmatic and performance businesses, and data and online research platforms.

InMobi MD Asia Pacific Vasuta Agarwal said, "We are glad to welcome Jayesh onboard the InMobi leadership team in the Asia Pacific. These are crucial times for brands and marketers across the globe who are looking to transform their business and marketing digitally. Under Jayesh's leadership, InMobi will continue to enable marketers and advertisers in India as they increasingly rely on and invest in mobile to drive real connections with their consumers."

In his two decades of industry experience, Ullattil has worked with leading consumer brands that include Perfetti Van Melle, Nokia, Henkel, Blackberry, and more recently, BCCL and Hotstar. Prior to joining InMobi, Ullattil was vice-president of sales in Hotstar and instrumental in building strategic partnerships with leading telecom, OEM, consumer durables, and media brands.

"InMobi has seen strong growth in India over the past few years and we are looking to double down on this. Jayesh's strong and varied experience across different industries and in both offline and online media will help us provide marketers the guidance and outcomes they desire in an ever-changing and evolving Indian digital landscape," added Agarwal.

"India is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing mobile markets across the globe and this is an opportunity to have an immediate and large impact on the future of the AdTech industry. I am looking forward to expanding the business and growing market share and mindshare for InMobi in India," shared Ullattil. 

Overall, Ullattil has 20 years of experience across diverse industries spanning FMCG, technology, media & entertainment, and digital/ OTT media.

NEW DELHI: The Covid2019 pandemic has certainly catalysed the Indian media and advertising industry into becoming more digitally equipped. It has also influenced the sector to rethink its marketing approach. Thus, to drive transformations and thought leadership in this modern marketing space, Dentsu Aegis Network Consult (DAN Consult), the consulting arm of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India, in association with Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), has launched the Modern Marketing Confluence (MMC) – a discussion series focusing on growth, changing consumerism and tech-enabled solutions across industries.

For the record, DAN Consult and MMA launched the first edition of the confluence in June this year under the digital banner of MMC. Here, the inaugural chapter concentrated on three key areas – the role of a marketer in MarTech, the importance of first-party data strategy, the MarTech stack must-haves for a data-first organisation and future-readiness. The discussion, co-moderated by Lalit Bhagia, CEO, DAN Consult & Moneka Khurana, Country Head, MMA India, took a deep dive into how the role of a CMO has now changed to a CRO and/or a CTO. The panellists on the session included Ravi Santhanam, CMO, HDFC Bank, Gowthaman Ragothaman, CEO, Aqiliz and Yanay (John) Sela, CMO, Seeking Alpha.

Now, the collaboration is ready to roll with the MMC series in alliance with industry experts and leaders to enable growth hacks, evangelism and education. It will also catalyse the adoption of relevant MarTech stacks. Additionally, DAN Consult and MMA have partnered with Google in a 3-part series, which will kickstart from 23 July. The series will enable insights from industry experts on responsible marketing with first-party data, D2C strategy and must-do MarTech investments.

DAN Consult  CEO Lalit Bhagia said “At DAN Consult, we are committed to partner with CEOs and CMOs in this transitional journey where along with creativity and data, marketing tech also plays a huge part in an organisation's success. As a business, DAN Consult has been working on the forefront of this marketing transformation and the MMC series is our endeavour to showcase and drive thought leadership in this ever-evolving space.”

MMA India country head Moneka Khurana added, “The Modern Marketing Confluence is for those looking for growth hacks in marketing and business transformation. As an industry body, we are enabling a platform to provide thought leadership and promote an agile, customer-centric, decentralised, people-powered, and technology-enabled ecosystem. Today’s CMO is responsible for so much more beyond traditional brand building, interpreting data, generating revenue whilst making the experience seamless for end consumers. The MMA is committed to drive modern marketing with MarTech being the central focus and hence, has enabled an advisory council comprising experts to shape the future of MarTech in India.”

It is pertinent to note here that the Modern Marketing Confluence in its discussions will represent key sectors such as retail & consumer goods, BFSI & insurance, communication, media & technology, born digital organisations, automotive and discrete industries. Further, it will also focus on the implementations and implications of MarTech and the importance of marrying MarTech and AdTech (MadTech). 

NEW DELHI: SARVA, India’s fastest growing yoga-based wellness ecosystem, has brought onboard experts from various domains onto their global advisory board. The advisory team now includes Jen Yu, ex-head of product @Masterclass; Jeniffer Chang, ex digital media, Disney and Mayur Gupta, a marketing maverick, Ex Spotify, Freshly, Kimberly – Clark. Each of these domain experts will bring their unique skill sets to the table in helping the brand grow.

With over 10 years working on technology design, user journeys and media, Jen Yu brings an immense pool of knowledge, experience and customer study to whatever she does. Her previous stints include director of product design at Masterclass, director of design at Emerald Cloud Club and she currently runs The Cusp, which she co-founded.

Chang is a start-up veteran who has contributed to the success of over 20 early-stage start-ups. She founded TechSparks, a networking group and consultancy for early-stage companies and has also served as the head of operations for a start-up called FanBread where she worked with a lot of Hollywood celebrities and influencers. Some other brands that she helped establish were Perfect Market(Idealab), Haven & NEXT Trucking to name a few. She also co-founded two digital media brands Digital Media Management & SocialVision. A maverick at all things start-up related, Jeniffer gained a lot from her previous professional associations with best in class companies such as Apple, Disney & KPMG.   

Gupta was the chief marketing officer at Freshly where he was leading a team of marketers to make Freshly an iconic brand and drive breakthrough growth; inspiring every household in America to bring a positive change in their lives by eating healthier each week. At Spotify, Mayur was responsible for growing the free and subscribed user base for the company with growth hacking and data-driven, always-on experiences; among other things. He has also been profiled by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and the Economist as the model Chief Marketing Technologist in 2014 and was named the top 50 Marketers by Forbes in 2019.  

SARVA co-founder Sarvesh Shashi said, “We’re at a stage in SARVA where quality growth is of utmost importance. Jen You, Jeniffer Chang and Mayur Gupta, each bring years of expertise, knowledge and growth-mindsets and are themselves powerhouses of talent. They each will be mentoring teams across different functions, all of which are pivotal to SARVA’s business. We believe their inputs and experience will not just help the team at Sarva amplify their efforts but also fuel it in the right direction.”    

As a homegrown brand, SARVA has been going all-out to bring the benefits of yoga to everyone from Hollywood to Haridwar – in an all-new avatar. While the brand has already been instrumental in making yoga and mindfulness fun, it pivoted to newer heights with its initiatives recently. It is one of the only brands to have garnered global investor interest and support. SARVA is backed by global celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and well-known investors Mark Mastrov and Alex Rodriguez to celebrities, influencers, and experts like Malaika Arora, Aishwaryaa Dhanush, Shikhar Dhawan, Shahid Kapoor, etc.

Adding further, Jen Yu, said, “I am excited to be part of a young and growing brand like SARVA which has emerged as a frontrunner in making yoga popular among millennials. Their initiatives in the wake of the pandemic and lockdown to offer live online classes are highly commendable. It is always a pleasure to work with brands that focus their work around customer pain points and come up with appropriate solutions. I hope to utilize my experience and help the brand catapult further.”

"During a crucial time in human history, SARVA rose to the challenge and cemented its role in the post-Pandemic world as a leading provider of health and wellness. I decided to join SARVA - as a member as well as a business advisor - because I recognize the immense potential of this unique brand to deliver the benefits of yoga and mindfulness to a global audience," said Chang. 

Gupta commented, “Driving growth for brands and improving experiences are two things that have always excited me. While SARVA is already a hugely successful brand in what it has been doing, I hope to help them take yoga and the resultant experience to every household pan India and globally. Their mindfulness and meditation services are also another area where I would focus on. I am happy to be a part of the team.”

SARVA recently launched its digital offering, currently divided into 2 categories: Body and Mind. The 3rd category to be launched soon is called Nourish. SARVA’s offerings address millennial fitness needs and the brand is working towards connecting 7 billion breaths. Its recent cool and fun campaign called Yoga+ showcases yoga as a seamless part of various lifestyles, individuals, and professionals.

Through its powerful network of influencers, SARVA has been instrumental in engaging people virtually through various interactive sessions and immunity booster modules in 25 countries including the US, UK, and Italy. SARVA and its women-centric arm DIVA Yoga have a global digital reach of over 200 million. The brands have set out to help people across different countries connect with this holistic practice and achieve the associated benefits.

NEW DELHI: Pee Safe, hygiene and wellness brand has signed on leading actor, influencer, and entrepreneur Jacqueline Fernandez, as the brand ambassador for their Raho Safe range of products. The popular actor will represent the extensive Raho Safe range that is not only high on quality but also affordable. 

Jacqueline is an aspiration for every millennial and the modern-day woman and has over 42 million followers on Instagram alone. As the brand ambassador for the Raho Safe range, Pee Safe aims to leverage her popularity across various segments. The range includes an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, surface disinfectant, surface protectants, face masks, face shield, and other hygiene products. All Raho Safe products have seen increased demand during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic given the focus on hygiene. 

Pee Safe founder Vikas Bagaria said, “We are delighted to have Jacqueline on board as our brand ambassador for the Raho Safe range. She brings a lot of youthful energy and is a huge influence on the millennial generation. With her on board, we will be able to connect with every segment of the population, be it in the metros or the Tier 2 and 3 cities. The personal hygiene market is expected to reach $15 billion by 2023 in India, more so after the pandemic. We launched the Raho Safe range just before the Coronavirus outbreak with an aim to improve access to better hygiene and wellness products that are also affordable. With Jacqueline, we also aim to strengthen our messaging around the importance of feminine hygiene.”

Fernandez said, “At the outset, I wish to commend Raho Safe for their efforts towards ensuring hygiene and wellness for everyone. I resonate with the brand’s ideology of access to good hygiene and sanitation being a universal right and I am thrilled to come on board as their brand ambassador. All the products under the Raho Safe range, from the hand sanitizer to the face masks and surface disinfectants, are more important than ever in today's scenario. And the best part is that they are also affordable. I truly believe that staying hygienic is not an option or a habit, but a way of life. I hope that we can together change people’s mindset and help educate the masses on the importance of hygiene both during and after the pandemic.”

Pee Safe has been advocating the cause of personal hygiene since 2013. Over the years, the brand has created market leadership in various product segments and has developed goodwill and trust amongst its consumer base. Pee Safe had already been registering impressive year-on-year growth before the pandemic. There is now a further increase in demand and growth from the overall market perspective.

Pee Safe and Raho Safe products are currently also available in modern trade, general stores, airports, and organized stores across 70+ cities and online at www.peesafe.com and across leading e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Myntra, Nykaa, and Flipkart.

NEW DELHI: Going contact-free is gradually becoming the new normal but Indian businesses still have a long way to go. Kantar, world’s leading data, insights and consulting company’s annual report on digital adoption and usage trends in India, ITOPSTM 2019 report indicate that about 42 per cent of urban businesses are aware of UPI/ eWallet as a means of receiving payments from their customers and about 29 per cent of them use UPI/ eWallet for receiving payments. The report further states that, given the size, close to half of the businesses using digital payments are in the retail segment and the ones relatively averse to digital adoption are travel, trade, transport, logistics and education. 

However, in spite of the fact that about 29 per cent of businesses are accepting UPI/ eWallet, in terms of the share of total receipts of businesses, UPI/ eWallets account for only 6 per cent of the total receipts. Amongst businesses that adopt UPI/ eWallets users too, about 23 per cent of the total receipts are through UPI/eWallet.

As per ITOPS 2019, cash continues to have the dominant share of the market. Across the entire market, the share of cash is currently 87%. However, amongst the users of UPI/ eWallet, the share of cash is much lower at 58 per cent. This indicates that businesses using UPI/ eWallet are also adopting other Digital Payment options in addition to UPI/ eWallets.

Tier 1 cities of Delhi and Mumbai lead the adoption of UPI/ eWallets with about 45 per cent of businesses having adopted it. Interestingly, smaller cities like Rohtak, Haldia, etc. also show high adoption with more than one in every three businesses adopting UPI/eWallets though transaction volumes are low. This indicates the penetration of UPI/ eWallets goes beyond the larger cities and there is definitely a demand for merchant transactions in the smaller cities too which is driving businesses to adopt such services for their customers.

Kantar executive vice president, insights division  Biswapriya Bhattacharjee stated, “UPI/eWallet and digital transaction has become almost a necessity in this pandemic-hit world. Indian businesses have started adopting UPI/ eWallets in a big way in recent times, having thrown into the deep end of the pool. Covid-19 is the worst of crises that our generation has witnessed and with no notes to refer to, Indian business entities are resorting to technology adoption, in order to stay afloat. Our idea of financial transaction has always been cash and that thought process has been very deep-rooted in our minds. We have seen the first round of adoption of digital payments post demonetisation. However, Covid-19 crisis has accelerated technology adoption amongst the urban businesses and digital payment receipts is at the core of this shift. Our data indicate that about a third of the urban businesses have started exploring the possibility of adopting digital payments for their business since the lockdown. We believe that this shift amongst businesses is here to stay as businesses realize the ease with which they can do their business, especially, in the urban cities.”

ITOPSTM is an annual syndicated study of Kantar to determine the penetration, usage and profile of technology and digital products amongst Micro & Small businesses in Urban India. Launched in 1996, the study is in its 24th year. ITOPS 2019 covered about 7000+ businesses across 35 cities and urban locations.

NEW DELHI: People come to Twitter first to learn about news and events unfolding in real-time, and the company is committed to ensuring that the information they receive is credible and authentic. To continue serving its purpose, Twitter India today launched a dedicated search prompt to help people stay updated with the latest information from authoritative sources around disaster relief and preparedness efforts.

Every time someone searches for certain keywords associated with disaster relief, a prompt will direct them to the relevant information and sources of help available on Twitter. This is an expansion of Twitter’s #ThereIsHelp prompt, which was specifically put in place for the public to find clear, credible information focusing on disaster preparedness and emergencies. 

Twitter has partnered with the National Disaster Response Force (@NDRFHQ) in India to expand its efforts towards handling disaster situations. The search prompt will be available on iOS, Android, and on mobile.twitter.com in India, in both English and Hindi languages.

Shri SN Pradhan (@satyaprad1), Director General, National Disaster Response Force, said "While disasters both natural and manmade can undoubtedly cause widespread humanitarian havoc, open internet and social media can immensely benefit the ecosystem by enabling people to connect with each other and with government agencies. Twitter’s ability for facilitating real-time dialogue has ensured that crucial information about disaster affected areas flows seamlessly. Timely and reliable updates through Twitter can support the government in communicating to the people on rescue/relief services available to them and what they can do to receive it. Through the launch of this search prompt and our collaboration with Twitter, we are optimistic about bringing authentic and credible information to the fore to promote open public communication, in times when it is needed the most. This partnership will also strengthen NDRFs credo of आपदा सेवा सदैव सर्वदा - Disaster rescue related services everywhere in India & at all times.”

The feature will be reviewed at regular intervals by the Twitter team to ensure that all related keywords generate the proactive search prompt. Some of the search keywords include:

English: #cyclone, #DisasterRelief, #earthquake, #flood, #floods, #heavyrainfall, #hurricane, #Landslides, #NDMA, #NDRF, #rain, #rainfall, #SDRF, #storm, #thunderstorm, #tsunami, 

Hindi: #आंधी, #आंधीतूफान, #आपदा, #एनडीआरएफ, #चक्रवात, #तूफान, #बाढ़, #बारिश, #भूकंप, #भूचाल, #भूस्खलन, #राज्यआपदाप्रतिक्रियाबल, #सुनामी, #राष्ट्रीयआपदाप्रतिक्रियाबल, #राष्ट्रीयआपदाप्रबंधनएजेंसी

The search prompt will also generate a list of government agencies working towards Disaster Response and Relief in India, so people looking for support can easily identify and establish contact with credible authorities.

Sharing her thoughts on this initiative, Mahima Kaul (@misskaul), Director, Public Policy, India and South Asia, Twitter, said, “At its core, Twitter is a real-time and modern version of a town square. These characteristics make Twitter a uniquely useful place for timely communication, and more so when a disaster strikes. Relief teams have time and again turned to Twitter to connect with the people on ground, and share real-time information on provision of aid, rescue operations and emergency resources. With the launch of this initiative, we are furthering our commitment to partner the citizens, civil society as well the government. The dedicated search prompt will ensure there is uninterrupted access to relevant and authoritative information, such as important updates on critical transit and utility outages, efforts to oversee crowd management, and establish direct access between the affected areas and the rescue teams.”

During times of crisis and emergencies, Twitter’s live, open and public nature continue to be leveraged by NGOs, citizens, government agencies and the media to share and exchange information. In India, the usefulness of Twitter during disaster relief has come to light by its use during the Kerala Floods by @CMOKerala and last year during Mumbai Floods by @mybmc and most recently by @CMOfficeAssam as well as the citizen groups that organized themselves entirely on Twitter to help those affected on ground.

How to search and find credible information around disaster management on Twitter

On app

Click on Explore tab

Type and enter your disaster management-related keyword or query into the Search option on the top

A prompt on ‘ThereIsHelp’ will appear - click on it to access credible information and facts on the issue

 On desktop

Go to Home

Type and enter your disaster management-related keyword or query into the Search option on the top Right

A prompt on ‘ThereIsHelp will appear - click on it to access credible information and facts on the issue

NEW DELHI: Gemius Design Studio, a Surat-based creative agency, has bagged Nine account mandates amid the Covid2019 pandemic in the past three months i.e. April - June 2020. The agency shall be responsible for amplifying the digital presence of the brands through 360 Marketing and Branding solutions for the following brands – Muwin, Appario, Myra, Surat City Traffic Police, Samara Tea, Mantone, Mustin, Varanga, and Panchhi.

Considering the current situation, we all have shifted to contactless and digital mediums for every possible thing thus making it mandatory for a brand to have a strong Digital Presence. Good word of mouth and an immediate need to go digital helped Gemius onboard these clients.

As a creative agency, working with brands from various industries it is necessary to adapt the changing situation and come up with innovative yet relatable ideas. All the brands now have become more active, focusing more on performance-based marketing.

Gemius Design Studio co-founder & creative navigator Anushree Pacheriwal says, "Gemius has always been known for the concepts and creative strategies. We have been striving to come up with ideas and strategies which can attract consumers of our clients and ensure we get the right kind of business opportunities. During the lockdown and even now, we are striving for the same and with all the new accounts on board, we are working aggressively on innovative and path-breaking ideas to capture the market".

Gemius Design Studio  studio manager Arunima Jain added, "When multiple clients come on board, operations become a challenge. The team has been super excited to plan all the campaigns, ideas and strategies. As we have started rolling out communications for a few of the brands, the result speaks for itself. We are all hands-on deck for the time to come and are totally pumped up for the days ahead".

Gemius Design Studio co-founder & captain  Saurabh concludes saying, "The team and the leaders are putting in endless efforts to ensure our work quality remains consistent with all the work we are doing. Not just in today's time but in general, Honesty and Consistency are the two key things one should adopt to deliver the right kind of services. We always bank by these qualities and ensure that no matter the situation or the challenge we are facing, we deliver to the promise we have committed. These have surely been trying times with the COVID situation taking us all on a roller coaster ride but we have been able to sail through. Gemius is also celebrating it's 6 years on 15th July, 2020 and we can proudly say, so far so good!".

Ever since the inception of the dynamic agency in 2014, it has been making waves in the industry with an admirable passion for creativity, hard work and the ability to think out of the box. Marking their 6th Anniversary this July the creative agency shares a small tribute to their journey so far HERE.

NEW DELHI: Editorji founder Vikram Chandra announced on Twitter this morning that RP Sanjiv Goenka Group has acquired the majority stake of 51 per cent in his online personalised news platform. 

Chandra will continue to hold his MD position, while Airtel and HT will remain investors in the platform, which he had started in September 2018, after spending 24 years as a television journalist. 

I'm delighted to announce that the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group has acquired a 51% majority stake in @editorji! I'll continue as MD and Airtel/HT as investors. I launched Editorji in 2018 to try to reshape video news. The product is ready -@RP_SanjivGoenka will scale it significantly!

— Vikram Chandra (@vikramchandra) July 15, 2020

1

RP Sanjiv Goenka had recently signed a deal with Fortune Media group as well, to publish the magazine in India.