Week at a glance: BARC tie-ups; FBâ€™s Thumbstoppers; Developments at GroupM

BARC teams up with 3 global majors to align audience measurement operations

BARC (India), Médiamétrie (France), Numeris (Canada) and Video Research (Japan) will collaborate on future audience measurement initiatives, including the development of common technical standards and operational processes, in order to benefit the existing currency services each member operates, in their respective market, through their current organisation and measurement partners.

Facebook India’s move to boost short-form video has creative honchos all excited

Facebook India has launched ‘Thumbstoppers’, a first-of-its-kind initiative to redefine short-form mobile video creativity in the country. This initiative is in partnership with leaders from the advertising industry – Wunderman Thompson, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, McCann and Mullen Lintas – to transform storytelling for mobile advertising.

Nina Elavia Jaipuria on how Nickelodeon has charted out its success story

Nickelodeon has unveiled its aggressive content strategy for FY2019-20, comprising 200+ hours of original animated content, which will include shows as well as made-for-television movies.

TRAI to initiate action against DTH firms/ DPOs not adhering to tariff norms

In the last few weeks, TRAI has been issuing directives to various DTH and cable operators to strictly comply with the various provisions of the new regulatory framework for Broadcasting and Cable TV Services. Taking a tough stance the regulator has, over the past few months, also taken action against several MSOs, cable operators for trying to create roadblocks for viewers’ ‘Right to Choose’.

What Indians search online… and implications for brands

Google recently released its annual ‘Year in Search: Insights for Brands’ report. The report is a deep dive into what Indian users are searching for online and the opportunities these trends can unlock for brands.

Hotstar registers 18.6 mn concurrent viewers in IPL 2019 final; watch-time up by 74%

Hotstar set a new global benchmark on May 12, 2019 when it registered an unprecedented reach of 18.6 million concurrent viewers during the finale of Vivo IPL 2019.

GroupM rolls out INCA; connects brands, publishers & influencers to drive content

GroupM, WPP’s media investment management group, today announced the Asia Pacific rollout of its influencer marketing solution, INCA.

Hindi print has seen 9% CAGR growth in the last 10 years: Kaacon Sethi

Dainik Bhaskar has put up another year of strong show garnering Total Readership (TR) of 51,405,000 as per data released by MRUC for IRS 2019 Q1. The Hindi newspaper had secured TR of 45,105,000 in IRS 2017. Dainik Bhaskar is the third most read Hindi newspaper after Dainik Jagran and Hindustan.

Hindustan Times continues to dominate Delhi-NCR with AIR of 18 lakh

The final results of the latest round of the Indian Readership Survey that came out yesterday, bear testimony to the continued faith and trust in the written word, with the overall English readership growing at 6 per cent - average issue readership (AIR).

A lot of FMCG brands are coming back to Print: Varghese Chandy

Malayala Manorama has once again topped the Malayalam dailies in readership as per the IRS 2019 Q1 data. On Total Readership (TR) basis, Malayala Manorama garnered 17,477,000, compared to 15,999,000 in IRS 2017 and was placed 7th among the Top 20 dailies in India [(12+ Years); Urban+Rural]. The daily secured Average Issue Readership (AIR) of 9,758,000 in IRS 2019 Q1, as against 9,383,000 in IRS 2017 and was placed 4th among the Top 20 dailies in India.

Lodestar UM retains traditional media mandate for Samsung India

Sources close to the development have confirmed to Adgully that Lodestar UM part of IPG Mediabrands has retained the offline media duties for Samsung India. This does not include the OOH mandate for the brand. Cheil India retained the digital mandate for Samsung India.

DB Corp Q4 FY19 revenues up 4.2%; digital business revenues see decline

DB Corp Limited (DBCL), home to flagship newspapers Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Divya Marathi and Saurashtra Samachar, has reported a 4.2 per cent growth in its total revenues for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019 at Rs 5,911 million from Rs 5,675 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Hindustan Ventures reports consolidated revenues of Rs 710.58 cr for FY2019

Hindustan Venture Ltd (HVL) on a consolidated basis reported a revenue of Rs 710.58 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2019, as against revenue of Rs 864.06 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2018. The company reported a consolidated loss of Rs 339.89 crore in FY 2019 arising mainly due to the new Indian Accounting Standards (INDAS) mark to market adjustments, as against a consolidated loss of Rs 54.54 crore for FY2018.

Subbu elevated to Group Chief Strategy Officer at MullenLowe Lintas Group

Better known as Subbu, Subramanyeswar’s elevation comes on the back of his remarkably successful stint as Chief Strategy Officer of Lowe Lintas.

GroupM MENA appoints Ravi Rao as CEO; Filip Jabbour steps down

GroupM, WPP’s world-leading media investment group, today named Ravi Rao CEO at GroupM MENA (Middle East North Africa). Previously, CEO at Mindshare MENA, Rao has 30 years’ market experience and 11 years within the GroupM network. He replaces Filip Jabbour, who was appointed in 2015 when GroupM launched in the region and has taken the decision to step down.

Network18 elevates Avinash Kaul as CEO - Broadcast; more changes announced

Network 18 has elevated Avinash Kaul as CEO- Broadcast. Puneet Sanghvi has been elevated to President of Digital & Corporate Strategy. Priyanka Kaul, who heads the Focus business and is President for Marketing & Special Initiatives, has been given additional charge as CEO of Forbes.

PivotRoots appoints Ashok Shinde & Alifiya Naik to key positions

One of India’s fastest growing data-led digital agency, PivotRoots appoints Ashok Shinde to lead performance solutions as Vice President – Performance &Alifiya Naik as User Experience Director to lead the team & help build the UI/UX lab.

Sanket Upadhyay joins NDTV as Senior Editor - Politics

Sanket Upadhyay former managing editor of India Ahead who had put in his papers as reported by Adgully on 9^thMay has joined NDTV as Senior Editor Politics sources have confirmed. This is his second stint as NDTV.

Wavemaker India Wins Media Mandate For NestAway

Wavemaker, the media, content, and technology agency from GroupM has won media duties for NestAway. Wavemaker will manage offline and online media for NestAway.

ITC Group appoints Sanjiv Puri as Chairman and MD

The ITC Group has announced that Sanjiv Puri will take over the role of Chairman and Managing Director of the company. The decision was made during a board of directors meeting that vetted and approved the fourth quarter financial results.

The Beauty Co. has achieved returns of $1.5 mn in 9 months of launch: Suraj Vazirani

Being in the e-commerce ecosystem for a long time, Suraj Vazirani has seen the business grow in India. In this interaction with Adgully, he speaks about being an entrepreneur. He also talks out the growth path for The Beauty Co. and the online as well as offline strategy and more.

B4U Networks launches regional movie channel B4U Bhojpuri

B4U Network popularly known for its Bollywood Music and Movie channels launches B4U Bhojpuri its first regional offering in the Bhojpuri Regional space. B4U Bhojpuri a Bhojpuri movie channel targeted at audiences in UP, Bihar & Jharkhand launches with a bank of most popular exclusive Bhojpuri Movies.

The W Suite | Choose your battles wisely: Poulomi Roy, RSH Global

Diversity in the workforce has become a necessity today, and more so in the leadership positions. It can’t be denied that women bring a high level of creativity and empathy while solving problems and handling crises. Women leaders bring to the table a different level of dexterity.

Havas Creative India bags integrated communication mandate for Citroën India

European auto major Groupe PSA made a grand entry into the Indian market in April 2019, with the launch of its iconic brand CitroeÌˆn. Havas Creative India has been given the Integrated communications mandate which includes handling the creative, social and digital creative duties including reputation management.

Swiggy is most popular food ordering app; but some issues need ironing out

Forty per cent of the customers ordering food online have had unpleasant experiences at some point or the other. This was revealed in a recently concluded study by Velocity MR. The study assesses online food delivery experiences and challenges faced by online food ordering apps/ websites in the marketplace. The study, which covered a total sample size of 2,436 respondents, included key Indian metropolises, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai, among others.

BARC Wk 19: No change in channel rankings, Star Utsav enters at No. 10

BARC India data for Week 19 (Saturday, May 4 to Friday, May 10) of 2019 [HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals], shows yet another week of no changes in the rankings of the top 10 Hindi GECs in Rural+Urban, barring the entry of Star Utsav in the tenth spot, replacing &TV.

Offbeat: BARC India’s Manashi Kumar on a life far from the madding crowd

Manashi Kumar is the Chief of Strategy and People Operations at Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. She joined BARC India in 2016 and has since been involved in creating the roadmap on talent strategy in the field of learning & development, talent acquisition and management, employee engagement, organisation design, workforce diversity and succession planning.

Amazon faces backlash for hurting Hindu sentiments yet again

Amazon has done it again. The e-commerce major has faced Twitter backlash in India with growing calls for #BoycottAmazon. The reason – listing of toilet seat covers, doormats and other products featuring images of Hindu Gods for sale on Amazon’s US website. This has hurt the sentiments of Hindus all over the world and Twitter has become a major platform for Indians to vent their ire against the insensitivity of Amazon.