Sportsvertising! From T20 World Cup to the IPL – let the Hunger Games begin….

They say the 3Cs – Cinema, Cricket and Crime are what have captured the hearts and minds of Indian consumers. Needless to say, cricket is a word synonymous with excitement, despair, horror, elation and frustration for Indians. With the Indian Premier League and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup set to be held between March and July respectively, it is expected that Indian audiences will have once again something to cheer for. As a result, brands too have begun to chalk out plans to cash in on the two large marquee events. Experts believe ad revenue and ad sales, especially in the IPL, are set to grow due to it being televised on two different platforms; JioCinema and Star Network. However, sports advertising overall would struggle.

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Parliament panel expresses concern over TV channel price hikes

The Parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology has expressed concern over a significant increase in television channel pricing by broadcasters and recommended more freedom of choice to consumers for selecting individual TV channels.

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Stayin Alive! How short format videos have become viewers’ as well as advertisers’ delight??

Short videos have changed our lives and the way we view content forever, as a result, terms such as ‘mindless scrolling’ and it is seriously mindless as viewers often fail to distinguish the difference between ads and content, have become a rage.? “We are going nano. The story gets micronised. And that’s the art science and philosophy here,” Harish Bijoor, business and brand-strategy specialist said. And all this is thanks to ByteDance owned short video platform TikTok, which is now banned in India, however, its exit gave birth to other platforms such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Moj, among others.? As per business intelligence platform Statista, during the pandemic, the short-form video segment saw an increase in active users between 2019 and 2021, with the user base amounting to 290 million during the latter. Furthermore, global spending on short-form video ads increased twentyfold in the last five years and is estimated to grow by $11 billion annually, reaching $145.8 billion by 2028.

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Hotstar subscribers up amid Disney-Reliance merger talks

Disney+ Hotstar, the video streaming service owned by the Walt Disney Company in India and a few other Asian markets, reported an increase of 2% sequentially in its paid subscribers to 38.3 million for the October-December period, the first since losing the digital streaming rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year.

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BrandWagon AdTalk with Airtel Payments Bank’s Shilpi Kapoor

The pandemic has brought about notable shifts across industries, and the case has been no different for marketing. Today, digital marketing has become a crucial aspect in order to acquire new customers and retain existing ones. In our weekly BrandWagon Ad Talk series, industry experts highlight what has changed over the past two years and more importantly, are these changes here to stay. Shilpi Kapoor, chief marketing officer, Airtel Payments Bank, talks to BrandWagon Online, about the dos and don’ts of digital marketing, best marketing campaigns, and more.

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The cost of a crisis

Consumers today are spoilt for choice. They have more products, many more brands and certainly a range of payment options. That is great for the average consumer, but it adds to the layers of challenges for brands. Consumers can switch from one product to another without much hassle, and it doesn’t take much for their perception about a brand to nosedive.

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Meesho forays into logistics, eyes lowest supply-chain costs

E-commerce startup Meesho on Wednesday launched a marketplace for logistics solutions – Valmo – that consists of a network of micro entrepreneurs who provide first-mile, last-mile and sorting solutions to sellers on the company’s platform.

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Gaming cos innovating to survive 28% GST burden

In a bid to offset some of the impact on their margins hit by the 28% Goods and Services Tax (GST), over four months after it came into effect on October 1, the online gaming industry is looking to innovate and even incentivise users.

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Taxing times for online gaming

The online gaming industry in India is going through one of its most turbulent times. Over four months after the implementation of a 28% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the sector, operating costs of gaming companies have increased by as much as 4x to 6x, resulting in reduced or no profitability. Companies are trying to offset this increased cost by reducing their marketing budgets, laying off employees and adopting other cost-cutting measures at different levels to survive. Worse still, amid the new tax regime that increases GST payments of companies by as much as 1,000%, as per some estimates, several promising startups even have had to shut shop. “Already, several startups in the gaming sector have ceased operations following the 28% GST adjustment. If the government’s anticipated review post-March fails to yield favourable results, I anticipate dire consequences for numerous gaming companies, including major players,” says Aman Gupta, VP, finance, Witzeal Technologies, a new-age gaming tech company.

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Indian advertising industry grew 8.6% over 2022 to hold a market size of Rs 93,166 crore, reveals dentsu’s digital report 2024

According to dentsu’s digial report 2024, the Indian advertising industry grew 8.6% over 2022 and presently holds a market size of Rs 93,166 crore. By the end of 2025, it is expected to further grow at a compounded rate of 9.86% to reach Rs 1,12,453 crore. While the digital advertising industry witnessed an impressive growth of 36.6% over 2022 with a market size of Rs 40,685 crore and is estimated to reach Rs 62,045 crore, growing at a compounded rate of 23.49% by 2025

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