The lawsuit filed against Humans of Bombay (HoB) against the People of India (PoI) has opened a new can of worms for the former with even big international publications covering the news. In his recent salvo against the Mumbai-based photoblog, Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton has released his statement regarding the monetisation of his platform.
The comment was in response to a query by the Washington Post regarding the HoB lawsuit.

Stanton claimed that in the last 13 years, HoNY was operational, he never received a penny for a single story he has put out. He also emphasised that his income mainly came from proceeds from his book sales, speeches he has given and Patreon.

Here's the full text of his comment.

Was just asked for comment by The Washington Post regarding a certain court case involving my work, but which thankfully doesn't involve me. I thought it would be worthwhile to share the statement here. For an example of a true artist who has done beautiful things with the… pic.twitter.com/y6Xvz8EGSx

— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) September 26, 2023

Stanton's statement comes at a time when HoB is being criticised for monetising the content on the photoblog.

You do not change a fraud by not identifying yourself with them, you change the fraud by taking action.
File your infringement lawsuit, the @HumansOfBombay have been using this rate card and your ideas to earn money from Indians who actually had the courage to share their… pic.twitter.com/MsEOdT7eQ6

— Subhav Samarth (@subhavsamarth) September 26, 2023

HoB was in the news for filing a lawsuit against People of India (PoI) for copyright infringement. According to the plaintiff, PoI copied HoB's storytelling format, which showcases human interest stories centred on photographs of ordinary people. The plea also mentioned that PoI lifted films from HoB's Instagram account without seeking permission first.

CDPs, CRMs, CPMs, CTRs. No one can accuse martech stacks with lacking acronyms for various tools and metrics, and that was just some of the Cs. Today, we are delving into yet another acronymous technology which, though doesn’t begin with C, but is being viewed as indispensable in helping marketers track and attract the all-important Customer.    

“Marketing Data Platforms (MDPs) are emerging as powerful tools that complement Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, and other data tools in the marketing ecosystem. MDPs help organizations centralize and leverage their data for more targeted, effective, and data-driven marketing strategies,” reveals Gopa Menon, Head of Digital – Mindshare South Asia.

Abhimanyu Vyas, Business Head of Havas’s MarTech arm, PivotConsult, says that Marketing Data Platforms serve as a central hub for brands to seamlessly consolidate data from various sources, including advertising, analytics, and transactional sources.

“They bring together data from owned, earned, and paid channels, allowing brands to forge a unified, comprehensive view of their marketing landscape. This consolidated data serves as a valuable resource for generating marketing insights, refining campaign strategies and product offerings, making informed pricing decisions, enhancing user experiences, and constructing finely tuned audience segments,” he says.

Marketing Data Platforms complement existing tools like Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs), facilitating agile measurement and analysis of activations conducted through these systems. Clients are also using advanced cases like Marketing Mix Modelling, Anomaly detection and Uplift Modelling.

Menon agrees that there are multiple use cases for MDPs, ranging from 360-degree customer view; segmentation and targeting; personalization; marketing automation; attribution and analytics; content management; cross-channel integration; compliance and data governance; predictive analytics; and customer retention and loyalty.

Indeed, as Bharatesh Salian, Sr. Vice President – Marketing Science and CX, FCB/SIX India, points out, “In today’s evolving and commoditised world, customer experience becomes a deal maker or breaker for more than 80% of the purchase decisions. Hence it becomes very important to map the behavioural data of prospect consumers to identify the right moment of truth when brands can engage and drive the right stimuli to take the action as part of an orchestrated consumer journey.”

“While CDPs or CRM provide the single golden record of the consumer along with their purchase patterns and preferences, the MDPs provide the insights into the behaviour of the users to click on the purchase now button. The ability of the marketing platforms to create data sets and classifications based on propensity to purchase by building on the lookalike audiences also helps tremendously in optimising spends,” adds Salian.

That being said, Paras Mehta, Business Head, Matterkind India, which operates under the IPG Brand says that while Marketing Data Platforms are emerging as valuable complements to existing tools such as CDPs and CRMs, “Their full potential is yet to be fully harnessed. The key challenge lies in the need for a substantial volume of consented data, which is currently a work in progress, mainly due to the presence of multiple walled gardens and limited access to personally identifiable information (PII) datasets.”

“In my perspective, an ideal use case for these platforms would involve three critical steps: firstly, at the advertiser level, establishing a Universal ID that encompasses all actual and potential consumers; secondly, leveraging this Universal ID to orchestrate and control communication and frequency across all marketing channels; and thirdly, utilizing the insights derived from these platforms to further optimize media and communications strategies,” says Mehta.

Menon concludes, “In today’s data-driven world, Marketing Data Platforms enhance the capabilities of CDPs, CRMs, and other data tools by providing a centralized hub for data management, analytics, and marketing automation. They empower marketers to create more personalized, data-driven, and effective marketing strategies, ultimately leading to improved customer experiences and business outcomes.”

In the latest development on what has become a long and consequential standoff, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) today announced that it will start hearing Google's appeal against an order by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that had imposed a Rs 936 crore penalty from November 28. The CCI has imposed the fine on the internet ubiquity for taking unfair advantage of its dominant position in the app store ecosystem.

In October of last year, CCI had charged Google with restricting app developers from using any type of third-party billing or payment processing services to purchase apps for in-app billing on Google Play Store, the globally available app platform developed and maintained by the company. 

In January of 2023, NCLAT denied immediate relief to Google against CCI’s order. Google also filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against the NCLAT order, though it ultimately withdrew the case.

NCLAT has now said that the litigating apsp should file responses to Google’s appeal in four weeks.

In today's fast-paced world, staying informed about the latest trends is of paramount importance. With that in mind, the exchange4media Group has unveiled its WhatsApp Channel - a gateway to real-time updates and insights, curated to keep you informed about industry trends in real-time.

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Zone Media has entered a partnership with ad-tech tool VDO.AI. This collaboration will enable Zone Media to provide clients in India and Southeast Asia with video advertising solutions that drive highly effective results.

As an official partner of VDO.AI, Zone Media will gain exclusive access to their platform and innovative advertising tools. This partnership will further strengthen Zone Media's ability to deliver exceptional digital marketing campaigns and drive significant business growth for their clients. By combining VDO.AI's cutting-edge technology with Zone Media's extensive expertise in the digital marketing landscape, the partnership aims to revolutionize the way brands connect with their audiences through video advertising.
Arjit Sachdeva, Co-founder, VDO.AI, shared their perspective on this partnership: " We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Zone Media, With Zone Media's regional insights and VDO.AI's capabilities, we look forward to helping brands in India and Southeast Asia achieve their marketing goals through highly targeted and engaging video campaigns. Together, we aim to set new standards in the digital advertising landscape and provide brands with the tools they need to succeed."

"We are excited about joining hands with VDO.AI" said Sumit Gupta, CEO of Zone Media. "This collaboration allows us to provide our clients with industry-leading video advertising solutions that are tailored to their specific needs. VDO.AI's advanced creative solutions, coupled with our strategic digital marketing expertise, will enable us to deliver outstanding results and drive exceptional brand experiences for our clients in India and Southeast Asia."

Mrityunjay Kumar, President, Zone Media, said with Zone Media's deep understanding of the local market and VDO.AI's robust video advertising capabilities, brands in India and Southeast Asia can now benefit from highly targeted and engaging video campaigns that deliver maximum impact. The partnership promises to unlock new possibilities for businesses seeking to enhance their digital presence and accelerate growth.

In a bid to challenge Google's monopoly, PhonePe has launched “Indus AppStore” promising zero platform fees and no commission on in-app purchases. 

“Developers can commence the process of registering and uploading their applications with immediate effect,” the company officials announced in Bengaluru on Saturday.

They also said the app listings on the platform will be free for the first year, following which a "nominal" annual fee will be charged.

The Walmart-backed fintech firm PhonePe projects its app store as the first such 'made-in-India' platform. PhonePe acquired IndusOS in 2021 and has since been working on the app store. 

The Indus app store will offer support for third-party payment providers, compatibility with 12 Indian languages, and a streamlined login system centred around phone numbers.

It is noteworthy that Google charges a 15-30% commission on in-app purchases. 

Speaking of the launch, Akash Dongre, CPO & Co-Founder, Indus Appstore said, “India is poised to have over 1 billion smartphone users by 2026 offering us a massive opportunity to build a new-age, localized Android app store. Despite being such a large consumer market, app developers have always been forced to work with only one app store - Google Playstore - for distributing their apps. Indus Appstore hopes to provide app developers a credible alternative to the Google Playstore - one that is more localized and offers better app discovery and consumer engagement. We are excited to open up the Indus Appstore Developer Platform today, and invite all developers to list their app on the Made-in-India app store.”