The Competition Commission of India has told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal that Google is not a 'dominant' undertaking but rather 'super dominant', media networks have reported.

Solicitor General (ASG) N Venkataraman, appearing for CCI, has said that the Competition Act's guiding principles should be evaluated to check Google's dominant status. 

CCI has argued that its Rs 1337.76-crore penalty on the tech giant was based on "sound economic principles".

Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to modify its January order in the Android anti-trust case and had asked Google to make changes in the Android ecosystem as per the CCI's order.

Affle’s mediasmart platform today announced that it has strengthened its omnichannel programmatic ad platform to better integrate the consumer journey across more connected devices beyond just Connected TV (CTV) and mobile. This will thus help marketers wanting to engage with the multi screening users of today with unified and integrated messaging across screens, enabled by mediasmart’s demand side unified programmatic platform.

With this newest extension of mediasmart's Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) with Audience Sync capabilities, it offers a powerful solution for advertisers to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. With the integration of Mobile, CTV and DOOH campaigns, mediasmart can provide a seamless and synchronized experience for consumers, enhancing brand engagement and delivering a unified consumer journey. The platform's ability to connect all touchpoints in the consumer journey ensures that advertisers can optimize their campaigns accordingly, maximizing their impact and achieving the desired results.  

Commenting on this new launch, Noelia Amoedo, CEO of mediasmart said, “Consumer journeys are no longer linear and the actions users take in both online and offline worlds often converge, as users carry their personal devices around but also interact with digital screens while they are out and about. DOOH is yet one more step in the path mediasmart started with Connected TVs at home: to offer relevant advertising experiences not only on personal devices but also across shared screens. The same way mediasmart empowers big screens at home to drive engagement and maximize impact for advertisers via synchronization with mobile advertising campaigns, we now empower connected screens out-of-home.” 

Guillermo Fernández, Chief Technology Officer at mediasmart, who drove the development said, “When envisioning this solution, we wanted to not only take advantage of the location-related features of our platform and measure the impact of ads on the physical world but also to include an easy way for users to interact with those ads, as an extension to what advertisers are already capable of doing with our Household sync technology on Connected TV. Our DOOH Synchronization solution allows advertisers to retarget users that have been impacted by an ad in a digital out-of-home screen on their phones, to close the loop and make omnichannel advertising more effective and measurable.”   

Digital transactions, especially UPI-enabled, are fast becoming the preferred mode of payment in India. From street vendors to big brands, everyone is offering consumers the convenience to pay without using cash. In understand the trend better, OTT platform ZEE5 has come out with a report on digital payments as part of their knowledge series ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor. The report talks about India’s growing quest for online transaction and different audience cohorts taking advantage of this technological advancement.

We caught up with Rajiv Bakshi, Chief Operations Officer- Revenue, ZEEL, to talk about the report, the nitty-gritty of digital payments in India, and more.

Edited Excerpts

Do you think the digital payment option will help brands add to their consumer base?

Yes, ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor’s latest report on digital payments asserts that it is creating a new set of consumers, with a very different mindset, across product categories. Digital payment has enabled customers to pay securely with just one click, leaving behind the worry of carrying cash with them, fuelling both planned and discretionary spending. The ubiquitous presence of the digital payment option and the ease & safety it offers would drum its rapid growth, boosting brands’ opportunities to connect with a larger consumer base.

Is there still a trust issue among consumers about making transactions using UPI apps?

As per industry reports, the transactions processed over UPI earlier this year exceeded a couple of billions. This encapsulates India's potential to emerge as a global leader in digital payments in many ways. It also serves as proof that most people find digital payments simple and secure to use while doing transactions.

We, through the ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor survey, discovered that majority of consumers feel comfortable using mobile wallets and UPI. Further, it came out that 63% of debit card users prefer digital payments since they consider it extremely safe. Most businesses accept it as a payment mechanism, which has increased its usage. Having said that, ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor’s findings suggest that if companies continue to create awareness about it and reaffirm the key attributes, there is tremendous room for its growth across all audience cohorts.

How is the adoption of digital payment among women?

Through ZEE5’s Intelligence Monitor Digital Payment report, it came out that women increasingly prefer digital payments because they feel independent, tech-savvy and empowered. Due to the system's simplicity of use, 47% of women use it for online shopping, outpacing their male counterparts in many markets. Amongst housewives, mobile wallets are commonly used for grocery buying. When combined with the next phase of growth in digital payments, more women will enter the fold on the back of increased financial literacy and awareness, coupled with concerted efforts by various stakeholders to promote women's financial inclusion.

How is the M&E industry going to get benefitted due to the penetration of digital payments?

Every industry in the country has benefited from the rise and growth of digital payments across urban and rural landscapes. The M&E industry, including the OTT ecosystem, is also a beneficiary of this mega transformation. As a consumer-first brand, we believe empowering consumers is the key to success and long-term value creation. In the OTT space, consumers have the liberty to choose from multiple models like AVOD, SVOD, freemium, TVOD; Digital payments is enabling these transactions across all audience cohorts and creating new subscribers.

The Tier 2 cities have come out as the hotbed for digital payments, is it going to bridge the gap between the urban consumers and them?

Consumers’ aspirations are similar across regions. Affordability and access to products make them look different. Multiple advancements in the Internet economy, ranging from e-commerce to OTT to digital payments, has blurred this differentiation.

To meet the existing necessities and improved infrastructure of Tier 2 cities, multiple developments and advancements have been brought about across levels. The survey, as we see, reveals that the leading factors that make these cities the hotbed for digital payments, are ease and speed of use, safety and instant benefits; multiplied with the massive population in these clusters.

Finally, what is the future of digital payment methods in India?

The future of the digital payments is bright and unparalleled; and it shall act like a bright spot in India’s growth story across the globe. It will demonstrate its empowering ability across the economic landscape, in urban as well as rural households. As a partner to digital payments companies, we believe ZEE5 can contribute to this success story.

Influencer marketing (IM) has undeniably become a powerful, if intractable, force in the media and advertising industry, both within India, and abroad. And in India, where the IM industry is expected to handily cross Rs 2000 crore, there is a growing need for brands to have access to the reams of data, measured by a huge range of metrics, and dependent on myriad variables and other calculations, which need to be calculated to ensure the best, most efficient media spends.

And that is where Atul Hegde and Dave Dickman come in. The founder of YAAP and CEO of Tagger Media respectively spoke to e4m about their new joint venture that marked Tagger Media’s entry into the Indian market, the need for advanced tools to keep pace with the rapidly evolving influencer market, and how companies can stay relevant and be heard amid all the noise.

Dickman noted that the sheer volume of content has grown exponentially across the board. While earlier the focus was on producing quality content, now there is a need by brands to churn out vast quantities of it in an increasingly crowded marketplace, just to remain part of the conversation. “High end brands still obviously concentrate on producing high quality, polished content and messaging, but the plan broadly for most places today is post now and post often, so there’s a lot of competition.”

“That’s happening across every other media stream, but I think it’s happening a lot faster in this space and it’s the most complicated, because you have so many platforms and different points of measurement,” says Dickman, noting that earlier the main pain points were with big agencies, who didn’t have the tools to measure, manage and work the data, nor the bandwidth to quickly create those tools. And that’s where Tagger came in.

In a world where data is the new oil, “Tagger Media was built on the promise of data. Over the years, we have augmented the platform with customization, workflow integration, linguistic, multi-currency payments, and CRM capabilities. Today, our database is unparalleled in the influencer marketing ecosystem, giving our clients the edge in an ever-competitive market. I believe we have timed our entry into India well, considering the exemplary digitalization and burgeoning influencer culture in this growth market,” said Dickman.

Tagger’s foray into the Indian influencer marketing ecosystem further expands its global presence, which spans six continents and 17 international offices. YAAP, with its extensive operational experience and a large network of clients in India, aims to complement Tagger’s bleeding edge tech stacks.

Its platform provides access to data points of over 15 billion high-quality social posts and over 278,000 brands worldwide, and Tagger Media boasts a client roster that includes Bose, Porsche, Christian Dior, Omnicom, Warner Bros. Pictures, and DKNY.

YAAP itself has posted a top-line growth of 97% and a 5X jump in profitability in FY 21-22. Its client portfolio includes Coca-Cola, Visit Dubai, Lufthansa, RuPay, American Express, Disney, Amazon, and Square Enix, among other leading brands in the Middle East and India.

Pointing out that YAAP was one of the first agencies to get into IM in India, Hegde observed that the landscape of the industry is largely service led. “There are PR agencies, IM agencies, now ad agencies, everyone is doing influencer marketing in one way or the other. And we have approached this in two ways.”

The first, says Hegde, is literally tapping into the vast creator economy that is burgeoning in every nook, cranny, language, and culture of India. “We have such a vibrant cross section of creators, but 80% of the ad spends are on a few, big name influencers. Everyone is going after the same base of top social media influencers, Bollywood A-listers, and cricketers. And that is largely because of a lack of data, which is what makes our tie-up with Tagger so important.”

Harnessing those proprietary data tools, continues Hegde, across India’s huge creative space will help YAAP and the markets it’s taking Tagger into (India and the Middle East) with the agencies together being able to provide clients across a wide spectrum with the best possible creative talent from across a very vibrant one.

“India’s IM market has been on a rapid growth trajectory over the past few years, and this is the perfect time for us to join hands with Tagger Media. The data-driven approach embodied by Tagger’s one-stop platform and the market knowledge of YAAP are poised to revolutionize influencer marketing in India, said Hegde, concluding, “This market possesses a sizable appetite for social intelligence and insight-led influencer marketing, and we will soon be catering to this demand.”

Facebook-parent Meta has reportedly said it would cut 10,000 jobs.

According to media reports, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in a message to staff said, "We expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven't yet hired."

“This will be tough and there's no way around that,” said Zuckerberg.

The company said Tuesday it will reduce the size of its recruiting team and make further cuts in its tech groups in late April.

The latest round of layoffs comes just four months after the tech giant fired 11,000 employees.

Reports say the move underscores Zuckerberg’s push to turn 2023 into the “Year of Efficiency” with promised cost cuts of $5 billion in expenses to between $89 billion and $95 billion.

Jio has introduced a new set of postpaid family plans – Jio Plus- that allows an entire family of 4 to try the services absolutely free of cost for a month.

“Jio is committed to providing transformational benefits such as Unlimited True 5G Data through the Jio Welcome Offer, Single bill for entire family, Data sharing, Premium Content apps and much more. In case the postpaid user still isn’t convinced with the value proposition, they may cancel the connection, no questions asked.

Commenting on this launch, Akash M Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, said, “The idea behind launching Jio Plus is to offer exciting new benefits and experiences to discerning postpaid users. Jio has further strengthened its network experience by expanding True 5G to 331 cities. After having serviced over 430 million customers, that includes millions of satisfied postpaid users, there cannot be a more opportune time to welcome millions of new postpaid customers. Many Postpaid users want to be convinced about the service experience and the ease of switching to a new service provider. The free trial with Jio Plus plans addresses these issues. Jio Plus provides for high-quality, truly unlimited connectivity powered by True 5G, immersive premium entertainment, family-plans with shared-benefits, affordable international roaming, cutting-edge features and most importantly the industry-first customer experience. We have tried to design a gold standard service experience and we hope that every postpaid user in India will make full use of it.”

With Disney+ Hotstar and HBO terminating their content partnership agreement, popular HBO shows such as Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon and The Last of Us will not be available on Disney+ Hotstar after March 31.

"You can continue enjoying Disney+ Hotstar’s vast library of content spanning over 100,000 hours of TV shows and movies in 10 languages and coverage of major global sporting events," shared Disney+ Hotstar in a tweet.

According to sources close to the development, there are multiple reasons for HBO not signing the renewal agreement. The agreement period will end on March 31.

One of them is that it is likely to launch its streaming platform by early next year. The second reason is that HBO wants a higher price and is talking to other OTT platforms for the licencing deal. 

“HBO's content team is in talks with multiple OTT platforms for a licencing deal. Whoever offers the best price as well as the size and scale will have the deal," said a senior executive of a leading streaming service in India on the condition of anonymity.

e4m has learnt that these deals can be exclusive and non-exclusive in nature.

Sources further say that Warner Bros Discovery, which was supposed to launch a SVOD service in India last year, deferred the plan then.

"The launch was put on hold for a while but now they are working towards launching the platform in India. It may launch by the end of 2023 or early next year," said the source. The platform had planned to launch a streaming service in APAC by 2024. The company already operates Discovery+ streaming platform in India.

Sources in the industry said HBO was demanding too high a price for its content and so it is not able to close deal with any buyer. "Apparently the broadcaster is asking for an amount close to Rs 80 crore per year for its shows, which is too much for the value it adds to the platform," said a senior industry person.

Industry experts say meanwhile in order to make revenue, the network owned by Warner Bros Discovery has to license content to other OTT platforms, and in fact, acquire content as well.

Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery collaborated with Amazon Prime Video to offer a slate of 11 popular HBO Max Original series and 10 HBO Max original features exclusively for Prime members in India.

Warner Bros Discovery’s collaboration with Disney Star began in 2015 when it signed a programming agreement with the former for exclusive screening of HBO content on both TV and digital platforms.