India Today Group's news app Tak undergoes brand refresh

Some 750 million smartphones in India receive over 50 notifications every day, bombarding the users with information on almost everything. In the face of such an onslaught of data, personalisation has emerged as an undisputed necessity. That’s where TAK makes its foray into digital media with news that’s sorted, tailored, and presented the way the user wants to see it.

TAK, India’s first personalised video news app, hits the market with a foundation of more than 44+ million subscribers and 9 billion views annually across various social media platforms. The app is a pool of 18 channels offering content in 11 genres across four languages, covering national, regional and special-interest segments. “With digital disruption redefining the concept of serving news across the world and India making giant strides in technology-enabled services, we felt the need for a platform that would bring our entire fan base together simultaneously being tailored to everyone’s preference,” said Vivek Gaur, COO, Tak Channels, India Today Group.

Creativeland Asia’s design division CLA Design Lab created the master brand design and overall design architecture for the brand. Creativeland Asia is also developing the overall communication and positioning strategy on brand TAK. Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder & Chairman of Creativeland Asia, said, “It is always exciting to build a brand ground up. I personally worked closely with Vivek and his wonderful team on the conceptualisation and direction of this brand. After months of extensive collaborations between our design, strategy, communications and production team, I am excited to see the brand out there ready to take off.”

The Tak architecture is built on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to customise the content in accordance with the user’s preference. “The app is non-intrusive and doesn’t seek user information. The AI-ML technology enables tracking the user’s preference for content and lists its videos accordingly, keeping the user’s privacy secured,” Gaur added.
“We have introduced Fatak to enhance the concept of personalised news,” said Milind Khandekar, Managing Editor, TAK Channels, India Today Group. “Various developments are cut and into crisp 30-second videos in this category to serve news-on-the-go.”
For a deeper insight into any specific news or event that the user is interested in, TAK has the Home Feed section, which offers curated videos based on the consumption algorithm of a subscriber and editorial recommendation. There is an interactive interface to enable the users select the stories and developments that they want to check out.

“For a deeper and stronger user connect, we have a Live News section which keeps the user updated with the latest developments on a real-time basis,” said Khandekar. The live streaming has been designed in an interactive format where the viewer can share opinions, and participate in polls.
Tagged ‘Aap Ki Khabar, Aap Ke Liye, Aap Ke Time Par’, the app gives the user the feel of uncompromised personalisation. “To sum it up, I would say, Tak is designed to be the fastest, the smartest, and the most personalised pool of news in India – tez se bhi tez!,” Gaur said.