Week at a glance: Demystifying ad fraud; Print Vs Digital; Festive spends surge

Demystifying ad fraud
Fraudsters exploit gaps in the measurement of impressions on advertising platforms to either create bogus impressions or exaggerate the number of impressions generated at the expense of the advertiser. 

Publications transitioning to digital, fresh cause for worry for print?
With Diligent Media shutting down the print edition of its English daily DNA and deciding to go digital-only, questions are arising again regarding print media’s fate in India. Will developments like a DNA here and Firstpost there shutting down print editions be cause for worry for the industry? Not yet. 

The world can learn from Facebook India’s Thumbstoppers: Siddharth Banerjee
Ever since its launch in May this year, Facebook Thumbstoppers has been inspiring the advertising and marketing community to create short-form mobile video ads that are built for the medium rather than adapted from other formats. Siddharth Banerjee, Director - Global Sales Organisation, Facebook India, explains how brands and agencies are leveraging it. 

TikTok bans political ads - balancing revenue implications with long term strategy
ByteDance said that it will not allow political ads on TikTok, as they don’t fit in with the experience the short-form video app aims to offer. TikTok says that it wants to be known as a place for creative expression, and one that creates a “positive, refreshing environment” that inspires that creativity. 

Brands ki ras leela at Ramlila grounds
Given the huge crowds that flock to the grounds hosting Ramlila, the carnival-like atmosphere has been attracting a plethora of brands as they provide a direct connect with the consumers – as is seen a huge religious gathering like the Kumbh Melas. 

Indians to spend an average of Rs 15,000 this festive season: InMobi
This year, Indians are expected to spend an average of Rs 15,000, a majority of whom plan to increase their budgets from last year. What makes the 2019 festive season different is that it is characterised by the emergence of the connected Indian consumer. 

Festive season to boost Indian e-comm spending; 177% increase in revenue
India witnesses +177 per cent increase in revenue; +42 per cent in conversions; and +95 per cent in average order values, as per Criteo. +91 per cent uplift in online retail sales is seen in the weeks leading up to Diwali. 

DNA goes digital-only from today; shuts down print editions
Diligent Media Corporation Ltd (DMCL) has announced that its English language daily newspaper, DNA, is moving to a digital-only format with immediate effect. The print publication of the Mumbai and Ahmedabad editions has ceased to be effective from October 10, 2019. 

Godrej Security Solutions will spend Rs 100 cr on #BilkulSafeHai: Mehernosh Pithawalla
Godrej Security Systems (GSS) has been inviting residents as well as professionals to attempt to break open its home locker. In conversation with Adgully, Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice President and Global Head - Marketing, Sales & Innovation, Godrej Security Systems, speaks about their 360 degree media campaign – #BilkulSafeHai. 

VUKA, brand trust, experiences – a new ecosystem that brands can’t ignore
With an expanding choice of offerings to buy, Indian consumers increasingly care more about the quality of service than whether a brand originates in India, as long as it demonstrates that it understands what it means to be Indian. 

HT Media appoints Samudra Bhattacharya as CEO for Print
Reporting to Praveen Someshwar, MD & CEO, HT Media, Samudra Bhattacharya will be responsible for product/geography innovation and help to build new age capability. While the brand solutions, category teams as well as HR, Finance, and Supply Chain teams will report to Bhattacharya, the marketing team for print will continue to report to Rajan Bhalla, Group CMO of HT Media. 

HT Media appoints Rajiv Beotra as Executive Director - Revenues, Ad & Distribution
Rajiv Beotra previously the head of English business at HT Media has been elevated to Executive Director and will be in charge of revenue, advertising and distribution. Beotra who joined HT Media in 2016 will now report directly to Someshwar Batra, Managing Director and CEO of HT Media. 

Zomato-NRAI face-off over Gold programme continues
In the past few weeks, Zomato has been witnessing tough times after negotiations between them and National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and restaurants protesting against its Zomato Gold programme fell through. The restaurants claim that the programme is highly unprofitable for their business. 

NDTV most viewed English news channel on YouTube; Aaj Tak tops Hindi
Vidooly’s ‘Indian News Industry Report on YouTube’ showcases the viewership stats for news channels in 13 languages along with deep-dive insights of Top 10 YouTube channels in terms of viewership. The top 4 major events were considered in the report out of many events happened during the period January-August 2019. 

Consumers can now access, modify channel subscriptions on TRAI app
TRAI has made a second amendment on its existing order prevailing on broadcasters and cable service providers to give consumers the freedom to select the television channels they wanted to watch. This allows consumers to access and modify their subscriptions plans via the TRAI app. 

Facebook fined $40 million for inflating data on video ads
Facebook has been embroiled in a lawsuit for incorrectly calculating the average viewing time for video ads on their platform by a group of advertisers in San Francisco. The advertisers alleged that Facebook was overstating video-viewing metrics over an 18 month period from 2015-2016, costing them extra on each ad. 

Cabinet okays MoUs between India & foreign broadcasters in radio & TV
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for the MoUs between India and foreign broadcasters in the field of Radio and Television. 

Offbeat: Harish Kurudi’s idea of relaxing is Djembe jamming
Harish Kurudi, Head - Product Development & Management, Aegon Life, has 15+ years of association with the Indian life insurance domain with special focus on product management, digitisation, and execution of core projects, providing core solutions and enhancement of distribution performance. 

BARC Wk 40: Colors climbs up to second spot in Pay Platform
BARC India data for Week 40 (Saturday, September 28 to Friday, October 4) of 2019 shows Colors putting up a strong show on Pay Platform, where the channel rose to claim the second spot [HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals]. In Free Platform, a new channel, Manoranjan Grand, entered the rankings for the first time at No. 3.