Week at a glance: IRS 2017, FB newsfeed algorithm, DAN digital report...

After a gap of around four years, the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) has returned. As per IRS 2017 data, dailies added 11 crore readers in the last three years. Among Hindi dailies, Dainik Jagran lead the readership numbers, garnering a total readership (last 1 month read) of 70,377,000. Hindustan follows with a total readership of 52,397,000. Among English dailies, The Times of India tops the list with a total readership of 13,047,000, followed by Hindustan Times with 6,847,000. Tamil daily, Daily Thanthi, is the most read among regional newspapers with a total readership of 23,159,000. Marathi daily Lokmat follows with a total readership of 18,066,000. 

Publishers have welcomed the release of the latest round of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) and believe that the findings are testimony to the fact that print media is not only relevant but also thriving in a fragmented market like India. Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today Group; Apurva Purohit, President, Jagran Prakashan; Vijay Darda, Chairman Lokmat Media Group; Pradeep Dwivedi, CEO, Sakal Media Group; and George Sebestian, Senior General Manager, Marketing, Mathrubhumi Group, share their views on IRS 2017.

The IRS 2017 Report includes some new features. Reach analysis across all media types has now been brought to a common platform with the introduction of one-month penetration numbers for all media types. This will now enable an apples-to-apples comparison across media types. The Report also offers new readership metrics. Apart from the standard and well-established Average Issue Readership metric, one can now look at data from the perspective of Total Readership (TR), and Readership of publications by timeframes of ‘Last 7 days’ and ‘Last 3 days’. These new metrics have been introduced to provide a true representation of the changing consumption habits among newspaper readers. 

Facebook has decided to drastically change their newsfeed algorithm. The move is aimed at reducing the Facebook ads and post from various publishers and marketers and stay true to what it was created for – connecting friends and families from anywhere across the world, over the virtual network. The news has created quite a flutter in the business world, which has been utilising the platform for social media engagement and brand promotions. 

The Indian advertising industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 11 per cent till 2020 to touch Rs 77,623 crore as per a new Digital Report released by Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN). Driving this growth will be the smartphone revolution and the subsequent spends on digital advertising. As of 2017, the Indian ad industry stands at Rs 55,960 crore, the DAN report states. 

To culminate its #FitToFight initiative, Reebok felicitated women nominees from across the country for their spirit and courage at the Reebok FitToFight 2.0 Awards on December 7, 2017. In conversation with Adgully, Silvia Tallon, Senior Marketing Director, Reebok India, speaks about the #FitToFight campaign and Awards, marketing strategy for 2018, focus on digital and much more. 

It’s an exciting time for the digital industry as it is growing at a healthy pace. The year 2018 is expected to witness emerging trends which will further offer new opportunities for brands and advertisers to experiment, says Gurmit Singh, VP and MD – India Business, Oath Inc. 

Digital today is no longer a ‘new media’, but the media for brands to build a stronger connect with the new generation. In a brief conversation with Adgully, Shamsuddin Jasani, MD, Isobar India, speaks about increase in digital ad spends, sectors that will invest more in digital in 2018, Facebook’s decision to reduce ad content and more. 

Our newest offering, ‘Offbeat’, seeks to give a glimpse of the lesser known facets of our very well-known industry leaders. Prasad Shejale, CEO & Co-founder, Logicserve Digital, describes himself as an entrepreneur working on his passion in e-commerce, Search Engine consulting and marketing. He is an entrepreneur with experience of working not just in the Indian digital marketing space, but also in the global digital space, having envisaged, developed and marketed consumer facing web properties on a global scale. 

Amazon Prime Video and Abundantia Entertainment have released the trailer of Amazon Prime’s second Indian Original series – ‘Breathe’. Directed by Mayank Sharma, ‘Breathe’ is an 8-episode gritty, psychological thriller. Adgully caught up with Vijay Subramaniam, Director - Content, Amazon Prime Video India, to know more about 'Breathe', the marketing strategy lined up, focus on different markets and more. 

BARC ratings for Week 2 of 2018 (January 6-12, 2018) [HSM (U+R) : NCCS All : 2+ Individuals] saw the see-saw battle continuing between Star Bharat and Zee Anmol, with Star Bharat moving past the latter to claim the numero uno spot. Shows from Zee TV, Star Bharat and Zee Anmol dominated the top 5 shows on Hindi GECs. 

Pooja Manek, Senior Copywriter, Dentsu Webchutney, describes herself as an “Ad bug”, who is occasionally sane and strongly believes that a glass of wine can fix a bad day. Manek, who is more right-brain inclined, started her career in advertising at Dentsu Webchutney, where she continues. She is an alumni of MICA. 

It’s time to celebrate the best-of-the-best creative efforts in Digital Media once again with DIGIXX Awards 2018. Keeping in mind the growing march of OTT in India, DIGIXX 2018 has introduced a fourth award category – Special Awards. These awards are aimed at acknowledging the best of the creative works in the OTT space done during the period January 2017 to December 2018. There are four sub-categories:

• Best Piece of Content on any OTT Platform
• Best Actor among any OTT Content
• OTT Platform of the Year
• Award for Continuous Contribution to Digital Domain

Amazon Prime Video has been coming out with innovative promotional initiatives for its Indian Original shows – first it was for the cricket-based thriller ‘Inside Edge’, which was aired in 2017, and now for a new crime thriller ‘Breathe’. What caught the attention of the media was the innovative and unusual invite to the launch conference for ‘Breathe’, which will take place in Mumbai on January 16, 2018. In the age of social media and digital march, Amazon Prime Video took to offline for the invite.