Week at a glance: Mobile’s resilience; Return of Cricket; Festive season ad volumes

How mobile has continued to remain resilient despite COVID-19 budget cuts

The year 2020 has been a difficult one for the global economy and India was no different. Budget cuts across sectors have resulted in marketers looking for new ways to get through this time and sustain. Affordability and efficiency have become of utmost importance while formulating media plans and every brand is looking to make the most of every buck spent.

Also read:   Week at a glance: IPL 2020 most successful ever; Q&A: Vinod Thadani; Rise of mobile video

Can India-Australia cricket series replicate IPL 2020’s blockbuster success?

Coming on the back of the IPL 2020 is the India-Australia series, which is the first major international tournament featuring Team India. The two are fierce competitors and the matches have always garnered tremendous traction. So, it will be interesting to see whether the IPL momentum will continue for the India-Australia series.

Why Pre-Owned Luxury Cars were all the rage during the Lockdown?

The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the demand for luxury cars in India, which have seen a strong growth in the last two decades. The Indian luxury car market was already in decline as 35,000 luxury cars were sold in India in 2019, compared to 40,340 in 2018 owing to slowdown in the economy. The double whammy of the lockdown has affected demand by up to 40% by some estimates.

TV ad volumes grew 19% during festive season in 2020: TAM AdEx

Festive season advertising (Aug-Nov - Till 21st Nov) increased by 19% in year 2020, compared to year 2019, whereas Non-Festive season’s advertising (Feb-Jul) decreased by 14% in year 2020, compared to year 2019, as per TAM AdEx report on ‘Television Advertising During Festive Season’ in 2020. During the period Aug’20 to Nov’20, Ad Volumes/Day saw continuous rise from Aug’20 and peaked in Nov’20.

MIB seeks transfer of all OTT court cases to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court could soon hear all court cases related to OTT platforms. As per industry sources, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) is readying a petition, wherein it intends to seek the transfer of all court cases against OTT platforms to the Supreme Court.

Madras HC pulls up TV channels for airing obscene ads and programs

The Madras High Court has granted an interim injunction restraining TV channels from airing advertisements and programs which display obscenity in the name of doctor's advice as it may affect the minds of youngsters and children. The bench of Justices observed that some condom ads aired after 10 pm contain shocking pornographic content that is viewed by audiences of all age groups.

Advertisers beware: Be pure and simple with your claims on food

‘Purity’ in food products is a much desirable claim. It is oft used by many food business operators while marketing their products. But is this adjective permitted to be used loosely? Part 15 of the series of articles on Misleading Ads by Advocate Aazmeen Kasad serves to demystify the use of this claim and provide an in-depth understanding of what the law on such claims are.

We are living in times of predictive analysis, social listening: Archana Jain

As part of our latest series on ‘PR Conversation’, we at Adgully are speaking to some of the industry leaders from both PR agencies and the corporate communications world. In conversation with Adgully, Archana Jain, Founder and Managing Director, PR Pundit, speaks about the changing face of Public Relations, virtual engagement with stakeholders in the new normal, strategy for building and maintaining long-lasting relationships with clients, and more.

Deep tech and gig economy have yet to transform the services industry: Rajiv Dingra

Serial entrepreneur and erstwhile Founder and CEO of WATConsult, Rajiv Dingra, who recently stepped down from an active role in his company has launched his new venture RD&X Network. In conversation with Adgully, Rajiv Dingra speaks about ending his 13-year association with his previous company and starting a fresh entrepreneurial journey.

Searches for insurance products up by 30% in the last 6 months: Nipun Kaushal

In an interesting conversation with Adgully, Nipun Kaushal, Chief Marketing Officer, PNB MetLife, speaks at length about how the company has been navigating during the pandemic, their growth plans and strategy as the need for insurance cover has become important.

Google is for search, FB is for social, Taboola is for publishers: Adam Singolda

Taboola enables over 1.4B people to discover what’s interesting and new at the moments they’re most ready to explore. Advertisers use Taboola to reach their target audience when they’re most receptive to new messages, products and services. In conversation with Adgully, Adam Singolda, Founder and CEO, Taboola, speaks about the company’s strategy for India, impact of the pandemic, key learnings and more.

TOI & BYJU’S join hands to herald classrooms of tomorrow with #KeepLearning

In times when e-learning has become the new normal for students across the country, The Times of India and BYJU’S have come together to launch their #KeepLearning initiative. #KeepLearning aims to empower students, educators and anyone in the education space with information on the best practices of online learning.

"Sale-led events, social media push have created more demand for HRX"

HRX, India’s first homegrown active lifestyle brand co-owned by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment, has seen great traction during the lockdown time and beyond. Adgully spoke with Ajay Singh, Senior Marketing Manager, HRX, to know more about the brand’s performance during the recent spate of online sales events, growth during the lockdown period, and more.

"MuscleBlaze has crossed its pre-lockdown sales levels for 3 months in a row"

COVID-19 has fast-tracked the adoption of healthy lifestyle and nutrition, which is gradually evident in the sports nutrition market as well. In conversation with Adgully, Sameer Maheshwari, Founder, MuscleBlaze, provides some insight on the performance of MuscleBlaze during the pandemic period, key initiatives taken, growth of the Health nutrition and Sports Nutrition sector, the road ahead and more.

Fraudulent activity in gaming up by 172.95% between August 2019 & 2020

Newly released data from app marketing platform Adjust, indicates mobile ad fraud is not only rising, but that failing to stop it can distort critical marketing data used for business decisions. The research found that fraudsters are not only faking paid installs, but also organic traffic – installs that cannot be attributed to any marketing activities – in order to hide the paid installs they steal.

IPL franchise fans in India pegged at 86 mn; CSK is strongest franchise

Media consulting firm Ormax Media has released the findings of its study on ‘IPL Franchise Fans’, based on a research conducted among 3,200 urban respondents across 23 states in India. The study pegs the number of fans across the eight IPL franchises at 86.0 Million (8.6 Cr). The study defines a franchise fan as someone who has a clear favourite team, is emotionally connected with it, watches its matches from start to finish, and discusses the team and its players online or offline.

India Inc willing to take salary cuts to WFH permanently: The Mavericks

The Mavericks India report titled, “COVID-19 and Beyond: An Evolving Perspective”, based on a survey conducted with 720 respondents from across the country found that 54% love working from home, of which, 34% are willing to take a 10% salary cut to work from home indefinitely. 56% of the respondents believe that their productivity levels have increased significantly since they began working from home due to the national lockdown.

#TwitterChat: Data privacy in the era of increased personalisation

The accelerated transition to digital has also created challenges regarding keeping consumer data safe. Even as consumers seek a seamless experience on digital, brands are increasingly looking at ways to create personalised experiences for consumers, based on their online behaviour, preferences and searches.

Bihar polls 2020: TV sees 94% ad insertions; 69% ad insertion growth in print: TAM AdEx

The recently concluded Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 saw television hogging the lion’s share of ad volumes. As per data from AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, TV was the most preferred medium with 94% of the ad insertion share during the 2020 Bihar Assembly Elections. While only 6% of the Political ads appeared on Print medium. Comparatively in the 2015 elections, TV had a 98% share of the ad insertions, while print had a mere 2%.

INS urges Kerala govt to withdraw amendment to the Kerala Police Act

INS President L Adimoolam has expressed his dismay and shock with the ordinance issued by the Government of Kerala to amend the Kerala Police Act to provide stringent punishment for publication of material deemed to be defamatory against all sections of media. The Society has strongly protested promulgation of this draconian ordinance, which, it said, will give Police and State Government “unbridled powers to harass and prosecute print, electronic and digital media in the State of Kerala for exercising the freedom of the Press enshrined in the Constitution”.

TV9 Network forays into Bengal with TV9 Bangla

TV9 Network, India’s largest television news network by reach, has embarked on a massive expansion plan for both its linear television as well as digital news businesses. The expansion plan will kick off with the launch of TV9 Bangla, a 24X7 news channel in the dynamic Bengal news market early next year.

Star India Acquires Cricket South Africa Media Rights

Strengthening its cricket portfolio, Star India has acquired the media rights of Cricket South Africa (CSA) till the end of the 2023/24 cricket season, across Asia, Middle East and North Africa. The agreement grants Star India exclusive rights across linear and digital mediums, including all India tours to South Africa in this period. The association will commence with England’s tour to South Africa starting on November 27, 2020. Star India already has the global rights for ICC, BCCI cricket, IPL, apart from other cricket rights.

Megha Tata’s ode to working mothers – the gutsy crusaders

Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery Communications India, writes about striking a balance between Career and Motherhood – the physiological, physical, emotional and societal challenges that working mothers face. She also urges women to dispel any self-doubts and surge ahead.

Swati Mohan, Director, Marketing at Netflix steps down

As per media reports, Swati Mohan, Director, Marketing at Netflix, has stepped down from her position. She Joined Netflix in July 2018, during her tenure of two and half years, Mohan has played a key role for Netflix.