MAM
Isobar introduces programmatic radio buying in India
MUMBAI: The face of radio and music consumption has changed with the smartphone explosion in India and so has the way advertisers look at the market. With almost all music consumers tuned into their favourite tracks through their choice of over-the-top digital music players, top media agencies too are taking note that radio as a form of mass media could catch up with the rest backed by data and analytics.
A good example of this is the recently launched initiative from Dentsu Aegis Network’s digital arm, Isobar India, in partnership with AMNET that facilitates programmatic radio buying — a first of its kind in India as per the agency. In order to execute the first ever digital radio, Isobar and AMNET partnered with digital audio companies, Triton Digital and AdsWizz by integrating data with Appnexus.
Online music consumption enabled by players like Guevara, Tunein, Planet Radio city, AIR Fm Gold and Music Live FM etc. have democratized the music industry in India, making it a lucrative segment for brands to capitalize on. However, until recently, media buys used to happen on these platforms on an ad hoc basis with no clear definition of the audience segment clusters.
But with introduction of digital radio infusing intelligent targeting through programmatic solution,the new tool from Isobar will be efficient in aiding the process of acquiring new customers and delivering relevant output to existing customers via search, display, native, video and social.
Breaking the concept down for the layman, Isobar India MD Shamsuddin Jasani AKA Shams explained, “Currently music lovers are consuming most of their music on the Gaanas and Saavns of the world as opposed to traditional radio channels. With the new tool that we are launching we are able to marry the data that we acquire from these digital players and target consumers.This will allow advertisers to programmatically buy audience targeted digital radio units based on the consumer’s’ music listening behaviour. Basically radio commercials that are targeted at digital music consumers.”
AMNET India business head Salil Shanker said, “At AMNET, we believe in extracting the full potential of our brand offerings by using AMNET Audience Centre to profile new customers, deliver unique messaging to brand loyalists, and connect audiences across channel beats they fall into – i.e. Search, Video, Social and Native. Many brands fail to connect with relevant audiences, who consume audio content on the go (on digital radio).We have managed to bridge this gap by introducing the first ever programmatic digital radio in India. Our recent associations with brands like Microsoft, DS Group and JK Tyres have identified the potential of digital radio like never before and adopted this new-age technology.”
Similar to how two way communication through digitally addressable system (DAS) on television allows advertisers to run different ads targeted at different audience parallely, programmatic buying of radio units will let advertisers place user specific different communications all playing at the same time.
“We are creating different profiles for users to be categorised in based on the different campaigns. It’s not like one profile fits all consumers. We are able to target different profiles of consumers with different ad sports at different points in their purchase journey for a particular advertiser. For example at one time 30 different 15 second-er audio spots can run on one of these on demand music players.” Not to mention, being audio, the ad spots are lighter on the advertiser’s pocket as well.
There are several perks to using audio as a medium of communication for brands. Apart from targeted messaging that saves brands from spraying and praying, and prevents wastage of precious advertising budget, tapping into a whole new market is another advantage that the new tool offers advertisers. “Most of the users who have switched to digital to listen to music are not paid users. In turn they are okay with listeing to advertisements as long as they have access to the huge music libraries players such as Saavan and Gaana.com have to offer.”
Currently digital agency already has three major clients onboard with the new initiative namely – -DS Group, Microsoft and JK Tyres.Claiming it to be the first of its kind in Asia Pacific, the agency also hopes to get 50 to 60 clients using the service by the end of this financial year.
Lauding the new initiative Microsoft India CMO Jyotsna Makkar shared her views saying, “We always look for innovative ways to cut-through and are happy to be amongst the first marketers to explore the potential of this format.”
“Again,” Jasani highlights, “audio consumes less data and therefore consumers seamlessly consume the content.”
When pointed out that only handful of such digital audio platforms are available to advertisers in India, Jasani assured that by the end of this financial year Isobar has plans allow access to ‘ 45 such apps, both Indian and global’ to its clients.
Jasani is also optimistic that this new aspect of digital audio ads will push the envelope of digital ad spends within the country. “It’s only a matter of time before advertisers take better notice as the majority of consumers have already shifted to digital, especially when it comes to music. And it’s only going to grow as the data price becomes cheaper and cheaper in the next few months. What holds them back is a proper mechanism that will allow them to systematically use to power of digital in their campaigns and that is exactly what programmatic radio buying will allow them,” Jasani signed off.
MAM
Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement
Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted
MUMBAI: Nielsen is taking a fresh stab at one of television’s oldest blind spots: how many people are actually watching the same screen. The audience-measurement giant on February 4 unveiled a co-viewing pilot that uses wearable devices to better capture shared viewing, starting with America’s biggest broadcast stage.
The trial begins with Super Bowl LX on NBC on February 8, 2026, before extending to other high-profile live sports and entertainment events in the first half of the year. The goal is simple but commercially potent: count viewers more accurately, especially during live spectacles that pull families and friends to one screen.
The new approach leans on Nielsen’s proprietary wearable meters, wrist-worn devices that resemble smartwatches. These passively capture audio signatures from TV content, logging exposure to shows, films and live events without requiring viewers to sign in or self-report. In theory, fewer clicks, fewer lapses, better data.
Karthik Rao, Nielsen’s ceo, cast the move as part of a broader measurement push. He said the company’s task is to keep pushing accuracy as clients invest heavily in live programming that draws mass audiences. The co-viewing pilot, he added, builds on upgrades such as Big Data + Panel measurement, out-of-home expansion, live-streaming metrics and wearable-based tracking.
Co-viewing is not new territory for Nielsen, which has long tried to estimate how many people sit before a single set. What is new is the heavier integration of wearables and passive detection to reduce reliance on active inputs from panel homes.
For now, the pilot comes with caveats. Co-viewing estimates from the trial will not be folded into Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings, which remain the industry’s trading currency. Instead, pilot findings will be shared with clients a few weeks after final Big Data + Panel ratings are delivered. Clients may disclose those findings publicly.
More impact data will follow later this year. Full integration into Nielsen’s marketing-intelligence suite is slated as a longer-term play, with a target of bringing co-viewing into currency measurement for the 2026–2027 season. This is only phase one, with further co-viewing enhancements planned beyond 2026 and additional timelines to be announced.
The push fits a wider pattern. Nielsen has in recent years expanded big-data integration, adopted first-party data for live-streaming measurement and broadened out-of-home tracking. It also positions itself as the reference point for streaming metrics through products such as The Gauge and the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.
In a market where billions of ad dollars hinge on decimal points, counting who is in the room matters. If Nielsen can pin down shared viewing, the humble sofa could become prime measurement real estate. The race to count every eyeball just found a new wrist to watch.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.
Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.
“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.
The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.
Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.
The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.
MAM
Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships
At Locofy.ai, Rao helped convert a three-year free beta into a paid engine, clocking 1,000 subscribers and 15 enterprise clients within ten days of launch in September 2024. The low-code startup, backed by Accel and top tech founders, is famed for turning designs into production-ready code using proprietary large design models.
Before that, Rao founded generative AI venture 1Bstories, which was acquired by creative AI platform Laetro in mid-2024, where he briefly served as managing director for APAC. Alongside operating roles, he has been an active investor and advisor since 2020, backing startups such as BotMD, Muxy, Creator plus, Intellect, Sealed and CricFlex through a creator-economy-led thesis.
Rao spent over eight years at Google, holding senior partnership roles across search, assistant, chrome, web and YouTube in APAC, and earlier cut his teeth in strategy consulting at OC&C in London and investment finance at W. P. Carey in Europe and the US.
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