MAM
A fractured ad cap mandate dawns
MUMBAI: Who ever thought a cap could generate such a lot of brouhaha? The TRAI’s ad cap, which comes into effect from 1 October, has fractured the industry. The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and most of its members have taken a decision to follow the TRAI’s mandate on limiting air time per hour to 12 minutes to ensure good quality of service and viewing experience to Indian TV viewers.
Zee TV, Colors and Star Plus, according to company executives, have decided to follow TRAI’s diktaat. But the breakaway is Sony Entertainment Television that says it will continue booking commercials as before, beyond the 12 minute limit. That is a bold stance by its CEO Man Jit Singh if there was any, and it has totally confused one and all.
Star India, sources say is insisting on implementing its ad rate hike following its adhering to the air time restrictions, something which advertisers such as Levers, Reckitt Benckeiser, among others have been resisting. In fact, the Indian Society of Advertisers has accused the broadcasters of being in breach of contract.
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Broadcasters have in turn stated that they are only following and complying with TRAI’s mandate. “The situation is quite confrontationist,” says a media veteran.
Zee TV on its part has stated that it will adhere to TRAI’s order but has been relatively flexible on its ad rate revision, if one goes by unconfirmed reports.
What has probably prompted Man Jit to take his decision is the fact that both the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and a bunch of music channels have got reprieves on toeing the ad cap line from the TDSAT. While the NBA got a stay against the TRAI order in August allowing them to continue operating status quo till the next hearing on 11 November, the music channels too got relief when the appellate tribunal gave them the same leeway till the next hearing on 21 October. The Sun Network too filed a petition with the TDSAT last week, the outcome of which is awaited, at the time of writing.
“Sony Entertainment Television has done its legal homework and believes that whatever decisions have been taken against the TRAI ad cap is extendible to all channels and genres. It has also got some strong properties like KBC for which it has signed deals. Additionally, the Star and Zee group have enough inventory available to sell to advertisers, thanks to the number of strong existing and new channels in their portfolios,” says a media observer.
“We are waiting for the outcome of the hearings on 21 October and 11 November before acting on the ad cap mandate,” says Sony Entertainment president Rohit Gupta.
Advertising Agencies Association of India president Arvind Sharma believes that the parachute which was provided to news and music channels by TDSAT is applicable to the entire broadcast sector. Says he: “The TDSAT has said that ad cap cannot be implemented and no action will be taken against anyone. AAAI fully supports it.”
However, a highly placed source at the IBF confirmed that the law will kick in from tomorrow and how it will play out is for everyone to guess. “There is no doubt that confusion still prevails,” he says.
Some such as Discovery Networks have not been impacted by the ad cap at all. Says senior vice-president & GM south Asia and head of revenue, pan regional ad sales and south east Asia Rahul Johri, “We telecast international programming with varying lengths and varying break patterns, and we have always followed the 12 minutes advertising cap. So this does not change anything for us.”
Some speciality channels such as FoodFood have decided to walk the 12 minute ad line as the threat of criminal charges for violators is proving a major deterrent, says a source.
An IBF member gives a perspective on the ad cap clap trap. Says he “There are two scenarios: IBF members comply with TRAI’s order. Then let’s say the TDSAT quashes the rights of TRAI on this issue on 21 October or 11 November. The ruling will be valid for everyone and every broadcaster (even those who have decided to comply with 12 minute ad cap) can go back to the old system. In the second scenario, news and music channels lose the case in TDSAT. They can approach the Supreme Court for succor. Then let’s say the Supreme Court puts a stay on the ad cap, then it will be back to as the world was operating before this ad cap announcement by TRAI.”
Apparently, it seems that we have not heard the last of it as yet!
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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