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Data and creativity go hand-in-hand to create brand success

Published

7 years ago

June 29, 2019

MUMBAI: Even though artificial intelligence and machine learning are driving the course of content, much still relies on quality of content despite the world’s best technologies backing it. Nothing can beat good, relatable, and entertaining content, which rides on the back of data, to reach out to the masses, creating a data-inspired environment of work.

This was the crux of the “Understanding the audience: Data & tech in content creation (Brandfilm breakthrough)” session at the recently concluded Indiantelevision.com BrandVid 2019. The session, moderated by Qyuki Digital Media co-founder and managing director Samir Bangara, had Prime Focus Technologies vice president creative services Bhaskar Sitholey, Shemaroo head of marketing Rahul Mishra, BYJUS App marketing head Atit Mehta Logicserve Digital co-founder and CEO Prasad Shejale, JioGenNext VP group alliances and mentor Mohit Kapoor, and VDO.ai co-founder Arijit Sachdeva discussing the role of data in branded content creation and if the process is data-inspired or data-driven.

The panelists agreed that a whole of lot of data inspection comes into play in the creation of content today, but what matters the most is the impact the final piece of craft has on the audience. The only dissenting voice was of Sachdeva who quipped that VDO.ai being a young company doesn’t have the leverage to be data-inspired and is instead data-driven.

Sachdeva said, “We are serving approximately 5 billion ads in a month and we have achieved this scale within a time span of just approximately one and a half year. I do not have the experience of 25 years to say that we are data-inspired.”

Sitholey shared, “Data can definitely give you a better understanding of what your audience is doing or what they want. But what you craft out, depending on the interpretation of that audience needs, is what is really going to move the needle or not.” He also added that the world is heading to two-way content driven by interactivity.

Kapoor vouched for a combination of the both as he said, “We will take it a level ahead. We call it ‘data everything’. The magic we have been seeing at Jio is when all the ‘C’ start working together, i.e., commerce, community, content, and connect.”

He further shared an example of Snickers, “In China, Alibaba team shared an insight with Snickers that people who are buying Snickers are also purchasing a lot of spicy stuff and bingo! Snickers went on to launch a spicy bar, which is the first one in the world and is a resounding success. That is what data delivers.”

Shejale shared similar thoughts as he said, “I think there are types of role like creative technologist, wherein it is a combination of both (data and creativity). Imagine if a creative person is fed with the right data, it could be really doing wonders.”

Speaking about the metrics that creators use to inspire their content, Mishra noted that currently the industry relies on broader level metrics that are not capturing emotions. Citing the example of his organisation he mentioned that it is trying and tracking tactical opportunities of content creation in terms of what is trending.

Sachdeva added that advertisers of today are looking for two fundamental metrics. “One is the number of completed views and the other thing that matters is the view-ability of ad placements.”

The panel focused on the need to strike a balance between the right amount of data and creativity to meet these metrics and create content that can strike an emotional chord with the consumers.

Mehta quipped, “Content has to be entertaining. I don’t know whether creativity will lead to entertainment or whether data will lead to entertainment. You can do whatever you want as long as it is entertaining content it will work. Now whether data has given you that understanding or it is happening because of your creative mind is inconsequential.”

Bangara culminated the session by pointing out that data is important because it is predictable and dependable while creativity is not. It thus helps in ensuring that the money is being put in the right places. He said, “You have to do a CYA to clear 100 per cent of your spends but at the same time you go to the best director, best scriptwriter to write a really amazing story. Data is dependable and creativity, unfortunately, is not. It is hard to draw the distinction between the two. They will always be hand in hand.”

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Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement

Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted

Published

4 days ago

February 4, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

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

Published

1 week ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

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

Published

1 week ago

January 31, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

SINGAPORE: Anuvrat Rao has taken charge as APAC head of commerce and signals partnerships at Meta, steering monetisation deals across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp from Singapore. The former Google executive, known for launching Google Assistant, PWAs, AMP and Firebase across Asia-Pacific, steps into the role after a high-growth stint as chief business officer at Locofy.ai.

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.