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Google gets festive with smarter searches through new AI Mode

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MUMBAI: Move over Khans and Kapoors, there’s a new star making its big-screen debut this festive season, and it answers to Hey Google. As India dives head-first into Diwali chaos and cinematic emotions, Google’s AI Mode on Search arrives like a filmy hero with perfect timing armed not with dance moves, but with data.

Picture this: instead of scrolling through a dozen links, you toss Google a question that’s as layered as a family drama and out comes a full-blown, conversational answer that ties it all together. That’s AI Mode for you: your all-knowing, never-judging, eternally patient sidekick who remembers everything you say. Think of it as the Jeeves to your Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham moments.

And because no Indian launch is complete without a dose of filmi flair, Google has rolled out a two-part digital film campaign conceptualised by the clever minds at Bare Bones Collective, the same team behind the viral GenZ Chudail and Gangoogly campaigns. This time, they’ve turned everyday dilemmas into high drama with a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Bollywood tropes we love (and love to laugh at).

The first film, released just as the country entered festive overdrive, follows a young man on a mission to win over his girlfriend’s father, every rom-com’s biggest villain-turned-softie. When his attempts at decorating the house flop harder than a box-office dud, he turns to AI Mode for step-by-step guidance. With its clever prompts, he transforms the chaos into a picture-perfect home, earning both the father’s nod and a new nickname: Festihul Tyohari.

The second film flips the script with a “heroine ki entry” moment worthy of a Karan Johar production. Enter Riya, who lights up a festive party with a dazzling look all curated with help from AI Mode. From outfit inspo to accessory suggestions, Google plays stylist, ensuring her grand entrance is nothing short of a blockbuster reveal.

Then comes the delightful cameo nobody saw coming: Farah Khan. In a hilariously meta moment, the choreographer-filmmaker trades banter with veteran actor Dilipji, only to have AI Mode jump in and “manage” the kitchen chaos better than any sous-chef. If only all family gatherings came with that feature.

Launched right as India plunges into the most chaotic, colourful, and emotionally charged time of year, the campaign cleverly reimagines Google Search as the go-to problem-solver for the season helping users plan smarter, shop faster, decorate better, and celebrate calmer. From “how to impress an angry father” to “best last-minute Diwali gifts,” AI Mode doesn’t just give you answers, it gives you peace of mind (and a cinematic sense of timing).

Bare Bones Collective nails the tone playful, self-aware, and oh-so-desi while giving Search the spotlight it deserves. The films blend humour with heart, showing how technology can keep up with India’s most dramatic, high-stakes, and glitter-coated time of year.

Because when it comes to over-the-top emotions and even more over-the-top solutions, let’s be honest no one does drama quite like us. And this Diwali, Google’s AI Mode is ready for its hero shot.

 

MAM

Nielsen launches co-viewing pilot to sharpen TV measurement

Super Bowl pilot to refine how shared TV audiences are counted

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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.

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Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

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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.

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MAM

Meta appoints Anuvrat Rao as APAC head of commerce partnerships

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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.

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