MAM

“OEM ecosystem advertising helps reach scale and find new audiences efficiently & confidently”: Ashwin Shekhar

Published

2 years ago

April 19, 2024

Mumbai: In the ever-evolving landscape of mobile advertising and app monetisation, AVOW is at the forefront, pioneering innovative strategies to maximize client outcomes.

Leveraging mobile OEM advertising has become a cornerstone of their approach, especially amidst the surge of sports marketing and festive seasons in India. AVOW’s mastery of intricate monetization strategies tailored to diverse geographical areas, coupled with their proprietary technology like AVOW Intelligence, sets them apart in the market.

As regulations like the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and India’s Digital India Act (DIA) reshape the industry, AVOW anticipates and adapts, fostering collaborative innovation and embracing the opportunities presented by alternative app stores and OEM partnerships. With a focus on sectors like fintech, gaming, OTT, and e-commerce,

Indiantelevision in conversation with AVOW, co-founder Ashwin Shekhar shed light on AVOW’s approach to mobile OEM advertising, particularly focusing on its utilisation during significant sporting events and festive seasons, collaborative innovation initiatives, adaptation to regulatory changes, and future business strategies.

Edited Excerpts

On AVOW leveraging mobile OEM advertising to facilitate gaming monetization strategies for brands and app developers, especially amidst the rise of sports marketing with OEM players

Smartphones have seamlessly connected sports lovers to apps. During the IPL 2023, roughly 70 per cent of digital viewers engaged with their smartphones for various activities, including checking match updates, participating in online discussions about the IPL, ordering food online, playing fantasy cricket and exploring related promotions. This engagement demonstrates the seamless connection between sports enthusiasts and mobile apps, providing a rich environment for focused advertising campaigns. Moreover, sports betting and games app downloads increased by 53 per cent and 14 per cent respectively during the IPL 2023 season. (Source: Adjust Mobile App Trends)

This kind of outreach demands advertisers to master intricate monetization strategies and show remarkable flexibility in adopting diverse business models tailored to different geographical areas. On the other hand, developers must balance their approaches while implementing a mixed model of In-App Purchases (IAP) and In-App Advertising (IAA). Interestingly, over 80 per cent of mobile gamers are interested in in-game ads and 30 per cent of all the Gen Z and millennial gamers spend money on IAP.

The emergence of several gaming centres such as Xiaomi Game Centre signifies the growth of on-demand gaming, along with an upsurge in alternative payment ecosystems. By uploading to OEM native app stores with their corresponding payment services, opening their shops, and marketing their offerings directly to their user base, game and app developers are edging away from the monopolistic shadows of Google and Apple.

On AVOW’s strategies around trends in app downloads during significant sporting events versus India’s festive seasons to maximize client outcomes

India is a land of festivals where all the sporting events are celebrated with increasing enthusiasm year after year. Consumer trends reach new heights during important festivals and major sporting events.

D2C brands, gaming developers and mobile marketers plan to go big with Mobile OEM advertising during festive and sports seasons. The D2C segment along with e-commerce players made Rs 76,000 crore in sales during the festive season of 2022. where tier II and III cities outperformed, accounting for a significant share of purchases made through digital devices and smartphones.

Sports streaming via mobile apps is growing annually. In 2022, a record-breaking 32 million global users viewed the FIFA World Cup Final 2022 on JioCinema. Last year, it was estimated that over 550 million viewers engaged during the IPL 2023, with 61 per cent of IPL viewers doing so via smartphones. Revenue from digital ads climbed by 33 per cent in 2023, peaking at Rs 20 billion, or more than US$241 million.

Some of the largest RMG apps do a bulk of their advertising during the IPL season, with dream11 a sponsor of the IPL. My11Circle —another major app that has utilized mobile OEM advertising to its fullest– runs promotions on their app during the IPL season, providing daily prizes of up to Rs 3 crore for participating customers.

With over 1.5 billion untapped daily active users, OEM platforms such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus, Realme Transsion and Vivo, represent a vast resource for mobile app marketers seeking to draw in new users and boost app downloads, Alternative app stores are a viable option for brands from all verticals, from D2C brands to e-commerce and mobile gaming. Mobile OEMs ought to be a default part of businesses’ marketing mix in 2024 and beyond.

Advertisers looking to create more personalised and engaging campaigns can employ display ads, full-screen videos, splash ads, and appographic marketing. For apps looking to stand out in a crowded app market Dynamic Preloads, which leverages Mobile OEMs’ ability to recommend apps to users during the setup of a new mobile phone, is an extremely successful user acquisition strategy. Capitalizing on Private Marketplace (PMP) deals can provide new avenues for user acquisition and generate incremental ROAS from advertising campaigns that are action-driven. PMPs allow advertisers to bid on specific ad inventories for specific times during major sporting events.

Advertisers need to pay only for installs (CPI), rather than clicks (CPC), making it a prime advantage of mobile OEM advertising. Thus, mobile app developers can reach millions of people without spending much, making mobile OEM advertising a trustworthy source to connect with quality users. Additionally, as all the layers between users and advertisers get eliminated, mobile OEM advertising fosters a fraud-free environment to run ad campaigns.

On the role of collaborative innovation in AVOW’s approach in 2024

Privacy regulations including the App Tracking Transparency framework and Android’s Privacy Sandbox have a profound impact on the industry, leading to a reduction in the average mobile advertiser’s ROI and diminishing the target capabilities of publishers.

Considering such privacy changes by giant players in the industry, mobile OEMs are increasingly inclined towards collaborative innovations such as creating and adopting a new tracking standard, similar to that of the Open Anonymous Device Identifier (OAID) introduced by the Mobile Security Alliance (MSA), rather than coming up with individual proprietary solutions. These collaborations are strategic endeavours to safeguard the prospects of mobile OEMs against the depreciation of Google Advertising ID (GAID), or in places where GAID cannot be used. MMPs and mobile OEMs will work hand in hand to ensure that this new tracking standard and the subsequent attributions are carried out accurately, so the advertisers know the “where, what and how” of the campaign success. They aim to offer an efficient solution, helping maintain the efficacy of advertising campaigns while limiting the performance drop experienced by lost targeting capabilities.

On AVOW anticipating the impact of regulations like the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital India Act (DIA) on its operations in India’s advertising and marketing sector

Under the EU DMA law, industry gatekeepers like Apple and Google are now required to allow users to download alternative app stores on iOS and Android. Furthermore, they’ll have to let consumers select the default apps on new smartphones. I believe this marks the beginning of a new era in the smartphone and apps space. Eventually, it’s all about consumer choice and allowing competition so that there can be more successful companies—not fewer. Undeniably, the industry needs big brands, but it is smaller companies that help achieve scale so that industry and technology make headway. This felt like a dream previously. However, with the DMA’s support, and the Indian Digital Competition Act, hopefully, it will turn into a fairer competitive environment for all. We can start to see the foundations of these alternative app stores being laid in India, with the launch of the Indus App Store by PhonePe. An App store made in India, for India, with apps in 12 distinct Indian languages. This is the sort of innovation and competition that these regulations are meant to foster. An App Store that takes no commissions for in-app payments and freely allows the integration of any payment solution is precisely the freedom of choice that mobile OEMs and alternative app stores provide.

On AVOW adapting to the changing landscape of media buying in mobile OEM advertising, and it uses data and technology to ensure successful strategies for its clients

The award-winning, global app growth company, launched its proprietary technology called AVOW Intelligence to help mobile marketers overcome one of their biggest challenges- the limitation of buying OEM advertising inventory individually from different OEMs. Purchasing from each OEM platform is not only cumbersome but also lacks in providing complete views of one’s marketing campaign performance. Another challenge is optimizing the campaigns across multiple OEM platforms without being able to merge them into one tool.

A first-of-its-kind tool, AVOW Intelligence processes enormous amounts of data from multiple OEMs and mobile measurement partners (MMPs), bridging the gap between media buyers and data and offering critical insights and analysis to support real-time data-driven decision-making. The tool offers actionable insights by combining different data sources for a cohesive strategy. These insights result in a highly focused yet cost-effective campaign that gradually reduces acquisition expenses.

At AVOW, we leverage our team and technology to optimize for down-funnel events. We focus on the outcomes beyond the initial install, such as in-app purchases, sign-ups, and/or subscriptions. With a deeper understanding of the user journey, we help create campaigns that are optimized for meaningful, long-term results.

On AVOW’s business and marketing strategies for 2024-25, and it aims to seize emerging opportunities while addressing potential challenges

We provide an innovative solution for mobile OEM aggregation that enables app discovery on several alternative app stores and facilitates a higher return on advertising spend (ROAS). Our unparalleled access to the mobile OEM user base combined with our unmatched customer-centric approach has led to our faster and more steady growth.

We will continue raising awareness around the tremendous potential that mobile OEMs offer and its many benefits to mobile marketers and app developers. Our team’s extensive experience in performance optimization allows us to assist clients as they get to grips with OEM marketing. It has become indispensable for mobile marketers to include mobile OEM advertising in their marketing mix by default. Since India is our largest inventory market, we will focus on on-device display ads delivery, retargeting, and Dynamic Preload services as major strategic areas.

On the changing mobile marketing landscape and legislation front, the EU’s landmark Digital Market Act (DMA) aimed at breaking the tech’s big players’ monopoly has an impact on similar legislation in India and other countries. With DMA in effect, users can not only download alternative app stores on iOS and Android but are also free to choose the default apps on new smartphones. This will help foster fairer competition and support startups.

On AVOW’s partnerships with players in sectors such as OTT, fintech, and e-commerce leverage OEMs to enhance customer acquisition and specific strategies that AVOW use in these collaborations

AVOW provides access to over 1.5 billion daily active users (DAUs) and over 10 million monthly downloads for its clients. Advertising within the OEM ecosystem helps reach scale and find new audiences efficiently and confidently. We leverage dynamic preloads to help brands become the users’ first choice when they start the device for the first time. We aim to increase the LTV and install rates of these apps with dedicated placements.. All these together open up avenues for larger customer acquisition.

For instance, Fintech services across verticals such as digital payment services, crypto trading, Buy Now Pay Later (short-term financing), lending, and personal finance, and insurance apps have been growing at an unprecedented rate. Notably, the fintech sector in India is expected to generate $400 billion in value creation by 2030, indicating a 4X increase from its level in 2023.

Giant Indian fintech apps, such as Navi and ACKO have used alternative app stores and mobile OEM advertising to drive incremental user growth and maximize ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) for their apps. Investing in mobile OEM alternative app stores has helped these fintech apps tap newer audiences, resulting in a more viable revenue stream.

On the sectors that AVOW identifies as having significant growth potential, and its intention to seize upon these opportunities

We believe fintech, gaming, mobility, OTT, and e-commerce are some of the sectors which present a huge scope to address the needs of players. We are dedicated to making mobile OEM advertising accessible for brands and apps while remaining performance-oriented in the Indian market.

On AVOW scaling its team to support business growth and expand its range of services/products

With Melissa Bohlsen as chief marketing officer and Guenole Le Gall as the new vice president of client strategy, we are all geared up for our next phase. Melissa’s acumen in mobile marketing and impressive leadership experience together with Guenole’s extensive experience and expertise in mobile advertising and digital marketing empowers the AVOW team to fulfill its ambition of revolutionizing the mobile OEM market in India and other global markets. With both of them on board, I’m confident that we will continue our growth trajectory and set new benchmarks in the industry.

On factors contributing to AVOW’s success in India, and what insights can you share regarding its response and achievements in the market

AVOW has observed a remarkable 6-year track record of exponential year-on-year growth in the mobile OEM marketing space. AVOW is the only company holding strong partnerships with all premium mobile OEMs such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, Transsion and Vivo, accounting for over 62 per cent of the India market share.

In a dynamic market like India, we have successfully collaborated with leading industry players including Amazon Prime, Navi, Zupee, Unacademy, Paytm, Swiggy, JioMart, MPL, Byju’s and Matrimony.com providing incremental user growth and engagement for their mobile apps. To deliver exceptional value to our clients and strengthen our roots in the country, we welcomed Meliisa Bohlsen and Guenole Le Gall in our leadership team. From launching apps on multiple mobile OEMs to fine-tuning user acquisition campaigns for maximum results, our client services team in India functions as an extension of our client’s internal growth teams, offering a holistic 360-degree service experience throughout their mobile business growth journey.

With the launch of our proprietary technology, AVOW Intelligence, we aim to revolutionize mobile OEM advertising by giving a smart and holistic view of media inventory across premium mobile OEMs, in one platform. This empowers us to provide clients with a competitive advantage when running user acquisition campaigns on alternative app stores.

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Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

5 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

5 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

MAM

Washington Post CEO exits abruptly after newsroom cuts spark backlash

Leadership change follows layoffs, protests and a bruising battle over trust.

Published

5 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When the presses are rolling but patience runs out, even the editor’s chair isn’t safe. The Washington Post announced on Saturday that its chief executive and publisher Will Lewis is stepping down with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to a turbulent two-year tenure marked by financial strain, newsroom unrest and public backlash.

Lewis’s exit comes just days after the Bezos-owned newspaper announced sweeping job cuts that triggered protests outside its Washington headquarters and a wave of anger from readers and staff. While newspapers across the US are grappling with shrinking revenues and digital disruption, Lewis’s leadership had increasingly come under fire for how those pressures were handled.

The Post confirmed that Jeff D’Onofrio, a former Tumblr CEO who joined the organisation last year as chief financial officer, has taken over as CEO and publisher, effective immediately. In an email to staff, later shared by reporters on social media, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”

The leadership change follows the announcement of large-scale redundancies earlier this week. While the Post did not officially confirm numbers, The New York Times reported that around 300 of the paper’s roughly 800 journalists were laid off. Entire teams were dismantled, including the Post’s Middle East bureau and its Kyiv-based correspondent covering the war in Ukraine.

Sports, graphics and local reporting were sharply reduced, and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended. On Thursday, hundreds of journalists and supporters gathered outside the Post’s downtown office in protest, calling the cuts a blow to public-interest journalism.

Former executive editor Marty Baron described the moment as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”

Lewis defended his record in his farewell note, saying “difficult decisions” were taken to secure the paper’s long-term future and protect its ability to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news”. But his tenure coincided with growing scrutiny of editorial independence at the Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for reining in the paper’s traditionally liberal editorial page and blocking an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 US election. The move was widely seen as breaking the long-standing firewall between ownership and editorial decision-making.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, around 250,000 digital subscribers cancelled their subscriptions after the paper declined to endorse Harris. The Post reportedly lost about $100 million in 2024 as advertising and subscription revenues slid.

While the wider newspaper industry continues to battle declining print advertising and the pull of social media, some national titles have stabilised. Rivals such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have managed to build sustainable digital businesses, a turnaround that has so far eluded the Post despite its billionaire backing.

As Jeff D’Onofrio steps into the role, the challenge is stark, restore confidence inside the newsroom, win back readers who walked away, and prove that one of America’s most storied newspapers can still find its footing in a brutally competitive media landscape.