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Weekend Unwind’ with: Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan

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Mumbai: With another weekend upon us, it is time to unwind with the latest Q&A edition of Indiantelevision.com’s Weekend Unwind — a series of informal chats that peek into the minds of corporate executives through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.

In this week’s session, advocacy marketing platform & brand advocacy solutions provider Socxo CMO Ajit Narayan opened up the windows to his thoughts. Socxo is currently planning to launch its new product, Socxly, a one-of-a-kind smart linking and affiliate marketing product suite.

Narayan runs everything’s marketing at Socxo. He built the entire brand framework: visual identity, visibility, demand generation, and the rest of the marketing playbook.

With over two decades of experience in the marketing services, technology, and advertising industries, Narayan has extensive experience in brand, CRM, and experiential marketing at companies such as OgilvyOne Worldwide, Wunderman and Bates CHI, and Sercon. He understands the practical and implementation aspects as well as the big picture, strategy, and ideas.

He enjoys experimenting with new ideas. His belief that ideas are what make life interesting and engaging stems not only from his own but also from strong collaborations and teamwork, as well as from inspiring his team and others around him.

Narayan has a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Calcutta. He is also a Google Adwords, Mobile, and Search certified professional.

He began his career in traditional marketing and has a thorough understanding of what distinguishes brands, in addition to hands-on experience with digital branding, performance marketing, social media, and analytics.

He built integrated communications tools and strategies around B2B and B2C marketing communications at Bates CHI and Sercon, and many of the projects resulted in campaigns that won various international awards such as the PMAA-Dragons of Asia awards, DMA Awards, B2B Marketing (UK), and so on.

So without further ado, here it goes…

  •     Your mantra for life

“Life is Hard. Get used to it.”

  •     A book you are currently reading/plan to read

None. I don’t read books too frequently.

  •     Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic

Your dog is your best friend. He makes sure you get your backside moving and it is fun. Play with him. A couple of hours on the trail is always a weekend away.

  •     Your comfort food

Sambar rice and poriyal. Also, daal chawal and aloo ki sabzi.

  •     When the chips are down a quote/philosophy that keeps you going

 Either of the two. Depending on mood.

1. Keep your head down and ignore the noise. Work away at your skills.

2. Even this will pass. So, chill. 

  •     Your guilty pleasure

Rumali roti, galouti kebab, and dal makhni (provided it is well made).

  •     A life lesson you learnt the hard way

Extremes of wealth (bankruptcy or opulence) are harmful to one’s health. I have been through the former. On the latter, I have a deep realisation of what’s enough for me. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

  •     What gets you excited about life?

New adventures, new things to do. Or there are times when nothing to do is exciting.

  •     What’s on top of your bucket list?

Where is the bucket?

  •     If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Be wise with your money. Otherwise, you will become poor at the benefit of your so-called friends.

  •     One thing you would most like to change about the world

The level of fakery surrounding us is so high that a couple of hundred notches lower would be better.

  •     An activity that keeps you motivated/charged during tough times

Three things: playing the bass guitar; playing with my dog; and taking a long bike ride.

  •     What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?

Any one of the three above.

  •     Your go-to stress buster

Old Monk.

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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