ITV

Tag: Google

  • Google taking steps to boost advertisement revenue from mobile phones

    Google taking steps to boost advertisement revenue from mobile phones

    NEW DELHI: In an attempt to boost its online advertisement revenue, Google will enable faster online search capability for mobile phones with slower network connections in India.

     

    Indians, according to a Google blog post, are accessing the Internet through mobile devices such as their smartphones. However, not all of these devices come with fast, cheap Internet connections.

     

    Google said this is just another step the online search engine is taking to organise the world’s information and make it accessible to everyone, including those who do not have fast mobile connections.

     

    Google second quarter revenue increased 22 per cent to $15.96 billion.

     

    The average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of network members, decreased 6 per cent. Cost-per-click for Google sites decreased 7 per cent. Network cost-per-click decreased 13 per cent.

     

    However, sites revenues rose 23 per cent to $10.94 billion, while network revenues increased 7 per cent. Aggregate paid clicks increased approximately 25 per cent.

     

    ITU in a report released in September has ranked India at 125 for fixed broadband, 113 for mobile Internet, 75 for household Internet penetration and 142 for Internet user penetration in 2013.

     

    Google, which recently launched Android One operating system for emerging telecom markets, said it is adding a new streamlined version of search results page in India.

     

    Google will automatically check to see if a user has a slow wireless connection and deliver a fast loading version of search.

     

    Bharat Mediratta, software engineer of Google, in a blog post on 3 October, said: “The Internet is a global gathering space of infinite opportunity, where people from around the world can exchange ideas and access humanity’s knowledge. Everyone should have equal access to the Internet’s information to improve their everyday lives, regardless of who they are or where they live.”

     

    “Fewer bytes means you get your answer faster and cheaper. Google’s results will remain the same, but elements such as images and maps will only show up when they are an essential part of the result,” Mediratta added.

     

    ITU says mobile broadband subscriptions will reach 2.3 billion globally in 2014 with 55 per cent in developing world.

     

    Global mobile broadband penetration will reach 32 per cent in 2014 with 84 per cent penetration in developed countries and 21 per cent in developing countries.

     

    ITU says 44 per cent of the world’s households will have Internet access by end 2014. 31 per cent households in developing countries will be connected to the Internet against 78 per cent in developed countries. ITU does not share India specific Internet access details.

  • GroupM with Goggle to launch online Diwali Mela

    GroupM with Goggle to launch online Diwali Mela

    MUMBAI: WPP’s GroupM has announced its plans to launch an online platform called ‘Grand Diwali Mela’, which will be India’s largest festive season online destination.

     

    The initiative is supported by Google and will allow consumers to take the neighbourhood mela experience to their favourite screens – across mobile, tablets or desktops.  The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ will go live on 1 October and last till the Diwali.

     

    Speaking about the unique initiative, GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas said, “As more Indians go online, digital media is already an integral part of our everyday lives. We have conceptualised a virtual Diwali mela for users in the country to experience the festive season in a specially designed online platform, where brands will showcase their latest products, run promotions and sampling along with all the fun and entertainment elements that are part of the festive season. Leading brands are excited about the potential of this initiative, and this could possibly become the largest digital activation platform for this festive season.”

     

    The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ will bring together two of the biggest activities Indians like to indulge during any festive season, shopping and entertainment, as users experience in offline Diwali mela. Shopping is an integral part of our Diwali celebrations when the whole family spends on an array of product categories. Diwali is also a time of celebration with family and friends where music and movies and games are part of every get together. All these offline experiences will be available to online users at the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’.

     

    Google India country head Rajan Anandan added, “We are delighted to be working with Group M on this innovative platform, that will be first of its kind initiative to kick off the festive season in India. Our teams are very excited about this and we are sponsoring the effort that will be accessible across all kinds of devices – including mobile phones.”

  • Myntra signs up with iProspect Communicate 2 for GAP

    Myntra signs up with iProspect Communicate 2 for GAP

    MUMBAI: Myntra has teamed up with iProspect Communicate 2 to become the first brand in India to sign up for Google Analytics Premium (GAP).

     

    For years, Google Analytics has been a digital marketer’s best friend, providing them with data driven insights into the target audience, allowing them to narrow in on the customer path and tailor the campaigns, according to the user. Google Analytics Premium offers all these features plus those additional aids that marketers have been dreaming of.

     

    GAP is more powerful, provides deeper insights and ensures complete support to brands. iProspect Communicate 2 has a team of trained and certified experts who are dedicated to offer complete GAP support in terms of implementation guides, training and audits. This will be exceptionally beneficial to a huge e-commerce site like Myntra.com with a registered base of 10 million and growing.

     

    iProspect Communicate 2 MD Vivek Bhargava said, “We were the first Google Analytics Certified partners in India six years ago. Quite naturally, Google thought we would be the best company to be their first Analytics Premium partner, as well. Companies like Myntra that garner a huge amount of traffic, need an enterprise version of Google Analytics. Our data led approach to digital marketing has always delivered superior ROI to our clients and I believe this development will continue and grow with Myntra as well.”

     

    The same enthusiastic approach was shared by Myntra chief revenue officer Prasad Kompalli. He was quoted as saying “Over the past few years, the number of users choosing to shop online has shot through the roof. This being said, the sheer volume of data that is generated is unimaginable. We need to segment our traffic in greater detail and this is where Google Analytics Premium will help us. We have multiple marketing channels like Adwords, Doubleclick, GSP, TV etc. With real-time data updates and easy ways to analyse multiple channels of data, Google Analytics Premium will help us to come up with innovative data insights. We feel we can offset the higher price of the tool with the savings we will be generating.”

  • Govt of India joins hands with Google for a ‘Digital India’

    Govt of India joins hands with Google for a ‘Digital India’

    MUMBAI: Working towards the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a digital India, the Government of India has partnered with the online giant Google.

     

    Announcing the initiative Department of Information Technology secretary RS Sharma said, “The Digital India programme has been launched with the vision of transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It can bring India at par with other developed countries.”

     

    “I’m happy Google is coming forward to roll out initiatives that will contribute to the Digital India vision. I’m sure others will come forward and join this movement.”

     

    As a part of the plan, Google is going to run a number of campaigns in collaboration with the Indian government. Google would also develop a mobile application for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) aiming to bring the PMO to every citizen. The app will be developed through a contest to be soon launched by Google and MyGov, the citizen engagement platform of the government.

     

    According to Google, the motive behind the contest is to showcase that ‘Indians can build a world class app’.

     

     Google would also build a multi-language ecosystem on the web to help the government transition into the increasingly ‘mobile’ India.

     

    In a bid to promote the digital empowerment of citizens, the company will push programmes like Helping Women get Online and getting Indian SMEs Online. This will also continue to map and photograph heritage and culture sites to bring them online.

     

    Additionally, to encourage digital literacy and internet safety, Google will introduce curriculums for schools, officials and elected representatives.

     

     Google India vice president and managing director Rajan Anandan added, “India is already home to the third largest number of internet users globally with 245 million users as of June 2014.  We are on track to become the second largest user market by 2015 and a 500 million-user market by 2016. Yet, there are more than a billion people who will need to be brought online for India to realise the vision of a digitally connected, knowledge economy. Prime Minister Modi’s Digital India programme will play a transformational role in achieving this.”

  • MMA recognises excellence in mobile marketing at the third edition of the Smarties

    MMA recognises excellence in mobile marketing at the third edition of the Smarties

    Mumbai: The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), today unveiled the winners of the third annual MMA SMARTIES™ India Awards 2014 at a Gala Dinner in Mumbai. Showcasing the ‘best of the best’ in the industry, the SMARTIES™ India Awards honor solid mobile strategies that address specific business challenges through the creative use of mobile technologies. Winners were declared across 21 categories with over 60 brands and 40 agencies participated in this year’s awards.

     

    MMA today also released its annual India Mobile Ad Spend Report powered by exchange4media. Based on extensive research, the report estimates the total digital ad spends in India to stand at Rs 3,300 to Rs 3,600 crores with mobile ad spends at Rs 475 crores. Mobile ad spends are expected to grow at a rate of 52% to reach Rs 722 crores in 2015. 

     

    “The MMA has been tracking the growth story in India for a while now and our faith in the market keeps getting stronger. Our Mobile Ad Spend Report shows that marketers are not only recognizing mobile’s potential but are actively integrating the channel into their marketing mix,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific. “The SMARTIES™ awards are our way of recognizing the best-in-class mobile campaigns run by leading brands. The winners of the 2014 SMARTIES India Awards have demonstrated how the creative use of mobile can help build better brands and increase engagement while driving business results.”

     

    The winners of SMARTIES™ awards were selected following a rigorous process involving a council of senior brand marketers and advertising leaders. The judges reviewed campaigns from 65 entries that came from across India, spread across sectors like telecommunication, sports, social media, healthcare, travel, banking, and sports before choosing winners.

     

    An analysis of the winning entries, presented at the event by research agency and Knowledge Partner, Millward Brown, found that successful brands and marketing strategies had well-defined clarity of purpose with 100 percent of winners identifying a specific objective of increasing awareness or sales. 70 percent of the winners also had a precise role for mobile using the channel’s unique strengths such as location, payments, and targeting. 50 percent of winners at the SMARTIES™ India 2014 Awards built relevance of the brand in the target consumers’ context. 70 percent of the winners used mobile synergistically with other media channels.

     

    Commenting on the winners Jury Chairman, Mr. Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World, said, “Brands and marketing strategies are increasingly adopting a mobile-first approach and the competition in innovation and creativity is only getting tougher. In such an environment, it gives me immense pleasure to lead the mobile marketing conversation and thank all my fellow jury members for their valuable insights and time. We selected the winners after extensive debate and deliberation and are extremely impressed with the results some of the campaigns have achieved.

     

    Commenting on the Ad Spend report Mr. CVL Srinivas, CEO at GroupM South Asia said “The increasing number of formats being explored everyday on this medium gives every advertiser a chance to experiment. Once an advertiser cracks the communication type

     

    being best received, he will naturally increase spends. The evolution is on the marketer, an increase in smartphone penetration. “Mobile has huge potential across the board

     

    from a media reach and targeting perspective. From finely segmented audiences

     

    in cities to those who are in media dark areas, mobile can deliver massive numbers for any campaign. The challenge lies in getting the right idea and keeping the engagement going”.

     

    The SMARTIES™ Awards is the only global awards programme dedicated exclusively to mobile marketing.

     

    The India SMARTIES™ Awards 2014 Winners:

     

     

  • Farewell, MSN Messenger

    Farewell, MSN Messenger

    MUMBAI: It was in the month of June when Google announced that it will shut Orkut down at the end of September 2014.

     

    And now, Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger aka MSN Messenger will be switched off in China in October, marking an end to the 15-year-old service.

     

    The instant messenger was launched in 1999 as a simple text chat service and as a rival to AOL’s AIM service and ICQ. Till 2006, Microsoft released seven major versions and added features such as photo delivery, video calls and games as the technology developed.

     

    At its peak, MSN Messenger had 330 million users worldwide, as per reports.

     

    However, when the company purchased Skype for $8.5 billion in 2012 it spelled the beginning of the end for the MSN service. It was in 2012 end that Microsoft announced that Messenger and Skype services would merge in the first quarter of 2013, with users of Messenger client software moving to Skype.

     

    In January 2013, Microsoft had emailed Messenger users and informed them that with the exception of mainland China, the Messenger service would stop working on 15 March 2013 and users would not be able to sign in.

     

    Gigaom reports that the Tencent-owned company has over 200 million users in China. Following the rise of rival messenger platform QQ, MSN Messenger and Skype hopes to increase the competition in the country.

     

    After 31 October Chinese Messenger users too will need to use Skype, ending their relationship with the Messenger.

     

    Farewell, MSN Messenger.

  • Google buys new startups-Emu and Directr

    Google buys new startups-Emu and Directr

    MUMBAI: Google recently acquired two start-up companies; a movie making app Directr and a messaging app Emu. The acquisitions were made to augment its messaging technology and its video advertising business.

     

     The move was confirmed by the Emu team on its website. The announcement said, “As of 25 August 2014, we’ll be shutting down the Emu app. It will no longer be available in the App Store and existing users won’t be able to send, receive or download messages.”

     

    Founded by a former employee of Apple and Google Gummi Hafsteinsson and Dave Feldman, who previously worked for Microsoft and Yahoo, Emu, the instant mobile messaging app also integrates Siri or Google Now-like virtual assistant.

     

     “We know it’s an inconvenience and we regret that,” Emu said on its website.

     

    The Emu messenger app made its debut on Android in October last year, while the Emu for iPhone app began in April this year.

     

    Google’s YouTube unit acquired a mobile-video app Directr- a two-year old company used by small businesses to create marketing promotional videos. According to an announcement by the company, the app will now be available free without the in-app fees, which was up to $500 for the premium offering.

     

    Corroborating the acquisition, the Directr team said “We are incredibly excited to take the next step on that journey and announce that we are joining the video ads team at YouTube. For now, everything you love about Directr is staying the same and we’ll continue to focus on helping businesses create great video quickly and easily. One immediate bonus: Directr will soon be all free, all the time.”

     

    Directr offers a mobile app for Apple iOS platform that makes it easy for small businesses to shoot, edit and upload short videos. It assists users with frame selection and building a storyboard, adding background music, and subtitles. The Directr iOS apps come in two variants; one for personal use and one for business.

     

    YouTube also declared the acquisition on Google+ saying, “Directr is joining the YouTube ads team, where they’ll help us make it easier for advertisers to create and upload awesome videos.”

  • Last word for Orkut before it retires!

    Last word for Orkut before it retires!

    MUMBAI: It was in 2004 when internet got one of its first social media network – Orkut. Google, the online media giant that had launched Orkut, picked up its business from then. With competitiveness creeping in the online space, the popularity of Orkut gradually fell. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter that has grabbed the attention of netizens during the course of time.

    After a decade, Google has decided to shut down the social networking site which got its user base from countries like India and Brazil. The company took the decision so that it could focus on its other social businesses such as Google+ and YouTube. Internet users will not be able to log on to their Orkut account post 30 September 2014.

    Indiantelevision.com goes down the memory lane with digital professionals and notes few things that will be missed about Orkut.

    Scraps, communities and profile views will always be remembered!

    Messages in the Orkut era were called scraps. Like-minded people could create communities. One could even see who all viewed his/her profile. The number of testimonials defined the popularity quotient.  

    Mindshift Interactive founder & CEO Zafar Rais recalls scrapping as a fun tool to interact with friends and the profile visits as a great way to know who’s keeping a check on your profile; a feature that is consistently famous on social networks, till date. 

    For ibs managing director Sabyasachi Mitter the site was our introduction to social media. “The funniest memory I have of Orkut is to login every day and see who has viewed my profile. And, then go across and see who they were. Some new friends were made that way. Also, to count the number of scraps and compare this with friends was something I remembering doing. The numerous discussions in groups and the sheer volume of conversations were fond memories,” he recalls. 

    Similarly, FoxyMoron creative head – north Kumar Abhishek who also belongs to the Orkut generation that looked forward to know who viewed his profile. “It was always exciting and fun to find a girl I may have liked or had a crush on in the list of those who viewed my profile,” he mentions.  

    According to BBDO Proximity India Digital creative leader Dinesh Swamy when Orkut began, it was one of its kind experiences. “It was ‘cool’ to be there. One memory which I can recall is that we created a group only for family members, just for gossiping.  We enjoyed that phase,  but by the time brands started leveraging, people lost interest in it and moved on to other social networking sites. I don’t remember when was the last time I scrapped,” says Swamy.

    Advertising wish list!

    There were a few brands that partnered with the social networking site for display ads. However, it can be noted that Google had pulled all AdSense ads from Orkut in 2007.

    If given a chance to endorse a brand on Orkut, Rais would have endorsed brands with a larger mass and youth appeal so anything within the FMCG to retail sector would have done exceptionally well. 

    “The one brand would have loved to have seen on Orkut is Oreo,” said Mitter. “If I had the chance to endorse a brand on Orkut, it would be Foster’s as a ‘daaaamn cold’ beer is best enjoyed with friends only,” adds Abhishek.

    Having said this, Orkut will always remain special for early Internet users!

    We will miss you Orkut.

     

  • Now brands can manage Facebook ads on the go

    Now brands can manage Facebook ads on the go

    MUMBAI: Facebook has announced that it will now help advertisers to manage their Facebook ads on the go with an ads manager on mobile devices.

     

    Using the Facebook (iOS, Android and mobile site) apps, marketers can now pause or resume campaigns. Brands can also edit budgets and schedules. The service will allow brands to view insights and respond to alerts. They can also bookmark on their Facebook app.

     

    The social media company in its blog mentioned that it will be rolling out the feature globally in the coming days and by the end of the summer, all advertisers will have access to it.

     

    Interestingly, Google too released native iOS and Andrioid apps for its Adwords Express, an ad platform, at the same time. The service is aimed at getting small businesses on board. The feature is currently available only for the US market.

     

    The move by both Facebook and Google will make lives of marketers much easier moving forward.

  • Google’s Nikesh Arora heads to SoftBank

    Google’s Nikesh Arora heads to SoftBank

    MUMBAI: SoftBank Corp. has announced that Google’s Nikesh Arora will be joining the company in October as vice chairman of SoftBank Corp. and CEO of SoftBank Internet and Media Inc (SIMI).

     

    He will be report to SoftBank Corp. chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.

     

    Arora joins SoftBank after almost a decade at Google, first running their European business operation and for the last five years as its chief business officer.

     

    “As we enter the next phase of our expansion I can’t think of a better person than Nikesh to help us chart that course. As Vice Chairman, he will work closely with me in defining, implementing and managing our global growth strategy. In addition, as CEO of SIMI he will be directly responsible for overseeing our Internet, telecommunications, media and global investment activities, which we have been developing over the last few years,” said Masayoshi Son.

     

    “I have had the good fortune of getting to know Nikesh over the last five years. He brings a rare set of skills: amazing financial and strategic acumen; a decade of executive experience at one of the fastest growing companies in history; a deep understanding of the telecommunications industry. This makes him uniquely qualified to help guide us through our next stage of growth. Our intention is to nominate Nikesh to the SoftBank Corp. board at our next shareholder meeting,” he concluded.

     

    Before joining Google, Arora was a telecom analyst at Putnam Investments. He then went on to create his own mobile data start-up in 2000 and also worked with T-Mobile in various capacities including as CMO of its European Business and a member of its board.

     

    At Google, Arora was responsible for all partnerships, marketing, sales and customer activities in addition to being part of the company’s management team. Arora has an MBA from Northeastern University, a Master’s Degree in Finance from Boston College and graduated as an Electrical Engineer from IIT-BHU. He is also a CFA.