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Tag: Microsoft Azure

  • Amazon elevates Milind Pande to spearhead India marketing push

    Amazon elevates Milind Pande to spearhead India marketing push

    MUMBAI: Amazon Web Services has promoted Milind Pande to head of marketing for India and South Asia, as the cloud computing giant seeks to strengthen its grip on the country’s $7.2 billion market.

    Pande, who has spent six years climbing AWS’s ranks, was previously head  of independent software vendor marketing, overseeing the company’s startup and software-as-a-service portfolio. His elevation comes as AWS faces mounting pressure from Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud in India’s notoriously price-conscious market.

    The appointment reflects AWS’s determination to maintain its lead in a region where it has pledged $12.7 billion in infrastructure investments through 2030. Industry insiders suggest Pande’s promotion signals the company’s shift towards a more aggressive, marketing-led growth strategy as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates across Indian enterprises.

    Pande brings 16 years of diverse experience spanning telecommunications at Vodafone, media at Viacom18, and consulting at PwC. His track record with Fortune 500 companies and deep enterprise exposure positions him to drive AWS’s next phase of expansion in the subcontinent.

    The move underscores the strategic importance of India to AWS’s global ambitions, as tech giants battle for dominance in one of the world’s fastest-growing cloud markets. With competition heating up, Pande’s challenge will be translating AWS’s technical advantages into sustained market leadership through sharper brand positioning and customer engagement.

  • Lemma & Elevision together deliver first ever programmatic DOOH campaign in MENA

    Lemma & Elevision together deliver first ever programmatic DOOH campaign in MENA

    NEW DELHI:  Lemma, pioneer in programmatic digital out of home, along with Elevision Media, a leading OOH firm in the UAE blazed a new trail, launching the first programmatic DOOH campaign in Dubai for Microsoft’s Azure’s “Global cloud. Local presence” brand message. 

    A strategic partnership that utilised Elevision’s premium network of large format digital screens & Lemma’s programmatic DOOH platform sought to increase relevant exposures through targeted impressions & dynamic ads rendered on 36 large format screens across Dubai’s premier business district – Dubai International Financial Centre.

    Using programmatic technology layered with data enabled targeting decision; the campaign attained higher OTS (opportunity to see) by delivering the ad at the right time to the right set of people. Exposures to ads took place only when the footfall volume was dense, thereby ensuring maximum relevant audience reach for the campaign. 

    Lemma  Founder & CEO Gulab Patil said, “Programmatic technology in OOH is certainly a game changer & advertisers & screen owners who move fast will experience the first mover advantage. This campaign with Microsoft, along with Elevision, displays the unison of data, technology and DOOH screens, highlighting the process efficiencies, optimized spends & improved ROI that can be obtained with a simple integration of Programmatic DOOH as a part of OOH solutions. As pioneers we’ve consistently delivered campaigns across many countries & are excited about our new beginnings in the Middle East. ”

    Elevision Media co-founder and chief operating officer Eamon Sallam said, “It was an exciting campaign to be a part of and we were thrilled to have a chance to deploy our programmatic platform for a world class client such as Microsoft.  Content is king in our business, and with the help of the team at Lemma we were able to deliver dynamic, contextual content to a premium audience in the DIFC. Lemma’s platform enabled our client to better segment their audience, optimise their budget and helped to deliver great results using Elevision’s assets.”    

  • NBA launches streaming service in association with Microsoft

    NBA launches streaming service in association with Microsoft

    MUMBAI: The National Basketball Association (NBA) has come up with a new branded streaming service in association with Microsoft. The NBA made the announcement on 16 April regarding a multi-year deal with Microsoft in this regard.

    The direct-to-consumer streaming video service, on the Microsfot Azure cloud platform, will provide consumers personalised TV broadcasts and game streaming with the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

    The yet-to-be-named streaming service will be co-managed by Microsoft and NBA Digital.  

    The alliance will transform the way fans experience the NBA.

    As part of this collaboration, Microsoft will become the official Artificial Intelligence (AI) partner and an official cloud and laptop partner for the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA G League, and USA Basketball beginning with the 2020-21 NBA season.

     “Microsoft and NBA Digital — co-managed by the NBA and Turner Sports — will create a new, a direct-to-consumer platform on Microsoft Azure that will use machine learning and AI to deliver next-generation, and personalised game broadcasts and other content offerings as well as integrate the NBA’s various products and services from across its business,” said an official statement.

    The platform will reimagine how fans engage with the NBA from their devices by customizing and localising experiences for the NBA’s global fanbase, which includes the 1.8 billion social media followers across all league, team and player accounts.

    Beyond delivering live and on-demand game broadcasts through Microsoft Azure, the NBA’s vast array of data sources and extensive historical video archive will be surfaced to fans through state-of-the-art machine learning, cognitive search, and advanced data analytics solutions, says the release.

    This will create a more personalised fan experience that tailors the content to the preferences of the fan, rewards participation and provides more insights and analysis than ever.

    Additionally, this platform will enable the NBA to uncover unique insights and add new dimensions to the game for fans, coaches and broadcasters. The companies will also explore additional ways technology can be used to enhance the NBA’s business and game operations.

    As part of the partnership, Microsoft will become the entitlement partner of the NBA Draft Combine beginning next season and an associate partner of future marquee events, including NBA All-Star, MGM Resorts NBA Summer League and WNBA All-Star.

    “We are thrilled to serve as the official AI partner of the NBA,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “Together, we’ll bring fans closer to the game and players they love with new personalised experiences powered by Microsoft Azure.”

    “This partnership with Microsoft will help us redefine the way our fans experience NBA basketball,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver. “Our goal, with Microsoft, is to create customized content that allows fans, whether they are in an NBA arena or watching from anywhere around the world, to immerse themselves in all aspects of the game and engage directly with our teams and players.”

  • Eros Now partners Microsoft to build next gen online video platform by leveraging Azure

    Eros Now partners Microsoft to build next gen online video platform by leveraging Azure

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, the digital arm of Eros International Plc announced a collaboration with Microsoft  to build a next generation online video platform on Microsoft Azure targeted at better consumer experience. The partnership will also help the latter to expand in the Indian market as it is one of Microsoft’s first forays into India’s crowded digital video space.

    “India is one of the fastest-growing digital entertainment and media markets worldwide, driven by the growth in online video content.  AI and intelligent cloud tools will be the next drivers of the media business and will impact everything from content creation to consumer experience.  We are very excited to work with Eros Now to redefine the online video watching experience for consumers,” Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari said.

    Using Microsoft Azure and Azure Media Services, Eros will develop a new, intuitive online video platform. The new platform will provide seamless delivery of content for its consumers across geographies and languages, supported by a robust infrastructure including Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN).

    Eros will work to create new interactive voice offerings for consumers, powered by Azure AI tools, including OTT app video search experiences and voice search for video content across 10 Indian languages.

    “The online video market has brought a paradigm shift in the way technology is used and will be used to enhance the customer journey and user experience. We at Eros Now have been the earliest movers in the adoption of technology which is a core strength of the brand. The objective and the goal of this collaboration is to ensure we become the primary innovators for the video business and a gold standard for the others to follow. We have immense respect for Microsoft as a company to help us innovate and pave the path for the next generation of online video,” Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh said.

    To increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty, Eros will create an engine to deliver personalised content recommendations for consumers by leveraging its own user data, combined with Azure AI, analytics, Cloud Data Warehousing solutions and Azure Media Services.

    Microsoft, Corp said, “As an innovator in on-demand video, Eros Now has been transforming the way millions of people access and consume content. By using our combined expertise across technology and media, we have an opportunity to build on that foundation and re-imagine entertainment for the rapidly growing audience of digitally-connected consumers in India," Rishika Lulla Singh executive vice president Peggy Johnson said.