Tag: MRUC

  • WPP OpenDoor beefs up measurement & analytics  with addition of Premjeet Sodhi

    WPP OpenDoor beefs up measurement & analytics with addition of Premjeet Sodhi

    MUMBAI: WPP OpenDoor – the specialised unit within WPP for Amazon – is seeing a lot of heavyweight names from within the group being added to it. The latest to be roped in  is Premjeet Sodhi who has been appointed as its global lead measurement & analytics based in New York.

    Sodhi, who was the chief strategy officer at Wavemaker India until 2023, was plucked and planted in Wavemaker, New York as global lead measurement & analytics and has been based in the Big Apple since then. He has been with the WPP group agencies from 2018, starting with Mindshare Fulcrum as senior vice-president and then moving to Wavemaker India as chief growth officer in 2020.

    Sodhi was with Lintas Media group from November 2002, rising to become its president in June 2010 from where  he was picked to be the chief operating officer of Initiative Media for six years and three months till March 2018.

    The BE in electronics and post graduate diploma holder in rural management began his career in Gujarat State Financial Services as deputy manager from 1996-98, moving on to become research director at ICRG Mudra for two years from 1998. He was appointed at GM technical in the Media Research Users Council from 1999-2001. He also hard a short spell  of a year as a team member of Ogilvy Outreach from 2000-2001.

  • MRUC adds Andhra Pradesh data to IRS Q3 2019 report

    MRUC adds Andhra Pradesh data to IRS Q3 2019 report

    MUMBAI: Media Research Users Council (MRUC) on Monday released an updated report of Indian Readership Survey (IRS) for the third quarter of 2019 that includes data from Andhra Pradesh too. The quarter three report was already published on 27 December 2019 sans Andhra Pradesh’s data in the view of the sample short.

    The report mentioned that Andhra Pradesh has sustained its level at 16 per cent in Q3, same as that in Q2 2019, in the category 'To Understand and Read the English Language Content', whereas it had marginally increased in Q1.

    With respect to total readership and average issue readership, Andhra Pradesh reported a decreased performance at 26 per cent and 11.1 per cent respectively in Q3 against 28 per cent and 12.5 per cent in quarter two of 2019.

    Since the southern state’s data was yet to incorporate in the Q3 report, the industry had to refrain from the comparative analysis and from publishing their all India numbers/rankings.

    The IRS 2019 Q3 report is rolling average of the last quarter of 2017 and subsequent three quarters of (Q1+Q2+Q3) of 2019. The fieldwork covers between August 2019 and November 2019.

    The report earlier had also failed to add the fieldwork data from Jammu and Kashmir affected because of administrative and political developments in the region.

    The IRS Q3 report includes data of all India ranking for dallies, magazines and radio stations.

  • MRUC report: Traditional media strong despite internet proliferation

    MRUC report: Traditional media strong despite internet proliferation

    MUMBAI: Media Research Users Council (MRUC) has released an India Readership Survey (IRS) for the third quarter of 2019, which is a rolling average of the last quarter of 2017 and subsequent three quarters (Q1+Q2+Q3) of 2019.

    The IRS 2019 Q3 fieldwork covers between August 2019 and November 2019.

    According to the IRS Q3 report, “All media hold on to their loyal consumers in spite growth in internet consumption. Total reach across all media continues to grow.”

    The report further said, the data for Andhra Pradesh is not included in the current release and will be updated shortly. Meanwhile, Jammu & Kashmir fieldwork affected because of administrative and political developments in the state.

    The readership pattern also proves that more Indians read in (L1M TR) across three segment of all India, urban and rural prefer English dailies than Hindi and regional in Q3 that to Q1 and Q2 of 2019.

    Similarly, the Hindi dailies readership (L1M TR) in Q3 of 2019 has been as same as Q1 and Q2 of 2019, whereas it has been marginally increased and decreased in urban and rural segments respectively in Q3 compared to Q1 and Q2 of 2019. Meanwhile, the regional dailies are being less preferred in all India, rural and urban parameters (L1M TR).

    There has been marginal rise in New Consumer Classification System (NCCS) in ABC category in Q3. A category reported 17.1% in Q3 compared to 15.4% and 16.2% in Q1 and Q2 respectively. B category reported 21.42% Q3 vs 20.0 % and 20.6 % in Q1 and Q2 each. And, C category reported 27.91 % Q3 to consecutive quarter in Q1 and Q2 is 26.9 % and 27.8 % each.

  • AAAI honours senior media planner Roda Mehta

    MUMBAI: The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has announced that the recipient of this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award is Roda Mehta. AAAI Award is the highest honour given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry. The AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Roda Mehta on 14 July 2017 in Mumbai.

    Mehta played a legendary and pioneering role in establishing scientific media planning and buying in India. While doing so, she built a whole generation of media professionals for the advertising industry.

    She joined Hindustan Thompson Associates in 1971 and became the first MBA and first woman in the Media function of an advertising agency in India. She moved to Ogilvy Benson & Mather in 1975, and rose from Media Group Head to Media Controller for Bombay Office in 1976 to representing Media for the first time on the Managing Committee of Bombay Office in 1978 to being sent to London for three months to introduce Account Planning and Research in the Indian operation in 1980 to the Board as Director – Media & Research in 1982. She transferred, as President – South in 1992, became Director -International Client Service in 1994, and Managing Consultant – the Media Network in 1996. Along the way, she pioneered Outdoor planning and buying and set up a Rural Media network to service client requirements.

    Invited on several committees and associations by the industry, including the Expert Committee on TV Marketing for Doordarshan & AIR, she was Founder Member of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) and Founder Member and Chairperson – Technical Committee of the Media Research Users Council (MRUC). She chaired MRUC from 1994-96. Ms Mehta was also on the Board of several other committees including Advisory Board – Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (Govt of India), AAAI’s Media Disputes Committee, Economic Times Advisory Panel, etc. An avidly sought after speaker at industry conferences/seminars, she served as faculty on training programs run by Ogilvy & Mather India and Asia Pacific.

    Roda Mehta bagged several prestigious awards including the David Ogilvy Award for Asia Pacific & Agency of the Year Award (Public Service) 1992 for the National Literacy Mission campaign.

    Currently she is associated with several non-profit organisations as a Trustee of the Lila Poonawalla Foundation, which provides scholarships and mentoring to economically challenged girls from Maharashtra for post-graduate, graduate/diploma and secondary school education; Board Member & Treasurer of Nagrik Chetna Manch, a citizen’s watchdog organization on public expenditure. She administers a very active Citizens’ Whatsapp Group for civic affairs of PMC Ward 21 and is a practitioner of Kriya Yoga.

    Making the announcement, AAAI president Nakul Chopra stated, “Roda Mehta is a pioneer in more ways than one. This Award is well-deserved recognition for the stellar leadership she provided our industry and our eco-system for over two decades, during which time she also nurtured a whole generation of professional talent.”

    AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award Committee – Selection former chairman Ashish Bhasin said “Roda Mehta has single-handedly played a vital role in getting due respectability for the Media function in Advertising.” Members of the Selection Committee for this Award included Sam Balsara, Srinivasan K Swamy, Ambi Parameswaran and Nakul Chopra.

  • Raman Kalra joins PwC India as entertainment & media sector advisory leader

    MUMBAI: Raman Kalra has been hired as partner, PwC India – Entertainment & Media Sector Advisory Leader (and Emerging Technologies Leader). He is responsible for strategy through execution as: Entertainment & Media Sector Advisory Leader & Emerging Technologies Leader responsible for transformation agenda across Industries leveraging digital & new emerging technologies.

    Based in Gurgaon (Haryana), Kalra is an entrepreneur at heart with 24 years of experience in industry and consulting, with a strong track record in conceptualising, growing and managing businesses.

    Mentor & advisor to various start-ups across Digital Media, Education & Advertisement areas, he turned entrepreneur during 2015/16. He worked as Partner/Executive Director with IBM Global Business Services, India/South Asia as Country Head – Media & Entertainment Industry & also Lead Transformation Partner for Bharti Airtel.

    With a strong understanding of the industry domain & technology, Kalra had been acting as the trusted advisor to CxOs at different levels & functions across the industry segments. During his consulting tenure, he has successfully directed & delivered engagements across areas of business growth strategy & transformation, business process consulting, shared services & outsourcing, ERP & other industry focused technologies. Raman also has significant international experience working with diverse global teams in different geographies.

    At PwC, he is also responsible for transformation agenda across Industries leveraging digital & new emerging technologies like IoT, Cognitive Computing/Machine Learning, Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR), Blockchain and Robotics.

    Prior to this assignment, Kalra curated StoreSay, India’s first integrated location based B2B2C marketplace for electronics, gadgets & appliances connecting trusted nearby brick & mortar stores with customers on one hand and with the distributors/manufacturers on the other hand. StoreSay was awarded among the Top 5 finalist in IBM B2C Start-up Star challenge across India in May 2016.

  • Nikhil Rangnekar is Lodestar UM’s new media consultant

    Nikhil Rangnekar is Lodestar UM’s new media consultant

    MUMBAI: IPG Mediabrands’s Lodestar UM has appointed Nikhil Rangnekar as its media consultant. Based out of Lodestar UM Mumbai, Rangnekar will be reporting to the CEO Nandini Dias.

    Rangnekar has moved from Spatial Access where he was the CEO of the Media Audit and Advisory business.

    “Nikhil is an industry veteran and we are delighted to have him on board. He has a varied background having worked in various capacities driving strategy, business and audits. He brings in a lot of experience and strategic thinking which we intend to leverage,” said Dias.

    Armed with over 19 years of experience in the advertising and the media industry, Rangnekar started his career with Starcom in 1997 where in 14 years he climbed the ranks from a management trainee to executive director. In 2011, he quit Starcom to join Spatial Access. He is also the chairman of the marketing committee of IRS at MRUC.

    Talking about his new role, Rangnekar said, “I am extremely happy to join Lodestar UM in the role of a strategy consultant. For me, it’s a prestigious assignment working with one of the largest groups in the world and in India.”

    He further added, “I will be working with the individual brand teams in helping them take our strategy product to the next level. I will also be working closely with the Labcentre team on the various proprietary researches and tools that IPG Mediabrands has and aim to evolve them in line with the changes happening in the media environment in India. If my last role was more about driving efficiency, the new role is more about driving effectiveness. Lastly, I am proud to have got this opportunity to work with industry stalwarts like Shashi and Nandini.”

  • Nikhil Rangnekar is Lodestar UM’s new media consultant

    Nikhil Rangnekar is Lodestar UM’s new media consultant

    MUMBAI: IPG Mediabrands’s Lodestar UM has appointed Nikhil Rangnekar as its media consultant. Based out of Lodestar UM Mumbai, Rangnekar will be reporting to the CEO Nandini Dias.

    Rangnekar has moved from Spatial Access where he was the CEO of the Media Audit and Advisory business.

    “Nikhil is an industry veteran and we are delighted to have him on board. He has a varied background having worked in various capacities driving strategy, business and audits. He brings in a lot of experience and strategic thinking which we intend to leverage,” said Dias.

    Armed with over 19 years of experience in the advertising and the media industry, Rangnekar started his career with Starcom in 1997 where in 14 years he climbed the ranks from a management trainee to executive director. In 2011, he quit Starcom to join Spatial Access. He is also the chairman of the marketing committee of IRS at MRUC.

    Talking about his new role, Rangnekar said, “I am extremely happy to join Lodestar UM in the role of a strategy consultant. For me, it’s a prestigious assignment working with one of the largest groups in the world and in India.”

    He further added, “I will be working with the individual brand teams in helping them take our strategy product to the next level. I will also be working closely with the Labcentre team on the various proprietary researches and tools that IPG Mediabrands has and aim to evolve them in line with the changes happening in the media environment in India. If my last role was more about driving efficiency, the new role is more about driving effectiveness. Lastly, I am proud to have got this opportunity to work with industry stalwarts like Shashi and Nandini.”

  • MRUC elects Ushodaya Enterprises director I Venkat as chairman

    MRUC elects Ushodaya Enterprises director I Venkat as chairman

    MUMBAI: Ushodaya Enterprises director I Venkat has been elected as the chairman of Media Research Users Council (MRUC) for a period of two years.

     

    Venkat will replace GroupM South Asia CEO CVL Srinivas.

     

    The decision was taken by MRUC board of directors at its 21st annual general meeting held on 25 September, 2015.

     

    Additionally, HDFC Life senior executive vice president Sanjay Tripathy has taken over from Multi Screen Media president Rohit Gupta as the new MRUC vice chairman.

     

    MRUC CEO Shaswati Saradar has decided to move on after handling the Council for a span of five years and Radhesh Uchil has been nominated as the new MRUC CEO.

     

    DDB Mudra Group executive director N P Sathyamurthy, who earlier headed the Marketing Committee as the chairman, has replaced Paritosh Joshi as chairman of the Technical Committee. 

     

    Spatial Access CEO Nikhil Rangnekar has been named as the new chairman of the Marketing Committee. 

     

    Srinivas and Joshi will serve as mentors for the Council.

  • MRUC finds IRS 2013 data valid, lifts abeyance

    MRUC finds IRS 2013 data valid, lifts abeyance

    MUMBAI: Finally, taking the decision on the latest Indian Readership Survey (IRS) data, the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) said the voluntary abeyance placed on the IRS 2013 has been lifted with effect from 20 August 2014.

     

    The IRS 2013 data published on 28 January 2014, evoked several questions from the about the validity of the results. Therefore the Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI) requested subscribers to hold the study in abeyance while it took a revalidation exercise.

     

    A committee was then formed with two co-chairmen, one from the publishing industry and one from the advertising agency industry. They decided that the methodology was in order and a process audit needs to be done which was awarded to Praveen Tripathi (Magic 9 Media).

     

    The findings of this report were discussed by heads of four industry bodies- MRUC chairman, RSCI chairman, Indian Newspaper Society president and ABC chairman and a decision was to be taken. The heads also discussed it with the RSCI technical committee chairman and the two co-chairmen of the revalidating committee.

     

    The audit took place in two stages. The first stage involved direct back checking of respondent homes post which a broad and deep forensic statistical analysis exercise was carried out to identify and isolate both fieldwork compliance deficiencies and incidences of the occurrence of unusual publication incidence in respondent interview records. By sieving the aggregate data set for these issues, the audit was able able to judge unequivocally whether the statistical deviations systematically changed any of the crucial readership outputs. The outcome was conclusive and unequivocal that the study results had not been impacted.

  • Some newspaper groups content with IRS 2013 findings

    Some newspaper groups content with IRS 2013 findings

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The findings of the Indian Readership Survey 2013 may ultimately not be rejected outright. A substantial number of publishers of newspapers and magazines may not have found the readership findings worth rubbishing.

     

    A group of 18 publication groups including The Times of India and The Hindu are very vocal in their complete rejection of IRS 2013 findings and have got to the extent of withdrawing from the IRS.

     

    But the group’s attempts at having the IRS 2013 annulled could face resistance.

     

    According to industry sources publication groups like The Hindustan Times, Rajasthan Patrika, Haribhoomi and Daily Thanthi have expressed satisfaction at the results of IRS 2013 and have accepted them.

     

    These publication groups may decide not to follow an advisory issued by the Indian Newspaper Society on Tuesday for boycott of the IRS 2013 findings or not to use them for advertising sales.

     

    The advisory was issued after the Media Research Users Council on Tuesday said it cannot decide on the ultimatum given by the INS for withdrawal of the IRS 2013 findings.

     

    The advisory by INS suggested its members convey in writing to MRUC that they are withdrawing from any association with the IRS and urge MRUC, Readership Survey Council of India and Nielsen India, the conductors of the readership survey, to immediately cease and desist from using for the purpose of the survey the mastheads of their publications.

     

    MRUC has said a meeting would be held with RSCI on 19 February to take a final view on INS demand.

     

    MRUC has said all aspects of the study will be placed before the RSCI for helping the broader community of stakeholders convince themselves about the robustness and integrity of the IRS 2013 findings.

     

    Meanwhile, INS expressed hope that the advisory issued by it would be acceptable to all its member publishers.

     

    A senior INS office-bearer, who did not want to be named, denied that the INS advisory had been issued at the behest of the Times of India Group or was being followed only by that group.

     

    INS sources told indiantelevision.com that the issue of whether the newspaper body or individual newspapers will take legal recourse against MRUC over the IRS 2013 findings was still not decided.

     

    Responding to the INS advisory and notices in newspapers belonging to the group of 18 publishers, IRS Technical Committee chairman Paritosh Joshi said MRUC has already asked individual publishers to send in their complaints to MRUC directly and the council will individually respond to each of them. “So far, we have sent out six explanations and clarifications to the complaints sent to us by publishers individually. And will continue to welcome more (queries).”

     

    The 18 publishing groups, in a joint statement, said, “The survey is riddled with shocking anomalies, which defy logic and commonsense. They also grossly contradict audited circulation figures (ABC) of longstanding.”

     

    The 18 publishers are Jagran, Bhaskar, India Today, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Lokmat, Outlook, Daily News and Analysis (DNA), Sakshi, The Hindu, The Times of India, Amar Ujala, The Tribune, Bartaman Patrika, Aaj Samaj, The Statesman, Mid Day, Nai Duniya and Dinakaran.