Average <keyword id="14195929" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="human-brain-temperature" source="Orion">human brain temperature</keyword> is 38.5 degrees Celsius, with deeper brain regions often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, particularly in women during the daytime, finds a study. Normal human brain temperature varies much more than previously thought, and this could be a sign of <keyword id="14195930" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="healthy-brain-function" source="Orion">healthy brain function</keyword>, said researchers at the <keyword id="198445" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="medical-research-council" source="Orion">Medical Research Council</keyword> (MRC) Laboratory for Molecular Biology, in the UK who produced the first 4D map of healthy human brain temperature. The map overturns several previous assumptions and shows the remarkable extent to which brain temperature varies by brain region, age, sex, and time of day. Importantly, these findings also challenge a widely held belief that human brain and body temperature are the same. The research, published in the journal Brain, also included analysis of data from patients with traumatic brain injury, showing that the presence of daily brain temperature cycles strongly correlates with survival. These findings could be used to improve understanding, prognosis, and treatment of brain injury. "To me, the most surprising finding from our study is that the healthy human brain can reach temperatures that would be diagnosed as fever anywhere else in the body. Such high temperatures have been measured in people with brain injuries in the past, but had been assumed to result from the injury," said Dr. John O'Neill, Group Leader at the MRC Lab. To study the healthy brain, the researchers recruited 40 volunteers, aged 20-40 years, to be scanned in the morning, afternoon, and late evening over one day. In healthy participants, the average brain temperature was 38.5 degrees Celsius, more than two degrees warmer than that measured under the tongue. The study also found that brain temperature varied depending on: time of day, brain region, sex and menstrual cycle, and age. While the brain surface was generally cooler, deeper brain structures were frequently warmer than 40 degrees Celsius; with the highest observed brain temperature being 40.9 degrees Celsius. Across all individuals, brain temperature showed consistent time-of-day variation by nearly 1 degrees Celsius, with highest brain temperatures observed in the afternoon, and the lowest at night. "We found that brain temperature drops at night before you go to sleep and rises during the day. There is good reason to believe this daily variation is associated with long-term brain health " something we hope to investigate next," O'Neill said. On average, female brains were around 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than male brains. This sex difference was most likely driven by the menstrual cycle, since most females were scanned in the post-ovulation phase of their cycle, and their brain temperature was around 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than that of females scanned in their pre-ovulation phase. The results also showed that brain temperature increased with age over the 20-year range of the participants, most notably in deep brain regions, where the average increase was 0.6 degrees Celsius. The researchers propose that the brain's capacity to cool down may deteriorate with age and further work is needed to investigate whether it is linked with the development of age-related brain disorders. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/mumbai-detected-four-cases-of-omicron-ba-4-and-ba-5-sub-variants/articleshow/92204387.cms">Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants detected in Mumbai — here’s all you need to know</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/mukesh-ambani-and-disney-to-get-into-an-intense-bidding-war-for-another-ipl-package-heres-why-it-matters/articleshow/92203554.cms">Mukesh Ambani and Disney to get into an intense bidding war for another IPL package – here’s why it matters</a>

Human brains are hot, and women's brains are hotter says a new study

<ul><li>In the past few years, manufacturers cables, wire and <keyword id="12806966" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fast-moving-electrical-goods" source="Orion">fast moving electrical goods</keyword> <keyword id="7002279" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="polycab-india" source="Orion">Polycab India</keyword> has been investing on marketing strategies that have been making it more visible.</li><li>It recently launched a campaign featuring actor <keyword id="6354535" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ayushmann-khurrana" source="Orion">Ayushmann Khurrana</keyword> and has been investing on IPL too.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="12571525" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nilesh-malani" source="Orion">Nilesh Malani</keyword>, Chief Marketing Officer, <keyword id="2887509" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="polycab" source="Orion">Polycab</keyword> India, who helps us understand the brand’s marketing strategy, how it has benefitted from its IPL association and what its roadmap ahead is.</li></ul>Over the last few years, there has been a sea change in the way consumers shop, be it small purchases like groceries or the bigger purchases like cars etc. Consumers have become much more involved, thanks to the easy availability of information. A lot of research goes into making a purchase, making it important for brands even in relatively low-involvement categories to build strong communications to stay top-of-mind for consumers. In the past few years, we have seen manufacturer and seller of wires, cables and fast moving electrical goods (FMEG) Polycab invest increasingly on marketing. It has been associating with the Indian Premier League to grab eyeballs, and coming up with regular campaigns. Recently, it aired a campaign featuring actor Ayushmann Khurrana. <div type="Youtube" id="LpNWN07ww-E" title="Polycab | Ayushmann Khurrana Brand Film" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LpNWN07ww-E/mqdefault.jpg"></div> In a recent conversation with Nilesh Malani, Chief Marketing Officer, Polycab India, we tried to understand the brand’s marketing strategy, how it has benefitted from its IPL association and what its roadmap ahead is. Excerpts: Q) We are almost at the end of a particularly challenging year. How did Polycab fare in 2021? At Polycab we have redefined our marketing approach to make prominent emphasis on enriching the experience of end-user. Thus while the market goes about treating products such as LED or fans as typical commoditized items, we have placed our proposition on the lifestyle elements of aesthetics, design, and style to carve out a distinction. Take for example our Purocoat range of fans which are designed over NANOVA technology loaded with features such as being anti-rust, anti-dust, anti-fade, and anti-bacteria. Likewise, Polycab’s Superia range of fans offers higher air coverage basis max air technology. For our LED product range too our Smart LED and Emergency bulbs are designed with best-in-class features such as color and temperature-changing capabilities, are remote-controlled, have higher energy-saving capabilities, and are equipped with Bluetooth connectivity. From an end-user engagement point-of-view, our focus is on stepping up the phygital experiences by way of setting up Polycab Galleria Knowledge Centers as well as shop-in-shop format-based Polycab Arena stores in prominent cities. Overall, our endeavour and resolve remain to deliver our brand promise of establishing a connect with the end consumer that lasts for generations. Q) You recently came up with a campaign featuring Ayushmann Khurrana for your complete range of products. Tell us a bit about the campaign and why Khurrana was a good fit? With the enriching experience of our end-users at the fundamental core of our redefined marketing strategy, our belief was to capture the essence of feeling liberated and joyous as encountered by consumers upon using Polycab range of products such as smart-home automation solutions, green wires, cables, fans and LED lights. Also, we intend to reach out to the younger generation and millennials through this campaign as we believe that these segments have largely been kept out of consideration set till now by the industry and it is high time to revolve specific marketing campaign targeted towards them taking into factor their relevance as one of the largest target groups. Thus the idea of Dance with Joy came into being with the musical notes and dance grooves aimed towards establishing a closer connect with the target audience. And who else better than India’s youth icon Ayushmann Khurrana to lead this with his huge fan following with youngsters, his joyful outlook, energetic personality, and evergreen young traits as distinct aspects of his identity. Q) For ads of brands in the low involvement category, a lot of campaigns are usually informational and functional. How were you then able to build a connect with your audiences to make sure you are top-of-mind for them? Contrary to the general perception of FMEG products belonging to the low involvement category, new-age well-informed consumers are rather known to elaborate in detail before initiating any purchase. Thus the consideration set is not confined merely to usage aspects of the product and now encompasses wider lifestyle elements. At Polycab we have identified this latent need of the consumers and are focusing on engaging with the end-users through a meaningful and relevant content that they can identify themselves with. Q) How did your IPL association help you grab eyeballs? Indian Premier League (IPL) indeed serves as an ideal platform for consumer-facing brands to engage with their target groups in an effective as well as a wider scale. Our association with IPL has been encouraging and fruitful. We have leveraged the medium to not only launch short-term advertising campaigns linked to business objectives but have also used the medium to generate brand awareness through creative engagement. Q) What is your current market share and where do you want to take this number in the next 1-2 years? How are you going about ensuring you meet that target? As a brand and in alignment with our market leadership with an 18% market share in the <keyword id="6702506" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wires-and-cables" source="Orion">wires and cables</keyword> categories, it is our endeavour to perform similarly in all the lines of business that we operate and have a presence. We intend and strive to be in the leader’s quadrant and be counted among the top performing FMEG players in the country. With this as our objective, our approach is to leverage both organic and inorganic avenues to achieve this. The expanded line of business is testimony to the organic focus while the recent acquisition of smart home automation specialising firm, Silvan Labs is in line with the inorganic pursuit. Q) What is your media mix? What kind of investments did you put behind marketing this year? Do you plan to further increase it next year? Our media mix is balanced and comprises both the conventional media as well as the new-age digital platforms. Thus we have advertisement arrangements across genres aired on multiple channels including social media and influencer-based outreach. Pertaining to social media, we leverage from user-generated content which is observed to be very engaging with high end-user interest. For retail network, we run specific campaigns that are further propagated through marketing collaterals and in-shop branding. Effectively the focus remains to convey the elements of joyfulness and happiness of Indian consumers upon using Polycab products. Q) How will the acquisition of <keyword id="3215951" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="silvan-innovation-labs" source="Orion">Silvan Innovation Labs</keyword> lead to more innovation from Polycab’s stable? Having placed our marketing bet on the premise of enriching experience for end-users, it is required that we package our proposition as more of a lifestyle-enhancing one. And towards this, a natural extension is the integration of intelligent or smart home automation solutions that add up well to the lifestyle play. It also fits well in our existing portfolio consisting of smart fans, smart lighting, IR blaster, smart plugs, smart heater to cite a few. Silvan Labs thereby offered us the opportunity to upgrade our capabilities and reach within the automation market. With consumer centricity as the focus, the combined strengths of Silvan with Polycab’s robust go-to-market capabilities, provide us with huge business potential.

Our endeavor is to deliver our brand promise of establishing a connect with the end consumer that lasts for generations: Nilesh Malani, Polycab India

The threats to an enterprise IT system sneak their way in mostly via <keyword id="1761501" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shadow-it" source="Orion">shadow IT</keyword>, and thereafter wreak havoc onto million-dollar systems of large and small organizations alike. The most common entry point is via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) route. The increase in SaaS adoption within an organization, across business processes, only increases this risk. In general, very few organizations vet or validate the apps and software downloaded by non-IT teams for security and privacy. Even fewer vet them for possible data leak and compliance - providing shadow IT with a lot of leeway. A cause for concern The proliferation of shadow IT is what more than half of <keyword id="14193988" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="enterprise-leaders" source="Orion">enterprise leaders</keyword> (57%) are worried about, according to The State of SaaS Management Report 2021 by Zluri Research. Even worrying is the state of SaaS-based cloud services which are making their clients more vulnerable to the risks of shadow IT. The problems have been laid bare by the increased adoption of SaaS during the pandemic, to aid employees working from home. Distributed and remote work modules encourage employees to provision and manage their applications and the cloud, but this convenience has come at the cost of security. So, what can enterprises and their technology leaders do to safeguard themselves from the risks of shadow IT? The real question should be - Can enterprises still leverage the advantage of SaaS while eliminating or at least reducing the risks. Here are some ways to make that possible. Bring back stringent security protocols In the last two years, few organizations have been strictly adhering to security protocols. And, it desperately needs to make a comeback. During the on-premise working era, no employee or a team could have any kind of an IT initiative without the involvement of the IT team. They invariably validate its security and data practices of the initiative. This protocol needs to be adopted even for hybrid and remote working situations. Moving beyond IAM and Single sign-on Identity Access Management (IAM) and Single Sign-On aren’t sufficient to keep the IT infrastructure safe. Both these tools can identify vulnerabilities only in applications that are recorded and identified by the IT stack. Hence there need to be second-level access management security parameters and processes that should be put in place. Additionally, SaaS management tools need to be tighter, to disallow entry of any unverified software into the environment. Use automation to strengthen SaaS security SaaS security is focused on protecting user privacy inside cloud applications. Both SaaS and the cloud are indispensable to organizations today. Shadow IT goes hand in hand with these systems. Organizations cannot grow without a few side apps entering the system. The only way forward to ensure all these three survive but do not pose threats to the infrastructure is to -- adopt automation for SaaS security. Automated SaaS management systems help tighten user access to a risky app, or restrict its download into the system. The relevant protocol processes can be immediately activated by the automated tools which control rogue downloads. Automation can also add value with an uncomplicated SaaS process flow via de-provisioning and off-boarding workflows among other things - to effectively take the bite out of security threats. Central point of observation for new software downloads There needs to be one vantage point to observe apps downloaded, installed or used. Automation will help de-provision unused licenses, thus reducing the number of apps in the system, especially ones that are not actively contributing. A centralized observation point will effectively be the strongest tool to fight off the risks of shadow IT. Shadow IT is an inevitable and natural product of digital growth in enterprises today. While its entry route may be identified as SaaS in the cloud, it is practically impossible to block it. It is however possible to keep some processes, checks and tools ready, to control any threat. This will be the only way out to reap the benefits of tech adoption with the least amount of risk. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/google-to-launch-accelerator-programme-for-women-entrepreneurs-in-india/articleshow/92204141.cms">Google to launch accelerator programme for women entrepreneurs in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/mukesh-ambani-and-disney-to-get-into-an-intense-bidding-war-for-another-ipl-package-heres-why-it-matters/articleshow/92203554.cms">Mukesh Ambani and Disney to get into an intense bidding war for another IPL package – here’s why it matters</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/what-is-agnipath-recruitment-scheme-for-the-armed-forces/articleshow/92200821.cms">All about the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces</a>

More than half of enterprise leaders are worried about shadow IT - here’s how to deal with it

<ul><li><keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> has partnered with autonomous mobility startup <keyword id="9940674" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ottonomy">Ottonomy</keyword> IO to deliver ‘sanitized’ packages. </li><li><keyword id="8378556" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Robot-Delivery">Robot delivery</keyword>, while has been much talked about, is just starting to take off globally. </li><li>E-commerce giant Amazon is also betting on robot deliveries globally. </li></ul>India’s third-largest e-commerce player Snapdeal has said that it has successfully tested <keyword id="16719" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="robots">robots</keyword> for e-commerce deliveries. Snapdeal has partnered with autonomous mobility startup Ottonomy IO to deliver ‘sanitized’ packages. During the test run for the robot delivery in Delhi NCR, the robots were placed at the gates of residential societies where a delivery agent came and placed the parcel in a compartment inside the robot. The robot then uses the societies’ map to deliver the goods at the customer’s doorstep. According to the company, these robots are also equipped with ultraviolet lighting to ‘disinfect the packet while navigating to the delivery location’. Snapdeal also said that it is investing heavily in artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop future-oriented capabilities. “We believe that delivery robots will have a unique role to play in e-commerce deliveries in large townships, institutional campuses, and other managed residential environments. <keyword id="8919748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="contactless-delivery">Contactless delivery</keyword> via robotic vehicles is a step in building a safer and convenient future for shoppers”, said Snapdeal spokesperson. The development from Snapdeal comes at a time when the likes of Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo are experimenting with drone deliveries. In June, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave the official nod to delivery companies like Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo to begin testing beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drones for deliveries. While ‘robot delivery’ has been an exciting and much talked about venture for a long time now, it has recently taken off globally as well. Global e-commerce giant Amazon also created a new team that will work on autonomous deliveries called <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/07/22/amazon-taking-its-scout-delivery-robots-south/5485106002/">Amazon Scout</a>. These robots, like the one by Ottonomy IO, will be able to roll along sidewalks and deliver parcels. While the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for contactless deliveries, it is worthy to note that for robot-led deliveries in India to work, it requires a massive overhaul in infrastructure and policy. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/ronnie-screwvala-explains-why-covid-edtech-boom-is-unlike-demonetisation-boost-for-digital-payments/articleshow/78119790.cms">Ronnie Screwvala explains why COVID edtech boom is unlike demonetisation boost for digital payments</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/sachin-tendulkar-is-now-paytm-first-games-brand-ambassador-app-aims-to-garner-100-million-users-during-ipl/articleshow/78118256.cms">Sachin Tendulkar is now Paytm First Games’ brand ambassador – with a ₹300 crore marketing spend, the app aims to garner 100 million users during IPL</a>

Snapdeal says it has just tested deliveries using robots and it was successful

<ul><li><keyword id="6358977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="swiggy">Swiggy</keyword> has onboarded more than 7,000 new <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword> a month.</li><li>Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad are the most active metro cities while Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow are the most active tier-2 cities this cricket season.</li></ul>Online <keyword id="6376068" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="food-delivery">food delivery</keyword> platform Swiggy on Thursday revealed it has onboarded more than 7,000 new restaurants a month on Swiggy which is 3,000 more than the pre-covid times, along with delivering 10 crore orders since the beginning of the lockdown. Nearly 6,000 new restaurants are small and medium restaurants compared to 3,500 in the pre-covid era and there has been a five-fold increase per month in onboarding fine-dine restaurants for online deliveries, Swiggy said. "Our pan-India food delivery has recovered around 80-85 per cent of pre-Covid order value. In many markets, it is at 95 per cent, some even over 100 per cent," the company said in a statement. In the IPL 13 season, Swiggy is seeing major cities reaching pre-covid recovery values. During the ongoing cricketing season, the Tier 2, 3 cities have performed exceptionally well recording a double-digit growth over the first weekend itself, the company informed. Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad are the most active metro cities while Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow are the most active tier-2 cities this cricket season. "Almost over 200 cities have now reached 90 per cent of their pre-Covid GMV (gross merchandise value) levels with more than 70 cities seeing a full recovery to their pre-Covid levels," Swiggy said. Certain micro pockets within the country have also reached 200 per cent of their pre- COVID value. Big food delivery markets such as Bengaluru and Chennai are seeing very fast recovery. However, due to a lot of the customers migrating from these metros into tier 2 and 3 cities, they have reached their 80 per cent GMV levels. "With offices resuming operations, we can expect the working population to migrate back to the metros in the near future and reach full recovery," Swiggy said. Swiggy's Jumpstart Package has supported over 50,000 restaurants in the last four months. "Over 15,000 restaurants have leveraged Jumpstart for the ‘Best Safety Standards' tag and over 10,000 restaurants leveraged it for boosting their business," it said.

Swiggy says its orders are reaching pre-COVID levels, onboards 7,000 new restaurants on its platform

<ul><li><keyword id="133159" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Parle-Agro">Parle Agro</keyword> launched a new product this week called <keyword id="10127022" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="B-Fizz">B-Fizz</keyword> and earmarked Rs 40 crore for its marketing campaign solely for this calendar year. </li><li>On the back of a strong marketing and pricing strategy, Parle Argo is aiming to make B-Fizz a ₹1000-crore-brand in the next couple of years.</li><li><keyword id="235731" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nadia-Chauhan">Nadia Chauhan</keyword>, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro spoke to us about the whole process of launching a product from researching to shelving, idea behind on-boarding two different brand endorsers for different markets, target audience, larger vision for the company and much more. </li></ul>When it comes to coming up with innovative, industry-first beverages, Parle Agro has been the frontrunner. With its latest launch, B-Fizz, a malt-flavoured carbonated apple drink, the company envisions becoming the number one beverage player in India eventually. Parle Agro currently dominates the fruit plus <keyword id="10153209" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="fizz-drink-category">fizz drink category</keyword> by over 90% market share with its flagship brand <keyword id="6374490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Appy-Fizz">Appy Fizz</keyword> and now, with its foray into malt-flavoured drinks, it is confident that it will be able to accelerate the category’s growth significantly and bring it to up to Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 1,500 crore in 10 years. In the past, the brand has tried to expand its presence with Mango <keyword id="10153208" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="flavoured-frooti-fizz">Flavoured Frooti Fizz</keyword> and Grappo Fizz, which did not last for too long. So, this time, the brand is playing safe and smart by piggybacking on the popularity of Appy Fizz for the newly-launched B-Fizz, which is a marriage between apple and malt. Another reason why the brand believes in this category is because it has seen a consistently increasing trend of consumers moving away from synthetic beverages towards fruit-based beverages. Parle Agro is therefore going all out to promote its new product launch. It has invested Rs 40 crore in a high-decibel 360 degree campaign, on-boarded Priyanka Chopra Jonas for the Indian market and Jr. NTR for the Southern India. B-Fizz will also be the sponsor for a few select marquee television properties and air its TVC during IPL to get the ball rolling. In just two weeks since its launch, the drink is already present in 500,000+ outlets. With a uniquely positioned product and strong marketing strategy, Parle Agro is confident of making B-Fizz a ₹1000-crore-brand in the next couple of years. We caught up with Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro, to understand the research process, pricing strategy and goals for this calendar year. Excerpts: Q. What were some of the factors that pushed you/influenced you to launch B-Fizz? As part of our growth strategy, we invest in R&amp;D to introduce innovative new products to the market; products that will appeal to consumers and take our business further. B-Fizz is one such product that our team developed a few years back. After conducting successful trials we were waiting for the right moment to launch it. As we went through various phases of unlock, we noticed a phenomenal performance in our sparkling fruit-based drink category with our brand, Appy Fizz. We thought it was a great opportunity to expand that category further with the launch of B-Fizz which is a sparkling malt flavoured drink with apple juice. We were able to commercialize B-Fizz in less than 30 days from the time we made the decision to launch it. The timing of the launch worked perfectly for us in several ways. As the country underwent the last few phases of unlock, retailers who were earlier operating under numerous constraints during the lockdown, have now opened up and are operating at almost 100%. Consumers are also getting back to some sense of normalcy. Additionally, the second half of the year is not just the festive period where there is typically an upswing in demand, but it also sees a second summer in the month of October across the country. Since the season also plays a large role in the <keyword id="1453601" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="beverage-industry">beverage industry</keyword> it was a great time for us to launch B-Fizz. Q. What is the marketing strategy for your new product launch? What is the marketing investment going to be? We are investing Rs 40 cores in a high-decibel 360 degree campaign across various media for B-Fizz. We have launched two new TVCs, one featuring global icon, Priyanka Chopra for national media and the other featuring Jr. NTR exclusively for southern markets. The TVC campaign will be supported by innovative print, mobile and digital activations. B-Fizz will also be the sponsor for select marquee television properties. The campaign will also be aggressively promoted across IPL on Hotstar and YouTube. We have also been looking to deploy OOH for higher impact across 96 cities as of now. Q. What would your distribution and pricing strategy be? Will it be available on e-commerce and delivery platforms? B-Fizz is a product that we have launched with a mass distribution strategy in place. We’re today at 500,000 outlets with more than 3000 towns covered. We have launched B-Fizz at a competitive price point of Rs. 10 which is a critical part of our strategy. We believe this price point will enable us to scale up distribution for the brand across both rural and urban markets and make it more accessible to consumers. And yes, we will be available across various platforms, not just traditional retail but also modern trade and e-commerce. We expect B-Fizz to become a ₹1000-crore brand in the next couple of years. Q. The product is priced at Rs. 10 for 160 ml SKU, so how environmental-friendly is the product's packaging? Or will that be a focus later on in brand's journey? It’s an incorrect assumption to say a product available at a lower price point is indicative of a compromise in the quality of packaging. Parle Agro has a reputation built on quality, trust and has always ensured products which are best in class to deliver a superior consumer experience. Our ability to price a product at 10 rupees, an extremely competitive price point, is based on our strategy of creating economies through scale. The 160 ml packaging is a pack that is manufactured on a mass scale for Appy Fizz, the same is being applied for B-Fizz through various technological innovations in designing the preforms. These innovations are created and manufactured in-house as well, which is also how we’re able to achieve this kind of competitive price point. Q. Since the packaging and TVC is quite bold and colourful and positioned as a drink 'for the bold', are you looking at targeting millennials? Who will be the core target for B-Fizz? We are primarily targeting the youth between the age groups of 15-30 years for B-Fizz. Nevertheless, the unique taste of B-Fizz will appeal to all age groups. Q. Since consumers are becoming very conscious of their health and avoiding cola-based drinks and people are still at home and snacking more, have you seen an increase in demand of your products in the last few months? Our entire product portfolio focuses on fruit based beverages and has gained huge traction over the years. We have seen a consistently increasing trend of consumers moving away from synthetic beverages and more towards fruit-based beverages. This is perhaps, one of the big growth drivers for our category as well and a reason for why we have grown as much as we have. Q. What kind of trends did you witness during the lockdown? Did you cut down on your ad spends for this year? What will your larger marketing strategy be for the rest of the year? When it comes to business trends during the lockdown, companies had to adapt, on a daily basis, to the constantly changing rules and regulations being implemented across different parts of the country. Pro-active planning became a critical approach to maintain continuity of supply and distribution to tackle the challenges in mobility that emerged during the pandemic. We also witnessed the growth of the ecommerce platform. Though the e-commerce channel is still very small for the FMCG industry, there has been an acceleration in the adoption of this channel by consumers and brands alike. We have also on-boarded numerous ecommerce players and are continuing to do so. With regard to consumer trends, the lockdown has led consumers to become more conscious about their food and beverage choices. We foresee consumers spending a lot more on products that are natural versus those that are synthetic. For instance, fruit-based drinks like our products with natural ingredients, will be the preferred choice of drink over synthetic ones. Through the lockdown, we halted most of our marketing spends since majority of the retail stores were shut and with restrictions in mobility, people weren’t allowed to go out unless absolutely necessary. But now, as we move towards the last few phases of unlock, our budget allocations are back on track. We are investing Rs 40 crores for the marketing of B-Fizz which is until the end of the calendar year for 2020. Next year, we will be back on track with our regular marketing budgets of about Rs 250 to 300 crores across all our existing brands. Q. Why did you decide to get a separate brand face for the southern market? Is that one of your strongest markets? In southern markets, the influence and affinity for regional cinema and celebrities is very strong. Thus, to drive greater brand resonance with the audiences in the south as well as generate higher brand recall for B-Fizz, we chose a separate ambassador for the southern markets. Jr. NTR is a great brand fit and just like for Frooti we have Allu Arjun, we have Jr. NTR for B-Fizz in the south. Q. Parle Agro currently has a brand turnover of Rs. 6500 Cr. With a new addition, what are revenue goals for FY 2021-22? Parle Agro currently dominates the fruit plus fizz drink category with Appy Fizz with over 90% market share. With the launch of B Fizz, the target is to build the Fruit plus Fizz category to Rs 10,000 Cr. by 2030. We believe we will end the calendar year with 5-10 per cent growth over the previous year with B-Fizz being one of the contributors to that growth. Q. What is your overall vision for Parle Agro? Our vision is to make Parle Agro the No. 1 Beverage Company in India.

Parle Agro is confident of making B-Fizz a ₹1000-crore-brand in a few years

New Delhi, Apr 24 () India skipper Virat Kohli and former South Africa batsman AB de Villiers will auction their cricketing gears, including the bats with which they scored hundreds for Royal Challengers Bangalore during an IPL match in 2016, to raise funds for the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The items to be auctioned also include their respective gloves and shirts from that particular game where both of them had scored centuries to power RCB to a challenging 248 for three against Gujarat Lions. RCB had won the match by 144 runs. "We had a few nice knocks together. There is a particular one in 2016 IPL against Gujarat Lions. I got 129 and you also got 100 right at the end, that doesn't happen always when two batters get 100s. It is a special memory for me," De Villiers said during an Instagram live chat. "I was thinking how we can make a difference, that's why I told you to get hold of that bat from that game and I still got that shirt from that game, which I got you signed, I also signed my shirt. So I got my shirt and my bat, I gonna get hold of your bat, my bat, your gloves, my gloves. That's quite a big package. "The plan is to get it on an online auction platform (bidorbuy.co.za). It could be a nice collector's item. We both can share a picture of that game. People can go and bid and all the proceeds can go for the COVID-19 cause both in India and South Africa, particularly, for the cause of getting meals on people's table. we can make it 50-50 and support the cause in memory of that day." RCB skipper Kohli, who had scored 109 in that match, said he would give away anything for the cause. "It sounds amazing. The fact that you want to share a part of it with India where you have a massive fan, I think it is quite special, it is an amazing gesture from you," he said. "I don't think I will be able to score that many runs in a single season. I have kept most of the things from that season. For this cause I will give anything away." The Indian captain said it is "surreal" what has been happening around the globe and felt people will be more human once the pandemic-induced crisis is over. "I never thought I will see this happening in my life time. So many people are trapped, specially migrant and daily wagers are struggling. There is a silver lining, I mean it is good to see the human side coming up, there is no ego, there is no manipulation, so many people are helping out in this crisis situation," he said. "We have to grateful that we are comfortable sitting, where so many others are struggling for food. Nothing hurts you more than seeing people struggling to get food on table. "Whenever people come back, when players comeback, there will be lot more energy ... it will drastically change the enjoying part of things, pure love for everything will come up in the surface." The coronavirus outbreak has infected over 2.5 million people around the globe, bringing all sporting activities to a standstill. ATK ATAT

Kohli, De Villiers to auction cricketing gears to raise funds for fight against COVID-19 pandemic

The government has permitted <keyword id="44749" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Foreign-Direct-Investment">foreign direct investment</keyword> (FDI) of up to 74 per cent under the automatic route in the defence sector with a view to attracting overseas investors, according to a press note issued by the DPIIT on Thursday. However, foreign investments in the defence sector would be subject to scrutiny on the grounds of national security and the government reserves the right to review any foreign investment in the sector that affects or may affect national security, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said in the note. As per the current FDI policy, 100 per cent overseas investments are permitted in the defence industry -- 49 per cent under the automatic route, while beyond that government approval was required. According to the Press Note 4 (2020 series): "FDI up to 74 per cent under automatic route shall be permitted for companies seeking new industrial licences". It also said that infusion of fresh investment up to 49 per cent, in a company not seeking industrial licence or which already has government approval for FDI in defence, shall require "mandatory" submission of a declaration with the defence ministry in case change in equity/shareholding pattern or transfer of stake by existing investor to new foreign investor for FDI up to 49 per cent, within 30 days of such change. Proposal for raising FDI beyond 49 per cent from such companies will require government approval, it added. "The decision will take effect from the date of FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) notification," it said. The decision to permit up to 74 per cent FDI in the <keyword id="2377476" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="defence-manufacturing">defence manufacturing</keyword> through the automatic route was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in May while announcing the fourth tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package for the coronavirus-hit economy. In July 2018, the government had relaxed foreign direct investment norms in the defence sector by allowing up to 49 per cent FDI under the automatic route. The move was aimed at boosting domestic industry as India imports about 70 per cent of its military hardware. According to the DPIIT data, defence industries has received FDI equity inflows of USD 9.52 million (Rs 56.88 crore) during April 2000 and March 2020. Under the government route, foreign investors have to take prior approval of the respective ministry/department, while in the automatic route, the investor just has to inform the RBI after the investment is made. Total FDI into India increased by 18 per cent to USD 73.45 billion in 2019-20. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/news/dailyhunt-app-founders-confirm-ipl-2020-associate-sponsorship/articleshow/78169667.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Dailyhunt founders confirm IPL 2020 associate sponsorship — promise new release for Josh ahead of India’s biggest cricket tournament</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/markets/news/hcl-tech-enters-the-list-of-top-10-most-valued-companies-in-india/articleshow/78165311.cms">HCL Tech enters the list of top 10 most valued companies in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/first-intact-planet-found-circling-a-dead-star-this-jupiter-sized-anomaly-is-in-orbit-rather-than-being-pulled-apart-at-the-seams/articleshow/78166938.cms">First 'intact' planet found circling a dead star — this Jupiter-sized anomaly is in orbit rather than being pulled apart at the seams</a>

Foreign investors can now pump in up to 74 % FDI under automatic route in India's defence sector

Mumbai, Mar 31 () Advertising spends will be impacted "severely" in April and May, and the next few months will be "troubling" for media outlets dependent on it as a revenue stream, Uday Shankar, the chairman of Star and Disney India, said on Tuesday. Star India, which announced an upgrade of its over-the-top platform to 'Disney+Hotstar' to bring on board the American media giant parent's content, also feels the ongoing tough times will help drive "premiumisation" in the industry where users pay for the content. The country is under a three-week lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic which has chilled virtually all economic activity, and led to massive aid packages being announced. Shankar said print and radio industry depend the most on advertising revenues for sustenance, while television and streaming companies also have significant reliance on this revenue stream. "Advertising... we see April, May will be very, very severely impacted. There will be challenges," Shankar told over phone. When asked about how his network is planning for the impact, he said it is still early days and premature to guess as we do not know when production activities will resume, growth will recover and consumption will start going up. "Suffice to say that the next few months look troubling for all advertising driven media," he added. Asked about the fate of the cricket league IPL, probably his biggest bet in India, Shankar said he would want the league to happen this season but added that at present, health and safety of Indians is the biggest concern. He said many global sporting events like the French Open and Olympics have been impacted in the current times. However, he opined that in tough times like these, premium services will have a higher liking among the audiences as they become more discerning of spends. "We believe that finally, high quality products will survive because people will like them, consume them and patronise them," he said. The company on Tuesday announced that 'Disney+Hotstar' will be available from April 3 in two packs. The regional pack will be priced at Rs 399 a year, while the premium one which entails delivery of entire suite of content from Disney will come at Rs 1,499 a year, he said. AA SHW ABMABM

Ad spends to be hit severely in April, May: Uday Shankar

In mid-February 2018, the domestic broadcast rights to the English Premier League (<keyword id="37225" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="EPL">EPL</keyword>) <keyword id="64" type="SPORT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Football">football</keyword> matches from 2019 to 2022 were sold to <keyword id="302760" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sky-Sports">Sky Sports</keyword>, and BT Group, a telecoms company, for £4.46 billion (₹415 billion) with the former securing four packages and the latter purchasing one. In early April 2018, Star India bought the global rights to the Indian <keyword id="1521" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cricket">cricket</keyword> team’s home games from 2018 to 2023 for a staggering figure of ₹61.38 billion. Rather unsurprisingly, Rupert Murdoch was at the centre of both bids. Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox owns a 39% stake in Sky while Star India functions as Fox’s fully-owned subsidiary in India. The winning bid for the EPL has extended Sky’s stronghold on sports broadcasting in the UK for another three years. The media company, which has held the rights to the EPL since its inception in 1992, joined forces with former competitor BT for its bid. The purchase price fell significantly short of the £5.1 billion that Sky bid in 2015 for the three-year rights to the EPL. In contrast, Star India’s bid represents a 60% increase over the ₹38.5 billion it paid for the media rights to India’s cricket games between 2012 and 2018. Star India reportedly outbid Sony by a mere ₹200 million. It had also beat Sony for the ten-year rights to the India Premier League (IPL) in November last year with a bid of ₹163.5 billion. Despite the varying nature of the bids, the auctions for the rights to the EPL matches and Indian cricket team’s games reveal a number of important details about the direction the global sports broadcasting industry is headed in. Bidding will go the open, electronic route The bidding for the Indian cricket rights was conducted through an electronic auction (e-auction) - the first such instance in the history of sports broadcasting. Bidders were given a login and password for an online portal and allowed to submit and revise their bids in real time, while monitoring the highest bids for each category. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (<keyword id="6354756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="bcci">BCCI</keyword>) said that it opted for an e-auction as opposed to a closed bidding process in the interest of transparency. However, in conducting an open electronic auction, it was able to make the bidding process a lot more competitive, more so given the fact that there were two main bidders- Star India and Sony. In fact, in <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/media/sony-ensured-bcci-rights-went-only-at-an-unviable-price/articleshow/63904106.cms">the words of NP Singh</a>, the CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India, ““We were clear that either we will get the BCCI media rights at the right price, or let them go at a price which would be economically unviable”. The open auction process allowed the bids to keep going up and will likely become the norm as the broadcasting industry moves towards consolidation. There will be joint bids, especially from media and telecoms firms Future rounds of auctions will likely see former competitors joining forces in a bid to even out the risk and keep prices manageable. In the EPL auction in 2015, BT forced Sky to shell out a price that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/10/premier-league-tv-rights-sky-bt">was 70% higher than what it paid in 2012</a> in order to retain the rights to the most popular time slots for matches. However, the lower deal value in February 2018 is widely seen as a correction, as opposed to an indication that the EPL bubble has burst. The recent auction followed <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42364401">a cross-licensing agreement signed in December 2017</a> between BT and Sky Sports to sell their content and channels on each other’s platforms and television packages. Under the deal, which seems more like a truce, BT will offer Sky’s Now TV streaming service to its subscribers while Sky will be able to broadcast BT’s sports content, which includes the UEFA Champions League.The move came in response to competition from online streaming platforms. As a result of the deal, the two companies were not compelled to aggressively bid against each other in the auction for the 2019-2022 EPL rights. In bidding for the rights to Indian cricket matches, Sony and Star India were joined by telecoms upstart Reliance Jio. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine a tie-up between two of these companies in the next round of auctions, or see Reliance, which <a href="http://variety.com/2018/biz/asia/tv18-viacom18-india-contol-1202683872/">recently took control of the Viacom 18 network</a>, submit a joint bid between Jio and Viacom 18. Global broadcasters will increase their focus on India Make no mistake, the deals for the rights to the IPL and the Indian cricket team’s home games reveal Rupert Murdoch’s ambitions in India. The Indian market will be an important growth driver for global broadcasters like Fox, especially in terms of online video consumption. Star India’s monopoly over cricket broadcasting rights in India means it will have hundreds of millions of viewers every week for its sports content alone. It has expanded regional language coverage and also doubled down on its online streaming platform, Hotstar, which has helped drive its viewership of the IPL <a href="https://www.medianama.com/2018/04/223-183600/">to record highs</a>. China is also an important market for broadcasters. The English Premier League was able to sell its broadcasting rights in China for the 2019-2022 seasons to PPTV, an online video service, <a href="https://qz.com/840801/china-is-about-to-make-the-english-premier-league-700-million-richer/">for around US$700 million,</a> culminating in its largest ever international deal. PPTV, which is a subsidiary of the Suning retail group, reportedly paid 10 times more than the previous broadcasting contract for the EPL in China. Tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Netflix will be bigger players in the market Both the BCCI and the owners of the English Premier League included digital and/or smaller packages to accommodate streaming platforms and non-traditional broadcasters like Facebook, Amazon and Netflix. The EPL offered two new packages which included the live streaming rights to two entire rounds of ten matches. Amazon was reported to be interested in one of these packages and even submitted a bid. However, the these packages weren’t sold, and there sale will reportedly <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/03/05/two-remaining-premier-league-tv-packages-remain-unsold-almost/">be delayed until the summer</a>, as their reserve prices weren’t met. The EPL will likely make the deal more attractive by allowing rights-holders to broadcast additional games after a short delay. Similarly, the BCCI offered a digital rights-only package in the recent auction. While both Facebook and Google bought the tender document, neither submitted a bid. In the previous auction, the BCCI has bundled television and digital rights into one package. Amazon is no stranger to sports broadcasting, however it is still in experimental mode, opting for smaller offerings as opposed to large packages like the EPL. In September last year, it beat Sky for the rights to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/01/amazon-outbids-sky-to-win-exclusive-atp-tour-tennis-rights">ATP tennis games</a> and also bought the rights to the Thursday games of the USA’s National Football League (NFL). It also recently bought the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/19/amazon-prime-100-m-subscribers-video-music-streaming-netflix">UK rights for US Open tennis matches</a>. Facebook has also experimented with live streaming of UEFA Champions League matches and the ICC Champions trophy cricket tournament. While its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Facebook-bid-610-million-for-the-rights-to-stream-Indian-cricket-matches/articleshow/60380207.cms">US$610 million bid</a> for the IPL rights in September proved to be unsuccessful, it showed that the company has an appetite for sports broadcasting. The entry of tech firms and streaming platforms will shake up the traditional broadcasting. As incumbent broadcasters like Sky and Star India are preparing themselves for this threat by expanding their own streaming services and tying up with telecoms firms, it is the viewers and the organisers of sports events who stand to gain the most. They will be spoilt for choice- the former in terms of viewing options and the latter in terms of bids.

Here's what we learned from two recent auctions about the future of sports broadcasting

Jalandhar, Apr 10 () With Covid-19 lockdown resulting in a complete halt of trading activities, barring some essential commodities, the over Rs 2,000-crore sports industry of Jalandhar is having a harrowing time as the current situation has forced sport goods manufacturers to defer orders. With the nationwide lockdown enforced to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, the manufacturers of sport items here are apprehensive about their future going ahead amid indications that the government might decide to further extend the lockdown in view of rising virus cases in several parts of the country. A sports goods manufacturing hub, Jalandhar produces nearly 70 per cent of total India's sports goods and is a leading name in national and international brands of cricket, hockey, football, rugby and fitness range. In terms of international market, the industry exports material to the UK, Australia, South Africa, Germany, France, Netherlands, New Zealand and others. Alarmed over the situation, the industrialists while supporting the government's move of lockdown said that losses were imminent and the industry would be hit hard. Atul Madan, the owner of century-old Sarve Prakash and Company, Jalandhar, a leading name in Rugby Export in India, said that in the wake of Covid-19, all national and international borders were sealed and it was complete slowdown now. "Our export material including footballs, bats, sports accessories for New Zealand and South Africa were lying stuck at Delhi and Bombay Ports. Similarly, not just international sports events like soccer leagues, IPL, other tournaments but those in educational institutions across the country were also staring at an uncertain future as of now," he said, adding that post Covid-19, the government should provide comfortable liquidity and package to sustain the industry operations. Nitin Mahajan, the owner of AVM Sports and the general secretary of Sports and Toys Exporters Association, said a letter has been written to Principal Secretary to PM P K Mishra and Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal to sanction GST refunds on priority and increase the percentage of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) licences at least for this year and provide free Export Credit Gurantee Cooperation of India (ECGC) support for import and export to keep business afloat. The association also shared concerns that because sports goods do not come under 'essential items', this particular industry is facing lots of problems. "Lack of payment to dealers, distributors, corporates would affect the ability of manufacturers to pay dues to the employees. We have requested that the payments to the manufacturers related to government tenders, orders should be expedited once lockdown ends," Mahajan, whose AVM Sports is famous for cricket bats, cricket equipment and baseballs in India, shared. He also pointed out that schools, colleges, universities have been closed and stadiums might be taken over by the government for makeshift hospitals. "As sports industry is labour oriented, we would want the state government to save local employment and industry. Waiving or deferment of local taxes and minimum electricity charges for a period till the operations start is must," he said. The traders also mentioned that the sports industry was facing around Rs 2 to 3 crore loss in business every day. However, the total loss would be ascertained after the lockdown ends, it said. Rajesh Kharbanda, the managing director of Nivia Sports under the banner of Freewill Sports, said that other than the current crisis, manufacturers were concerned about the welfare of labourers too whom they paid salaries 10-days in advance. Apart from this, he hinted at the possible changes in sports business in terms of consumer behaviour. "Community sports like tournaments, gyms, marathons would witness a change because of social distancing. There was a big possibility that now people would prefer individual gym range and sports equipment in their houses like basketball and badminton courts abroad instead of going out. Even face masks would become compulsory to wear in the times to come," he said. Rajan Kohli, the managing director of TK Sports, renowned for Hockey, IPL jerseys for Kings XI Punjab, T-20 matches and Shrey Helmets for Cricket, said that no doubt business would go down but as of now the concern is that Covid-19 comes under control. "The central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking the best decisions to counter the pandemic. Business will come and go but right now we should support our country," he said. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has said the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus should continue, while noting that predictions by health experts about the spread of the pandemic are "horrendous and frightening". VSD MKJ

Covid-19 cripples Rs 2,000-crore Jalandhar sports industry

<ul><li><keyword id="169310" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-advertising">Digital advertising</keyword> is expected to outpace all other ad media by 2024 or 2025.</li><li>Online gaming was the fastest growing M&amp;E segment in 2020. The online gaming segment grew 18% in 2020 to reach INR 77 billion.</li></ul>The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&amp;E) sector has degrown by 24% to INR1.38 trillion (US$19 billion) in 2020, states the FICCI-EY report ‘Playing by new rules’ launched today. It is, however, expect to grow 25% in 2021 to reach INR1.73 trillion (US$23.7 billion). With its current trajectory, the M&amp;E sector in India is expected to reach INR2.23 trillion (US$30.6 billion) by 2023at a CAGR of 17%. In 2020 while television continued to remain the largest segment, digital media has overtaken print, and online gaming has overtaken a disrupted filmed entertainment segment. Digital media and online gaming were the only segments which grew in 2020 adding an aggregate of INR26 billion. Other segments have degrown by an aggregate of INR467 billion. While M&amp;E as a sector has usually grown and often outperformed India’s nominal GDP, the sector fell three times (3x) India’s nominal GDP fall of 8% due to the discretionary nature of the spend. Subscription revenues however proved their mettle by holding up better than advertising revenues. Sanjay Gupta, Chairman, FICCI Media &amp; Entertainment Committee, said, “Digital is fuelling an unprecedented growth in content creation and consumption in almost every Indian language, creating new economic opportunities for both the media and entertainment industry and creative professionals across the country. We need to capitalise on this and unlock the full potential of India’s creative ability to power India’s economic engine.” Ashish Pherwani, Partner and Media &amp; Entertainment Leader, EY India, stated, “The M&amp;E sector witnessed a shift in demand patterns as consumers actively sought alternatives and had the time to try new things. Consumption patterns shifted and increased across online news, gaming and entertainment. The supply side too transformed as companies took the opportunity to reinvent themselves. Every segment redefined itself across verticals by becoming medium agnostic and embedded video, audio, textual and experiential products to enhance their offerings. However, the compelling content created around news and escapism, and the passion to build some of India’s most powerful brands remained resolute.” Key findings <ul><li><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Television:" text="Television:">Television:</cmsannotation></li></ul>The TV industry declined 13% from INR787 billion to INR685 billion in 2020. The largest M&amp;E segment saw a 21.5% fall in advertising revenues in 2020 to INR251 billion on account of highly discounted advertising rates during the lockdown months. Subscription declined 7% to INR434 billion due to the continued growth of free television, reverse migration and a reduction in average revenue per user due to part implementation of NTO 2.0. Regional channels received 27% more ad volumes than national channels in 2020. Major sport leagues got postponed, but IPL provided a much-needed revival push in sports viewership. Smart TV sets crossed the five million mark and grew their base by around a million homes. With people spending more time indoors the overall time spent watching TV increased by 9% over 2019. Key insights – Television segment revenues are expected to grow at a CAGR of 7% to reach INR847 billion by 2023 driven by increased base of subscribers as households continue to get televised. Growth will be driven by connected TVs which could cross 40 million homes by 2025 and free television could cross 50 million homes by then, thereby making core television a more massified product. The smart television will usher in an era of connected viewing which will enable viewers to interact with each other, as well as the broadcaster, through the content. The importance of regional and sports programming will increase, driving up both ad rates as well as end-consumer package pricing, subject to regulatory action. <ul><li><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Digital media:" text="Digital media:">Digital media:</cmsannotation></li></ul>In 2020 digital media grew by 6.5% to reach INR235 billion and is expected to grow at 22% CAGR to reach INR425 billion by 2023. Digital subscription grew 49% in 2020 to reach INR43.5 billion as the pandemic and the consequent lockdown reduced fresh content on television, online sports went behind a paywall and the pandemic forced much of the population for longer periods indoors. Paid OTT subscriptions crossed 50 million for the first time in 2020. Digital advertising stayed stable on the back of increased allocation of ad spends by advertisers who accelerated their investments in digital sales channels. SME advertisers continued to increase their spends on digital advertising and experimented more with online e-commerce platforms. Key insights: Digital advertising is expected to outpace all other ad media by 2024 or 2025. The metrics that matter will change from monthly active users to daily active users, from audience numbers to engagement, loyalty and time spent, leading to platforms focusing on segmented audiences and community ownership. Newspaper digital products will increasingly go behind paywalls and it is expected to generate subscription revenues of INR4 billion by 2023. It is estimated that demand for original content will double by 2023 from 2019 levels to over 3,000 hours per year. The share of regional language consumption on OTT platforms will cross 50% of total time spent by 2025. <ul><li><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Print:" text="Print:">Print:</cmsannotation></li></ul>Print has degrown 36% in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. Print’s revenue declines were led by a 41% fall in advertising and a 24% fall in circulation revenues. English language and metro newspapers were hit harder and struggled to get back their circulation post the pandemic, while regional language newspapers recovered a larger portion of their lost circulation. Print companies implemented significant cost reduction measures to achieve between 25% and 40% efficiencies, a significant portion of which can continue in the years ahead. Many print companies started conducting digital versions of their popular IPs and entered the high-volume but lower value digital events business. Key insights –Transformation in the print segment is expected to be in the areas of product realignment, revenue transformation, cost intelligence and digital demarcation. Print will need to focus on growing reach in its existing markets through a combination of identifying new micro-markets which are underpenetrated as well as forging bundle deals with direct to consumer aggregators like television, e-commerce platforms, OTT platforms, etc. Significantly, more industry-level shared services initiatives are expected to ensure cost efficiencies. Publishers can also implement process automation for productivity improvement across key business processes. The focus will remain on strengthening the print segment’s core capability to building communities but with a wider scope of offerings to them apart from just news. <ul><li><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Online Gaming:" text="Online Gaming:">Online Gaming:</cmsannotation></li></ul>Online gaming was the fastest growing M&amp;E segment in 2020. The online gaming segment grew 18% in 2020 to reach INR77 billion aided by work from home, school from home and increased trial of online multi-player games during the lockdown. Online gamers grew 20% from 300 million in 2019 to 360 million in 2020. Transaction-based game revenues grew 21% on the back of fantasy sport, rummy and poker and casual gaming revenues grew 8%, led by in-app purchases. Key Insights: The segment is expected to reach INR155 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 27% to become the third largest segment of the Indian M&amp;E sector. Gaming will become all pervasive and will proliferate across our lives. The segment will grow across all its verticals viz, esports, fantasy sport, casual gaming and other games of skill, but revenue growth will be led by mobile-based real-money gaming applications across these verticals. A nodal agency is required to bring clarity in regulations and well as implement responsible gaming guidelines and monitor areas like minor game play, security, data protection, content guidelines and training. <ul><li><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Mergers and Acquisitions in M&amp;E" text="Mergers and Acquisitions in M&amp;E">Mergers and Acquisitions in M&amp;E</cmsannotation></li></ul>The sector continued to witness moderate deal activity, despite major disruptions brought by the COVID-19 outbreak. Although the number of deals increased from 64 in 2019 to 77 in 2020, deal value reduced to INR68 billion in 2020 from INR101 billion in 2019. This was largely due to the absence of big-ticket deals with only two deals crossing the US$100 million threshold as compared to four such deals in 2019. In line with the trend of the past three years, new media contributed to majority of the deals in terms of volume. Its share increased in terms of deal value from 37% in 2019 to 92% in 2020.

Print and TV degrow by 13% and 36% respectively in 2020: FICCI - EY report

<ul><li>EaseMyTrip recently appointed <keyword id="31515" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vijay-raaz" source="Orion">Vijay Raaz</keyword> and <keyword id="337442" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="varun-sharma" source="Orion">Varun Sharma</keyword> as its first-ever brand ambassadors to expand its reach across the country.</li><li>As the travel platform launches its campaign with new ambassadors and rolls out its marketing blitzkrieg, we speak to <keyword id="6106039" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nishant-pitti" source="Orion">Nishant Pitti</keyword>, CEO and Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip about the idea behind choosing Vijay and Varun, platform’s game plan to deal with COVID and macro-economic changes that might come in our way and larger vision.</li></ul>Six days into 2022 and brands and organisations are planning to completely return to work-from-home model and prepare for the impending wave of COVID-19 and macro-economic challenges that it might bring along. The economic impact of the third wave might not be as devastating as the second wave, but it might take a toll on the hospitality industry yet again. If the government strengthens lockdown restrictions across the country in the coming days, the hospitality sector might face a recap of 2020. However, home-grown hospitality and travel brand EaseMyTrip witnessed a six-fold growth in revenue during the peak of the second wave and on the back of its ‘flexible and lean business model,’it is optimistic about maintaining its financial health in 2022 as well. With its first-ever brand ambassadors in Vijay Raaz and Varun Sharma and a slew of customer-centric initiatives such as zero-convenience fee, full refund on medical grounds, discounted air tickets for train waitlisted customers, EaseMyTrip has entered this year all guns blazing! So, to discuss what lies ahead, Advertising and Media caught up with Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip. He told us about his game plan for the platform in 2022, larger vision, marketing strategy and a lot more. Q. Can you tell us how 2021 was for EaseMyTrip and the travel industry? In FY20-21, we almost doubled our profits and this was despite halving of Gross Booking Revenue in a pandemic struck year. In Q4 of FY21, we witnessed a V-shaped recovery, registering almost 89% of the gross booking revenue of the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal. Additionally, Q1FY22 was one of the worst periods for the travel industry due to the second wave, however, we grew our profits six-fold to more than Rs 15 crore in Q1FY22 as against a net profit of Rs 2.5 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. This makes us one of the few companies to be profitable in the industry that has been the worst impacted in the country in the quarter of April- June’21. We have been able to maintain our profitability through the pandemic as we have been flexible and maintained a lean business model, which has been the key driver in maintaining financial health. For the travel industry, the year started well as there was a strong demand. However, the second wave struck soon after, which led to a fall in travel demand. The second wave had impacted the entire tourism industry. However, the strong vaccination drive helped in lowering active cases and the industry was seeing a recovery again. The festive season further pushed travel demand as people were comfortable travelling and had adapted to the travel norms. The rise in travel bookings during this festive period was a clear sign of the underlying pent up travel demand and the growing sentiment among travellers to venture out for leisure travel. We believe that the sector has been able to weather the storm as a lull period was followed by strong growth in demand. We also witnessed a rise in travellers from smaller cities and towns which eventually led to a rise in passenger traffic and demand. Q. You have recently onboarded your first-ever brand ambassadors. Firstly, why did you think this was a good time to bring on the actors and what was the thought behind choosing Varun and Vijay? We have been witnessing strong growth, even during the pandemic, and we have been constantly innovating and providing value to the consumer. As a result, we believe that now is the right time for branding and to get more people to know about EaseMyTrip. EaseMyTrip has always believed in leveraging relevant and meaningful avenues for brand connect and this association is in-line with the same brand philosophy. We believe that Varun Sharma and Vijay Raaz are unique actors who have superb comic timing and have created a niche in the market based on their unique performances. They have a unique mass appeal that cuts across all audiences and geographies. We have consciously chosen two unique actors from two different generations as we believe that an association with both of them will help us reach our overall target audience efficiently. The association with Varun and Vijay are in sync with the brand as just like these ace actors, EaseMyTrip too has established itself and gained market share purely based on performance to date. Q. After onboarding your first-ever brand ambassadors, what are you eyeing to achieve from this partnership? The country is witnessing a growing air traffic demand, even from smaller cities now. A significant chunk of these people are digital savvy and prefer doing online bookings. Through this unique marketing campaign, we are trying to reach out to those customers and with the explosion of the internet and online booking, we believe that it is the right time to do so. Additionally, the company has aggressive plans to grow its business with a slew of customer-centric initiatives including the zero-convenience fee, full refund on medical grounds, discounted air tickets for train waitlisted customers, and many more. We believe that this initiative provides us with an opportunity to make more travellers aware of these unique initiatives and grow our customer base. Q. What is your larger marketing strategy? How will your messaging change, if at all, now that you have new brand ambassadors onboard? We aim to cater to the pent-up demand via cross-selling to the huge customer base by promoting the same aggressively across all marketing platforms. We are confident that this pent-up demand will continue to grow. We also aim to continue with our record growth across businesses and grow our market share. We emphasize high ROI marketing spending and instead of opting for very high marketing budgets, we try to source relevant platforms that can gain the maximum interest of our customers. We will continue to move in that direction in 2022 as well. While we have onboarded brand ambassadors, we do not expect our messaging to change. We have always maintained a strong messaging and unique proposition of customer centricity and consistent performance, and our brand ambassadors will continue to take that proposition ahead. Q. Which advertising medium will get your lion's share this year? With people resuming travel, we are expecting a lot more marketing efforts and initiatives in the coming year. The industry is slowly recovering, and we believe that this is the right time for us to strengthen marketing efforts and customer outreach. Seeing a recovery of the industry, in the past year, we have used big-ticket events such as IPL as well as full-page advertisements across national newspapers for marketing initiatives and will continue to explore interesting initiatives this year as well. This year, we plan to release innovative and exciting marketing efforts across digital, print and outdoor media. With the growth in passenger traffic, we will also continue to actively use in-flight branding space, as well as boarding passes as essential touchpoints for travellers. Q. What are some of the trends that you are expecting to see in the travel industry this year? In 2022, we expect a few prominent trends to surface, which are set to be at the forefront of the travel industry. 2022 is set to witness a rise in travel spending by people as they are now, more than ever, ready to take those once-in-a-lifetime trips that they always wanted to embark on. In 2022, we are also expecting more travellers to prefer locations that are adopting sustainable tourism practices as many travellers have woken up to the benefits and the need of sustainable tourism in a post-covid scenario. Technology is also being implemented in a big way in the tourism industry and travellers are showing a higher preference for places that incorporate smart technology. In 2022, the travel industry is expected to move further into a digital shift and adopt newer platforms and technologies that enable travellers to travel seamlessly. Due to the safety concerns, we are expecting a rise in demand for unique, unexplored destinations, short weekend getaways and road trips to nearby tourist destinations. Reunion travel is set to be a major trend next year as people look to reconnect with family by taking a quick getaway trip. As an aftermath of the pandemic, there will also be a rise in the number of people that are opting for short getaways that offer wellness and self-care activities. In 2022, travellers are set to showcase an increased preference for locations that have a focus on wellness activities that help them rejuvenate, take a break away from the monotony of their daily lives and lead healthier lives. Q. How did the consumer sentiment change in December and what's it usually like in January? Travel this month is majorly focused on safety. There has been a significant shift in the mindset of travellers towards health and hygiene, and the services provided by travel companies regarding this, make a significant impact on the decision making. While there are safety concerns right now, the travel sentiment of customers is still strong. There is an underlying pent-up travel demand, which is expected to lead to a growth in revenge travel. We are also ensuring safety and hygiene for our customers with the help of our airlines and hotel partners. Q. We're at that time of the year when people are normally in the mood to travel. What are some of the tourist hotspots in India this year? Have consumers shown any interest in traveling to places they wouldn’t have thought of visiting earlier? The tourist destinations that have been in demand and that we expect to be tourist hotspots this year as well include Kashmir, Goa, Jaipur, Leh and Srinagar. With safety concerns, the demand for unique, unexplored domestic destinations has also shot up in the past few months, and a lot more unheard domestic destinations will come to the fore in the coming months. Q. In India, we love saving a little extra on hotels while traveling to a different city -- a lot of people in India prefer staying at a relative's place. Has that trend changed after COVID? Yes, we believe that this trend has changed as people have witnessed the high levels of sanitisations and safety protocols undertaken by hotels since the pandemic. Since the pandemic there has been an increased emphasis on safety and sanitization within the travel industry and enhanced health screenings have become the new normal across all travel segments. As a leading travel portal, we also provide all the sanitization protocols that each hotel follows, to ensure that the travellers are aware of the practices followed. This provides them with a sense of relief during this period as safety and hygiene has become a top priority in the current period, which is not guaranteed at a relative’s place. In fact, during the pandemic, there has been an increase in 4 and 5-star hotel bookings as compared to the pre-pandemic period as people would want a better level of sanitization at this time. The average duration of the stay has also gone up from 3.2 days to 4.7 days. While hotels and apartments have performed well, we have also seen an increased demand for private villas and homestays as customers find them more secure and safe during these unprecedented times. Q. Can you tell us what would be some of your focus areas in 2022? The company plans to focus heavily on its hotel and holiday package businesses and expand in the existing markets. We are working proactively to cater to the increased demand that we foresee. We will look at enhancing the revenues and profitability going forward by leveraging our existing base of customers for cross-selling. We also plan on leveraging our vast agent network and utilizing it for the holiday bookings which shall complement the company’s hotel and holiday businesses. Apart from the Indian market, we are present across UAE, Singapore, UK, Philippines, Thailand, and the USA. We want to establish our air ticketing business in these countries as we have forayed into these new countries anticipating a huge pent-up travel demand. In the coming year, we plan to launch a localized travel search engine in each global subsidiary to strengthen our offerings within each country. We may also look to expand to more viable countries if we see a strong performance and value addition from our existing global subsidiaries. Q. What is your larger vision for the platform? We aim to continue with the record growth with increased revenue margins and market share. We have been extremely bullish in the air segment and expect to become the number one player in the air segment in the next three to four years. While air travel bookings constitute around 95% of our revenues, we are also growing our non-air travel businesses including hotels, buses, trains and holidays in double digits. We are also looking to expand our services across Tier 2 and 3 cities as we have been witnessing a rise in air ticket bookings in these cities. All in all, we are aiming to be the preferred booking partner for all travellers across the country.

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