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<ul><li><keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword>, a digital native advertising company was launched in India in 2017.</li><li>Last year, the platform launched Zemanta, the native Demand Side Platform (DSP) that it had acquired in 2017, in India.</li><li>Sandeep Balani, Head of India, Outbrain tells us how Outbrain has been providing technology and strategic expertise to publishers, enabling them to reach, engage and retain audiences for their digital content.</li><li>He also tells us why he is confident about the growth of programmatic native in India.</li></ul>The last year was an eventful one for digital native advertising company Outbrain. At the end of 2019, they announced a potential merger with Taboola, to ‘give advertisers a way to diversify away from Google and Facebook’, in the words of Taboola Founder and CEO Adam Singolda. Closer home, Outbrain launched Zemanta, the native Demand Side Platform (DSP) that it had acquired in 2017, in India. We recently caught up with Sandeep Balani, Head of India, Outbrain to understand some of the highlights of the year gone by, the growth drivers for Outbrain in India and some of the key areas of focus going ahead. Edited excerpts: Q) How is the Indian market shaping up for Outbrain? According to market research agency Kantar IMRB, India's internet users are expected to register double-digit growth to reach 627 million in 2019, primarily driven by rapid internet growth in rural areas. This opens up huge opportunities for publishers and advertisers as they are able to reach and engage with a far larger part of the country’s population via their digital channels. Our role in this is to provide the technology and strategic expertise for publishers and enabling them to reach, engage and retain audiences for their digital content while funding quality journalism. On the advertisers’ side, through our non-intrusive, and respectful ad formats powered by our proprietary interest data, we give them a scalable way to engage their audiences and drive a significant return on their advertising investments. Most recently we have signed partnerships with NewsX, DailyThanthi and OneIndia Group, allowing us to give even more reach than ever before to our advertising partners. Q) What are the key drivers for the growth Outbrain’s India business? Our Founder and CEO were recently quoted as saying, “In 5 or 10 years, we will see that the most successful media will be those that respected their users and offered trustworthy material.” I think this is the case in India too, and the most important shift we will see is a move from intrusive ad formats to move native ad formats. This will be further accelerated by the growth of programmatic native, which has a huge potential in India. The video will also play an important role in the growth of native. We are shifting from banner blindness to video blindness - after all, we are the generation X, ie, the generation that just can’t wait to click on the X. Opt-in video formats where the user chooses to engage such as our Click-to-Watch video solution will increasingly replace ad formats that interrupt the users’ experience. Q) A lot is being spoken about programmatic native. What's the scope? How does Zemanta fit into Outbrain’s overall programmatic offering? Recent reports have predicted that by 2025, native will reach its tipping point and be the preferred form of advertising. It only makes sense that Native Programmatic will follow suit. With 90% of the display being purchased programmatically already, native will follow that same trend. However most of the media buying tools used by marketers were made for a display world and are not optimal for native advertising, so we believe we are best positioned to help marketers execute more effectively and at a larger scale, on the most premium and brand-safe environment. We are committed to programmatic native through an earlier acquisition of Zemanta, the world’s first DSP built for native and the DSP of choice for agencies. In addition to that, Outbrain now has omnichannel support for advertisers who are looking to buy native via Digital Video 360, Appenexus, Tradesk etc. This gives advanced controls overbidding and campaign flight. Q) How will going the programmatic route help the native ecosystem grow? The native eco-system in India has primarily relied on direct relationships with advertisers and agencies. However many clients take time to embrace newer platforms and introduce them to their buying mix. With programmatic alignment with assorted DSP’s, advertisers can now buy Outbrain via different DSP’s which gives us access to unique budgets and get more advertisers to grow the native eco-system which eventually brings tremendous transparency, reach, and control to advertisers. Q) Going ahead, what will your area of focus be? We have received great response from the premium publishers due to the quality of ads, trustworthiness and the relationships we have built in the market for audience acquisition, engagement, and retention. Our prolonged objective is to ensure that we empower our publisher ecosystem with more monetization opportunities. Q) What will be the most important theme for the publishing and advertising industry in 2020? Trust! User trust has been eroded because of factors such as disruptive ad formats, fake news etc. The whole industry must now come together and rebuild consumer trust and creating value on the open web that works for everyone. Users want to discover relevant, trusted, high-quality content presented in engaging formats. Marketers are looking for scalable ways to engage their audiences and channels they can invest in to drive return on their advertising budgets. And publishers need to find business models to fund quality journalism alongside ways to reach and develop ongoing relationships with audiences. Simply put, it will be all about publishers, audiences and marketers coming together to create an ecosystem that drives mutual value and trust on the open web.

Why Outbrain is confident about the growth of programmatic native in India

<ul><li>Sandeep Balani - Head of India - outbrain writes how marketers can use new behaviour to draw people into their advertising in a Cookie-less world. </li><li>He highlights how marketers and brands will need to work harder to know their users personally, and to find out what type of engagement works best through testing this new landscape.</li></ul>The great fear for many marketers as we head boldly into 2021, after a year that threw a lot of spanners into the works, is the upcoming removal of cookies from <keyword id="182214" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Google-Chrome">Google Chrome</keyword>, the last of the web browsers to support that collection of <keyword id="8669862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Third-Party-Data">third party data</keyword>. This change to how we track users is going to cause shockwaves through the industry – it is estimated to be used by around three billion people globally. But that doesn’t mean this update will be a bad thing. Cookies made everything straightforward. It was easier to address audiences at the right time and harvest that third-party data. Now we have to get creative to make up for that signal loss. Consequently, we’re heading into a Cambrian Explosion of new types of targeting and storytelling. It’s a very different world we’re about to enter into, but luckily we have time to plan and prepare. We can expect there to be two paths we take following the deprecation of cookies: We as an industry need to go deeper on first-party data. Data collected from emails in the meantime is going to be the most important to harvest. I expect we’re going to see a lot of new technical solutions surrounding how you implement data across your different marketing channels. Testing and learning will be crucial when there isn’t anything we can do to identify users precisely. In light of that, we can expect more A/B testing and experimentation with solutions using second-party data and seeing what results we get back. From there we will start to see what’s important to look for following the removal of cookies and what isn’t. I also think we’re going to see a big step up in native’s role in advertising. Storytelling is now becoming much more important as it won’t be as easy to find users at exactly the right time. Now we’re going to have to pull the user into our story, which means we will have to look at presenting it in different stages of the user journey and ensure the message is relevant. The reality is that we have had some time already to prepare for this change, and luckily COVID-19 has pushed away this transition a bit. But the main issue is that we don’t know what the world is going to look like when these changes do happen in 2021. It’s key to look at how the technology providers will integrate new approaches, but there is still mass uncertainty around what that will look like. This means flexibility is vital. We now need to be very attentive, see what is actually happening and where it’s happening. From there we can take advantage of this opportunity quickly, which will drive innovation for the next year. One exciting development over the last year, for example, was New York Times offering a different type of contextual targeting than we were used to. It started targeting readers with emotion-based targeting, which was appealing to advertisers looking for better ways to target readers. Labeled ‘Project Feels’, it is a product that matches ads to people based on emotion, which The New York Times knew it had a big space to exploit because of the breadth and depth of its content. Users lingering on a certain categorised emotion of a story, such as ‘confident’, ‘inspiring’, ‘sadness’ or ‘hate’ would then be matched up with an advertisement that fit into those categories. The New York Times is using this new technology to push the envelope and extend the definition of contextual targeting. It is trailblazing to target attributes that have never before been possible; emotions, controversy and social engagement. Now with proper storytelling we can target users based around emotions and feelings, such as a live sports event or concert, and see whether these particular pieces of content make people more enthusiastic about the future, or more careful. Looking forward, we know users are less likely to click on ads that don’t make sense or don’t mean anything to them. This means the behaviour of the user on publisher sites is going to be much more of a focus in future. This includes how fast users are reading articles and dwell time on certain sites, as this shows a level of engagement marketers will now be looking for. This new type of targeting based on behaviour that happened immediately before the ad is served is going to be fascinating to watch. Cookies might have provided a scattergun approach to targeting audiences, but now we look forward to a different future. One where marketers and brands will need to work harder to know their users personally, and to find out what type of engagement works best through testing this new landscape.

Cookies were a sugar fix for marketers, but now it’s time for some real nourishment

<ul><li>The gaming industry has been very responsive to the shifting consumers needs which has led to a widening of its consumer base.</li><li>Gaming is no longer just for kids, and this presents a huge opportunity for marketers.</li><li><keyword id="7705644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sandeep-balani">Sandeep Balani</keyword>, Head of India, <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> writes about some of the <keyword id="6684484" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="biggest-trends">biggest trends</keyword> in the gaming industry and gives a few tips to marketers to make the most of this growing trend.</li></ul> Trends change the face of industries, but hardly any other has been as digital and responsive to shifting consumer needs as the gaming industry. The effort has certainly paid off, as interest in games isn’t ‘just for kids’ anymore. In fact, while physical game distribution has been on the decline for years, the industry has expanded its reach and made itself closer to the <a href="https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/">2.7 billion</a> gamers worldwide. Digital business models have not only changed who buys or the way people buy, but also the content of the game itself. As a result, it has created opportunities to optimise marketing and build stronger customer loyalty for brands. We look at the most important trends in the industry and give tips to marketers. 1. It’s not just the launch that counts In the past, big budget games were rushed to meet their release dates and make a return on investment. Marketing was carefully timed for the point of launch to make the most impact, as the majority of a game's revenues were generated in its first few weeks. Today, however, many publishers and developers incorporate <a href="https://scalexm.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-games-as-a-service-gaas-model/">Games as a Service</a> (GaaS) to continuously supply new content, as game revenue in the first few weeks after launch now account for only a small percentage of its total. In fact, the majority comes from in-game content; Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V, originally released for the Playstation 3, is the classic example with its spin-off version GTA Online. Seven years after the original GTA V release, it has become the most popular entertainment property of all time, thanks to its add-on content that makes up <a href="https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/">78% of its $1.4 billion total revenue</a>. Still capable of topping the charts, the game is set to be re-released for <a href="https://blog.playstation.com/2020/06/11/grand-theft-auto-v-coming-to-playstation-5-in-2021/">Playstation 5</a>. What this means for marketing: Ideally, marketers not only promote the game through advertising, but are also involved in product development from the outset. The challenge is to find the right balance between long-term monetisation and an engaging gaming experience, because players will turn away if monetisation is the core of the game -- <a href="https://www.ccn.com/2k-gambling-children-nba-2k20-teaser/">NBA 2k20</a> being the most recent example. Visiting in-game shops should be an option to incentivise players to unlock special skills or benefits, not be the only way to advance in a game. 2. Earn money with a free-to-play model $1.8 billion in revenue, from a game that's free? Fortnite did just that last year as the highest earning game. Through this model, revenue comes primarily from in-game purchases, where players buy additional content for real money. Fortnite might now be a well-known game, but there’s a reason for that and it isn’t an isolated case. In fact, the four best-selling free-to-play games had a turnover of <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/fortnite-highest-earning-game-2019/#:~:text=Global%20phenomenon%20Fortnite%20retained%20its,staggering%20%241.8%20billion%20in%20revenue.">$6.5 billion last year</a>. <keyword id="9998643" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="popular-game-apps">Popular game apps</keyword> are in no way inferior, as the sales of <keyword id="1739317" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Candy-Crush-Saga">Candy Crush Saga</keyword> and Pokémon GO have now generated over <a href="https://gamedaily.biz/article/1432/report-candy-crush-soda-saga-breaks-2-billion-in-revenue-sensor-tower">$2 billion and $3 billion in lifetime revenue</a>. A mobile market where new app games are produced daily makes it all the more impressive that these publishers (and marketers) know how to get players to spend. What this means for marketing: Surprisingly only a small percentage of users make in-game purchases, with estimates ranging from 5% to 18% depending on the region. This makes it crucial for marketers to identify higher lifetime value customers, because it's not just the download that matters, but the revenue that a customer generates over time. Doing so depends on targeting ‘high-spenders’ over those who may download but move on to the next app that intrigues them. Marketers should test several channels, including social networks and advertising on the open web, in addition to App Store platforms. Secondly, invest in the gaming community to feed enthusiasm for your game over a longer period of time. Lastly, there’s the type of purchase; while some apps favour a subscription model, others rely on a one-off payment, for example to unlock additional levels. This can be of benefit, as players are introduced to in-game purchases without having to subscribe right away. 3. Time in the game is crucial In a game’s development phase, care is taken to ensure that customers play as much as possible to increase the probability of in-game purchases. This is done by implementing frequent daily rewards or time-limited events, under the notion that the longer players spend time on a particular game, the greater the probability that they will spend money. What this means for marketing: Marketers should learn from subscription apps, where the strategy includes a long-term plan that combines in-game content with ongoing marketing efforts, not just a plan for launch. The most successful game apps launch different "seasons" of a series following a release, thereby offering new content. This is communicated to gamers over a longer period of time, which can be done via earned and owned media. In-game events, or cross-promotions, can provide additional attention. 4. <keyword id="1615130" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-Distribution">Digital distribution</keyword> is becoming increasingly important While there are still holdouts who <a href="https://nomorepeter.com/2020/01/24/the-reasons-why-some-gamers-still-prefer-physical-games-in-a-digital-world/">prefer to buy physical games</a> for reasons such as technical superiority or the personal desire to create a physical collection, the number of digital sales continue to rise. In the U.S., 83% of all video and computer games were sold digitally. Did you know the current <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-US/consoles/xbox-one-s/all-digital-edition">Xbox One S</a> even has a cheaper, all-digital version? Yes, without a drive. Sony also has something similar in the works for its upcoming Playstation 5. What this means for marketing: As games move swiftly to digital, so must its marketing and communication, and why not when it only takes a few clicks from seeing an ad on the web to downloading and testing a game? Moreover, there are ad formats that perfectly replicate, and even enhance, the in-store feel for customers to get a sense of what a game is all about. Some game publishers also rely on digital launch events with additional incentives, or use crowdfunding simply to generate more attention, even when financing is already secured. 5. Stream or play? Tyler Blevins, the gaming streaming star also known as "Ninja", earned up to $30 million per year just to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21299479/mixer-closure-streaming-talent-war-ninja-shroud-twitch">exclusively play games on Microsoft’s Mixer over rival streaming platforms</a>, such as YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon’s Twitch. That alone should say enough about how important the streaming market has become to the gaming industry. What this means for marketing: Streamers are important because of their impact as influencers, but they are only affordable for a few gaming publishers. Focusing on certain niches and streamers with a smaller but loyal fanbase can be just as worthwhile. Ubisoft’s Hyper Scape video game took the combination of streaming and gaming to the next level in increasing viewership before the big reveal, as players could earn early access to the beta by watching Twitch streamers play with hopes of being the next randomly selected to join the game. Such collaborations can then be expanded via other media channels, which in turn attracts even more attention and brings other streamers onboard. Marketing within the gaming industry has become increasingly challenging because most games want to occupy the limited time customers have, for as long as possible. It means marketing should already be factored in during a game’s development, and be continued at product-level after its launch. Leveraging a long-term plan and relying on a mix of channels and collaborations are as important as ever for marketers to lead their brand to success.

A new player in the game: How 5 developments in the gaming industry influence marketing

<ul><li><keyword id="7705644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sandeep-balani">Sandeep Balani</keyword>, Head of India at <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> writes how user-centric has changed the content and publishing industry. </li><li>He further suggest a few factors that <keyword id="6492840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Publishers">publishers</keyword> should pay attention to if they plan to stay ahead in 2020 and beyond. </li></ul> In recent years, the emergence of user-centric business models has enabled companies - the likes of Uber, Airbnb, <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>, and others - to quickly create a place of choice, both for the general public and within their respective sectors. However, the model of monetising a product or service, without owning or having produced it, is nothing new. In fact, this is how the duopoly of Google and Facebook came to dominate the digital advertising industry. To what do these new platforms owe their success? A few contributing factors, and publishers should pay attention if they plan to stay ahead in 2020 and beyond. 1. Redefine the <keyword id="126817" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Status-quo">status quo</keyword> The meteoric success of Uber and Airbnb is largely in response to ignoring conventional media models and choosing to ‘zag’ where others ‘zig’, thereby adopting a user-centric approach. In today’s digital era, company success depends on the ability to leverage online channels and hyper-connectivity in order to reinvent industries, rather than be constrained by processes that are no longer relevant. Success is predicated on building experiences that are intuitive and personalised to customers, thereby the consumer experience being at the core of one’s business strategy. This is a transformation that the publishing industry, which creates websites based on newspapers printed 100 years ago, has struggled with and must grasp. 2. Become customer-centric To regain shares of digital advertising investments, publishers must adapt to today's customers and match their desire for intuitive experiences that minimise efforts towards conversion. Publishers stand to benefit from new strategies and technologies found in other industries to acquire, engage and retain customers. Take the example of Discord, a platform specialised in text, visual and audio communication for gaming communities, which has since ranked 17th in the US App Store without having relied on any paid acquisition. By spending less time observing their direct competitors, publishers will have more time to observe and learn from all types of innovative platforms. Putting customers at the forefront may not guarantee a company to become the next ‘giant’, but it is indeed a recipe for progress and subsistence within the ecosystem. 3. Personalise experiences and content Like the famous and endless "year of mobile", personalisation is expected to be one of the main trends every year. The year 2019, however, truly marked an important development in matching the user to the right content, in the right place and at the right time. The context in which it is delivered has also become just as important as the quality of the content produced. While many publishers still think of personalisation as inherent to content, it can also be extended to experiences - a key to success for the duopoly, whose easy-to-adopt platforms are personalised according to users' interests. Moreover, forward-thinking publishers can push personalisation to subscription models, or adapt advertising formats and their distribution to users' consumption preferences for greater relevance. For example, a user on the move will be more receptive to a push notification received on their smartphone in the form of a title, or audio content to listen to on their journey, rather than long editorial content or video that they could consume on their computer later in the day. All of this, however, will involve recognising changes in consumer habits and taking them into account. 4. Consider native advertising as a strategy over format With the proliferation of intrusive formats and fake news, the ecosystem has lost the trust of many consumers. By offering formats that are well integrated into content and respectful of internet browsing, native advertising has established itself as the future of digital when industry players seek more responsible media. Native advertising is not only about formats that will continue to evolve and provide impactful and non-intrusive user experiences, but a 360° approach to the ecosystem that will allow digital advertising models to thrive and preserve publishers' media activities. - By Sandeep Balani, Head of India at Outbrain

Redefining the status quo: How publishers must evolve to thrive in this new era

<ul><li>Brands should have a keen interest in reaching users who are really interested in their brand and products. </li><li>They should care about real views, not just visibility.</li><li><keyword id="7705644" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sandeep-balani">Sandeep Balani</keyword>, Head of India, <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> writes about the sensible adjustments that can help brands significantly increase the results and effectiveness of <keyword id="9063996" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="video-campaigns">video campaigns</keyword>.</li></ul><keyword id="412660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="video-advertising">Video advertising</keyword> is now dominating the digital advertising market. According to the international industry association IAB, 56% of the digital advertising budget was spent on video ads last year, and the trend is rising. In 2017, the video advertising volume in India was $714 million in 2020. According to a report released by GroupM, video is the most popular advertising format both in India as well as globally. The reasons are obvious: stories and emotions can be conveyed particularly well in videos and user engagement is higher than in other advertising formats. The dictation of distribution The downside of the boom: We are now flooded with videos on all websites and platforms. In social networks, on video platforms or on publisher sites, videos pop up constantly or force us in the form of pre-rolls to first look at an advertising message before we can finally consume the content we have chosen. The result is “video blindness”. Users ignore the video and the advertised brand. According to the results of a recent study by Magna, many users now automatically skip skippable video ads on YouTube without paying attention to the brand or the content. On average, the click to skip the ad in Germany comes after just 2.3 seconds. Numerous advertisers are heavily influenced by these key figures when designing their video ads. They display the logo in the first few seconds and let the video peak in the first few seconds. In addition, the same videos are simply scattered on different platforms in different formats. TV spots with a subtitle can be found in the social feed and videos lasting several minutes appear as pre-rolls with the hope that the user will not click on the “Skip Ad”. But is this really how a brand wants to present itself and how videos should be consumed? Seen vs visible videos Brands are based on the distribution formats without questioning whether this distribution really benefits the user and the brand. It seems that the mistakes of banner advertising from the previous decade are now being repeated in video advertising: Visibility at any price - regardless of the user experience. But what does viewability mean in video advertising anyway? Internationally, the 50/2 rule for videos defined by the IAB normally applies: 50 percent of the number of pixels in a video must be visible in the visible area of the user for at least 2 seconds. What might make sense with banners (rule 50/1 applies there), since a banner message can be captured relatively quickly, is more than problematic for example with a 60-second video. In this case, only 1.6 percent of the possible combination of duration and area of the video count as a view. A video can thus achieve many thousands of “views” without really being noticed by a noteworthy target group. A subdivision between real views, in which users really concentrate on a video, and visible ads, which are only visible, is imperative in order to obtain real key figures. What can we do? Some sensible adjustments can significantly increase the results and effectiveness of video campaigns. <ol><li>Analyze KPIs precisely - KPIs should not be rigidly selected and analyzed equally for all channels. A non-skippable pre-roll will inevitably achieve a very high completion rate. However, a fire could result in resentment of the users, since they are forced to watch the video. With autoplay formats, a more sophisticated definition of a “view” than 50/2 should be agreed if possible.</li><li>Schedule additional engagement - A very good measure of the effectiveness of a campaign is the engagement that follows the video. A call-to-action, i.e. an additional link that leads to a product page, for example, shows whether the right target group has been reached, the videos were actually viewed and not only visible, Pre-rolls really got people interested, and the ROI of the measures is really correct.</li><li>Choosing the right distribution channels - The boom in video advertising has led to a wide range of providers. YouTube and Facebook may be the standards. But publishers who guarantee safe and mostly high-quality environments should not be underestimated. They can be booked directly or via platforms.</li><li>Choose the right formats - Pre-rolls, autoplay, click-to-watch, stories or streams: Different formats are suitable for achieving different goals. Brands should first define the goals and then choose the right formats for their purposes.</li><li>Be careful when recycling - reusing the TV spot on Facebook is certainly very easy, but often not very effective if the video is then played on small smartphone screens without sound. These ads have to work well even without sound and pose special challenges for creative teams. The videos have to be adapted to channels and formats.</li></ol>The focused users Brands should have a keen interest in reaching users who are really interested in their brand and products. They should care about real views, not just visibility. This is the only way they can achieve real engagement and achieve business goals. Video advertising still has the chance not to suffer the same fate as display advertising and to cure “video blindness”. Providers and marketers must finally think back to the principles of good marketing: to inspire users with exciting topics and emotional videos and not to overwhelm them with videos on every single page they visit on the Internet. - This column was authored by Sandeep Balani, Head of India, Outbrain

Video advertising: Why a brand deserves more than five seconds

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Sky-is-hardly-the-limit-for-cross-border-ecommerce-it-will-grow-by-leaps-and-bounds/articleshow/50437339.cms">eCommerce has boomed in India</a> over the past couple of years primarily due to the rise in mobile Internet access and improvements across payment and delivery infrastructures. India is also seeing tier-II and tier-III cities showing strong momentum for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/WhyE-commerce-Is-Going-Through-Dark-Days-In-India/articleshow/25633480.cms">eCommerce</a> with an increased demand and appetite. According to a recent study by eMarketer, Asia Pacific leads the world in terms of the number of retail companies moving to <keyword id="436047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ecommerce">eCommerce</keyword>. In India itself, there were an estimated 82.3 million digital buyers in 2015, making it the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/eCommerce-industry-is-wooing-merchants-Heres-how/articleshow/48017395.cms">No. 3 market </a>for eCommerce in the world.
 Another study by <keyword id="6358918" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Deloitte">Deloitte</keyword> earlier this year pegged the value of the eCommerce market in India at $16 billion for 2015 - that's a staggering 300% increase from $4 billion in 2010. It is expected that eCommerce in India will grow from today’s’ $16 billion to a $50-$70 billion market by 2020. So what led to the growth and will 2016 continue to hold the momentum? Whatever the answers might be, there is no doubt that eCommerce is going to drive the growth of India’s economy. Anthony Hearne, Regional Director, Sea and India, <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> discusses five digital marketing trends that he predicts every eCommerce marketer should watch out for in 2016. 

	1. 2016 will be the year of mobile eCommerce in India. No REALLY this is the year!
 A surge in the number of smartphones and Internet users is boosting eCommerce, and the rise in content marketing is directly linked to this trend. A recent study conducted by us at Outbrain shows that Indians are consuming 41% of their content through smartphones, 76% of which is consumed on <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> phones. Thanks to Android-based platforms, even low-income segments are able to afford a smartphone, which acts as the Internet device of choice. Brands are increasingly using content marketing to engage with their audiences on mobile, and convert readers into buyers. As part of this trend, mCommerce will swiftly take over eCommerce with many predicting that by the end of this year more than 50% of total online orders will already come from mobiles instead of desktops. Myntra, a leading Indian fashion retailer, has declared that they will be shifting their marketing efforts from desktop to mobile-only by the end of this year. Another leading Indian eCommerce player, <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword>, has experienced a 90% growth in 2015 with 65% of its orders delivered through mobile. 

	2. Messaging apps are the next big thing
 

	Messaging apps are the next big thing and their potential impact on the content publishing ecosystem shouldn't be underestimated. In terms of sheer numbers, the world's 4 leading messaging apps now have as many monthly users as the top four social platforms. And they're growing much faster. 
 

	Significantly for publishers, messaging apps are used for much more than messaging: users consume and share videos, photos, content and news. And increasingly, they're emerging as platforms for eCommerce. In China, Weixin, the local version of the WeChat app, enables 600 million people each month to book taxis, check-in for flights, play games, bank, make doctor’s appointment, video conference call. Facebook's Messenger is following suit. 
 

	Messaging apps provide enormous potential for publishers - and brands - to embed themselves in their customers' mobile lives.
 

	If you have not seen the content experience in Snapchat (yes, SnapChat does editorial content) do yourself a favour and have a look at the ‘Discover’ section. Publishing brands like CNN, Buzzfeed and Mashable have produced customer content experiences on the Snapchat platform that creates some great new opportunities for brands to connect with an audience. 
 

	3. Tier-II &amp; Tier-III cities will drive the highest growth for eCommerce in India 
 

	For most e-tailers, 50% of their revenues is already coming from tier-II and tier-III cities. 
 

	Various studies have pegged the size of the Indian middle class between 350–400 million people, out of which approximately 100 million people live in tier-II and -III cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Ludhiana and Gurgaon. According to one of these studies, the highest demand for online retail comes from approximately 4,000-5,000 towns and cities in India, but there is no significant presence of physical retail in almost 95% of these locations due to high real estate costs, which limit organized retail from expanding.
 

	4. Steady growth in use of videos as a key content format
 

	Brands are investing more and more in video content, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Video engages more of a human being’s senses, and it can be a great vehicle for delivering a message and connecting with an individual in a short amount of time. As journalist-turned-Content Director for Visa, Kris Leboutillier puts it, “Nobody ever tells me they want a 1,000-word article.” Also, video is highly shareable. 
 There has been a phenomenal growth in the use of video content and this is set to continue in 2016, particularly across mobile platforms like <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword>, Facebook and Outbrain. Video allows greater engagement, enjoys lower bounce rates and is able to showcase products in multiple scenarios. A report from Q2 2014 by online video technology platform <keyword id="1059038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ooyala">Ooyala</keyword> stated that mobile video views had increased by 400% in the previous 2 years. Another study by Cisco has also predicted that online video will grab a 80% share of total internet traffic by 2019. 

	5. Rise in Content Marketing 
 

	Marketers cannot revert back to the historically popular tactics of push marketing. In fact, in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Future-gazing-E-Commerce-in-2016/articleshow/50453736.cms">2016 </a>brands will be spending a lot of time creating more relevant and inspiring content than ever before. 
 

	Smart eCommerce and well executed Content Marketing complement each other and ensure that there is engagement between brand and consumer at multiple touch points throughout the purchase cycle. It is true that digital as a discipline still forms a relatively small part of overall marketing spend in India and that these are both (rapidly) evolving areas. But, as advertising becomes increasingly targeted and personalized, and brands strive to find better ways to connect with their target audience, Content Marketing will continue to evolve and become the key to their future strategies.

	 
	 
	(Image credits: indiatimes)

2016
will be the year of mobile eCommerce in India, predicts Anthony Hearne, Sea and India Regional Director of the world’s largest online content discovery platform

Businesses in the digital age need to reach their targeted audience as fast as possible, but most advertising formats – digital or otherwise – don’t always scale that way and enterprises often miss out on fast and widespread reach-out. The key challenge on a thickly populated Internet is to get discovered in a relevant manner – so that the impact stays long enough to make its point. But to achieve that, one must think beyond banners and display ads and one <keyword id="6404679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-up">start-up</keyword> can help you do things differently. Meet <keyword id="1965714" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="e-generator-com">e-generator.com</keyword>, a <keyword id="1965718" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="native-advertising-network">native advertising network</keyword> that focuses on <keyword id="165986" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Brand-promotion">brand promotion</keyword> based on relevant <keyword id="45859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="content">content</keyword> (the company calls it <keyword id="1965720" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Content-based-advertising">content-based advertising</keyword>) and leverages a growing <keyword id="1965722" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Network-of-content-publishers">network of content publishers</keyword> in India to ensure instant discovery and distribution of such content on the World Wide Web. 
 However, there is one marked difference between e-generator and other <keyword id="1965728" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Native-advertising-firms">native advertising firms</keyword>. The Gurgaon-headquartered company is essentially catering to the media/content industry and helping online publishers get the eyeballs. Traffic is driven through a unique <keyword id="1965730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Audience-exchange-programme">audience exchange programme</keyword> where content from <keyword id="1965731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Member-websites">member websites</keyword> is shared across e-generator’s <keyword id="1965724" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Network-of-publishers">network of publishers</keyword> to increase overall <keyword id="6487074" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Visibility">visibility</keyword>. 
 What’s more, this network grows by default as every client of the firm becomes a publishing partner as well. The company creates ‘teaser’ for every story and adds <keyword id="39862" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Images">images</keyword> to whet readers’ curiosity, and then places <keyword id="1965734" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Content-widgets">content widgets</keyword> on all publishers’ sites – so that media firms/marketers can promote their content through <keyword id="1965742" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Native-ads">native ads</keyword> on the Web. There is also an intelligent software tool to track the performance of each story. 
 Globally, companies like <keyword id="1817861" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Outbrain">Outbrain</keyword> and <keyword id="546472" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Disqus">Disqus</keyword> have already introduced a similar <keyword id="1965743" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Native-ad-concept">native ad concept</keyword>, but e-generator has brought it to India for the first time. Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs e-generator.com: <keyword id="1965710" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shaan-Bahra">Shaan Bahra</keyword>, a major in Mathematics and an MCA degree-holder. He also trained as a design and multimedia professional and has more than 14 years of industry exposure. Prior to starting this initiative in India, <keyword id="6362169" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shaan">Shaan</keyword> worked with Rediffusion DY&amp;R, as well as several other firms operating in media, graphics, animation and the Internet space. The current initiative took off in December 2012. 
 
What inspired the venture: The fast-growing <keyword id="1617167" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-market-in-India">online market in India</keyword> calls for the latest techniques in digital advertising – so that <keyword id="1965746" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Online-businesses">online businesses</keyword> get better positioning and ROI. “That was the chief motivation for bringing <keyword id="1751384" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Native-Advertising">native advertising</keyword> to the <keyword id="1965745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-digital-space">Indian digital space</keyword>,” recalls Shaan. “Next, we had to decide on the industry and we zeroed in on publishers as <keyword id="1965753" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-readers">Indian readers</keyword> are exploring <keyword id="172327" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="digital-content">digital content</keyword> as never before. This is especially important as <keyword id="1929798" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="content-consumption">content consumption</keyword> via <keyword id="141190" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="mobile-Internet">mobile Internet</keyword> is trending right now,” he adds. 
 The Indian venture, however, is similar to the <keyword id="428085" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-ups">start-ups</keyword> promoted by Berlin-based <keyword id="1965711" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rocket-Internet-GmbH">Rocket Internet GmbH</keyword>, a venture arm of the Samwer brothers and known for cloning several successful <keyword id="482854" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="online-business">online business</keyword> models of the US in other markets. “But in our case, it is Moscow-based <keyword id="1965712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="SMI2-net">SMI2.net</keyword> who has a similar venture up and running in <keyword id="6358826" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> for more than 7 years,” says Shaan. Inspired by the concept and the huge opportunity the <keyword id="47445" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-market">Indian market</keyword> offers, he, along with the parent company<ins cite="mailto:sanghamitra.mandal" datetime="2013-12-06T17:21">,</ins> started the Indian initiative last year. 
 
What’s the pitch: First ever native advertising network in India and the first ever <keyword id="1965760" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Audience-exchange-network">audience exchange network</keyword>, helping <keyword id="1965761" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Content-publishers">content publishers</keyword> and brands to grow their audience base. 
 
How it works: According to Shaan, e-generator curates the content gathered from digital providers and serves it on a platter for end-users to ensure a growing base of unique and relevant visitors (those who are keen to read such content). The purpose is not to promote brands who publish news, but to promote the good content and stories published by them. While content consumers on the Web get to explore a variety of topics, there is a lot of backend work going on. “For example, we are constantly expanding our network of publishers and helping them grow in terms of visitors and insight,” says Shaan. “We also share our ad revenues (earned from paid content) with our partner sites.” 
 
Claim to fame: A decent bouquet of publishers to show off. The company claims that within a span of 10 months, it has managed to cover around 80% of the digital publishers in India and still counting. Key <keyword id="63341" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Advertisers">advertisers</keyword> including <keyword id="177241" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="GroupM">GroupM</keyword>, <keyword id="137600" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mindshare">Mindshare</keyword> and <keyword id="1965768" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="DbbMudra">DbbMudra</keyword> have worked with e-generator, and appreciated the quality of traffic and the way it runs the <keyword id="1965770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Advertising-engine">advertising engine</keyword>. 
 
Show me the money: Unlike many others, this start-up has raised around Rs 1 crore in <keyword id="948731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="seed-funding">seed funding</keyword>. Currently, <keyword id="685044" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Revenue-earning">revenue earning</keyword> is through <keyword id="283781" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="PPC">PPC</keyword> (<keyword id="1965772" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pay-per-click">pay per click</keyword>) as the firm delivers committed number of page views to each of its media/content clients. The other aspect is to have the advertisers explore the potential of effective marketing – via content and on news publishers’ platform. “We have already started that with GroupM and Mindshare, and hope to build on that,” says Shaan. The company has not reached break-even yet but hopes to do so by July 2014, going by the market trend. 
 The <keyword id="1965774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Digital-advertising-market-in-India">digital advertising market in India</keyword> was pegged at $410 million in 2012 and is expected to reach $1.6 billion by 2015, details Shaan. According to him, the major chunk of money lies with the advertisers who want to focus more on promoting brands through content. That’s because when people read about brands (the whole story instead of one-off product ads), they love them and become the custodians of those brands. So a lot of <keyword id="121747" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="marketers">marketers</keyword> have now realised that digital is the place where connect with the <keyword id="1965776" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Target-group">target group</keyword> is most essential. One can connect via <keyword id="144248" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Videos">videos</keyword>, content, images… and people love and share these over <keyword id="23045" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="social-networks">social networks</keyword> – one of the best ways to go <keyword id="54320" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Viral">viral</keyword>. But in the first place, that content must be featured on authentic and validated platforms – for instance, digital publishers of repute. 
 “We are doing just that. When <keyword id="1965779" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Content-search">content search</keyword> happens, we tend to be there at quality and relevant landing pages (of digital publishers). So we expect to work with a large number of marketers very soon,” he adds. 
 
Biggest challenge: Positioning the business is going to be the biggest challenge as all publishers are not ready for native advertising or audience exchange. They have to realise that people grow only when they synergise. And the same goes for the advertising space. The stakeholders have to accept the originality of the concept, explore untried methods and look at ROI-driven advertising from a different perspective. 
 <keyword id="1141314" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="global-expansion">Global expansion</keyword> is the other crucial area. The company could be expanding to the Americas, the European and the nascent South African markets in another year or two. The first two markets are quite mature by now but e-generator intends to show them the immense opportunity of content marketing in India that has a huge and fast-growing user base. “That won’t be an easy task, but we still intend to do it to ensure global growth,” concludes Shaan.

This Native Ad Network Uses Creative Tech To Help Content
Go Viral

<ul><li><keyword id="4296770" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Httpool">Httpool</keyword>, partner of major social media platforms that has seen 300% growth YoY globally in the past 2 years, is looking to double its growth rate in Asia by hiring more Indian talent and expanding its offices across the continent. </li><li>We caught up with <keyword id="929770" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunny-Nagpal">Sunny Nagpal</keyword>, Co-founder, and Regional Managing Director, Httpool APAC to understand what helped the network strengthen its position in the Indian market and its vision for next year. </li></ul>Httpool, an international cross channel ad network, recently completed 10 years of existence in India. In a short span of time, it has worked with over 750 advertisers in India and in 2019 itself, it did close to 3,000 campaigns for leading publishers. It offers a range of ad network products and solutions across display, video, engagement, social and performance channels. Httpool has been appointed by some of the top media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify, Warner Music, Outbrain and Brainly and LinkedIn as their exclusive ad sales partner across selected European and Asian markets. In 2017, the Httpool became a part of Internet Media Services-Sony family and saw a growth of 300% globally after the partnership. It was also quick to bounce back to normalcy after the lockdown. While its business took a plunge in April, Httpool was able to come back to its normal level by the end of May. Now, it is aiming to double this growth rate in Asia, expand in all Asian markets, and recruit more talent from India. Sunny Nagpal, Co-founder, and Regional Managing Director, Httpool APAC further walked us through the company’s global journey of 20 years, impact COVID-19 had on its business in India, trends he has seen in the digital marketing landscape and much more. Excerpts: Q. Can you walk me through Httpool's journey in India? We started in India in 2010, although the group is now celebrating 20 years. We started back in 2000 in Slovenia's capital, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enIN824IN824&amp;q=Ljubljana&amp;stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgVuLQz9U3SMrNNXnEaMwt8PLHPWEprUlrTl5jVOHiCs7IL3fNK8ksqRQS42KDsnikuLjgmngWsXL6ZJUm5WQl5iUCAAFa64FOAAAA">Ljubljana</a>. We grew from there to be now present in Asia, Central, Eastern Europe, Western Europe. Through our partner IMS, we are also present in Latin America and the USA. So, it has been quite a remarkable journey when we look back. We feel extremely accomplished and satisfied to be able to do what we have done. So, if you look back at 2010, we started in a very traditional ad network position when there was tremendous consumption happening across multiple channels. There were many international destinations from both mobile applications and websites, which had audiences from India. The local brands wanted to advertise on those opportunities. Every advertiser wants to be where their audience is, but logistically it was not feasible back then. So we took a very standard ad network position by aggregating all possible destinations to advertise across all different digital advertising channels through our proprietary technology and added a lot of layers of targeting, relevance, and brand safety and brought it to the local advertisers and agencies. We also realized that the entire ecosystem was quite linear, where all the key digital advertising channels were looked at in isolation. There was search, social, video, and display. Even the mobile was considered a separate channel within digital. We started taking a cross-channel position to advocate for major brands and the agencies and advertisers to begin looking at all the channels more holistically. And there were some challenges in doing so because it was difficult to understand or map the outcome or measure one channel's outcome to the other. We brought in many tools and best practices from international markets that we were present in and started advocating this cross channel approach through cross channel attribution modeling. Today, if you look at it, you could see that the cross channel has gone beyond digital. Over time, we saw that we were getting a lot of regional opportunities outside of India, and we started establishing India more as a regional office. Today, we are managing eight markets in Asia, out of the Indian office. And we have got some of the large representations like Facebook, Twitter, GrabAds, Daily Motion, Lifesight, Outbrain in some of the other markets in the region. So it's an immensely satisfying position. We are proud to say that we are globally number one, we are regionally number one, and we are locally the number one in our business. Q. What makes you number one in the market? In the digital world, even more so than before, it is crucial to remain flexible and agile. So even though Httpool has grown to cover 30 plus markets and we work with close to 350 employees, we continue to be able to react and adapt quickly to the new realities to evolve and find the best model structure in working. Complete transparency is another aspect that makes us who we are in all geographies. Coupled with long-term vision and perseverance, transparency, in turn, feeds into creating stronger partnerships. These are the very core of our operation that has led to the success that we have tasted across. Q. How important is the Indian market in the global scheme of things? India is one of the largest economies that we are present in and one of the fastest-growing digital advertising markets. Besides that, the kind of talent availability we have in India is the right mix and right fit for all the regional expansion. We are operating in eight markets, and in almost every market, we have somebody from India who is supporting that, or somebody in India working for those markets. India is also where the functional leads are based out of for all APAC expansion -- our regional heads of marketing, HR, admin, finance, creative, measurement specialists, are all operating out of India currently. Q. How did COVID-19 and lockdown impact your business? COVID was a big blow to everyone. For us, there were a few things to think about and act upon, foremost towards our assets, which is our people. The moment we realized that this is bigger than what is being anticipated and things will be there longer than we believe, we immediately reached out to all our people. We assured them that the company would be there by their side in every eventuality, they're going to be looked after properly and assured them of all support. And at the same time, we aimed to get the motivation up, provide them with all the tools and methodologies so that they could continue executing our mandate in the new world. We fine-tuned ourselves to what each of our partners perceived as market realities in our markets, quickly adapted approaches and adjusted the value propositions. Fortunately, what was also happening was that digital consumption was increasing during that time. So, moving away from traditional and more towards digital amplified our position in the market as experts who can provide support, lend efficiency, effectiveness by bringing in best practices, methodology, technologies, and a lot of cross-market learnings due to our global position and ability to learn from regions as far away as Latin America and Europe.. So, this worked well for us. We were able to turn around our business ground within May itself. Q. Has COVID helped bring marketing analytics to the forefront, because digital has become more important than ever? Are more brands investing time and efforts in it and what kind of trends have you seen in the market after COVID? In the last few months, whether new brands are launched or services rendered, audiences being targeted, digital is becoming the primary communication channel. So the shift to the digital enterprise has happened. We were always advocating that, and we're trying to highlight the value. The current situation acted as a stimulus to improve upon and helped accept digital as one of the main focus areas and convergence platforms for all marketing initiatives. So the shift has happened already. And it is also because the consumption patterns have changed; right from discovery to purchase, everything is happening digitally now. People are often asking, 'what are you going to do in post-COVID times?' And for me, I don't think there is going to be something like “pre-COVID times” ever again because the stamp is going to be there on everyone -- on how businesses are run, how people think, how everything moves about now. It's all quite significantly impacted and is going to be a prolonged impact. So now, it is only about improving the experience for brands in digital, ensuring the brand safety, and being able to deliver on the KPIs because there's so much inventory, so many opportunities, destinations to advertise. Brands now only need to figure it out, or they need to be thoughtfully handheld on the spot to realize the best value proposition. Marketing analytics come in very handy here because it helps you recognize the value of your investment. Also the KPIs are constantly changing. Digital is now considered at every stage of the sales funnel and a lot of qualitative studies are being implemented to identify user behavior, product lift, and brand lift. So, marketing analytics is undoubtedly playing a more important role now. Other trends that we see are around video becoming the most prominent ad format; in the absence of any physical interactions, storytelling has to happen more explicitly, and video is the right format to do that. So we're seeing many video assets being produced by all our brands and agencies to advertise across all platforms. Q. As a marketeer, what has been your biggest learning from this experience? As a marketer, the most significant learning should be the adjustment from long term to short term focus. How key objectives can be achieved even with a very tactical perspective on media planning and buying. From a traditional mid-funnel approach, bottom-funnel, long-term ATL, BTL initiatives, I think object-oriented, tactical-focused planning and execution should be given equal importance. It's going to lend to a much more agile and flexible ecosystem and way of it approaching advertising, coupled with measuring it correctly. So measurement is another essential learning that I've developed, in terms of seeing how it can help you realize the value of the investment and, at the same time, how it feeds into your decision making process. We've seen brands looking at the same platforms completely differently after running the campaign and measuring it correctly. Q. What kind of growth have you seen so far, and what is your roadmap and vision for the next few years? If you look at our journey, we've been growing year-on-year since 2010 in India and regionally in Asia; we have succeeded in all the markets we exist in. In 2017, Sony pictures majority owned company IMS acquired a majority stake in our company. It was quite a strategic acquisition that created the largest platform of representations globally. It was so beneficial that we've been growing 300% year over year as Httpool over the past two years. And we plan to double again next year and continue this exponential growth for the next three to four years by unlocking the opportunities for all large platforms in all of the markets, while also expanding geographies and adding on new products. Q. Are you planning to expand your businesses? Yes. We are planning to expand our business geographically across all Asian markets. We are trying to open more offices in India and other metros. We are also trying to bring more partnerships into the Indian market. We are recruiting more talent from the Indian market for the Asian expansions. So, we are looking at expansion at all levels.

Httpool saw a growth of 300% after IMS acquisition; aims to double down in the coming years

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">TaboolaTaboola wants to crack down on "racy" ads, like these on MetalSucks.net.</div></div></div><ul><li>Ad-tech companies such as Taboola, Outbrain, and RevContent, which deliver so-called content recommendations, are working out how to deal with sexually suggestive ads.</li><li>RevContent recently moved to ban certain images, while Taboola says it's about to kick off an effort to clean up its network, with help from its users.</li><li>Some publishers don't always know what content is being recommended on their sites, while others take efforts to do some filtering.</li><li>Still, it's hard for web publisher to turn down revenue given the challenges facing the <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> industry.</li></ul>It has long been accepted in <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> that sex sells. But at a time when workplace mores and casual attitudes toward sexism are being reexamined, some publishers and advertisers are asking whether the internet needs to clean up its act.Specifically, the use of sexually suggestive images delivered through content-recommendation companies such as Taboola and Outbrain have been flagged by some ad-industry insiders.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image">Mens FitnessRacy ads that appeared on Men's Fitness.</div></div></div>These ad modules are ubiquitous online, even if Taboola and Outbrain aren't household names. Almost every web user has probably encountered the collections of web links and accompanying photos near the bottom of articles - promising shocking photos of shark attacks, D-list celebrities, or dramatic weight loss.They're not always racy, but publishers don't always have much if any control over what stories or ads get touted in these boxes. You can find content-recommendation modules on sites including CNN.com and Wired.com. Business Insider also runs them. Often they are labeled at "suggested stories" or "sponsored posts" or "stories you may be interested in."They're there because the content-recommendation companies pay publications to carry these modules. Smaller sites can make a few hundred bucks from these deals, while large publishers can earn millions or more each year.And at a time when Google and Facebook are slurping up the majority of digital ad spending, most web publishers are happy to pull in any extra revenue.Often these modules push the envelope in terms of imagery and what sort of content may be available once you click. Now, the companies behind these recommendations are vowing to make changes, with RevContent saying it's banning certain images and Taboola about to kick off an effort to clean up its network with help from its users."Obviously the world is moving to consider more things to be racy and sexist," Yaron Galai, cofounder and CEO of Outbrain, said. "I'm not sure whether this is just good PR or what, but in the past many publishers were happy to get a check. Now, whether it's fake news, MeToo, all of them are coming together. It's not about a check; it's about a trustworthy on-brand experience."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">New York Daily NewsTaboola ads appearing on New York Daily News.</div></div></div><h2>Digital advertising may need to change in the #MeToo era</h2>Galai at Outbrain said his company has always pushed for strict content guidelines. Here are Outbrain's rules on "adult" content.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">OutbrainOutbrain prohibits certain ad types.</div></div></div>"We've been at the forefront on this," he told Business Insider. "Our currency is user trust. Finally, the market is coming around on this. It's something we've been really focused on."Galai said that Outbrain has over 5 million links in its system in a given month. And that's after 50% get rejected upfront for violating the company's standards.But it's very tough to police what ads run where. "We're not 100% perfect, but squash it as soon as we identify [a link that breaks our rules.]"<h2>Facebook isn't immune</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">FacebookFacebook ads that have been banned.</div></div></div>Such sexually suggestive ads aren't just on the open web. They pop up on Facebook too.After being alerted by Business Insider about several racy links, Facebook took the ads in question down. "These ads violate our ads policies under our policy for adult content and have been removed," a Facebook spokeswoman said.Some see an industry that is pushing questionable content that is out of step with the #MeToo era. Other see these companies looking to exploit that movement.Recently, the Taboola-competitor RevContent issued a news release stating a new policy that will "eliminate use of all sexually objectifying and explicit content."The company said it was basing its standards on <a href="https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/03/08/1418730/0/en/Revcontent-Receives-Endorsement-from-National-Center-on-Sexual-Exploitation-by-Banning-all-Sexually-Explicit-Content.html">guidelines provided by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation</a>.Meanwhile, Taboola's founder and CEO, Adam Singolda, told Business Insider that since early 2017 the company has reviewed all its paid content manually and automatically and that a million different URLs are screened each month.Initially, that 30-person group has focused on cracking down on deceptive ads and <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/289905/taboola-takes-on-fake-news-furor.html%23reply&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1480539329173000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFVlE59EQpaq4h4e9VLRSuEaPEevQ">fake news</a>. More recently it's banned cryptocurrency ads. And starting in the second quarter of this year, Taboola is planning to block out what it deems "racy" ads. It's adding more than a dozen new members to its review team.Of course that's complicated, because one person's definition of too sexy for your computer can be very different from another's. Standards on sexually charged content vary widely, particularly across the globe, Singolda said.Outbrain's Galai concurred. He has teams in Israel, India, and the US scanning paid links, and they don't always agree. "It's more of a nuanced thing," he said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Daily NewsFrom the New York Daily News.</div></div></div>That's true in the US too. "On Sports Illustrated, for example, bikinis may be OK. But on Time.com maybe not."For its cleanup efforts, Taboola is asking for the community's help. People can click on a tab on Taboola ads and rate them for being "deceptive" and racy using a module called <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/taboola-increases-content-transparency-for-millions-of-users-2013-10">Taboola Choice</a>. It has already removed 100,000 sites from its customer base, which makes a small percentage of its overall advertiser base, Singolda said.Some mainstream publishers that use celebrity images will be categorized by Taboola as "gossip," while other, less legitimate news publications will be blocked for images that cross the line."It's going to cost us millions of dollars," Singolda said. But it's worth it, he says. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/despite-frequent-criticism-the-israeli-ad-tech-company-taboolas-revenue-is-skyrocketing-2018-3">Taboola is bringing in $1 billion a year,</a> and the loss of a few million dollars won't bury the company."We need the open web to thrive, so that all publishers can make money," he said.Of course money is the main reason that most publishers feature content-recommendation tools. Yet publishers only know so much about what content-recommendation ads run on their site at a given moment.<ul><li>Sometimes Taboola or Outbrain recommends users check out more of that publication's own content.</li><li>Sometimes people see content from other publications or from mainstream advertisers.</li><li>And then sometimes people see sensational headlines and images from no-name publications looking for clicks.</li></ul>According to a New York Magazine spokeswoman, Taboola does offer the company "a measure of control in terms of the content that's surfaced on our site." That includes the option to block specific ads or pieces of content if the publication receives complaints. The New York Daily News did not respond to requests for comment.But other publishers say they have less awareness."Since the ads a user sees are tailored to their individual browsing habits, we simply can't see everything that runs on our site," said Ben Umanov, of Blast Beat Network which represents publications like the music-centric<a href="http://www.metalsucks.net/"> MetalSucks.net</a>. "If a user brings a complaint to us about a particular ad, we review it and ask the network to remove it from our queue if we find it to be objectionable."A Men's Fitness spokesperson added: "American Media Inc. has great value and appreciation for our readers and visitors. While we do not directly manage the ad placements with many of our programmatic advertising partners, we will continue to work closely with them to ensure the best environment possible for all of our audiences." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/transgender-activist-former-white-house-intern-sarah-mcbride-isnt-discouraged-by-trump-2018-3">This transgender activist and former Obama White House intern isn't backing down against Trump</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The companies behind those sexually suggestive ads you see all over the internet say they're working on toning things down

Did you know? Asia Pacific leads the world in terms of the number of retail companies moving to E-commerce, according to a recent study by <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/APAC-Leads-World-Share-of-Retail-Market-Going-Ecommerce/1012966">eMarketer</a>. And that’s particularly true in India where, despite a lower Internet penetration as compared to markets like Australia and Korea, there were an estimated 82.3 million digital buyers in 2015 — making it the No. 3 market for E-commerce in the world. 
 
E-commerce has boomed in India over the past couple of years primarily due to the rise in mobile Internet access and improvements across payment and delivery infrastructures. Another study by Deloitte earlier this year pegged the value of the E-commerce market in India at $16 billion for 2015 - that's a staggering 300% increase from $4 billion in 2010. It is expected that E-commerce in India will grow from today’s’ $16 billion to a $50-$70 billion market by 2020. 
 
With no doubt that E-commerce is going to drive growth for India’s economy, here is Anthony Hearne, Regional Director, SEA, India and New Markets, Outbrain sharing five digital marketing trends that every E-commerce marketer should watch out for in 2016: 
 
#1: 2016 will be the year of mobile E-commerce in India. No REALLY this is the year!! 
 
A surge in the number of smartphones and Internet users is boosting E-commerce, and the rise in content marketing is directly linked to this trend. A <a href="http://www.outbrain.com/blog/2015/06/mobile-content-consumption-trends-asia-pacific.html">recent study</a> conducted by Outbrain shows that Indians are consuming 41% of their content through smartphones, 76% of which is consumed on Android phones. 
 
Thanks to Android-based platforms, even low-income segments are able to afford a smartphone, which acts as the Internet device of choice. Brands are increasingly using content marketing to engage with their audiences on mobile, and convert readers into buyers. As part of this trend, mCommerce will swiftly take over E-commerce with many predicting that by the end of this year more than 50% of total online orders will already come from mobiles instead of desktops. Myntra, a leading Indian fashion retailer, has declared that they will be shifting their marketing efforts from desktop to mobile-only by the end of this year. Another leading Indian E-commerce player, Snapdeal, has experienced a 90% growth in 2015 with 65% of its orders delivered through mobile. 
 
#2: Messaging apps are the next big thing 
 
Messaging apps are the next big thing and their potential impact on the content publishing ecosystem shouldn't be underestimated. In terms of sheer numbers, the world's 4 leading messaging apps now have as many monthly users as the top four social platforms. And they're growing much faster. 
 
Significantly for publishers, messaging apps are used for much more than messaging: users consume and share videos, photos, content and news. And increasingly, they're emerging as platforms for E-commerce. In China, Weixin, the local version of the WeChat app, enables 600 million people each month to book taxis, check-in for flights, play games, bank, make doctors appointments, video conference call. Facebook's Messenger is following suit. 
 
#3: Tier-II &amp; Tier-III cities will drive the highest growth for E-commerce in India 
As a result of its growing middle class, India is seeing tier-II and tier-III cities showing strong momentum for E-commerce with an increased demand and appetite. For most e-tailers, 50% of their revenues is already coming from tier-II and tier-III cities. 
 
Various studies have pegged the size of the Indian middle class between 350–400 million people, out of which approximately 100 million people live in tier-II and -III cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Ludhiana and Gurgaon. According to <a href="http://www.unmetro.in/nonmetro-awakening/growth-of-indian-e-commerce-industry-by-2016/">one of these studies</a>, the highest demand for online retail comes from approximately 4,000-5,000 towns and cities in India, but there is no significant presence of physical retail in almost 95% of these locations due to high real estate costs, which limit organised retail from expanding. 
 
#4: Steady growth in use of videos as a key content format 
Brands are investing more and more in video content, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Video engages more of a human being’s senses, and it can be a great vehicle for delivering a message and connecting with an individual in a short amount of time. There has been a phenomenal growth in the use of video content and this is set to continue in 2016, particularly across mobile platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Outbrain. Video allows greater engagement, enjoys lower bounce rates and is able to showcase products in multiple scenarios. 
 
#5: Rise in Content Marketing 
Marketers cannot revert back to the historically popular tactics of push marketing. In fact, in 2016 brands will be spending a lot of time creating more relevant and inspiring content than ever before. 
Smart E-commerce and well executed Content Marketing complement each other and ensure that there is engagement between brand and consumer at multiple <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/touch">touch</a> points throughout the purchase cycle. It is true that digital as a discipline still forms a relatively small part of overall marketing spend in India and that these are both (rapidly) evolving areas. But, as advertising becomes increasingly targeted and personalized, and brands strive to find better ways to connect with their target audience, Content Marketing will continue to evolve and become the key to their future strategies.

5 digital marketing trends that every e-commerce marketer should watch out for in 2016

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Business Insider/Julie BortWaze and FeeX co-founder Uri Levine</div></div></div>This summer, it's raining unicorns - tech startups valued at more than $1 billion - and as a result the Israeli tech scene is going absolutely crazy.Business Insider just spent a week in Israel meeting with over a dozen tech companies, and VCs. They all told us:Everyone is dreaming of becoming the next unicorn. Instead of selling their startups for $1 million to $30 million, founders are turning down multi-million acquisition offers wanting to build big companies.2015 is a record-breaker for VC funding. For the first half in 2015, 342 companies have attracted $2.1 billion, up from 334 companies nabbing $1.6 billion in the first half of 2014.The private equity bankers have arrived in droves, including Blackstone, SilverLake, KKR, Apax Partners, TPG, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, and they're writing writing huge checks.Chinese investors are swarming the country, joining Israeli VC funds as limited partners as well as doing a lot of huge, direct investments into startups, too. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Chris McGrath/Getty Images</div></div></div>"If we're going to do $4 billion in venture in 2015, the estimate I heard is that at least $500 million of that will be Chinese money, and that's direct investment not including the LP stuff," Israeli powerhouse VC Jon Medved told Business Insider. "And I think that's probably underestimated." Medved, founder of <a href="https://www.ourcrowd.com/">investment startup OurCrowd</a> and is widely known as one of the fathers of Israel's tech startup scene.Chinese investors are "at all the parties" a startup founder told us. The joke here is that Israeli border control needs to open up a special customs line "just for Chinese investors with bags of money that they can just get in the country for free," Medved quipped. This hot economy has led to ... <ul><li>Big well-funded Israeli companies starting to acquire other Israeli companies for big sums of money, too.</li><li>The first crop of Israeli serial entrepreneurs, such as Avigdor Willens, who sold Annapurna to Amazon earlier this year for a reported $350 to $375 million. Willens sold his first company, Galileo, for $2.7 billion in stock back in 2000 to Marvell Technologies.</li></ul><h2>It started when Google dropped a billion on Waze</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Business Insider/Julie BortIsraeli flags fly in Jerusalem</div></div></div>When Google bought Waze for $1 billion in 2013, it was a milestone event for the country, says Medved. "Billion-dollar companies are now all over the place. Waze was the first and most important," he told us. Waze co-founder Uri Levine explained to Business Insider, "This was the first time a billion-dollar app, and a consumer app, came out of Israel," and it set "a new beacon for Israel" telling entrepreneurs to aim higher than a quick exit.The next year, Japan's Rakuten (the eBay of Japan) acquired Israeli messaging app Viber for $900 million and unicorn fever in the country began.Over and over, startup founders told us they had no interest in selling their successful companies, some of which were doing millions of dollars in revenue, some of which were doing hundreds of millions in revenue. They wanted to grow their companies past $1 billion to many billions."Israel entrepreneurs are obsessed with building unicorns," Hillel Fuld, CMO of Israeli startup Zula told us.<h2> Billion dollar startups include …</h2><ul><li>Taboola (who raised $117 million in February, $157 million total)</li><li>IronSource (who raised $105 million in two rounds from private equity funds run by JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley),</li><li>Outbrain (who filed confidential SEC documents for an IPO at a reported $1 billion valuation)</li><li>Conduit, who said it was the first Israeli internet unicorn, in 2012</li></ul>There's also a new crop of public tech companies worth $1 billion:<ul><li>MobileEye: IPO'd in 2014, with $12 billion market cap today</li><li>CyberArk, also IPO'd in 2014, market cap of about $2 billion</li><li>Wix, IPO'd in 2013, market cap of about $900 million</li><li>And there's some half-unicorns, like Varonis Systems, which IPO'd in 2014 and has a market cap of nearly $600 million, nothing to sneeze at.</li></ul><h2>Asian money everywhere </h2> "The Asia stuff is very dramatic, very real and very new," says Medved."China is the big story. But Japan for example - there had never been a visit of a Japanese Prime Minister to Israel before. In all the years of Israel's existence, what did they have to come here for? This year, the Japanese Prime Minister shows up for four days, all tech." <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">OurCrowdOurCrowd founder, Jon Medved</div></div></div>Meanwhile, Korea's Samsung Ventures has now made "8 investments here over the last year," says Medved. Plus, "there are now Israeli companies going to list on the Singapore exchange."Israel will also be hosting the Indian Prime Minister for the first time. In February, Indian company Infosys (now run by SAP's former US CTO Vishal Sikka) bought Israeli company Panaya for $200 million. India has plans to build an R&amp;D center here. Still China overshadows them all. Investment are pouring in from Baidu, Fosun, Alibaba, Tencent, RenRen and others.Famous Chinese angel investor (and billionaire) Li Ka Shing and his Horizon Ventures fund are all over the country. Horizon was an early investor in Waze. And he's invested in about 29 Israeli startups, including Waze founder Levine's latest baby, FeeX, (raised $9 million).If there's a downside to all of this, its that Israel is starting to experience a severe talent shortage. They are now poaching each other's employees and trying to keep employees from leaving by offering better and better Valley-like perks.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Business Insider/Julie BortIronSource CEO and co-founder Tomer Bar Zeev and deputy CEO and co-founder Omer Kaplan</div></div></div>IronSource, for example, flies its 550 employees to one exotic offsite meeting every year. The whole company just got back from Greece. "Once a year, we party," CEO Tomer Bar Zeev told us. "That builds culture. It's one of the best investments we can make, investing in the company."If that fails, Chinese billionaire Li Ka Shing has an answer. He also donated $130 million to Israel's Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology (like the MIT of Israel), one of the largest ever donations received by an Israeli university. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-firm-solar-power-energy-business-invention-2014-9">An Israeli Company Just Solved Solar Energy's Single Most Mystifying Problem</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1jbHlvcDqSkVm1c2NvsGYgno10q1fVAD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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