<ul><li>The current year witnessed several challenges for the industry – NTO, weak economic conditions, muted consumer demand and slowdown in some sectors such as automobiles, real estate, BFSI, etc.</li><li>While the advertising industry did grow in 2019 but it was lower than the originally-anticipated growth rate of 12-13%.</li><li>Anand Bhadkamkar, CEO, <keyword id="6368370" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="dentsu-aegis-network">Dentsu Aegis Network</keyword> India’s (DAN) summarises some of the trends that developed in 2019 and how DAN latched onto them. </li></ul>The current year witnessed several challenges for the industry – NTO, weak economic conditions, muted consumer demand and slowdown in some sectors such as automobiles, real estate, BFSI, etc. The industry did grow in the current year but growth was lower than the originally-anticipated growth rate of 12-13%. During the year, the government has taken many proactive decisions such as reduction in corporate tax rates, further simplification in GST, sector-focused recovery actions such as for real estate, etc. <br /><br />As we move into 2020, some of these actions will help re-ignite the growth. At the same time, the market is going through a transformative phase with digital playing a big role in how the brands are engaging with and reaching out to consumers. Some of the trends noticed during the year are:<br /><br /><strong>Digital beyond marketing: </strong>Clients are beginning to use digital better to understand consumer trends/recruitment/deciding product strategy; it is more about using digital to achieve business outcomes and driving commerce rather than advertising/marketing outcomes with the use of data, Machine Learning, Martech platforms, etc.<br /><br /><strong>Millennials rule the roost for multiple reasons: </strong><br />Eagerness to find engaging content and share<br />A large buying population<br />Great influences of the wider population<br /><br /><strong>Storytelling/Content is King:</strong> There is a growing realization of the importance of connecting audiences through interesting storytelling – be it in long format or short - to engage audiences. In fact, the trend of starting to think digital engagement first and then TV is on the rise; and this trend is not just connecting with Video or Static, but across.<br /><br /><strong>Digital OOH is Coming of Age:</strong> OOH is now seen as a strong medium that enables strong connections with brands and enhances response to online brand communication. Advertisers are willing to experiment more with digital OOH solutions. Ambient spaces are being taken more seriously and designed with greater focus to be part of a larger story that the brand is trying to tell. Evidently, Storytelling is steadily becoming the hero here as well.<br /><br /><strong>Customer Experience &amp; Customer Centricity to Drive Brand Building: </strong>Customer experience (CX) design is becoming the next developing frontier in brand building. Brands and agency partners that decode and deliver this best will win more with consumers. Use of data and machine learning, collecting first party data and enriching it is becoming a focus area for many clients. And this, with the support of Martech, helps deliver better consumer / personal experiences. There is growing recognition of the importance of marrying data and creativity. <br /><br /><strong>The vision for Television:</strong> it was news (elections) and sports that provided the initial spike to TV when the year began. However, expectations began to dull post May when slowdown hit. The TV spends also took a hit at the start of the year with NTO taking some time to settle down; but it did not catalyze the withdrawal of spends by advertisers from the market. No! Rather, what it did was get clients into a worry-spin. After all, ‘measurement’ was missing. There was little clarity. And for a short while, all channels suffered. Spends dropped and for the first few months, clients preferred to wait and watch. But some clients were committed, and they went ahead with what was promised. In India, TV still has a lot of growth potential and I believe, will continue to grow in double digits albeit at a slightly lower pace in coming years as well.<br /><br />At Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), more than 50% of our business is digital. This, along with our data capabilities and our one P&amp;L approach, has helped us adapt to the new trends and deliver growth faster than market in the current year. We at DAN had called out 3V’s – Video, Voice and Vernacular to drive growth. The 3 V’s continued to grow this year with regional languages expected to fuel further growth in the coming years especially in content, OTT platforms.<br /><br />- By Anand Bhadkamkar, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network India’s (DAN)<br />

DAN's Anand Bhadkamkar reflects on the year that went by

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5756aaf09105844e018c731d-2400/gettyimages-536247136.jpg" alt="block" data-mce-source="Koki Nagahama/Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>Koki Nagahama/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">11% of consumers say they'd switch to a mobile carrier that would block ads.</p></div><p></p></div></div>More than one in 10 people say they would switch to a mobile carrier that blocks <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> across its network, according to a study from media and technology research company Midia.</p><p>Midia surveyed 3,000 people in the US, Brazil, Australia, France, Sweden, and the UK about their digital content habits as part of its "Decoding The Adblocking Consumer" report.</p><p>Overall, 11% of consumers said they would switch to a mobile carrier that blocks ads across its network. That rose to 15% among people who already use some form of desktop ad blocker and to 19% amongst mobile ad blocker users.</p><p>Of course, this is just a single survey and the question itself may have been the first time its participants had ever considered whether they could switch to a mobile carrier that would block ads. While there's no indication that consumers are yet changing carrier purely based on whether they offer ad blocking, the survey suggests it is at least an option some consumers would consider.</p><p>A number of mobile carriers are currently exploring whether to deploy network-level ad blocking, which would see technology installed in their data centers to prevent most ads across the mobile web and within apps being served.</p><p>Caribbean-based carrier, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/digicel-becomes-first-mobile-carrier-to-sign-up-shine-ad-blocker-2015-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">Digicel, was the first</a> to roll out network-level ad blocking. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/three-testing-network-level-ad-blocking-2016-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">Three, in the UK and Italy</a>, is steadily moving forward with its ad blocking plans. <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/o2-explores-ad-blocking-across-its-network-2015-11?r=US&amp;IR=T">Meanwhile, UK carrier O2 told Business Insider last year</a> that it was exploring technologies that could be used to block ads across its network.</p><p>From a carrier's point of view, ads can account for much of the data transfer of a web page - and their networks are doing the heavy lifting.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5756aa8852bcd026008c74f0-1070/screen shot 2016-06-07 at 12.05.17 pm.png" alt="mobile ad blocking" data-mce-source="Midia" /><p class="source"><span>Midia</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Of the consumers in Midia's survey, 17% said they block ads because ad formats are "too intrusive" and 17% said they block ads to save on their data plans, to improve browsing speeds, and/or to protect privacy.</p><h2>The report suggests the best option for publishers could be to pay the ad blockers</h2><p>Some online publishers - who stand to lose more and more revenue as ad blocker usage grows - have tried to thwart the effect of ad blocking by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/french-news-sites-are-joining-together-to-block-the-ad-blockers-2016-3">deploying their own technologies</a>, such as denying ad blocker users access to their content unless they turn their ad blockers off.</p><p>However, Midia's survey shows around half (49% of mobile ad blocker users/50% of desktop ad blocker users) of ad blocker users will "always block ads" as long as they can. Meanwhile, about a quarter (26% for mobile ad blockers/28% of desktop ad blocker users) of ad blocker users said they would stop visiting a site if it denies access to ad blocking.</p><p>Again, this is survey data rather than an analysis of actual usage, but the report does suggest that publisher "switch-off" campaigns are likely to be met with "a heightened negative sentiment, which risks publisher damage."</p><p>As a result, Midia suggests that the best option for publishers may be the most "morally loathed" solution: Publishers should join the likes of Google, Amazon, and Criteo and pay ad blocking companies to get their ads unblocked.</p><p>Adblock Plus, one of the most popular ad blockers, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-adblock-plus-makes-money-2015-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">charges big companies "30% of the additional revenue created"</a> by having their ads white-listed as part of its "Acceptable Ads" initiative. However, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/theres-nothing-wrong-about-the-way-adblock-plus-makes-money-2015-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">critics of Adblock Plus' business model have compared it to everything from "extortion" to a "Mafia-like advertising network."</a></p><p>Midia explains the math, (emphasis ours):</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Company A</strong> has $100 of revenue if it serves ads to 100% of its audience. Assume 26%of users start blocking ads and the revenue falls to $74. By deploying a forceful switch-off campaign, Company A manages to convince 17% of adblocking users to switch off bringing $4.42 back to the bottom line. <strong>Company A now makes $78.42</strong>.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Company B</strong> starts with equal size and revenue and faces the same problem of 26% revenue leakage. Instead of blocking users' access however, Company B decides to cooperate with the Acceptable Ads initiative. As highlighted in 'Decoding The Mobile Adblocking Threat' report, 5-8% of users opt out of Acceptable Ads (counting with average 6.5%). This means that out of the $25 leakage, $1.63 is 'lost forever' leaving $23.37 to play for. The Acceptable Ads programme charges 30% of the incremental ad revenue. Thus out of the $23.37, Company B will pay out $7.01 in commission, keeping $16.36. Adding this to the $74 of existing revenue, <strong>Company B now makes $90.36 compared to company A's $78.42</strong>. Furthermore, Company B managed to retain all of its readership, while Company A lost 7% thereof. (27% of the 26 adblocker users who stopped visiting due to the forceful switch off campaign). Note, that the Acceptable Ads initiative only charges publishers with more than 10 million monthly blocked ad impressions, so for many smaller publishers, the case to join is even stronger.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sierra-blair-coyle-climbed-a-skyscraper-with-lg-vacuums-2016-6">LG pulled off its craziest marketing stunt yet to promote its latest vacuum cleaner</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dvNDd5MzE6N5RV4_7zvGl66Gr-ko0bZV" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'dvNDd5MzE6N5RV4_7zvGl66Gr-ko0bZV',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

REPORT: 1 in 10 people say they would switch to a mobile carrier that blocks ads

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5606c814dd089593038b470b-1659-830/bowie-2.png" alt="bowie 2" data-mce-source="Youtube"><p class="source"><span>Youtube</span></p><p class="caption">"Space Oddity."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>North America woke up to the tragic news that David Bowie has&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/david-bowie-dies-2016-1">died</a>&#xa0;at the age of 69.</p><p>It was just days after his birthday and the Friday release of &#xa0;"Blackstar," a jazzy new album that <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21332-blackstar/">sounds just as weird and futuristic</a> as anything else the man released in his nearly 50 years of putting out surreal music. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html">He knew that he was dying</a>, and made the album as a goodbye to his fans.&#xa0;</p><p>All the way to the end, Bowie was taking the square right angles of pop convention and twisting them into gorgeous, unknown geometries.</p><p>Born in 1947, Bowie was bending genders and aestheticizing technology before Steve Jobs <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-lsd-meditation-zen-quest-2015-1">took his first hit of acid</a>.</p><p>His explorations into gender, relationships, and technology seem like love letters sent to 2016 from deep in our past - or maybe the future.&#xa0;</p><h2>What is gender, anyway?</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5606c814dd089593038b470c-1920-960/screen%20shot%202015-09-25%20at%206.16.18%20pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015 09 25 at 6.16.18 PM" data-mce-source="Youtube"><p class="source"><span>Youtube</span></p><p class="caption">Bowie as Aladdin Sane. Yes, that's a kimono.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/06/caitlyn-jenner-bruce-cover-annie-leibovitz">Caitlyn Jenner</a>,&#xa0;<a href="https://twitter.com/Lavernecox?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Laverne Cox</a>. "Transparent" <a href="http://www.emmys.com/shows/transparent">getting nominated</a> for 11 Emmy awards and <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/amazon-is-slashing-the-price-of-prime-2015-9">winning five of them</a>.</p><p>Since 2014, which&#xa0;Time magazine declared&#xa0;<a href="http://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/">the transgender tipping point</a>, trans- has been a part of our cultural conversation.</p><p>But the first pop icon to cause "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gender-Trouble-Feminism-Subversion-Routledge/dp/0415389550/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1452525939&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=gender+trouble">gender trouble</a>," to borrow from philosopher Judith Butler, was David Bowie.</p><p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>David Bowie as Tilda Swinton. Tilda Swinton as David Bowie. <a href="https://t.co/EhQUXio5y8">pic.twitter.com/EhQUXio5y8</a></p>- Eric Alper  (@ThatEricAlper) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/686500069185568768">January 11, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p><p>A human (and sometimes alien) of endless personas, Bowie's alter-egos tended to be&#xa0;neither (or perhaps both) masculine and feminine, like Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, and&#xa0;Thin White Duke. Bowie played with our conceptions of gender&#xa0;- whether by dressing up in <a href="http://www.newsgarden.org/images/bowie/cape.jpg">kimono</a> or <a href="https://sophmoet.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/600full-david-bowie.jpg?w=620">leotard</a> -&#xa0;and <a href="http://36.media.tumblr.com/a0467eb3e6375f56aa262c85e4271165/tumblr_mnvofxLFyS1qfjd2po4_500.png">inspired his fans to do the same</a>.</p><p>"Bowie's mutating personas do not simply emerge from a constant need for transformation," <a href="https://theconversation.com/bowie-and-gender-transgression-what-a-drag-44569">writes&#xa0;critic Lisa Perrott for The Conversation.</a>&#xa0;"They are created as part of a complex process of performativity, in which Bowie mimics and re-animates the gestural traits of performers such as Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra."&#xa0;</p><p>A full 40 years ago, Bowie was generating&#xa0;questions about gender that the world&#xa0;is only now starting to answer.&#xa0;</p><h2>Squad goals.&#xa0;</h2><p>While artists have been collaborating since before&#xa0;<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/may/04/vincent-van-gogh-ear">Vincent Van Gogh got his ear cut off by fellow impressionist Paul Gaugain</a>, we've recently seen&#xa0;the formation of #squadgoals&#xa0;<span>-</span>&#xa0;specifically Taylor Swift's carefully curated crew of <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/g4829/taylor-swift-squad-goals/?slide=4">Lorde, the Haim sisters</a>, <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/lena-dunham-no-woman-should-have-to-stand-next-to-supermodels-2015167">Lena Dunham</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swifts-inseperable-power-posse-models-actresses-2015-7">roughly 200 super models</a>.</p><p>But Swift, <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/how-taylor-swift-made-me-a-better-writer-2015-8">genius that she is</a>, still hasn't come close to Bowie, squad-wise.</p><p>As in:&#xa0;</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">  When Bowie was (maybe) trying to get off drugs, he holed up in Berlin with punk rock genius Iggy Pop.&#xa0;</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">  Bowie created one of&#xa0;the greatest rock duets of all time with&#xa0;"Under Pressure," his collaboration with Freddie Mercury and Queen.&#xa0;</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">  Bowie worked closely with the inventor of American indie rock, Lou Reed, for years. He co-produced&#xa0;"Transformer," perhaps Reed's greatest commercial success.&#xa0;</p><p>In short, Bowie was one of the&#xa0;original crew curators.</p><p><div><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Gpn8MANhdLU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">&#xa0;</p><h2>You are your phone.</h2><p>We're only getting more tethered to our phones, as&#xa0;reports indicate that we spend around&#xa0;<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-11-19/we-now-spend-more-time-staring-at-phones-than-tvs">3 hours a day on smartphones</a>. Online dating has lost its stigma, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/20/5-facts-about-online-dating/">Pew Research indicates</a>, with fewer people <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/20/5-facts-about-online-dating/">thinking that it's a sign of desperation</a>. And after talking with <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/what-its-like-to-be-a-cyborg-2015-9">a real life cyborg</a>, <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/neil-harbisson-is-our-cyborg-future-2015-9">we're increasingly convinced that we're all going to get electronic implants sometime soon</a>.&#xa0;</p><p>What prophet foretold and decoded these things?&#xa0;</p><p>Mr. Bowie, naturally.&#xa0;</p><p>He even had an "<a href="http://www.techinsider.io/the-truth-about-the-ipad-pro-2015-9">iPad Pro</a>" in the video for "Ashes to Ashes": &#xa0;</p><p><div><iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/l41lNWlYH9FFxYMLe" width="800" height="536" frameborder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></p><p>As one critic <a href="https://rockhall.com/inductees/david-bowie/bio/#sthash.qZngXjuv.dpuf">observed</a>, Bowie has always treated human feeling as technology and technology as feeling.&#xa0;</p><p>In the 2003 essay <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3877579?&amp;seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents">"Space Oddities: Aliens, Futurism and Meaning in Popular Music,"</a>&#xa0;University of Toronto music historian&#xa0;Ken McLeod uses the breakthrough "Space Oddity" as a case study in how Bowie reflected the relationship we have with technology:&#xa0;</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">Bowie uses a series of atonal and rhythmically&#xa0;irregular tape effects and electronic&#xa0;squelches in combination with an ethereal&#xa0;string section to represent the defamiliarising experience of space.&#xa0;</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">The combination of avant-garde electronic sounds and instruments juxtaposed with familiar rock timbres [like the strum of acoustic guitar and a military style drum beat] provides a musical analogue for a lyrical content of the song that warns of the dangers of technological nihilism and alienation in an increasingly dehumanized world.&#xa0;</p><p>Though released in 1969, "Space Oddity" nails the feeling of being alive in 2016, as though it were written for today.</p><p>In many ways, it was.</p><p><div><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iYYRH4apXDo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></p><p class="embed-spacer">&#xa0;</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stay-awake-without-caffeine-2015-8">4 ways to stay awake without caffeine </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RmNTg3dzonu2P1u3a24l5B_zTMg7k3zE" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'RmNTg3dzonu2P1u3a24l5B_zTMg7k3zE',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

David Bowie predicted basically everything about our lives today

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/25305892.cms" /><br /> If you are sceptic about run-of-the-mill online courses or can’t decode the learning materials on your own, it’s time to go for the best of both worlds. How about <keyword id="1928389" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="WizIQ">WizIQ</keyword>, a <keyword id="406113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Virtual-classroom">virtual classroom</keyword> that can be accessed from anywhere, from any device, while teachers handhold students just like they do in a physical institution? But there’s more to it. Even premier institutions such as IIT-Delhi, Vellore Institute of Technology and <keyword id="59489" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-School-of-Mines">Indian School of Mines</keyword> (Dhanbad) are tying up with this Mohali-headquartered firm for certificate courses and distance learning programmes. Overseas organisations using the solution include <keyword id="1928396" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Atlantic-University-in-Virginia-Beach">Atlantic University in Virginia Beach</keyword> and Des Moines Area Community Colleges in Iowa, among others. The SaaS-based (<keyword id="753967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="software-as-a-service">Software-as-a-Service</keyword>) education platform is hosted on the Cloud and successfully operates a marketplace where teachers can sell their courses to its 3-million-strong student community.<br />
<br /> WizIQ offers a collaborative and flexible platform for delivering and enhancing any online course – be it high school maths, hybrid courses for university students or employee training programmes. What sets it apart from other <keyword id="1928409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="edu-tech">edu-tech</keyword> companies is its focus on teacher-and-learner-centred methods instead of just providing gigabytes and gigabytes of content. It is also an excellent interface for conducting <keyword id="1071995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Massive-Open-Online-Courses">Massive Open Online Courses</keyword> (<keyword id="1539483" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="MOOCs">MOOCs</keyword>). Best of all, WizIQ’s Virtual Classroom software works cross-platform – on PCs, <keyword id="75489" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="IOS">iOS</keyword> and <keyword id="6355645" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="android">Android</keyword> devices. It can also be integrated with <keyword id="1928395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="learning-management-systems">learning management systems</keyword> like Moodle or Blackboard or with an organisation’s own website.<br />
<br /> True to its global stature, the platform has a multilingual interface and supports 19 languages. The company also opened an office in Bangalore yesterday in a bid to expand further. WizIQ has other offices in Hyderabad and North Carolina as well. Here is a snapshot that captures the vision and viability of the <keyword id="13178" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mohali">Mohali</keyword> start-up gone global.<br />
<br />
<strong>Who runs WizIQ: </strong>The venture was started by <keyword id="222685" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Harman-Singh">Harman Singh</keyword> (CEO) in 2007. The parent company is <keyword id="1696366" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Authorgen-Technologies">authorGEN Technologies</keyword>, which was founded in 2002 by Harman and late Harbir Khurana. Harman holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from <keyword id="283601" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="North-Carolina-State-University">North Carolina State University</keyword>. Prior to WizIQ, he had also founded authorSTREAM, an online PowerPoint sharing platform.<br />
<br />
<strong>What inspired the venture: </strong>The concept of making quality education accessible to all at reasonable charges. Harman came up with the idea during his graduation years and the goal was to make teaching and learning easier for everyone.<br />
<br />
<strong>What’s the pitch:</strong> Do more than stand and deliver – engage your students. Content might be the king but at WizIQ, teachers are back where they belong and replicates the classroom experience online. That creates a distinctive style and ensures a great engagement model.<br />
<br />
<strong>How it works: </strong>WizIQ enables teachers and trainers to hold ‘live’ classes and share tutorials in all possible formats – PowerPoint presentation, PDF, Word document, virtual whiteboards, voice and video. Learners only need an Internet connection to ‘attend’ those classes and don’t require to download anything or pre-install cumbersome client software. An integrated chat is there as well to make each session interactive.<br />
<br />
<strong>Technology:</strong> The platform leverages Microsoft technologies. For real-time communication between students and teachers, it uses Flash Media Server (FMS) and Flex at front-end. Amazon S3 is used for data storage and wherever heavy computation power is needed, Amazon EC2 service is used. To optimise the ‘live class’ experience, servers are placed at multiple locations like the US, Singapore, Sao Paulo and Ireland.<br />
<br />
<strong>Claim to fame: </strong>Traction and awards. WizIQ claims that over 250,000 teachers and 3 million learners are using the platform across 100-plus countries. The company also says it has the largest collection of paid courses created by educators on the Internet and hosts more than 2,500 live classes daily via WizIQ Virtual Classroom. Teachers and organisations are also using WizIQ to conduct successful MOOCs.<br />
<br />
<strong>Show me the money: </strong>It is essentially a paid platform for teachers looking to conduct online classes. Fee starts at $19 per month (or $190 a year) and can go up to $69 per month (or $690 annually). WizIQ offers a freemium model and some features on this platform are free. For instance, teachers can hold 2 classes per month free of cost and there’s a 30-day free trial for those who want to try out its advanced features. Around 8,000 of the total 250,000 teachers are paid members, the company claims.<br />
<br /> Unlike many other start-ups, this one has been well funded all along. Educomp, India’s largest <keyword id="255607" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="education-technology">education technology</keyword> company, invested an undisclosed amount in the very first year. In January 2013, WizIQ also raised a Series B round of $4 million from education-focused PE firm <keyword id="342246" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Kaizen">Kaizen</keyword> and German media major Bertelsmann.<br />
<br />
<strong>Biggest challenge: </strong>Poor Internet penetration and stiff competition from those in the same space. But the toughest one is positioning. Web-enabled distance learning is definitely looking up in India, but it is yet to catch up with mainstream courses administered offline. Until that happens, scaling up will remain a major problem.



You Searched For "video format decoded" and got 5 results

DAN's Anand Bhadkamkar reflects on the year that went by

Guest Author

REPORT: 1 in 10 people say they would switch to a mobile carrier that blocks ads

Lara O'Reilly

David Bowie predicted basically everything about our lives today

Drake Baer

From IITs To Universities Abroad, This Virtual Classroom Is Going Places

Sanghamitra Mandal

Case study: How Mimi increased excitement around its trailer launch and garnered 24 million views within 24 hours

BI India Partner