Author: Kashmeera Sambamurthy

Bengaluru’s terrible traffic: Kids return from school at night, techies stuck for hours

ORR being Bengaluru’s tech corridor, techies were perhaps the worst-affected by the jam. In view of the unusual congestion, traffic police issued an advisory asking IT companies to delay logout time for their employees. (Representative Image: via Unsplash)

A massive congestion on Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) led to commuters spending hours stuck in traffic. There were reports of some school buses dropping children home at night.

Nazara Technologies gets a tax demand of Rs 2.83 crore from DGGI Mumbai

With this, the diversified gaming and sports media company became the latest company to receive such a notice after Dream11, Games24x7, Gameskraft and Delta Corp in recent weeks. (Representative Image: Jon Tyson via Unsplash)

Nazara Technologies’ tax demand is unrelated to the current issue of retrospective taxation that is haunting India’s real-money gaming industry.

IAA India AGM and Elections: Avinash Pandey, Abhishek Karnani, Nandini Dias, Jaideep Gandhi elected

Avinash Pandey said, “The India Chapter of the IAA is arguably the most active industry Association of its kind in the country. Its initiatives cover a wide spectrum of areas including saluting excellence in Marketing, Creativity and communicating Sustainability. In the year gone by, we also started Tech Pulse to cater to the growing digital market"

The ad industry body’s election saw the unanimous selection of members to key positions.

Indian start-up founders urge government to preserve net neutrality and foster digital India

The letter said if ISPs—which now includes telecom operators—are allowed to strike deals that favour some online services over their competitors it will prevent promising start-ups from using the Internet and end all of them flourishing. (Representative Image: Glenn Carstens-Peters via Unsplash)

According to the startups, if internet-enabled start-ups or online service providers had to first obtain a government license, or pay each Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the world—there are tens of thousands of them—this global market and competition, and the innovation and progress, would all disappear.

Dia Mirza invests in parenting community and babycare DTC brand, BabyChakra

BabyChakra hopes its collaboration with Dia Mirza will further enhance their commitment to offering exceptional babycare products and empowering mothers with the knowledge and support they need as she will engage with the 30 million+ mothers community of Good Community division. (Image source: News18)

While the investment is undisclosed, CNBC-TV18 learns, as part of her role, Dia will work with BabyChakra in incorporating sustainable and clean care principles into their product ranges.

CTV Rising: 33 percent of urban Indian Connected TV users do not watch linear TV at all

Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam have high conversion ratios, Hindi and Kannada record mid conversion ratios, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali record low conversion ratios. (Representative Image: Nicolas J Leclercq via Unsplash)

Over 50 percent of who watch content that is 21 min or longer on the large screen, marketers in India will now also have the ability to leverage two new advertising solutions specific to this audience.

Explained | Why startups are worried that telcos’ demand for OTT compensation endangers net neutrality

Telecom companies, such as Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea, have recently requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to permit them to charge startups a "network usage fee" based on factors like traffic and the number of users. They have also proposed bringing some types of online applications under the same regulatory framework as telecom service providers. (Representative Image: Atul Vinayak via Unsplash)

Net neutrality ensures equal internet access, prohibiting discrimination by ISPs. According to the founders of over 120 startups, telecom companies’ demands threaten startups, potentially leading to discrimination and stifling innovation, contradicting India’s Startup initiative.

The Marcom Avenue bags PriyaGold’s performance marketing mandate

With this win, the agency continues to diversify and safeguard its expanding portfolio of clients. This account will be managed by a team from mSix&Partners’ Delhi office, where the agency will leverage its ROI – centric proficiencies in new media to strategize and execute highly innovative media planning solutions. (Representative Image: Miikka Luotio via Unsplash)

As part of this partnership, The Marcom Avenue will leverage its expertise in data-driven insights, creative content, and cutting-edge digital strategies to enhance PriyaGold’s brand visibility and market reach. The agency will focus on driving measurable results, optimising customer acquisition, and increasing overall brand performance.

India witnesses 10 percent revenue increase in tech and durable purchases: Study

The consumer tech and durables industry in Asia Pacific is experiencing a transformative phase, driven by fast evolving market trends and shifting consumer behavior. (Representative Image: Julian O'hayon via Unsplash)

China leads the region in online sales, with approximately 47 percent of tech and durables sales. Japan, developing Asia, and developed Asia collectively contributed about 14 percent, 31 percent and 17 percent to the online market, respectively.

Cadbury Gems rolls out #MyMastiMyMusic campaign; shows music creation in easy steps

The Cadbury Gems #MyMastiMyMusic campaign film showcases today’s reality of children imitating and grooving to music which is not particularly appropriate for their age. It goes on to show a bunch of ‘Gems Kids’ who stop the inappropriate music and instead nudges the viewer to log on to cadburygems.in and create their own music which is suitable for children. (Stills from the ad)

All children need to do is select at least three unique Gems buttons on the screen to mix and match tunes of different genres and create a unique music track to dance to.