Desi social apps eye ad-revenue
Post the ban on Chinese apps, a number of Indian social media apps came to the forefront to fill the vacuum created by TikTok. However, the element missing was a sustainable monetization model. After chasing downloads and MAUs for close to six months now, these homegrown apps are looking at monetization to generate ad-based revenue. This model entails banner ads, video ads, push notification ads and more. Apps like Public, ShareChat, Chingari, Roposo are all banking on an ad revenue driven monetization model. With increasing interests from brands in the e-commerce, consumer durables, FMCG, telecom, gaming, automotive and other verticals, the desi social media apps are also coming up with tools to grab the marketers’ attention and provide them with maximum ROI.
Instagram allows brands to create posts from user accounts
Facebook-owned Instagram is now allowing advertisers to create sponsored ads from user accounts and the feature is part of its update to branded content ads. Branded content ads were introduced last year as a way for influencers to identify when their posts are sponsored by a company or brand. Till today, Branded Content ads could only be created by promoting the existing posts from creators. Now brands have more flexibility with fewer constraints when they want to run Branded Content ads. This new process has been designed with creator control in mind creators can approve and pause any ads published from their handle. The ads appear just like organic posts published from the user’s account, with a tag ‘Paid partnership with the brand name’. Branded Content ads in Stories can now include tappable elements, such as @mentions, location and hashtags.
Snap launches Spotlight on Snapchat
Snap Inc, on Monday, introduced a new feature on Snapchat called Spotlight for content creators on the platform. Spotlight, which is likely to compete with TikTok and Reels, is a dedicated feed which will showcase videos from Snapchat creators. “Spotlight shines a light on the most entertaining Snaps created by the Snapchat community, no matter who created them. We built Spotlight to be a place where anyone’s content can take center stage – without needing a public account, or an influencer following,” Snap said in a blog post.
Facebook may launch Libra cryptocurrency early 2021
Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency is set to make its debut in early 2021. The digital token from the world’s largest social network could launch as early as January — albeit in a scaled-back form. The Geneva-based Libra Association that will issue the stablecoin will launch a single digital coin backed one-for-one by the dollar, three sources told the publication, rather than multi-currency coins. The moves represent a major cutback in the project’s ambitions and arrives after the project has received intense political backlash, with regulators and central banks around the world raising concerns that it could upset financial stability and erode mainstream power over money.
Razorpay launches corporate cards with Visa to help SMEs
Razorpay joined hands with Visa to launch RazorpayX Corporate Cards. These cards will help provide relief and stabilize the financial operations of severely impacted business owners of startups and SMEs, who are grappling with a chaotic economic environment. With a higher credit limit as compared to other corporate and personal cards, RazorpayX’s Corporate Cards will empower founders to free up working capital expenses with zero personal risk and liability and a convenient repayment offering of up to 45 days of interest-free credit. RazorpayX Corporate Cards will help entrepreneurs set up recurring & non-recurring online payments.
Nearly 7,000 crore payments transactions to move digital by 2023
Investment in payments services infrastructure is expected to rise as close to 7,000 crore transactions worth Rs 20 lakh crore are expected to move to digital platforms, thanks to COVID-19 led disruptions, a study by consultancy firm Accenture said. In India, 66.6 billion transactions worth $270.7 billion (approximately Rs 20.3 lakh crore) are expected to shift from cash to cards and digital payments by 2023. Globally, nearly 420 billion transactions worth $7 trillion, are expected to shift from cash to cards and digital payments by 2023 – and increase to $48 trillion by 2030, it said. While India has been ahead of the curve in terms of real-time digital payments infrastructure driven by UPI and 24×7 NEFT, the pandemic has led to a further increase in digital, contactless payments as consumer behavior has undergone a shift.
Flipkart pips Amazon to lead online festive sales
Walmart-owned Flipkart Group has emerged as the top e-commerce marketplace during the online festive sales between mid-October to mid-November 2020 with around 66 per cent share of the overall gross merchandise value (GMV) worth $8.3 billion, according to a RedSeer report. Amazon’s India business, on the other hand, cornered 34 per cent share. The festive month saw overall online sales up 65 per cent from the year-ago sales worth $5 billion and more than the predicted $7 billion this festive season by the consultancy firm. Importantly, the two e-commerce companies, Amazon and Flipkart, raked in close to 90 per cent of the $8.3 billion GMV. Lot of customers were holding back on their online purchase due to Covid and potentially waiting for the right opportunity to spend while offline was not operating in a massive way. So, all that spending got transferred to the online channel. This was the general trend. The more specific trend was that Tier-II customers were much more willing to transact online heavily. This benefited Flipkart as it has always been targeting small-town customers.
Google Pay to remove app + start charging transfer fee
Google Pay is set to kill the peer-to-peer payments facility on its web app in January and is going to add a fee for instant money transfers. Google Pay offered the ability to manage payments as well as send money from both a mobile app or from pay.google.com. Now, Google has released a notice on the web app that notifies users that the site will no longer work from January next year.Google also clarified on a support page that the original Google Pay app will stop working in January. Google Pay will also add a fee on instant money transfers.
Google is secretly working on a Truecaller-like app
Google is gearing up to launch a new avatar of its ‘Phone by Google’ that is touted as a reliable ‘called ID’ app like Truecaller. The company hasn’t revealed anything officially about the app. The app will be called Google Call and will provide caller ID and spam protection. This app is not yet available on Google Play which means we can expect Google to roll out this app very soon. The YouTube ad about the app has already revealed the name and logo of the Google Call app and the ad says that its “lets you answer with confidence”. It would be interesting to see whether or not the re-branded Phone by Google will be able to attract Truecaller users.