Meta mulls ad-free FB, Insta access in India by next year
Amid talks of launching an ad-free subscription plan to conform to European Union’s user privacy regulations, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, may consider introducing a similar plan in India by 2024. Internal discussions at Meta regarding a subscription plan for Facebook and Instagram are in preliminary stages, and there’s a possibility of adopting such an approach in the future, the people said on condition of anonymity. The move arises from the company’s concerns about how increasing tech regulations worldwide, including in India, could potentially change the way the internet and its services are operating today. “Talks have been held internally to explore monetization options for Meta at a global scale, including India. While the firm is working towards achieving compliance with the recently notified Digital Personal Data Privacy (DPDP) Act, there will be increasing discussions on the best possible ways to achieve compliance with all data regulations. A pilot of a paid ad-free subscription choice for users in India, following a trial in the EU, is likely to happen in mid- or end-2024,” a spokesperson added.Meta offers a paid verification programme both in India and around the world. After announcing a trial on 19 February and a public rollout in global markets on 17 March, it announced access to a verified badge on platforms at ₹699 a month on mobile devices. A cheaper, ₹599 plan for purchasing the subscription on web is also expected to be rolled out in the coming months.
OpenAI Explores Making AI Chips
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is exploring making its own artificial intelligence chips and has gone as far as evaluating a potential acquisition target. The company has not yet decided to move ahead, according to recent internal discussions described to Reuters. However, since at least last year it has discussed various options to solve the shortage of expensive AI chips that OpenAI relies on. These options have included building its own AI chip, working more closely with other chip makers including Nvidia and also diversifying its suppliers beyond Nvidia. CEO Sam Altman has made the acquisition of more AI chips a top priority for the company. He has publicly complained about the scarcity of graphics processing units, a market dominated by Nvidia, which controls more than 80% of the global market for the chips best suited to run AI applications. The effort to get more chips is tied to two major concerns Altman has identified: a shortage of the advanced processors that power OpenAI’s software and the “eye-watering” costs associated with running the hardware necessary to power its efforts and products.
Nokia Opens ‘6G Lab’ in India
Swedish telecom equipment maker Nokia opened a ‘6G lab’ in India to develop potential use cases for the new technology for industry and society. “We look forward to collaborating with key stakeholders to help India become a major player in 6G technology development and adoption; and take its place in the global arena as a leading developer and supplier of advanced telecom technologies and solutions,” Nishant Batra, chief strategy and technology officer, Nokia, said in a statement. The plant was inaugurated by union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. “Interesting use cases coming out of this lab will be related to transportation safety, health care and education, which will be another big contribution in the entire Digital India suite,” Vaishnaw said in the statement. Experts working with Nokia at its Bengaluru centre will support India’s ambition.
Musk’s X Strips Headlines from News Links
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has stripped headlines from news articles shared by users, in a move likely to further worsen relations with media groups. The tycoon has long railed against the “legacy media” and claims X, formerly Twitter, is a better source of Information. However, he said the latest change was for “aesthetic” reasons — news and other links now appear only as pictures with no accompanying text. Musk took over Twitter last year in a $44 billion deal and has since renamed it X, sacked thousands of staff and drawn criticism for allowing banned conspiracy theorists and extremists back on the platform, sending advertisers fleeing. He has also banned — and reinstated — various journalists with mainstream outlets including the Washington Post and CNN, as well as appearing to delay posts from accounts including the New York Times. “I almost never read legacy news anymore,” Musk posted. “What’s the point of reading 1,000 words about something that was already posted on X several days ago?.” Some media groups have stopped posting on X altogether because of the rise in hate speech and the behaviour of Musk. AFP and other French news outlets launched a legal case in early August accusing X of copyright breaches. When the changes to links were first mooted in August, Musk posted: “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the aesthetics.” Instead of seeing a headline along with a picture, users now see only a picture with a small watermark. Some users have already commented that it is now difficult to distinguish between news and other kinds of information, which is likely to raise questions about the trustworthiness of the site.
Meta’s GenAI Tools Out for Advertisers
Meta has started rolling out generative AI powered features for ad creatives in its Ads Manager, with global rollout complete by next year. The new features will allow advertisers to create backgrounds, expand images and generate multiple versions of ad text based on original copy. “Background Generation, Image Expansion, and Text Variations will add to the AIpowered experiences and tools,” it said.
Domestic D2C market likely to reach GMV of $35 billion by 2027: Redseer
With brand creation becoming more straightforward and incentivised, the Indian D2C (direct-to-consumer) market is expected to achieve a gross merchandise value (GMV) of $30 billion to $35 billion by 2027, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 40 percent for 2022-27, over three times that of the broader retail market and 1.6 times that of the e-commerce market for the same duration. The report emphasizes the logistics needs of the burgeoning new-age D2C brands in India and their inclinations towards third-party logistics partners. One of the primary beneficiaries of the D2C market expansion comprises third-party logistics providers (3PLs). In 2022, the D2C shipments totalled approximately 0.5 billion, with projections indicating a significant surge to 3 billion D2C shipments by 2027. “3PL solutions align well with the D2C segment as demand fluctuates across cities and regions, and the requisite logistics investment is considerable,” commented Mrigank Gutgutia, partner at Redseer. “Brands are in search of dependable logistics collaborators with extensive reach throughout India to guarantee a uniform experience.” In the beauty and personal care (BPC) segment, given the product’s distinct nature, there’s a need for a cold-storage supply chain capable of handling delicate items. Medium to large BPC brands also vie for expansive reach and swift delivery, making these elements particularly significant. The report noted that for the home and general merchandise category, a straightforward insurance process with minimal hassles is essential, which also demands significant shipment protection against potential damage.
Gaming corners second largest slice of media pie, says Omdia research
Gaming made a massive $246 billion globally in 2022. It is second only to online video, which got $306 billion in (ad and pay) revenues in the same year. In-game advertising was about $65 billion in 2022 and a bulk of that went to mobile gaming. More importantly, in-game advertising will come within kissing distance of linear TV by 2027. Pokémon and Resident Evil are the most frequently used gaming IP (intellectual property) in movies along with Digimon and Mortal Kombat. From 2022-2027, games will bring about 30 percent of telecom carrier-billed digital services; online video will bring over 43 percent. Those were among the rather startling takeaways from “Gaming IP and its Meteoric Rise across the Entertainment Industry”, a report by Omdia. Across the US, UK, Japan and France, there are two times more gamers than cinema goers. In Germany and the UK, female gamers outnumber male gamers. These are some of the reasons that make converting a successful game to a movie or series and vice-versa extremely profitable. There were almost 20 such examples in 2022, a 47 per cent rise over 2021. The consumer spend in 2027 is expected to be $207 BN. The advertising revenue will be $131 BN in the same year.
Upping WhatsApp’s payload: How Meta is monetising users in India
Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private sector lender, has 15 million people registered for its WhatsApp service, and adds a million more every month. Managing Director Amitabh Chaudhry says the bank has sent 210 million messages using WhatsApp and disbursed Rs 930 crore in personal loans through the platform. Axis Bank is one of the several reasons why Meta, which owns WhatsApp, in addition to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, sees India at the centre of its global push to monetise messaging, with WhatsApp as the axis. “India (is) a country that’s at the forefront of a lot of what we’re going to talk about today. You’re (India is) leading the world in terms of how people and businesses have embraced messaging as the better way to get things done,” Zuckerberg said in his keynote session through a video link at the Conversations event in Mumbai on September 20. This is the first time the annual event was held in India. WhatsApp is a global messaging platform used by 2 billion users. Of those, more than 450 million — 22.5 percent — are in India. A large percentage of WhatsApp’s 200 million business users are in India. A slew of recent initiatives has stepped up Meta’s efforts to monetise these numbers. At Conversations, for instance, Zuckerberg announced the introduction of WhatsApp Payment in India, after Brazil and Singapore, in partnership with payment solutions providers, Razorpay and PayU. It is designed to support more payment methods for people to pay Indian businesses within a WhatsApp chat. The methods include all UPI apps, other third-party apps, and credit and debit cards.
Zomato Launches Hyperlocal Delivery Service Xtreme
Food delivery company Zomato has rolled out Xtreme, a hyperlocal delivery service, which will seek to leverage its two-wheeler fleet of more than 300,000 food delivery executives to deliver small packages within a city. The service has been rolled out through a separate app in almost all the 750-800 cities where Zomato offers food delivery services currently. The move is aimed at further boosting revenues at the Gurugram-based company through business diversification. Xtreme, which went live late last month, will target both small and large merchants for delivering small packages intracity on the lines of those provided by logistics firms such as Shadowfax, Porter and Loadshare. While the service is focussed on merchants and businesses, it has also been opened to individual customers, putting Xtreme in competition with operators such as Dunzo, Swiggy, Uber and Ola. With Xtreme, users will be able to ship small packages of items such as documents, medicines, food, grocery, apparel, cosmetics and others, weighing up to 10 kg, according to information on the Xtreme app.
Nearly 69% MSMEs Most Frequently Use Digi Wallets, Mobile Payments
The India Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Monday said micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) integrated with e-commerce platforms report higher turnovers and profitability than the non-integrated ones, and around 69% of the surveyed MSMEs used digital wallets and mobile payments as their most frequently used payment mode for doing business. In its annual survey on MSMES, it said over 85% of surveyed enterprises reported an increase in sales and profit margins after integrating with ecommerce channels, with most reporting growth of up to 30%. Around 14% of integrated firms reported hiring new employees, it said. “It is important to highlight the fact that at present, the volume of sales made through e-commerce platforms account for a relatively smaller share of the firms’ total sales compared to those made through traditional routes. And therefore, there is significant scope for MSMEs to increase share of online sales in total sales,” ICRIER said. A majority of MSMEs surveyed cited the inability to access markets, retain customers, and effectively market their products are among the top challenges, according to the report.
Ecomm Discounts Shrink on Day 3 on 30% Surge in Sales
Ecommerce discounts and promotional offers came down on the third day of the biggest annual online festive sales, as brands and online sellers over achieved their targets reporting an over 25-30% surge in sales by value compared to the same sale period of last year. This spike in business is despite Shradh, which is considered an inauspicious shopping period in several parts of the country. LG India has grown sales by over 30% with televisions, washing machines and refrigerators driving sales, including premium models. Samsung and Xiaomi sold record numbers of televisions and smartphones with steep discounts on several premium models, while Flipkart sold over 4 lakh units of Apple’s iPhones in this period, industry executives said. Even online focused brands grew sales of the premium segment more than entry to mid-level. For instance, Super Plastronics, which sells television brands like Kodak, Thomson and Blaupunkt, grew sales of 43-inches and above by more than 60%. On the opening day, Myntra recorded over 100% growth in demand for categories like beauty, personal care and jewellery. Avneet Singh Marwah, chief executive of Super Plastronics, said the players burned more money in the first two days of the sale to do maximum business when traffic is at its peak. “Since brands have achieved healthy numbers, they have reduced discounts from Day 3. Hence, prices have gone up by more than 5-7%,” he said. Flipkart and Amazon started their first festive sales — christened Big Billion Days and Great Indian Festival respectively — on October 8.