India becomes largest market for Meta AI usage
India has emerged as the largest market for Meta AI, said a senior executive of the social media company about the artificial intelligence chatbot. Susan Li, chief financial officer at Meta, did not provide details during the company’s second quarter CY24 results call. “People have used Meta Al for billions of queries since we first introduced it. We’re seeing particularly promising signs on WhatsApp in terms of retention and engagement, which has coincided with India becoming our largest market for Meta Al usage,” she said. That India is the largest market for Meta AI is important as the chatbot was launched in the country in June 2024. Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, the instant messaging service. Meta AI is available in more than 20 countries and eight languages. WhatsApp has some 500 MN users in India, one of the largest markets for the service. Li said the company expects Meta AI will help businesses communicate with customers more efficiently through messaging.
Snapchat sees boost in ad revenue performance; surpasses 850 mn users
Snap Inc. has released the Quarter Two (Q2) Snapchat earnings report for the year 2024, showcasing its increase in daily active users, new content offered to build the community, and efforts to drive sustainable profits and more.
Revenue and Daily Usage
Snapchat added 10 MN more daily active users in the period, reaching 432 MN DAU. The platform also reached a new monthly user milestone of 850 MN. It generated $1.24 BN for the quarter, with significant growth in the “Rest of the World” category, surpassing Europe in revenue intake. While the platform continues to see higher earnings per user in the EU, the increasing user base in other markets boosts its overall earnings potential.
Advertising
Snapchat is investing in AI tools and AR effects to drive more engagement and improve ad performance. Its infrastructure costs continue to rise, along with increased spending on advertising and promotion, particularly to attract U.S. advertisers. Despite these rising costs, the platform has seen success with its Snapchat+ subscription offering, now at 11 MN subscribers, up from 9 MN in April. The ongoing momentum with its direct response products and growth in small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) contributed to total active advertisers more than doubling year-over-year in Q2. Additionally, its improvements to Conversions API (CAPI), improved collaboration with advertisers, and growth in partner integrations resulted in CAPI integrations growing over 300% year-over-year.
New-age D2C brands flex muscle via their own sites
The share of direct ecommerce in India has increased from 2-3% five years ago to 10-15% currently. Large brands are focusing more on selling through their own channels to reduce dependency on marketplaces and increase profitability. However, horizontal marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart will still dominate the online retail market due to their wide range of products and large customer base. The availability of tools such as payment gateways, logistics aggregators, and marketing services has enabled brands to sell directly to consumers. Despite the advantages, smaller brands still need the platform of established marketplaces to reach a larger audience.
More than a third of fashion and footwear products get returned in online shopping
Online shoppers return more than a third of clothing and shoe purchases, mostly because of sizing problems. As a result, companies are being forced to impose harsher return policies in order to save money. According to the most recent Return Prime data, 17.6% of all online products are returned, and that percentage can go as high as 30–35% in certain categories like clothing and shoes. Poor consumer returns experience cost brand stores an average of 8% of their annual potential for recurring business. Furthermore, size concerns account for almost 40% of returns of merchandise, including shoes and clothes. Returns continue to be a huge hassle for e-commerce brands, hindering their path to profitability. With 19.1% of online orders returned, Maharashtra has the highest rate of return followed by Karnataka (11.5%), Delhi (9.9%), Uttar Pradesh (8.7%), and Maharashtra (19.1%). Kerala has the lowest return rate—1.9%—followed by Andhra Pradesh (3.1%), Madhya Pradesh (2.6%), Punjab (2.9%), and Kerala (2.9%). Top brands are attempting to revert their liberal easy returns policies due to the rising cost of returns. In order to discourage returns, they impose a fee for returns, reduce the time frame for returns, raise the cost of logistics, roll back refunds to the original payment method, and offer discounts.
Can Generative AI become marketers’ secret weapon for regional language content
India, a nation of over 1.4 BN people, is a marketer’s dream. Its diverse population, with a myriad of languages, cultures, and preferences, presents a vast, untapped market. However, the country’s linguistic complexity is also a significant challenge for businesses aiming to leverage the power of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). India boasts 22 official languages and thousands of dialects, creating a complex linguistic landscape. This diversity is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it represents a vast, untapped market for AI-powered solutions. On the other hand, developing accurate language models for such a diverse population is a daunting task. While GenAI has made remarkable strides in recent years, its ability to cater to India’s linguistic diversity remains a significant hurdle. Despite advancements in natural language processing (NLP), many regional languages still lack adequate data and computational resources. This gap translates to missed opportunities for businesses across various sectors. Garima Saxena, Senior Research Associate at The Dialogue, highlighted an example: “Platforms like Bhashini, India’s national language database, are paving the way for multi-model generative AI services that cater to non-English speaking populations. This development is crucial for bridging the digital divide and making AI-powered marketing more inclusive.” She further said that the development of purpose-driven, narrow AI models for specific use cases will be key to overcoming these challenges and improving the effectiveness of AI in regional marketing. However, data scarcity is a primary hurdle. While there’s a wealth of digital content in English and a few major Indian languages, many regional languages have limited data availability. This dearth of data hinders model training and accuracy. Furthermore, the intricate grammar and scripts of some Indian languages add to the challenge. “The challenge with GenAI in India lies in the sheer diversity of languages,” said Manoj Karunakaran, Tech Head, BC Web Wise. “While translation between major languages has improved significantly, the nuances of regional dialects and the lack of quality data remain significant obstacles.” Despite the challenges, India is witnessing a GenAI revolution. Startups, tech giants, and research institutions are heavily invested in developing language models for Indian languages. Government initiatives are also playing a crucial role. Data augmentation techniques are being employed to expand limited datasets. Multilingual models, capable of handling multiple languages simultaneously, are showing promise. A growing pool of linguists and computer scientists is contributing to the development of robust language technologies.
Does size matter? How screens matter in programmatic buying
Programmatic media buying is quite the black box. It has been variously compared to art auctions, where both purchasing intent and budget depend on the buyer, or to every company having its own secret recipe when it comes digital to media buying. Saying programmatic media buying is an intricate process influenced by a multitude of factors, Varun Mohan, Head of Revenue and Growth at MiQ Digital, notes that price differences by screen size should be considered in the context of campaign goals and target audiences. Programmatic media buying is an intricate process influenced by a multitude of factors. He notes that price differences by screen size should be considered in the context of campaign goals and target audiences. According to Chirag Bhatia of Channel Factorysays , “This can lead to higher conversion rates, whether the goal is brand awareness, lead generation, or sales. In conclusion, the size of an ad can significantly impact its success, visibility, click-through rate, and overall performance. Because of better performance, bigger ad sizes are always more in demand and command a higher price as publishers leverage the high sell-throughs to optimize towards high yield from their supply mix.” The screen size and device determinants are usually related to CTV being more expensive than desktops/laptops or expensive smartphones. This pricing gap between devices and screen sizes fluctuates depending on season, category, purchase journey, etc.” The screen size and device determinants are usually related to CTV being more expensive than desktops/laptops or expensive smartphones. This pricing gap between devices and screen sizes fluctuates depending on season, category, purchase journey, etc.
Fan content often eclipses the original: Youtube study
As technology evolves, so is the relationship of fans with their favourite creators, artists, and other entertainment vehicles. Fans are now in conversation creating their own videos to showcase their devotion to the source material, to strengthen their bonds with other fans and in the process create their own fan following. 93% of GenZ fans consume news about their favourite sports stars through Youtube. This is done once a week. These could be memes, trends, watchalongs, fan arts, hour-long video podcasts. Casual fans may consume media, but superfans create media about the object and often spend on it. The community of Blinks, Stays & Bunnies (K-pop fandoms) make it possible for new fans to learn everything they need to know. Creators like @Krissthetic and @mooncovers dedicate their channels to K-pop dances, lyrics, lore and fashion showcasing how fans can become superfans. At the other end @PleaseSitDown, a channel by Vijender Masijeevi one of the well-known faces of UPSC #MockInterviews fuels a community of over 500k aspirants that may have never met, but the camaraderie of channel’s comments section allows them to come together. 78% of GenZ Indians say that they often spend more time on watching content that unpacks or discusses something than the main act itself. It is not rare to find fans creating reaction videos, trailer breakdowns, memes, dance trends and even VFX edits literally embedding themselves into the movie frames.