D-Talks:Bulletin#327 – Top Digital Media Updates For CXOs

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Swiggy, Zomato operationalise new payment methods on their apps

New payment methods have been operationalised on the mobile applications of Swiggy and Zomato’s Blinkit. These features were announced earlier but are now visible on the respective apps.

Swiggy now provides an option to pay via Swiggy UPI. The company had announced the feature in August, to simplify the payment mechanism on their platforms. With this feature, users would not be required to go to another app to make the payment via UPI. They will only be required to enter the UPI PIN on the Swiggy app.

Meanwhile, Zomato has integrated its wallet Zomato Money with its quick commerce arm, Blinkit. The option is now available on the app’s homepage.

Zomato Money is a collection of digital wallets that can be used to order food, as well as, eat out using the app. Now, it can also be used to pay for groceries and other items via quick commerce.

Luxury Brands Expand Beyond Metros

High-end and premium brands are making a big geographical pivot from metros to smaller towns in India, according to a Tata CLiQ Luxury compilation that reviews India’s evolving luxury landscape.

It also found that luxury buyers – led by a woke Gen Z – are increasingly conscious of responsible consumption with an eye on sustainability quotient.

Fuelled by the purchasing power of mature millennials and the rising Gen-Z demographic, the digital economy is reshaping consumption patterns and values, thus transforming how, when, and why consumers connect with brands and businesses, said Tata CLiQ Luxury’s latest compilation – Thinking Beyond the Cart: Elevating Luxury E-commerce,’ that deep dives into the luxury trends in 2025 and beyond.

Listing out the broad trends, it noted that high-end and premium brands are making a big geographical pivot from metros to smaller-town India and that the new luxury consumer is educated, and well-wired.

A growing quest for behind-the-scenes intel has made shopping intentional and research-driven, according to it.

DeepSeek sparks AI stock selloff

Investors sold technology stocks across the globe on Monday as they worried that the emergence of a low-cost Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model would threaten the dominance of current AI leaders like Nvidia, shaving $592.7 billion off the chipmaker’s market value.

Last week, Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, the assistant had overtaken US rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s app store.

This led the tech-heavy Nasdaq to fall 3.1 per cent on Monday. Nvidia was the Nasdaq’s biggest drag, with its shares tumbling just under 17pc and marking a record one-day loss in market capitalisation for a Wall Street stock, according to LSEG data.

Nvidia’s market-cap loss on Monday was more than double the previous one-day record, set by Nvidia last September.

India tops the global app market with 25 billion downloads

The State of Mobile 2025 Report by Sensor Tower reveals a significant surge in mobile monetisation, with global in-app purchase (IAP) revenue across iOS and Google Play reaching $150 billion in 2024, marking a 13% year-on-year increase. This represents the highest growth rate since 2021, encompassing spending on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and paid apps and games.

Mobile users spent an astonishing 4.2 trillion hours on apps in 2024, averaging 3.5 hours per user daily. However, signs of slowing growth in mobile usage are emerging, as digital fatigue begins to take hold in certain markets. Global usage grew by 5.8% year-on-year, a decline from the 7.7% increase observed in 2023. Countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China saw usage plateau.

India continues to lead globally, with over 25 billion app downloads in 2023 and 2024, cementing its dominance in mobile app consumption. Meanwhile, Europe outpaced the United States in revenue growth, with IAP revenue increasing by 24% year-on-year, double the global average. Key markets like the UK, Germany, France, and Italy contributed significantly to this rise.

Social apps remained the top category for consumer engagement, with 3 trillion hours spent globally on social media and messaging apps in 2024, a 6% increase from the previous year. India played a key role, with time spent on social apps rising by 16% year-on-year. Globally, time spent on social apps surpassed 600 billion hours per quarter, with India witnessing a remarkable doubling of usage since 2021.

Meta Announces Initial Test of Ads on Threads

It may not have reached a billion users just yet, but Meta has decided to launch ads on Threads anyway, with initial testing to begin with selected users/brands in the U.S. and Japan.

As explained by Meta:

“Starting today, a small number of advertisers will test ads in Threads to help campaigns go further by reaching the growing Threads community. Businesses will be able to extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to Threads – without the need for bespoke creative or additional resourcing – by simply checking a box in Ads Manager. This can help businesses reach more people in more places across Meta’s family of apps and can improve advertiser outcomes.”

I mean, no one is actually that surprised though, right?

Meta did initially suggest that it wouldn’t look to launch ads in Threads until the app reached a billion users, though initial Threads ad formats were spotted in testing in August last year. Some advertisers have also noticed that Threads has appeared as a placement option in Ads Manager, so it has seemed like Meta’s been moving in this direction for a little bit.

And with Threads now up to 300 million monthly active users, and gaining momentum, it seemed inevitable that the ads would be coming.

Spencer’s Retail forays into q-commerce with JIFFY

Spencer’s Retail, the retail arm of the RP Sanjiv Goenka group, entered the quick commerce sector with JIFFY, its new online platform, on Thursday, starting with Kolkata. The operation will eventually be rolled out to other parts of West Bengal, followed by Uttar Pradesh (UP). The retailer currently has a total of 89 stores in West Bengal and UP.

Shashwat Goenka, chairman of Spencer’s Retail, said the company aimed to fulfill orders within 20-30 minutes by leveraging its existing stores. It would not invest in a separate dark store network for now, with delivery operations managed by a third-party fleet operator.

And from the BC Web Wise stable,

FlowGuard Plus campaign for Badlapur’s underprivileged schools

Check out the ‘Save A Litre’ campaign for FlowGuard Plus – a powerful initiative aimed at enabling safe drinking water to schools in underprivileged areas, created with passion by our team.

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