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Tag: Nakul Chopra

  • … as Chief of Product & Research

    Dolly Jha moves from Nielsen to BARC

    By Our Staff

     

    There is more reason to be delighted to publish this bit of info. It’s possibly the first communique we’ve received from BARC India in over a year. Phew!

     

    Yes, you read it right: in over a year.

     

    But the news is of greater interest because the general buzz around the industry is that all is not too well at the audience measurement firm. In fact there are some very strong rumours of a certain section of broadcasters considering a rival measurement body. But of course running a measurement body needs loads of money and must have the blessings of the entire ecosystem, including advertisers and advertising agencies.

     

    Dolly Jha
    Dolly Jha

    Without further digression, here’s the news of the day: Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), the world’s largest television audience measurement body (the communique claims… we would also add: possibly the world’s most controversy-ridden measurement body), has announced the appointment of Dolly Jha as its Chief of Product & Research. Jha has experience of close to three decades across Kantar, ITC Foods and Nielsen, where she spent the last 13-odd years.

     

    On her appointment, Jha said: “I am excited to join BARC India as the Chief of Product & Research. BARC today runs the largest Audience Measurement system in the world. With all the experience behind me, I am looking forward to contributing to BARC by evolving the measurement further to meet the growing needs of stakeholders.”

     

    Nakul Chopra
    Nakul Chopra

    Welcoming Jha, Nakul Chopra, CEO, BARC India said in the communique, “It is indeed wonderful that Dolly will join the BARC Leadership Team. As the Chief of Product & Research – she will expectedly bring immense value to our eco-system, both from the perspective of working back from our output, to improve input quality and, over time in helping build value added services that will benefit all our subscribers. Both these vital functions are new capabilities that we seek to add to BARC – given her vast experience, I cannot think of a leader more suited to this role. In her stint at Nielsen, Dolly has already deep exposure and understanding of what BARC does – I am confident that this will augur for an extremely fulfilling partnership. I warmly welcome her and look forward to working closely with her.”

     

  • Sinha is also actively involved in various industry bodies such as the ASCI

    Shashi Sinha appointed as new BARC India Chairman

    By Our Staff

     

    Shashi Sinha, Chief Executive Officer at IPG Mediabrands India, has been unanimously elected as new Chairman of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India) by the Board following its meeting held on March 25, 2022.

     

    Sinha, who also represents the Advertising Agencies Association of India as its Board member, has played a key role in the formation of BARC. He takes over from Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., who served as Chairman for the last three years.

     

    Sinha is also actively involved in various industry bodies such as the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI, Past Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), Past President of The Ad Club, Current Chairman of Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and till very recently, before becoming a Board member, was the first Chairman of the Technical Committee of BARC India. He is also a member of the Facebook India Client Council.

     

    Speaking on the appointment, Sinha said: “I am excited to be given this opportunity as the Chairman of BARC at a time when the industry is undergoing many changes and the measurement body continues to grow. Over the last decade, BARC has evolved to become a robust currency and developed into a strong base for decision making for all stakeholders. I look forward to continue working with the team at BARC and I am confident that together we will be able to add and bring in more value to the broadcast ecosystem.”

     

    Added outgoing chairman Punit Goenka: “It has been a privilege to lead and serve BARC India as the Chairman, for two terms. The organisation has indeed grown and progressed substantially since its inception. I would like to welcome Shashi as he takes the helm of an industry-critical operation in a fast-changing landscape. I am sure that BARC India will soar to newer heights under his guidance. I also wish Nakul and the team at BARC all the very best”.

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, CEO, BARC India: “We would like to thank Mr Goenka, who has also been the Founder Chairman of BARC India, playing an instrumental role in setting up this measurement system. His strategic guidance and contribution made to BARC India, as its Chairman for two tenures, has added immense value,” adding:  “It gives us great pleasure to welcome Mr Sinha as our new Chairman. He is recognised for his deep understanding of the media industry, especially the broadcast sector and has been an integral part of BARC’s journey as well as India’s M&E industry. It was under his leadership that the BARC Tech Comm played a significant role in the formation of the world’s largest television measurement system. We look forward to working closely with him.”

     

  • He will guide the committee in ensuring strong professional standards

    BARC India’s Dr Derrick Gray appointed as the VP of MRSI

    By Our Staff

     

    Dr Derrick Gray
    Dr Derrick Gray

    Dr Derrick Gray, Chief of Measurement Science and Business Analytics at BARC India, has been appointed as the Vice-President of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI). Earlier this year, he was also appointed as the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee at the MRSI, where he will help guide the committee in ensuring strong ethical and professional standards for the Indian market research industry.

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Gray, said: “I am quite honoured to assume the role of Vice-President in the current Managing Committee at MRSI India. With my experience over the years in statistical research, measurement and data science, I am looking forward to working collaboratively with the team at MRSI. We hope to be able to make significant progress together as a team.”

     

    Added Nakul Chopra, Chief Executive Officer, BARC India: “We at BARC India are extremely proud of Derrick’s recent appointment and would like to congratulate him on his becoming the Vice-President of the Managing Committee at MRSI. We wish him all the success for this new role and look forward to him guiding market research in India to even greater heights.”

     

  • Has been Chairman and Board Member of BARC India in the past

    It’s official. Nakul Chopra to take charge as BARC CEO wef Aug 25

    By Our Staff

     

    Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), the Indian television industry’s audience measurement body has announced that Nakul Chopra will be its new Chief Executive Officer effective August 25, 2021. Sunil Lulla has resigned his remit to pursue his ambition as an entrepreneur.

     

    Interestingly, Chopra was part of the BARC India Board in 2016 and was subsequently appointed Chairman of the body in 2018-19. In January 2020, he was appointed a member of its Oversight Committee. Chopra was CEO, India and South Asia of Publicis Worldwide, for over a decade. He was also President, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) from August 2016 to July 2018. AAAI is 20% owner of BARC.

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Chopra said: “I have had the benefit of a long association with BARC. The organisation has grown in measure and strength. TV continues to be the definitive screen of the Indian home – its strong reach and connect continues to elicit the trust of advertisers. I look forward to working with the very capable BARC team in further building on TV measurement and continuing the journey toward screen agnostic measurement.”

     

    Sunil Lulla
    Punit Goenka
    Punit Goenka

    Added Lulla: “After four decades of an exciting career in professional services, I now embark upon an entrepreneurial journey. I am privileged to have been able to contribute to BARC and this has been possible only because of the excellent team of professionals, a very supportive Board and the gold standard of Board-appointed committees. I wish Nakul Chopra all the success”.

     

    Said Punit Goenka, Chairman, BARC India, thanking Lulla and welcoming Chopra: “I thank Sunil for his stewardship of BARC and his efforts to enhance the strength of the BARC currency. I am very happy to welcome Nakul as the natural and unanimous choice of the Board for the continuing journey of adding robustness to the BARC currency and strengthening the governance of the world’s largest television audience measurement body”.

     

     

     

  • Data release for Week 34, 2020, data starting August 22, 2020, which has been released today (Sep 3) reflects the new initiative

    BARC India to mitigate landing page impact

    By A Correspondent

     

    BARC India has introduced algorithms into its data validation method to mitigate the impact of landing page on viewership data across all genres of channels, a major peeve with a section of broadcasters especially in the news category. Data release for Week 34, 2020, data starting August 22, 2020, which has been released today (Sep 3) reflects the new initiative.

     

    Said Dr Derrick Gray, Chief of Measurement Science & Business Analytics, BARC India: “The results of hundreds of hours of research and several months of rigorous development and testing are very promising. BARC India will now be able to mitigate any landing page anomaly to better reflect viewer’s choice,” adding: “The existing method was based on symptomatic statistics and we have improved upon it with a method that directly uses inferential statistics to deliver better results across all genres”

     

    Complimenting the efforts of Dr. Gray and his team, Sunil Lulla, CEO, BARC India added: “Considering that the data provided by BARC India builds the currency of the advertising trade, we consistently strive to ensure that our data capture, representation and reporting be as scientific and accurate as possible. This new validation rule will further strengthen the rating currency and provide a level playing field to small and large broadcasters.”

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, member Oversight Committee and the BARC India Board about the ‘Data Validation Quality Initiative’,  “The ‘Data Validation Quality Initiative’ instituted by BARC India in June 2019 under the supervision of the Oversight Committee involves ongoing industry stakeholder consultations and internal reviews to identify dynamic improvement needed to continue strengthening the robustness of its ratings”.

     

     

  • This is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry

    Krishan Premnarayen to be conferred with AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award 2020

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India today announced that this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred upon Krishan Premnarayen, Senior Partner, Prem Associates Advertising and Marketing. This is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry.

     

    Premnarayen was the youngest President of AAAI when he took charge as President in 1988 at the age of 36 years.

     

    Making the announcement, Ashish Bhasin, President, AAAI, said: “Krishan Premnarayen, besides being the youngest ever President, made very significant contributions to the industry. It was during his tenure that the foundation was laid to make AAAI the legitimately recognized body for our industry across constituencies. He must also be given due credit for vastly strengthening AAAI’s relationships with the media industry – including while he was at the helm of ABC and NRSC. He is truly deserving of this honour”

     

    Added Nakul Chopra, Chairman of the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee: “It gives me immense pleasure that this year’s Committee unanimously decided to confer this richly deserved honour on Krishan. His manifold contributions to the industry have played an important role in helping strengthen both our industry and our Association over many years. Even after he was no longer directly active with AAAI he continued to go out of his way to help, whenever called upon for an industry cause. It is somewhat fitting that he is being conferred an award, the inception of which, dates back to his own tenure as President AAAI. He richly deserves this award, my heartiest congratulations to him.”

     

     

  • Jaideep Gandhi as Co-Chair of Goafest 2020 organizing committee with a 11-member Awards Governing Committee appointed to make Abby 2020 a success

    Goafest 2020 on April 2-4. Nakul Chopra & Shashi Sinha at the helm

    By  A Correspondent

    The 16th edition of Goafest, the marquee eent of the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Advertising Club will be held from April 2 to 4, 2020. The venue is the same as has been in the last few years – the Grand Hyatt hotel.

    Nakul Chopra
    Nakul Chopra
    Shashi Sinha
    Shashi Sinha

    Veteran adperson Nakul Chopra has been appointed Chairman of the Goafest 2020 Organising Committee and Jaideep Gandhi will be Co-Chair.  Shashi Sinha has been elected as Chairman of the Awards Governing Council for the ABBY Awards 2020.

    Speaking about the 16th edition of Goafest, Ashish Bhasin, President of AAAI said: “Year-on-year, it is our endeavour to make Goafest the most sought after gathering of the Indian

    Jaideep Gandhi
    Jaideep Gandhi

    Advertising & Media industry both in terms of knowledge sharing and raising the bar for creativity. Goafest has been consistently putting India on the global map of a creative powerhouse and as we put together this edition as well, our endeavour is to bring the best of speakers, workshops and experiences to boost the next-gen of advertisers,” adding: “Nakul as an industry veteran has been adeptly handling Goafest and his vision for the industry is sure to translate into an engaging and inclusive festival experience for all.”

    Speaking about the focus of the 2020 edition of Goafest, Partho Dasgupta, President, The Advertising Club, added: “The purpose of Goafest is to bringforth a platform that encourages India’s A&M industry to engage, innovate and share cohesively. The 3 days of Goafest sees the entire media and advertising fraternity breaking the barriers of organisation and come together to share common achievements, failures and learnings. ABBYs have always been recognised as the gold standard in creative awards and with Shashi at the helm, we are sure that the awards will continue to follow the highest standards of quality and due diligence.”

    Said Chopra on being re-elected as Chairman for the festival: “Goafest is the only premier festival that is a holistic representation of the Indian advertising and media industry. Our focus continues to remain on driving up the ante of scale, inclusivity knowledge sharing.  The 2020 edition of Goafest will also focus on creating an experience that is immersive, transformational and continues to contribute to the  enrichment of the Advertising, Media and Entertainment industry.”

    On being re-elected as the AGC chair, Sinha said: With the ABBY Awards, every year we try to widen the horizon and be more inclusive. Our belief has been to let works of excellence do the talking and this year too we will continue to look for campaigns  that inspire change, make a difference and become an inspiration for the industry.”

     

    The Awards Governing Committee for ABBY Awards includes:

    1. Shashi Sinha (AGC Chairman), CEO – IPG Media Brands
    2. Ashish Bhasin, CEO- APAC, Dentsu Aegis Network
    3. Nakul Chopra, Chairman, Goafest and immediate past President AAAI
    4. Jaideep Gandhi, Director, Jaya Advertising
    5. Anupriya Acharya, CEO India, Publicis Media
    6. Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India
    7. Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer, Aditya Birla Capital
    8. Partha Sinha, Vice Chairman and MD, McCann Worldgroup
    9. Virat Tandon Group, CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group
    10. Ajay Chandwani, Director, Percept Limited
    11. Raj Nayak, Media Veteran and Founder, House of Cheer

     

     

  • Current process is fair, accurate and unbiased and should be continued, notes report

    Oversight committee okays BARC policy on data validation & outliers

    By A Correspondent

    In June 2019, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India had appointed an oversight committee to review its data validation and outlier policy which identifies and eliminates outliers including reach outliers. The two-member committee led by former BARC chairman Nakul Chopra and media research veteran Praveen Tripathi has successfully submitted its report to the BARC India board.

    The committee has stated that the current process is accurate and unbiased and recommended BARC India to continue to follow the process as it is. Notes a communique: “According to the committee, there is no manual intervention in the process for treating outliers. The entire process is driven by robust algorithms and rules which makes the process unbiased. This is applied to all channels in a fair manner which in return helps BARC India give transparent and reliable data to its subscribers. Over the last 4 years this process has been enhanced and made more robust. New learnings and increased automation has been incorporated with every change. The committee is also working closely with BARC India to further automate the identification and treatment of landing page.”

    The committee also recommended that BARC India should appoint a permanent oversight committee which acts independently from a maker-checker standpoint. The Board is reviewing the report and will decide on a concrete plan in the near future.

    Said Punit Goenka, Chairman, BARC India: “The oversight committee has successfully submitted its report which should reinforce the faith of industry in the process. We have always ensured the fairness and transparency of all our processes and are proud that the findings of the committee re-affirm the same. We will continue working with the oversight committee and Industry members to improve the measurement standards.”

  • This is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the advertising industry

    Madhukar Kamath to be conferred with AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award 2019

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Agencies Association of India has announced that this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to Madhukar Kamath. This is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry. The award will be presented on September 6, 2019 in Mumbai.

     

    Kamath is a distinguished alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur and Loyola College, Chennai. He has more than four decades of experience in the advertising industry and has spent over 25 years in the erstwhile Mudra now the DDB Mudra Group. Currently, Madhukar is the Chairman Emeritus of the DDB Mudra Group and Mentor Interbrand India.

     

    Madhukar Kamath

    Kamath has actively participated in and has led several industry bodies. He was Vice President of AAAI (2005-07) and President of AAAI (2007-09). During his tenure as President, AAAI, Madhukar initiated and concluded the entry of media agencies in the fold of AAAI after amending the constitution of AAAI. During Madhukar’s tenure an IAMAI-AAAI joint agreement was signed for the promotion and smooth working of Digital media. He also led the AAAI’s involvement in creation of BARC. He was also Chairman of ASCI (The Advertising Standards Council of India). He is currently serving on the board of the Audit Bureau of Circulation as Vice Chairman and is soon set to take over as Chairman of ABC.

     

    Ashish Bhasin

    Making the announcement, Ashish Bhasin, President, AAAI, stated that: “Madhukar Kamath is an inspiration for generations in our industry. His contribution in making Mudra into one of the top agencies in India is extremely commendable. In addition to his professional achievements, he has done so much for the industry. Under his Presidentship, AAAI made significant progress. He is truly deserving of this honour”

     

    Nakul Chopra

    Added Nakul Chopra, Chairman of the AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award Selection Committee :Madhukar Kamath was the unanimous choice given his stature in the Indian advertising industry. In his case, it was never a question of if, it was only a question of when. My heartiest congratulations to him for this richly deserved honour.”

     

    This award was instituted in 1988 by AAAI and some of the past winners include Subhas Ghosal, Alyque Padamsee, Mike Khanna, Piyush Pandey, Sam Balsara, Prem Mehta, Ram Sehgal and others.

     

     

  • It was yet another year of rationalisation and tweaking of Abby Award categories

    Viacom18, and not a creative agency, tops Creative Abby 2019

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Goafest 2019 came to an end on Saturday evening with broadcaster Viacom18 bagging the Creative Company of the Year at Abby 2019.

     

    Commenting on the winners, Shashi Sinha, Chair of the Awards Governing Council, Abby Awards, said: “It has been another great year of the Abby Awards We’re happy that the big winners are in Audio Visual. We have taken certain steps to encourage entries in those specific categories. We’ve opened up, bifurcated and streamlined certain categories to enable that. A lot of the work that has been entered here is very good work.”

     

    On the rise of digital that was evident in the list of Abby winners, Vikram Sakhuja, President, The Advertising Club, added: “This has been the best year for digital ever. People are realising now what the true power of the platform is. Earlier digital was an add on, now with the advancement of the platforms the syntax has to change. In the shortlists there was almost 50-50 between digital and broadcast.”

     

    Adding on to the evolution of digital, Ashish Bhasin President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said: “In a few years we won’t differentiate between a digital agency and a non-digital agency, because down the line if an agency cannot do digital, I don’t think it can retain business. This is the democratisation that I was talking about, the market has opened up so that not only the big names, but even smaller and boutique companies are coming in with good work.”

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, Chairman – Goafest 2019 on the tweaking and rationalisation of award categories: “There is a proactive effort we have made to be fair to all constituencies, through our various categories. At present we see more affinity towards some categories while maybe some years down the line merging of a couple of categories will make sense. While the market and field evolves, we as custodians of the market standards will simultaneously evolve to reflect those changes.”

     

    There were a total of 2700 entries across the various creative and media categories.

     

  • The number of metals awarded this year in the media awards leapfrogged to 62 from the 38 last year

    Mindshare maxes Media Abby on Day 1 of Goafest

    Viacom18 Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats with the victorious Mindshare team

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    GroupM agency Mindshare bagged the Media Agency of the Year title on Day 1 of Goafest 2019. Mindshare bagged four golds of the 19 golds presented. There were a total of 62 metals awarded this year as against 38 presented last year.

     

    Madison Media was ranked second followed by IPG Mediabrand agencies Initiative Media and Lodestar UM at No 3 and No 4 respectively. Carat, a division of Dentsu Agency Network, was placed fifth. Also presented on the first day of the three-day annual celebration of advertising and media was the Publisher Abby.

    Nakul Chopra, Vikram Tanna, Vikram Sakhuja, Sudhanshu Vats, Ashish Bhasin, Jaideep Gandhi and Shashi Sinha at the inauguration ceremony of Goafest2019 | Dainik Jagran wins Best marketing of a printed newspaper edition in Publisher Abby awards at Goafest2019

     

     

    The first half of the day began with singer Shaan performing live and reminiscing some of his advertising jingle days. This was followed by the Industry Conclave and later the Abby awards presentation.

     

    Speaking about Goafest 2019, Ashish Bhasin, President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) said: “Over the last few years, we have seen the growth in participation with lines blurring between the media and creative disciplines. At Goafest 2019, on the back of an exclusive list of speakers and artists, we have seen a sustained registration of about 2000 delegates, while Abby Awards have seen 2700 entries this year.”

     

    Said Shashi Sinha, Chair of the Awards Governing Council, on participation in this year’s Abby awards: “Abby Awards continues to be the gold standard in creative and media awards. In today’s scenario, creativity is no longer limited to creative agencies only. We are also increasingly seeing it coming from other industries such as digital, PR, analytics, etc. This trend is evident in the diversity of participants and winners witnessed in the Abby Awards.”

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, Chairman – Goafest 2019: “Democratisation is a trend sweeping through the industry and we are proud of Goafest 2019 being an integral part of this change. It has been our endeavour to drive inclusivity irrespective of size and without the limitation of cost and opportunity.”

     

    According to Vikram Sakhuja, President, The Advertising Club, there has been an attempt to rationalise categories and getting an eminent jury. “This has led to a higher participation with around 15% more agencies entering their work this year,” he said.

     

    Goafest 2019 has Viacom18 as Presenting Sponsor and is powered by MX Player. The Industry Conclave was sponsored by Discovery Channel.

     

    Day 1 Press Release_2019

  • Presented by Viacom18, the apex industry awards is set to convene at Goafest 2019 from 11th  – 13th April

    Awards Governing Council for ABBY Awards 2019 announced

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Advertising Club and Advertising Agencies Association of India have announced the Awards Governing Council for the Abby Awards. The fourteenth edition of Goafest 2019 is being held from April 11 to 13 this year.

     

    The  committee includes: Shashi Sinha: Chairman of the Awards Governing Council, ABBY Awards 2019, Secretary – The Advertising Club and CEO, IPG Mediabrands India; Vikram Sakhuja: President, The Advertising Club & Group CEO – Madison Media & OOH – ‎Madison World; Ajay Kakar: Chief Marketing Officer, Aditya Birla Capital; Ajay Chandwani: Director, Percept Ltd; Aditya Swamy: Head – Agency Partnerships , Google and Sapangeet Rajawat: Head – Marketing, Hindi Mass Entertainment.

     

    The Awards Governing Council  on behalf of AAAI comprises Nakul Chopra; Chairman – Goafest 2019; Ashish Bhasin: Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network – ‎Aegis Group plc; Anupriya Acharya: CEO, Publicis Media India; Rohit Ohri: Group Chairman and CEO, FCB India and Jaydeep Gandhi: Chairman & Director, Jaya Advertising.

     

    Speaking on the focus of the AGC  for the upcoming edition, Sinha, said: The newly appointed Awards Governing Council is committed to ensuring that the awards are inclusive and have multi sectoral  representation. The combined experience  and the expertise of the council is sure to ensure that  all aspects of the awards from jury selection  to jury deliberation and review and  winner announcement thereafter is conducted with the highest standards of due diligence.”

     

    Added Bhasin: “Abby Awards have always been  the highlight of the festival and a key plaform for  the young minds from the industry to showcase the pioneering work done by them through the year . The awards governing council council formed to conduct this marquee awards includes industry thought leaders and media mavens who will come together to deliver another inclusive, highly represented  and  successful  year of the Abby.”

     

    Speaking about the AGC appointment, Sakhuja said: “Winning an Abby has always been a careed defining moment  for and the awards have year on year ensured that only the best in class campaigns that have showcased effectiveness and creativity are lauded. The newly appointed Awards Governing Counicl will ensure that the Abby continue to live up to its repute of being the ultimate industry awards that celebrate meritorious campaigns.”

     

    Said Nakul Chopra, Chairman – Goafest 2019: “Every year, Abbys have  not just recognized the best in best work done by the industry but also encouraged individuals from the industry to innovate and push boundaries to deliver the best creative campaigns.  We are sure that this year too will see  a lot of innovative work entered that will be judged by a renowned  jury panel curated by the eminent Awards Governing Council.”