Starcom MediaVest Group launches 'Web+TV Optimiser' in India

The optimiser falls under the TARDIIS suite and runs on the local Television Audience Measurement (TAM) and Web Audience Measurement (WAM) datasets.

Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) India has announced the launch of its new product innovation, a fused 'TV + Web Optimiser'. The product has been rolled out across all SMG organisations in the country.

India is one of the few markets where SMG has launched this product, which the agency was testing internally since March.

This optimiser falls under the TARDIIS suite, that is, the agency's proprietary optimiser, one that SMG India has been using since 2006. This fused optimiser allows all the media planners at the agency to seamlessly evaluate their plans between TV and digital.

The optimiser runs on the local Television Audience Measurement (TAM) and Web Audience Measurement (WAM) datasets.

Commenting on the news, Mallikarjunadas CR (aka Malli), chief executive officer, SMG India, says that this is one of the investments the agency is making in order to improve its decision making on client investments and to take businesses along the digital transition road.

"One senses that the growth of spends on digital should be faster than otherwise. There are several vehicles in digital whose reach is substantial and yet inertia and a lack of currency prevent investments," he says, adding that with this optimiser, a planner can seamlessly build plan options between TV and digital.

"Does taking 10 per cent of the budget from TV and putting it on to digital build better incremental reach?" questions Malli, before going on to answer, "A planner would be able to do this on an on-going basis with this product. When used on FMCG clients in other markets, it has shown that it can lead to a totally different worldview on digital and increase spends substantially.

"TARDIIS Web + TV is one of the first tools with scale in this market that can accelerate digital spends and investments," adds Malli.

Speaking of the development from a human resources perspective, Puja Shah, director, human resources, SMG, says, "We want to enable all our planners to be digitally oriented. This is one of several steps in this direction that SMG India has planned out in the next six months."