iWorld
Amazon Prime to show Asahi’s anime content
MUMBAI – November 24, 2016 – Amazon today announced its alliance with Japan-based TV Asahi Corporation which will make Amazon Prime Video India the exclusive subscription streaming home for some of TV Asahi’s all-time favorite kids toons – Doraemon, Shin chan, and Ninja Hattori. Available together in the territory for the first time ever on a video streaming platform, Doraemon, Shin Chan, and Ninja Hattori will be exclusive to Amazon Prime members in India with new episodes refreshed regularly.
“Amazon Prime Video in India aims to be home to a diverse mix of beloved kids’ content and be the preferred entertainment choice for kids in India.” said Nitesh Kripalani, Director and Country Head, Amazon Prime Video India. “The popularity of Japanese anime has grown immensely and TV Asahi Corporation is one of Japan’s leading private broadcasters who we already have a content licensing agreement with in Japan. We are thrilled to extend this relationship to India as well to bring this fantastic content to our kids.”
“We are excited about some of our best contents are going to be available on Amazon Prime Video. We hope the digital experience would take our contents to the next level of the popularity in India” said Takahiro Kishimoto, Head of Animation at International Business Department, TV Asahi Corporation.
Doraemon is a popular Japanese manga series, created by Fujiko F. Fujio. The series has also been adapted into a successful anime series and media franchise. The story revolves around a robotic time-traveling cat named Doraemon, who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a pre-teen boy named Nobita Nobi.
Shin chan, is a Japanese manga series created by Yoshito Usui. It follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke “Shin” Nohara and his parents, baby sister, dog, neighbours, and friends and is set in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture. An anime adaptation of the series began airing on TV Asahi in 1992 and remains on air till this day.
Ninja Hattori is a manga series created by Fujiko Fujio A, later adapted into a television drama, an anime series, a video game and a live-action movie. The comedy actions animated series was aired on TV Asahi in the 80’s and all new episodes of the series has been produced since 2012 and is currently on air in several Asian countries.
Chimpui is a Japanese television series created by Fujiko F. Fujio in 1985. It tells the story of a young girl named Eri and two cute aliens that come to Earth to find her to be the most precious girl to marry with their beloved prince of the planet Mal.
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
