iWorld
How FB is helping brands to grow their biz in India
GURUGRAM: Between dealing and refining its ad-targeting technology, coming clean about overestimating its video metrics to clients, failing to successfully launch Free Basics in India following ban by TRAI, its most recent tussle with Fake News, and, still doubling its revenues to USD 7.01 billion in its last quarter earnings (Q3) – Facebook has had an eventful year so far – be it globally or in India. How do these ups and down score with its partners and clients in India, Facebook’’s second largest market?
Acknowledging India’s strategic importance to Facebook’ s overall business, Facebook India and South Asia managing director Umang Bedi reassured that advertisers’ faith in Facebook is going strong, and not without reason.
Since joining the social media giant’s India team from Adobe Systems in July, the last 100 days have kept Bedi busy, hopping between cities catching up with partners across India.
In line with its motto of ‘moving businesses’, Bedi cited several examples where Indian brands engaging with consumers on Facebook have seen a measurable difference to its brand outcome as well as sales.
For example, Mondelez International gained over five points in brand consideration through Facebook’s Reach and Frequency tool, Durex saw a 29 per cent increase in sales during a running campaign on Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook (along with TV), and Garnier saw a 19 per cent increase in sales in a weak market cluster using Facebook Carousel Ads.
Snapdeal, Tanishq, Adidas, Ola, Yatra.com, were a few other brands of which Facebook helped move business, Bedi cited.
As to how sales made by these brands could be attributed to ads placed on Facebook, Bedi clarified, “When there is a lift in sales done for a client online, we can easily track whether a consumer who saw its ad on our platform made a purchase or downloaded a certain app. It is a straightforward way keep track of a user across platforms through Software Development Kit (SDK) or pixels. For example, an Ola App will have a FB SDK embedded in its code. When you go offline, or cross media, we depend on our partners like Millward Brown who are known for meta cross-media studies, albeit through a sample-sized user base and campaigns.”
Based on cross-media meta content measured and studied by Millward Brown in 26 of its campaigns across categories, Facebook managed to add five points to television in audience outcome at one-seventh the cost if same numbers were chased through television. Other measurement services that Facebook uses to procure data and measurement studies for its clients include Nielsen and BARC.
The company’s impressive Q3 earnings, with a Y-O-Y increase of 16 per cent in revenue speaks volumes of its enormous reach that currently stands at 1.79 billion, off 1.18 billion are daily active users.
Speaking strictly of the Indian market, Facebook has 166 million monthly active users as of its last quarter reports, of which 159 million access the site through mobile. Similarly, 85 million Indian users access Facebook daily, of which 81 million do it through mobile.
Do these figures translate into revenues as well for the market? “Facebook India leads the charter among emerging markets when it comes to revenues. We are at par with Asia Pacific earnings, and Asia Pacific is the fastest growing markets for us, and India is a significant contributor to that,” Bedi shared, without putting a figure to its India earnings.
According to its filings with the Registrar of Companies that was reported earlier this year, Facebook reported a 27 per cent increase in its revenues in India.
On the flipside, Bedi also made a strong case of Facebook’s contribution to the Indian market to reinforce its positioning as a loved and trusted brand. Citing a Deloitte 2015 report, Bedi shared that Facebook contributes USD 4 billion to the Indan economy and supports 335,000 jobs through its marketing platforms and connectivity efforts.
“We have generated 2.4 billion interactions between businesses and people in India through two billion small and medium business pages in India. Not to mention, 59 per cent people in India are connected to SMEs through FB.”
While Facebook is focused on growing the base to reach the next billion new users in India and driving engagement, “everything we do around Facebook in the next five years is all about moving the real world business for our advertisers and partners,” Bedi makes it clear.
Bedi’s strategy for that is quite simple – grow numbers by driving deep engagement that is augmented by partnerships valued by measured returns.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
