MAM
Buzzfeed and GroupM ink global advertising deal
MUMBAI: Technology driven media company BuzzFeed and WPP’s GroupM have inked a global partnership to provide GroupM’s and WPP’s agencies and clients with unprecedented access to BuzzFeed’s creative and data assets.
Led by GroupM, WPP agencies will benefit from:
• The first beta partnership with Pound, BuzzFeed’s proprietary data technology that offers insights and analytics around how content shares across the social web;
• A dedicated creative group at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures to produce branded video content for WPP clients;
• A creative residency allowing WPP creative teams access to BuzzFeed’s expertise producing social content for all platforms; and
• Preferential media pricing for clients of GroupM agencies.
GroupM chief digital officer Rob Norman said, “The future of advertising lies at the intersection of creativity, data, media and technology; that’s where BuzzFeed has built its business and proved its value to brands. This is a terrific opportunity for our clients to move swiftly and succeed in the fastest growing media platforms. We have appointed partnership leaders from each GroupM agency, and other WPP agencies will do the same.”
GroupM president Dominic Proctor added, “WPP’s investments in content demonstrate its commitment to creating socially and culturally resonant content for millennials. GroupM’s partnership with BuzzFeed adds a new dimension to this capability and amplifies our other partnerships.”
BuzzFeed president Greg Coleman said, “This is an exciting time for our company. Our audience is growing on and off platform. Our Motion Pictures studio is booming and now reaches 1.5 billion video views a month – from shorter than short form on Snapchat, to original scripted series. We’re excited to take our unique approach and voice in branded content, data and iterative learning in a big way with GroupM and their clients.”
The arrangement involves no investment or equity exchange between the companies.
Brands
Reserve Bank of India cancels Paytm Payments Bank licence
Central bank cites compliance failures; curbs tighten as wind-up looms
MUMBAI: India’s banking watchdog delivered its sharpest blow yet to Paytm Payments Bank, cancelling its licence and effectively ending its ability to operate as a bank under the law.
The Reserve Bank of India said the entity can no longer conduct banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, citing concerns that its affairs were not being run in the interest of depositors or the public and that it had failed to meet licence conditions.
The move escalates a crackdown that has been building for months. The bank had already been barred from onboarding new customers since March 11, 2022, and later faced restrictions on deposits, credit and wallet top-ups. In January 2024, the central bank ordered it to stop accepting fresh deposits, pointing to persistent non-compliance, including lapses in customer due diligence, use of funds and technology systems.
Operationally, the bank is now on a tight leash. It may process withdrawals of existing deposits and facilitate loan referrals through banking correspondents, but it cannot take fresh deposits.
The central bank said it would apply to the high court to wind up the bank.
Paytm sought to ringfence the fallout. In a regulatory filing, it said the licence cancellation applies to Paytm Payments Bank Limited, a separate entity, and should not be attributed to One 97 Communications. It added that there is no exposure or material business arrangement with the bank and that it operates independently, without Paytm’s board or management involvement.
“As informed earlier, Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) and its services, which have been operating without interruption, will continue to operate uninterrupted. These include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies,” the company said.
The distinction may reassure users of the app ecosystem, but the regulator’s verdict is unequivocal. After years of warnings, caps and curbs, the payments bank experiment at Paytm is being shut down—decisively, and with little room left to manoeuvre.
