eNews
Digital video advertising faces a recall crisis: R K Swamy study
MUMBAI: India’s advertisers are pouring between Rs 12,000 crore and Rs 22,000 crore into digital video platforms. They’re getting precious little bang for their buck.
A sweeping study by R K Swamy Centre for Study of Indian Markets has exposed a dismal truth: viewers can barely remember the brands they’ve just seen advertised. Across 3,000 respondents in 10 cities—Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Patna and Ludhiana—the average person recalled just 1.5 brands. That’s despite watching 2.17 hours of video daily on their mobiles.
The findings are brutal. Whilst over 600 brands were recalled in total, only 11 managed to lodge themselves in the minds of more than 3 per cent of respondents. The lucky few? Quick-commerce darlings Zepto, Zomato, Meesho, Blinkit and Swiggy, alongside e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon, plus Nescafe, Country Delight, Rummy Circle and Dream 11.
“Many respondents had difficulty in remembering and accurately identifying brands,” said R K Swamy executive vice-president and chief digital officer S Narasimhan. “Very few were able to recall specific details of the creative content itself. In the light of major expenditure in digital video platforms, this was a disappointment.”
The study, conducted by Hansa Research between August and September 2025, interviewed respondents aged 18 to 50, split evenly by gender and across income groups. Researchers physically checked mobile devices to verify app usage and screen time—no self-reporting fudge allowed.
YouTube dominated viewership at 64 per cent, trailed by Facebook at 19 per cent and Instagram at 17 per cent. Yet recall remained stubbornly low across all platforms. Regional languages ruled: 93 per cent of respondents watched videos daily, with most preferring content in their native tongues over English.
The ad experience itself is punishing. Three out of five respondents skip ads whenever possible. Half mute them. Nearly three in five consider the ads served to them irrelevant. Seven in ten detest seeing the same ad repeatedly.
“While YouTube was highly viewed, the recall of brands on the medium was poor,” said Hansa Research Group chief executive Praveen Nijhara. “So was the case with Facebook and Instagram. A significant majority of the respondents report skipping ads and muting them.”
One bright spot: WhatsApp. Three out of four videos received on the platform get viewed and forwarded, confirming the power of peer-to-peer sharing over paid placement.
The study suggests several culprits for the recall catastrophe. The digital video landscape is vast and fragmented, lacking television’s appointment viewing. Ads are easily skipped. Frequency of exposure to individual messages remains unmeasured. And the scattered nature of consumption means no mass audience ever accumulates.
For advertisers accustomed to metrics like impressions, views, click-through rates and cost-per-thousand views—all supply-side and self-certified—the findings pose uncomfortable questions about what they’re actually buying. R K Swamy plans to continue the study monthly. The white paper is available on the company’s website.
The message for brands burning through crores on digital video? Your ads are vanishing into the ether. And nobody’s noticing.
eNews
Swiggy sees record orders during India vs New Zealand T20 final
Chicken biryani tops match-day menu as fans order 7,500 times per minute at peak.
MUMBAI: India’s T20 final didn’t just break stumps, it broke Swiggy’s delivery records, proving cricket fans celebrate victories with plates, not just flags. Swiggy, India’s leading on-demand convenience platform, reported a sharp spike in food orders during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final between India and New Zealand. On 8 March 2026, overall orders rose 23.2 per cent year-on-year compared with the same date in 2025, driven by fans turning living rooms into mini stadiums complete with match-day feasts.
Key highlights from the evening:
- Orders during peak match hours (7–10 pm) were 2.1 times higher than pre-match levels.
- The highest order rate hit 7,500 orders per minute at 19:45.
- Chicken biryani reigned supreme as the most-ordered dish, followed by masala dosa, chicken fried rice, garlic breadsticks and paneer butter masala.
While metros such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad led volumes, the cricketing fever spread nationwide. Among emerging cities, Thiruvananthapuram, Surat and Rajkot recorded the strongest order growth. Smaller markets including Shillong, Agartala and Port Blair also showed significant appetite, underlining the expanding footprint of quick-commerce food delivery across India.
The surge reflects a growing trend of pairing major sporting events with doorstep delivery, turning big matches into shared, convenient celebrations. In a night where every boundary mattered, Swiggy proved the real MVP might just be the delivery partner who kept the snacks and the vibes flowing without missing a single wicket.
