iWorld
Just Human Things and Qyuki launch ‘Overtime’
MUMBAI: What would happen if aliens took over the world and two employees who hate each other and tired of their daily routine are stuck with each other inside their office? Just Human Things along with Qyuki presents Overtime, India’s first ever a rib-tickling tale on alien invasion and about how the end of the world can either bring unlikely people together or tear humanity apart. The five-episode series will release on 29 January and is promised to be a laugh riot! Written and directed by Ashwin Lakshmi Narayan, this horror-comedy series features Ramya Saxena– lead coder- and Manoj Bhardwaj– the intern essayed by Ronjini Chakraborty and Harsh Mayar respectively.
‘Overtime’ revolves around two IT employees who try to survive the horror of the outside world as well as survive each other. As human civilization nears it disastrous fate, Manoj, an intern and his not-so-cooperative boss Ramya are left with no option but to stay inside their office and tolerate each other. What follows are moments of humor and uncertainty as both of them explore ways to endure their encounters with mundane tasks as aliens take on planet Earth.
Speaking on the release of India’s first ever Alien Invasion Office comedy, Director Ashwin Lakshmi Narayan says, “Sid and I were thinking of doing something around aliens for a while. It was just a matter of understanding the budgets we had, the audience that only knows Jadoo as an alien, and bearing both in mind making something cool and fun. And then one fine day the idea struck. I thought that if an alien attack were to happen, I would never leave my home or space. If I were to go out into the real world, I will die, the aliens will eat me or looking at them I would surrender. As in why do all movies or shows have these people fighting these creatures. Why not make a show where they are just constantly avoiding them and at the same time dealing with problems like living without Wi-Fi, electricity, entertainment, food and so much more. Will a vegetarian become non veg to survive? Will I do drugs knowing I’m going to die tomorrow? Such things became fun to explore. In the end I think we all came together to try and make a very Indian show, with a western influence.”
Overtime co-producer and Just Human Things founder Sidhanta Mathur shares, “For years I’ve wanted to see a dystopian world in India. I’m heavily inspired by what if situations and how regular people will be affected by it. The idea for an alien invasion being the backdrop is to see what I would do. What would I eat? Would I survive? I think the idea of this while scary is ridiculously funny and we have tried to achieve that balance with Overtime”.
India’s first disaster comedy, Overtime is about Alien Invasion and those people who want to survive and reinvent themselves as the world nears its end. It is about how there is always a ray of hope and a way to move forward even when humanity may not see another tomorrow.
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.
