MAM
GroupM cos appoint new leaders in India, south and north Asia
MUMBAI: Tim Castree, Global CEO of MEC and CEO of “NewCo”, has announced that Kartik Sharma has been named as Managing Director of the new media, content and technology agency in India and South Asia when it launches in January 2018. Kartik has been Managing Director of Maxus South Asia since 2014 and in that time, has led the agency to outstanding new business growth and success.
Tim Castree commented: “We’re creating a brand new billion-dollar revenue media, content and technology agency, dubbed ‘NewCo’ for now. With such ambition, comes a need for brilliant talent to lead and inspire, and so today’s news is very exciting for us. Under Kartik’s leadership, I am confident that we will have the right team in place to truly make NewCo a formidable future-facing agency in India and South Asia.” Kartik will report to GroupM South Asia CEO, CVL Srinivas and Tim Castree.
Following GroupM’s recent commitment to adding offline media capabilities, an expanded geographic footprint and an influx of talent to the agency, Christian Juhl, global CEO of Essence, a global digital-first agency, today announced that T. Gangadhar, current Managing Director of MEC South Asia, will transition into the new role of Chairman of India and Managing Director of North Asia, Essence. Gangadhar will report into Kyoko Matsushita, CEO of Essence APAC. He will continue to be based in Mumbai.
Anand Chakravarthy, who has served as Managing Partner at Maxus India since 2015, will be transitioning into the role of Managing Director of Essence India. Chakravarthy will report into both Gangadhar and Matsushita and will work closely with the regional leadership in his new role.
Both Gangadhar and Chakravarthy will assume their new roles by January 2018. The Essence teams will be strongly supported by the GroupM network as they look to expand their presence in market. Christian Juhl commented: “India is such an important market for so many of our clients whose business challenges we work tirelessly to solve. Essence has built its credibility on being a data-centric agency that infuses technology and measurement across all media. We’re excited to expand our geographic footprint and apply our unique approach for our global clients looking for relevance in India. Gangadhar and Anand are experienced leaders who will help expand our presence.”
MAM
IAS launches Total TV suite to boost transparency in CTV ads
New solution offers programme-level insights across platforms and publishers.
MUMBAI: In the world of streaming, what you see is not always what advertisers get and that’s exactly the problem IAS is looking to fix. Integral Ad Science (IAS) has unveiled ‘IAS Total TV’, a new suite of Connected TV (CTV) solutions aimed at bringing what it calls “linear-like” transparency to the fast-growing streaming ecosystem. In simple terms, it is an attempt to make digital TV advertising a lot less of a black box.
The offering aggregates programme-level data covering genre, ratings, language, shows and specific content from major platforms including Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Prime Video, along with opted-in publishers via Publica. All of this is housed within the IAS Signal interface, giving advertisers a unified view of where their ads actually appear.
The timing is hardly accidental. According to Nielsen, as of Q4 2025, 74.2 per cent of all TV viewing in the United States is ad-supported. Of that, streaming alone accounts for 45.6 per cent outpacing traditional television and cementing its position as the largest ad-supported medium. Advertisers have followed suit, funnelling premium budgets into CTV, but often without a clear, standardised view of performance or placement.
That gap is precisely what IAS is targeting. By combining content insights with media quality, supply path data and campaign outcomes, the platform aims to give marketers more control over when, where and alongside what content their ads run. The goal is not just visibility, but accountability ensuring ads land in brand-suitable environments rather than disappearing into opaque inventory pools.
The suite also promises practical gains. Marketers can access real-time, aggregated transparency across shows and platforms, streamline campaign controls across digital video channels, and leverage third-party verification to improve efficiency and pre-bid decision-making. Measurement tools extend to quality reach and incremental conversions, offering a clearer link between spend and outcomes.
At a time when high CPMs and fragmented data make CTV both attractive and complex, the push for transparency is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity. IAS’s move reflects a broader industry shift, where the race is no longer just for eyeballs, but for clarity on what those eyeballs are actually watching.
Because in streaming’s premium playground, knowing the content may just matter as much as owning the audience.
