MAM
Indian Media Review: Shashi Sinha addresses the elephant in the room — common measurement
MUMBAI: All eyes were trained on this year’s media review by The Advertising Club, what with the stalwarts of the industry repeatedly endorsing it on the social media weeks before the event took place. And indeed, the topic that the session addressed hit close to to every stakeholder in the industry alike — be it publishers from across media, advertisers or media agencies. It was on having a common currency of measuring the effectiveness of media for advertising across platforms.
IPG Mediabrands CEO was one of the key speakers at the review. Shashi Sinha started off on a more comfortable note of how agencies can help businesses grow with an effective measurement.
According to him, “Instead of complaining that clients are demanding more accountability from the media they bought, agencies need to understand that better measurement gives CMOs better rationale for justifying better budgets.”
This ‘better measurability’, as per Sinha, is being achieved in several ways at present, primarily — introduction of BARC’s measurement system for broadcasters, revival of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) by next year, and digital.
The issue, Sinha emphasised, came down to whether the fraternity wanted to take a few more steps further to improve the system of measurement across media after understanding the need of the hour or whether they wanted to stall the progress and delay the combined measurement system.
Speaking specifically of the digital measurement system, Sinha shared that it was wrong to expect a panel of digital platforms or ‘OTT’ players to be self regulators of their measurement systems, given that the category is extremely fragmented. Therefore, he openly asked if “digital publishers are willing to be measured by third parties and be transparent with their numbers?”
Highlighting how the IRS, which Sinha expects to be fully functional in eight months, will increase the sample size of print publishers by 40 per cent, he added that multimedia evaluation was also being considered by the board.
Sinha expressed his welcome surprise at the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) testing the measurement possibilities in the publishing side of digital (as BARC only caters to video consumption measurements). “Unlike video measurement, it is relatively cheap and is actually already functional for the last three to four months. We just need the heavyweights in the medium to come to a consensus for it to be fully rolled out,” Sinha added.
After addressing and updating the audience about the different scopes of measurements in each media, Sinha quickly moved on to emphasise the need to have a common source of truth or ‘a single view of truth’
This brings him to suggest the ambitious idea of Media Research Users Council (MRUC), the IRS, BARC and ABC to come together to contribute to a common pool of data that can be further sliced and diced in accordance with each media based on the clients requirement, although Sinha agreed that currently major challenges were in making that thought become a reality.
Instead, one could start with thinking along the lines of a measurement currency that each media can be compared in, and according to Sinha, it is CPT,
“Television measurement needs to move from CPRP to CPT format, and that’s a good starting point of having some commonality of currency between mediums. Publishers need to understand that moving from one currency system to the other doesn’t bring any difference in the buying and selling equation with clients. That will always be based on the demand-supply ratio,” assured Sinha, adding that the current CPT of channels is actually an opportunity to drive growth.
CPT or Cost Per Thousand is basically the advertising cost of reaching a certain number of viewers in a defined target group on television, while CPRP or Cost Per Rating Point is the cost of advertising time on television based on the price of time for a single rating point generated by the channel.
More mature markets such as the US, the UK and Germany have already switched to CPT as a currency when buying and selling television media.
MAM
L’Atelier 1664 returns to Lakmé Fashion Week with Abraham & Thakore
Design platform showcases ‘The Sari’torial’ blending tailoring and drapes.
MUMBAI: When couture meets craft, even a sari can learn a few new tricks. L’Atelier 1664 is returning to Lakmé Fashion Week 2026 in Mumbai, continuing its design led partnership with one of India’s most influential fashion platforms. The cultural platform will once again spotlight the intersection of fashion, craftsmanship and contemporary lifestyle, this time through a special runway collaboration with design house Abraham & Thakore.
Titled “The Sari’torial,” the curated showcase reimagines the sari through a conversation between structured tailoring and fluid draping. Drawing inspiration from the relaxed elegance of French style and the rich heritage of Indian textiles, the collection explores everyday silhouettes refined with signature fabrics, subtle detailing and a restrained colour palette highlighted by L’Atelier 1664’s distinctive house blue.
The collaboration marks a continuation of L’Atelier 1664’s presence at Lakmé Fashion Week after its debut association last year, reinforcing the platform’s growing engagement with India’s creative and fashion ecosystem.
Beyond the runway, the brand will also host its signature lounge at the fashion week venue, creating an immersive experiential space designed to bring together design, culture and contemporary lifestyle in one setting.
Carlsberg India vice president for marketing Partha Sarathi Jha said the association reflects the brand’s interest in supporting creative expression. “Lakmé Fashion Week is one of the most important platforms for fashion and creative expression in India. Through L’Atelier 1664, we aim to celebrate this intersection of culture, design and contemporary lifestyle. We are excited to continue our association with Lakmé Fashion Week and collaborate with Abraham & Thakore to bring this vision to life on the runway,” he said.
Designers David Abraham and Rakesh Thakore added that the collection explores a cross cultural design dialogue. “With Sari’torial, we wanted to explore a conversation between French ease and Indian craftsmanship. Our collaboration with L’Atelier 1664 blends a relaxed French sensibility with the richness of Indian textiles, reinterpreting traditional crafts through a modern lens,” they said.
L’Atelier 1664 is part of the portfolio of Carlsberg Group, the Denmark headquartered beverages company whose Indian arm has operated in the country since 2007. Today, Carlsberg India runs 14 breweries across the country, including eight company owned facilities and six contract manufacturers, supporting a portfolio that includes brands such as Carlsberg Smooth, Carlsberg Elephant, Tuborg Green, Tuborg Strong, Tuborg Ice Draft, Tuborg Classic and 1664 Blanc.
Through its continued presence at Lakmé Fashion Week, L’Atelier 1664 is positioning itself not just as a sponsor but as a cultural platform connecting fashion, design and lifestyle conversations in India’s evolving creative landscape.
