MAM
Ads get their receipts as TV and digital finally speak the same language
MUMBAI: When marketing finally stops guessing and starts proving, the numbers begin to talk back. Worldpanel India, part of Kantar, has partnered with SYNCMedia to launch India’s first deterministic, single-source, cross-platform attribution framework designed to answer the question advertisers care about most: what actually drives action.
For years, cross-platform measurement has relied on probabilities and modelling assumptions. This new framework marks a clean break from that past. Built on deterministic, people-level data, it offers unified measurement across Linear TV, Digital video and OTT platforms linking ad exposure directly to real online outcomes such as search, website visits, e-commerce and quick-commerce behaviour.
Early campaign analysis across categories including automobiles, insurance, banking, handsets, consumer durables, online apps and FMCG reveals a clear hierarchy in performance. Audiences exposed only to Linear TV delivered 15 to 25 per cent higher online search conversions than those reached solely through user-generated content platforms. More strikingly, cross-screen audiences exposed to both Linear TV and Digital video recorded over 50 per cent higher conversions on average compared to solus UGC exposure.
The data also reinforces TV’s enduring role as the reach engine. Linear TV continues to deliver 50 to 100 per cent more audiences than the largest UGC platform, along with three to four times higher exclusive reach. Digital video, however, plays a sharper role further down the funnel: solus Digital exposure drove 30 to 50 per cent higher website-visit conversions than solus Linear TV. The strongest results, consistently, came from a combined TV plus Digital approach.
For brands, the shift from assumption-led planning to evidence-backed decision-making could be significant. Policybazaar head of brand marketing Samir Sethi said the ability to map cross-screen attribution directly to business outcomes strengthens how effectiveness is evaluated across video platforms, enabling more integrated and data-led media allocation.
Worldpanel by Numerator managing director for South Asia K Ramakrishnan described the framework as a game changer for brands seeking a unified view of how media influences business metrics. He added that the single-source panel will expand in size and coverage during 2026, helping FMCG marketers finally validate long-debated claims around the short-term sales impact of video advertising.
SYNCMedia founder and CEO Anubhav Sharma said the industry has long aspired to people-level accountability across screens, but has struggled to achieve it at scale. By combining real exposure capture with real behaviour, he said, brands can move past channel rivalries and focus squarely on growth drivers.
The panel currently comprises smartphone users across India’s top six metros. Participants install SYNCMedia’s SYNC Pulse app, which uses Automatic Content Recognition to detect ad exposure across screens, while computer vision and mobile fingerprinting track real behaviour across web, e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms. The result is granular, cohort-wise attribution by exposure source turning media planning from educated guesswork into measurable cause and effect.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
