MAM
Advertising picks up in 2012: Nielsen
MUMBAI: Advertising spending across television, newspapers, radio, outdoor, Internet and cinema see an increase in the beginning of 2012 compared to last year, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.
Though TV continues to attract the majority of ad dollars, Internet advertising sees the biggest increase, with advertisers spending 12.1 per cent more in Q1 2012 than one year prior. During that time, ad spend overall increased 3.1 per cent globally.
Across the regions, the findings are markedly different as each media has taken root and evolved uniquely.
Television: Dollars devoted to TV advertising grew 4 per cent in North America, second only to outdoor, and 7.5 per cent in Latin America. In the Middle East and Africa, TV ad spend grew a whopping 33.8 per cent.
Internet: Online ad spend was a bright spot for the industry, with growth around the globe. Growth was particularly notable in Europe (12.1 per cent), Latin America (31.8 per cent) and the Middle East and Africa (35.2 per cent).
Print (Magazines and Newspapers): Magazines saw a minor decline compared to last year, but newspapers grew by 3.1 per cent. In Latin America and Asia Pacific, both media grew by 7.6 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively in Latin America, and 3.6 per cent and 5.4 per cent in Asia Pacific. North America saw nominal declines in print ad spend.
Radio: Radio saw increases in every region around the globe, including a 2.6 per cent increase in North America and 2.8 per cent in Europe. In emerging markets in Latin America and Middle East and Africa, those increases were much higher. Radio grew 18 per cent in Latin America and 21.1 per cent in the Middle East and Africa.
Cinema: In the Asia Pacific, cinema grew by 27.1 per cent, offsetting the declines seen in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.
Outdoor: Still a nascent industry, outdoor is growing rapidly. In the past quarter, outdoor ad spend increased by 6.4 per cent globally. This included gains of 4.4 per cent in North America, 45.3 per cent in the Middle East and Africa and 21.1 per cent in Asia Pacific. Only Europe experienced a decline.
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Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
