MAM
Avian Media ropes in Palin Ningthoujam
MUMBAI: Avian Media has appointed Palin Ningthoujam to spearhead its digital practice. The appointment will further strengthen Avian’s existing capabilities in the digital space.
With more than a decade of experience Ningthoujam will be responsible for building the firms digital thought leadership, internal digital adoption and lead client strategy, execution and analytics. Besides, Ningthoujam will scout for opportunities to incorporate reputation management and digital marketing.
Commenting on his new role, Ningthoujam, said, “Today, clients are looking at tighter integration of digital in marketing, communication and customer service initiatives with teams that understand business requirements, quality in execution and ideas with substance. My priority at Avian Media will be to work on these expectations and take the delivery a notch higher in the industry. Avian Media, with its strong leadership and passionate teams, has attracted good clients and industry accolades in the past few years. I believe this is the right place that offers the flexibility, creativity, and culture that will help me work towards industry priorities.”
On the appointment, Avian Media CEO and business partner Nitin Mantri said, ‘In today’s era when social media is transforming the communication industry globally, companies are opting for an integrated PR and digital approach for brands. Online reputation management holds the key to building prominence, popularity and preference for companies. Hence, it is crucial for us to strengthen our base with talented professionals who will reinforce our ongoing strategic focus on delivering successful digital campaigns for clients. Palin has the experience of working across sectors and we will use his rich pool of knowledge to steer Avian’s growth on the digital front.”
Ningthoujam has led award winning digital campaigns for various organisations in auto, technology, food, and travel sectors. He founded the India PR Blog in 2006 which ranks among top PR blogs globally. He has also written extensively for leading US based social media blog, Mashable.com, reviewing and comparing online tools, and also has written for key blogs such as Desicritics and New Communications Review. He also founded the ‘Network of PR Professionals’ group on Linkedin.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
