MAM
Brands’ website traffic has direct correlation with TV advertising: study
NEW DELHI: A study shows that website traffic rises and falls in direct correlation with TV advertising for majority of call-to-action brands, which depend on immediate results from marketing efforts.
The Video Advertising Bureau’s (VAB) study Ignition Point: The TV-Traffic Correlation for Call-to-Action Brands came to this finding after studying 125 brands in six categories (restaurants, retail, travel, telecommunications & location-based mobile apps, financial and insurance) representing more than $30 billion in TV advertising in 2014.
The brands studied were a cross-section – large, midsized, smaller, national, regional and local – with more than 100,000 unique visitors per month as measured by comScore. All results are from the February 2014 to March 2015 period.
A total of 82 per cent of these brands showed a direct correlation between TV advertising and website traffic. Of the 85 brands with unique visitor increases, 87 per cent had increased TV spending – an average of 22 per cent increase in spending and 24 per cent increase in visitors. Of the 40 brands with unique visitor decreases, 70 per cent had lowered TV spending – an average of 10 per cent less TV spending and nine per cent decrease in visitors.
VAB CEO Sean Cunningham said, “TV is the great activator in Internet commerce. A majority of brands with the most on the line for big sales now see their website traffic follow the curve of their investment in TV advertising. TV advertising does more than generate awareness; it triggers the most important action at a time when the Internet functions as a brand’s storefront to the world.”
While the specific ratios of advertising to traffic vary, the pattern is predominant and consistent. On a category level, 72 per cent of travel brands showed a direct correlation between TV advertising and website traffic, versus 76 per cent of restaurants, 82 per cent of retail, 85 per cent of insurance, 86 per cent of financial, and 100 per cent of telco/apps.
This is the second report in the VAB’s commitment to illustrate critical effects of TV advertising that are hidden by the silo nature of syndicated data. Last year, it looked at the correlation between TV advertising and website traffic for 75 pure-play Internet companies, and found 85 per cent showed a direct correlation between TV spending and website traffic.
Brands
Jio Financial Services posts Rs 1,560 crore FY26 profit
Revenue rises to Rs 3,513 crore as investments and lending scale up.
MUMBAI: If money makes the world go round, Jio Financial Services Limited is quietly spinning a much bigger wheel. The Reliance-backed financial arm reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,560.9 crore for FY26, slightly lower than Rs 1,612.6 crore in FY25, even as revenue growth gathered pace.
Total revenue from operations rose sharply to Rs 3,513.3 crore in FY26 from Rs 2,042.9 crore a year earlier, driven largely by a surge in interest income, which more than doubled to Rs 1,901.9 crore from Rs 852.5 crore. Fee and commission income also saw a significant jump to Rs 597 crore, compared to Rs 155.2 crore in FY25, reflecting expanding financial services activity.
For the March quarter, profit stood at Rs 272.2 crore, broadly flat compared to Rs 269 crore in the same period last year. Quarterly revenue from operations climbed to Rs 1,018.5 crore, up from Rs 493.2 crore year-on-year, signalling steady momentum in core income streams.
Expenses, however, moved in tandem with growth. Total costs nearly quadrupled to Rs 1,982.9 crore in FY26 from Rs 524.8 crore in FY25, with finance costs alone rising to Rs 745.1 crore from just Rs 7.7 crore a year earlier, reflecting increased borrowing and scale of operations. Employee expenses also grew to Rs 387.3 crore, while other expenses expanded to Rs 755 crore.
Profit before tax stood at Rs 1,911.7 crore for the year, slightly below Rs 1,946.9 crore in FY25. After accounting for a total tax outgo of Rs 350.8 crore, the company reported its final net profit figure.
Beyond the income statement, the balance sheet tells a story of rapid expansion. Total assets surged to Rs 1,63,497 crore as of March 31, 2026, up from Rs 1,33,510 crore a year earlier. Investments alone stood at Rs 1,33,088.7 crore, underscoring the company’s strong focus on treasury and financial asset growth.
However, the year also saw sharp volatility in other comprehensive income, which swung to a loss of Rs 16,028.3 crore, largely driven by fair value changes in equity instruments. This dragged total comprehensive income for FY26 to a negative Rs 15,756.1 crore, compared to a positive Rs 14,870 crore in FY25.
On the capital front, the company’s paid-up equity share capital remained steady at Rs 6,353.1 crore, with other equity rising to Rs 1,27,500.5 crore.
The numbers reflect a business in transition scaling rapidly across lending, investments and fee-based services, but also navigating the volatility that comes with mark-to-market movements in financial assets. In other words, while the top line is accelerating, the fine print still carries a few swings.
