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Cereone Media partners with Yahoo DSP to revolutionise Indian advertising
MUMBAI: Advertisers, rejoice! The future of programmatic advertising in India just got a major upgrade. Cereone Media has partnered with Yahoo demand-side platform (DSP) to supercharge ad campaigns with AI-driven insights, omnichannel reach, and precision targeting. Effective immediately, this collaboration promises to put Indian brands in the fast lane of digital marketing, arming them with the best-in-class programmatic tools Yahoo DSP has to offer.
In the cutthroat world of digital advertising, brands demand more than just flashy impressions. They crave transparency, razor-sharp audience insights, and return on investment that makes CFOs sleep easier at night. Enter Yahoo DSP- a powerhouse platform backed by AI-driven optimisation, premium ad inventory, and robust identity solutions. Through this alliance, Cereone Media aims to help advertisers decode complex consumer behaviours and turn data into pure marketing gold.
What’s in store for Indian advertisers? A whole new level of precision. Yahoo DSP’s omnichannel capabilities allow brands to seamlessly run and optimise campaigns across mobile, desktop, and even Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH). Meanwhile, its AI-powered engine, Yahoo Blueprint, analyses vast data signals to provide real-time campaign adjustments, ensuring brands get maximum bang for their advertising buck.
“Advertisers today demand greater accountability, efficiency, and transparency from their media investments. By integrating Yahoo DSP’s robust programmatic technology with Cereone Media’s expertise, we are empowering Indian brands to make data-driven decisions, optimise performance, and scale their advertising strategies globally,” said Cereone Media Pvt Ltd co-founder & director Deepak Karnani.
Yahoo head of commercial sales, southeast Asia, Kenneth Koh added, “We’re excited to work with Cereone Media to bring more powerful programmatic solutions to Indian advertisers. With Yahoo DSP, Cereone can help brands navigate an evolving digital landscape—giving them smarter optimisation, premium inventory, and privacy-first identity solutions to drive real business impact.”
This partnership doesn’t just stop at programmatic wizardry. By teaming up with both Yahoo and FreeWheel, Cereone Media is unlocking new frontiers in addressable TV advertising. With premium inventory and Yahoo ConnectID’s precise targeting capabilities, Indian brands can now craft hyper-personalised campaigns that drive engagement and real business results.
Cereone Media Pvt Ltd co-founder Harish Patil commented, “Partnering with both Yahoo and FreeWheel enables us to bring addressable TV to Indian advertisers. With premium inventory from FreeWheel and Yahoo ConnectID, our clients can achieve precision targeting and gain accurate performance insights to optimise their campaigns effectively.”
With Yahoo DSP already trusted by Fortune 500 brands worldwide, this partnership signals a new era for Indian advertisers-one where data reigns supreme, AI takes the wheel, and programmatic advertising is smarter, faster, and more effective than ever before.
MAM
Brands push beyond compliance as trust takes centre stage
ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026 spotlights shift from legal checks to credibility.
MUMBAI: In a world where a disclaimer can be legally sound yet socially suspect, brands are learning that compliance may tick boxes but trust wins markets. At the inaugural ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026, a panel on “Beyond Compliance: The New Currency of Trust” unpacked a growing industry reality: the gap between what the law permits and what consumers accept is widening and fast.
Moderated by Meenakshi Ramkumar of National Law School of India University, the discussion brought together leaders across law, marketing and academia to examine how brands must evolve in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by scrutiny, scepticism and speed.
Ramkumar set the tone by highlighting a critical shift, advertising today operates in the same digital space that fuels misinformation, scams and fake news, making credibility harder to establish. “The challenge is not just about what brands do, but the broader context of low institutional trust,” she noted, adding that when violations go unchecked, trust erodes not just in brands but in the regulatory system itself.
This vacuum, she said, has given rise to consumer activism from boycotts to social media backlash as a parallel accountability mechanism.
For Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer at Marico, the distinction was clear, legal compliance is non negotiable, but insufficient. “Compliance is the minimum threshold. The real challenge is staying aligned with changing consumer expectations,” he said.
He pointed to how advertising narratives have evolved from traditional depictions of gender roles to more shared responsibilities reflecting a broader societal shift. “Earlier, it was fine to show one person doing the household work. Today, that may not land well. Consumers expect brands to reflect reality,” Bhasin observed.
He also highlighted internal debates where campaigns that may be legally permissible are still rejected for being culturally insensitive, noting that responsible advertising often requires asking uncomfortable questions before the public does.
If compliance is the baseline, reputation is the battlefield.
Bhasin noted that reputational risk has become a far greater concern than legal exposure, particularly in an era where campaigns can be dissected within hours online. “Earlier, a controversial ad might invite a newspaper editorial. Today, within hours, you’re at the centre of a storm,” he said.
Brands, he added, now evaluate campaigns through a dual lens legal viability and reputational vulnerability with the latter often proving more decisive.
From a healthcare perspective, Satish Sahoo of Cipla Health underscored the complexity of operating within fragmented yet stringent regulatory frameworks, spanning drugs, food, cosmetics and Ayush. “Anything under a drug licence is the most tightly regulated,” he said, adding that this necessitates proactive, not reactive, compliance.
He shared an example from the oral rehydration salts (ORS) category, where Cipla resisted the temptation to position products aggressively despite competitive pressure. “Our product is WHO compliant, and our communication reflects that. We chose not to blur the lines, even if others did,” he noted.
The long term payoff, he suggested, lies in credibility built over consistency, not quick wins.
Yet, as Harsha N of National Law School of India University pointed out, even perfect compliance does not guarantee trust. Drawing from historical and modern examples from exaggerated product claims in the 1800s to contemporary environmental and health advertising, he argued that legal frameworks often lag behind consumer expectations. “A brand can be fully compliant and still be perceived as misleading,” he said, citing instances where fine print disclosures fail to reach or convince the average consumer. He added that larger companies carry a disproportionate responsibility to set ethical benchmarks, even in areas where the law remains silent.
The conversation also turned to digital advertising, where the challenge extends beyond content to how ads are experienced. From algorithmic targeting to personalised messaging, brands now operate in an environment where regulation struggles to keep pace with technology.
Sahoo noted that social media has amplified awareness, with influencers and consumers increasingly scrutinising product claims and calling out inconsistencies. “Awareness has gone up dramatically. People are questioning what goes into products and what brands are saying,” he said.
The role of self regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Council of India also came under the spotlight.
Harsha acknowledged that while SROs play a crucial role, they are not immune to criticism, particularly around perceived conflicts of interest and enforcement gaps. “SROs have a higher threshold of responsibility not just to interpret the law, but to anticipate societal expectations,” he said.
He added that failures in self regulation often push the burden back onto government intervention, underscoring the need for stronger, more proactive oversight.
One of the more nuanced debates centred on whether building trust comes at a cost. While Sahoo acknowledged that quality and compliance can increase costs, he argued that companies must absorb them as part of their long term strategy.
Bhasin, however, framed the challenge differently not as cost, but as competitiveness in a market where not all players play by the same rules. “The real tension is when others cut corners and you choose not to,” he said.
The panel concluded with a call to embed trust into business metrics.
Sahoo suggested that organisations must go beyond revenue targets to include consumer equity and trust based KPIs, ensuring that ethical considerations are not sidelined in the pursuit of growth. “Trust sounds abstract, but it can translate into measurable consumer equity,” he said.
As the discussion wrapped up, one message stood out: the rules of advertising are being rewritten not just by regulators, but by consumers themselves. In an ecosystem where attention is fleeting and scepticism is high, brands that merely comply may survive, but those that build trust are the ones that endure.
