MAM
Data analytics’ global potential stands at $30 billion: Gain Theory’s Muthuraman
MUMBAI: Marketing is in transition and the consumer journey is getting increasingly complex due to the increase in the number of channels. Consumers are now constantly interacting with brands and hence, marketing is now ‘always on.’
Difficulty in discerning actionable information from an expanding set of data and technology, confusion around terminology and jargon, multiple answers to a single business question, the need for faster, smarter predictive insights is what gave birth to Gain Theory.
The company, with three key hubs in New York, London and Bengaluru was born when WPP decided to merge two of its existing companies in order to help marketing and insight professionals solve their pain points.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about how the company helps marketers resolve their concerns, Gain Theory worldwide CEO Jason Harrison says, “What we do in the context of marketing is that we don’t necessarily do analytics around the operational aspect of businesses or operations in the supply chain, we instead focus on our unique expertise, which is understanding the knowledge of data and measurements with various event analytics, techniques and approaches, to help marketers arrive at their marketing tactics and whatever they are trying to accomplish.”
With its three centers, Gain Theory is keen to help marketers from all possible markets. However, with marketing being its focus, the company doesn’t plan to target any particular category of clients.
Gain Theory CEO APAC Sunder Muthuraman adds, “Our focus is marketing. So it doesn’t matter if I’m selling soaps or an e-commerce business. We essentially address to the needs of the clients. We work with CPG, movie studios, retail, finance and so on. As long as there is a marketing problem and that is related to data and has data, we are in for it.”
Throwing light on the importance of dashboard, Muthuraman says, “It depends on how badly the client wants to answer that question. Typically, that’s when they will push us and we will bring in our expertise and try and solve their question. What dashboards are meant to do is to help them draw conclusions or collectively help us draw conclusions and being analysed. So the evolution now is that clients recognize the purpose of data visualisation. A dashboard, just like that of a car, tells you how fast you are driving, how much fuel is left, how many miles you have travelled and these are fundamentally important things. Similarly, clients now have begun to understand the dashboard; what it should contain. It is fundamental for me to take decisions on what could be done differently in the future in marketing.”
The understanding of the firm and that of the client is very different, hence it is a challenge. Muthuraman further asserts, “While that’s the challenge, it is also the opportunity of doing something in a better way and guiding the client accordingly with the data in hand. So if everybody did everything that we wanted them to do, then we have to go find something else.”
He adds, “What we believe is that the only way both of us can speak the same language is by getting the common paradigm and data. As long as you know that the data is reliable, you cannot expect us to flip the results. This is a journey, which not everybody is interested in.”
Harrison asserts, “The fundamental challenges that marketers face are consistent and they tend to be different from category to category. We at Gain Theory started exploring the audience and consumer level data in this market to better understand consumer behaviour.”
According to Harrison, while there are markets where an extensive research is impossible because of lack of the quantum of data, but such isn’t the case with India. “Then we have US, Brazil and UK where data is available at a large level,” he adds.
Muthuraman believes that the industry is going through exciting times. “We are currently a $30 billion industry globally. This could vary, since there is nobody who has really measured the market. We live in exciting times and data makes it even more exciting,” he signs off.
Brands
Microsoft faces worst quarter since 2008 financial crisis
Cloud giant battles soaring AI costs and fierce competition from nimble startups.
MUMBAI: When the tech titan starts looking a little wobbly, even the Magnificent Seven can feel the tremors because Microsoft is currently starring in its own sequel, “Clouds and Doubts.” Microsoft is on track for its worst quarterly performance since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to Bloomberg, as investors grow increasingly uneasy about rising capital expenditure and intensifying competition from nimble AI firms. The company has been pouring money into AI infrastructure, yet markets are questioning when these hefty investments will finally deliver stronger revenue growth.
At the same time, investors are shifting away from traditional software stocks amid fears that AI startups such as Anthropic and OpenAI are developing autonomous agents capable of replacing established products, including those from Microsoft. Jonathan Cofsky, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors, noted growing concern that customers may bypass Microsoft and deal directly with AI vendors, potentially disrupting its core business and putting pressure on pricing and margins.
Microsoft’s stock has tumbled 25 per cent in the first quarter, putting it on course for its largest drop since a 27 per cent fall in the fourth quarter of 2008. It has also emerged as the weakest performer among the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks, while a broader index tracking the group has fallen 14 per cent over the same period. The shares slipped a further 1.7 per cent after markets opened on Friday, marking a potential fourth consecutive session of declines.
Cofsky pointed out that Microsoft has become more capital intensive and that improved investor confidence will hinge on assurances that software growth will not slow materially. Despite the sell-off, the stock is now trading at less than 20 times projected earnings over the next 12 months, its lowest valuation level since June 2016. Its valuation remains slightly above that of the S&P 500 Index, although it has recently traded at a discount to the broader benchmark for the first time since 2015.
Bloomberg data shows Microsoft’s capital expenditure, including leases, is expected to surge to $146 billion in fiscal 2026, up around 66 per cent from $88 billion in fiscal 2025. Spending is projected to climb further to $170 billion in fiscal 2027 and $191 billion in fiscal 2028, based on average estimates. Investors are growing cautious about such levels of spending without clearer signs of stronger growth.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud division has reported a slight slowdown in growth compared with the previous quarter, while its Copilot AI product has seen limited user traction, prompting internal changes aimed at improving performance. Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Melius Research, warned in a March note that Microsoft’s upside in Azure could be constrained as the company works to address challenges related to its AI models and Copilot offering, adding that these issues are unlikely to be resolved in the short term.
Of the 67 analysts covering Microsoft, 63 maintain buy ratings, three hold ratings and one a sell rating. The average 12-month price target of $592 implies a potential upside of more than 64 per cent, the highest on record based on data going back to 2009. The stock is also trading below its 200-day moving average by the widest margin since 2009.
Reitzes suggested the dominance of buy ratings may indicate complacency among analysts, while highlighting risks in Microsoft’s productivity and business processes segment as well as its More Personal Computing division. In contrast, Tal Liani of Bank of America reinstated coverage with a buy rating, citing durable multi-year growth prospects across cloud and AI. Jake Seltz, portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, maintained that Microsoft retains strong long-term value and that its AI strategy is likely to be validated over time, viewing near-term concerns as a potential opportunity for longer-term investors.
The report highlights a growing divergence in market sentiment, with optimism around long-term AI potential weighed against immediate execution risks and investor uncertainty. In the world of big tech, even the mightiest clouds can have silver linings but right now, Microsoft’s investors are scanning the horizon for clearer skies.
