MAM
GUEST ARTICLE: Artificial intelligence: The key ingredient to boost the growth of the advertising industry
Mumbai: For a layman, the term “artificial intelligence” is usually associated with robots and voice assistant software like Alexa and Siri or Elon Musk’s self-driving cars. Many people don’t think about the scope of AI beyond these concepts. However, the aforementioned use cases of AI are just the tip of the iceberg.
In reality, the power of AI cannot be summarised in a few words or applications, as an infinite number of AI-enabled tools and interfaces are working behind the scenes to make the lives of consumers and other stakeholders a lot easier.
This is especially true in the business world. AI has played a pivotal role in putting products and services in front of potential customers through social media or other means, even though it wasn’t widely recognised or understood. An impactful form of marketing, AI-enabled advertisements present themselves before customers only after learning and assessing their online preferences, shopping behaviour, and other necessary inputs.
And soon, the fast-emerging advertising industry realised that the days of manually asking for customer inputs are behind us, as AI can do this job in the background. This was just the beginning of an AI hurricane that swept the advertising world off its feet. Automation technology evolved, and so did its applications.
Against this backdrop, we will discuss AI’s role in the advertising industry and its advantages in-depth. Without further ado, let’s dive in!
The emergence of adtech: A comprehensive overview
If there’s one industry with a genuine case of AI fever, that is advertising, aka adtech. From the desktop sidebar ads in the 1990s to mobile advertising and the user recognition capabilities of CTV marketing, the advertising industry has evolved dramatically over the past two decades. Everywhere the eye can see today is likely an advertisement. One can thank the internet and new technologies like AI and ML (machine learning) for this drastic change.
Gradually, as remote access to stable internet connections and the widespread distribution of smartphones and smart televisions increased, the pathway to video and online ads became clearer. Some significant industry experts believe that the launch of the iPhone and the consequent smartphone market growth played a considerable role in augmenting the acceleration of adtech, specifically online advertising.
A 2021 InMobi report revealed that programmatic mobile video ads had registered a 194 per cent increase in India. This proves the widespread adoption of video ads as a more effective source of advertising than others, as they are better at connecting and engaging with the audience. But this is just one example of the new wave that enveloped the advertising industry and pushed it toward the path of unprecedented success.
The latest tools and approaches are taking the adtech world by storm
Interactive ads: Going over and beyond
Interactive advertising is a contemporary marketing technique that enhances customer participation. The primary focus is to ensure that consumers engage with and interact with the ad, directly or indirectly, and provide real-time feedback on the relevant campaign. The idea is to not limit the audience from viewing the ad but to make them feel its presence and relevance. There are different ways to implement interactive advertising. Here are a few pioneering examples:
1. 3D impact: A solution that offers immersive experiences to consumers by leveraging advanced animations to deliver multiple messages in one video. Utilising this, advertisers can improve customer brand recall, enhance the ROI, and make a high impact.
2. 3D wobble: A solution that delivers compact and efficient information through a comprehensive UX powerhouse. It adds a noteworthy twist to ads and increases user engagement, brand conversion ratio, and click through rate (CTR).
3. Shoppable unit: A solution that appears as a deck inside a conversational flow. It allows customers to swipe and check out the sequence of product images. This is an effective solution for brands gearing up to streamline their sales and marketing strategies.
CTV advertising: Think bigger
Connected TV advertising (CTV) is a type of advertising approach placed on any smart TV with the facility to connect to the internet. CTV essentially depends on a large TV screen, which enables advertisers to engage audiences in a linear TV-like environment.
It allows advertisers to create a one-to-many relationship with the audience (propelled by co-viewing) compared to other advertising methods where advertisers establish a one-on-one relationship with their target customer base. There are several ways to implement CTV advertising. Here are a few suggestions:
1. Split screen: The split screen technology offers viewers a non-disruptive, non-intrusive, side-by-side creative display. This ensures that consumers don’t miss any key details or pay attention to the content they are consuming while consciously or subconsciously watching the display ad.
2. Brand assimilation: By harnessing the power of mighty brand assimilation, advertisers can manipulate visual effects and place brands in a place where they get seen by customers seamlessly and effortlessly.
3. Persuasive overlay: This approach includes a contextualised and commercial interactive video that connects with the audience through powerful content. The video is created in such a fashion that consumers can quickly connect the display with the brand.
Wrapping up
The use cases, solutions, and approaches mentioned above clearly demonstrate that AI is not the distant future of adtech but its present. This remarkable technology plays a crucial role in helping advertisers deliver highly engaging and non-intrusive ads while providing incremental revenue to publishers. Additionally, given that AI can automatically generate the ad while keeping customer preference in mind, advertisers don’t need to engage their manual workforce for such tasks and can easily concoct their next ad campaign.
AI has made it incredibly easy for advertisers to leverage its many benefits while simultaneously saving money and optimising efficiency to a noteworthy extent. Adequately handling this can improve the overall effectiveness and ROI of ad campaigns, making the entire concept more rewarding.
The author of this article is VDO.AI founder and CEO Amitt Sharma.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
