MAM
Mobile campaigns in India deliver stronger results in H1’21: Report
Mumbai: Mobile campaigns in India posted lower brand risks than display, viewability on mobile environments increased in India, and ad fraud rates decreased in desktop and mobile web display. These are some of the findings from Integral Ad Science’s (IAS) Media Quality Report for H1 2021. The report released on Tuesday highlights brand safety, ad fraud, and viewability trends across display, video, mobile web, and in-app advertising while providing transparency into the performance and quality of Indian digital media, alongside global comparisons.
Mobile campaigns in India had more viewable impressions in H1 2021, with viewability on mobile web display increasing by one percentage point (pp) to 58.9 per cent in H1 2021, while viewability on mobile in-app display increased from 51.3 per cent to 54.1 per cent, as per the report.
“Mobile advertising has gained strong traction among Indian advertisers as consumers continue to spend more time engaging with content on mobile,” said IAS commercial lead India Saurabh Khattar.
“According to a report by App Annie, average smartphone usage is about 4.6 hours a day in India, which stands third in global rankings after Indonesia and Brazil. As spending increases on mobile, media quality challenges may arise such as ad fraud, unsafe brand environments, and unviewable inventory,” he added.
“With the upcoming festival buying period, advertisers are well-advised to work with third-party verification companies to help protect their campaigns from ad fraud, brand risks, and lower viewability to maximise engagement and ROI,” Khattar further said.
Mobile campaigns in India post lower brand risks than display
According to the report, brand risk worldwide was lower across all formats and environments in H1 2021, an indicator of brands’ increased efforts to optimise ad placements toward contextually relevant content. The overall brand risk dropped below four per cent across all formats and environments. In India, the display was one of the safest environments for advertisers, with desktop display brand risk at 0.8 per cent, down by 1.4 percentage points (pp).
Mobile web display brand risk fell from 2.6 per cent to 1.8 per cent, while the worldwide average was 2.6 per cent. Programmatic desktop and mobile web display inventory showed higher brand risk in India than publisher direct at 1.8 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively. This data suggests the market is actively using solutions to protect brand reputation and place its ads in suitable environments.
Viewability on mobile environments increased in India
Mobile campaigns in India had more viewable impressions in H1 2021, as against global display viewability, which was down 2.4 pp on desktop and 3.3 pp on mobile web year-over-year, reaching 69.5 per cent and 64.3 per cent, respectively, as per the report.
The worldwide reductions were driven by drops across Asia-Pacific, with India registering a 7.2 pp drop to post 54.9 per cent viewability in desktop environments. In India, desktop and mobile display environments showed significantly higher viewability rates in programmatically traded inventory than publisher direct. Connected TV (CTV) remained the most viewable format overall, averaging 93.2 per cent worldwide in H1 2021.
Ad fraud rates decrease in desktop and mobile web display in India
Both desktop and mobile web display had a marginal decrease in optimised ad fraud rates to reach 0.9 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively, in H1 2021, stated the report. The worldwide non-optimised fraud rate for desktop display was 9.4 per cent and 5.5 per cent on mobile web display, clearly indicating that fraud mitigation strategies can reduce risks and reduce ad wastage.
Apple rarely announces minor updates with much fanfare, and iOS 26.4 is no exception. No dramatic redesigns, no flashy keynote moments. What it delivers instead is a focused set of improvements that sharpen the experience you already have. If that sounds underwhelming, spend a week with it. You will change your mind.
Apple Music Learns to Listen Better
The biggest shift in this update lives inside Apple Music. Apple has brought AI-powered playlist generation to the app, and it works on mood rather than genre. Type something like “rainy evening at home” or “running late on a Monday,” and it builds a playlist that actually fits. This is not algorithmic guesswork dressed up in new clothing. It genuinely reads the intent behind vague descriptions and responds well.
Alongside this, a new concerts feature scans your listening history and surfaces live events happening near you. It is a smart bridge between your digital music habits and real-world experiences. Apple is quietly making the case that a music app should do more than just play songs.
Shazam also gets a meaningful upgrade. It can now identify songs without an internet connection. This might sound like a minor convenience, but anyone who has tried to Shazam something at a crowded venue with patchy signal will tell you it is anything but minor. The feature works locally on-device, which also means it is faster.
CarPlay Gets Smarter Controls
CarPlay has been updated with deeper integration for intelligent voice assistants. The goal is to reduce how often drivers need to look at a screen or tap anything at all. You speak, things happen. It is a clear step toward making the driving experience safer without stripping away functionality. The integration feels natural rather than bolted on, which is a harder thing to achieve than it sounds.
The Fixes You Feel Every Day
This is where iOS 26.4 earns its keep. Keyboard responsiveness has been improved, and the difference is noticeable immediately. Typing feels more accurate and less combative. Accessibility features have been refined across the board, with better contrast options and adjusted spacing that makes the interface easier to read without forcing you into larger text sizes.
The Health app has also been updated. It now surfaces more actionable insights from your daily data rather than just displaying numbers. If your sleep patterns have shifted or your activity levels have changed, the app now contextualises that clearly instead of leaving you to interpret raw figures on your own.
These are the kinds of changes that do not photograph well for a press release. They also happen to be the ones that make your phone feel genuinely better to use.
A Few Other Additions
New emojis have been added in this update. They will find their way into your conversations faster than you expect. Family Sharing has also been updated, with more granular control over shared payments and subscriptions. If you share an Apple account with family members, this puts clearer limits on who can spend what, which has been a long-requested fix.
What This Update Actually Represents
iOS 26.4 is Apple doing what it does best when it is not trying to make headlines. Every addition here serves a clear purpose. The AI music features are genuinely useful. The CarPlay improvements address a real safety concern. The small UI fixes accumulate into a noticeably smoother daily experience.
There is no bloat. Nothing feels experimental or half-finished. That discipline is harder to maintain than it looks, especially as operating systems grow more complex with each passing year.
If you have been holding off on updating, this is the one worth installing.
