Digital
Nielsen pushes case for independent audience measurement at India Brand Summit India ’25
MUMBAI: When brands can’t measure right, they can’t spend smart. That was the blunt message from Nielsen at the third India Brand Summit 2025, organised by Indian Television dot com, on 19 September.
The summit brought together a heavyweight mix of marketers from leading FMCG firms, advertising agencies, media buyers, policymakers and digital innovators: all focused on rewriting India’s branding playbook with sharper, more cost-effective strategies.
Speaking on the theme “The need for an independent audience measurement system for enhanced reach analysis,” Nielsen, senior director, Mridul Verma made the case for breaking out of siloed metrics. He argued that platform-specific data clouds the true picture of audience reach, causing wasted ad spend and missed opportunities.
To illustrate, he cited a Samsonite campaign that tapped Nielsen one ads to fine-tune in-flight advertising. By applying unified, cross-platform measurement, the brand was able to optimise outcomes across connected TV, mobile and desktop.
Verma noted that such cross-channel clarity is critical in today’s fragmented media environment, adding that independent measurement is no longer a nice-to-have but a necessity for marketers seeking efficient and accountable growth.
With digital advertising spend soaring in India, Nielsen’s pitch for a single yardstick was clear: only a unified view can keep campaigns efficient and effective in a crowded media landscape.
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
