MAM
Reckitt Benckiser again top television advertiser
BENGALURU: Indian FMCG and consumer health products company Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd (RBIL) has once again climbed the almost sole andperpetual bastion of Indian FMCG company Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). For the second time this year, RBIL was the biggest advertiser in terms of insertions in week 14 of 2018 (Saturday, 31 March 2018 to Friday, 6 April 2018) according to BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council of India) data. The previous occasion when the company beat HUL in terms of TV ad insertions was in week 11 of 2018 (Saturday, 10 March 2018 to Friday, 16 March 2018) according to BARC’s list of top 10 advertisers across genres – all India (U+R) : 2+ individuals -in terms of ad insertions or spots. During the 52 weeks of calendar year 2017 (Saturday, 31 December 2016 to Friday 30 December 2017), it was HUL that held the top slot as the largest television advertiser in the country.
In week 14 of 2018, according to BARC data, RBIL had 1,21,102 insertions to HUL’s 1,19,602 ad spots. In week 11, RBIL had 1,10,173 to HUL’s 99,405 ad insertions. RBIL accounted for 30.2 percent ad insertions of the combined total insertions by the top 10 advertisers in week 14 and 28.6 percent in week 11, while HUL had 29.8 percent and 25.6 percent of the ad insertions during the same weeks respectively. Hence the big two accounted for 59.9 percent and 55.4 percent of the combined total insertions by the top 10 advertisers in week in weeks 14 and 11 of 2018 respectively.
It must, however, be noted that if one were to account for the insertions by HUL affiliates/subsidiaries/associate (HUL group companies) companies, the total would far exceed the ad insertions by any other advertiser. For example, among the top 10 advertisers in week 14 of 2018 wasBrooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (Brooke Bond) at rank eight with 18,075 insertions, while in week 11 Brooke Bond did not find a place among BARC top 10 advertisers list, neither did any other HUL group company.Refer to the table below showing BARC’s list of top 10 advertisers in weeks 11 and 14 of 2018.
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Top television advertisers in 2017 based on BARC’s Top 10 lists
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Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
