MAM
SC tells Ten to file details of ad revenues; next hearing 14 July
NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: The Supreme Court yesterday asked Ten Sports to file within two weeks documents detailing the total advertisement revenue it got during the simultaneous telecast of Indo-Pak cricket series on its channel and Doordarshan.
The court, while fixing 14 July as the next date of hearing, asked the parties, including cable distributors, to substantiate their claim on losses and profits arising from the telecast, according to a PTI report.
The court also directed Doordarshan to give an account of the advertisement it had carried on March 13 and 15 during cricket matches.
Meanwhile Ten Sports officials have been quoted by the Business Standard as saying its estimated loss of Rs 2 billion from sharing the feed of the recently concluded India-Pakistan cricket series with Doordarshan was reasonable because it had to pay RS 2.8 billion to the Pakistan Cricket Board to acquire exclusive telecast rights for the series.
“Ten Sports had secured the rights for telecast of cricket matches being played in Pakistan for a period of five years on payment of RS 280 crore (RS 2.8 billion). To state that Ten Sports’ desire to make a legitimate return on its investment is unjustified or illegal would be ludicrous,” a Ten Sports executive said.
The only problem with the statements being made is that Ten Sports’ parent company, Dubai-based Taj Television, had paid out $42.6 million to the PCB for exclusive rights to telecast all cricket matches in Pakistan for five years when it signed the agreement in March 2003. Even calculating at an exchange rate of RS 50 per dollar that works out to RS 213 million.
And if one examines the actual payout for this particular series, it is $ 13.45 million (includes additional $300,000 Ten agreed to pay PCB for live video streaming rights and $150,000 for live radio (broadcasting).
While there might be some quibble on the numbers, there is no denying that ten’s subscription revenue plans had suffered a heavy blow from having had to simulcast on DD.
The point made by Ten Sports officials is that the company was at a disadvantage vis-a-vis others which offer a bouquet of channels.
“For such companies, it is possible to subsidise losses suffered by particular channels from revenues generated from other channels. Ten Sports is a single channel company and that too in the niche activity of sports,” the officials have been quoted as saying.
MAM
Smytten appoints Shishir Varma as CEO of Pulseai Research
Rebranded AI platform scales with 150 plus clients and 30 million users.
MUMBAI: In a world obsessed with what consumers say, Smytten is betting on what they actually do. The company has appointed Shishir Varma as chief executive officer of Pulseai Research, signalling a sharper push into AI-led, behaviour-driven consumer insights. The move comes as Smytten rebrands its insights vertical from Smytten PulseAI to Pulseai Research, marking a shift away from traditional, project-based research towards a more continuous, intelligence-led model.
Varma brings over 30 years of global experience across APAC markets, including India, China and Japan. Most recently managing director, Insights at Kantar Japan, he has built and scaled consumer insight businesses across geographies, including playing a key role in establishing Millward Brown in India. His mandate now: turn Pulseai into a category-defining platform in a space still dominated by surveys and static reports.
The pitch is straightforward but ambitious. Instead of relying on claimed responses, Pulseai Research taps into observed behaviour leveraging Smytten’s ecosystem of 30 million users built over a decade of product discovery, trials and purchases. The idea is to close the long-standing gap between what consumers claim and how they actually behave.
The numbers suggest early traction. In under 18 months, the platform has onboarded over 150 enterprise clients across sectors, pointing to growing demand for faster, more reliable alternatives to legacy research models.
Under the hood, the platform blends behavioural data with AI and large language model-led analysis to deliver real-time sentiment tracking, scalable qualitative insights, faster quantitative studies and always-on brand intelligence. In practical terms, that means compressing research timelines from weeks to days without sacrificing depth.
The ambition extends beyond FMCG. Pulseai Research is positioning itself as a cross-category intelligence layer, spanning auto, education, gadgets and emerging consumer segments anywhere behaviour-rich data can sharpen decision-making.
For Smytten, the leadership hire is less about optics and more about direction. With Varma at the helm, the company is leaning into a simple but powerful premise: in the age of AI, insight isn’t just about asking better questions, it’s about watching more closely.
