MAM
Star Plus sheds 20 GRPs, Sony gains 18
MUMBAI: The leading Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Star Plus has seen a dip in its viewership in the week ended 17 December, even if it maintains its numero uno position.
As per TAM data for Hindi speaking markets (C&S, 4+), Star Plus registered 330 GRPs (gross rating points) as compared to 350 GRPs it had clocked in the week before.
The fall can be attributed to the fact that the performance of three out of four of its top rated shows fell. Its fiction show Pratigya which was the no. 10 show last week, failed to appear in the top 10 chart. The channel also shed 13 GRPs during the weekend, compared to the previous week.
Sony Entertainment Channel (Set), meanwhile, has become the highest gainer of this week. The channel added 18 GRPs to its kitty and closed the week with 246 GRPs (last week 228).
Set‘s C.I.D (5.73 TVR) saw a healthy rise, while its crime based show Crime Petrol with 4.72 TVR and reality show, Comedy Circus Ka Naya Daur were back in the top 10 list.
Colors‘ remained on No. 3 and saw a marginal dip to close the week with 221 GRPs (last week 225). Zee TV saw an addition of 3 GRPs. It clocked 155 GRPs (last week 152).
Sab added 4 GRPs and ended the week with 121 GRPs (last week 117).
Imagine TV with 71 GRPs (last week 77) and Sahara One with 45 GRPs (last week 41) are two next in the list.
This was the last week for Star One as it went off air and is now replaced by Life Ok. The channel last recorded 44 GRPs (last week 40).
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.
