Ad Campaigns
Taproot Dentsu’s campaign for Network18 CricketNext celebrates opinionated fans
MUMBAI: Taproot Dentsu, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has rolled out a new campaign for Network 18’s CricketNext app. The app has standard features like live score updates and also acts as a forum for fans voice their opinion and post video comments.
The campaign aims to celebrate the opinionated fans through two films starring former Indian cricketer, Anil Kumble.
Speaking about the campaign, Taproot Dentsu creative director Neeraj Kanitkar said, “The all-new CricketNext app is a homage to the ultimate cricket fan who is always ready with an opinion but has nowhere to voice it. This app is a platform where this fan’s every opinion on team selection, on-field strategies etc. is not only heard but welcomed. The TVCs are a dramatic representation of this, with Anil Kumble literally breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging the ultimate fan’s opinion.”
Network18 group brand advisor Rahul Kansal noted, “Cricket Next is a next level app for the next level fan. Beyond just giving live scores and basic commentary, it invites passionate cricket fans to offer their opinions and share their insights on the game. The film tries to dramatise this promise; that it's an app where fans rule.
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
