MAM
Vertuals appoints Mr. Zahid Gawandi as the agency’s business head
MUMBAI: Zahid Gawandi, the much experienced and feted marcom specialist has recently been anointed the Business Head at Vertuals, the firebrand Digital Content specialist outfit and will be based out of their Mumbai office.
Zahid of the Tata Donnelley, Dentsu, Percept-Hakuhodo, Reliance Capital & Spice Digital genre, now has taken on the daunting task of taking the agency towards a defined growth trajectory and will also be responsible for instilling a robust content practice which the industry is clearly gravitating towards.
His large body of work has led him to many a watering hole, across sectors ranging from Automobiles to BFSI, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Fashion & E-commerce amongst others. His ranging years saw him hold several senior management positions, with his last notable foray was helming the role of CMO at Destimoney Group. Accolades have also adorned his lustrous career graph of which the ‘Corporate Communication Leadership Award’ by Lokmat BFSI Awards deserves special mention. He was also profiled in Impact magazine under the Future Leaders section.
Vertuals at Managing Partner, Mr. Ajay Tripathi commenting on the appointment said, “With the advent of video consumption going up, Vertuals is well positioned as a brand storyteller across the digital ecosystem. We are delighted to have Zahid on board. He has joined the agency at a time where his ability to ramp up business verticals and take brands to the next level of growth in a short span of time will be an asset to Vertuals. His wealth of knowledge and experience in advertising both on the agency & client side across various categories will serve in maximizing value for our clients.”
Mr. Zahid Gawandi also expressed his enthusiasm on his appointment, saying, “I’m excited to be part of a young, restless and kickass team at Vertuals. Customers always seek great stories which they can relate to. We understand that ‘Marketing’ and ‘Storytelling’ is the new power couple. Hence at Vertuals we combine an idea (Marketing) with an emotion (Storytelling) and serve it up for consumption to targeted audiences, leveraging strengths of our home turf – the digital ecosystem. This creates real emotional connections with the consumers – connections that can turn into trust, and eventually engender revenue. We are already in talks with several brands to take their brand story on various digital platforms.”
MAM
IAS launches Total TV suite to boost transparency in CTV ads
New solution offers programme-level insights across platforms and publishers.
MUMBAI: In the world of streaming, what you see is not always what advertisers get and that’s exactly the problem IAS is looking to fix. Integral Ad Science (IAS) has unveiled ‘IAS Total TV’, a new suite of Connected TV (CTV) solutions aimed at bringing what it calls “linear-like” transparency to the fast-growing streaming ecosystem. In simple terms, it is an attempt to make digital TV advertising a lot less of a black box.
The offering aggregates programme-level data covering genre, ratings, language, shows and specific content from major platforms including Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Prime Video, along with opted-in publishers via Publica. All of this is housed within the IAS Signal interface, giving advertisers a unified view of where their ads actually appear.
The timing is hardly accidental. According to Nielsen, as of Q4 2025, 74.2 per cent of all TV viewing in the United States is ad-supported. Of that, streaming alone accounts for 45.6 per cent outpacing traditional television and cementing its position as the largest ad-supported medium. Advertisers have followed suit, funnelling premium budgets into CTV, but often without a clear, standardised view of performance or placement.
That gap is precisely what IAS is targeting. By combining content insights with media quality, supply path data and campaign outcomes, the platform aims to give marketers more control over when, where and alongside what content their ads run. The goal is not just visibility, but accountability ensuring ads land in brand-suitable environments rather than disappearing into opaque inventory pools.
The suite also promises practical gains. Marketers can access real-time, aggregated transparency across shows and platforms, streamline campaign controls across digital video channels, and leverage third-party verification to improve efficiency and pre-bid decision-making. Measurement tools extend to quality reach and incremental conversions, offering a clearer link between spend and outcomes.
At a time when high CPMs and fragmented data make CTV both attractive and complex, the push for transparency is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity. IAS’s move reflects a broader industry shift, where the race is no longer just for eyeballs, but for clarity on what those eyeballs are actually watching.
Because in streaming’s premium playground, knowing the content may just matter as much as owning the audience.
