MAM
Viacom18 sets up unit for brand solutions across the network
MUMBAI: Viacom18 has started a new division by the name of Integrated Network Solutions (INS) which will look at partnering with clients to create large format IPs and brand solutions across the network’s brands.
The INS team will work with teams across the network from the television to motion pictures business and explore ways to best optimise their relationship with their clients. The division had a soft launch around a month back and the first project it worked on was the MTV Video Music Awards India (VMAI) where it partnered with cell phone manufacturer and marketer Micromax.
INS is headed by Jaideep Singh in the role of Viacom18 – Integrated Network Solutions SVP and business head. Singh has been with Viacom18 for nearly six years now and has contributed extensively in developing MTV as a brand in India.
Singh says, “Over the past five years or so, the individual brands of Viacom18 have established their presence with the audiences and the advertisers. We thought it was now time to leverage the strength of the individual brands at the network level.”
Singh reveals that the network has relations with nearly 400-500 clients and the intent is to identify 20-30 like minded ones and create IP properties with them so that the network and the client benefit.
INS will conceive and deliver strategic, creative solutions that will leverage the Network’s media assets and expertise from both a creative and business perspective. The scope of INS’ portfolio spans across live events, broadcast properties and digital and mobile media.
INS operates under two verticals – Viacome18 Live which deals with the experiential part of business, and BE Viacom18 (globally known as BE Viacom) which will look at broadcast side of things. Further, BE Viacom18 has been divided into three function areas – motion pictures, multichannel IPs and international business.
Under Viavom18 Live, the division plans to develop nearly 20 properties across the youth, comedy, kids and regional verticals. In case of youth and comedy, INS has already zeroed in on events like concerts and comedy festivals. “For the kid’s genre, the idea will be to leverage on the huge brand presence that Nick has in terms of Dora the Explorer and Spongebob Squarepants. We want to bring the Dora theatricals to India. We have already started work on bringing the Nick Kids Choice Awards, which are a huge success in the US, to India.”
For the regional aspects, Singh believes that while award shoes remain the strongest prospect, there is huge potential in the culture music and art across India. INS, thus, will focus on creating events like cultural festivals, folk music events and art exhibitions.
BE Viacom18’s motion picture vertical will look after the brand association for films produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. “The idea will be to identify brands that are willing to associate with our movies and then integrate the brand into the movie through placement, promotion and on ground activities. If the fit allows, we may even look at embedding the brand in the movie’s script,” explains Singh.
The team will also work on creating properties which can be telecast across channels on the network (like Big Boss). Apart from this, INS will work with the global team to bring international properties to India and also take a few Indian properties to the global stage.
“With MTV VMAI, we have accomplished out first project. We hope to continue doing good work through INS so that our clients and audiences benefit. For now, our goal is to make a scalable and sustainable business out of the brand network solutions initiative and I am glad things have taken off on the right note,” concludes Singh.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
