iWorld
MX Player boosts audience stack with Vserv AudiencePro
Mumbai: Marketers have to keep up with new ways of winning the consumer with the rapid adoption of digital commerce, the ever-changing media consumption habits and the rise of D2C brands putting pressure on legacy FMCG brands. In today’s competitive market, every aspect of digital marketing is improving and brands are looking for deeper deterministic audience segmentation to boost in-target audience reach. The pace of innovation is fast and everyone in the ecosystem is looking for smarter collaboration and solutions. India’s number one OTT platform, MX Player has partnered with Vserv AudiencePro to enhance its audience stack and provide advertisers with richer audience segments and an evolved marketing solution. This partnership is a game-changer for brands and brings cutting-edge solutions with simplicity at its core – be it unlocking new audiences or finding innovative ways to retain existing customers, it addresses both sides of the coin.
This partnership presents two new avenues for advertisers to unlock the potential of MX Player:
1. Brands can now choose from over 700 deeper deterministic segments from AudiencePro like grocery shoppers, credit score, modern trade offline shoppers, travel transactors & many more for sharper reach to unlock new audiences with frequency campaigns on MX Player. AudiencePro segments have delivered higher performance metrics on video campaigns for a variety of brands like Nykaa, Coke, Bajaj Haircare, Dettol, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, ID Fresh, etc across many platforms. Brands across diverse sectors like FMCG, BFSI, Fintech, Retail, OEM, etc. can now leverage the power of content & core target audience with the massive scale of MX Player with AudiencePro segments.
2. Leveraging AudiencePro Insights, MX Player will now be able to offer brands with first party data deeper insights into content consumption and over 700 transacting behaviour points of their consumers. This will bring unique insights to the forefront and help brands construct smarter creatives to make their remarketing campaigns more personalised on MX Player. Eg. MX Player content insights like Night Owls Segment + AudiencePro Food and grocery buyer segments + first party segments of the advertiser will now allow a QSR brand to run smarter segmented campaigns on MX Player with highly relevant creatives.
Similarly, for D2C brands seeking sharper segmentation, the partnership creates a secure, cost-effective way to invest in brand building. With this partnership, the brand’s requirement of secured activation of first party segments remains front and centre. The AudiencePro DCR (data clean room) enables MX Player to onboard advertisers hashed/encrypted first party segments in a neutral & secured environment, providing complete transparency and an audit trail for brands.
Vserv AudiencePro VP Saurabh Khanna said, “The combination of quality reach & scale, sharper audience segmentation, and cutting-edge data-driven solutions presents a compelling proposition for brands. MX Player & Vserv AudiencePro partnership brings this unique combination to the forefront thereby opening new avenues for brands to unlock new audiences or do smarter remarketing”
MX Player spokesperson said, “As one of the largest content platforms in the market, we are at the forefront of innovation and are constantly looking for ways to improve our offerings for advertisers. AudiencePro platform has established credibility in delivering quality segmentation to a range of brands. Our integration and partnership with them empowers us to offer more comprehensive audience segments and offer advertisers an evolved marketing solution that leverages data for deeper audience insights.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
