iWorld
Radio City gets Rs 89.6 crore GST demand, plans to appeal
LUCKNOW: Music Broadcast Limited, the company behind Radio City, has found itself tuning into a less melodious note after receiving a GST demand order worth Rs 89.63 crore from the Uttar Pradesh tax authorities.
The order, issued by the office of the deputy commissioner in Lucknow under section 73 of the IGST, CGST and SGST Acts, relates to the financial year 2021–22. It breaks down into Rs 48.22 crore in tax, Rs 36.59 crore in interest and Rs 4.82 crore in penalties, spanning CGST, IGST and SGST components.
The demand reached the company late on Friday evening, December 19, just before the weekend, and was formally escalated to the compliance team when offices reopened on Monday morning. In line with Sebi’s disclosure requirements, Radio City promptly informed both the NSE and BSE.
Despite the size of the number, the broadcaster struck a calm note. The company said the order does not have a material impact on its financials or operations at this stage. Backed by preliminary assessments and legal advice, it believes it has strong grounds to contest the demand and plans to file an appeal.
For now, Radio City insists the music is far from stopping. The management maintains that the issue is procedural rather than existential, and that it does not expect any meaningful adverse effect while the matter moves through the appellate route.
iWorld
Meta introduces new AI tools to boost discovery-to-purchase journey
From shoppable Reels to generative video, platforms get smarter at turning attention into sales.
MUMBAI: Meta is turning “scroll and stop” into “scroll, stop, and shop” and it’s using AI to make the whole journey feel almost effortless. The company has announced several new tools and enhancements designed to help brands guide people from discovery to purchase more effectively, while delivering more relevant and personalised experiences across its platforms.
Creators can now add product links more broadly on Instagram Reels, turning their content into shoppable moments. Businesses in 22 countries, including India, will soon be able to share their product catalogues with creators, opening up a new sales channel for brands and fresh monetisation opportunities for creators.
The Creator Marketplace has also been upgraded with enhanced target audience filtering, integrated with Ads Manager. This helps businesses quickly find creators who are a strong match for their goals. Campaigns using Partnership Ads deliver, on average, 19 per cent lower CPAs, 13 per cent higher click-through rates, and 71 per cent higher median brand lift.
Meta is expanding Reels Trending Ads inventory with new content categories including TV & Movies, Travel, Business, Finance & Investments. According to Meta’s analysis of 59 studies, Reels Trending Ads delivered an incremental 6.6 percentage point Ad Recall lift compared to control groups.
AI-Powered Shopping Enhancements
- Product Set Optimisation is now in testing, allowing retail media networks to promote specific products with detailed reporting. Early results show 17 per cent lower median seller cost per purchase.
- Product Showcase is being expanded so marketers can upload one image or video and let Meta’s AI automatically add relevant products as a carousel when it improves performance.
Meta is expanding its generative AI capabilities with:
- UGC-style videos featuring avatars and voiceovers
- Easier voiceover translation and text overlay translation in a single streamlined flow
- New tools to automatically turn product catalogues into dynamic video ads for Reels
Early testing of the Advantage+ creative video generation tool showed a 10 per cent increase in CTR and 8 per cent increase in CVR on average. Campaigns using catalog product video saw 20 per cent more conversions per dollar, while Reels placements with catalog product video delivered 33 per cent higher incremental conversions.
Industry voices welcomed the updates. Vikas Chawla of Social Beat called Partnership Ads a “flywheel” for authentic content that converts. Niti Kumar of Spark Foundry and Sadhvi Dhawan of Blink Digital highlighted the power of Reels Trending Ads for cultural relevance and guaranteed share of voice. Ramasish Bhowmik of Adbuffs noted that Meta’s GenAI tools are giving teams a clear competitive edge.
In a world where attention is fleeting but shopping intent can spark in seconds, Meta is betting that smarter AI will help brands turn discovery into decisions faster than ever. The message is clear: the future of advertising isn’t just about reaching people, it’s about reaching them at exactly the right moment, with exactly the right product.
