iWorld
Voot’s new series to show urban marriage issues
MUMBAI: Viacom18’s OTT platform Voot announces a new 6-episode original series titled Time Out featuring Tahir Raj Bhasin and Sarah Jane Dias. After the success of its recent Voot Originals like Yo Ke Hua Bro, It’s Not That Simple, Untag and others, Time Out is Voot’s tenth original series streaming from 28 November.
It tells the story of Rahul and Radha’s perfect romance, perfect relationship and perfect life until he realises that he’s been living the life he’s supposed to and not necessarily the one he wants to. The series will introduce the audience to the side of urban marriages where the couple has to deal with issues of responsibility, reliability and readiness.
During the launch, Voot head of content Monika Shergill said, “Adulting in India has never been easy! And the cocktail of expectations & pressures, from family & society, make it even more challenging. With Time Out, we take the audience on a dramatic, fun and totally vicarious journey to explore this highly relevant & relatable modern day theme. Originals at Voot are maturing with every offering and in the coming year with a robust lineup of big series, we are aiming to become the preferred destination for the new discerning digital viewer.’
Commenting on the same, director Danish Aslam further added saying, “Voot as a platform encourages innovation in content that is both engaging and experimental. Thematically, the story is reflective of the cultural and social milieu I’m part of – married couples who are coming to terms with the idea of parenthood. Thus, directing Time Out was an opportunity to explore the insights that seemed the most relevant and immediate to my life and experiences.”
Talking about playing Rahul, Tahir Raj Bhasin said, “It was the complexity of the role that drew me to play Rahul. It was challenging to portray a character’s descent from order to chaos that leads to a journey filled with interesting yet gut-wrenching choices.”
Talking about playing Radha, Sarah Jane Dias said, “Radha is that girlfriend of yours who has her whole life figured out before she’s even lived it. For once, however, she’s forced into a situation where she has no choice but to give up the driver’s seat. I said yes to playing her because it’s always challenging for us as humans to ‘free flow’ through life and trust that things will always work out, eventually.”
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.
