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Synovate to measure ad effectiveness through digital media
MUMBAI: The Aegis Group-owned global market research firm Synovate has made a major investment in marketing research in the digital environment through the creation of Digital Centre of Excellence.
Based in London, the centre will service clients globally. It will specialise in understanding and measuring the effectiveness of brands‘ advertising through digital media.
Explaining the rationale behind the initiative, Synovate capabilities and practices CEO Ged Parton said, “Whilst many companies are making a good deal of effort recording what is happening in the digital environment, Synovate believes that there is still breakthrough work to be done in understanding how the environment works at the individual person level to build, support, reinforce and change brand relationships.”
Synovate has also initiated a significant ‘research on research‘ effort. The programme will be led by Philip Shaw, head of digital communications research for Synovate in the UK. Shaw will work closely with Synovate‘s innovation leaders including Director of Innovation Dr Jan Hofmeyr, based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Parton said: “Our intention is to regularly publish what we fully expect to be provocative and challenging thought pieces contradicting some of the current received wisdom in the industry and reinforce our commitment to challenging the industry and living our research reinvented mission.”
The company is already running pilot ‘research on research‘ programmes. These include:
– assessing the relationship between social media buzz and commercially relevant brand relationship, i.e., as relationships move market share moves;
– reviewing actual communication exposure versus claimed memory utilising cookie based technology;
– a URL “webmeter”: a browser plug in this captures panel members‘ online behaviour and relates this behavioral data to attitudinal changes.
Parton also confirmed that Synovate‘s strategy is to partner with external technology firms. “We are specialists in the why questions of research – why people think as they do, why they behave as they do, why they chose as they do. It makes good sense for us to stick to our core competency and partner with outstanding technology based specialists who have the soft and hardware skills that our clients need.”
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
