Disney+ Hotstar and Xapads have forged a dynamic partnership to transform the advertising landscape in MENA Region.This collaboration signifies a strategic move to enhance Connected TV (CTV) advertising capabilities in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). This partnership aims to unlock new possibilities for advertisers and underscores Disney+ Hotstar's commitment to staying ahead in the ever-evolving media landscape.The collaboration is focused on improving ad solutions and bridging the gap between brands and the audience in the MENA region. Advertisers may gain exclusive access to premium inventory, providing them with unique opportunities to engage with the audience on the Disney+ Hotstar platform.Ramneek Chadha, COO of Xapads, expressed excitement about the collaboration, emphasizing that Disney+ Hotstar's influential position in the streaming realm, combined with Xapads' expertise in digital advertising, will yield outstanding results for advertisers. Chadha highlights that advertisers will have direct access to premium CTV and connected device audiences in the top 10 metropolitan areas.Dhruv Dhawan, Head of Ads at Disney+ Hotstar, emphasized the platform's continuous search for innovative ways to empower advertisers. He believes that the collaboration with Xapads will help Disney+ Hotstar make significant strides in the MENA region, facilitating the growth of their advertiser base.Gagan Uppal, Country Head for MENA at Xapads, envisioned that this partnership will bridge the gap between brands and the audience, making content and advertising more engaging and accessible. Advertisers will have exclusive access to premium inventory, while the audience can enjoy compelling content and live streaming of matches. Uppal looks forward to witnessing the incredible stories and experiences that will unfold as a result of this development.

myco, the web3 video streaming platform and Xapads, a global ad-tech platform together celebrated a triumphant triple victory at 7th Mobexx 2023 Awards. These awards are a testament to innovation, creativity, and impact, underscoring the seamless integration of Myco's cutting-edge video streaming platform with the advertising technology expertise of Xapads. The three awards they won are Best Mobile App for Video, Entertainment & Sports (Global)myco's innovative mobile app, designed to cater to the dynamic preferences of users in the domains of video, entertainment, and sports, received the highest accolade in this category.Best Mobile App of the Yearmyco's mobile app stood out as the Best Mobile App of the Year, winning the Gold in this fiercely competitive category. The recognition underscores the app's exceptional features, user interface, and overall impact on the mobile app landscape.Mobile Advertising Excellence in Integrated Campaign (Global)Xapads executed this campaign across YouTube through Pulse,their AI-based platform designed to pinpoint the ideal audience and engage their interests effectively with the help of context driven video level targeting.Adding to this Gagan Uppal, Country Head-MENA Xapads, said “ We are honoured to have secured three gold awards alongside our esteemed client. Elated that the campaign strategies resonated with the panel for its innovation, as well as ability to meet the right audience and exceed KPIs”.Xapads and myco’s combined achievement highlights their dedication to elevating innovation in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing.

Written By: Gagan Uppal, Country Head – MENA, Xapads Media              Today’s digital world is a vast pool of innovation wherein, technological infrastructure is coming up with something new every day. And these days, CTV has become a hot topic among advertisers because its offerings and targeting options greatly impact the digital ecosystem. Since marketers can reach the right audience and maximize their brand reach thus, the potential of CTV Advertising and ad spending in MENA has gained 97% YoY from H120 to H121 (source: IAB MENA). Users dive deeper into its premium content in various lingos and on bigger screens; this is why, CTV advertising is aiding marketers with ample opportunities to make a difference in their brand presence and ROAS. However, due to device fragmentation, the user gets multiple video content distribution platforms like media players, standalone streaming gadgets etc which becomes a little daunting for media planners to manage various ad campaigns in different environments. Moreover, gathering consumers’ insights also becomes technically complex for them especially when it comes to conversions and ROI. Alongside this, a few other challenges are Lack of Common Identifiers, Multitude of Measurement Methodologies & Capabilities, Media Planning Efficiency, Ad Inventory Quality & Scalability, Cross-Media Measurement, and Ad Fraud; wherein, CTV acts as a saviour. Since it uses accurate methods for audience measurement and unique standards for actionable results & reporting on the showcased campaigns while maintaining brand safety with consistency in campaign performance.So, here are my thoughts on how CTV curbs marketers’ advertising challenges with the help of Artificial Intelligence to sustain the digital ecosystem.One of the common challenges that marketers find difficult to drive the effectiveness in ad campaign performance is Audience Identification. Since different platforms have their own audience demographics and insights wherein, CTV helps marketers to reach a unified audience. It provides them with data algorithms that drive accuracy in audience measurement. Moreover, CTV with a blend of AI segments the cohorts and showcases the content they prefer to consume on respective platforms. As a result, it leads to consistency in campaign performance with better brand safety and transparency. In fact, with the identification of the audience, the other challenge of Ad Fatigue becomes a concerning component for advertisers as it hampers user experience & interaction with the brand and drains the advertising budget. CTV facilitates marketers with Frequency Capping and Competitive Separation which enables brand owners to maintain a frequency and time difference while serving ads to specific viewers. Whereas, competitive separation ensures that ads familiar or similar to the competitive brands are not shown and are played one after the other. This helps in boosting brand recall value with efficiency in campaign performance.However, with effectiveness in brand recognition and recall, another challenge that marketers often face while advertising digitally is Audience Measurement and undoubtedly, CTV is solving it like a pro. Its authentication enables marketers to tap into the niche yet the right audience, its attribution showcases them the path to identify the connection between ad exposure and engagement. This is why, CTV is maturing the digital marketing ecosystem thus, its global revenue is also projected to reach 42.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2028. Since marketers can easily attribute the source generating original traffic and measure the audience conversions as well (source: Statista).This is why, CTV also solves the concerns of users’ Ad Responsiveness as marketers expect quality returns behind each invested penny. This, with the help of AI models, assists advertisers with real-time data maths for precise targeting at user-personalized and device levels. Hence, advertisers can use first-party data via CTV such as users’ activeness on bigger screens, type of content consumption, audience demographics, geos and much more. This further assists them to make informed business decisions by discovering and targeting the audience interested in viewing specific video content. As a result, this drives better ad responsiveness and builds the brand image.So, Connected TV has emerged as a game-changer for marketers, addressing some of the key challenges they face in the digital advertising landscape and revolutionizing the way brands connect with consumers in the digital age. Its ad-supported subscriptions make a favourable environment for brands to advertise better and edge the digital marketing efforts via its targeted ads such as L-Banners, Zoom Ads, Bumpers, Mastheads, Spot Frames etc. Further Artificial Intelligence redefines the streaming entertainment of CTV and helps marketers with predictive algorithms to cope with marketing challenges and save their advertising budget. Owing to this, CTV is revolutionising the AdTech vertical and will better enhance the audience, inventory and opportunity for marketers to lean into its promising performance.

Authored by: Gagan Uppal, Country Head - MENA, Xapads MediaEvery brand wants to hold onto consumers to win their trust and loyalty to develop a connection with it since the competition in the marketplaces intensifies brand owners because of increasing pressure to attract and retain customers. And there is no doubt in saying that, many brands also focus much on acquiring new customers but, I believe that the key to long-term success lies in retaining existing customers. Moreover, this is a constant concern for every advertiser because nobody would like his consumer to be a brand switcher wherein, Retention Marketing comes into the picture. A powerful retention strategy in place can really make a difference both in the brand presence and ROAS since it concentrates on engaging and nurturing long-term relationships with existing customers.Retention is one of the most critical aspects for the growth of any business since it's actually a blend of user satisfaction with the offerings of a brand which turns into user loyalty. Though brands focus on acquisition, I would like to say that they must simultaneously focus on retention as well in the early stages of campaign execution because doing so will reduce the chances of churn. This is because, if a user feels satisfied, valuable and gets catered with a better experience while trying and testing the goods/services of any brand, the possibility of returning to it get higher. Reports also say that loyal users are 5x as likely to repurchase as they become pretty aware of the brand’s offerings and USPs and often return to it to know what more it has in store (source: Microsoft). Therefore, in my opinion, holding onto the already existing user base is better as they are a huge asset for any brand and in fact, as Ramadan is around the corner, Retention Marketing can be a compelling factor for the brand’s growth and better ROAS as well. Let’s discuss the importance of retention in depth and how it does wonders for businesses. In my opinion, a customer's purchase or desired action doesn't mark the end of a sale. Instead, it's beneficial to offer related additional products through timely upselling or cross-selling based on the customer's past behaviors with the brand. By doing so, the brand can create effective recall and notify customers of suitable offerings during the upcoming festive season. Upselling, cross-selling and following up with users not only retain them but also enhance the value of their current purchase.However, sometimes a user stops using the app, resulting in churn which isn’t good for any business and to avoid this, Retention Marketing comes as a saviour. To prevent churn and grip the users’ interest in your brand, personalization coupled with automated product recommendations can do wonders for brand presence and recognition. When a user is catered with personalized offerings, he rarely switches brands in search of products that meet his expectations.I'd also like to point out that Retention complements Engagement because they have a direct and positive relationship. They both go hand in hand since user retention leads to repurchases and frequent repetitions of desired actions result in increasing user engagement rates. When a user gets the best of his needs and wants, he starts trusting the brand that drives quality engagement and often seeks to know more. This also helps marketers in analyzing their likes and dislikes and improvises user journey for a better experience and more tremendous impact. Retention Marketing not only enhances the existing and loyal user base, but also keeps them engaged by frequently executing storytelling campaigns that incorporate innovative tactics such as Rich Media Ads, Gamification, Rewards, Exclusive Deals and Discounts, and much more. Such aspects when incorporated into a campaign execution encourage users to spend some time on it even if they have been lapsed or inactive too. When existing users and inactive users also return to the brand, the user base starts enhancing which helps brands outperform their competitors and enable users to choose your brand over others. It is accurate to state that retention marketing plays a vital role in establishing long-term relationships with customers, boosting customer lifetime value, and facilitating the growth of a sustainable business.

Since the sales like Thanksgiving Day, White Friday, Cyber Monday, and Year-End Sales are almost here at the corner, marketers wish to have a quality ROAS along with effective user-acquisition, retention and engagement rates. Moreover, in the Ad-tech sector, the market competition is evolving gradually and many different brand owners aim to target the same type of user base. So, if you are also a part of this ad universe then you must rely on the Power of OEM which optimizes the ad spend and enhances the campaign performance with data-driven measurable results. In fact, if I talk about the top OEM Partners in the MENA Region, they have a market share of 57.89% since 2022. Hence, If you haven’t incorporated OEM marketing practices in the campaign execution process specifically during sales; then you are still not late to unleash the significance of OEM Advertising and all technological innovations it has in store for smart marketers.  OEM establishes the brand with its effective recall value via the right medium of brand promotion in a safer environment. Moreover, it streamlines the process of acquiring and retaining the right audience, creating appropriate ads and assuring that the campaign is delivering a prominent message. This has given marketers a smart way of advertising as they can effectively plan the inventory and tap into the wider yet untapped markets. OEM devices come equipped with multiple ads placement, app discovery, app recommendations, advanced targeting and brand promotion opportunities at engaging touch points. Its inventories also have in-built app stores that are alternatives to Google Play Store and Apple App Store. This provides advertisers with exclusive deals to promote their app to achieve their business goals with incremental ROI. When users these days are mobile-first, OEM enables marketers to transform their marketing approach to acquire and engage mobile-friendly netizens with its unique and innovative branding and performance strategies. Well, there is a lot to speak about OEM but I would like to suggest marketers consider OEM as a new-age solution because of the following reasons: Campaign Effectiveness: Considering the paradigm shift from the traditional way of marketing to the digital one; OEM has proven to be the winning one. This is because it helps marketers to run a campaign in a transparent environment wherein, there is no involvement of any mediator between them and OEM. As a result, marketers can save a large chunk of their advertising budget with a better device interface and content customization which ultimately drives campaign effectiveness. Brand Awareness: OEM Advertising has now established benchmarks in the mobile app economy because it's one of the most prominent ways of creating buzz and brand awareness among users. It helps marketers to reach the audience and highlight their brands’ USPs while tapping into their pivotal moments throughout the device lifecycle without infringing their privacy. This builds a trustworthy relationship between the brand and users, gives them a value-generated experience and they effectively resonate with the showcased advert, driving app download volume results. App Fostering Opportunities: OEM lets brand owners make their mark and expand their reach while onboarding users from different geographies via its pool of app fostering opportunities. This gets done through its different ad formats like Splash Ads, Tiles, Banner Ads, Push Ads, Interstitial Ads and its placement options like Pre-Install, App Store Promotion, Hot Downloads, Icon Promotion, Recommended Apps, Browser-Based Promotion etc. Such features enable marketers to efficiently draw the audience’s attention and build an affinity with a brand. Precise Targeting: OEM enables marketers to access new markets as it determines the frequently used apps by the users on respective inventories. So, when the demand for smartphones rises, OEMs also pitch their sales into the growth of the app economy with app distribution opportunities. This is because OEMs provide marketers with users’ insights based on their past actions and behaviors onto which they can provide consumers with personalized and recommended content, tailored to their interests. In this way, brands’ offerings effectively reach the audiences and they better respond to the campaign too. OEM Advertising is massively revolutionizing the mobile app ecosystem because, alongside the above-mentioned advantages, it also showcases many licensed apps like RMG, Short Video, Social Media etc which encourages marketers to wisely invest in OEM. Its performance-driven results leave no stone unturned to generate quality ROAS which is why; MENA digital economy is projected to hit a staggering $400 billy by 2030 (source: Fast Company Middle East). Hence, OEM being a fundamental of digital advertising is a new-age technology which provides users with an elated experience and lets marketers implement digital-first sales strategies. It's setting a pace and is another way around to make the most out of their campaign. Written by: Gagan Uppal - Country Head - MENA, Xapads Media