"We aim to cater to SMEs that don't have access to large media agencies"
Our vision is to enable marketers with discovery, shortlisting, planning and execution of their media plan, says Mayank Bidawatka, Co-founder & CEO, The Media Ant

“Our objective is to make the marketer’s job easier by increasing transparency of information and making planning easier, while leveraging technology,” says Mayank Bidawatka, Co-founder & CEO, The Media Ant.
In conversation with exchange4media, Bidawatka talks about the need for a company like The Media Ant, what drove him to start it, challenges in the India market and plans in the pipeline, among other things…
What were the insights on starting The Media Ant?
When I was heading marketing at redBus and wanted to spend Rs 5 lakh on offline marketing, I contacted media agencies to get media options I could evaluate within this budget. None of them were willing to help me unless I increased my budget by 10-fold. They said it doesn’t fit into their economics. I was left to figure out various media options on my own and the experience was very hectic and time-consuming. I knew that there are many media options out there, but there was no single place to get information related to these options.
That’s when I realised that there is no information transparency in the media business. Only the large advertisers could access information through their agencies. The smaller and mid-sized companies would face something very similar to my experience. We wanted to create a product that could cater to the SME that doesn’t have access to an agency and create a business model that could cater to them at scale.
The best way to do this would be to aggregate information from all the media owners across various media categories and make this information available online. This way, there could be a self-serving model where the SME could get information for free and get in touch with us to help them out with media that they shortlist.
Our vision is to become a platform that enables marketers with discovery, shortlisting, planning and execution of their media plan. Unlike the traditional agency, we want to be an enabler rather than a doer.
Our model is very different from the usual media agencies. We work more like a buying agency than a planning agency; hence, giving us the ability to deal with conflicting businesses too. We largely use our website for planning purposes and don’t do heavy execution. We connect our clients to the vendor directly in cases of heavy-execution media requirements and largely execute print-related media.
What are the challenges that you face when it comes to building your brand in a market like India?
The problem we are trying to solve is that of aggregating all media options in the country. That’s a gigantic task. There are many media types and each of them has thousands of media options. This is a network business and you have to figure a way around the chicken and egg issue. Media owners don’t want to list with you till there are enough advertisers, and advertisers won’t come till there are enough media options. This is a difficult issue to crack but we have found our way around this and are doing fairly well in perfecting the business model.
The other challenge is getting the word out to marketers. There is no single large platform that reaches out to this segment. This makes the marketing piece a little challenging.
What is the revenue model for The Media Ant?
Unlike media agencies, we get our revenues from the partner, rather than the advertiser. They pass a commission on the value of the media sold.
What are the growth plans in the pipeline?
Our plan is to grow fast in terms of adding new media options on our site. We have one of the largest options in terms of non-traditional media and magazines. We will now work on making discovery easier in the print advertising medium and move on to cover other media types once we have exhausted that. Print has the largest pie (50 per cent) in the $6 billion advertising market in India and we want to concentrate on it before we move on to other areas.
Our objective is to solve pain points in the industry and make the marketer’s job easier by increasing transparency of information and making planning easier, while leveraging technology.
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
With quirky campaigns, memes and moment marketing, timed with the ongoing World Cup and particularly the India-Pakistan matches, Dabur India has got considerable consumer attention for its popular brands – Red Paste, Cool King Hair Oil, Chyawanprash, Dabur Vita and the recently launched Bae Fresh Gel toothpaste.
The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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Swapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
Advertising professional and art collector Swapan Seth has announced the launch of his new book COOL. The book is described as "a ready reckoner to the hip and the happening, of the known and the very unknown."
The book is a reflection of the author's "eclectic taste across categories: from boltholes to exotic hideaways."
COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
He writes for publications such as The Economic Times, Hindustan Times and India Today. This is his second book and he has previously published THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up come on board
e4m Staff Disney Star has signed nine broadcast and digital streaming sponsors for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Charged by Thums Up, Nerolac Paint+, Amazon Pay, Jindal Panther, My11Circle, MRF, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5, Wild Stone and Thums Up have come on board for the upcoming tournament.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, Disney Star has sought Rs 26 crore for the co-presenting sponsorship on TV and Rs 30 crore for Disney+ Hotstar.
According to industry sources, the associate sponsorship on Star Sports has been priced at Rs 19.66 crore, whereas for the ‘powered by’ sponsorship on Disney+ Hotstar, the broadcaster is seeking Rs 18 crore.
As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
A spot buy for 10 seconds has been priced at Rs 25 lakh for the India vs Pakistan matches, while for the non-India matches, the ad rate for 10 second is Rs 2.3 lakh. The India matches plus the final for ODIs has been priced at Rs 17 lakh per 10 seconds.
Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from 30 August, 2023, to September 17, 2023.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
Sorted 360, an integrated creative and social media agency, has won the mandate to providing brand solutions for Reliance Malls across India.
“Sorted 360 is set to enhance Reliance Malls' market presence with their unparalleled creative prowess and strategic thinking,” read a press release.
“Sorted 360's commitment to pushing the boundaries of creative communication aligns perfectly with Reliance Malls' ethos. With a pan-India presence spanning across 19 cities and growing, Reliance Malls has consistently captivated customers by offering an array of Reliance brands and third-party fashion & lifestyle brands. The mall has established an unparalleled connection with its patrons through superior quality, a remarkable value proposition, and an unmatched shopping experience,” it read further.
"We are thrilled to welcome Sorted 360 as our trusted partner in advancing our brand presence across the nation," said the Head of Marketing at Relaice Malls. "Their proven expertise in retail, shopping center management, and innovative creative strategies make them the perfect fit for our vision."
"Partnering with Reliance Malls is a testament to our commitment to shaping extraordinary brand experiences," remarked Prerana Anatharam, Co-founder of Sorted 360. "We are excited to leverage our strategic and creative acumen to further elevate Reliance Malls as the epitome of convenience, choice, and excellence."
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
Mehta will play a pivotal role in driving KlugKlug's growth and expansion within the Indian market and be responsible for Sales & GTM Strategy
Prior to that, he has also represented organisations like Exponential (now VDX.tv), India Today Digital and Rediff.com. His expertise spans various domains including digital media sales, mobile marketing, media planning, and buying, social media marketing, and more.
Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."
Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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