Hotstar ties up with Zapr Media Labs for mobile audience analytics

Broadcaster Star India’s digital streaming platform Hotstar on Tuesday said it has partnered with Bengaluru-based media tech company Zapr Media Labs for mobile audience analytics.

The companies will collaborate to create a deep understanding of mobile audiences that can be leveraged by brands to create personalised communication and offers, Star India said in a statement.

“While many brands have deployed significant amounts of money on mobile in the last few years, especially through banner and in-stream display ads, marketers have been frustrated by the lack of brand building vehicles online that allow them to leverage deep audience analytics.

“In what is clearly a trailblazing move for digital marketing, the partnership could herald the emergence of more robust audience analytics and better accountability for results in the mobile marketing world,” it said.

The partnership is accompanied by a minority investment by Star India in Zapr Media for an undisclosed sum.

Zapr’s proprietary technology platform analyses television viewership over 600 channels in the country, providing targeted digital analytics and insight into offline consumption behavior.

“Hotstar has the opportunity to build the world’s first platform on digital where consumers are engaged and immersed while at the same time delivering deep audience understanding that allows brands to talk to individuals rather than segments.

“We believe that we have a shot at creating the world’s premier truly personalised advertising service, which benefits both brands and consumers,” Hotstar chief executive officer Ajit Mohan said.

Commenting on the partnership, Zapr Media Labs Co-founder and CEO Sandipan Mondal said, “We are excited to partner with Hotstar and Star on our journey to build a world-class media-tech company out of India. Over the past few years, Zapr has grown into one of the world’s largest media consumption repositories and audience cross-targeting platforms and this partnership further reinforces the incredible response we have received from our partners across brands, agencies, and broadcasters.”

“We look forward to accelerating the pace of our research and development, growing our product portfolio and building a deeper and long lasting relationship with the larger media and advertising industry,” he added.