Flipkart, Hotstar Launch Advertising Platform Shopper Audience Network

Flipkart has created an alliance with video streaming service Hotstar to launch a video advertisement platform named Shopper Audience Network.

The launch is part of a broader strategy to generate more revenue from the booming video advertising business. The newly launched platform will allow brands to target consumers through personalised video advertisements on Hotstar.

Prakash Sikaria, senior director, Flipkart, said, “Understanding our customers better than anyone else has always been one of Flipkart’s core strengths, and these insights help marketers in their ad journey, on our platform.”

With the partnership, Flipkart plans to leverage the intent-based understanding and couple it with Hotstar’s platform to create an unparalleled offering in the ads industry in India.

This comes at a time when Flipkart is aiming to cement its position as the third-largest digital advertisements platform in the country, after Google and Facebook.

Recently, Flipkart announced that it will capitalise on digital advertising to reach $200 Mn sales by 2019.

Flipkart plans to leverage data from its massive user base and help brands in connecting with potential consumers using the targeted advertisements.

For FY17, Flipkart’s ad business had reached $100 Mn in annualised revenue. The company plans to double down on video ads, the fastest growing sector in the overall digital ads business, which is expected to drive its growth in the near future.

The Trend Of Digital Advertising

A survey report has claimed that 40% of the Indians prefer to watch advertisements in video format on their mobile phones while 24% prefer to watch these video ads in the form of an image.

The overall advertising business is expected to grow at an annual average rate of 32% to touch (INR 18,986 Cr) by 2020, according to an earlier report.

Digital advertising spend is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% to touch $1.75 Bn (INR 12,046 Cr) by 2018, on the back of increased consumer trust in online ads, said a report jointly published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar IMRB.

To compete against established players like Facebook and Google, playets like Amazon, Snapchat, Flipkart and Oath have a long way to go.

[The development was reported by Livemint]