Internet in India is democratised and widely used; but now the country sits on the cusp of an AI revolution. ICube data shows that AI is already touching the lives of nine in 10 internet users in India, powered by the enormous computing capabilities on their phones, connectivity, and cloud infrastructure. Kantar, a marketing data and analytics business recently unveiled a probe into the AI market and the goal was to dish out actionable insights for marketers. Furthermore, the company also unveiled an AI powered suit of research solutions that it said will enable brands and brand builders understand consumer behavioural data better and stay ahead of the curve in future.
The current AI user base of the country stands at 724 million and poised to grow YoY at 6%. These are users who have used any of the AI features like image filters, personalised recommendations, smart devices, etc till now.
Kantar also found that ‘fitness’ and ‘social media’ apps are driving AI adoption with an average of 2.3 AI led features embedded in these applications. ‘Entertainment’ apps are a close second, standing at 2.0 AI features on average. AI is also touching ‘digital commerce’ and ‘pharmacy apps’ at an average of 1.8 AI features each. Kantar also anticipates that many more digital commerce & entertainment apps will adopt AI features to enhance quality of customer experience and stay in line with the emerging trends. Adoption however is slower in the ‘BFSI’, ‘job search’ and ‘short video’ apps segments, at an average of 1.2 features each.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Puneet Avasthi, senior executive director, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar
Q. How are companies embracing AI to make quicker and more effective decisions?
While the use cases of leveraging AI to drive efficiencies abound, the need to leverage AI as an effective tool (not just efficient) for long term brand building through a more humanised AI will be a differentiator. At Kantar, we are doing this in multiple workstreams. One is in driving efficiencies – be it quality of data or how it is processed and reported. The other is in predictive analytics, so we are leveraging our vast databases across domains, to train our AI suite for better understanding of trends, opportunities and ROI assessment.
Q. How can marketers activate AI to predict future performance, maximise ROI and build brand value?
It is important for marketers to input the right training data which is representative of the diversity of a market to avoid any implicit biases in the AI algorithm for predictive analytics. Kantar, with its deep understanding of representativeness and its rich and diverse datasets is well suited to help create predictive models and help assess ROI of brand building efforts.
Q. How are brands using AI strategies to build competitive advantage for sustainable growth?
It is important for brands to invest in a well thought out data strategy for sustainable growth as first party data will be critical, with customer data and digital touchpoints becoming siloed in walled gardens.
Q. How are Indian consumers utilising AI in their lives?
To make lives easier in very simple terms. From using Google maps to get fastest routes to having voice assistants like Alexa be the practical guide. To connect, share and to lead better healthier lives. From the internet to AI has been a smooth, easy leap for the Indians, across the spectrum – from the trend-setting metro’s of India to remote parts of India’s hinterland.
Q. How can marketers humanise AI to innovate successfully for their brand?
First up, never forget the purpose. Marketers are looking to win humans, not AI bots, no matter how intelligent and humanoid they become. Hence, the voice of humans should not be lost. Be it in terms of what they need, feel and want as consumers or how we create (ads, innovations, activations) or how we insight and strategize. AI may seem like magic, but you need real people to harness, activate and use it.
Q. Is there the danger of fraud growing due to AI?
AI is just a tool. And like any tool it can be equally used for good and harmful purposes. At Kantar, we use AI to weed out fraudulent panellists and respondents. So, it is used to counter fraud.
Q. Could Kantar shed light on its AI solutions that help clients save money and maximise profit?
AI has a role to play in driving efficiencies and effectiveness. We have used AI at scale to build a best in class fraud detection engine for online data. This has ensured that our strategic advice to clients is based on the most meaningful and high quality data. Our AI powered solutions such as Link AI, LIFT ROI, Trend AI and NeedScope AI are designed to help our clients be more effective across various stages of brand growth. LINK AI is one such solution, which helps evaluate creative effectiveness at scale and has helped uncover new insights into creating better video ads on YouTube which has a proven track record of growth, following Google’s ABCD framework.
Q. What targets have been set for this year in terms of revenue, profitability and client roster growth?
Our objective is to evangelise our AI suite of insights products with all our clients. Revenue and profitability information is confidential
Q. Are clients experimenting in AI to produce better marketing outcomes?
Clients are using AI to build robust engines to personalise communication and humanise brand touch-points. Naturally, clients with a rich first party data have an advantage. Kantar with its range of rich frameworks, analytical engines and syndicated resources is well placed to support clients in their journey to harness AI for better marketing outcomes.
Q. Is Gen AI going to have a seismic impact on content creation? Already text can be transformed to video.
Gen AI will have an impact in speeding up execution and creation of edits of a central idea. However, the human connection required to ideate and create content will remain just as important as it is today.
