MUMBAI: The second half of Day three at Goafest 2025 kicked off with a session titled ‘Building a Safer, Smarter, Cleaner Media Ecosystem’, powered by Sync Media, under the theme IGNITE TRUST. The session featured Tejas Apte, Head of Media and Digital Marketing at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). Tejas underscored the need for transparency, safety, and effectiveness in digital media. Moderated by Shibani Gharat, Anchor and Senior Producer at CNBC-TV18, the discussion tackled issues like ad fraud, bot views, and data misuse—all eroding trust and ROI in the digital landscape.
Apte revealed that up to 30% of digital impressions could be fake, causing significant business inefficiencies. He compared digital’s ad-heavy model to legacy media’s more balanced mix, emphasising how this shift heightens the need for safer practices.
He outlined ISA’s four-pillar media charter and remarked that collaborations with platforms like Google and Meta have helped set common benchmarks and refine metric understanding between input (clicks) and business outcome metrics. With AI and automation reshaping agency roles, he stressed the need for agencies to shift from service providers to business impact partners. While in-housing is growing, agencies remain essential for creative strategy.
Apte concluded that the true success of the media charter will lie in broad adoption and measurable reductions in ad fraud and unsafe placements—an approach HUL is already applying internally, with encouraging results.
