Speakers:
- Aditi Mishra – Chief Executive Officer, Lodestar
- Dhiraj Gupta – Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, mFilterIt
- Neha Markanda – Chief Business Officer, ShareChat
- Shahad Anand – Business Head, Mediakart
Moderator: Ashish Sehgal – Chief Executive Officer – Times TV Network & CGO – Times Media & Entertainment
Highlights:
Dhiraj Gupta
- Measurement is ultimately about trust and validating platform claims
- Independent third-party measurement is essential instead of relying only on platform-defined metrics
- Advertisers need proof of audience quality, delivery and campaign execution
- Measurement should support shareholder value and business outcomes
- Not everything can or should be measured purely through metrics
- Creativity, instinct and consumer understanding still remain important
- “The maker cannot be the checker and the checker cannot be the maker”
- Platforms marking their own performance creates conflict of interest
- Digital advertising lacks the physical visibility traditional media once had
- Advertisers often never see their own targeted ads, making verification critical
- Agencies have found cases where campaigns showed high impressions but low actual delivery
- Trust in measurement systems is becoming non-negotiable for advertisers
- Third-party verification is necessary before running campaigns
- Transparent measurement builds advertiser confidence and accountability
Aditi Mishra
- Platform metrics should be treated as tools and not the final measure of brand success
- Performance metrics alone cannot define long-term business growth
- Brands need to invest beyond short-term platform optimisation
- Platforms are designed to grow themselves, not necessarily build brands
- Brand building requires collaboration between agencies, marketers and multiple measurement sources
- There is no single universal source of truth in measurement today
- MMM models are useful but often backward-looking and less agile for today’s fast-changing ecosystem
- Businesses need to balance data, instinct and consumer understanding
- Consumers ultimately buy products, not algorithms
- Measurement must align with the consumer journey and business outcomes
- Brands cannot rely on generic storytelling without contextual relevance
- Sanitisation and structure are important but emotional consumer connection drives impact
- Creative storytelling remains critical alongside measurement frameworks
Shahad Anand
- Brands primarily focus on efficiency, money and growth
- Measurement helps brands achieve business objectives rather than becoming the objective itself
- Metrics like CAC, ROAS and conversions matter only when they drive actual outcomes
- Brand building, customer acquisition and direct sales all require different measurement approaches
- Successful marketing creates awareness and commitment among consumers
- Campaigns should ultimately drive behavioural or perception change
- Measurement should validate whether campaigns are creating real impact
- Digital media increases the need for trusted third-party verification systems
- Independent tracking helps ensure advertiser money is being utilised transparently
- Measurement systems are critical as every piece of content today can be monetised
Neha Markanda
- Platforms should position themselves as partners aligned with brand objectives
- Different platforms solve different business use cases and cannot fulfil every objective equally
- ShareChat’s strength lies in driving engagement and user-generated participation
- User participation and content creation are stronger indicators than surface-level metrics
- “User truth” is reflected when audiences actively engage and participate in campaigns
- “Brand truth” comes from actual improvements in sales, traffic and business metrics
- Brands should triangulate platform data, user behaviour and business outcomes together
- Data does not need to match perfectly but should directionally validate campaign impact
- Platform context matters as much as impressions and reach
- Demographic-based targeting alone is no longer sufficient
- Consumer behaviour differs significantly across regions, languages and cultures
- Brands need to move beyond demographics towards cultural relevance and contextual storytelling
- Measurement frameworks should account for creator ecosystems, language and platform culture
- Standardising everything into cost or engagement metrics limits meaningful brand storytelling
