Bharti Airtel launches advertising platform

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Wednesday launched an advertising platform that will connect any brand to its customers, the Sunil Mittal-led telecom operator said.

The Airtel Ads platform will enable brands to curate consent-based and safe campaigns for subscribers of the telco, it said. Airtel has more than 320 million customers across businesses—mobile, direct-to-home (DTH) and homes.

Airtel Ads has so far enabled campaigns for more than 100 brands across categories, including fast moving consumer goods, banking, financial services and insurance, digital startups, among others. It has partnered companies such as PepsiCo, Zomato, Cred and Tata AIG.

Airtel’s data research and analytics will help identify and connect target customers to brands selling products or making offers on the platform, the telco’s chief product officer Adarsh Nair said in an interview. Customers expressing interest in certain products or offers will enable Airtel to understand their preference, Nair added.

“For instance, let’s say, you come on Airtel Thanks app for a recharge, and you see Zomato’s offer of a 40% discount. We take that Zomato offer and present it to you while you are doing the transaction. Airtel’s research is dependent on what you do next,” Nair said.

Based on such interests, Airtel Ads will be able to make relevant future offers and avoid unwanted campaigns that could spam a user’s apps, he said.

These ads will feature only on various Airtel platforms. Given the size of Airtel’s customer base of 320 million, with 190 million using the company’s music streaming app Wynk, over-the-top (OTT) video content Xtream and Thanks, while about 17 million avail the DTH service, the telco does not plan to cater to customers from outside.

“We will also be able to tap customers via our 1 million mass retail stores and we have many super premium stores. Besides, we can connect with users using voice as well,” he said. “The reach is so big that we don’t envision to go outside Airtel.”

Nair said the investment to build this adtech platform was minuscule as Airtel has been developing its core businesses, and such digital assets are being mounted on them. He did not share the investment amount.

“Through Airtel ads, we ran a focus digital campaign on the Wynk music app for the launch of new packs of 7UP and Mirinda. The outcomes of the campaign were really impressive given the customisable ad formats and quality audience base,” said Om Jha, associate director of media, PepsiCo India.