After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, Deepak Baid, Sajo Mathews and Sandipan Mondal came up with the idea of ZAPR, a media tech startup. Realising that there’s more scope for the startup in the IT capital, ZAPR, which was started in 2012, shifted its operations from Gurgaon to Bengaluru about nine months ago.
“Ours is India’s largest media consumption depository and audience targeting platform,” said Sandipan Mondal, co-founder and CEO of ZAPR, in an interaction with Deccan Herald. When they started the company, there were no other players providing data, and the founders believed that technology would disrupt the media space.
Connecting TV with mobile
The company’s proprietary technology profiles the offline media consumption behaviour of millions of people, enabling content owners and brands, for the very first time, to identify their offline audiences and re-engage with them on digital and mobile. Talking about the media and advertising industry, Mondal said there was a dearth of data in the industry.
“And, we wanted to make data available. Ours provide a better understanding of what millions are consuming in terms of media. Data acts as a bridge, thereby connecting both TV and mobile. For instance, if audiences watch a Bengali channel in Delhi or Bengaluru, their consumption profile would give an idea at a time of the launch of a new television channel or show. It is all about understanding the right audience,” added Mondal.
“Apart from data, we also offer – Audience platform, which helps brands and media companies identify relevant audiences based on their consumption,” he said. The company has two kinds of partners- original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and apps. ZAPR’s TV audience data allows brands to differentiate app users as personas they understand – from IPL fans to soccer fanatics, action movie buffs to romcom lovers.
ZAPR monitors and collects data from over 300 TV channels across 1,500 locations, and that include some of the largest broadcasters. Only recently, the media tech startup raised an undisclosed sum led from Flipkart, Saavn, Micromax and Mu Sigma co-founders – Dhiraj Rajaram and Ambiga Dhiraj. As the importance of seamless 360 degree marketing increases for brands, ZAPR’s ability to connect the TV screen with the mobile screen, ensures that the same user can now be engaged across several mediums.
Data business
“We are in the data business and not into rating. While right now our focus is on television, our goal is to expand across formats — radio, video-on-demand and movies in theatres, soon,” said Mondal, adding that they are constantly into research and development. With a team of 30, “Our focus is to get more customers and as a company we need to evolve with technologies. We need to constantly innovate,” he added.
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