We have grown over 4500% in the past 3 years: Srinivasan KA, co-founder Amagi

Bangalore-based technology and media startup Amagi - which facilitates geographic targeting of television advertisements, claims to have grown more than 4500% over the past three years. Amagi works with both national and regional businesses to provide them cost-effective and targeted advertising options on television. Currently, it has more than 1,500 advertisers across 18 television channels with estimated reach of around 200 million viewers. Besides India, the startup also has plans to roll out its services to Europe and Asia Pacific market. To understand more about Amagi’s growth, challenges and opportunities Yourstory spoke to Srinivasan KA, co-founder, Amagi. Edited excerpts:According to you, what is the approximate market size of television-based targeted advertising on regional level?

We estimate the targeted market currently to be in the region of Rs 4,500 cr. , Most of this money is currently going to regional TV channels, print, radio, outdoor, primarily due to the lack of choice . Targeted television offers the advertiser a serious comparative option of advertising on national channels regionally . In delivery terms this is comparable (in most markets) to the best regional channels of the markets not only in the Hindi heartland but also in the western and eastern markets.

Can you elaborate how Amagi helps small businesses/retailers to create awareness via television?

Amagi works with both national and regional businesses to provide them cost-effective and targeted advertising options on TV. Obviously, TV is the biggest media in India and reaches more people than all other media combined. However, due to the high spillage associated with TV, it turns out to be highly expensive and sub-optimal. We hope to transform TV advertising into a highly competitive and targeted medium for both national and regional advertisers.

How has been the traction so far in terms of number of clients and partnership or deal with television channels?

1500+ clients have leveraged our platform with 1 crore+ seconds of advertising and growing. We have grown by nearly 4500% over the last 3 years!

Which are the cities Amagi has presence at present and which city brings maximum business for Amagi?

We are available in 100+ cities across India - obviously the biggest business earners are the metros.

 Outline some major challenges in the space.

Tectonic shifts are happening in the TV media space viz. digitization, TRAI's 12 min ad cap directive, broadcaster's endeavour to move away from CPRP to CPT, increasing fragmentation of TV resulting in limited viewership - challenges abound. We hope we can help both broadcasters and advertisers overcome these challenges with the use of our technology.

Shed some light on pricing and revenue sharing pattern with broadcasters.

Advertisers/brands will see a 70-90% saving in costs by targeting through Amagi platform. More importantly, they will see more effectiveness as the ads can be made relevant to the target location.