Flipkart, Hotstar join hands for ad platform, eye more revenue

BENGALURU: India’s largest online retailer Flipkart has forged an alliance with video streaming service Hotstar and launched a video advertisement platform on Friday—part of a broader strategy to generate more revenue from the booming video advertising business.

The new platform, Shopper Audience Network, will allow brands to target consumers through personalised video ads on Hotstar.

Flipkart plans to leverage data from its massive user base and help brands connect with potential consumers using these targeted ads.

“Understanding our customers better than anyone else has always been one of Flipkart’s core strengths, and these insights help marketers in their ad journey, on our platform. This partnership further leverages the intent-based understanding and couples it with Hotstar’s platform t o create an unparalleled offering in the ads industry in India,” said Prakash Sikaria, senior director at Flipkart, who heads the company’s digital ads business.

This new alliance with Hotstar comes at a time when Flipkart is aiming to cement its position as the third-largest digital ads platform in the country, behind Google and Facebook.

Mint reported on July 11 that Flipkart aims to double its annualised sales from digital advertising to roughly $200 million by March next year.

On July 16, Mint also reported that Flipkart and Amazon India have both slashed advertising spending on Google, ahead of an e-commerce launch by the websearch company, whom they now view as a serious threat.