, media specialist and former managing director of Maxus, a Group M company, has joined SureWaves, the recently launched media convergence company, as CEO. SureWaves has been set up by the Bangalore-based technology solutions company Indus Edge. Srinivas, who worked with Madison earlier, spoke to Shuchi Bansal about the company's plans.
What's the point of launching SureWaves in a cluttered digital advertising market place?
True, there are many companies setting up television screens across malls and at other retail spaces for display advertising. However, in my view the existing digital out-of-home (OOH) companies are not doing well as there is hardly any paid advertising.
But SureWaves is not just a "TV screens" company. We are a media convergence brand. We are into mobile content and advertising. We also offer business solutions to the existing screen networks both in India and abroad.
How are you different from other out-of-home media companies?
We don't think any of the out-of-home players is driving viewer or customer engagement. We have superior screen management, real time content and better understanding of how out-of-home media is consumed. We have developed our own technology "" both software and hardware "" through our parent company Indus Edge. It is web based, and, therefore, geography neutral.
The content is stored in a central server in Bangalore from where we can control what goes on individual TV screens. We understand that people do not watch a TV screen just because it is there, especially in malls and at other public places where there is no captive audience.
The technology allows us to offer a split screen to run two or three programmes simultaneously. The content could be live or recorded, Internet feeds or power point presentations.
But the differentiator is customer engagement. The technology will allow customers with bluetooth mobile phones to interact with our TV screens. This could eventually lead to shopping on the mobile. We are in talks with payment gateways for the purpose.
How many screens are you planning and in which cities?
It is hard to give numbers but we're not really looking at malls. We'd rather explore opportunities at transport junctions such as bus stations and airports, hotels and health places etc.
Does SureWaves have a foreign equity partner?
We have no foreign equity partner as yet. Only our software has been designed in partnership with Plasmanet of the UK.
Comments on the future of the out-of-home and mobile advertising industry?
OOH is growing rapidly simply because people are spending more time out of home. The mobile interactive business will also grow as India's 200 million mobile subscribers will double by 2010.
