Top advertisers exploring AI news anchors, say they can bring back trust in news television

By leveraging Artificial Intelligence and integrating it into their newsroom, several Indian news channels have already embraced AI news anchors. Although marketers view this as a marketing initiative by news channels at present, they are anticipating the potential it holds for them.

After Aaj Tak first introduced AI anchor Sana earlier this year in March, several others latched on to the idea. Now AI anchors can be seen on News18 Punjab/Haryana and News 1st Kannada.

Marketers eye AI anchor opportunities

Vaishali Verma

Vaishali Verma, CEO, Initiative India, believes that AI and machine learning has been integrated into advertising for a long time but the news anchor one is fairly new and also very transformational.

“So from a news channel perspective, it definitely brings a lot of efficiency for them. Moreover, it lessens their cost for them and at the same time, they are able to leverage multi-language, multi-dimension and a bigger horizon,” she said.

“Advertisers or brands are found where consumers are and they would follow and mirror that. Hence it's very important for us to understand if this technology helps in a better engagement of viewers with that particular news channel or slot or with that anchor. Most of the news channels have started with few slots and some of them have gone into engagement-driven formats. Now this is something new which doesn't exist otherwise in the human anchor interface.”

BK Rao

According to BK Rao, Senior Category Head at Parle Products, when there are improvements in the tech space, viewers will also appreciate it.

“Following this, the brands will also show interest and think of increasing their spots or consciously placing their spots during the episode or the bulletin. Having said that, unless the channels improve the technology a lot more to make it almost real, this will be difficult to sustain,” he said.

From a brand's perspective, Rao said, AI anchors are definitely a novelty.

“So eventually, there will be some interest initially from the brands but only time will unfold how things pan out because if there is progress and improvement in this space, it can really be an interesting format for brands,” he added.

Talking about whether brands will be concerned about the potential impact of AI anchors on the emotional connection between viewers and news channels, Verma said, “News channels are seasoned enough, and they will find a way to balance between the human interface as well as AI and some of the thoughts will start with AI. That definitely gives brands an opportunity to drive a lot of engagement-led activities and news is a very critical genre for most of the sectors we work on. So, whether it is FMCG, e-com, retail, startups, news is a very integral part of their media mix.”

Till now, TV has never been very interactive.

“If the AI is interactive and if it is working very well with the viewers and the viewers are interacting and engaging, that's definitely an opportunity for the brands to leverage, Verma added.

“Consumers valuing news as a genre builds huge trust and credibility for the brand. News is also seen as very real and authentic and that's how the brand wants to be seen as well. With these AI news anchors, one of the big advantages is that there would be a lot of authenticity to the news because it is devoid of interpretations by the human anchor. The way it's done by human anchors, it's interpreted and it could have biases but when it comes to AI, it's far more trustworthy, authentic and based on vast data points. So it is left to the consumers or the viewers to interpret. Hence, I think that if this is a success, it will bring back lots of lost viewers back to the news. So, if the news channels are able to show a bigger platform of viewers, it will become an attractive platform for the brands,” Verma said.

“The starting point for us is more from the regional news channel because brands also want to play safe and regional channels are one market and it's more experimental. Then if it works well, we kind of replicate it with the national news channel. We are currently engaged with a few of the regional channels in markets like Odisha and Karnataka, where we are exploring the opportunities with brands to leverage and how we can associate,” she added.

Technological variations among various AI news anchors

According to India Today’s spokesperson, as an AI collaborative anchor, Sana brings many unique skills to the newsroom. Her ability to speak multiple languages with almost zero learning curve, her capacity to switch seamlessly between topics and formats and the fact that she never tires.

In the realm of AI news anchors, India and the global landscape are witnessing a growing number of contenders. However, it is crucial to recognize that not all have reached the same level of maturity and acceptance.

Among them, India Today Group gained an early advantage that sets it apart from the rest.

While most AI anchors are limited to controlled hand gestures, Sana, with her advanced capabilities, transcends the norm. She seamlessly demonstrates sophisticated movements like walking, performing Namaste, and engaging in sporting actions, allowing her to connect and communicate with audiences on an entirely new level.

According to India Today, Sana's voice quality is nothing short of extraordinary, resembling that of a real human.

“It dynamically adjusts its tone and emotion, perfectly matching the content being presented, be it happy, neutral, or assertive. This exceptional feature establishes an even deeper and more profound bond with her viewers,” said India Today.

In a world where AI workflows are still predominantly human-driven, India Today appears to have achieved a remarkable feat with Sana.

They have successfully orchestrated an intelligent and automated workflow, where mundane and repetitive tasks like Top Headlines, Weather, and Horoscope updates are delivered at an unprecedented scale, entirely free from human intervention.

India Today claims that this groundbreaking approach sets a new standard in the field of AI news broadcasting, pushing the boundaries of what's possible and heralding a new era in the industry.

“She also has joined our fact-check team and busts one fake news every day for India Today television. Sana also anchors alongside Sudhir Chaudhary during his prime-time evening show – Black & White. She also has the unique distinction of being the first-ever AI anchor to interact with the head of the state. In a historic moment for Indian television, the AI Anchor Sana debuted while interacting with PM Narendra Modi at the India Today Conclave 2023,” an India Today spokesperson said.

The best aspect of Sana’s launch is not what she is doing as an anchor but how well she has been ‘adopted’ by our community, the spokesperson added.

S Ravikumar

On the other hand, S Ravikumar, MD and CEO, News 1st Kannada, said that their AI anchor 'Maya' is not a free tech download and morphing rather it is a robotic reconstruction.

“Moreover, she is just not a mouth and lip-syncing anchor. The biggest difference is the usage, other AI anchors are 'reading' the news but AI Maya is 'talking' to her viewers,” he added.

"We are adapting the technology to be more interactive than what it has been used for by other media houses across the globe. AI Maya answers and gets over 2,000 questions every day. We see AI Maya achieving Alexa and Siri stages very soon. The tech development of Maya is in very talented hands, let the evolution be a surprise," Ravikumar stated.

Aditya Tandon

Speaking about News18 Punjab/Haryana’s ‘AI Kaur’, Aditya Tandon, Vice President (Head) - Brand Marketing, News18,  said that News18 Punjab Haryana introduced her at its event in Chandigarh on the 17th of June.

"I am sure everyone is looking at using technology and tools for optimal development, integration and deployment of AI including the use of AI anchors. In our case what I can share is that NLP and deep learning capabilities are used to process the original source input to synthesise speech and expressions. The process, for us, brings together multiple technical, content and design inputs and capabilities to create and curate a realistic, lifelike experience,” he added.

The influence of AI anchors on viewership

Ravikumar of News 1st Kannada said that considering the channel is a relatively young channel in Karnataka news space, our presentations, our energy, our on-screen look, and usage of colour has been considerably new-generation.

“Even while setting up the channel, we have been careful and have invested in the cutting edge technology for our newsroom. Now, being a young, restless and technology-driven channel, we feel it’s our responsibility to adapt to modern tech available and explore the integration of AI  into our systems and programming," he added.

Speaking about the viewership changes since the introduction of AI news anchors, Ravikumar said that it would be premature to say how it reflects on the numbers of the channel but the channel is confident that the future of news presentation is going to be around it.

"Based on the warm embrace of AI Maya, feedback and responses on #ASKMaya, we know that we have stepped in the right direction. The channel is confident about setting the tone for Karnataka's news market and soon it will reflect in their numbers of viewership, advertising, etc,” he added.

Tandon of News18 too believes that these are still early days of experimentation though clearly there is a lot of work happening in space and at a really rapid pace. There is generally a huge amount of excitement amongst everyone internally and externally.

“AI can have a huge impact across entire organisations and different functional workflows. In the context of viewers, clearly, this is something that brings something new and exciting to the screen and hence we are seeing this generate a huge amount of curiosity, buzz and engagement,” he added.

Furthermore, he said that news brands are experimenting with AI to truly understand the full potential of the technology and how it can be best leveraged to drive value.

“As a new technology, AI clearly is the current buzzword amongst all stakeholders. This clearly generates a strong affinity for every single stakeholder cohort encouraging consumption and association,” Tandon added.

How can the marketing landscape evolve with the integration of AI anchors?

According to Tandon, the use of AI in marketing will be very wide-ranging – an AI anchor is one peg that can be used to drive excitement for a brand, build a narrative around and overall create positive imagery for the brand. However, AI can impact marketing in so many more ways, from challenging creative boundaries to driving ROIs, from a better understanding of consumers to greater process efficiencies.

“Marketers are today testing the boundaries of what can and cannot be done, and more importantly, what should or should not be done with AI. There is a huge amount of learning that is happening all around at present – AI systems are also evolving as they process more and more data and insights. They will continue to evolve and improve and deliver better output over time,” Tandon said.

“Some very valid concerns have been raised with regards to the use of AI including very importantly the authenticity and correctness of output but I am sure a robust system of checks and balances will emerge sooner than later to address these concerns.  Ultimately marketing is also a lot about understanding the finer nuances – social, cultural as well as emotions, of being able to place the output derived from an AI platform in one’s own unique market, consumer and brand context. A deep understanding of this is what ultimately results in great marketing work and this will continue to require a marketer’s intervention,” he added.

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