Z2C-backed Begin may have won the earned media audit by a landslide, but it’s a whole other world for paid media. This paid media audit report focuses on efforts being directed on the Meta apps of Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. The report will cover the paid media investment volume and frequency of Tamasha, Tapmad, Daraz, MyCo, and Begin as it pertains to PSL X.
Deals were announced on the 3rd of April 2025 and the match 1 of PSL X was at 8:30pm on the 11th of April. How did Pakistan’s OTT landscape invest that lead up time? And what was the call to action? And which agency giants are engaged in a proxy war to see who is the king in app download campaigns?
7th April 2025
Tamasha ran 1 ad
8th April 2025
Tamasha ran 3 ads
9th April 2025
Tapmad ran 21 ads
Tamasha ran 1 ad
10th April 2025
Tapmad ran 24 ads
MyCo ran 5 ads
Tamasha ran 2 ads
Daraz ran 1 ad
11th April 2025
Tamasha ran 11 ads
Tapmad ran 10 ads
Begin ran 3 ads
Jazz ran 2 ads
MyCo ran 2 ads
Daraz ran 1 ad
Rank of # of ads run by OTTs from 7th to 11th April 2025
Tapmad – 55 at 64.7% share
Tamasha – 18 at 21.7% share
MyCo – 07 at 8.2% share
Begin – 03 at 3.5% share
Daraz – 02 at 2.3% share
The winner of the paid media audit is crystal clear.
Creative choices on ads to nudge downloads
Tapmad decided to double down on its SVOD model by focusing on the absence of ads, while taking a dig at Walee Sports regarding Urdu and English. They also decided to offer a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to a lucky subscriber.
Tamasha’s messaging was fixated on the free element of the stream, with Naseem Shah as the face, and offering a platform exclusive show called The DugOut featuring Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanveer, and Sana Mir. Jazz itself focused on non-stop streaming in one ad while offered 50k worth of phone insurance in another. It is clear that the ads for Jazz are focused on the upsell and to reinforce the message of connectivity prowess.
MyCo kept reminding it’s MENA audience it was the exclusive destination airing PSL X. It reminded it’s remaining audiences that the more they watched, the more they could earn from AED 1m worth of rewards. Daraz also chose the commodification messaging by fixating on free and live. Begin went with the copy of “Every ball. Every wicket. No stress” while one ads said new download users will have a chance to win daily, weekly, and monthly rewards in a range of consumer electronics.
We’ll review these paid media audit findings with the Ad Mad Dude to determine which nudge is most creative.
Which agencies are managing these OTTs and their ads?
Jazz and Tamasha are managed by Blitz Advertising, a subsidiary of Brainchild
MyCo and Daraz are managed by GroupM Pakistan, the largest media agency in Pakistan
Tapmad is managed by Interflow Communications, the powerhouse created by Taher Khan
Begin is managed by it’s own in-house team at Z2C, the largest tech accelerator in Pakistan
For us, the proxy war between Brainchild and GroupM is the highlight of this paid media audit.
Which OTTs had the most effective ads?
Marketers of these OTTs, can share their effectiveness stats with us every Monday morning at danish@madzine.pk to be a part of the weekly effectiveness ranking index, with the first coming on 18th April 2025.
