Babar Khan Javed

investigative reporter at Profit

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Babar Khan Javed is an investigative reporter at Profit, and his beat is advertising and the media industry. He co-founded an agency with a former university senior before pivoting into journalism. He also runs a Substack for a small niche group of subscribers at babar.substack.com.

Early life and background

Javed says he spent most of his time in Saudi Arabia. He also says his family spent time mainly in the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. [1]

Education

Javed completed high school at a school in Dhahran. He moved to Pakistan in 2005. He studied for a bachelor's degree in marketing. [1]

Career

Javed says he did not get a marketing internship because he had no connections. After about two years at a BTL agency, he co-founded an agency with a former university senior. He says their employers would not experiment with digital, so they founded their own agency. He and his co-founder ran the agency for about three years, and later sold their stakes in it. [1]

After selling his stake, Javed took two brand roles and then an agency role. He says many of his agency roles were focused on generating revenue. He also says he got on the positive radar of many journalists in the country and the region, and from there pivoted into journalism. [1]

Journalism

Javed wrote mainly tech journalism for Express Tribune and a few other Pakistani publications. He says he learned journalism through years of trial and error. He says he could not get a job at those publications because they wanted a mass communications or journalism degree. His first journalism job was with Campaign Asia in Singapore, where he worked as a tech reporter. [1]

Profit

Javed has been with Profit for about a year by his own account. He says Profit is very profitable. He says its advertising revenue is small and mostly comes from banks, and that it does not target banks that do not advertise with it. He says most of its audience sits on the boards of directors of various large companies. [1]

Substack

Javed runs a Substack for a small niche group of subscribers at babar.substack.com. He charges subscribers a high price for information the industry needs. He says he prices different information differently as a way to diversify his personal income. [1]

Reporting

Javed recently wrote an Amazon story. He says that Pakistan's exports over the four years from 2016 to 2019, combined, are still not more than the revenue Amazon is going to make in one quarter. He says his article includes a screenshot of Amazon's calculator. [1]

Patriotic 100

Javed called his ranking of the top 100 agencies by taxes paid the Patriotic 100. The ranking was also based on each agency's percentage share of taxes paid in the market and on nominal value. He obtained data from the FBR on taxes paid from 2013 to 2018. [1]

Views

Javed says he sometimes writes critically about media agencies themselves, and that he holds people in the industry accountable. He says that until the authorities start paying attention to the advertising and media industry, someone has to, and that this is what he is doing. He says the red team's job is to be completely skeptical. He also says the why is more important than how something is happening. [1]

Javed says a lot of the so-called brands in Pakistan operate on price. He says the root cause he arrived at was that TikTok has no representation in Pakistan. [1]

Javed advises journalists to go after niche audiences rather than the masses. He advises reporters to map Pakistan's industries, and says they will eventually find an industry that no one is covering. He says standing out means going against the status quo. [1]

Timeline

2005
Moved to Pakistan.[1]
2013 to 2018
Period covered by the FBR tax data he obtained.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2021-06-02 How Pakistan's advertising industry actually works Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Babar Khan Javed?

Babar Khan Javed is an investigative reporter at Profit, and his beat is advertising and the media industry. He co-founded an agency before pivoting into journalism. He also runs a Substack for a small niche group of subscribers.[1]

What does Babar Khan Javed do?

Babar Khan Javed is an investigative reporter at Profit, and his beat is advertising and the media industry. He also runs a Substack at babar.substack.com for a small niche group of subscribers. He charges subscribers a high price for information the industry needs.[1]

Where did Babar Khan Javed study?

Babar Khan Javed completed high school at a school in Dhahran. He moved to Pakistan in 2005. He studied for a bachelor's degree in marketing.[1]

Where is Babar Khan Javed from?

Babar Khan Javed says he spent most of his time in Saudi Arabia. He says his family spent time mainly in the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He moved to Pakistan in 2005.[1]

What company did Babar Khan Javed found?

After about two years at a BTL agency, Babar Khan Javed co-founded an agency with a former university senior. He and his co-founder ran the agency for about three years. They later sold their stakes in it.[1]

What is Babar Khan Javed known for?

Babar Khan Javed is known as an investigative reporter at Profit covering advertising and the media industry. He called his ranking of the top 100 agencies by taxes paid the Patriotic 100. He also recently wrote an Amazon story.[1]

What is the Patriotic 100?

The Patriotic 100 is the name Babar Khan Javed gave to his ranking of the top 100 agencies by taxes paid. The ranking was also based on each agency's percentage share of taxes paid in the market and on nominal value. He obtained data from the FBR on taxes paid from 2013 to 2018.[1]

References

  1. How Pakistan's advertising industry actually works . Thought Behind Things , 2021-06-02.
Show the source passages (44 statements)
  1. He is an investigative reporter at Profit, and his beat is advertising and the media industry. Investigative reporter at Profit, but my beat is the advertising and media industry.
  2. He says he spent most of his time in Saudi Arabia. I spent most of my time in Saudi Arabia.
  3. He says his family spent time mainly in the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. my family uh we we primarily spent our time in the Middle East uh between uh the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
  4. He completed high school at a school in Dhahran. high school I completed from a school in Dhahran called Manarat Al Sharqia.
  5. He moved to Pakistan in 2005. came here in uh in Pakistan 2005 mein to do an undergraduate in marketing from ZABIST.
  6. He studied for a bachelor's degree in marketing. pursued a bachelor's from ZABIST in marketing.
  7. He did not get a marketing internship because he had no connections. mere paas koi source nahi thi to unfortunately koi marketing internship kabhi nahi mili.
  8. After about two years at a BTL agency, he co-founded an agency with a former university senior. after working at a BTL agency for like a couple of years, I co-founded an agency with a with a senior of mine from university
  9. He and his co-founder ran the agency for about three years. we created our own agency. Uh we ran that for about three years.
  10. He says their employers would not experiment with digital, so they founded their own agency. he would go to his boss and they'd be like digital kuch nahi hai, 10 saal tak kuch nahi hoga. Massive agency. Then my side the same thing. So we created our own agency.
  11. He and his co-founder later sold their stakes in the agency. Uh and then we sold our respective stakes.
  12. After selling his stake, he took two brand roles and then an agency role. I went into two brand roles. Uh and then an agency role
  13. He says he got on the positive radar of many journalists in the country and the region, and from there pivoted into journalism. I got on the positive radar of a lot of journalists in the country and in the region as well. And from there I was able to pivot into journalism.
  14. He says many of his agency roles were focused on generating revenue. a lot of the roles I've had in agencies have been around generating revenue.
  15. He wrote mainly tech journalism for Express Tribune and a few other Pakistani publications. I wrote for Express Tribune and a couple of other publications in Pakistan, primarily tech journalism.
  16. He says he learned journalism through years of trial and error. Lots of trial and error of writing really pathetic articles for many many years
  17. He says he could not get a job at those publications because they wanted a mass communications or journalism degree. I wasn't able to ever get a role in those companies because unke dimagh mein yeh cheez set baithi hui thi ke unless he has a bachelor's in mass communications ya journalism, we will not take him seriously.
  18. His first journalism job was with Campaign Asia in Singapore. the first journalism job I got was with a publication called Campaign Asia in Singapore.
  19. He worked as a tech reporter at Campaign Asia. I was I was their tech reporter.
  20. He had been with Profit for about a year at the time of recording. And I've been with them for a year.
  21. He says Profit is very profitable. Nahi, alhamdulillah, it's very profitable.
  22. He says Profit's advertising revenue is small and mostly comes from banks. Thodi advertising revenue hai from a B2B perspective, it's like banks primarily.
  23. He says Profit does not target banks that do not advertise with it. you will not see us go after a bank that uh that doesn't advertise.
  24. He says most of Profit's audience sits on the boards of directors of various large companies. majority of their our audience is on the board of directors of various large companies that you've heard of.
  25. He runs a Substack for a small niche group of subscribers at babar.substack.com. a very small niche group of subscribers that I have on the side on a on a site I I have called babar.substack.com.
  26. He charges subscribers a high price for information the industry needs. Us pe I charge a psychotic amount of money for specific information that the industry badly needs.
  27. He says he prices different information differently as a way to diversify his personal income. I've I've diversified my own revenue pool as me as me as a person, right? And what I do is I price different information differently.
  28. He says he sometimes writes critically about media agencies themselves. Lekin what I do is I sometimes upset or write about media agencies themselves.
  29. He says he holds people in the industry accountable. I hold these people accountable.
  30. He says that until the authorities start paying attention to the advertising and media industry, someone has to, and that this is what he is doing. until Competition Commission of Pakistan and SECP and FIA and all these people start paying attention to the advertising and media industry, someone has to, and so that's what I'm doing.
  31. He says the red team's job is to be completely skeptical. Red team ka kaam hai bilkul skeptical hona.
  32. He says the why is more important than how something is happening. The why is more important than how it's happening and all.
  33. He says a lot of the so-called brands in Pakistan operate on price. a lot of the brands, quote unquote brands in Pakistan, they operate on price.
  34. He says the root cause he arrived at was that TikTok has no representation in Pakistan. absolute root cause pe jo reason aaya is that very simply, TikTok me koi representation Pakistan mein nahi hai.
  35. He advises journalists to go after niche audiences rather than the masses. Masses pe mat jayein, go after niche audiences
  36. He advises reporters to map Pakistan's industries. Figure out what the industries are in Pakistan, make a gigantic map from A to Z
  37. He says reporters will eventually find an industry that no one is covering. You will eventually find an industry that no one is covering.
  38. He says standing out means going against the status quo. You have to go against the status quo.
  39. He recently wrote an Amazon story. even with this Amazon story that I did recently
  40. He says that Pakistan's exports over the four years from 2016 to 2019, combined, are still not more than the revenue Amazon is going to make in one quarter. in the four years of since 2016 to 2019 jo exports Pakistan ne kamaye the, usko combine kar le that's still not more than the uh the revenue that Amazon is going to make in this quarter
  41. He says his article includes a screenshot of Amazon's calculator. Usme as a hypothetical maine Amazon ka calculator jo khula tha uska screenshot bhi isme hai.
  42. He obtained data from the FBR on taxes paid from 2013 to 2018. I got data from FBR for for taxes paid from 2013 to 2018
  43. He called his ranking of the top 100 agencies by taxes paid the Patriotic 100. I called it the Patriotic 100. Top 100 agencies in Pakistan ranked by taxes paid.
  44. The ranking was also based on each agency's percentage share of taxes paid in the market and on nominal value. To ranking based off what percentage you are in the market share of taxes paid and ranking based off the nominal value as well.