MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • Having figured what's in the best interests of the company, it's best to get out of non-core businesses

    1 Minute View: Shed excess baggage and prosper!

    The moral of the story from the Television 18 and Network 18 first quarter results just out is simple: get out of non-core activities, clean up your act, get business to improve and prosper.

     

    If there’s an Indian media company that grew and spread too fast through the 2000s, it’s been Network18. When the investments were being made, we all thought they were super and the way to go for a company that desires to be a mega-empire. So in a sense, it’s not just the Network18 management that got it wrong, even if we there at that position, we would’ve possibly chosen that route.

     

    But having figured what’s in the best interests of the company, it’s best to shed the excess baggage. Make some money from it possible, and get your account books looking good. And, if in this time ad volumes shore up and revenues from subscription leapfrog, the books sparkle even more.

     

    This is what NDTV did some years back when they sold the NDTV Imagine slew of channels and also shed some staff.

     

    In all of this, care needs to be taken on how the excess baggage is shed, especially when it concerns employees who could be adversely impacted for no fault of theirs.

     

    Meanwhile, for the folks at Television 18 and Network 18, it’s time to bring out the bubbly.

     

  • The head of marketing for the Delhi edition of Navbharat Times, Sandhya Times and Eco Times (Hindi) is set to turn entrepreneur

    Satyam Joshi has put in his papers as Dy Chief Manager – Brand at BCCL

    By A Correspondent

     

    Satyam Joshi, who has worked with The Times  of India group for nine years, has put in his papers. As Deputy Chief Manager – Brand, he was actively involved in the language business and was heading marketing for the Delhi edition of Navbharat Times, Sandhya Times and Economic Times (Hindi) since the last 6 years. He is set to take the entrepreneurial route.

     

    Prior to joining Navbharat Times, Mr Joshi helped set up the ‘Non – traditional revenue stream’ for Radio Mirchi, popularly known as Mirchi Activation.

     

    In his 13 years in sales and marketing, he has been associated with different industries as well, specifically ICICI Bank and Bombay Dyeing where he was responsible for building the channel and improving the distribution.

     

  • With this strategic move, Gozoop to take over Red Digital's operations, strengthen client portfolio and geographic reach

    Gozoop acquires Red Digital, doubles India revenue

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital agency Gozoop, which recently expanded its global presence by setting up operations in Singapore, has today announced the acquisition of social media agency Red Digital. With this acquisition, clients and employees of Red Digital will be consolidated under the Gozoop brand.

     

    The acquisition is in line with Gozoop’s strategy of increasing the revenue contribution from its Indian operations. Over the past few years, Red Digital has worked for several brands like Mumbai Indians, Dell, PepsiCo, BMW, Parker Pens, Adidas, PVR, Godrej, Berger Paints, Reliance Foundation, Educomp, Citibank, ICC and Discovery Channel.

     

    Commenting on the acquisition, Ahmed Naqvi, Managing Director (India) and Co-Founder of Gozoop said, “Red Digital’s world-class brands and  top talent, together with Gozoop’s end-end digital service offerings and social products like Zozolo, will help move our collective clients and the industry forward. We expect further consolidation in our industry and look forward to acquiring digital agencies to fuel our growth in India as well as to enter international markets like USA, Australia & Qatar.”

     

    Said Rohan Bhansali, CEO and Co-Founder of Gozoop, “This move is in line with our vision to be amongst the Top 2 digital agencies across all our markets.”

     

    Meanwhile, Bhavit Sheth, Co-Founder of Red Digital will be actively involved during the transition period, to ensure a smooth process.

     

    Commenting on the business acquisition, Bhavit Sheth said, “Our clients will now reap the benefits of getting serviced by a much larger agency with more specializations and our employees will now have the chance to further grow their career trajectory and explore many more fields in the digital domain.”

     

    Harsh Jain, Co-Founder of Red Digital said, “Gozoop’s acquisition of Red Digital is a win-win for all parties involved. Red Digital’s clientele will now enjoy international standard best practices in operations, client servicing and processes, while continuing to work with the team they love.”

     

    Following the deal, Gozoop will increase its presence to Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata in addition to its current presence in Mumbai, Dubai and Singapore.

     

  • First IAA knowledge seminar on an industry-specific subject on August 2 in Mumbai

    IAA seminar on how builders can exploit digital media

    By A Correspondent

     

    The India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA) has organized an industry-specific knowledge seminar for the realty sector on digital media. Digital has emerged as India’s third-largest medium and very few real estate developers have exploited its full potential. This seminar will enable an understanding and appreciation of this important medium which real estate developers can apply, and thereby benefit from, in this fast-changing communication era, notes a communiqué.

     

    Said Srinivasan Swamy, President IAA India Chapter & Vice-President, Development Asia/Pacific: “Through this seminar, the Indian Real Estate industry gets a new perspective on digital as a medium, grasp global trends, and hopefully apply these for better marketing solutions. When the economy is difficult and many real estate projects are not finding ready buyers, a cost effective medium like digital can help the realty sector. I hope many will participate and benefit from it”.

     

    Titled ‘Real Estate in a Digitized World’, the seminar will be held on August 2 from 2 to 7:30 pm, 2013 at The Trident, BKC and will have prominent speakers representing leading international companies in digital and social media including Group M, Google, Addikt, Wolff Olins and Panel speakers from Microsoft, Madhouse, Netcore and Magicbricks. Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director, Hiranandani Constructions and former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh will be guests of honour.

     

    For information: Jaideep Gandhi, Treasurer, IAA-IC and Chairman of this Knowledge Seminar (Tel 9820284578 or gandhi.jaideep@gmail.com).

     

    For details: http://www.iaaindiachapter.org/vjk/

     

  • The TRAI consultation paper on FDI in broadcast recommends the increase of FDI in news channels and FM radio from 26 to 49%

    1 Minute View: Why 49% FDI? Why not 100%???

    It’s an election year and one can’t be sure whether the government will be open to see reason, but there’s got to be some bizarre logic for the powers that be to okay 100 percent foreign direct investment in telecom and not in news broadcasting and FM radio.

     

    As bizarre as allowing 100 percent in non-news television, but not on FM radio. And as bizarre as allowing news channels to proliferate and permit cable TV to exist in all parts of the country, but not letting independent news air on FM radio.

     

    There are of course arguments on how the likes of Rupert Murdoch have lowered the standards of news in the UK. But what about some of our news channels and publications?

     

    There is also a sentiment that foreign-owned means anti-India and anti-employees, but that’s a fallacy. We’ve seen very recently how even Indian media-owners do not follow basic courtesies while shutting down unprofitable editions.

     

    So, why this charade of not allowing 100% FDI in both news TV and FM? And not just news TV but even print newspapers and magazines?

     

    Guess there are enough lobbies at work which prevent the government from allowing FDI in news, and in an election year, the MIB and the ruling alliance wouldn’t want to upset the traditional media owners.  Sigh.

     

  • Zee Entertainment pays Rs 40 crore plus for satellite rights of Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chennai Express for its upcoming channel '& Pictures'

    Zee pays Rs 40+ cr for Chennai Express for its upcoming channel ‘& Pictures’

    By Nandini Raghavendra

     

    Zee Entertainment has secured the satellite rights of soon-to-be-released Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chennai Express for a new movie channel it is launching next month under the bouquet ‘&’. The movie, which also stars Deepika Padukone, will be aired on ‘& Pictures’, the first channel to be launched in the new bouquet.

     

    “The price is Rs 40 crore plus for seven years, with a link to box-office performance of the film but it is a win-win situation for both the channel and the producer,” said Jayantilal Gada, who does all the buying of film rights for the Zee group.

     

    While the Zee network already runs four Hindi film channels – Zee Cinema, Zee Premier, Zee Action and Zee Classic – and holds the rights to over 4,000 Hindi films, ‘& Pictures’ will primarily run on a premiere model with big new release titles, according to people close to the development.

     

    ‘&Pictures’ launch will be a precursor to the Rs 4,000-crore media conglomerate’s plans to add multi-genres to the network through different bouquets. For now, the Subhash Chandra-owned Zee has a huge bouquet with channels across genres as well as regional plus a sports bouquet under the Ten brand name.

     

    Zee’s new strategy follows Star Network, which launched its second general entertainment channel (GEC) ‘Life OK’ around two years ago, followed by ‘Movies OK’. It is said to be looking to extend the brand to other genres. Viacom, which runs the GEC Colors, is also looking to launch a second GEC, which it currently runs in the UK under the name ‘Rishtey’.

     

    The satellite rights of Chennai Express had seen a lot of buzz with industry sources saying deals had fallen through with other networks on price issues.

     

    The deal links the film’s satellite price to the box office collections. If Chennai Express crosses the cut-off amount, which is said to be around Rs 130 crore, then for every Rs 10 crore net collection after that, the producers get an additional Rs 2 crore. The producers of the film – Shah Rukh Khan and Siddharth Roy Kapur of UTV Motion Pictures – declined to comment.

     

    Satellite rights form a crucial component of a film’s revenue, contributing 30-35% of its total recovery. For broadcasters, movies generate critical gross rating points (GRPs). With almost all broadcasters vying to acquire rights of the top stars, price wars are not unheard of in the industry, with rights of films still on the production floors being signed up. Almost all films starring top stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan have fetched satellite rights between Rs 40 and 45 crore.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2013, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The Starcom MediaVest Group digital marketing consulting arm is certified to be a Google Analytics Certified Partner (GACP)

    SMG Convonix is now a Google Analytics Certified Partner

    By A Correspondent

     

    SMG Convonix has been certified by Google to become a Google Analytics Certified Partner (GACP) becoming one of the few companies in India to receive this accreditation. Consequently, SMG Convonix will be granted certain exclusive privileges by Google which include access to a trusted and verifiable Certified badge, insight into the product roadmap and beta features and contact with the Analytics Product Management and Marketing team.

     

    SMG Convonix was founded in 2003 and has since evolved from being the first pure-play SEO Company in the country to offering the full range of digital marketing and advertising solutions for clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small and medium enterprises in India, the US and Europe. The strategic alignment with Starcom MediaVest Group as their Digital Marketing consulting arm took place earlier this year.

     

    “SMG Convonix has been working on complex projects using Google Analytics for quite some time,” said Sarfaraz Khimani, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at SMG Convonix, “We are excited to be selected as part of the programme. We’ve been working on web analytics projects with varying degrees of complexity since the conception of our company, but with Google Analytics and its continuously evolving measurement and reporting capabilities, we have been able to take analytics consulting to a different level.”

     

  • The first ever online campaign with CRY teaches kids into the art of giving

    Worldoo gets kids into giving with CRY

    By A Correspondent

     

    From L to R Harsh wardhan Dave, Tanaaz Ghatalia, Puja Marwaha, Rahool Talukdar

    Kiddie online ecosystem worldoo.com has in association with leading NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) launched a unique initiative today called worldoo Tara. This will be the first online campaign where kids can donate to fellow kids in need.

     

    This is Worldoo.com’s first social initiative where citizens (users of the site) can ‘gift’ stars (Worldoo currency) from the earnings they make by browsing Worldoo.com, to less privileged children. Based on the number of stars accumulated on ‘Gift a Tara’, as it’s called on the platform, Worldoo will donate Rs 1 Lakh for the empowerment of these children. In the first phase of the initiative, Wordoo hopes to hit a mark of 5 lakhs stars for the initiatives ‘Gifting Asmina an education’ and ‘Gifting Karsan clean drinking water’.

     

    Commenting on the campaign, Taanaz Ghatalia, Director, Focus Kids said, “Most kids in today’s age are so used to getting that the idea of giving is rarely inculcated in them. We are really excited and believe in the nobility of the idea where a kid is helping another kid in need by his own means. We thank CRY for giving this its desired shape.”

     

    Said Harsh Wardhan Dave, Head, Experience and Brand: “This is just the beginning as we intend to take this to a whole new level by going to schools across India. We also want many more organisations who believe in the thought to partner us in the future.”

     

    Commenting on the initiative, Puja Marwaha, CEO, CRY – Child Rights and You said: “We believe that children are a reservoir of energy, and have the power to influence others. Together with Worldoo, we endeavour to sensitize children on the issues of child rights, by explaining the rights and their importance to them and how they can contribute to ensure a lasting change in the lives of other children.”

     

  • Leading marketing effectiveness award will now have an APAC version

    Effie Asia-Pacific launched with C4As

    As part of Effie’s global expansion, Mary Lee Keane, President of Effie Worldwide, announced the launch of the Effie Asia-Pacific programme, in partnership with the Confederation of Asian Advertising Agencies Association (C4As).

     

    Effie Worldwide’s signature initiative, the Effie Awards, is recognized throughout the industry as the global standard of marketing effectiveness excellence. With the addition  of the regional Asia-Pacific Effie programme, Effie Worldwide’s international network now expands to 40 programmes and four regional programmes.

     

    “Given rate of changes in media, technology, consumer behaviour, and even business models, there’s never been a more demanding or exciting time to be focused on delivering effectiveness in marketing,” said Carl Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Effie Worldwide and Co-Founder of Anomaly.

     

    The Effie APAC programme, organized by the C4As and managed by Tenasia Group, will recognize effective work that has run in the Asia-Pacific region.  The C4As is a non-profit organization dedicated to the marketing communications industry and has experience collaborating with organizations in many different countries throughout the region, including North, South and Southeast Asia.

     

    “The Effie Awards is the world’s most established and recognized award competition for marketing effectiveness and we are certainly delighted to partner Effie Worldwide in organizing the Asia-Pacific program,” said Anthony Kang, Chair of C4As. A pilot APAC Effies was previously awarded in 2008 in partnership with Effie Singapore partner, IAS.

     

    Finalists and winners in all Effie programs in the Asia-Pacific region will be included in the Effie Effectiveness Index (http://www.effieindex.com), which identifies and ranks the marketing communication industry’s most effective agencies, marketers and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from worldwide Effie competitions.

     

    “Asia-Pacific is a key subject on every global marketer’s mind, along with the ever-important subject of effectiveness,” said Daryl Lee, Global Chief Executive Officer, UM and member of the Board of Directors, Effie Worldwide. “Effie is now more than ever, the global authority on marketing effectiveness.”

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy is the Immediate Past Chairman of the C4As and representing the AAAI, Nagesh Alai is Treasurer of the association.

     

  • It is the same reality show across news channels, with nearly similar participants on all of them. What changes is the anchor or the NJ (news jockey), writes Ritu Midha

    Ritu Midha: News channels must build differentiators

    By Ritu Midha

     

    The event of the week for us in the advertising and media fraternity was the Publicis and Omnicom merger. In the ad world, it doesn’t get bigger than this.

     

    However, when one looks at a broader picture, the merger in its broadest terms would make difference to less than 1% of India’s populace. 0.1% or 0.01% perhaps

     

    There are, nonetheless a few pressing matters that are top-of-mind for the ad and media professionals (professionally) and the people they want to engage and connect with!

     

    While in an average year it would be a festive season that’s occupies centrestage in the media calendar, this year it is jostling for space with the general elections, most probably scheduled for the second quarter of 2014.

     

    While the marketing and sales teams of news channels and news publications might be going in circles to get as big a share of advertising pie as possibly this festive season, sponsored sections and supplements being one nice way to achieve the numbers.

     

    News watchers among us are willy-nilly set for the election drama for the next 10 months, and if it is a hung Parliament with loads to buy and sell, even longer. It is the same reality show – with nearly the same participants on all news channels. What changes is the anchor or presenter or should we call him or her the NJ (news jockey)

     

    Instead of putting the content and intent of news channels under scanner, my concern is more on the differentiators – why would people hang on one channel, and not move to the other. With measurement issues more or less resolved, and all the stakeholders on the same page, ratings would once again call the shots. Would the NJ be the only differentiator? Alas there can be no judges here, save the viewing masses of course.

     

    Differentiation is a must, come what may. And the faster it happens, the better it would be for the news channels, and of course, audiences. Let’s face it, Elections 2014 are emerging as the mother-of-all elections – and credit for the same, to whatever extent, goes to new channels as wells, the number of which has grown exponentially in the last five years.

     

    Another observation is news channels look similar on the social media too. Whey they need to make the most of interactivity, they seriously need to look beyond their followers’ tweets and comments scrolling on their channels.

     

    To their credit, newspapers manage to create differentiators – even if the key headlines are often the same or similar. Interestingly, their social media presence too is, in most cases, better than news channels.

     

    News channels have to realise that the game needs to move beyond ‘The louder I shout, the better I am’.  And remember that they would have just twelve minutes of ad time per hour – if audiences keep surfing from one news channel to another, ad breaks would be the first calamity.

     

    By the way do you think there can be in-programme product placement opportunities on news channels this Election Season?

     

    Ritu Midha is a senior journalist and web strategist based in Mumbai. She is also Consulting Editor and Editor – Special Projects, MxMIndia.

     

  • The key to the success of &pictures is how many new movies the channel acquires. And how its interests work with that of the flagship GEC.

    1 Minute View: Ek aur naya movie channel!

    Our appetite for Bollywood content is so huge that there has been some cheer for the announcement of Zee Entertainment’s fifth film channel. ZEEL runs the flagship Zee Cinema along with Zee Premier, Zee Action and Zee Classic.

     

    But &pictures, as the channel is to be called, may well be able to meet the kind of promise which one had thought at least one other Hindi film channel had launched with some years back: Premieres and high blitz events.  A mail from the channel’s spokesperson tells us that &pictures is “keeping up with its target of being a noteworthy and a clutter breaker in this space and as a testimonial to that the channel has gone ahead and obtained the most awaited blockbuster of the year”.

     

    The key to the success of &pictures is how many new movies the channel acquires. And how its interests work with that of the flagship GEC – Zee TV. So, for instance, where will the first ‘World TV Premiere’ of any film happen – the GEC or the film channel?

     

    In the recent past we’ve seen some aggressive marketing employed by movie channels for their big film premieres. Zee Cinema for Barfi! And Max for Aashiqui 2.

     

    Guess, we can expect similar and more action from &Pictures.

     

  • The channel will exclusively air more than 500 hours of wrestling content across key Asian markets

    Sony Six acquires rights to TNA Wrestling

    If wrestling is what excites consumers after cricket and tennis and soccer and F1 and whatever else, here’s news: Sony Six has acquired exclusive broadcasting rights to Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling for the Indian sub-continent.

     

    The channel will hence air TNA Wrestling programming every week including Impact Wrtestling, Xplosion, Greatest Matches and Unfinished Business, along with four episodic Pay Per View programmes and eight One Night Only specials throughout the year.

     

    To those not in the know: TNA is home of ‘The Immortal’ Hulk Hogan, ‘The Icon’ Sting, ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ Jeff Hardy, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Bully Ray, Magnus, AJ Styles, Gail Kim, TNA Knockouts Champion Mickie James and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Sabin. Phew!

     

    Man Jit Singh
    NP Singh

    On acquiring the rights, both Man Jit Singh CEO, MSM and N P Singh, COO, MSM were ecstatic. And TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter was quoted in  a press release saying: “The Indian sub-continent is home to some of the most passionate and dedicated wrestling fans on the planet – and they now have more than 500 hours of the very best in professional wrestling to enjoy. We can’t wait to debut!”