MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • ESPN Software, Star India win BCCI title sponsorship rights at Rs 2 crore an international match

    Cricket sponsorship touches new low as Star, ESPN get title rights at throwaway price

    By A Correspondent

     

    Star India and ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd (ESIPL) have won the BCCI title sponsorship rights for all the BCCI international and domestic matches for the period October 2013 to April 30, 2014.

     

    There are 13 international fixtures in all by way of the two international series scheduled during the season – the seven-match ODI series and a T20 game between India and Australia, followed by two Tests and three ODIs against the West Indies. The sponsorship rights will extend to BCCI’s domestic events such as Irani Cup, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare, Deodhar Trophy and the Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy.

     

    Vijay Rajput

    Speaking on the occasion, Vijay Rajput, Chief Operating Officer, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, “We are delighted with the outcome. BCCI’s title sponsorship offers immense value especially with the prospect of India taking on strong teams like Australia and West Indies at home during the festive season. It offers a unique opportunity of extending the brand proposition of our network to sports fans across the country in a radically new manner.”

     

    Star India COO, Sanjay Gupta said, “We are delighted to extend our relationship with BCCI. This will help Star India strengthen its connect with its loyal viewers as well as help the network reach out to newer audiences.”

     

    Sanjay Gupta

    Earlier, the Marketing Committee of the BCCI met at the Cricket Centre, Mumbai, on Thursday (Oct 3) to receive the bids made for Title Sponsorship of International Series and Domestic Tournaments to be played in India in the 2013-14 season. Bidders had the option of bidding for either the series between India and Australia or the series between India and the West Indies or both.

     

    The Marketing Committee has awarded the Title Sponsorship Rights for all series to be played in India in the 2013-14 season to Star India Pvt. Ltd and ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, at a fee of Rs 2 crore per international match, said a communiqué signed by Sanjay Patel, Honorary Secretary of the Board.

     

    It may be noted that the amount is around 40% lesser than what Airtel paid last for title sponsorship. Mobile device company Micromax is had evinced interest in the bid for the 13 international matches and a slew of domestic tournaments, but is said to have opted out in the final round.

     

    Sports media observers believe that it’s too early to say that this should be considered a correction in the cricket sponsorship rates. A lot depends on how India performs against both Australia and West Indies, a senior marketer told MxMIndia.

     

    Since Star is already airing the matches, is there any point in the title sponsorship? “It’s already paying Rs 38-40 crore for each match’s telecast. Now for an incremental Rs 2 crore, it’s getting it all. If it works for Star, don’t be surprised if this is how rights will be sold in future,” said the senior marketer who chose to be anonymous.

     

  • Secretly, many in rival channels are praying for the success of '24' Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: All Eyes on 24!

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    There can’t be another topic for this column today. In what will be eventually remembered as one of the watershed events in the history of Indian television content, the Indian adaptation of popular series ’24’ goes on air on Colors tonight. The channel has promoted the show aggressively over two months now. When the first look broke, its film-like sleek look caught the attention of many in the media. And the interest continues to grow, as we get closer to the first episode.

     

    The million-dollar question, of course, is: Will ’24’ succeed in India, a market grown and fed on traditional family soaps in the name of fiction content? I won’t hazard a guess, but it is worth defining what “success” could mean in context of ’24’. All well-executed onternational non-fiction formats have taken their time to grow over seasons in India, as audience familiarity increases with each season and hence does their comfort level with the format.

     

    I’d expect ’24’ to be no different. To me, the first season will be a testing ground and an average TVR of 2.5-3 should be good enough for the channel to green-light Season 2, which I’d expect then to be bigger. So, we are not looking at 4-5 TVR. That would be unreasonable on many counts, especially the unfamiliar fiction genre 24 offers to a relatively under-exposed audience base.

     

    What if ’24’ succeeds?

     

    If ’24’ delivers to the industry’s general perception of success, we can expect two key changes. For one, you will see other channels getting bolder and more pro-risk in their fiction choices. After all, not too many channel executives actually relate to the content that they have to dish out, and in that sense, find themselves ‘creatively blocked’ by audience demands. ’24’ will allow them to express themselves better, coming out with ideas that they can truly relate to. Like always, you will see outrageously silly ideas too. But that’s a part of the deal.

     

    The second change will be in the talent itself. In the ’80s and the early ’90s, many prominent writers, directors and actors were a part of mainstream television, till daily soaps took over and only the likes of Alok Nath could sustain their interest. With ’24’, and Sony’s forthcoming show by Anurag Kashyap, we are seeing the return of film talent to television content after two decades. The floodgates may open if ’24’ works.

     

    What if ’24’ fails?

     

    This is an option many of us will dread, purely because it will rob us of new and interesting content in the immediate future. Secretly, many in rival channels are praying for ’24”s success, because of this reason.

     

    If ’24’ fails, it will propagate the myth that Indian audiences are not ready for content innovation. The truth is that the audiences may be ready, but there is a difference between being ready and being diehard consumers. The journey from readiness to fan-following needs time, hand-holding and a couple of seasons. One would like to see Colors back this property for at least one more season, even if it doesn’t work this year.

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is founder and CEO of media insights firm Ormax Media. He spent nine years in the television industry before turning entrepreneur. The views expressed here are his own. He can be reached at his Twitter handle @shaileshkapoor

     

  • Chennai-based media outsourcing firm Fourth Dimension Media opens office in Mumbai

    Fourth Dimension Media says ‘Vannakkam’ to Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Chennai-based leading media outsourcing firm Fourth Dimension Media Solutions has set up office in Mumbai. Said to be the biggest amongst adsales concessionaires in South India, Fourth Dimension represents news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai, Puthiya Thalaimurai Kalvi magazine and FM station Chennai Live 104.8 amongst others.

     

    Although the team is large elsewhere, the Mumbai office in Worli will see it represent its clients interests in the region.

     

  • Uploading of matrimonials was lowest in the month of April with 0.64 million uploads. The month of June saw the maximum profile uploads with 2.16 million.

    Online matrimonials ads leapfrog 124% since Jan ’13: IAMAI-IMRB

    By A Correspondent

     

    Uploading of profiles on matrimonial portals has registered a quantum jump since January 2013, registering a growth of 124%. According to the Internet Economy Watch data by IAMAI & IMRB, in January, the number of matrimonial profile uploads were 0.85 million, while in July, it recorded 1.91 million uploads.

     

     

    Uploading of matrimonials was lowest in the month of April with 0.64 million uploads. The month of June saw the maximum profile uploads with 2.16 million.

     

    Commenting on the upward trend, Gourav Rakshit, COO and Business Head, Shaadi.com said: “The Shaadi.com TV campaign launched during the IPL 2013 Finals in May and ran through until the end of July.  The ‘Love, Arranged by Shaadi.com’ TVC featuring Chetan Bhagat” captured the imagination of parents and individuals alike, resulting in a new segment of prospective match seekers entering the online matrimonials category.

     

  • The B2B media space specialising on television and allied industries dominated by IndianTelevision.com finally has competition

    TelevisionPost launches. Armed with research, will go part-pay soon

    By A Correspondent

     

    The B2B media space specialising on television and allied industries finally has competition. Dominated by IndianTelevision.com (ITV) for over a decade, it now has senior media journalist and former ITV editor Sibabrata Das teaming up with broadcast and distribution professional Himanshu Dhoreliya to launch TelevisionPost.com.

     

    The website launched today (Oct 7) amidst much anticipation built over a few months. Seasoned media journalists have joined the venture, and some advertisers are already on board.

     

    Said Mr Das who is designated co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, in a statement: “These are exciting times for the whole M&E industry and there could not be a better time to launch. There is a clear need gap when it comes to content and understanding of the Indian media industry. We intend to fill that up through comprehensive and holistic reporting on the industry with a special focus on research.”

     

    Himanshu Dhoreliya, who is co-founder and chief executive officer, added: “Our goal from the start is to create a different news offering, which will be global and journalistically serious. We will write and deal with the cutting edge of the industry and offer a host of value additions and specials along with it.”

     

    The site will be updated six days a week in the mornings. On what will see TP stand out from the rest and specifically ITV, Mr Das said: “We will go beyond news. Research will be our unique feature. Our research reports will reflect business intelligence and ground reality. Every month we will offer our readers rich insight into the world of cable, DTH and broadcast. Also, for the first time, readers will be able to compare channel packages offered by DTH and cable companies. The emergence of digital technology has inspired us to have a dedicated section that will give our readers a heads-up of latest developments in the world of technology.”

     

    While Mr Das is tightlipped about who is backing the site financially, there have been rumours of some senior distribution professionals putting in some monies. “As the industry is moving towards digitization and the Pay TV economy is evolving, we feel that there is a huge gap in the market. We aim to build a strong and credible news media brand,” he told MxMIndia, indicating that part of the content will go pay soon. “That is our medium-term plan,” he said adding the focus is initially on establishing the website and events will follow in the last quarter of this fiscal.

     

  • Digital media firm FoxyMoron has been engaged to launch Maybelline New York's Color Show across platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

    FoxyMoron adds colour to Maybelline’s digital campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital media firm FoxyMoron has been engaged to launch Maybelline New York’s Color Show across platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. From edgy metallic to stunning pop shades, consumers can pick from funky colors like Downtown Red, Midnight Taupe, Mint Mojito, Lavender Lies to Pink Voltage to make a fashionable nail statement this season with Color Show.

     

    Fans will get an opportunity to experiment with Nail Art combinations and Maybelline will educate them about how they can get the ‘complete look’ – right from shoes, accessories to match with their preferred shade. The campaign will also include ‘Do It Yourself’ nail art videos for the latest nail art trends. An exciting facet to the ‘Color Show’ is the introduction of an application that will get fans to try all the 40 shades with varied nail art patterns!

     

    Commenting on the new campaign, Mr. Satyaki Ghosh, Director of L’Oréal Consumer Products Division said, ‘Maybelline is an innovative brand that loves its consumers and assures to give them something new and exciting all the time. With the launch of the Color Show range, we hope to once again do something different for our consumers and engage them as much as possible with the brand.’

     

    Harshil Karia, Co-founder & Online Strategist, FoxyMoron said, ‘The Color Show is an innovative and interactive way to introduce the entire new color range of nails paints on offer by Maybelline New York. This is an opportunity for fans to experiment with their nails like never before! Maybelline is a fore runner in the make-up category so it only seemed fitting to create a campaign that allows fans to score high on the fashion meter with their favorite brand.’

     

  • The party gets the old JWT gang (and some new) to rework the 2009 magic and outwit the NaMo blitzkrieg

    It’s Dentsu, Taproot & JWT for Congress

     

    By Pritha Mitra Dasgupta

     

    The Congress party has opted for many of the same people who were behind its advertising campaign for the 2009 elections, picking Dentsu and Taproot to join JWT as the agencies that will handle the Rs 500 crore contract.

     

    The party made its choice last week, said more than five people aware of the decision. They didn’t want to be named. It was reported earlier that JWT had been chosen by the party to run its ad campaign.

     

    While the three agencies have been barred from speaking to the media by the party, the people familiar said Dentsu and its unit Taproot will handle the above-the-line (ATL) communications or those with a mass focus. Dentsu picked up a 51% stake in Taproot last year and both agencies made a joint pitch. JWT will handle the activation or on-ground events for Congress.

     

    The party is expected to spend nearly Rs 400 crore on ATL messaging that includes television, print, radio, outdoor and digital and around Rs 100 crore for the on-ground activities.

     

    The party will be looking to the ad agencies to burnish an image that’s been battered by corruption scandals and criticism over inaction on policy changes for much of its term. Experts said the Congress party will be looking to the food security legislation, the Right to Information Act, the direct transfer of benefits initiative and others as its main campaign planks for the election, besides indirect, subtle attacks on the opposition party over its secular credentials.

     

    “Rahul Gandhi wants to use ’empowering the common man’ as the primary theme of the election campaign and most likely it will drop the ‘aam aadmi’ tagline this time. The party is now exploring which will be the most effective medium to build this campaign,” said one of the people cited above.

     

    An email to Sanjeev Bhargava, managing partner and head of JWT Delhi, wasn’t answered. Agnello Dias, chairman and co- founder of Taproot India, and Rohit Ohri, executive chairman of Dentsu India Group, declined to comment. The Dentsu-Taproot team presented its media plan to Digvijay Singh and Jairam Ramesh last week, according to one of the people cited above.

     

    “Since Rahul Gandhi has been travelling extensively, they could not show the media plan to him. Gandhi is back this week and will go through the media plan following which the agencies will start working on the campaign,” this person said. Work will begin shortly on the nuts and bolts of the advertising campaign.

     

    “The agencies will appoint the production agency, song writers and so on, who will work on the campaign in November,” said the person cited above. “The ad campaigns will break in a phase-wise manner from January 2014.”

     

    The Congress party didn’t give a brief to start with but would provide feedback once it began whittling down the contending agencies, said a senior industry official on the condition of anonymity. “During the pitch process there were no briefs given to the agencies,” this person said. “There were nine rounds of presentations. Following every round, once the agencies were shortlisted, they were re-briefed by the party.”

     

    Both Messrs Gandhi and Singh played key roles in the special committee that oversaw the process, a party official said.

     

    “It was Rahul Gandhi who took the final decision to go ahead with Dentsu India and Taproot,” said this person.

     

    The choice of the agencies means that most of the people who worked on the 2009 campaign will also be working on this one. For instance, Messrs Dias and Ohri used to be with JWT, one of the agencies that handled the advertising campaign for the Congress party last time around. Also handling the Congress account in the 2009 election was Percept/H and Crayon.

     

    At JWT, the campaign was led by Mr Ohri, who was then senior vice president and managing partner of JWT’s Delhi branch along with Jitender Dabas, vice president and strategic planning director. While Dabas is now at McCann Worldgroup, Mr Ohri moved to Dentsu India and took with him the team that worked on the Congress campaign.

     

    This includes Soumitra Karnik, Suprotim Dey, Rajendra Singh and Chirantan Chandran. Mr Dias was with JWT until 2008 as chief creative officer but left soon after the election campaign started appearing.

     

    For the last election, JWT created a three-month campaign for Congress backed by the tagline “Aam aadmi ke badhte kadam”. The campaign took place in three phases with some 250 films and radio spots in 22 languages. Special films were also made to reach out first-time voters with the slogan “Yuva Bharat ke badhte kadam”, leveraging Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and the late Rajiv Gandhi’s contribution to the country’s development.

     

    They have a tough task ahead of them, given the current image of the party and the popularity of the BJP’s Narendra Modi.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

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

    Licensed to republish

     

     

  • Ms Khan, who will look at customized services for TV channels at Esha Media, has worked with TV Today and Hathway Cable and Datacom in the past

    Esha Media appoints Kashmira Khan as head of operations

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading media monitoring firm Esha Media Research Ltd has appointed Kashmira Khan as Head Operations. She will be responsible for coordinating with TV channels to provide them customize services including third party audit, content archives, monitoring and telecast reports among others.

     

    Ms Khan worked with TV Today and Hathway Cable and Datacom in the past. “We are pleased to get Ms Kashmira Khan on board as part of expanding the ambit of our operations and are confident that she will take Esha Media to greater heights going by the bandwidth of her experience in the TV media spectrum,” said RS Iyer, Managing Director of the BSE-listed Esha Media Research Ltd.”

     

    Based out of the Mumbai office, Ms Khan will directly report to Mr RS Iyer.

     

  • Awards were also presented in the marketing and merchandising category at the premier awards in horology in India

    Chitralekha group’s Watch World awards timekeeping excellence

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Chitralekha group’s Watch World magazine hosted the fourth edition of the Watch World Awards at the Westin Hotel in Gurgaon last week.

     

    The marquee event of the horology echelon brought niche’ watch brands and watch-makers together amidst celebrities. Moderated by Chitralekha’s President and Publisher Mitrajit Bhattacharya, now an expert horologist himself, the jury comprised master watchmaker Antoine Simonin; along with Priyadarshini Rao, Ravi Shastri, Neeraj Pandey, Shripad Nadkarni and Sharda Agarwal. The jury awarded leading watches across eleven categories in the Product Awards section and six categories in the Marketing & Merchandising Awards category.

     

    The event saw attendance by well-known timekeeping brands like Cartier, Bulgari, Zenith, Hublot, Graham, Ulysee Nardin, Breitling, Corum, Parmigiani, Seiko, Swarovski, Titan, Antonio Bernini, and Rotary amongothers.

     

    Commenting on the occasion, Mr Bhattacharya said, “We are elated at the success of the fourth edition and this success reiterates the growing popularity and acceptance of the property. By bringing together iconic brands from the world of horology we endeavour to celebrate the institution of technological innovativeness and bespoke workmanship of our master creators”.

     

    Late Rolf W Schnyder, CEO of Ulysse Nardin, was posthumously honoured with a special award for his contribution to the watch industry. His wife and President of the Board of Ulysse Nardin, Chai Schnyder accepted the award on his behalf.

     

    Jury member Antoine Simonin commented “Watch World Awards is steadily becoming one amongst the most respected and followed awards in the field of horology across the world. Being associated with the awards for the fourth time in a row is a great honour for me and I am privileged to be one amongst the esteemed jury panel. I have seen a greater awareness being generated amongst the audience through the awards and looking at the quality of nominations this year, I am quite sure that this will augur well for the horology eco-sphere of the country.”

     

    While the Product category saw stiff competition; the Marketing category saw Seiko and Kolkata Knight Riders bagging the ‘Best Marketing Campaign in Print’ award with Tagged by TITAN picking up the award for ‘Best Marketing Campaign on Television’. While ‘The Best Marketing Campaign in Outdoor’ was won by Ulysee Nardin for its initiative at Hyderabad Airport, Hublot Avenues-Prestige, Kuwait picked the ‘Best Boutique’ award, Seiko and Kolkata Knight Riders were awarded the ‘Best Organised Event” award and Tagged by TITAN was adjudicated as the ‘Best Integrated Marketing Campaign’.

     

  • The Free Press Journal group conducted a 'Spell Bee' championship for school students in Indore

    Free Press Journal conducts Spell Champ in Indore

    By A Correspondent

     

    Spell Bee champions elsewhere in the world, watch out! Kartikeya Dhakad, a student of Sri Satya Sai Vidya Vihar in Indore, showed the same grit and determination that international winners showed when he became the “Spell Champ” at a competition organized by The Free Press Journal to search for students with outstanding spelling skills in schools across the city on Thursday, October 3.

     

    The competition held at the Dhirubhai Ambani Auditorium of Daly College was tough as Kartikeya lifted the winner’s trophy and took home a laptop after wowing everyone with his splendid ability to spell out words quicker than his fellow contestants. Dev Seth of Emerald Heights International School and Isha Bhorkar of Choithram School were first runners-up while Amogh Kawathekar of Daly College won the third place.

     

    Abhishek Karnani

    As many as 61 contestants from 20 schools participated in the event that was sponsored by Amul Pro. The grand finale began with lighting of the traditional lamp by Abhishek Karnani, director, Free Press Group of Newspapers, director incharge Pravin Nagar, Group Brand Consultant Debu Mishra and General Manager (marketing) Shailesh Tiwari.

     

  • According to the report, political parties have earmarked around 2-5% of their election budgets for social media

    Social media campaigns can swing 3-4% of votes: IAMAI-IMRB

    By A Correspondent

     

    This is a report that political parties and their campaign managers will make a rush for. According to the report ‘Social Media in India – 2013’ by the Internet and Mobile Association Of India (IAMAI) and IMRB, released on Tuesday (Oct 8), the number of social media users in urban India would reach 86 million this month and 91 million by end-2013.

     

    Social media users in urban India are expected to grow by 19% between June and December this year. The report further found that 19.8 million users use mobile phones to access social media platforms in urban India.

     

    Based on the number of eligible voters, data of actual voter turnout from the Election Commission of India and field interviews, the report estimates that there could be a vote swing of 3-4% in 24 states – states where the internet users are sizeable. The vote swingers can be pre-dominantly young men and non-working women whose affiliation towards social media is high.

     

    Talking to representatives of major political parties in India, the report also found that parties have earmarked around 2-5% of their election budgets for social media. While political parties are gradually investing in social media, corporate have long realized the importance of the medium. Corporates are spending nearly 13% of their digital advertising budget on social media in FY2012-2013, according to the report. It was only 10% in FY2011-12.

     

    Predictably, the report finds that the highest proportion of social media usage in the Top 4 metros and the non-metros was among the demographic segment “Young Men” with 30% and 26% penetration levels respectively.

     


     

    Interestingly, the report finds that younger women are increasingly using social media, whereas, in the other metros and small metros, “College-going Students” show the highest proportion of social media usage. “Working Women” demographic segment is observed as having the lowest proportion of social media usage in other, small and non-metros whereas they show a moderate proportion of social media usage in the Top 4 metros.

     

  • Live Viacom18 will produce the popular kids' choice awards to India

    Nickelodeon brings Kids’ Choice Awards to India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Live Viacom 18 is bringing the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards to India next month. Billed as the only live awards show of the kids, by the kids and for the kids where kids get to vote across categories for their favourites who will get declared the winners!

     

    The Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards has been in existence for over 25 years and is aired in over 33 countries.

     

    Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Said Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Executive Vice President & Business Head, Kids’ Cluster, Viacom 18 Media, “At Nickelodeon, we put kids at the core of all that we do. We believe in empowering kids and giving them the opportunity to make their own choices. With Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards now in India, we are giving them a platform where they can voice their choices. We will be their true mouthpiece in every sense of the word!”

     

    Jaideep Singh, Senior Vice President and Business Head – INS, Viacom18 added: “There is an impressive line-up of celebrity performances and anchors for Nickelodeon’s first ever Kids’ Choice Awards.

     

    Live Viacom18 is a sub-division of Viacom18’s Integrated Network Solutions and is mandated to create live properties in music and entertainment space for all the brands of network.