Last fornight, Disney India announced its first big move since the exit of founder-CEO Ronnie Screwvala. UTV Stars, which was launched with much fanfare in August 2011, was going to adopt the Bindass branding.
However, while one expected it to be a minor rationalisation of resources, reports received by MxMIndia indicate that a sizeable part of the production team – including show producers, reporters, cameramen and editors have been given the pink slips earlier this month. Around 80 employees are currently serving a month’s notice and will be given salaries for three months’ towards their full-and-final settlement.
Interestingly, UTV Stars was the only channel from the stable (other than the business channel which the group once owned) with a strong inhouse production unit. While the channel has a reasonable viewership given the nature of its offering and some of its shows have a fair following, what didn’t work for it was the fitment in the larger scheme of Disney India.
The new Bindass-branded channel is scheduled to be launched in October this year with fresh packaging, content and a brand name. Sources say the company is mulling a music channel, given the opportunities in that space.
The spokesperson from Disney India was unavailable for comment.
Even before the election results are declared, it is believed that Internet and social media may have played a major role in the outcome of the 2014 General Elections, as all major political parties have leveraged the medium to reach out to voters and put across their message and vision for the country. In fact, in 2013, IAMAI, in a report, had predicted that social media would have a very high impact in 160 constituencies, out of a total of 543 constituencies involved in the Lok Sabha polls.
IAMAI thus believes that whichever dispensation comes to power, will have a strong agenda of growth for the Internet industry. It is in this context that IAMAI has prepared a 100-day Internet agenda for the new government, given the importance of this medium to India’s future and efforts to ensure good governance. While portions of this agenda may require continuing efforts beyond the first 100 days of the next government, the kick-starting of this effort to have empowered and high level policy-maker engagement on these issues is key to ensuring India’s position as an Internet leader. The six point submissions are summarized below and explained in further detail in the agenda paper attached herewith.
1) Old Laws and New Technology:
Ensure that Indian laws help Internet platform businesses to have a conducive environment to operate. Carry forward reforms to the rules issued under the Information Technology Act and ensure copyright law allows Indian web developers to innovate
2) India’s contribution to a connected world
Create an environment allowing India to be a hub for global data flows and processing and shape India’s global Internet governance agenda in such a way that we drive global consensus to expand its multi-stakeholder administration and its collaborative benefits for our industry and users
3) Accelerate the growth of meaningful Internet Access for Indian users and businesses
Existing projects like the NOFN should be accelerated using additional support along with stakeholder review of its strategic plan. Indian broadband policy efforts need to widen their focus to include the promotion of 100 per cent meaningful Internet access coverage in urban areas to bridge the growing deficit there. Telecom policy measures also need to be reformed to promote shared infrastructure models as well as new technologies such as dynamic and shared spectrum, along with removing impediments to large public wi-fi projects.
4) Innovation
Safeguard India’s digital opportunities by keeping the Internet open and allowing innovation to thrive. Remove roadblocks to greater investment in the e-Commerce sector and look to understand the regulatory and business hurdles affecting India’s efforts to be a leader in cloud based services. Provide incentives to mobile app technology development and digital finance, along with ensuring regulations are not holding back the growth of these industries in India
5) Harnessing benefits for Governance
Establish a focused effort around understanding how the Internet and other technologies can help enable greater information sharing, feedback, and transparency in Government using experts from government, industry, and academia.
6) Promote Indian venture capital
Make sure the environment is more conducive for angel investments and other sources of funding used by startups and Internet businesses in India. Ensure India’s financial and commerce policy-makers study the problem affecting the sector and prevent further regulatory roadblocks from developing.
Life OK in partnership with BIG Productions has introduced Life OK Now Awards, India’s first Instant awards to celebrate excellence in the field of film, music and television. The best entertainers from the film, music and television fraternities will be brought to the fore with a 100 percent audience voting campaign. To be held every month, Life OK Now Awards will recognize and honour talent from the previous month in a glitzy awards ceremony. Bollywood star Akshay Kumar has been roped in as the Face of the first edition of the awards.
Ajit Thakur
Announcing the launch of this innovative property, Ajit Thakur, General Manager, Life OK, said, “Captivating audiences with innovative and resonating content is one of our key strengths. Being India’s fastest growing GEC, our content innovations has cemented our connect with family audiences and every launch of ours has taken this connect a notch higher. This one-of-a-kind award will give an opportunity to the audiences to vote for, celebrate and cherish their favourite stars instantly and regularly. We are glad to be associated with BIG Productions and together we are all set to create fabulous entertainment for our viewers.”
Conceptualized by Life OK, the awards will be produced by BIG Productions and have 92.7 BIG FM as the radio partner. As a part of the promotional campaign, Life OK will be creating engagement and excitement throughout the country by promoting various award categories across multiple media platforms. The awards property will reach huge HSM audiences through Life OK’s massive distribution network.
A monthly entertainment property, Life OK Now Awards will have some of the most renowned Bollywood artistes come together to perform and entertain their fans and audiences. Audiences can cast their vote starting 19th May 2014 and get exclusive content with a simple process by giving a missed call on 1800 270 8701 or download the Life OK Now Awards app from android Store or Google Play or by logging on to www.lifeok.com/NowAwards .
By A Correspondent [summary updated, story was filed yesterday]
If you thought only politicians made for strange bedfellows, you mustn’t miss this. Over the last fortnight, leading English channel Times Now has been going to town with its promotions on Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. Nothing wrong with it. General entertainment channels often cross-promote teleserials on news channels, but in this case Aaj Tak has a sibling in Headlines Today which competes with Times Now.
On MxMIndia Tomorrow
Although every election is bigger than the previous ones, General Elections 2014 was by far the biggest for the media. These were the first general elections after the social media explosion. It was a ‘Made for Television’ election.
On Friday, May 16, we will not come to you with our regular mid-morning edition. However, we have a special offering for that day:
01. Livetweeting through the counting process. Our brand of commentary on the way the election results are being covered. Follow our Twitter handle: @mxmindia
02. A very special edition at 4pm that day. Special Columns by Ranjona Banerji, Shailesh Kapoor and Amith Prabhu. Plus Mediaah! Also, a lot more of news and reactions.
03. A Google Hangout on the election results at 4pm discussing the election coverage. To be aired live on YouTube and where you can interact with our guests.
Shailesh Kapoor
The stakes are big for Results Day or Friday, May 16. The Made-for-Television general elections of 2014 are destined to see a huge spike in viewership. “It has emerged as the most promoted date by far in our television history,” asserts Shailesh Kapoor, television insights specialist and CEO of Ormax Media, adding: “More than 20 news channels will fight a fierce battle on Results Day. The results of this battle within the battle may have a long-lasting impact on our news television economy.”
Prasanth Kumar
According to Prasanth Kumar, Managing Partner, South Asia, Central Trading Group of GroupM, advertising demand for May 16 has been on the rise. “Advertisers have shown keen interest in election as a property with most taking 4-8-week sponsorship deals. For sponsors, about 10-15 per cent of their campaign monies have been parked for the Results Day.”
“Inventory on news channels is flexible and especially on a day when we feel there would be a lot of breaking news with results and numbers being declared, it would be difficult to put a fix on the bookings,” added Mr Kumar.
Anita Nayyar
When asked whether her clients have chosen to advertise on news channels given the elections fever, Anita Nayyar, CEO of media Havas Media Group, India and South Asia said: “It is a once-in-five-years opportunity hence many of our clients are taking advantage of the same. This is a captive audience for brands like auto and liquor who typically target the male audience and has not been a deterrent.”
This time each party has been extremely aggressive in its marketing, says Nayyar. Eyeballs are expected to be on news. Even no IPL matches are scheduled for May 16 when cricket by itself is hot property in India. Â All the channels – regional, Hindi and English (in that order) will see a spike from their regular viewership.
And what kind of advertisers are making a beeline for news channels? “Elections tends to see a concentration of advertisers focused towards male audiences so does news. However, given the general elections, the female viewership is also better than the normal viewing of news channels,” Ms Nayyar said matter-of-factly.
Starwatch, the music and live entertainment group within Germany’s pre-eminent media and entertainment company ProSiebenSat.1, has made an investment in Talenthouse global. Others participating in the deal were creative firms including Dave Stewart’s First Artist Bank, Gerard Butler and Jean Pigozzi.
For more than 3.5 million artists in the Talenthouse community, this investment and strategic alliance will provide access to bigger and better Creative Invites than ever as the firm will tap in to ProSieben’s incredible network of leading brands and talent and add to its client representatives. It will also enhance technology improvements to the platform as the company will bring on more engineering talent to deliver more remarkable features. This association will also help the artists to reach out to wider audiences, as every successful brand invitation will extend the potential reach and impact of the next Creative Invite.
Led by Roman Scharf and Amos Pizzey, Talenthouse is a global creative community where brands can connect with artists who create content that connects with people. Companies using the platform include Adidas, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Dolce &Gabbana, Samsung, Kleenex, HP, Intel and Volkswagen.
Roman Scharf, Co-CEO and Founder of Talenthouse said, “ProSiebenSat.1 is the leading TV company in Germany and one of the strongest media companies in Europe. For Talenthouse, this partnership represents a one-of-a-kind opportunity to expand its network to the German-speaking countries and implement unique marketing concepts for businesses. The reach and the access to brands and creatives in TV and in the digital world afforded by this investment will permanently speed up Talenthouse’s growth.”
“Talenthouse enables brand owners to conduct a direct dialog with a particularly interesting target group while also involving them in the product development process at an early stage. That is unique,” said Christian Wegner, member of the executive board of ProSiebenSat.1.
“After the mobile shopping app Shopkick, Talenthouse is the second import agreement signed by ProSiebenSat.1 this year,” added Wegner. “Thus, we continue to implement our strategy of investing in successful digital companies and actively shaping their entry into the European market.”
Digital company Hungama.com has become a part of Qualcomm Design and Wireless Innovation Summit. This initiative of Hungama.com will continue to foster collaboration among device manufacturers and software & hardware component providers to develop devices as well as explore new business opportunities in the rapidly evolving era. This will help Hungama.com innovate and differentiate, as well as build new business relationships with other associates from hardware and digital entertainment ecosystems including Alibaba, Baidu, OmniVision, Reverie Language Technologies, Samsung Electronics (CMOS Image Sensor), SK Hynix, Sohu and Tencent.
Hungama.Com will explore the following at the Qualcomm Reference Design and Wireless Innovation Summit program:
> Innovations powered by 4G LTE and the Qualcomm  RF360™ Front End Solution
> Regional software packages, modem configurations and testing for certain regional operator requirements
> Potential global opportunities to help international commercialization
> New wireless vertical opportunities
> Hands-on commercial technology across the Snapdragon portfolio, including 4K Ultra HD, advanced camera features and the latest in graphics technologies
> Differentiation through software, including new options for Windows Phone
“The Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) program by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. offers industry-leading technical innovation, differentiated hardware and software and customization options that are designed to help save engineering costs and accelerate development time,” said Larry Paulson, VP of Product Management, QTI. “This is our fifth summit and it promises to be one of the most rewarding for the ecosystem that has developed around the QRD program.”
To date, more than 425 commercial QRD-based devices have been launched in 21 countries and more than 40 OEMs and IDHs have commercially launched QRD-based devices. The expanded QRD portfolio includes Snapdragon 610, 615, 400, 410 and 200 processors by QTI with support for the Qualcomm RF360â„¢ Front End Solution, Qualcomm Global Pass and Windows Phone 8.1.
The Press Club RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2014, instituted by the Press Club Mumbai, have received a good response with over 800 entries from 75 print and internet publications. This year’s entries have also been characterized by a significant number of web-based and online journalists pitching their stories into the ring. This shows online journalism and web-based platforms becoming increasingly active and popular as vehicles of mass communication.
The Awards have now moved to the stage of evaluation and judging, a humungous task by any standards. The Press Club has convened a transparent process of forming juries consisting of 3-member panels for each of the 10 sections of awards. The juries are a mix of industry experts, well-known knowledge leaders and senior journalists. The distinguished panels include eminent names such as ShyamBenegal for the ‘Entertainment and Lifestyle’ section, Rahul Dravid for the sports category, Dr Swati Piramal judging ‘Health and Wellness’ entries, Dr KC Chakrabarty, RBI Dy. Governor  for ‘Business’ section, noted lawyer Satish Maneshinde for ‘Crime’ and celebrity lensman Pablo Bartholomew sitting on the photography jury.
The Grand Finale for the RedInk Awards will be held on June 7 at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, at the NCPA, in Mumbai.
The Awards, which offer Rs One lakh to each of the winners, is in its 4th year now, and is the only recognition of merit for journalists from a professional platform. The Awards this year have expanded to include new categories like ‘Human Rights and Environment’. Juries will judge breaking news stories and features separately this year as the 2 categories involve different skill sets.
Star India is the Presenting Partner for The Press Club’s Red Ink Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2014. The awards partners are Yes Bank, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Aditya Birla Group, Zee Entertainment, BSE, Eros International and the Adani Group; communication partners are DNA and exchange4media.
Even as the final results were coming in, it was clear that one of the many factors why Narendra Modi and the NDA emerged victorious in the General Elections 2014 was the advertising and public relations campaign. Shobhana Nair spoke to Harish Bijoor, well-known brand expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc to discuss the rise and rise of Brand Modi
Harish Bijoor
On what has worked for Brand Modi in the last year?
Hard work. Very hard work. Add to it the fact that Brand Modi started off the block much before elections were announced. Brand Modi established itself first when it saw Narendra Modi as a hat-trick CM of Gujarat. This image was further boosted with development as a cue. And then came the announcement of Modi as a PM candidate of the BJP. This was decisive and focussed branding. And then kicked in the campaign.
The solus attention on Modi has helped the BJP immensely in this victory. If you remove Modi from the BJP, you will find a huge crevice in terms of the resultant imagery. To that extent, this is a pure Modi win. In many ways, this paves the way for an epochal shift in the way campaigns will be run in this country. The individual will become more important than the party. Parties that hide behind the cloak of group-think will need to think individual personas, American style, in the future.
Do you think it was smart marketing that gave Mr Modi the comprehensive victory?
Absolutely. Narendra Modi is the ultimate political marketer. He had able support, and he was decisive in the way he managed his campaign. His campaign was a 360-degree campaign that had everyone else watching with awe. The best of product marketing gyaan was brought into this campaign. And it worked. Modi is a product. And this product promised what the people wanted. And in him people saw a strong and decisive leader, someone who was an anti-thesis of sorts to the persona India was used to in the past decade with Manmohan Singh at the helm of affairs.
Would you say the BJP’s ad agencies produce great advertising, or at least advertising that worked?
They did. I love the “Abki Baar Modi Sarkaar line”, as did I love the jingles that captured the need of the people in bundling hope: “Acchhe din aane waale hain…” And media organizations loved the amount of money that was spent in airing all of this for sure.
And do you think the Congress loss was caused by bad advertising?
Not really. In the beginning, it is all about strategy. I do believe the gaps lie in the strategy rather than in the advertising executions. I do believe enough of emphasis on voter insight was not given. The campaign was top-down and ignored the bottom-up possibilities.
How does Brand Modi not suffer from the same fate as various Opposition/non-Congress governments have in the past?
Brand Modi is beyond it all for now. His assessment will start happening one year from now. And that will be the biggest challenge to tackle. Every single promise needs to be fulfilled. With care, tracking and passion.
Watch the Recorded Video of the MxM Google Hangout session on the Media Coverage of General Elections 2014. MxMIndia columnists Ranjona Banerji, Shailesh Kapoor and Amith Prabhu participated in the discussion moderated by Pradyuman Maheshwari
The German Football Association (DFB – Deutscher Fussball-Bund) and TEN Sports Network, have closed a media rights agreement for the DFB Cup. Between the 2014/15 and 2017/18 season, the German knock-out competition will be broadcast across the TEN Sports Network. Infront Sports & Media, the exclusive international media rights advisor to the DFB, has facilitated the long-term contract.
TEN Sports has acquired the exclusive media rights for live and delayed coverage with a commitment of 11 key matches per season and upto a potential 19. Territories included in the contract, cover the breadth of the Indian Sub-Continent includingAfghanistan,Bangladesh,Bhutan,India,Maldives,Nepal,PakistanandSri Lanka. Across the majority of these regions, TEN Sports holds a leading position. Its programming also features other top national and international football properties including the UEFA Champions League.
Rajesh Sethi, CEO, TEN Sports, commented: “Ten Sports is proud to re affirm its commitment to DFB and Infront by renewing rights for the DFB Cup for a further four years which will see matches live on Ten Action, Ten Sports & Ten HD and also available for live streaming on tensports.com. As incumbent rights holders for the UEFA Champions League & Europa League and the DFB Cup, we have seen incredible performances by German Clubs on the field as well as their financial stability off it. DFB Cup forms a key part of our premium football bouquet which also includes the UEFA Champions League & Europa League, Copa Del Rey, Capital One Cup, French League among other properties and we are delighted to extend our rights partnership.”
Infront has supported the DFB in its media rights sales for the international market since 2012. The negotiations with TAJ TV Limited have been handled by Infront Pan-Asia – the new Singapore-based subsidiary.
With the new government set to assume office in a few days, the media and entertainment sector is also hoping to see its ‘achche din’. MxMIndia spoke to a few stakeholders to know how they see this change of power and what they are hoping to get from the new government.
Ashish Bhasin
Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network, Chairman Posterscope and psLive – Asia Pacific
From the Media & Entertainment point of view, what one wants is a strong and stable economy which depends upon a government that takes decisions and takes them forward. A clear majority government is much required as there seems to be a paralysis for the last few years on decision making. To that extent, whatever is good for the economy is good for the media and entertainment sector. From that point of view, having a stable government with a clear majority will be a good change.
Nagesh Alai
Nagesh Alai, Group Chairman, FCBUlka
There is a lot of hope after the 10-year Congress mishap. There are no industry specific expectations from the new government other than doing away with insidious muzzling of freedom of speech. I would like to see the new government walk the talk on eradicating corruption, have a zero tolerance on corruption and bring about probity and accountability in public life – to start with their own elected candidates and then amongst corporates and avoid crony capitalism. Once this is done, the rest will fall in place.
Jehil Thakkar
Jehil Thakkar, Head of Media & Entertainment, KPMG
The Media & Entertainment sector is enthused about the fact that there is a majority verdict in this election. A majority verdict will hopefully mean a decisive government and movement on the regulatory front. This government will take office with the weight of a lot of expectations – including the expectations from the M&E industry. There are several areas that the industry will expect movement from the government which are:
1. Speedy implementation of Phase III licensing in Radio and associated regulations (networking, multiple station ownership, etc.).
2. Greater friendliness to FDI in Media. The industry is hoping that the government will raise the FDI caps in several areas including Cable to at least 74% if not 100%, DTH to 100%, Radio to 49% and progressively higher than 50%.
3. The industry is also hoping that the government will allow the radio industry to carry news. It does not make sense that news is restricted to AIR in radio but allowed to be privatized for all other media.
4. Solving the service tax issue for the media industry where due to content being on the exception list, a pass through option is not available. This will provide great relief to the industry.
In addition, there are other issues that are not specific to media but will certainly help the industry. Rationalisation of customs duty, implementation of GST (assuming entertainment tax is part of GST) and increased focus on infrastructure development.â€
Apurva Purohit
Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1FM
We are happy with any government that promises to end the policy paralysis that has been operational for the last few years. The good news is that with a decisive victory of this nature there will not be in any internal pulls that will prevent the government from moving ahead with sectoral reforms. We hope to see good governance, an end to the policy paralysis and a focus on development, specifically infrastructure and thereby job creation.
As far as the FM industry is concerned, we have been waiting for the last 3 years for the implementation of Phase 3 and the policy that was announced in July 2011. Unfortunately the previous government chose to do nothing; resulting in the stagnation of the industry, a failure to expand FM beyond the current 90 cities and thereby create job opportunities in the 300 more cities where Phase 3 has been planned for. This failure to expand has harmed not only job seekers, potential listeners but also small businesses and retailers who do not have the choice of a cost effective medium to advertise on to expand their businesses in these towns. We expect the government to urgently help kick start and proceed with Phase 3 of the FM deregulation – a process which by the way has the consensus of all the constituents but has not seen light of day due to the inertia exhibited by the previous government.
