MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • … but 'baat' doesn't always ban jaaye, as only a few out of a zillion apps make it to devices!

    APP jaisa koi mere smartphone mein aaye…

     

    By Shelley Singh

     

    Three weeks ago, all the 5,000 employees of Snapdeal, one of the big four diversified e-commerce companies in India, were asked to drop everything and experiment with its two-year-old app. They checked for bugs, tested ease of use, noted the time to complete transactions and compared the features with those of rival apps. It was a concerted effort aimed at suggesting ways to improve the shopping experience on the app, which would go on for three hours, and result in an avalanche of feedback. A thousand engineers then worked 24 hours non-stop to overhaul the app – the first major upgrade since launch. The rebooted app, said Anand Chandrasekaran, chief product officer, Snapdeal, “is the lightest e-commerce app, stable (read, no crashes) and performs better”.

     

    Conversions, industry jargon for downloads, of the app have since jumped 10 times, according to Chandrasekaran, whom Snapdeal recruited from Bharti Airtel in June.

     

     

    Why firms move fully to apps

    On August 1, Ola, the car hailing company, switched completely to apps. On May 15, fashion e-retailer Myntra ditched its website for app. Both claim compelling reasons drove the switch.

     

    “We never got (much) business from the site even when we started back in 2011 – it was either through the call centre or the app,” said Pranay Jivrjka, COO, Ola. Ola has since ended call centre bookings as well because its app contributes 99 per cent of the business.

     

    When Myntra was contemplating junking its website, it was already getting 90 per cent traffic and 70 per cent revenue from its app. “Subsequently, revenue and traffic (from the website) dropped less than what we expected,” said Shamik Sharma, chief technology officer, Myntra.

     

    Myntra has not regretted the decision. “Users are always logged on, they are always with us and an app enables quick access to our collection,” said Sharma.

     

    Besides, apps help customise better. “We know whether the user is male, female, college going or professional. All sensors on a smartphone – GPS, sound, voice, camera etc – can be weaved into the app for better experience.” Ola sees apps as a better problem solver than the website. “I know my frequent users better – what car he prefers, places he travels to and when will he need the car. That makes us respond better to user needs,” said Jivrjka. “Besides, via the app we give a quarter million cars across 100 cities.”

     

    Both companies are upgrading their apps. Taking a cue from its global competitor Uber, Ola now offers food delivery in select cities such as Mumbai and Bengaluru. Myntra is about to launch visual search, which gives users purchase options by simply pointing to a product.

     

    Apps are certain to drive the future of ecommerce and businesses are rushing in headlong.

     

    If the entire company was involved in the app’s reboot, it was with good reason. Snapdeal competes with a host of ecommerce companies such as Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and a phalanx of smaller players. Even diehard shopaholics would not have the apps of all these companies on their smartphones. They would have two. Maybe three.

     

    Snapdeal was vying for a coveted space – the mobile phone screen.

     

    In overhauling its app, Snapdeal has come to represent the growing focus of businesses on apps and their scramble to coax smartphone customers to turn users. Fashion etailer Myntra sells its wares only on an app. In June, Facebook launched an app called Facebook Lite targeted at low-end smartphone users. In recent weeks, Urban Ladder and Foodpanda have refreshed their apps while a revamped Makemytrip app will be launched in two weeks. It is not hard to see why.

     

    Competition for squeezing into a mobile phone is intense – jostling for that limited space are nearly 3 million apps! Only about 20 have a shot at making it, depending on a user’s penchant for news, staying connected via the social media, travel, music etc. And there is no telling if they will last on a phone. The flavour of a season dock in – Candy Crush replacing Angry Birds – but they are dispensable. It’s virtually the luck of the draw for the rest.

     

    Ninety percent of apps are deleted, according to Rajan Anandan, vice-president and managing director, South East Asia & India, Google. “Apps that users retain are for daily use.”

     

    Globally, only 27,334 of the 2.9 billion apps have been downloaded more than one million times, according to Uninstall. IO, a mobile analytics company that counts CommonFloor, Gaana and Snapdeal, among others, as clients. “Users don’t like them or don’t want them. Competition is brutal and shelf life is very short,” said Alok Mishra, founder, Uninstall. IO

     

    It’s a Slugfest

    The stakes are evidently high. The Indian e-commerce segment, valued at $7 billion in 2014-15, is expected to grow to $65 billion by 2020, according to Technopak, a retail industry consultancy. Nearly 65 per cent of the e-commerce traffic at present is already on mobiles, a combination of mobile browsers and apps. But by 2020, about 80 per cent of e-commerce transactions will be done via apps, according to Pragya Singh, associate vice-president, retail and consumer products, Technopak.

     

    Already, apps contribute 75 per cent of Snapdeal and Flipkart’s traffic.

     

    Shankar Nath, senior-vice president, Paytm, the online payment platform and e-commerce app, said the website versus app contest is analogous to winning a battle versus winning the war. “For a business to have a bigger footprint, it has to be mobile (app) focused.”

     

    True, but how does an app maker attract users? Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder, Paytm, said unlike the web where search engines could easily browse a site and index, apps are closed systems. “Apps are like closed gardens, and only a user and the app to be searched know about the data inside.”

     

    The good news for app-makers is people are spending more and more time on their smartphones – almost three hours a day in India and also use it for everything from gathering information to shopping. Apps, with their improved features, feed their needs. “Apps are superior. They leverage many more features of smartphones like gyroscope, sensors, locations and other system data,” said Sharma.

     

    Users, sadly, need more convincing. Three factors typically decide a user’s preference for an app – frequency of use, memory or space it consumes and relevance.

     

    To increase frequency of use, app makers are trying to increase the engagement with users. Take Makemytrip.com, an online travel company. The rarity of holidays – usually once or twice a year – rules out people having a travel app as a fi xture on phones. To fi x this handicap, the new Makemytrip app will notify users on last-minute hotel bookings, discounts and help book cabs as well.

     

    “Our focus is to earn the right to be on users’ phone every day,” said Anshuman Bapna, chief product offi cer, Makemytrip. com. Some services such as like flight delay information and the ability to book cabs are best delivered via an app, according to him.

     

    Even apps that are already engaging with users – like Flipkart’s which has been downloaded more than 10 million times – are turning to technology to improve experience. A user has to simply point the app at a shirt to get similar options on Flipkart he can purchase. This technology called visual search was introduced two weeks ago, said Punit Soni, chief product officer, Flipkart.

     

    Fashion etailer Myntra, which recently switched fully to apps, will introduce visual search in six weeks. The Myntra app has been downloaded 12 million times, with frequency of usage 7-8 times a month per customer and amount of time spent at 80 minutes a week, according to P Komapalli, head, e-commerce platform, Myntra.

     

    Nitin Chugh, head of digital banking, HDFC Bank, said an app can stay on a phone if it is continuously used. He believes banking apps have perpetuity compared with say, gaming apps. HDFC Bank is hooking consumers to its app by enabling them to pay bills or even shop. It has partnered e-commerce players like Flipkart; users can make purchases from their websites using the bank’s app.

     

    Light & Fast

    As space is a constraint, developers are looking to make apps lighter. App makers cannot afford to lose sight of even upgrades and notifications that use data, which means users delete apps they rarely use.

     

    Google’s Anandan believes a 1-3 mb app is perfect. By that reckoning, most apps in India are ‘obese’. Snapdeal is 6 mb, Makemytrip.com is 10 mb, Foodpanda is 8 mb, Practo is 6.7 mb and HDFC Bank is 17 mb. Popular messaging app WhatsApp is a whopping 40 mb. WhatsApp gets away with the flab because it is relevant and extremely sticky – it’s the largest messaging app globally with 800 million active users.

     

    Furniture etailer Urban Ladder has three apps – Urban Storage, a wardrobe app, which is 30 mb, Urban Living for sofas, also 30 mb, and the basic Urban ladder app of 4.5 mb. Rajiv Srivasta, cofounder, Urban Ladder, said the first two apps are heavy as they use graphics and a 3D engine to create a great experience. No doubt. But Urban Ladder’s basic app has about 1 million users while the other two have just a few thousands, underscoring the pervading pattern of consumers fretting more about space than experience.

     

    Some apps are betting on change in user habits. Kunal Shah, founder of Freecharge, a mobile recharging app, said only 3-4 per cent of users re-charge their mobile phone online. But that number will eventually grow, according to him.

     

    Likewise, Foodpanda, a food ordering app with 1.2 million downloads so far, is preparing to attract people who order food by calling up restaurants. “Food ordering is a $15 billion a year opportunity on phones,” said Saurabh Kochhar, cofounder & CEO, Foodpanda. “We are eying this market.”

     

    As competition intensifies and space shrinks, apps are adapting. “There will be multiple apps under one app,” said Rajat Kohli, engagement lead, Zinnov, a management consulting firm.

     

    Cross-linking too will increase, like how HDFC Bank app users are routed to the Flipkart app. Consolidation will be inevitable. “Apps will ride on messaging apps, which are used more frequently,” said Mishra of Uninstall.IO.

     

    Alok Goel, CEO, Saif Partners, said granted companies will have to keep their apps relevant to create higher engagement and downloads, but perennial favourites such as Facebook and WhatsApp will be the highway into their ecosystem. It is the Google model – people visit the search engine to discover websites. In China, apps are already riding piggyback on WeChat, a popular messaging app.

     

    That could be the future for second-fiddle apps at least.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • Rediffusion Y & R makes yet another top-level hire with Majumdar's apppointment

    Rediff appoints Uttio Majumdar to head Mumbai ops

    By A Correspondent

     

    Uttio Majumdar

    Rediffusion Y&R is on a hiring spree. Uttio Majumdar is the latest addition to the leadership team. He joins the agency as Head of Operations- Mumbai and will work closely with Company President Dhunji S Wadia.

     

    Prior to joining Rediffusion Y & R, Majumdar was Vice President and Executive Business Director at J Walter Thompson, Kolkata. He worked with JWT for 21 years. He was heading the agency team on Exide, ITC Limited (Tobacco Brands & Corporate), Tata Steel, Berger Paints and The Telegraph. He is reputed for transforming the agency relationship on these accounts.

     

    He was one of the early movers in to the digital space way back in 2000 when he moved to JWT, Chennai and was involved in setting up a specialized integrated communication cell focusing on dotcoms and IT projects. Headed the agency team on Satyam Infoway (eBusiness& B2B Portals), SSI Technologies, NetFinex, ApolloLife.com and TexWorld.com. He has successfully driven digital initiatives for clients like Exide and Tata Tiscon.

     

    Majumdar played an important role during the initial days of mobile telephony in India and was responsible for development of communication programmes to drive consumer awareness and education about the new-born category and handling the communication for early mergers and acquisitions like the transformation of Modi Telstra to Spice. Worked across two circles (Modi Telstra in Kolkata and SkyCell in Chennai)

     

    Dhunji S. Wadia

    Speaking about the appointment, Dhunji S.Wadia, President, Rediffusion Y&R says, “Uttio was the first and only person we thought of when we were looking for a Head of Operations in Mumbai.  Fortunately, he agreed to join us. He has an unbeaten track record of nurturing businesses and creating hardworking and sparkling creative work.“

     

    Speaking on his appointment, Uttio Majumdar says, “I’ve always believed that advertising is only meant for adrenaline junkies. And 21 years in JWT, managing challenges across a range of categories and brands, has only made me yearn for more. Dhunji made an offer that I couldn’t refuse – even more fun, excitement and adventure in leading the Rediffusion Y&R, Mumbai team and partnering some of the leading brands in the country.”

     

  • This is the fourth edition of the prestigious awards held at Kolkata

    ‘So Sorry’ makes jurors happy at the 4thKolkata Shorts International Film Festival

    By A Correspondent

     

    The well acclaimed ‘So Sorry’ series of politoons from the India Today Group has won the Jury Award for Best Animation at the 4thKolkata Shorts International Film Festival. This is the fourth edition of the prestigious awards held at Kolkata. Eminent jury members led by acclaimed national and international stalwarts in film making selected the winners from over 400 entries from 35 countries. The inventiveness of the So Sorry series lies in the fact that it needs no words. The capsules of the animation series are live across TV, Internet and mobile and have already created a massive following.

     

    Ashish Bagga

    Speaking on the award, Ashish Bagga, Group CEO – India Today Group said, “This award strengthens our belief in innovation, which is at the core of the India Today Group programming. Humour and wit in the So Sorry series is used effectively to reflect the public sentiment on the current political drama in the nation. I would once again like to congratulate the team for coming up with such a superior product that is yet to find any competition.”

     

    The ‘So Sorry’ series has already won wide acclaim by winning top honours at other Industry events including at The BCS Ratna Award 2015 for Best Politoon Series‎ ‎for the 2nd Consecutive Year, FICCI Best Animated Frames Awards 2015 for Show of the Year and for Best Animation, Gold at the 5th Asian Digital Media Awards 2014 for Best Online Videos, Indian Television Academy Awards 2014 for Best interstitial filler, Delhi CG Animation Award for Best Animated TV Show 2014 and FICCI BAF Award 2014 for Best Animation.

     

  • The course is aimed at identifying, nurturing, and providing high quality creative talent to member agencies

    3-month online copywriting course unveiled by AAAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    Advertising Agencies Association India (AAAI), has launched a specialized course in Advertising Copywriting, online. In keeping with the objectives of AAAI, the course is aimed at identifying, nurturing, and providing high quality creative talent to member agencies.

     

    The course has been developed by Omnivore Academy, AAAI’s Knowledge Partner, and is backed by experienced faculty who are not only acclaimed and much-awarded Creative Directors, with an enviable portfolio of successful campaigns under their belt, but are excellent teachers too, a rare combination.

     

    The duration of the course is 3 months, and will be conducted entirely online. The course can be accessed by a student anywhere, anytime, as long as he/she has internet connectivity. The curriculum has been developed keeping in mind the specific needs of the advertising industry – so it covers everything a copywriter would need to know and work on in an agency – from understanding the brief, to generating ideas, writing headlines, body copy, slogans/taglines, writing scripts for TV and Radio, developing campaigns for Digital Media, etc.

     

    The course consists of 18 modules, 20 exercises and will take around 3 hours of course-work every week during the 12 week / 3 month program.

     

    Dr M G Parameswaran

    Speaking on this initiative, Dr M G Parameswaran, President, AAAI, said, “At AAAI training and development is a key part of our agenda and we are rolling out a series of initiatives under the banner ‘AAAI PROWESS’. The online copywriting course with knowledge partner Omnivore Academy is the first under this new banner. Since the course is run under the aegis of AAAI, we have powerful resources at work here – the Panel of Advisors comprise highly respected people from the advertising industry. We are delighted to have Omnivore Academy as our Knowledge Partners as they bring on substantive and enriched learning into their unique curriculum.

     

    “We want to give talented young people from all over the country an opportunity to excel in a creative career,” he said, “So we’re offering 50% Scholarship to candidates who pass the AdCAT (Advertising Creative Aptitude Test), and successfully complete the course.”

     

    He continued, “We want the course to be a complete ‘incubation’ process’ – from finding talented young people, to nurturing them, and finally giving them hands-on, practical experience. So we’re also endeavoring to offer a 2-month internship with member agencies. And if she/he proves to be good, the agency may offer a job, too!”

     

    Rajan Nair

    Adman Rajan Nair, Course Director, Omnivore Academy and visiting faculty at MICA, said: “We are looking forward to commencing the course soon and are confident it would develop a great pipeline of copywriting talent for the industry”.

     

    The course will start on 1 Sept, 2015, with the first batch of 30 students.

     

  • The problem is with the caveat in the notice mentioning “which do not have child pornographic content

    Notice to ISPs is misleading, cautions IAMAI

    By A Correspondent

     

    Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI], in a press statement has said that the latest Government notice dated August 4, 2015, to the Intermediaries (ISPs) is vague and has led to a chilling effect.

     

    The notice states that the intermediaries (ISPs) are free not to disable any of the 857 URLs, as provided in the list earlier, which do not have child pornographic content. However, the problem is with the caveat in the notice mentioning “which do not have child pornographic content.”

     

    The problem is that the said notice is not accompanied by any specific list of sites or links and the Intermediaries (ISPs) are expected to find out the links or sites containing child pornography themselves. This is not how it works under the law. The correct procedure should have been to provide the Intermediaries (ISPs) with a specific list along with the notification, as was done in the earlier notice dated July 31, 2015.

     

    The ISPs have rightly asked the Government to withdraw the notification. The ISPAI letter states: “We urge you to withdraw the said vague directive as it is not only confusing, but also putting responsibility on ISPs of the website on which ISPs does not have any control.” However, they are wrong in saying “But till further directives, the said 857 sites will continue to be blocked.”

     

  • Hosted in the cloud, Amagi's end-to-end managed playout service brings transparency, flexibility, and fast turnaround to playout

    Amagi unveils next-gen managed playout service at IBC2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Amagi announced a new managed playout service designed to simplify video content preparation, management, and delivery for broadcasters by leveraging cloud capabilities. Utilizing the end-to-end cloud-based service for content delivery, playout management, ingest, asset and archival management, quality control, traffic and scheduling, and 24/7 monitoring, broadcasters can dramatically increase workflow efficiency, reduce costs, and gain complete visibility of and control over their playout. Amagi will showcase its complete technology offering at IBC2015 in Amsterdam, September 11th -15th, at stand 2.C23.

     

    “Faced with the challenge of delivering more content to an ever growing number of devices, today’s broadcasters need scalable, flexible, and cost-effective playout solutions,” said K.A. Srinivasan, co-founder of Amagi. “Our next-generation cloud-based service transforms the way broadcasters handle video content, enabling them to distribute content more efficiently and cost-effectively on a global scale. Building on our successful CLOUDPORT infrastructure, we are now providing automated, technology-driven services, and a partner marketplace to provide a completely managed playout service to TV networks.”

     

    By deploying Amagi’s new cloud-based service for content delivery and playout management, broadcasters can speed up the origination and distribution of content to platforms and affiliates anywhere across the world. Based on a hybrid architecture consisting of cloud-management and edge-playout solutions, Amagi’s approach enables content owners to move assets through fast file-transfer on the Internet, or transport content into the cloud infrastructure via portable storage methods. The assets are then automatically ingested and transcoded on the cloud into required formats, archiving the content as needed. The service features an automated content ingest workflow with built-in heuristics to automatically prioritize assets scheduled for earlier playout, thereby ensuring smooth operations.

     

    Amagi’s next-generation playout service enables asset management on the cloud. Broadcasters can store and archive all necessary assets without requiring a large capital investment, as is the case with traditional asset management platforms. With built-in replication, the cloud is disaster-resistant and provides easy collaboration across multiple sites. Amagi’s cloud-based approach to asset management also provides broadcasters the ability to easily alter the content for VOD and OTT multiscreen delivery.

     

  • Last year, Ad Club received 650 entries and this year the figure is 835 thereby surpassing last year's figure by a whopping margin of 185 entries

    Emvies receives record entries for 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    EMVIES, the premier media awards instituted by The Advertising Club Bombay in 2001 is completing fifteen years. This year, the festival has received the highest number of entries ever. Last year, Ad Club received 650 entries and this year the figure is 835 thereby surpassing last year’s figure by a whopping margin of 185 entries.

     

    The EMVIES have gone from strength to strength with very active and enthusiastic support of the entire media fraternity. Not only have these Awards become a matter of honour for media planning and buying houses, but are receiving tremendous support from media marketers and clients as well. Since last year the Ad Club presents two trophies for every winning campaign one to the agency and one to the client.

     

    Since the last three years the Ad Club has started conducting the judging of some of its categories of its two premier awards EFFIEs and EMVIEs at Delhi. This has helped the Ad Club to engage the large marketing fraternity from Delhi into its scheme of things.

     

    Some highlights include:

    – EMVIES 2015 entries were submitted online by the media agencies

    – In 2014, clients participated in the form of a joint EMVIES trophy. In 2015, EMVIES has announced Best Media Partner in Television, Print, Cinema, Radio, Out of Home/Ambient Media and Digital.

    -  Multiple platform (a combination of a minimum of two) has been added as additional sub categories under Best Media Innovation – Digital.

     

    As many as 27 agencies have participated in the competition and their work will be judged by 150 media professionals in Round I spread over for three days in Mumbai and Delhi. The Round II judging will happen for three to four days in the popular format of Case Study Presentation at Welingkar Institute. Only those who will be present on or before 10 am will get the ballot paper to exercise their vote.

     

    The Grand Gala Ceremony is scheduled on Friday, 11th September, 2015 at the Ball Room, Hotel Palladium, Lower Parel, Mumbai at 6.30 pm

     

  • Askme's campaign, 'BAAP of all trends' is in line with brand ethos of being ahead of the curve

    Askme & Askmebazaar unveils unique insights led communication campaign

    By A Correspondent

     

    Leading consumer Internet platform www.askme.com and its online marketplace www.askmebazaar.com have launched two comprehensive campaigns. Ranbir Kapoor is seen in these commercials for ASKME whereas Farhan Akhtar is new face in Askmebazaar iconic TVC. Both these campaigns aim to bring together Askme’s single proposition of ‘One stop destination’.

     

    Askme’s campaign, ‘BAAP of all trends’ is in line with brand ethos of being ahead of the curve. Through this campaign, the company aims to position itself as the one stop destination that caters to diverse needs of a customer. With enormous options available online, today’s youth seeks some credible advice. Where to go, what to do and what to eat are questions that grapple today’s youth from Kanpur to Bandra. Askme seeks to provide answer to these questions and many more in times to come.

     

    In a move to connect with today’s youth, the campaign aims to fill the gap between a whole plethora of options available in the online space but lack of one credible source for the same. Askme allows its customers to stay ahead with all the information from best places to travel to best places to eat at, and so on, all from one trustworthy online platform that is ASKME.

     

    Further, with the launch of the campaign by Askmebazaar.com, the company introduces a novel concept of online retail therapy. ‘One Click Therapy’ as the name suggests acts as the driving force for customers to lead a stress free life. Online marketplace in Askmebazaar is positioned as stress buster via retail therapy as it offers next day delivery on top brand with best deals.

     

    Conceptualized by the creative agency JWT, both the campaigns use a comprehensive multimedia approach, compelling facts and vivid imagery designed to change consumers buying behavior.

     

    Speaking on the occasion Manav Sethi, Group CMO, Askme said, “Both these campaigns are built on consumer insights. Search has moved from discovery to aggregated opinions and hence Askme assumes that leadership position across India to communicate best places to eat, wear, and relax etc. The option to transact these products and be in the trend is made available by Askmebazaar where majority find platforms such as these an option full of choices, brands and best prices and hence “stress mein don’t go bizarre; shop on askmebazaar”

     

    Saurabh Saksena, Senior Vice President & Executive Business Director, J Walter Thompson said, “Over the past few years the consumers are turning to the internet to see what choices they have to make, whether for eating-out, travel destinations, fashion, gadgets, plays, etc. While there are many destinations that offers them choice, few offer them advise. The poor consumer is left asking people who they know (and who may not be experts) for their advise about where to eat, where to travel to, which movie to watch, what to wear and what gadget to buy, etc.

     

    And these ‘advisors’ may not be the best people to ask. This forms the basis for our campaign, we have had most fun coming up with. “Don’t ask just about anyone, ask the BAAP of all trends, askme.com” askme.com offers to satisfy this need to get advise/ recommendations from a credible source, through curated experiences.”

     

  • For every eight new channels launched in the long tail, only one breaks even in its first decade, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: The long tail of TV channels: An investor’s delight?

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    We are a country of many channels. At last count, more than 400 channels have enabled themselves with watermarking that’s a pre-requisite for them to be measured and reported by BARC. About 250 of these have a viewership of at least 0.1 GRPs.

     

    The top 10 channels contribute to 48% of the total TV viewership in the Hindi-speaking markets (HSM). Six Hindi GECs and four Hindi Movie Channels (HMCs) constitute this list. The Top 20 contribute 64% of the total TV viewership. Regional GECs and kids channels find a place in this extended list, along with Hindi GECs and HMCs.

     

    The Top 30 contribute 75%, and the new genres to enter this list are Hindi News and rerun-based Hindi GECs like Star Utsav, Zee Anmol and Rishtey. The tail flattens out here onwards, with the Top 40 contributing 81% and the Top 50 contributing 86%. There is no past data to draw a trend here (BARC vs. TAM is a fallacious comparison), so it is difficult to conclude if the long tail is getting longer. But even as the big guns fight their fierce battles, it’s this long tail that is going to be of increasing interest to potential investors in the broadcasting sector.

     

    Look beyond the Top 30 and you see variety in great measure. Regional channels feature prominently in this list, as do genres like sports, news, music and infotainment. However, there’s no ‘only-in-English’ channel in the Top 90, till the English Movie Channel (EMC) category makes an appearance.

     

    There has always been considerable investor interest in the television business in India, over the last two decades at least. With the advent of digitisation and the (somewhat overrated) phenomenon of non-linear television, this interest is increasingly concentrated on the long tail. It is not to suggest that the GEC category has no need gaps available, but the sheer investment in a mainline GEC can make even the most risk-prone investor think twice.

     

    Hence, the focus seems to be on differentiated ideas that can stand out in the long tail. A common problem, however, seems to be that many of these ideas have the potential of being a long tail champion, but the aspirations and funding requirements of one of the Top 20 players.

     

    Like in the films business, there’s no such thing in TV as a good channel or a bad channel. Every channel is as good or as bad as the ROI it can generate for its investors. The long tail has higher chances of creating such high ROI propositions, but with channels that control budgets to suit the long tail potential.

     

    Thinking regional becomes a smart choice in such a scenario. There are more need gaps in the regional spaces, and like-to-like content costs are 30-70% lower in regional vs. Hindi, depending on the market being targeted.

     

    For every eight new channels launched in the long tail, only one breaks even in its first decade. As we mature as a television market, we will see more long tail channels. But we also hope to see more success stories.

     

  • Maybe we can have a lottery system where one star news anchor heads the Indian Armed Forces every week, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: How about a star news anchor heading our Armed Forces every week?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    On social media, there is no middle ground. You are either a patriot or an anti-national. More and more journalists in India are joining, it seems, the anti-national brigade. Some commentators too. Many of these had been flag-waving, slogan-shouting, bandwagon-charioteers for the new government in power at the Centre before it became the new government in power at the Centre. Now there are turncoats everywhere you turn.

     

    Luckily, given the immense fear of a social media backlash, we still have several top notch news anchors who are ultra-patriots and given their nightly hysterics on TV, they can singlehandedly take on every Pakistani terrorist with their bare hands if need be. Forget terrorists, the whole Pakistan army, ISI, everything. Listening to them talk about war and terrorism, you wonder why they aren’t all chief of army staff. Maybe we can have a lottery system where one star news anchor heads the Indian Armed Forces every week? Or to be fair, since all are not equal, we can send them off to other para-military services as well.

     

    Every news channel nurtures at least one of them. This ensures that no anti-national tag can ever be attached to them. The winners however for the UPA (Ultra Patriot Accolade, don’t get your saffron knickers in a twist now) are Times Now (the great man himself) and India Today TV (the other two).

     

    Print journalism and to some extent web journalism continues to be anti-national. The government and its policies are questioned and investigations are conducted into claims by every government agency, even those deemed by UPA winners to be beyond reproach. It is incumbent upon all Ultra Patriots to call every person who has ever died a “martyr”, thus adding bad English to their other remarkable journalistic achievements.

     

    It is a very intriguing way of practising journalism or perhaps it is a direct lift of the “Fox News” way. But there are deeper questions at work, not just for patriots but also for journalists. If India is attacked, is a journalist allowed to ask difficult questions? We are not in a state of war at the moment after all, where conditions may apply. Is inefficiency for instance to be condoned in the name of patriotism? Even if you disagree with the extreme position taken by Julian Assange (come on, UPA winners, who he?), is there not a middle ground?

     

    It appears however that fear of social media reactions is frightening journalists into forgetting their primary purpose and that is really frightening.

     

    **

     

    How about our commentators? All those articles headlined, “Five things Modi will do, should do” have dried up. For a while they became, “Five things Modi must do” but when it was clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not listening, those also stopped. Then it became, “Five things Modi would have done if these other evil people within the BJP would let him”. And right now, it’s “Modi has to change his methods of functioning”.

     

    It was an article of the last sort by veteran journalist R Jagannathan which got removed from firstpost.com as we had discussed last time. And now respected columnist Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who led the anti-UPA march of columnists before the election, writes a critical piece against Prime Minister Modi in his much-admired column for Indian Express.

    http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/loud-but-silent/

     

    **

     

    However, those who are pro-Narendra Modi must read this piece in Swarajya, a web magazine started in the spirit apparently of C Rajagopalachari and Minoo Masani, but that runs wholly in the glorification of the prime minister. It will warm the cockles of your heart and make up for the high number of turning worms. This piece outdoes the love that Mani Shanker Aiyar demonstrated for Rajiv Gandhi in his book, Goodnight Sweet Prince. That until now had been my gold standard for “lurrve”. Swarajya beats Aiyar hollow!

    http://swarajyamag.com/politics/the-maker/

     

     

  • The plan involves setting up a website in association with media agency conglomerate GroupM between August 12 and August 29, the day of the festival

    With Raksha Bandhan in mind, Facebook to launch online shopping fest with GroupM

    By A Correspondent

     

    Social networking site Facebook is looking to tap the rising enthusiasm in India for online shopping by launching a shopping festival named Tied Together on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. The plan involves setting up a website in association with media agency conglomerate GroupM between August 12 and August 29, the day of the festival.

     

    Media agencies said Facebook’s pitch note said brands can “unlock the power of social media that can reach 10 crore potential customers through this event.” Facebook’s role will be to use its subscriber base and social networking platform to drive traffic to the shopping site.

     

    Participating companies will have to pay a fee that will be shared by Facebook, GroupM and other media agencies. Facebook, which has 11.2 crore users in India, is said to be looking for a title sponsor at an asking rate of Rs 3 crore and a principal sponsor at a similar rate besides associate sponsors for Rs 1.5 crore each.

     

    Facebook and GroupM didn’t respond to emailed queries.

    “Online shopping festivals have become a popular trend in India, especially with the rise in the number of ecommerce companies, which are driving the growth of online shopping in the country,” a media planner said. “Facebook should be viewed as another media vehicle which has a huge database that can be utilised for commercial purposes.”

     

    Last October, Google held a shopping festival in association with GroupM and Amazon called the Grand Diwali Mela. A year before that, Google launched the Great Online Shopping Festival. Earlier this year, Google held the Great Indian Travel Festival (GITF) in association with media agency conglomerate IPG Mediabrands. In July, Magicbricks joined hands with GroupM and Google to launch a property festival that will be called the Great Online Home Festival. “Companies like Amazon, Flipkart and other ecommerce companies can host an online festival on their own website. But companies like Google and Facebook need to create a new one to host a shopping festival. The idea is to create online intellectual properties (IP) and to make them annual events,” said another media planner.

     

    Companies like Google and Facebook charge advertisers on a “per click” basis that ranges between 50 paise to Rs 100 and Rs 2 to Rs 20, respectively, “depending on the customer-targeting options that they choose,” said the planner. They will charge a fee for sponsoring these festivals on their website. “For media agencies that associate with such events there are no immediate financial returns and it is a long-term plan,” he said.

     

    Source:The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2015, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

    Licensed to republish

     

  • The presentation ceremony will be held in Mumbai, India in September 2015

    Mumbai to host first edition of EEMAX Global Awards 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), announced the EEMAX Global Awards to identify, celebrate and honour the best events and experiential marketing projects from India and around the world.

     

    Entries for the EEMAX Global Awards are expected from agencies in India, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and USA. The three level selection process, involves taking the award entries through a screening jury, a global jury and peer voting by members of EEMA to choose the winners in 29 categories that span entertainment events, social events, sporting events, weddings, exhibitions, digital events, government events, education programs and CSR.

     

    Sabbas Joseph, President- EEMA, shared, “The EEMAX GLOBAL Awards are a clear sign of India¹s event industry going global. Indian event companies are being retained by international clients and brands for development of activation programs as well as corporate events, mega public events and also sporting galas. EEMAX Global will signify a welcome to global agencies to showcase their work in India which is the fast-developing turf for global event programs.”

     

    The presentation ceremony will be held in Mumbai, India in September 2015.

     

    The event industry in India has grown exponentially over the last two decades with several 1000 entities operating in this space, in various segments and levels across 100+ cities in India. EEMA is the first and only body of its kind, which seeks to bring together the country’ leading event management companies, entertainment professionals, artist management companies and international counterparts on the same platform.

     

    The premier convention of the live events and experiential marketing industry, EEMAGINE SUMMIT 2015, brought together global professionals like David Zolkwer, Matteo Carvino and Sarah Gardiner; Indian leaders and achievers like Poonam Mahajan, Venky Mysore, Dr. A Didar Singh, Vikas Agnihotri, Rishi Jaitly, Yannick Colaco, Ravi Krishnan and Nitin Kukreja and several other imagineers from the events, entertainment, sports, cinema, advertising and marketing industry under one roof to discuss trends and map the future of the industry in a path-breaking convention.