MxMIndia

Category: MEDIA

  • The two will produce 'Sitaara,' a reality TV search for South India's next top actress

    Mahesh Bhupathi’s GloboSport now into Reality TV

    By Sangeetha Kandavel

     

    Photon Kathaas Productions, a movie production company in which Oscar winner AR Rahman and film director Gautham Menon are advisors, is foraying into TV content and has tied up with tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi’s GloboSport for the same.

     

    The two will produce ‘Sitaara,’ a reality TV search for South India’s next top actress. The show will be produced in all four South Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam).

     

    This was stated in a Photon Kathaas statement released on LSE’s AIM exchange, where it is listed. The statement quoted the company’s CEO Venkat Somasundaram as saying, “It is a clear example of our stated objective of producing and exploiting a diverse portfolio of South Indian content across multiple formats and languages.””

     

    The production for this show is expected to start in second half of 2012 and would go live in early 2013. India is estimated to have about 200 million TV households, roughly a third of which are based in South India.

     

    Photon Kathaas Production is the brainchild of Tamil film director Gautham Vasudev Menon and has music director AR Rahman as a creative advisor. The company also has producer Michael Rosenberg as its chairman. It was established in 2009.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • NCAER MasterCard Worldwide Index of Business Confidence Study reflects stability in business sentiments and cautious outlook of the business sector

    Rise in Business Confidence Index after 5 quarters

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Business Confidence Index in Indiais showing signs of improvement after five consecutive quarters in March 2012 according to the latest NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research) MasterCard Worldwide Index of Business Confidence. The 80th NCAER MasterCard Worldwide Index of Business Confidence is based on a survey which measures business confidence on four indicators.

     

    They include overall economic conditions six months from now, financial position of firms six months from now, investment climate and level of current capacity utilization. All four indicators carry equal weight. The Index is released every quarter.

     

    The Business Confidence Index (BCI) increased by 7.7 per cent over the previous quarter to 134.9 points from 125.2 points in January 2012. The rise in the Index indicates an increase in the investor confidence and expectation, irrespective of a global slump and high inflation rates. The Index also registered improvement in business environment for the first time since January 2011.

     

    The study reflects stability in business sentiments and cautious outlook of the business sector. This change in business sentiments is backed by a number of changes that have taken place on both domestic and global front during the last quarter of FY 2011/12. While moderation in economic growth rates persisted, inflation rate also moderated and the food grain harvest in 2011-12 has been at a record level.

     

    “NCAER MasterCard Worldwide Index of Business Confidence shows some significant changes in the economy during the quarter ending March 2012. After a dip in 2011, the index showed positive business sentiments during this time period. In light of the current challenging economic environment, the next quarter index will be worth watching. The study continues to provide great insights on the key factors that affect the business and political environment in India.” said TV Seshadri, Division President,South Asiaand Country President India, MasterCard Worldwide.

     

    “It’s encouraging to see how the economy is recovering from the slump. The investors are regaining confidence and there is a positive outlook which has impacted this quarters result,” noted Dr. Shashanka Bhide, Senior Research Counselor, NCAER.

     

    An analysis of the four indicators revealed an improvement in three out of four components of BCI over the previous quarter. Among the three, the largest improvement is in the case of present investment climate.

     

    The survey focuses on trends within firm-specific business outlook indicators and also includes a Political Confidence Index (PCI) and a special section on Expectations and Evaluation of Union Budget 2012-13. The latest survey was conducted in March 2012 and received 528 responses. The data was collected through personal interviews and questionnaires sent to a diverse range of businesses across various regions inIndia. The Index and its accompanying report do not represent MasterCard financial performance.

     

    Sector wise, analysis of BCI, revealed a marked improvement across all major sectors except consumer non-durables sector. Four of five major sectors of the economy reveal improvement in business sentiments. The consumer non-durables sector shows a decline where BCI slipped 4.8 per cent from 142.7 in January 2012 to 135.8 now.

     

    An improvement in business sentiments is seen in the present round of survey, the highest optimism level being registered by firms in intermediate sector where BCI has jumped up by 14.5 per cent followed by services sector (134.5), capital goods sector (138.6) and consumer durables sector (135.8) with 7.2 per cent, 6 per cent and 4.2 per cent growth, respectively. Although business sentiments in consumer non-durables sector show decline, at the same time it exhibits the second most optimistic BCI among all sectors after capital goods sector.

     

    According to the findings, business sentiments across all the regions reflect fair degree of uniformity in perceptions. Among four regions, three have registered improvement in business sentiments in the present survey. North has registered the highest improvement while South shows marginal fall over the previous quarter. Overall, the survey reflects improved business sentiments in all regions except South where although the present situation has improved, firms are still not sure about changes in the short run future.

     

    On the whole, expectations with respect to overall economic conditions and to some extent financial position seem to remain the main issues of concern for the firms, especially in North and South.

     

    The survey reveals a divergence in the perceptions between private sector and public sector firms on the one hand and smaller and larger firms on the other. There is a sharp increase in BCI for larger firms than smaller ones. Similarly, private sector firms show higher optimism while public sector firms show a decline.

     

    The disaggregation of firms by ownership type reveals heterogeneity in the perceptions between public and private sector firms. The study reveals that while public sector firms show decline in the business sentiments, private sector firms showed an improvement. An improvement in overall BCI is mainly contributed by private sector firms as public sector firms reflect weak confidence.

     

    Firms in the manufacturing sectors reflect expectations of greater improvement in domestic sales and production level as compared to firms in services sector along with improved profits over the next six months. The survey results also reveal expectations of higher input costs per unit of output such as for raw materials, labour, and electricity, in the short run. The ex-factory prices are also likely to increase. The survey also points towards improvement in employment conditions and higher wage rates for labour in the next six months. Given the expectations of higher sales and production by manufacturing firms, inventories are also expected to build up.

     

    The latest survey has a special section on Expectations and Evaluation of Union Budget 201213. This study is aimed at capturing the expectations and impact of tax proposals made in budget 2012/13 on business sectors activities.

     

    While majority of the respondents expected corporate tax to remain unchanged in the budget proposals, an equal proportion of respondents expected corporate tax rates to decrease or increase. More than 37 per cent anticipated excise duty would increase. In general, while there were apprehensions of increase in tax rates, there was also an expectation that the budget would reduce the tax burden. Post-budget it is found that significant proportion of firms report adverse effect of tax proposals. Only about 30 per cent of the respondents reported corporate tax rate proposal in the budget as satisfactory. The findings suggest that the business sector perhaps was expecting measures to boost investment and demand more directly and these may not have been realised.

     

    Following two mild improvements in the previous quarters, the current round of BES in the latest survey results shows a decline in Political Confidence Index (PCI). The index has declined by 4.6 per cent from 86.9 in January 2012 to 82.9 in April 2012.

     

    Nonetheless, the index still remains above its level recorded in July 2011. At regional level, two regions show fall in political confidence while the other two show improvement. Similarly, among sectors, two have registered a fall in PCI in April 2012 while the remaining three still hold up the optimism level.

     

    The latest survey showed a drop in the ratings for seven of the eight components of PCI:

     

    Factors Mar – 12 Jan – 12
    Managing Overall Economic Growth 30.2 36.6
    Managing Government Finance 37.2 39.4
    Managing Inflation 18.8 22.3
    Managing Unemployment 18.8 12.7
    Managing Exchange Rate 28.3 28.5
    Managing Conducive Political Climate 19.9 20.4
    External Trade Negotiations (both bilateral /multilateral) 27.9 30.5
    Pushing the Economic Reforms Forward 26.0 26.7
    Political Confidence Index 82.9 86.9

     

    The present survey shows that ratings of political management of the economic issues have declined compared to the previous quarter. Unlike the last round, where three out of eight PCI components showed decline, the current round shows decline in seven out of eight components. The highest fall is reported in the case of managing overall economic growth by 6.4 points followed by managing inflation (3.5 points) and external trade negotiation (2.6 points).

     

    The survey results indicate that unlike BCI, which shows a decline in the consumer non-durables sector, the aggregate PCI in consumer nondurables, consumer durables and intermediates sectors witnessed an improvement of 5.5 points, 7.4 points and 5.1 points, respectively. The capital goods and services sectors witnessed decline by 19.1 points and 12.1 points respectively, indicating the aggregate PCI, which measures the overall confidence of business sector in the political management of economic policies, is not uniform across the manufacturing sectors.

     

    Region-wise results suggest that PCI declined for two regions North & South and improved for the other two regions East & West over the previous round. In North, responses declined from 91 per cent in the previous round to 82.3 per cent in the current round. Southern region recorded a considerable decline of 11.6 points during same period. Across all the regions, eastern and western regions continued to maintain the trend of improvement with an increase of 9.2 points and 1.2 points respectively.

     

    Out of the firms in five different sizes, two sizes witnessed improvement and the remaining showed a declining trend. The highest improvement is recorded in small firms indicating that small size firms are more optimistic in their assessment of political management of economic issues. Respondents in large size firms reported declining trend in PCI from 93.8 per cent to 85.4 per cent and from 109.9 per cent to 90.4 per cent, respectively from the previous round (January 2012) to the current round.

  • The programme aims to encourage individuals with a business idea to come forward and connects them with relevant mentors and investors

    Eco Times launches The Power of Ideas 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Economic Times brings back The Power of Ideas,India’s largest entrepreneurship development programme. It aims to encourage individuals with a business idea to come forward and connects them with relevant mentors and investors. The programme was first launched in 2009 when it received over 12,000 business ideas followed by over 16,000 the next year. This year, armed with a bigger corpus of funds, the initiative seeks to transform more business ideas into real businesses.

     

    Ravi Dhariwal, Chief Executive Officer – Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd said: “We at The Economic Times believe that the future of the Indian economy lies in the hands of young entrepreneurs. It is the energy and drive of these young people with an idea that will giveIndiaits next big leap. I am happy to say that The Power of Ideas initiative has provided critical impetus to many such ideas.”

     

    The programme is conducted by The Economic Times in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. DST brings to the programme its expertise and relationships in the entrepreneurial space as well as a corpus of Rs6.2 crore of guaranteed funds. The funds are open to all those with genuine innovation on their mind, regardless of whether they have just an idea or a fully functional start-up.

     

    Working alongside ET and DST is IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).CIIE is a leader in the field of mentoring, guiding and making business ideas investor-ready.

     

    The greatest value CIIE will add to The Power of Ideas will be by way of their wide network of mentors and investors who will evaluate every single business idea received as part of the programme. The most deserving ideas will be given personalized mentoring. In the last phase, entrepreneurs who make it to the final cut-off will be taken through a nine-day period of intensive mentoring by CIIE, as a residential programme at IIM Ahmedabad. This unique public-private-academia partnership remains in place in 2012 to drive the programme to new heights.

  • Come midnight, the 3 MCCS channels will switch the Star prefix to ABP. Nothing else will change, promises the ABP-Star jv CEO Ashok Venkatramani

    Only the logo will change: Venkatramani

     

    As the clock strikes 12 midnight, the logo on popular Hindi, Bengali and Marathi news channels Star News, Star Ananda and Star Majha will change. In fact as the communication from the channels has been emphasizing, save the brandname, nothing else will. Following the announcement of the discontinuation of the Star brand affiliation with MCCS (Media Content and Communications Pvt Ltd), the the Ananda Bazar Patrika and Star India jv, the three 24-hour channels will be rechristened. Star News to ABP News, Star Ananda to ABP Ananda and Star Majha to ABP Majha.

     

    MCCS unveiled its new logos for the three channels and kicked off its communication campaign around the rebranding on May 7. The creative communication campaign was developed by Lowe Mumbai and the media buying plan was formulated by Mindshare. The aggressive communication campaign based on the theme, “Our Stars don’t change, our News does not change, only our Name changes”, was launched across media, on TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor and Internet to familiarize viewers and stakeholders about the new name and logo.

     

    Just hours ahead of the rebranding, MxMIndia spoke to Mr Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, MCCS on the acceptability levels of the new name, measures being undertaken to retain viewership and the road ahead for MCCS.

     

    What time will the change happen?

    Tonight. 12 midnight.

     

    Since you spoke to us the day the announcement was made to now, what are the reports that your front-facing sales and editorial forces bring you – in terms of acceptability of the name… especially for Star News to ABP News?

    So far the feedback has been positive and encouraging. If I were to divide the stakeholders into three parts – the viewers, the newsmakers and the media buyers and the trade, for the first segment which comprises viewers, the change has not happened. It’s going to happen from tomorrow. But since the time we announced, there has been no change in our ratings. We report daily news, and as long as it is the same set of people doing the same set of news in the same manner, I don’t expect much change there. The second constituent which is the newsmaker, there is absolutely no issue there because ABP is a very strong name in the newspaper and magazine industry. It’s been there for long and ABP has very strong news credentials. The third segment which is the trade and media buyers, feedback has been positive… virtually no problem with the large houses. There again, ABP is not a new name, everyone buys print so they know. So it has been positive, and it’s best manifested in the sales that have happened in the last couple of months. I am fairly confident that we will be able to pull this through comfortably.

     

    But the biggest component is the viewer, which is untested yet and that’s where the ratings come in.

    Frankly, unlike the entertainment media where your ratings are linked to some big property and the fate of the channel is linked to that property, in a news channel, where even before the name change there is a fair degree of clutter and poor differentiation. Over a period of time, each channel has established rating levels based on consistency of its content. And that consistency is driven by the way we report, the speed of reporting, the honesty, the faces or the anchors who come on our channel, the kind of programmes we have. Now those things don’t change, the reporting and the people are the same. To my mind, just a logo change in the corner doesn’t dramatically change impact of the news channel. And if you take the two regional channels, Ananda and Majha, they are clear market leaders, and there again nothing changes- the anchors are the same, reporting is the same, and the position of the channel in the EPG is the same.

     

    Any attempts to retain viewership… like contests et al? And any specific measures to retain advertisers? And for the distribution trade?

    No, we are not resorting to any short-term activity to garner quick eyeballs because our genre doesn’t subscribe to that. What we can potentially do is break big stories but there is already so much action happening. What we are doing is engaging with our trade, media buyers and distributors. We are having a series of meetings with them, small personalized interactions where we can chat and exchange views with them. It’s more of a personalized engagement with the constituents rather than any on-air activity for the viewer.

     

    Given that there is a change, are there any specific areas that you are changing in the new channels?

    It would be exactly the same and deliberately so. We just want to do one measure at a time, so at this point there is no change other than the name change. But as we progress into the new name and once the new name gets fully established, people start recognizing it, and then we will look at other measures like relaunching the channel, changing the look and feel etc.

     

    When is that likely to happen?

    Too early to say.

     

    Our columnists Anil Thakraney had commented that this is possibly a good occasion for changing some of the typical things that are common on Hindi channels, like over-sensationalizing etc. Are you thinking of doing that now?

    No, actually if you watch the channel, we have done that for the last one-and-a-half years now. This is a common misconception most people have because they don’t see Hindi news channels on a regular basis. This is a genre problem where we have a lingering perception. For example, I have got out of astrology for a year now, I don’t have a single programme on the channel which talks about astrology. It’s been more than a year-and-a-half since we got out of religion. Now we have not gone out on the rooftops and shouted about it but all these things we’ve already done. We have only hard-hitting news on our channel from 5pm to 10pm. And we’ve done this because we felt this is the right thing to do for a genre not because our name is changing. To my mind, in a news channel, these changes take time to notice.

     

    A programme like ‘Asar’ with Aamir Khan would’ve obviously started on Star News because it was a Star Plus show. Will the preferred partner status continue to exist even after June 1?

    Yes, in fact they are still our shareholders. Secondly, all such deals are purely on a commercial basis but obviously relationships were strong. In fact not many people know that Satyamev Jayate used to be a programme on Star News started by Uday Shankar when he used to be here. And we didn’t have a problem in them doing Satyamev Jayate, so the relationship continues. They continue to be our distribution partners, they continue to distribute our channels internationally.

     

    There is this news that Star might also exit the JV because they say it is not really worth their while to have a stake when they don’t have any say. Is that something that you have factored in?

    Actually I don’t want to comment on it because it’s a JV issue which only the JV partners can address. And I think it is best addressed by Star and ABP. But I guess any commercial investment by any investor has to be based on commercial returns. Now how an investor evaluates investment in the news business depends entirely on the investor.

     

    Have you done any brand studies or surveys on the acceptability levels of the new names?

    Yes, we have done research. A name change always has to be a combination of some research and some amount of strategy. One can’t entirely depend on research, it’s like naming a baby, where you look at the ‘granth sahib’ and pick up the alphabet and choose your name. So I think for us, given the fact that ABP is a serious player in the news business and they have long-term ambitions to be in news, including broadcast news, it did make sense to have a master brand which can be built going forward. So it was a combination of strategy and research.

     

    How active will ABP be, or will it be the same with you running the enterprise and ABP being on the board level?

    Nothing changes even on that front. Even now both the shareholders, Star and ABP continue to be the parents allowing MCCS to do its own thing. They were always available to be tapped, whenever we needed inputs. Any dealing with them is also at commercial terms. I don’t see any change in that.

     

    The campaign of the name change kicked off rather early, from the time you made the announcement… was it part of the original design or was it something which changed later?

    Obviously we saw it coming and we had a headstart of a month or so. A couple of months were good enough for us to churn out a campaign, so that’s how it was.

     

    Will see a more robust online presence of the MCCS channels now, including an English news website?

    If you look at our entire strategy, not just online, it is driven by a simple definition of who we are and what we are. We believe that we are not a television news company, we are a news content company. If we are a news content company, we should be platform-agnostic and we should be available on all platforms where a viewer might like to consume news. So we developed all these websites and developed 3G platforms, mobile downloads etc. so that we are available in all platforms. For us the allied platforms were not like profit centres, we were happy to get the revenue but at the same time we wanted to be present in all the platforms. The problem is that the online rights of Star News were international, which is why we didn’t get .in at that point of time. So we had to go with another name. Now going forward, our strategy remains the same.

     

    Any new channels coming up in the immediate future?

    We are working on newer options… frankly, it’s a question of the right timing. It is not related to this name change or the JV, it is an independent aspect which we in MCCS have been exploring and continue to explore. I would probably wait and watch because next six months are going to be a huge turning point. For example, if the entire digitization process goes on well as planned, it has a big impact on news channels and also our own company in terms of how we project the next five years. If the digitization process gets postponed or deferred then I will be a little more cautious. We do have plans but whether I press the button or not, I’ll probably wait and watch.

     

    Will it be organic or inorganic or both?

    It could be both, it’s a question of a right opportunity.

     

    Say, for instance, if a NewsX is available, would that be an option?

    I wouldn’t rule out anything but I would evaluate everything for the value it brings and how much it costs. If it makes business sense, why not. But it’s not as if we would be chasing any particular company or a set of channels or anything like that.

     

  • What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for the 73 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 161 million

    73 matches on IPL5 get an average TVR of 3.36

    By A Correspondent

     

    Despite delivering the lowest television ratings in the history of the tournament, the weekly data released by TAM sports has shown some consistency in its overall IPL 5 viewership. According to the latest numbers released by TAM Sports for the first 73 matches (CS 4+ All India), IPL 5 recorded a TVR of 3.36 per cent, which is slightly lower than the first 73 matches of season four which received a TVR of 3.51 per cent.

     

    These ratings do not include the final match played between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on May 27. A total of 76 matches were played in season five, the highest so far in the entire tournament, and out of the 76 matches played, two matches were abandoned due to rain.

     

    The inaugural IPL season (IPL1) however continues to remain the most watched tournament till date with a TVR of 4.81 per cent for the 58 matches whereas IPL3, which celebrated the home coming season, witnessed the second highest viewership for the first 60 matches with a TVR of 4.65 per cent; IPL season two which was played in South Africa received a TVR of 4.17 per cent for the first 57 matches.

     

    What has shown improvement is the cumulative reach for the 73 matches in IPL 5 that stands at 161 million. This is nearly the same for IPL 4 where the reach was 162 million and far better than IPL 3, 2, and 1 where the reach measured was 143 million, 122 million and 102 million respectively.

     

    It may be recalled that for the first 59 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.33 per cent and during the first 48 matches, IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.40 per cent whereas for the first 36 matches IPL 5 delivered a TVR of 3.41 per cent, for the first 27 matches, it delivered a TVR of 3.53 per cent and the first 16 matches, a TVR of 3.65 per cent.

     

    Mr Janardhan Pandey, Associate Vice-President, DDB Mudra Max said that he was not disappointed with the ratings as season five was expected to deliver lower ratings than last year, although he did expect the ratings to be closer to season four. On the factors that might have affected the viewership, Mr Pandey said: “I feel that on the face of very high expectations, too much confusion before the start of this season along with poor Indian team’s performance in last one year and overdose of cricket did impact the IPL season five viewership. I am also of the view that certain IPL teams are weak with few relevant star players as compared to many other teams, so the matches involving them delivered low ratings, thus impacting the overall score.”

     

    “I believe that the game is extremely popular and audiences are still around. Only the crowd needs to swell further. The weaker teams must get boost up with inclusion of adequate star players” he added.

     

    Source : TAM Sports, TG : CS 4+ yrs, Market : All India, Channel : MAX, No. of Matches analysed : As mentioned in the table

    * In IPL 1 one match (47th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 2 two matches (7th & 13th)were abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 4 one match (20th) was abandoned due to rain
    * In IPL 5 two matches (32th & 34th) were abandoned due to rain

     

  • Taproot yet again proves how creativity can yank something regular and create a non-clichéd campaign

    Taproot’s ‘sexy’ humour for Fox Movies

    By A Correspondent

     

    The new campaign being aired for Fox Movies Premium, an Asian movie channel owned by Fox International Channel, subsidiary of News Corporation has created a lot of buzz. The campaign was created for the Thai market, and the film was shot inBangkokwith some lead actors from their TV industry.

     

    Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder TaprootIndiasaid: “The brief was very simple to communicate that Fox Channel now offers subtitle free movies, so the product promise is generic but the challenge was how to say it in a way that Fox Channel is on the top of the audiences’ mind. We thought whatever we say had to be entertaining in the first place, which is why one watches the movies, hence a humorous approach. And since it’s targeted for the Thai audience, the second challenge was a very distinctive humor as they are known for their mad humors. We decided to highlight the problem. The whole idea of the campaign or creative device is based on the behavior of the person who watches movies with subtitles.”

     

    Razneesh Ghai, film director, Asylum Films said: “The rampant usage of subtitles has taken away the cinematic experience of watching films. It has now become a habit to read the subtitles, taking your eyes off the action. We took this simple problem and highlighted it in a funny manner. The humour in the film is very subtle and not in your face. Also, there had to be a simple thread of communication to convey it to a global audience (since subtitles are everywhere!).”

    Manan Mehta, Managing Partner TaprootIndiasaid: “English language channels had struck a chord with the audience in non-English speaking markets due to subtitling. Of course, the next sphere of offering was the regional feed. This allowed the English channels to be relevant and come closer to their audience. Thus, this campaign was conceptualized with the brief of making the audience aware that Fox Channel is available inSouth East Asiain regional language.

     

    From January 1, Star Movies was rebranded Fox Movies Premium and was available inHong Kongand selected Southeast Asian countries. InIndia,China,Vietnam,Middle East,Taiwanand thePhilippines, the Star Movies brand will continue to be the same.

     

    TaprootIndiahas been handling Fox International Channel for theSouth East Asiamarket for last few years.

     

    CREDITS:
    Agency                                                            TaprootIndia

    Creative Director                                            Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias
    Writer                                                              Santosh Padhi

    Account Servicing                                           Manan Mehta

    Director                                                           Razneesh Ghai ( Razy )

    Producer                                                          Anju Vaswani

    Associate Producer                                         Bhavna Singh

    Editor                                                              Jay Chandran

    Sound Design                                                  Joseph George

     

    THAI CREW

    Line ProducerThailand( Picnic Features)     Kornpanote Semros

    Director of Photography                                  Sinthop Sophon

    Art Director                                                    Achira Nokthet

     

  • In comparison with 72 million page views in 2011, 113 million page views were generated during this year

    IPL 5 online traffic rises by 55%

    By A Correspondent

     

    Season 2012 of IPL concluded on May 27 with the Kolkata Knight Riders beating Chennai Super Kings to clinch the title for the first time in IPL history. The matches were streamed online by IPL official partner, Times Internet Limited (TIL) in partnership with YouTube. During this season, there was a 55 per cent increase in online viewership. In comparison with 72 million page views in 2011, 113 million page views were generated during this year’s action packed season.

     

    Showing a strong growth of over 87 per cent from the previous year, the page views for Indiastood at 80 million as compared to 43 million last year. The final match of the tournament generated 7.5 million page views, making it the highest single day viewership during the entire season.

    This year the IPL website offered a slew of features including interactive scorecards, high-definition streaming of IPL matches, DVR features (to rewind during a match), video-on-demand facility, and a ‘Battleground’ section.

     

    Rishi Khiani, CEO, Times Internet Limited, added, “Premium video content is a key focus area for us at Indiatimes and IPL is the key property as part of this vision. We promised IPL 2012 viewers a highly interactive and engaging cricket viewing experience. The record breaking online viewership numbers and advertiser traction across the season validate our delivery of this promise”.

     

    Gautam Anand, Director Content Partnership, Google APAC, said: “It’s heartening to see the continuous growth in the viewership of this exciting tournament online from across the globe. This season was extra special with lots of close matches and last ball finishes and we are really glad that we were able to bring all the action live to our audience on YouTube for the third consecutive year.”

     

  • He will be responsible for Network Development for India TV and upcoming group channels in domestic and international markets

    Rajmohan Nair joins IndiaTV as Prez-Network Devpt

    By A Correspondent

     

    India TV announced the appointment of Rajmohan Nair as President, Network Development. Prior to this he was VP-Distribution with TV Today. He has been fourth key appointee joining India TV from TV Today in less than three months.

     

    He will be responsible for Network Development for India TV and upcoming group channels in domestic and international markets. Mr Nair will be reporting to MD & CEO, Ritu Dhawan.

     

    Mr Nair has a career spanning around two decades, out of which 15 years have been in broadcast distribution space. As a member of the core strategy team of TVTN, he has been instrumental in encryption of the three TVTN channels & its launch in One Alliance Bouquet as a pay service.

     

    Welcoming Mr Nair on Board India TV MD & CEO, Ritu Dhawan said: “Digitalization is round the corner which will have an impact on the TV landscape in a big way. With Rajmohan coming on board at this juncture, we really feel optimistic that this will further boost the aggressive growth track we are set to follow”

     

    On his appointment, Mr Nair said, “It is a great opportunity for me to contribute towards further consolidating & cementing India TV’s leadership position in the news genre. What’s also exciting is the changing dynamics in the distribution space that shall also provide with a huge potential to develop pay business revenues for the channel.”

     

  • Kolkata Knight Riders dethroned Chennai Super Kings led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni

    IPL’s new champions- Kolkata Knight Riders

    By Sudarshan S

     

    April 18, 2008 to May 27, 2012 is a long wait, but as the owner and the mercurial Shahrukh Khan said: “This is something youngsters should believe in – resilience, patience, perseverance.  If you believe, you can win.”  Manoj Tiwary swings a delivery of Dwayne Bravo to the boundary on the 19.4 over, and the fireworks lit up the sky to usher in a new champion. Kolkata Knight Riders dethroned Chennai Super Kings led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a record of having qualified for semi-final of all the editions, and the fourth final.

     

    The match was not over, at 19.4th over, as the next KKR player walked in without helmets, pads, and no guards and took off from where Brendon Mcullum had left off on April 18, 2008 – the first game of IPL versus Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he scored 155, while KKR, then favourites even before the tournament started, posted 258 – the highest total in all IPLs.  Shahrukh Khan, the next player, walked in and seized the moment like a true showman.

     

    Every opportunity provided by the media was like a free hit that Shahrukh Khan lapped up, and displayed his candor by playing to the gallery. He wore his mask of modesty in the celebrations, and was humble enough in first congratulating his team, captain, coach and support staff, and in the same breath, he also thanked the hosts, their captain, crowds for the wonderful hospitality.  He hugged each and every player to now openly display his glee over the patient wait of the prophetic words on April 18, 2008 that had come true after ‘Four years One month and Nine Days’.  Jiving to ‘Will You be My Chhammak Chhallo’ along with the close knit family of cheer girls, and asking Navjot Singh Sidhu to comment something about the performance.

     

    This was KKR’s 75th game in IPL – a major milestone for a movie if it ran that many weeks, but Shahrukh would have spent 40 weeks over five years with the team by just his presence to achieve a brand valuation of about 50 odd million dollars (say about Rs250 crores), behind Chennai Super Kings ($75 million) and Mumbai Indians ($60 odd million).

     

    Just trying to imagine the glamour quotient of other teams, be it Shilpa Shetty for Rajasthan Royals, Preity Zinta, for Kings XI Punjab, Deepika Padukone for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Akshay Kumar for Delhi Dare Devils.

    KKR was the only team to have a dream combination with John Buchanan as the coach, Sourav Ganguly as the captain, and a cheer BOY in Shahrukh Khan.  What changed were the coach and the captain, and this was akin to a brain and heart transplant, but the soul remained intact, and resurrected the team.  Fourth in the fourth edition, sixth in the first and third edition, eighth in the second edition – that also witnessed the Fake IPL player controversy.

     

    Now who remembers all that – for this was all a PR stunt – not Public Relations, but Performance and Response.  “This is something youngsters should believe in – resilience, patience, perseverance.  If you believe, you can win.”  You did.  Congratulations, Kolkata Knight Riders, Congrats Shahrukh — the Showman!

     

    Sudarshan S teaches public relations at various business and media schools. He also head the Mumbai-based Prognosys Marcom Services

  • The9X Music Network Live app is targeted at the ever-growing segment of connected users who consume content on-the-move

    9X Music Network now on iPad

    By A Correspondent

     

    9X Music Television Network’s four channels - 9XM (Bollywood music channel),  9X Jalwa (Bollywood Hits music channel), 9X Tashan (Punjabi Super Hits) and 9X Jhakaas (Marathi music channel) are now available on iPad through 9X Music Network Live Application.

     

    Commenting on the app, Vibha Gosher VP-Digital 9X Media Group, said: “We are living in a world of convergence where music, movies, gaming, social networking and other forms of entertainment all come together on your personal devices. Tablets have changed the way entertainment is consumed globally. With iPad sales skyrocketing and their ever-increasing popularity, it’s probably one of the best platforms to extend the 9X experience of unadulterated music. The 9X Music Network Live app is targeted at the ever-growing segment of connected users who consume content on-the-move.”

     

  • The Government of India's New Telecom Policy 2012 says the the mobile phone will be repositioned as an instrument of empowerment

    Govt announces New Telecom Policy: 2mbps broadband and 100% teledensity by 2020

    From the MxM  Infodesk

     

    In a move that could have a far-reaching and direct impact on the Indian media and entertainment sector, the Union Cabinet approved the National Telecom Policy -2012 (NTP – 2012) yesterday. The salient features of the National Telecom Policy-2012 are as follows:

     

    The policy envisions providing secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development. The main thrust of the Policy is on the multiplier effect and transformational impact of such services on the overall economy. The thrust areas of NTP – 2012 are;

     

    • Increase rural teledensity from the current level of around 39 to 70 by the year 2017 and 100 by the year 2020
    • Repositioning of Mobile phone- as an instrument of empowerment
    • Broadband – ‘Broadband For All’ at a minimum download speed of 2 Mbps
    • Domestic Manufacturing- Making India a global hub
    • Convergence of Network, Services and Devices
    • Liberalisation of Spectrum- any Service in any Technology
    • Simplification of Licensing regime- Unified Licensing, delinking of Spectrum from License, Online real time submission and processing
    • Consumer Focus – Achieve One Nation – Full Mobile Number Portability and work towards One Nation – Free Roaming
    • Resale of Services
    • Voice over Internet Protocol
    • Cloud Computing, Next Generation Network including IPV6

     

    The policy seeks to provide a predictable and stable policy regime for a period of about 10 years. The policy will be operationalised by bringing out detailed guidelines, as may be considered appropriate, from time to time. The implementation will enable smooth implementation of the policies for providing an efficient telecommunication infrastructure taking into account the primary objective of maximizing public good by empowering the people of India. The policy will further enable taking suitable facilitatory measures to encourage existing service providers to rapidly migrate to the new regime in a uniformly liberalised environment with a level playing field.

     

    The Cabinet also approved the introduction of Unified Licence and authorised the Department of Telecommunications to finalise the new Unified Licensing regime with the approval of Minister of Communications & IT.

     

     

  • Over 1,500 passengers who travelled by IndiGo during a certain time on a day received an extra football bag along with their checked-in baggage

    Pepsi and IndiGo’s unique football surprise for air travellers

    By A Correspondent

     

    As part of their ongoing football campaign, Pepsi partnered with IndiGo to Change the Game when they surprised hundreds of IndiGo passengers with a Pepsi Change the Game Football Kit across six airports in the country.

     

    Over 1,500 passengers who travelled by IndiGo during a certain time on a day received an extra football bag along with their checked-in baggage. This activity was organized at the Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Goa and Bhubaneswar airports. Passengers across the airports were delighted with the extra travel kit by Pepsi and IndiGo which included a cool bag, football, t-shirt and a sipper.

     

    Talking about the initiative, Homi Battiwalla, Category Director – Colas, Hydration & Mango Based Beverages, PepsiCo India said: “Pepsi, as a brand, is known for creating clutter breaking campaigns. Our latest football campaign stands for all this and more. From irreverent TVCs to engaging online activities to an amateur tournament – Pepsi T20 Football, we are changing the game of football. We are delighted to have associated with IndiGo Airlines to create this surprise, which showed that you need not be a fan to indulge in some football fun.”

     

    Expressing his delight, Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo said: “We are happy to collaborate with Pepsi to collectively leverage their Change the Game campaign through this unique initiative. For us, the idea of surprising 6E passengers at six busiest airports with football kits was indeed an experience. Our endeavour is to provide the best-in-class experience to all our customers and execution of this initiative was to make their flying experience memorable. We hope our passengers enjoyed this surprise package.”

     

    This is Pepsi’s first football campaign in the country that was launched by an irreverent TVC starring actor Ranbir Kapoor, which set the tone for the real action. It was followed by a unique grassroots initiative, Pepsi T20 Football. It’s a revolutionary new format for amateurs, which combines the excitement of T20 cricket with the spirit of football. Organized in a unique metallic cage, the initiative was organized in major Indian cities including Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Delhi.

     

    A total of 8-teams, including 1 winning team from each city and 1 wild card entry will compete to emerge as ‘Game Changers’. They will then get the opportunity to be coached by Didier Drogba before they face the Indian Cricket Stars for a game of Pepsi T20 Football at the Grand Finale.

     

    The campaign is supported by a 360-degree approach including on-air, outdoor & on-ground initiatives; special edition packaging featuring and digital engagement programmes.