MxMIndia

Category: TV

  • The new division will drill deeper into Entertainment, Lifestyle & Brands

    Network18 announces the launch of Amplify18

    By A Correspondent

     

    Network18 has announced the launch of Amplify18, the Entertainment, Lifestyle and Brand Amplification entity of Network18, Amplify18 will leverage the group’s pan–national TV network along with the strong digital network to drive visibility, awareness and business growth for its clients through innovative advertising and communication formats. While the communique received hasn’t spelt it out, it appears that the direction of this entity will be in the form that the IBN Focus team had a few years back. IBN Focus was/is a division of TV18 with the intent of providing“innovative and insightful media solutions that create context through content for brands”.

     

    Mayur Parekh
    Puneet Singhvi

    Meanwhile, the group has appointed Mayur Parekh as Assistant General Manager to drive the corporate division. He will report to Puneet Singhvi, Head – Corporate Development.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Singhvi said: “Network18 is the largest National TV News Network with reach spanning 23 states. This combined with the significant audience we aggregate on our digital network gives us a significant ability to drive our clients’ messaging all across the country. This is a unique positioning and strength that is unparalleled in the news space in India. With Mayur coming on board to lead the initiative, we look forward to leveraging his experience and our reach to create a successful integration and amplification vehicle for clients across domains.”

     

    On the new assignment, Parekh said: “This will certainly be an exciting creative stride for me and I am geared up to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the industry. Our goal at Amplify18 is to make branded content business affable and most importantly an entertaining affair for our consumers. My role will be to take it to the next level by growing it aggressively.”

     

  • The concept behind the 'Better Save Your Seat Man' campaign is to highlight how cricket is relished and played in West Indies

    SPN urges fans to reserve their seats for India-WI Series

    By A Correspondent

     

    The sports cluster of Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) has launched its ‘Better Save Your Seat Man’ campaign for the ongoing India tour of West Indies.

     

    The concept behind the ‘Better Save Your Seat Man’ campaign is to highlight how cricket is relished and played in West Indies.

     

    Said Rajesh Kaul, President, Distribution and Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India:“The ’Better Save Your Seat Man’ campaign has been crafted to echo the ethos of cricket against the backdrop of the Caribbean region. This series is the commencement of premier cricketing action in the second half of the year. Our viewers will also get a to see our flagship live wraparound show Extraaa Innings that will host some of the finest names in cricket like Zaheer Khan, Ajay Jadeja, MuraliKartik, Darren Ganga and Jeff Dujon who will deliver their analyses and predictions on the show along with serving as commentators for the series.”

     

    The campaign comprises of two 45-second films that urges fans to save their seats for the cricket spectacular as India tour the West Indies.

     

  • The UTT league commences its inaugural season from July 13 to July 30

    Star Sports launches campaign for Ultimate Table Tennis

    By A Correspondent

     

    As some of the top table-tennis players battle to be the best in the all-new franchise-based professional sports league Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), Star Sports has unveiled its campaign for the tournament – ‘See Champions, Be Champions’. The UTT league commences its inaugural season on July 13 and continues till July 30.

     

    Commenting on the film, a Star India spokesperson said: “The ‘See Champions, Be Champions’ film for Ultimate Table Tennis League (UTT) rediscovers the fervour for the sport in a refreshing way. It aims at showcasing Table tennis as a skill sport and break the stereotype of being a recreational sport. At Star Sports, through Ultimate Table Tennis, we want to renew the fan’s zeal for Table Tennis and provide fans a flavour of the dynamic, nail-biting action that they can expect from UTT league.”

     

    Ultimate Table Tennis will be hosted in Chennai and New Delhi with the final leg held in Mumbai. It will have 18 matches divided into 15 leagues, two semis and one final.

     

  • They will be closely working with COO Megha Tata to drive the business news channel to strengthen the next level growth in India

    BTVi ropes in Shilpa Shetty and Seema Pisharody to strengthen revenue and strategy team

    By A Correspondent

     

    Shilpa Shetty

    BTVi or as the Business Television India channel is better known as has appointed Shilpa Shetty and Seema Pisharody to jointly work towards revenue generation for the channel. They will be closely working with COO Megha Tata to drive the business news channel to strengthen the next level growth in India. BTVi is reinforcing senior experienced people in the team to build a quality think tank with a focus on the revenue model of the channel. As is known, Anuj Katiyar, joined BTVi as Marketing and Research Head two months back.

     

     

    Seema Pisharody
    Monica Tata

    While Shetty moves in from Times Network to oversee strategic planning for generating revenue for the channel, Pisharody, was last with CNN-IBN, be responsible for a strategic approach for business development for the channel.

     

    Welcoming them to the team, Tata said: “We are really happy to have Shilpa and Seema on board. We believe that their expertise in the domain will be a valuable asset to the channel. Their knowledge and experience will help BTVi brand to scale new heights.”

     

  • The award was accepted by the HR Team led by Praveer Priyadarshi, on behalf of Zee

    Zee Entertainment recognised as one of ‘India’s Best Companies to Work For – 2017’

    By A Correspondent

     

    We carried the news of Radio City named in the ‘India’s Best Companies to Work for 2017’ study. We now also hear that Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) figures in the same study conducted by Great Place to Work Institute and The Economic Times.

     

    Speaking on this achievement, Praveer Priyadarshi, Chief People Officer, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) said, “It is a great honour for us to be recognized as one of ‘India’s Best Companies to Work For’ and in fact the Best Company to work for in the Media industry. This prestigious recognition highlights our commitment towards fostering a high performance creative culture across the organization. We aspire to become the leading global content company from the emerging and international markets, and our people represent our sharpest competitive edge.

     

    Our underlying ethic and brand positioning is “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World Is My Family” and we strongly believe that family begins at home. To achieve our ambitious goals, we will continue to focus on our employees, whom we consider as our most important assets, with the belief that growth will only occur when employees are encouraged to experiment with new ideas, take challenges and perform with pride. Our organisational practices, our people philosophy, and our employee recognition programmes, are geared towards strengthening our people culture and building a more unified, diverse, creative organisation.”

     

  • Even after the watermark is switched on, both BMW data for the channel and subscriber login for the network would not be available for a further period of 6 months, notes the new BARC policy

    Withdraw watermark and we could ban data & login access for 6 months, says BARC in new policy

    By A Correspondent

    Television audience measurement body BARC (short for Broadcast Audience Research Council) has had a policy for channels that withdraw the watermarking from their signals. But BARC did not administer the policy when a few news channels withdrew the watermarking a few weeks back.

    But now, in a policy that  supersedes all other policies pertaining to intentional watermark switch off by a subscriber, it has expressly stated that any missing watermark for a duration greater than 12 hours, which cannot be resolved by the subscriber, would be treated as a case of intentional switch off.

    Notes an announcement: “In such cases, BARC India’s Technical Team would establish the same and report such cases to the Management. The Management would certify the incidence to be a case of intentional switch off and report the same to the Chairman and the CEO of BARC India. The Chairman and the CEO would jointly decide to proceed with a response from BARC India. The response to such incidences is outlined below –

    • BMW data of the channel(s) for which the watermark has been switched off will not be released at any point for the period when the watermark is missing.

    • Subscriber login for the network would be deactivated from the moment intentional switch off has been established

    • Once the watermark is switched on, both BMW data for the channel and subscriber login for the network would not be available for a further period of 6 months.”

  • Star Sports First will feature an immersive line-up of sports such as VIVO Pro Kabaddi, BCCI domestic cricket, domestic football league etc

    Star Sports takes the FTA route with Hindi channel launch

    By A Correspondent

     

    After its regional foray with the launch of Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports is getting to set to launch a free-to-air sports channel, Star Sports First. The channel will go on air on July 21on DD’s FTA DTH platform Freedish. This will allow sports fans and enthusiasts to watch their favourite sports, in Hindi, without paying any subscription fee.

     

    The channel will also air Seasons 5 of the Pro Kabaddi League which begins on July 28. In addition, the channel’s programme calendar will also include BCCI domestic cricket tournaments, domestic football tournament etc.

     

    Said a Star India spokesperson: “Television penetration in India has grown exponentially. We recognise that there is a very sizeable subset of this universe that is not on conventional pay TV. In the ‘Free-to-air’ content that they have access to, sports content is mostly absent and only sporadically available. It is our belief that there is, however, an eager appetite for it and that is the reason to launch SS First. We believe tens of millions of fans will be created for many different sports offerings through our content bouquet.”

     

  • At the heart of it, MTV Nishedh will be the centrepiece of a MTV Shuga-styled mass media behaviour change campaign in India

    MTV Nishedh gets set for an India launch soon

    By A Correspondent

     

    At the Family Planning 2020 summit in London, Viacom18 announced its intention to launch MTV Nishedh, a localised format of the critically and commercially acclaimed drama series MTV Shuga, in India. The summit, which was co-hosted by the UK Department for International Development and UN Population Fund, in association with USAID and Global Affairs Canada, saw Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) announce its plans to expand MTV Shuga with two new localised versions in India and Egypt by 2020.

     

    According to a communique, MTV Nishedh will be the centrepiece of a MTV Shuga-styled mass media behaviour change campaign in India, aimed at increasing knowledge and generating positive attitude towards contraceptive use, gender violence, HIV prevention and child abuse. MTV Staying Alive Foundation had pioneered MTV Shuga, its most successful behaviour change campaign till date, in Nairobi in 2009 with a long-running drama TV series and multimedia campaign that follows the lives of young people on the African continent.

     

    “Education and awareness must form the backbone of liberation – be it economic or sexual. With just 15 per cent of the total youth population having being exposed to any form of sex education, as a society we have allowed social stigma to overpower our responsibility to educate and empower our future,”observed Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO – Viacom18. Adding further he said: “‘Entertainment’ is our business, ‘engaging’ consumers, our strength and ‘enriching’ their lives, a responsibility. These 3 Es together form our legacy, that of a network with a humane purpose. With MTV being the country’s most resonant youth brand, we are optimally poised to dial up the reach of sex education in our country, through MTV Nishedh.”

     

    Georgia Arnold, Executive Director of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and SVP of Social Responsibility for MTV International: “We know that storytelling has the power to catalyse positive social change, and have seen that first-hand in Africa with series like MTV Shuga,” said. “By bringing this format to new countries and new continents, we are committed to challenging misconceptions and inspiring our audiences to talk openly and honestly about their sexual health, encouraging more young people to protect themselves.”

     

  • The mytho-drama will premiere on July 22 and air every Saturday and Sunday at 7pm on the channel

    Colors unveils another mythological on weekends

    By A Correspondent

     

    Colors has lined up ‘Mahakaali: Anth Hi Aarambh Hai’ extending the weekend primetime slot to start at 7pm. Produced by Siddharth Kumar Tewary’s Swastik Productions, the mytho-drama will premiere on July 201722 and air every Saturday and Sunday at 7pm on the channel.

     

    Speaking on the show, Manisha Sharma, Programming Head – Colors said: “We are excited about bringing forth trendsetting shows like Naagin which ruled the rating charts and the mystical Chandrakanta that has shown great promise. Now with a show like Mahakaali, we are extending the weekend primetime to depict the story of Indian mythology’s most feared and revered goddess. Today’s Indian woman is fierce and unstoppable, but she doesn’t realise her own power and potential unless faced with adversity. Mahakaali’s story is our attempt to inspire women to know their true worth.”

     

    To promote the show, Colors has planned an extensive 360-degree integrated marketing and digital plan. The channel has also planned a series of ATL and BTL promotional activities to create a top-of-mind recall amongst target audiences.

     

  • 50% of urban cinema-goers are open to consume ads before the start of the movie and in the interval

    15- to 34-yr-olds captive for multiplexes & theaters: Interactive TV report

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    As cinema advertising gains momentum in the media mix, Interactive TV, the cinema advertising unit of GroupM India has released a report to track the urban cinema-going audience. The report, called ‘At a Theatre Near You’, is in collaboration with Kantar IMRB, also a part of the WPP group.

     

    ‘In a Theatre Near You’, notes a communiuqe, studies the urban cinema consumer and correlates their lifestyle and purchase habits with their film viewing habits. The report looks at audiences across eight cities in India, and buckets them into heavy, medium and light cinema goers.

     

    Speaking in the launch of the report, Ajay Mehta, Head, Interactive TV said, “The cinema medium had a lack of scientific data for planners and marketers. Being the leaders of cinema advertising in India, we are trying to make cinema advertising more transparent and accountable. This report is Interactive TV’s most ambitious initiative with the aim to down some measurement parameters for the medium and help brands understand and exploit the potential of this medium.”

     

    The report states that 57 per cent of the audience base watches a movie in the theatre at least once in six months, and of these 71 per cent are between the ages of 15 and 24. The gender gap is also decreasing with the urban cinema audience, as 53 per cent are women. Going to a movie in the theatre continues to be a social phenomenon as it ranks high as a family and social activity.

     

    Even though cinema advertising is a small part of the advertising expenditure in India, over the last few years it has been tremendous growth of over 20 per cent. Brands and marketers are realising the potential of the medium and its ability to work well with other media. 76 per cent of urban cinema goers own a smart phone and 45 per cent have the latest apps installed. This is a huge opportunity for marketers to creatively synchronise digital and in-cinema campaigns to maximize effectiveness of the both media.

     

    Another important point from an advertiser point of view is that 50 per cent of this audience is open and willing to consume advertisements before the start of the movie and during the intermission. Moreover, average consumers reach the movie hall 15 minutes before the show time, which allows enough and more branding opportunities for advertisers.

     

    At A Theatre Near You Summary

     

  • The channel announced the show at a press conference with the ace cricketer at The St. Regis Mumbai

    Sehwag to play a new innings as TV host for Epic Channel

    By A Correspondent

     

    Epic Channel has announced the launch of‘Umeed India’ with former cricketer VirenderSehwag as host. The show will premiere tomorrow, July 20.

     

    In Umeed India, Virender Sehwag travels to the places across India capturing the inspiring journeys and ongoing battles of 13 sportstars.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Pittie, Director, Epic Channel said: “EPIC channel has consistently provided content that is unique, informative yet entertaining. By elevating our proposition to be an India-centric, Hindi language infotainment channel earlier this year, we promised to bring real stories of real Indians and our series ‘Umeed India’ stands as a fine example. With Umeed India, we are providing a national platform, a national voice to sportspeople of India. With Virender Sehwag on board, I am confident the show will not only serve as a window to the lives of existing champions, but also inspire many budding sports persons in the country to rise up as future champions”.

     

    Umeed India also highlights the challenges and areas of improvement for the sports scenario in India. In a country with aspirations of global sporting glory, this new show by EPIC Channel, is an innovative presentation of unsung sporting heroes of the nation.

     

  • SPN appoints global sporting legend, Sachin Tendulkar as Ambassador for Sports

    Sony Pictures rebrands sports bouquet with Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador

    By A Correspondent

     

    In a country where cricket rules more than any other sport, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) announced Sachin Tendulkar as its Ambassador for Sports, as it grouped its sports brands together under the business vertical – Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN).

     

    With the addition of two new HD channels, SONY TEN 2 HD and SONY TEN 3 HD, the network now has 11 channels in its fold.

     

    Interestingly, the contract for the tournament that got the the broadcast network into the big league in sports a decade back is now up for renewal.

     

    Said NP Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India: “Our corporate philosophy of Go-Beyond encourages us to be brave, curious, insightful and visionary in everything we do. It takes leaders to Go-Beyond at every step of the game because leaders just don’t prepare for the future, they create it. And, it is the leader-mindset that has taken us from a single sports channel in 2012 to 11 dedicated sports channels in a span of five years. Currently, we are among the largest sports broadcasters in the Indian subcontinent.”

     

    Added Rajesh Kaul, President, Sports and Distribution, Sony Pictures Networks: “At Sony Pictures Networks, we are committed to providing an unparalleled sports viewing experience with the best leagues, best athletes and the best of sport entertainment. We are in a unique position with over 11, 000 hours of live content this year that has given us the opportunity to create channel destinations for different sports. Each of our 11 channels will project a distinct content line-up from our expansive portfolio of domestic and national sporting properties.”