MxMIndia

Category: TV

  • The platforms will carry Jungo channels including Combat Go

    Indusind Media partners Jungo TV to launch its channels in India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Jungo TV has partnered with IndusInd Media to bring an international slate of VOD and 24/7 linear digital-first channels to Indian homes.

     

    The platforms will carry Jungo channels including Combat Go, the channel dedicated to global martial arts competition, culture, and lifestyle, specially curated by martial arts experts and catering to casual fans and passionate enthusiasts alike; Front Row, the live music concert channel; and ES24, the global e-sports gaming channel.

     

    Said George Chung, CEO and co-founder of Jungo TV: “We are proud to join forces with IMCL, Indias only integrated digital delivery platform available through cable, satellite, and broadband. IMCL’s digital platforms footprint touches millions of users with their delivery technology and having Jungos channels available to their consumers brings us another step closer to our goal of increasing our distribution footprint worldwide.

     

    Added NK Rouse, COO at IMCL: “Combat Go, Front Row, and ES24 with their unique content, clearly fill in the blanks in the current content line-up available in India. The Jungo TV portfolio adds tremendous value to our VAS offerings and is in line with our strategy to offer unique and differentiated content to our viewers across the country.”

     

     

  • The network has also incorporated changes to the Code of Conduct

    SPN implements policy change to promote inclusivity at workplace

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has taken a step forward on its commitment towards inclusivity. With an aim to build a conducive environment for all employees, the network has revised its company policies to be gender-neutral.

     

    As a part of this initiative, the network will extend medical benefits and insurance coverage for declared partners. According to the new amendment, there is a shift from maternity/ paternity policies to common parental policies and an expansion to the definitions of primary and secondary caregivers. Primary caregivers will now include all employees who have nominated themselves as the primary caregiver in case of adoption/surrogacy. While secondary caregivers will include all employees, who have had a child in the past six months but not delivered the child and not nominated themselves as primary caregivers in adoption/surrogacy cases.

     

    To ensure equal safety for all the employees, the network also incorporated changes to the Code of Conduct. According to which, the definition of sexual harassment will now include hate speech/ bigotry and intolerant remarks on LGBT+ community in general. In addition to rendering policies as gender neutral, SPN has also announced infrastructural changes such as gender neutral washrooms in their Mumbai and Gurugram offices.

     

    Said Manu Wadhwa, Chief Human Resource Officer, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN): “At Sony Pictures Networks, we value the diversity of our people and always aim to encourage inclusion to foster a favorable working environment for all. With the recent modifications in our policies, we want to reassure our employees that SPN is an equal opportunity employer where we believe that our people are happiest when they bring their whole selves to work comfortably without any apprehensions.”

     

     

  • Chandrayaan 2 Live, is a moment of national pride and Star network is enabling access to this momentous occasion for Indians across 100+ countries

    Star network to showcase India’s mission to the moon

    By A Correspondent

     

    India will be carving a place for itself among the world’s space faring nations with ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 landing as it attempts to become the fourth country to land on the moon after the former Soviet Union, US and China. The Star India channels National Geographic, Star Plus, Star Bharat and Hotstar have come together to telecast the Chandrayaan 2 landing to viewers across 100+ countries. The telecast will start from 11.30pm today (Friday, Sep 6)

     

    “This event will be a historic and immensely proud moment for India. What ISRO and the team of scientists have achieved is nothing short of spectacular. The Star network believes in inspiring its viewers with path breaking content and we are delighted to provide our audience with the chance to witness the historic moment live,” said Sanjay Gupta, Country Manager- Star & Disney India.

     

     

  • This partnership will offer Siti Broadband subscribers to avail Zee5 content as a value-added service

    Zee5 announces strategic alliance with Siti Broadband

    By A Correspondent

     

    OTT platform Zee5 has joined hands with Siti Broadband to increase the reach of its content. This partnership will offer Siti Broadband subscribers to avail Zee5 content as a value-added service.

     

    Said Manpreet Bumrah, Business Development and Commercial Head, Zee5 India: “We are delighted to partner with Siti Broadband. The coming together of two homegrown platforms will expand immense growth opportunities and grow the binge-watching culture across the country. It will pave the way for a strong and sustained growth trajectory for Zee5 as well as Siti.”

     

    Added Anil Malhotra, CEO, Siti: “The alliance plays to both partner’s individual strength in which consumer gets the maximum advantage. It will give both of us an opportunity to scale up our business ambitions, creating value for all our stakeholders with a focussed and strategic approach. It also gives Zee5 access to Siti Broadband households.”

     

     

  • Wrestling TV launch to coincide with UWW World Wrestling Championship 2019

    And now, Wrestling TV

    By A Correspondent

     

    We don’t know much about Sporty Solutionz but have received a communique saying it has launched a dedicated video and digital news platform catering exclusively to wrestling – WrestlingTV. The platform will cater to the growing popularity in the sport of wrestling, making it the first Olympic sport in India to have an official, exclusive and dedicated digital platform.

     

    Said Ashish Chadha, Chief Executive Officer, Sporty Solutionz: “With wrestling making rapid strides in India, there has been a surge in the demand for the sport. The launch of Wrestling TV will bring fans closer to the sport and is a big step forward for us as we aim to make wrestling the next big thing in Indian sports,”

     

    Added UWW’s President Nenad Lalovic: “We know wrestling is big in India and India is a huge potential market. This Wrestling tv platform and our association with Sporty Solutionz will take the sport to the next level and there could not have been a better beginning then the World Championships,”.

     

     

  • #SonaManaHai says Sony Pictures Sports Network’s new campaign

    UEFA CL on Sony Ten 2 from today

    By A Campaign

     

    Sony Pictures Sports Network will bring the upcoming season of the UEFA Champions League to Indian audiences from today, September 17, onwards. The matches featuring the best football players in premier clubs from top European leagues, will be telecast on Sony Ten 2. SPSN also recently launched its campaign for the mega tournament, #SonaManaHai, which captures the sentiments of all Indian football fans and preps them for the upcoming season.

     

    Said Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer, Distribution and Head – Sports Business, Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited: “Sony Pictures Sports Network are the flagbearers for UEFA Champions League, the best football club tournament in the world, in India. UEFA Champions League is the pinnacle of glory for both the clubs as well as the players and the passionate fans. Our audience can look forward to a more exciting viewing experience through a series of programming initiatives this season including a live studio show with celebrated ex-football players providing expert analysis on our channels. It is #SonaManaHai for all our viewers September 17 onwards.”

     

    Added Neville Bastawalla, Head, Marketing & On-Air Promotions, Sports Channels, Sony Pictures Networks India: “#SonaManaHai urges viewers to stay awake and not miss out on all the exciting action from the best football players and teams in UEFA Champions League. Our campaign speaks to two broad sets of audience, the football fans who are unable to stay awake to watch the matches and fringe viewers who are not very familiar with UEFA Champions League however have a fear of missing out on rewarding experiences. Through this insight, we have created a first of its kind clutter breaking campaign to increase the appeal and viewership of the tournament.  In order to reach out to a wider audience across multiple markets, the on-air film, #SonaManaHai has been rolled out in four languages – English, Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali.”

     

    Said Raghu Bhat, Founder, Director, Scarecrow M&C Saatchi: “When Messi and Salah are scoring, football fans are snoring! UEFA Champion’s League is the greatest and the most discussed football event on earth but matches happen late night. We want this campaign to be the caffeine shot that makes a football fan stay up and watch it live on Sony Pictures Sports Network instead of on YouTube the morning after.”

     

     

  • It will be available across various pricing models such as CPC, CPL and CPI

    Zee5 unveils new offering, Ad Vault

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee5 has launched Ad Vault, the second-in-line offering from its in-house offering Ad-suite. Ad Vault will help brands propel their reach and create awareness to establish brand messaging via video, display, masthead, native, companion which will be available across various pricing models such as CPC, CPL and CPI.

     

    Said Taranjeet Singh, Chief Revenue Officer and Business Head, Zee5 India said: “We are excited to launch Ad Vault which underlines our commitment to build ZEE5 as India’s fastest growing ConTech brand. With the launch of Ad Vault, we enable our brand partners to leverage the dual benefit of big data and creative flexibility. Ad Vault helps deliver brand KPIs on aspects like reach, saliency, lead generation and SOV while allowing for segmentation, personalisation and measurability to ensure higher returns on marketing investments. Like Ampli5, Ad Vault too has been designed to help our brand partners in meeting varied brand and marketing goals. We are confident they will be keen to adopt and benefit from Ad Vault too just like Ampli5.”

     

     

  • The refreshed channel identity infuses ‘Happy in Life’ in its narrative

    Romedy Now unveils new brand identity

    By A Correspondent

     

    Romedy Now has unveiled a refreshed brand identity with the introduction of originals, new shows and movie premieres. The channel unveiled its refreshed identity with its first original show, The Love Laugh Live Show.

     

    Talking about the brand’s new identity, Vivek Srivastava, President – Strategy and Business Head – English Entertainment Cluster said: “Romedy Now in its new avatar resets the dial with re-energized content to offer viewers an unparalleled and complete English Entertainment viewing experience. Our foray into original content is a testament of our commitment to offer an engaging, real and distinctively entertaining array of content to complement the viewer’s evolving consumption patterns. The Love Laugh Live Show marks our debut in originals and will explore various categories across travel, food, beauty & lifestyle, bringing two exciting shows a quarter to the viewers. I’m confident that with the refreshed identity, Romedy Now will continue to be the loved brand by our viewers.’’

     

     

  • Over 1200 hours of content on offer

    Viacom18 goes OTT-first with Colors Telugu

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18’s OTT platform Voot is all set for its Telugu market foray with the launch of Colors Telugu. Leveraging the 80 million plus  Telugu speaking audience opportunity, Colors Telugu on Voot marks Viacom18’s increasing focus on its strategic “digital first” approach. The platform’s new language play will introduce Telugu audiences from AP/ Telangana and rest of India to 1200 + hours of Telugu entertainment.  The content line-up will include Voot Originals, popular Hindi and regional Viacom18 IPs and a library of 150+ Telugu movies for its viewers to begin with.  Colors  Telugu on Voot is set to go live starting September 23, 2019.

     

    Speaking about Voot’s regional strategy and Telugu launch, Gourav Rakshit – COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures said: “Regional has been an important play for Voot as well as Viacom18 and we continue to identify whitespaces in the category and pursue the regional growth opportunity.  We have been seeing significant offtake of network regional consumption on Voot. The latest success of Bigg Boss Marathi with over 100 Million views establishes the scale of the regional content opportunity,” adding: “The market propensity of the Telugu market towards digital content as well the significant internet penetration in the 2 states of AP / Telangana make them a high value opportunity to be harnessed. We are sure that the diverse and expansive content slate curated after substantial audience mapping and market research will help us get love and support from the viewers.”

     

  • There has been a significant jump in the quality of the top shows in 2019, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The Big OTT Growth Story: Chapter 2

     

    This is the second in a series of columns by Shailesh Kapoor on the OTT Growth Story in India. Click here for Chapter 1.

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s raining OTT show launches. Over the last few weeks, about two-three major and another five-six minor OTT shows have been launching every week. At this rate, the number of OTT shows that launch in 2019 will be higher than the Hindi GEC shows launched over a five-year period (2015-19). And you may not be wrong in believing that this is just the start, and things can only get more exciting from here.

    While the launch rate has accelerated significantly in 2019, it has been accompanied by a parallel improvement in the quality of content too. Till last year, among the many OTT shows that launched, only a couple would pass muster on quality. Most of the shows that won audience appreciation were from the TVF stable. ‘Quantity over quality’ seemed to be the OTT mantra.

    While that mantra continues to hold true for the second line of OTT players in 2019, there has been a significant jump in the quality of the top shows in 2019. If we look at the Ormax Advocacy Score (a measure out of 100 on how well-appreciated a show was among the audience who watched it), 2019 has some strong candidates in the reckoning.

    November 2018’s launch Mirzapur (Amazon Prime Video) continued to get audience appreciation early this year. Then came the deliciously compelling Delhi Crime (Netflix), which continues to grow its audience base till date, six months since it launched in March.

    The big success of the year, however, is a somewhat low-profile show Kota Factory (TVF). Presented in Black & White, this funny and insightful series on the student life in the education hub Kota has received widespread acclaim from young audiences, become the third-most liked Indian OTT show till date on the Ormax Advocacy scale, after Sacred Games (Season 1) and TVF Pitchers.

    Another potential top-end show dropped last night: Amazon Prime Video’s The Family Man. The unusually-textured spy thriller cum family drama stands apart from the dark and gritty world that shows like Sacred Games and Mirzapur espouse.

    However, all good things come with a word of caution. Almost 80% of OTT shows that have launched still have an Advocacy Score below 50, symptomatic of active audience dislike, even rejection. Many of these have been actively promoted by the respective platforms, indicating that the platform sensed good potential in them. So, even though the top-end has become stronger, the success rate may still be a mere 15-20%, or even lesser. Quantity may still be prevailing over quality after all.

    The Top 10 Hindi films of 2019 based on audience advocacy (word-of-mouth) average at a staggering Advocacy Score of 73. The equivalent number for the OTT category in 2019 is only 60, which is only a notch higher than the Hindi GEC category average of the year. And the Hindi GEC category has not exactly been in the pink of its health in recent times.

    A long tail of flop shows will continue to be churned out in a category where everyone wants a share of the pie. 2019 has been good so far in providing a strong top layer of quality content. This layer now needs to expand from three to four shows to 10-15 shows a year. And 2020 may just be the year to achieve that.

     

     

  • One stop destination on DishTV and d2h platforms for award-winning & Oscar nominated Short films

    Dish TV India launches new offering, Shorts TV Active

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dish TV announced the launch of a new value-added service ‘Shorts TV Active’ in partnership with ShortsTV, the TV channel dedicated to short movies. Customers can now enjoy an uncluttered ad-free HD films packed with 10000+ premium movie titles. The service is available at a nominal subscription price of Rs 59+ taxes per month.

     

    Commenting on the launch of new service, Anil Dua, Executive Director & Group CEO, Dish TV India Limited, said: “We are delighted to launch the unique short content service ‘Shorts TV Active’ which will offer award winning & international short movies on DishTV & d2h platforms. We, at Dish TV, have always aimed at continuously bringing new engaging content for our audiences. Going further on that route, we have partnered with Shorts TV to offer this unique valued added service. This service is meant for the segment of our viewer base that prefers to consume entertainment in small format. We hope to continue on our path to provide the best of entertainment to our customers.”

     

    Added Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of ShortsTV: “ShortsTV is pioneering a new type of entertainment in India – highest quality movies from leading Indian and international talent but in short form. Indian audiences and filmmakers are consuming and producing short films like never before and we’re thrilled to be bringing the world’s best short entertainment to the Dish TV and d2h platforms. Subscribers are in for a real treat – from side-splitting comedies to heart-wrenching romance, hair-raising thrillers and award-winners from around the world, we’ve got it all!”

     

     

  • Sneha has played a valuable role in shaping the diversity agenda of SPN

    Sneha Rajani moves on from SPN

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sneha Rajani, Head of Sony Pictures Networks (SPN’s) film production division, has quit the organisation. She has been instrumental in launching Sony Max, the leading Hindi movie channel. In addition, Rajani played a key role in shaping the diversity agenda of SPN, enabling an inclusive work environment.

     

    Said NP Singh, Managing Director & CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN): “At an organisational level, Sneha’s contributions have been game changing. She has successfully chaperoned the organization’s growth from launching Sony Max, India’s leading Hindi movies channel to leading our flagship channel, SET, and establishing SPN’s theatrical division – SPNP and many more. She has been an active crusader for dignity and has led the diversity team at SPN, shaping the organization into a truly inclusive workplace. Her dedication and commitment to the organisation’s cause has been unflinching and symbolic of her loyalty. Sneha’s exit later next month will leave a large void in SPN’s management team. My best wishes are with her.”