MxMIndia

Tag: AIB

  • We pinched ourselves. Did we read right? Is this the same Star India CEO who is always propah in his ways?

    What the fur! All India Bakchod gets Uday Shankar cheeky in his communiqué

    By A Correspondent

    Five years back, when our editor asked him to do a high five for Impact magazine, he was very hesitant on how it would impact his image. But those were early days still in his captaincy of Star India. Now, after having established itself as the #1 media professional in the country and as a gamechanger with the strides he has taken in sports broadcast, the former news journalist (and at heart still one), has been dramatically (and pleasantly) kewl in a press release we received on Tuesday.

    The communiqué was about how comedy entity All India Bakchod (referred to AIB to prevent the mouthing of an expletive in its name… chod, if you will still didn’t get it). And this is how Shankar’s quote read: “”I am told that based on extensive, exhaustive research, AIB are considered mildly entertaining and we should give them a show on our network. I have complete faith that we will regret this in the months to come.”

    We pinched ourselves. Did we read right? Is this the same Star India CEO who is always propah in his ways?

    The quote from Ajit Mohan, Head of Hotstar, was equally irreverent. “We are sort of excited to bring AIB’s brand of mature humor to our platform. This may be the start of a new era of quality content in India, I am told. Janta hamein maaf karein,” it said.

    Not surpisingly some copy-and-paste journos jointly simply Control-C-V-ed the release.

    We didn’t. We are MxMIndia.

    Okay, dudes, and if you notice we are trying to get effing hip and mother-effing happening without using Hindi gaalis like MCBC, but English expletives which make us sound very evolved.

    No, let’s leave all the smart talk to You Shanx and his boys and babes. Yo man!

  • We are a big country and niches are available, contrary to what our mass television may sometimes make us believe, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Online Fiction Content: The Promise, The Challenges

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    There’s been incessant talk over the last few years about non-linear and on-demand television replacing linear television viewing. By now, there’s enough evidence from across the world to suggest that linear television is not going to become irrelevant anytime soon, at least note for the next decade, even two. It still accounts for more than 85 percent of television content viewing in the developed markets. In India, it’s the only way to watch television for more than 99 percent viewers.

     

    However, percentages may not always tell their story. In 2013, Netflix premiered House Of Cards as its first original series. The conventional, linear television broadcast industry had to sit up and take notice. The Netflix Originals model is scaleable, and has since proven to find its diehard fans.

     

    In India, we got the first real taste of an equivalent, at a much smaller scale though, when The Viral Fever (TVF) launched their fiction series Permanent Roommates late 2014. The five episodes, available on YouTube and TVF’s own platform, clocked more than a million views each. Of course, that the content is free fuelled this reach. But the numbers are remarkable nonetheless.

     

    Encouraged by the success of Permanent Roommates, TVF launched Pitchers earlier this season, a quirky take on the corporate world and start-ups. Both the shows offer content that’s conspicuously absent on mainstream, linear television, which caters to the lowest common denominator of audiences. The characters you see in these two shows demand your attention. It’s not content for everyone’s palate, but it doesn’t aspire to be that either, which is why it can work in a world of its own. We are a big country and niches are available, contrary to what our mass television may sometimes make us believe.

     

    But it’s not been a smooth ride for TVF Originals either. The third episode of Pitchers has been delayed “due to production hassles out of our hands.” I’m not too sure what to make of the “out of our hands” part in this update on the TVF website. The moment you play the game of providing original content, you need to live upto a schedule. One episode a fortnight is not a good idea as it is, but one episode a month is a mini-disaster.

     

    The TVF Originals journey should help other aspirants of original online content learn a thing or two. On the positive side, you can make engaging and finite fiction series in reasonable budgets and not look tacky.

     

    But on the side of caution, you need to be consumer-oriented, like any other good offline business. There’s no harm in aspiring to break the rules of mainstream television production in India – endless episodes being shot the evening before telecast, and at times being uplinked almost in real time for broadcast. Those are problems of linear television. You have an FPC and you have to deliver to it all the time. But the absence of one in non-linear television does not absolve you of your commitment to viewers and their viewing habits.

     

    We want to see more content from TVF. We also want to see other content providers like TVF entering this space. Stand-up comedy, sketch comedy and spoofs are hugely popular, but real growth in any medium comes from fiction content, where storytelling is the hero.

     

    The online medium in India needs more stories of it own. But before that happens, there’s the small issue of the missing Pitchers Episode 3 to be taken care of.

  • Mr Srivastava will oversee the growth of AIB's membership in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan

    Amitabh Srivastava is South Asia head of Assoc for Intnl Broadcasting

    By A Correspondent

     

    Amitabh Srivastava

    The Association for International Broadcasting has appointed Amitabh Srivastava as its regional head in South Asia. This appointment is the first of a series of expansions of AIB’s work in a number of regions of the world.

     

    As regional head, Mr Srivastava will oversee the growth of AIB’s membership in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, countries where there is significant expansion in the number of TV channels and radio stations. Significantly, a growing number of these broadcasters are developing international services. He will also be able to assist AIB’s existing members who are seeking to develop their businesses in the South Asia region, drawing on his experience in working for a range of major international brands. He has also developed partnerships between media owners and mobile operators in South Asia.

     

    “I am delighted to welcome Amitabh to AIB,” said Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive. “He has worked in the media sector in India representing major brands for a number of years and has achieved remarkable successes. Now we look forward to Amitabh leading AIB’s growth in one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing media markets.”

     

    Commenting on his appointment, Mr Srivastava said, “It is great to be joining the world’s leading industry association and supporting major international TV and radio broadcasters as well as service providers. I am looking forward to developing AIB’s membership base in South Asia and to involving more broadcasters from this region in global conversations.”

     

    Mr Srivastava joins AIB from Radio Netherlands Worldwide where he was country manager. While at RNW, he developed the first partnership between All India Radio and an international broadcaster, and achieved significant rebroadcasting and content syndication deals with commercial FM stations and new media platforms in the region. Before RNW, Srivastava worked with Walt Disney, BBC, MTV and a range of other international media houses developing their operations in India and South Asia.