MxMIndia

Tag: Mediacom

  • Xaxis launches Asia-Pacific headquarters to provide global advertisers with audience targeting capabilities, nine-market roll-out planned over next six months with Michel de Rijk MD-APAC

    GroupM’s Xaxis to launch in India in 6 months

    By A Correspondent

     

    Xaxis, a GroupM company that is part of the WPP, has announced the opening of its headquarters in Singapore to serve the Asia-Pacific region.  With this launch, Xaxis is initiating an aggressive plan in the region with nine market roll-outs planned over the next six months – these new markets will include India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong.  The existing Xaxis operations in Australia will also come under the umbrella of the new headquarters, which represents the industry’s most comprehensive network of digital endpoints across online, mobile, social and video platforms.

     

    Global digital media executive Michel de Rijk will lead the practice, joining Xaxis as Managing Director, Asia-Pacific. Prior to Xaxis, Mr de Rijk served as a senior executive at digital ad firm EyeWonder, where he was responsible for launching operations in the Asia-Pacific, Benelux and Middle East regions.  During his four years with EyeWonder, Mr de Rijk served in several roles throughout each region and introduced the first ad-view-time metric to gain insights into the actual visibility of an ad. Previously, de Rijk worked for Dutch publisher De Telefoongids.

     

    “As the largest audience-buying company in the world, Xaxis has an unmatched understanding of the global digital media-buying space along with local presence and expertise in each market it operates in,” said Mr de Rijk.  “This combination allows Xaxis to deliver proven audience solutions that are custom-fit for executing targeted campaigns market by market.  From mobile in Indonesia to video in Taiwan, Xaxis offers maximum precision when delivering ads in all markets.”

     

    Xaxis provides audience buying solutions to more than 700 global advertisers, delivering over 300 billion impressions each year.  The proprietary Xaxis data management platform (DMP) houses the largest collection of unique anonymous audience portraits. Additionally, as a universal and neutral data management platform, the Xaxis DMP allows advertisers to measure attribution, offline ROI, audience insights and brand impact based on the entire digital plan, not just the Xaxis portion of the plan.

     

    “This commitment to expansion throughout the Asia-Pacific region follows a year of success and growth in North America, Europe and Australia,” noted Brian Lesser, CEO of Xaxis.  “Ad spend in the region is expected to reach $170 billion within the next two years with online ad spend making up 31 per cent of the growth. Our clients have asked us to apply our knowledge and experience executing audience campaigns to the region.  This launch displays the first step in our commitment to the region and will be followed with an aggressive expansion.”

     

    Mark Patterson, CEO GroupM Asia Pacific, commented: “We have ambitious plans with Xaxis in the region. Our drive for value and improved audience delivery for our clients, as well as ownership of that capability – versus outsourcing as many groups do – will help us deliver on both, securely and rapidly, for our clients across the region and the digital spectrum.”

     

    Through its proprietary platform, Xaxis offers advertisers a single, comprehensive resource from which to reach and engage with global audiences across the universe of digital media.  Xaxis, which offers its proprietary platform for Group M media agencies Mindshare, Maxus, MEC and MediaCom.

     

  • TAM released its mid-week ratings for the six metros with the show garnering a TVR of 3.79 on Star Plus and 0.43 for DD

    TAM releases mid-week TVRs for SMJ

    By A Correspondent

     

    Since Sunday last, when Aamir Khan made his debut on the small screen with Satyamev Jayate, there has been much discussion on the show and how it has established a new dimension to  entertainment television. Albeit only on Sunday mornings.

     

    While the all-India ratings will be out only next Wednesday, those for six metros was released this morning. According to TAM Media, in the All4+ category, the show’s prime telecast got a rating on 4.27 in the six metros for all nine channels. In the C&S4+, overall viewership TVR of the prime telecast was 4.08. In the three Hindi-speaking metros (Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata), the show got a TVR of 3.79 on Star Plus itself. In the 6 metros (all4+), DD National scored a TVR of 0.43.

     

     

    Pratap Bose, COO, DDB Mudra was disappointed by the ratings. “To be frank, I was expecting a higher rating, so I’m surprised at a 3.79 TVR in the three metros. According to me, the show should have gotten at least a rating of 6 across sections. However, I’m optimistic and hope that as the show progresses, it will be able to do well.”

     

    On the other hand, Ashwini Kamat, GM, MediaCom feels that the ratings are okay since it’s mid-week rating only. “I’m sure the ratings which will come out on the coming Wednesday would be much higher. It would be closer to 4.5 TVR for the three metros.”

     

    Echoing the view that one must wait for the All-India ratings is Sundeep Nagpal, Director, Stratagem Media. “Given the canvas of the issues raised and the multi-channel simulcast across the country, the six-city numbers are probably not the best way to judge the popularity of the programme,” he said.

     

  • Movies OK will focus on family audience. This means we are going to showcase movies which a whole family can enjoy together says Hemal Jhaveri, who heads the channel

    Movies OK will focus on families: Hemal Jhaveri

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    After the launch of Life OK in December 2011, Star India is planning to launch a new channel on May 6 under the OK banner – Movies OK.

     

    The channel promises to be different from Star Gold, the movie channel launched by the network in 2000. “There is a difference between the two channels. Movies OK will focus on family audience. This means we are going to showcase movies which a whole family can enjoy together,” said Hemal Jhaveri, general manager, Star Gold, who heads the channel. The channel plans to concentrate on genres like comedy. “There is going to be more comedy and less action on the channel,” he added.

     

    Apart from content, the other thing which will differentiate the channel from the competitors is the treatment. “The promos are going to be very different and unique from what the other channels do. For instance, we are going to have a Best of Salman Khan Festival called ‘Bhai Ok Please’ where no film footage has been used. So, for the first time, people will see a promo for Salman Khan without him in it. Communication is going to be unique,” explained Mr Jhaveri.

     

    If that’s not enough, the channel also boasts of having a World TV Premiere every night by the end of this month. Mr Jhaveri said: “The 7 day 7 premiere is something which no other channel has experimented with earlier. I think it’s the first-of-its-kind in the world as well. So, every night at primetime, one will get to see movies like Kahaani, London Paris New York, Jodi Breakers and others. We are planning to build our channel as a unique platform.”

     

    The channel also hopes to use the learnings from their other channels, especially Star Gold which was revamped last year. So, one can expect shorter breaks.

     

    The channel has a library of over 1000 movies. “We have been investing in the channel from the past two-three years and will continue to do so in the future as well. Therefore, it’s going to be a unique library. Last year, we acquired the Viacom18 library so that will also add to it,” elaborated Mr Jhaveri.

     

    The Hindi movie genre enjoys the third largest viewership pie, trailing behind regional channels and Hindi GECs, according to a FICCI-KPMG report on the Indian media and entertainment industry, released in March.

     

    “There are various Hindi movie channels, but there is always space for one more, if it’s different and has good content,” said Mr Jhaveri. Agreeing with Mr Jhaveri’s sentiments, Ashwini Kamat, general manager, MediaCom added: “People don’t have loyalty towards movie channels. So, if a channel has a good library, then it doesn’t need to worry about others because people will switch to it, if they want to watch a particular film.”

     

    Janardhan Pandey, associate vice-president, DDB Mudra Max elaborated: “There is enough space on TV to launch a channel but all depends on if one can sustain it at the top slot. A new channel might showcase latest movies, but after some time, many stop investing in a new library and repetition starts. It is then people tend to move away from it. So, it might make an impact in the beginning, but it is difficult to say how a channel will do in the future.”

     

    However, advertisers aren’t optimistic about it. “One more channel means more segmentation. So, I don’t think it’s going to benefit us,” said Praveen Kulkarni, general manager (marketing), Parle. The categories which spend heavily on Hindi movie channels are services, auto, personal accessories and telecom. “Launch of any new channel means fragmentation and overall inflation for advertisers,” added LK Gupta, CMO, LG.

     

    The channel has a 360 degree promotional plan for the channel. It will also be promoted during Star’s new show, Satyamev Jayate, which will also be premiered on May 6. Radio and digital platforms will be used too.