MxMIndia

Tag: PIX

  • Multi Screen Media's Hollywood movie channel Pix has appointed Saurabh Yagnik as its Business Head

    Saurabh Yagnik exits Star to enter Sony as Biz Head, Pix

    By A Correspondent

     

    Saurabh Yagnik

    PIX, the Hollywood movie channel from Multi Screen Media, has announced the appointment of Saurabh Yagnik as its new Business Head. He replaces Sunder Aaron who had resigned in August this year.

     

    Mr Yagnik brings with him a cumulative experience of over 17 years in varied fields. In his previous stint, he was Business Head, English channels at Star India.

     

    Mr Yagnik is a Chartered Accountant with qualifications in Cost Accounting and Company Secretaryship. He began his career as assistant manager at ITC in 1995. In 2000 he moved on to Hindustan Unilever as category finance manager. In 2007, Mr Yagnik joined Star India India as vice-president, Financial Planning & Treasury for the in India. He was appointed as SVP and business head, English channels cluster in 2010 and held the position for two years. He has also had long stints with brands like Hindustan Unilever Limited and ITC.

     

    “I am very excited to be a part of MSM and Pix in the current juncture of its journey. Pix is a youthful brand with unparalleled fan following. Over the years, it has created a definitive mark for itself and has become a leading English movie channel. I am looking forward to working with the team here and take the Channel to being No 1,” said Mr Yagnik.

     

    NP Singh

    N P Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Multi Screen Media said, “We are thrilled to have Saurabh joining us and we welcome him to the MSM family. The industry is at an important cusp and the English movie genre is seeing a lot of transformation. We have great confidence in Saurabh’s abilities and are privileged to have recruited someone of his caliber into the business. He comes in with tremendous knowledge and the channel is going to benefit multi-fold with him as Business Head. We are equally confident that Saurabh will lead PIX to newer highs.”

     

  • From differentiated marketing to programming strategies, channels try their level best to capture maximum eyeballs

    Exclusivity is an attractive proposition to not only viewers but also sponsors: PIX

    By A Correspondent

     

    Over the past few years, competition in the English movie channels genre has intensified. However, the genre still enjoys a limited audience. Therefore, each channel has to out-do its competition to stand out in the crowd.

     

    From differentiated marketing to programming strategies, channels try their level best to capture maximum eyeballs. MxMIndia spoke to Amogh Dusad – Programming Head at PIX which showcases various festivals to find out how well has this mantra worked for the channel…

     

    PIX keeps coming up with ‘festivals’ like the 3 Legends. What is the rationale behind it?

    We at PIX strive to provide popular and interesting content to our viewers. 3 Legends is a new programming block we have created this month which will showcase movies of the three martial art legends – Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Similarly, Sunday Breakout, Awesome Saturdays, Hand PIX and Super PIX are blocks created to offer variety and meet the ever-growing appetite for Hollywood films. Also, festivals break the monotony on a channel as they always offer something interesting to look forward to for the viewers.

     

    Why is it important to have these festivals?

    Blocks and festivals create a sense of excitement and appointment amongst the viewers towards the slot, in specific, and the channel, in general. They also bring uniqueness to the channel, which simply means that at any given point of time you will not see more than one channel programming or treating a particular genre, cast, theme or local festival in the same fashion. This ‘exclusivity’ is an attractive proposition to not only the viewers, but also the sponsors.

     

    How has been the response on this from viewers?

    Our viewers often write to us about how unique they find PIX – whether it’s our titles, promotions or even hoardings. The response from the market too has been good, since sponsors know they will get a good response by choosing our programming festivals as a media vehicle for their brands. Our viewers between the ages of 15 to 25 years are most vocal about their feedback, which we often get to know through our Facebook community and our youth community called the PIX Movie Club.

     

    How do you chalk-out the plan for a year? And when?

    At the start of the fiscal, we set out goals for ourselves, but we are not rigid and are always open to making changes as per evolving viewer needs.

     

    Which has been the most successful festival package, so far? Why?

    Over the past few months, Sunday Breakout and Hot Summer Collection have performed very well in terms of numbers and viewer engagement. Sunday breakout is a slot programmed on Sundays from noon to early evening wherein two tiles with a single break are scheduled, targeting the entire family. Another successful slot has been Hot Summer Collection which was programmed during summer vocations and was directed toward school and college students.

     

    What else can we expect from the channel?

    We will be showcasing the biggest animation movie of the year next month for which we are all very thrilled! Going forward you will see many big ticket properties of the creme de la creme of Hollywood.

     

     

  • In the age of hyper-competition, it is important to be the first and the only one to offer great content /movies to the viewers, says Amogh Dusad

    The Anchor: 5 ways to keep audiences coming back to your channel

    By Amogh Dusad

     

    Extensive variety in offerings

    India remains largely a single TV market. Therefore, a channel should offer an array of genres and appeal to all members of the family. Variety also ensures that viewers find the channel fresh and vibrant.

     

    Extending beyond the TV screen

    Gone are the days when television channels just aired promos and expected to keep viewers glued. The need of the hour is to create brand extension programs. It is also important to be a part of local festivals and important historic days which make the viewers feel closer to the channel – for example Christmas or Independence Day

     

    Exclusive content – premieres

    In the age of hyper-competition, it is important to be the first and the only one to offer great content /movies. Television premieres make the viewers look forward to channel announcements and promotions along with making the channel an exciting destination.

     

    Enjoyable viewing experience

    Watching a channel must be enjoyable for it viewers, otherwise they will simply move onto another channel. Therefore, it is essential that the content is showcased in a viewer friendly style to enhance viewing experience.

     

    Engaging the viewer – starting conversations

    A channel has to interact with its viewers to keep them glued to the channel. A consumer today is constantly bombarded with one-way conversations through print, outdoor, radio, and television but how much of it really resonates in their mind! One must engage with the viewers and remain in constant dialogue with them. Digital is great medium to create conversations.

     

    Amogh Dusad is Programming Head, PIX

     

  • How do you keep viewers coming back to you in an arena that’s packed with channels and content?

    The Anchor: 7 ways to keep a viewer glued to your channel

    By Sunder Aaron

     

    #1 Assortment: A channel needs to offer a variety of content to viewers to keep them coming back.

     

    #2 Thematic: It is important to be a part of local festivals and important historic days which makes the viewers feel closer to the channel – for example Diwali or Independence Day.

     

    #3 Original: A viewer today is bombarded with numerous communications all the time – it is more important than ever create a clear differentiation amongst the category to enjoy top-of-mind status with the viewers.

     

    #4 Young and fresh: Any viewer, young or middle-aged, would like to watch a film which excites him/ her. The best way to this is to keep the appearance of the channel vibrant and fresh.

     

    #5 Beyond the television screen: Gone are the days when television channels just aired promos and hoped to keep viewers glued – the need of the hour is to create brand extension programs.

     

    #6 Avoid repetition: Repetition could result into losing a fair amount of eyeballs since there is a sense of disappointment if the viewer has already watched the content.

     

    #7 Surprise element: Surprise your viewer! Exceed your promise by delivering more than you promise.

     

    Sunder Aaron is Business Head, PIX.

  • The line-up has a collection of enthralling, nerve wrecking and entertaining movies this October

    PIX brings you Dynamite Diwali

    By A Correspondent

     

    PIX is amping up the Diwali excitement with its Diwali Dynamite throughout October, 11pm onwards. Pix has planned laughter, suspense, drama and action, right from the sensuous murder mystery Basic Instinct to the outrageously funny Grown Ups.  Diwali Dynamite will include blockbusters like Social Network, Jurassic Park, Gladiator, Nacho Libre, Mighty Heart, Salt, Road Trip and Mini’s First Time.

  • PIX moves media mandate to MediaVest and Zoom advertising

    MediaVest grabs PIX media mandate

    By A Correspondent

    In what can be described as another note in its symphony of wins, Media Vest’s Mumbai office has bagged the media mandate of PIX, the leading English movie channel. Both the agencies will handle all the media planning activities for the channel. Media Vest will handle television and radio and Zoom Advertising will handle only print.

    MediaVest Worldwide is part of Starcom Media Vest Group. Starcom MediaVest being ranked one of the largest brand communications groups in the world. MediaVest will handle the operations for PIX in Mumbai.

    Commenting on the development, Mr Dinesh Rathore, VP MediaVest, Mumbai said, “Pix is one of the leading channels in India that provides excellent English content to the viewers. It has been broadcasting great content to the viewers consistently over the past few years. We intend to drive the channel to a leadership position in the English genre with our human experience strategy framework and hardnosed analytics, providing simple, real-time and meaningful solutions. We are excited to be working with the brand and believe that this partnership will translate into a success story for it.”

    Zoom Advertising became operational in 2004 and within a span of three years it managed to get INS accreditation. Delighted at their recent success,  Mr Chirag Barasia, Proprietor – Zoom Advertising commented, “Being an evolving agency we have established ourselves as a formidable agency in print action, so we take great pride in the way which PIX has put immense trust in us. We are also excited in bagging their print AOR & media buying duties which is a challenge and an opportunity for us to connect them to wider print options. We are extremely positive on our media buying capabilities and thus we will strive hard to ensure PIX achieves significant progress and success in their print portfolios. Similarly, PIX has given us a big boost to venture out in exploring and implementing other media opportunities for them and our other clients.”