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.’’
Amagi has announced that Times Network will use Amagi’s services to enable geo-targeted advertising on five of its channels – Times Now, ET Now, Romedy Now, Zoom, and Magic Bricks Now.
Times Network delivers differentiated content across news and entertainment channels, to over 100 million viewers in the country. Amagi’s technology will enable the broadcaster to split ad inventory and provide regional ad spots to different brands. Times Network’s partnership with Amagi means that advertisers will also have the flexibility to buy regional ad spots on its channels at optimised costs. While this enables bigger advertisers to optimise their media spends, the smaller and regional advertisers can also advertise on national TV and target only markets of their choice and pay only for that. This opens a very good opportunity for entrepreneurs and small advertisers to see their brand on a National TV like a Times Now.
Expressing his confidence in the partnership’s ability to deliver benefits for national and local advertisers, MK Anand, MD and CEO, Times Network, said, ‘’Our Network specialises in delivering decision makers at the top end of the Indian population. Our audiences are comparable with English Newspapers. With the ability to provide geo-targeted reach, we will now be able to offer city specific solutions complimentary to English Newspaper campaigns at very efficient costs. This will be a major innovation for media users.â€
“The partnership with Times Network is an evidence of the industry’s belief in Amagi’s core value proposition. Our endeavour is to help industry players recognize innovative and efficient technology-driven ad solutions. A unique patented technological platform has helped us emerge as a reliable choice for TV broadcasters to enable geo-targeted advertising. This marks another landmark step in Amagi’s growth and we are bullish about delivering exceptional results.’’ added Baskar Subramanian, Co-founder of Amagi.
The Times Network, which includes channels like Times Now, Zoom, ET Now, Romedy Now and Movies Now, has announced the launch of MN+, a premium movie channel, available only in HD. The channel is a complete rebranding of Movies Now Plus, which will cease to exist post this launch, Vivek Srivastava, Senior VP and Head English Entertainment Cluster announced.
The prominence of Hollywood movies in India has gone up, Srivastava pointed out, and MN+ will cater to the intelligent aspirants, the ones who believe their time is valuable, he said. “The channel has been hand-crafted not just for the informed, intelligent and discerning movie lovers, but for the cineastes as well. It is designed to give viewers a Gold Class Experience of Hollywood.â€
Vivek Srivastava
MN+ and Movies Now will co-exist, showcasing two entirely different sets of movies. It is not a simulcast, Srivastava stressed. Movies that will be available on the newly launched channel include Argo, The Shawshank Redemption, The Hurt Locker, Sherlock Homes, The Bourne Supremacy and the like. Advertising duration on the channel is set to be at six minutes per hour while on Movies Now it is 12 minutes per hour.
“The MN+ extension of Movies Now comes at a time when viewers across our markets have responded extremely positively to the Movies Now brand. The rapidly growing reach and ratings of Movies Now over the past year bears testimony to this,†Srivastava said, adding, “Movies Now leads the category in BARC ratings. The channel commands a 26 percent market share and has the highest reach in the category.â€
The network is focusing on both metros as well as Tier II and Tier III cities. “Consumers are ready to pay a premium for HD because of the quality and if you give them what they want and the content is easily accessible, then they are likely to avoid resorting to illegal downloads to catch their favourite movie,†Srivastava said. The network is confident that MN+ will add to viewer and advertiser numbers. The implementation of DAS in Phase 3 and 4 is eagerly awaited and will help in terms of subscription revenues and availability, Srivastava added.
The MN+ library comprises must-watch movies across genres that are universally celebrated and are discussed extensively in social gatherings of people who have an opinion. The channel will not only showcase great titles, but will also package them in interesting on-air properties like Center Stage, Great Adaptations, Opening Night and Hollywood Select, among others.
Discussing the target audience of the channel, Srivastava said, “MN+ is for those premium audiences that have the temperament to be choosy about what life has to offer and have evolved to value only the best.â€
Speaking about advertiser endorsement, he said, “Not just viewer delight, we are also pleased and humbled by the strong and enthusiastic response from advertisers and marketers. Over the past year almost all the major brands have been present on Movies Now and we are increasing that count every day.â€
Romedy Now, the all-new English entertainment channel from the Times TV Network stable, has unveiled a 360-degree marketing campaign. To be spread over two months across print, television, digital, outdoor, radio and cinema, the objective will be to spread the innovative language created across all communication platforms. So expect words like Happymeltify, Awesomejoysome, Freehug-a-lugs etc spread all over the media. ‘Love. Laugh. Live’ is the credo of the channel, and the warm colours will be a highlight of the marketing arsenal.
Ajay Trigunayat
Speaking to MxMIndia, Ajay Trigunayat – CEO, English Entertainment Channels, Times Television Network, explained that the reason for the deferred kick-off of the marketing campaign was hectic activity on getting the distribution act together. We should now be reaching 80 percent of our targeted homes, Mr Trigunayat said. While there are still some holes like Tata Sky which has a bandwidth issue, Mr Trigunayat is not fazed because the DTH carrier reaches out to only 3.2 percent homes across the eight metros. But isn’t Tata Sky an important platform for his TG? That’s a myth, he tells us, citing statistics.
While print advertising will happen on all Times group publications, on television, the TVCs will be seen on 20 channels including Times Network offerings. For radio, other than the group’s Radio Mirchi, Radio City and Red FM have also been used. In outdoor, there are over 300 sites across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata and a similar number of multiplexes and single screen theatres have also been taken up. The highlight of the marketing campaign which could well be the biggest in the English entertainment space is the digital media adopted. Digital media whether it’s in the Facebook or Whatsapp users has grown, and the Romedy Now primary TG will be reached through that, Mr Trigunayat said.
The thought behind Romedy Now is to spread love and laughter in everyone’s lives, through movies that strike an emotional chord.  This will be reflected digitally on the official microsite www.romedynow.com, Facebook Page at facebook.com/romedynow, on Twitter via @romedynow and the ‘Love. Laugh. Live’ website.
Times Television Network has announced that it will launch its English entertainment channel Romedy Now on Sunday, September 22 at 7 am.
It is learnt that initially the channel is scheduled to only air back-to-back movies, but that will change with TV series and sitcoms in the near future.
The Times Network, which includes channels like Times Now, Zoom, ET Now, Romedy Now and Movies Now, has announced the launch of MN+, a premium movie channel, available only in HD. The channel is a complete rebranding of Movies Now Plus, which will cease to exist post this launch, Vivek Srivastava, Senior VP and Head English Entertainment Cluster announced.
