MxMIndia

Tag: Siddharth Jain

  • It was Terrible Thursday for the team as Turner Broadcasting announced closure of Imagine's business operations

    So why did Turner stop Imagine(ing)?

     

    By Team MxMIndia

     

    Just when the Hindi general entertainment space was getting interesting with the top 3-4 players all coming within sneezing distance of each other in the numbers game, the industry was jolted by news of the closure of Imagine, which given its pedigree, was launched with much fanfare not many moons ago. From shock to sadness and even rage (at least on the social media) admirers and naysayers were seen on an overdrive trying to piece the chain of events that had led to the downfall of the channel that was seeing red for some time now.

     

    This was in stark contrast to the kind of emotions that were flying thick and fast exactly a year ago, when Turner General Entertainment was merged into its parent company Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. The emotions then were almost similar to what the channel heads were going through when they flagged off the channel more than four years ago, making it one of the most loud and admirable launches of the time. While anticipation and expectations were riding high on the faces of each and every member of the team at launch, the same was the scenario during the merger exercise last year as the company was probably taking a last shot in reviving the fortunes of the network to see themselves battle against the competent lot at the top. But all that was not to be as tribes from the world of media and outside woke up to the news of the channel shutting down yesterday.

     

    Siddharth Jain

    Replying to questions put forth by MxM India (read interview),  Siddharth Jain, Managing Director- South Asia, Turner International India Private Limited put it out right and straight as he said: “This is a carefully considered business decision based on performance of the channel. We invested substantially and put all possible resources behind Imagine TV throughout. As in any other business, the investments were directly linked to reaching a certain performance benchmark. However, in the two years Imagine did not grow or perform as per expectations and as a result, Turner made the carefully-considered decision to cease operations of the channel.”

     

    Mr Jain is probably being modest in quoting that the channel did not perform as per expectations in the past two years, but the writing was on the wall in the first three months of 2011 itself, when the channel failed to get the viewers and advertisers excited with its most expensive property that cost the company in excess of Rs50 crore to produce. ‘Zor ka Jhatka’, hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, failed to get the desired ratings and didn’t do much to push the channel in the top league as was expected. In fact, in an interaction with the media before the show went live, an exuberant Sameer Nair had vouched that the show along with a few others would catapult Imagine among the top 3 in the Hindi GEC space. Wishful as he was, that was not to be. Its failure forced the thinktank at Turner to come up with steps to plug the loopholes, even if it meant changing its course altogether.

     

    Sameer Nair

    Thus in April 2011, Turner announced the merger of Turner General Entertainment into its parent company Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. This was followed by the formation of a special committee comprising various Turner officials such as Monica Tata and others along with officials from Turner General Entertainment Network including Sameer Nair and Harsh Rohatgi with the intention of charting out a long-term course for the channel. This move was even vindicated by Steve Marcopoto, President, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific (TBSAP), who went on to explain the need for such a proposal, which was to assess its performance and chart a long-term course for Imagine. But just when the merger was announced, Sameer Nair did the unthinkable by announcing his decision to exit the company.

     

    In an interaction with MxMIndia Editor-at-Large Anil Thakraney, Sameer Nair was quite upfront about the reason for his decision to move on: “I was used to operating independently. After Turner took over, one had to integrate into the Turner system. And this made me just a department head. And so I left.”

     

    Expressing concern towards the chain of events that led to the closure of the channel he said, “I am quite shocked and disappointed to hear that they’ve decided to shut the channel down. They (Turner) seemed to be quite gung ho about Imagine, and I thought they were going full steam ahead. There is a lot of investment and a number of jobs at stake.”

     

    Mr Nair’s exit from Imagine was followed by a few other key exits and the network’s failure to find a suitable replacement. Even attempts to vow the audiences by launching a slew of reality and mythological shows didn’t do much for the channel as it still figured in the #6/7 slot amongst its peers in the space.

     

    In fact, even as recently as 2-3 months ago, the channel was going all out with its promotional activities as it announced the launch of new shows. But that too has been brought to a halt as Mr Jain explained: “We cease all business operations of Imagine TV. The closure is a complicated process as we are ensuring fulfillment of all our business commitments to advertisers, distributors, production houses and other partners.”

     

    The news came as a rude shock to producers, some of whom were in the midst of production schedule (see story: Rude Shock for Producers & Performers). Rajan Shahi who had launched ‘Jamuna Paar’ on Imagine just a little over a month ago, refused to comment on it saying “it would be too premature”. Other producers like Siddharth Tewary, the Sagars who had ‘Chandragupta Maurya’ and ‘Dwarkadheesh’ aired during primetime were incommunicado as they grappled with the sudden turn of events.

     

    JD Majethia

    JD Majethia who had launched two shows, ‘Jassuben Jayantilal Ki Joint Family’ and ‘Ek Packet Umeed’ four years ago said: “It’s sad and shocking. It was a channel which with the entry of Vikas Behl at the helm of things looked poised for bigger things, a turnaround but that was not to be. It’s a huge setback for producers and for those who work on a per day basis. A daily show means a minimum of 100 people associated with it in various capacities and with Imagine closing down, it spells doom for them. All that talent and labour goes down the drain. It’s a loss of about Rs200 crores worth of yearly business for Imagine and the industry on the whole.”

     

    Veteran producer Dheeraj Kumar of Creative Eye Productions said: “It was an overnight decision but it could have been done a bit smoothly. I am hopeful that Turner with its huge umbrella of channels would give us a chance of providing content to them. I am optimistic.”

     

    Programming propaganda

    Ever the one to influence viewers and attract the attention of the advertisers too, content was one of the biggest setbacks for the channel, going by the buzz emanating from experts. While the start for the Imagine was glorious, as it did manage to attract sizeable channel share (see chart below) and even break into the 150+ GRP mark at some point, it was an experience that was shortlived. The maximum channel share that the channel attained was 8.5 in H2 2009.

     

    Source: TAM Media Research / TG: CS 4+ yrs / Market: HSM / Period: H1 (Jan-Jun) & H2 (Jul-Dec) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 till April 7, 2012

     

    Mohit Joshi
    Divya Radhakrishnan
    Karthik Lakshminarayan
    Pankaj Krishna

    Explaining the implications, Mohit Joshi, Managing Director, MPG said, “The General Entertainment domain is very competitive and each channel is constantly improving content and production. The viewer has many options today and hence has become more ruthless with the channel choice. In spite of a great start, Imagine lost it mid-way. In an attempt to gain viewership and numbers, it resorted to telecasting shows like Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, Rakhi Ka Insaaf and so on. Though these shows could have given a short-term boost in numbers, in the long run, viewers didn’t find the content appealing enough. Also these shows dented the channel image by giving it a ‘sleazy’ tag – which is not acceptable in the GEC domain.”

     

    Divya Radhakrishnan, Founder, Helios Media, said, “GEC is a highly competitive segment and the cost of running a GEC is very high. Imagine had reached a level of stagnation especially in the last six months, however shutting down was not expected.”

     

    Karthik Lakshminarayan, COO, Crest, said: “Imagine had the brand heritage of NDTV and Turner. I think it was sheer bad luck that they eluded that one show which could give them success like Kyunki did for Star, Saat Phere did for Zee, Ballika Vadhu for Colors and Bade Acche Lagte Hain is doing now for Sony. For a GEC to break even it takes 4-5 years so one needs to stay invested for a long period to see the returns, hence the move is a surprise.” In fact, he has a surprising statement to make: “Their overnight decision has caught us unawares and our media plan needs a quick revision. We had spots to go on air on the channel as we talk. I think now those spots are up for grabs and may the best player win.”

     

    Blame customer pull, not distribution!

    There are primarily two ways of impacting Channel Trials – namely Consumer Pull led by content affinity, and Broadcaster Push led by Distribution initiatives, explains Mr Pankaj Krishna, Founder and Managing Director, Chrome Data Analytics & Media (see Analysis: How Imagine lost due to consumer pull, not distribution. “Going by Chrome OTS numbers (Opportunity To See – percentage of households that have access to a channel) – Imagine TV has clearly been in the league of the top GECs with an OTS of 95% across HSM.”

     

    According to Mr Krishna, “consumer pull clubbed with Strategic Distribution Planning has a huge impact on the overall performance of a channel”. “Over the years, Imagine lost out on factors contributing to the former.”

     

    Staff shocked

    It was Terrible Thursday for the staff at Imagine. They had no clue of the closure, even as they had faced yet another week of dismal ratings from TAM. Said Jain on the fate of the staff: “Turner will retain some employees for a transition period and some others are being offered permanent roles within other Turner channels to fill current vacancies. For the other Imagine employees getting impacted, Turner has set up an HR outplacement service which will provide advice on how to write a better CV, interviewing techniques and other job hunting skills. We will also introduce the employees to recruitment consultants, HR professionals from other media organizations and facilitate their new job search. Our focus is to ensure the closure is executed in a fair and appropriate manner for all of them and in full compliance with all legal requirements, employment terms and company policies. We will use our best endeavours to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them.”

     

    There has been much dismay in the brodcast fraternity too. Colors CEO Raj Nayak in fact made a clarion call to the industry via Twitter: “To all my friends in the TV business. Let’s try & accommodate our friends from Imagine wherever we have vacancies in our system.”

     

    Way ahead

    The move does spell a warning for other broadcast majors to sit up and take notice. Let’s not forget examples of a few channels that had to shut shop midway including Star One, Zee Next, 9x and Real for lack of vision and programming blunder.

     

    Ashish Pherwani

    As Ashish Pherwani of E&Y writes in his analysis for MxMIndia (when is it right for a channel to pull the plug): “Over the last decade or so, most unsuccessful channels which have tried ‘overhauls’ and ‘makeovers’ that have failed to achieve their objectives within six to eight months, have eventually shut down their operations.” According to him, for a channel to succeed, “the only asset it has is viewership. Channels which operate without a robust management team, a unique market position, and a defined target audience, won’t be able to garner sustained and loyal viewership. If channel management is able to make these three aspects fit seamlessly together, chances are the channel will succeed as a business, else, it would make business sense to pull the plug!”

     

    Turner may probably pay heed to Pherwani’s suggestions if it ever were to take another swipe at launching a Hindi general enterainment cahnnel  channel. Going by its past track record where it teamed up with Alva Brothers to launch Real and proceeded by acquiring Imagine from NDTV, chances are that the network may already be on the prowl hunting for its next prospect. Until then, the network seems content to bask in the laurels of its sister channels that have been showing good growth in the genres they operate in.

     

    Written by Johnson Napier with inputs from Anil Thakraney, Ashish Pherwani, Pankaj Krishna, Kshama Rao, Tuhina Anand and Robin Thomas

     

  • Producers and performers were shocked by the Turner decision to pull the curtains down on Imagine

    Rude shock for producers and performers

    By Kshama Rao

     

    Producers woke up to a rude shock on Thursday  to the news of Imagine shutting shop. If IPL wasn’t enough, then the closing down of a TV channel meant further doom for the producers.

     

    JD Majethia

    Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific Inc. (Turner) dashed off a letter that to the producers and the media about Imagine being wound up with immediate effect, so much so that shootings had to be abruptly cancelled on Thursday as the TV giant didn’t want the channel to spend on even one day of shooting!

     

    While the industry is still reeling from the news, the worst affected are the producers whose shows were running on the channel. Rajan Shahi, who had launched Jamuna Paar on Imagine just a little over a month ago, refused to comment: “It would be too premature”. Other producers like Siddharth Tewary, the Sagars who had Chandragupta Maurya and Dwarkadheesh running on primetime were incommunicado as they grappled with the sudden turn of events.

     

    JD Majethia had launched two shows, Jassuben Jayantilal Ki Joint Family and Ek Packet Umeed four years ago (on January 21, 2008) when former Star TV honcho Sameer Nair had spearheaded NDTV Imagine amidst much fanfare. He said: “It’s sad and shocking. It was a channel, which with the entry of Vivek Behl at the helm of things, looked poised for bigger things, a turnaround but that was not to be. It’s a huge setback for producers and for those who work on a per day basis. A daily show means a minimum of 100 people associated with it in various capacities and with Imagine closing down, it spells doom for them. All that talent and labour goes down the drain. It’s a loss of about Rs200 crore worth of yearly business for Imagine and the industry on the whole.”

     

    Mr Majethia said that it was the channel’s “unclear philosophy” that did it in. When they started out, the mantra they had adopted was positive, light hearted, happy programming but then Colors launched with its emphasis on “high drama” and Imagine started floundering. The channel lost its focus, couldn’t make shows that could connect with the masses and hence lost the plot. “But as I said, things had begun to look up with the entry of Vivek,” he added.

     

    Another producer, on the condition of anonymity, who had worked for Imagine said it was the haphazard way of doing things and not following a clear brief that cut the Imagine story short.

     

    Veteran producer Dheeraj Kumar of Creative Eye Productions however played down the whole thing. His show Sawaare Sabke Sapne Preeto which was launched a year back was going strong and he said: “Just like how you get surprises in life, this too was a surprise for us. I wouldn’t call it a shock. I guess these things happen. You think, Turner wouldn’t have thought before taking this decision. Yes, it was overnight and could have done a bit smoothly with advance intimation but it’s alright, I have no complaints as we have had a good creative collaboration with them. Personally, I am not worried about my workers because we are a big production company and they would be absorbed in some or the other project. I am hopeful that Turner with its huge umbrella of channels would give us a chance of providing content to them. I am optimistic.”

     

    Aasiya Qazi, an actress who made a debut with Ekta Kapoor’s Bandini which ran for over a year and followed it with Deeya and Tony Singh’s Dharam Patni that was pulled off air in January is “shocked”. “It was the channel that gave me a chance to start in this industry. It gave me two shows, so yes, I am definitely shocked. I don’t know what happened and whoever I have spoken to are equally clueless. I didn’t even know why Dharam Patni was pulled off air abruptly a couple of months back. I feel sad for the artistes and the crew of the new shows like Jamuna Paar that had gone on air a couple of months ago. It’s demoralising for them,” she says.

     

    Vishal Karwal, who plays the title role of Dwarkadheesh in the Sagars’ ambitious mythological on Lord Krishna, is both “happy and sad. I was happy because I wanted to come back to Mumbai. I have been shooting inBarodafor the show from Mondays to Fridays and it had begun to get to me. I was in talks with the producers to let me go to Mumbai. I am sad for the workers whose bread and butter depend on these daily shows. They don’t earn more than Rs10-15,000 a month where as for actors like us, we can still survive.”

     

    He terms the sudden development as “unprofessional and devoid of professional ethics. The channel hasn’t been doing well for a while now and even the new channel Life OK overtook it in the numbers game.”

     

    Sources in the industry said the producers whose shows were largely affected won’t comment on this considering their dues are yet to be cleared. Worst hit are the Sagars whose two shows, both mythologicals and lavish productions, Dwarkadheesh and Chandragupta Maurya and others like Shahi who had barely launched a new show with a massive set.

     

    A source said: “One wrong word in the media and they run the risk of not getting their dues. They have already been hit badly so any press statement could jeopardise their equation with the channel.”

     

    So it’s wait and watch for now.

     

    Kshama Rao is a senior journalist tracking the television trade for over 15 years.

  • Turner remains fully committed to future investments and long-term participation in Indiaand will continue to explore expansion opportunities in this key priority market for Turner, Mr Jain added

    This is a carefully considered business decision: Siddharth Jain

    It wasn’t an easy day at office for Siddharth Jain, Managing Director- South Asia at Turner International India Private Limited. Mr Jain, who had assumed his current role in November last year, took time off to respond to MxMIndia’s questions in an emailed interaction.

     

    What exactly happened… there were promos running for forthcoming shows and then this announcement of pulling down curtains?

    This is a carefully considered business decision based on performance of the channel. We invested substantially and put all possible resources behind Imagine TV throughout. As in any other business, the investments were directly linked to reaching a certain performance benchmark. However, in the two years, Imagine did not grow or perform as per expectations and as a result, Turner made the carefully-considered decision to cease operations of the channel.

     

    Did you consider selling the channel (a la 9X)?

    We worked incredibly hard to exhaust all options to avoid cessation of business operations.

     

    This is the second GEC from the Turner stable that has failed. But your other channels are doing well, with Pogo hitting an all-time high recently. Will Turner try its hand at another GEC or is it quits for now?

    Absolutely. Turner remains fully committed to future investments and long-term participation in India. Having been pioneers in the Indian M&E space in international news and kids’ entertainment, Turner currently operates some of the strongest media brands in India. POGO is indeed doing very well, being the Number one channel in the kids’ TV genre for the last six months (as per TAM). Turner will continue to be leaders in the media and entertainment industry and to explore expansion opportunities in this key priority market for Turner.

     

    What happens to the team and staff of Imagine? Anyone being retained or moved to other businesses?

    Turner will retain some employees for a transition period and some others are being offered permanent roles within other Turner channels to fill current vacancies.

     

    For the other Imagine employees getting impacted, Turner has set up an HR outplacement service which will provide advice on how to write a better CV, interviewing techniques and other job hunting skills. We will also introduce the employees to recruitment consultants, HR professionals from other media organizations and facilitate their new job search. Our focus is to ensure the closure is executed in a fair and appropriate manner for all of them and in full compliance with all legal requirements, employment terms and company policies. We will use our best endeavours to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them.

     

    The integration exercise that Turner carried out in May 2011 didn’t seem go down well with a few key personnel exiting the company eventually. In hindsight, was that what triggered the channel’s downfall?

    The two are not related in any way. Integration really helped in getting better operational efficiencies between Imagine and our other networks. While exits happened in the last one year, if you look across the industry it is in the normal course of any GEC. There is not one person or one department that was responsible but a number of factors that led to the channel not delivering consistent ratings that were required to sustain the business and continued investment.

     

    Why wasn’t there a suitable replacement to Sameer Nair post his exit?

    We are not in a position to comment on Mr Nair.

     

    Are there any plans for your library of programming? And what happens to the programmes signed up?

    As of today, we cease all business operations of Imagine TV. The closure is a complicated process as we are ensuring fulfillment of all our business commitments to advertisers, distributors, production houses and other partners.

     

    As you look back, do you think it was an unwise decision to buy Imagine from NDTV? And would it have been better for you to have launched an all-new channel so that it doesn’t come with the baggage of an unsuccessful channel?

    The acquisition of Imagine was a wholly appropriate, strategic and extensively-considered decision.

     

  • Turner Network has announced the shutting down of Imagine TV's operations

    Sad! Turner shuts Imagine TV

    Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, Inc. (Turner) today announced the decision to cease business operations of its Hindi general entertainment channel ‘Imagine TV’, together with its international feed ‘Imagine Dil Se’.

     

    A communique from Turner Network signed by Siddharth Jain, Managing Director, South Asia, said Imagine TV has “not performed and grown as per expectations”. “While some programmes delivered satisfactory ratings, overall the channel was unable to achieve the ratings consistency needed to sustain the business and support continued investment. As a result, Turner made the carefully considered decision to cease operations of the channel.”

     

    “We are grateful to the Imagine team, which includes some of the most talented and creative people in the Indian media industry. We will use our best endeavors to make this as smooth a transition as possible for them, ” he continues.

     

    ” The company remains committed to future investments and long-term participation in India. As one of the largest global media companies operating in India, Turner has enjoyed a successful track record in delivering high-quality, compelling and entertaining content to our local audiences over the course of three decades. We currently operate some of the strongest media brands in India, including HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, POGO, WB, TCM and Boomerang. We will continue to be leaders in the media and entertainment industry and to explore expansion opportunities in this important market.

     

    *Please stand by for more *

     

  • Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific realigns executive management roles.

    Staff restructuring @ Turner

    By A Correspondent

    More than two decades after launching with pan-regional CNN and Cartoon Network services, and having grown to 23 channels and 29 websites in nine languages, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific (TBSAP) is to realign its structure to reflect its considerable business outside of Hong Kong. The large, geographically-diverse Asia-Pacific region has over the years become a combination of distinct sub-regions, each with its own characteristics, business imperatives and growth challenges. In order to pursue the network’s ambitious new goals in an increasingly dynamic and fragmented Asia-Pacific region, TBSAP is to rebalance its resources to better seize the exciting opportunities in these territories of North Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia/Pacific, each of which will come under a new management structure.

    Mr Steve Marcopoto, President and MD TBSAP, commented, “The driving principle behind our new set-up is to provide ownership and accountability to each Asia-Pacific sub-region in pursuit of growth. To better align us to meet the challenges and opportunities of these distinct markets in the years ahead, business will be run out of each sub-region with Hong Kong oversight and support.”

    Individual roles of the TBSAP executive team are to be realigned as follows: Mr Sunny Saha becomes SVP & MD Entertainment Networks, TBSAP, and takes on expanded responsibilities on strategic planning across the company, while continuing to oversee the functions in Hong Kong that support TBSAP’s new sub-regional operations. Mr Saha will also directly manage the company’s entertainment networks in Southeast Asia/Pacific, with the support of Mr Robi Stanton who assumes the role of GM, Networks Australia and New Zealand. Mr Saha will remain as TBSAP’s lead executive for all activities on global properties such as Cartoon Network.

    Mr Anshuman Misra will become SVP & MD of Networks and Content Distribution (NCD) Asia-Pacific, taking on full responsibility for Turner’s content sales business across the region. He will also assume responsibility for syndication sales.

    The North Asia region will be managed by Yew Ming Lau who will assume the new role of SVP & MD, North Asia. Mr Siddharth Jain will assume management of South Asia as SVP & MD while Ms Monica Tata, as VP & GM Networks, will now manage all of Turner’s India networks with the assistance of dedicated business heads reporting to her. The team at Imagine, until some months back headed by Mr Sameer Nair, will report to Ms Tata.

    In light of the increasing priority of CNN International News Source, Mr Ringo Chan will devote his major focus to this pursuit as SVP, CNN Broadcast Sales & Affiliate Relations, while maintaining his responsibilities for NCD in Greater China as well as the important liaison work he conducts for TBSAP with the PRC.

    Mr Jeremy Carr will assume important additional responsibility for growing TBSAP’s digital entertainment properties as VP Entertainment, Digital & Adsales.

    Finally, Phil Nelson will assume full regional responsibility for Business Development as VP of Business Development, Asia Pacific.

    These new operating arrangements will take effect immediately.

    “We have the best management team in the business and our new approach will focus each of our executive resources more deeply on specific areas, rather than across the entirety of the substantial and complex region of Asia-Pacific,” Mr Marcopoto added. “This is a positive, forward-looking, strategic and long-term initiative to continue to grow Turner Asia and deliver optimum performance to better seize exciting opportunities in the years ahead.”