MxMIndia

Tag: Sunil Lulla

  • As BARC celebrates the big milestone, CEO Sunil Lulla gets up, close and candid with Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Five years of BARC. Looking Back. Looking Forward

     

    The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) celebrates five years of operations today (April 29, 2020).

     

    Many of us know the circumstances in which BARC was envisaged and established, and given that audience measurement doesn’t come cheap, it was indeed wise to have a joint industry body doing the exercise.

     

    With BARB from the United Kingdom as inspiration, BARC was incorporated in 2010. Operations though took off only after some five years and the first set of data was published on April 29, 2015. In the very year of launch, it also announced rural audience measurement and now measures 185,000 individuals over 44,000 homes, and that number is set to grow to 55,000. Well it was scheduled to, if Covid-19 hadn’t happened.

     

    Viewership, as measured by BARC, grew 38% till 2019 and a total of 48.4 trillion viewing minutes were consumed in 2019 alone. BARC currently measures 634 channels. The future is bright given that 100 million homes still to get a TV set.

     

    It’s unfortunate that the celebrations are dampened by an ill-placed recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

     

    Sunil Lulla, a veteran mediaperson who has worked across the M&E spectrum, took charge at BARC in October 2019. With broadcast – entertainment, news, with advertising and with a large production house. He has also spent some quality with a large digital venture. He spoke with Pradyuman Maheshwari, Editor-in-Chief, MxMIndia on a wide range of issues. Check out the video. It’s nearly 30 minutes. So pull out the popcorn or whatever. And enjoy.

     

     

  • The NBF, the communique added, would also like to point out that viewership trends in news channels have significantly risen, as per the latest report on trends put out jointly by BARC and Nielsen on Friday morning

    News Broadcasters Fed asks ad fraternity for help

    By A Correspondent

     

    The News Broadcasters Federation has reached out to advertisers with a plea that news channels have emerged as the single greatest source of news and information at a critical time of the lockdown. Adds a communique: “Across India, broadcasters in all languages are doing non stop programming with an almost 100 % focus on battling the Coronavirus and ensuring the success of the nationwide lockdown. Besides the news on the latest figures of corona infected and the degree of spread of the pandemic, news channels have put hundreds of experts, doctors, public health experts, civil and police personnel, and government officials on air in a massive effort to disemminate the right information and counter the barrage of fake news.”

     

    Said Arnab Goswami, President of the News Broadcasters Federation, in a statement: “At a time when other media can scale down resources and expenses, news broadcasters are scaling up their effort, and going all out to scale up their resources on the ground. We, the news broadcasters of India, consider ourselves as a public and emergency and essential service at a time of national crisis, and are absolutely committed to play our role in ensuring that by reaching out to the largest part of Indias 1.3 billion people, we stall the spread of this dangerous virus. I appeal at this time to all my friends in the media industry, and our partners in all sectors to contribute to the efforts of the news broadcasters by supporting news channels in terms of advertising on this period as a preferred partner in thuis difficult time.”

     

    The NBF, the communique added, would also like to point out that viewership trends in news channels have significantly risen, as per the latest report on trends put out jointly by BARC and Nielsen on Friday morning. The press note said: “As per the report, the viewing of news channels had gone up in last week by 57 % and Hindi news channels by 67 %. Regional language news channels are also seeing a major spike in viewership and the increase in viewership has been across segments. Interestingly, BARC CEO Sunil Lulla had pointed out during the press conference that even the kids category saw viewership jump in news channel consumption by a whopping 87 % which is a clear indicator that the nature of informative and contextual news programming on battling Covid 19 among news channels is being received favourably across all segments of the TV audiences.”

     

     

  • TV viewing mins & Smartphone usage up 8% & 6.2% respectively as BARC India & Nielsen unveil report on impact of Covid-19

    Covid-19 sees TV & Smartphone grow

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India) went a step further on its attempt to offer a combined measurement of television and digital consumption. TV viewing minutes and Smartphone usage went up 8% and 6.2% respectively as BARC India and Nielsen unveil report on the impact of Covid-19

     

    BARC and Nielsen put together a report to understand the changes in consumption behaviour of television and smartphones given the extraordinary situation surrounding the COVID pandemic and its fallout.

     

    Sharing her views on the current surge in smartphone usage, Dolly Jha, Country Leader Nielsen Global Media, South Asia said, “We are living through unprecedented times! Physical Social Distancing seems to have led to a phenomenal growth in Virtual Social Togetherness with an almost 20% increase in time spent per user on Chats, Social Media and News in the last one week. And we anticipate this to grow further.”

     

    Elaborating on the topic, Sunil Lulla, Chief Executive Officer, BARC India said: “These are unfortunate and unprecedented times. Working closely with Nielsen, we bring for our customers and stake-holders, this very significant and important update, on change in content and advertising consumption behaviour, with a significant population at home. We will report soon enough, the impact of total lockdown. Our respective brave teams are working (WFH) round the clock to ensure the TV measurement currency, continues uninterrupted.”

     

    Highlights of the report:

    1. The Covid-19 disruption period has seen an increase in television viewership – 6% increase in TV reach and 8% increase in TV viewing minutes /week. The time spent on TV / viewer has seen a jump by 2%. The PM’s address to the nation on complete lockdown on March 24 garnered unprecedented viewership of 197 million watching it across the country.

     

    2. When we look at smartphone behaviour the time spent on smartphones per user has gone up by 6.2%. The time spent/user/week on VOD apps has also seen an increase of 3%. If we look at the increase in the time spent/user/week over that of the previous week (to take away the impact of Cricket viewing in the PRE COVID period considered), we can see a jump of 5%.

     

    3. Kids’ schools being shut and the stress of exams off their shoulders has resulted an increase in television viewing (+20%). With corporate India getting into Work from Home mode, NCCS A showed an 11% increase in viewership. Even on smartphone usage, the increase in driven NCCS A (+7.7%) and 35-44-year-olds (+10.7%).

     

    4. People staying at home led to watching TV throughout the day and hence the growth in TV viewing is coming from Non-Prime Time slots (8am – 5 pm).

     

    5. The need for continuous updates expectedly has led to a huge increase in news consumption on Television (57% increase in Impressions), while spending more time as a family together could be leading to the Movies genre and the Kids genre also showing significant increases.

     

    6. This behaviour is seen in digital consumption as well with News and Gaming showing huge increases. News apps saw 8% more users per week with an increase of 17% in time spent/user/week. This growth was led by non-English News apps (+87%). Gaming apps saw an increase of 2% in users/week and with a 11% increase in time spent/user/week.

     

    7. With a lot of uncertainty around what is happening, people have increased their time spent on Chatting (+23%) and Social Networking (+25%) apps.  Almost all social networking apps –  Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have seen significant increases not only in time spent /user/week but also in the sessions/ user/ week.

     

    8. Shopping apps, Travel apps and Food Apps have seen a huge drop in both users/ week and time spent/user/week.

     

    9. It’s not just TV viewership that has seen an increase –advertising FCT on TV has increased by 13%.

     

    Measurement considerations:

      BARC Nielsen Smartphone Panel
    Coverage All India (Urban + Rural) All India (Urban 1 Lakh plus)
    TG ALL NCCS 2+ years NCCS ABC 15-44 years

    Android Smartphone Users
    Time Period PRE COVID  – 11th Jan 2020- 31st Jan 2020 PRE COVID –  13th Jan 2020 – 2nd Feb 2020
    COVID DISRUPTION – 14th March 2020 to 20th March 2020 COVID DISRUPTION – 16th March 2020 to 22nd March 2020
    Week definition Saturday to Friday Monday to Sunday

     

     

     

  • Upadhyay has expertise in end-to-end consumer life cycle management using advanced analytics and marketing interventions

    BARC India appoints Mahendra Upadhyay as Chief Information Officer

    By A Correspondent

     

    Television audience measurement joint industry body Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India) has appointed the appointment of Mahendra Upadhyay as Chief Information Officer.

     

    Upadhyay has 18 years of experience in telecom, banking, retail and media & advertising industries with expertise in data value chain i.e. Ingestion-Insights-Analytics-Auto AI. He has expertise in end-to-end consumer life cycle management using advanced analytics and marketing interventions.

     

    Said Sunil Lulla, Chief Executive Officer, BARC India: “We are happy to welcome Mahendra on board as the Chief Information Officer, BARC India. With his mix of leadership roles across Industries, he brings a diverse cross-industry perspective that we will be able to leverage immensely for the benefit of our clients and for the industry,”

     

    Commenting on his new role, Upadhyay added: “I am absolutely delighted about joining the world’s best television measurement company BARC India as Chief Information Officer. Looking forward to my new role and taking company to next level along with my team.”

     

     

  • Once in a while we throw in questions like these only to catch him off-guard and get something controversial. But Dr Bhaskar Das is a pro at these, and has offered us a response which we guess everyone will offer. Without much ado, presenting today’s Q&A in Das Ka Dum. Read on…

    Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das: Sunil Lulla, your former colleague at the Times of India group, has recently taken charge as CEO of  BARC. Your top expectations from the new BARC big boss?

    Once in a while we throw in questions like these only to catch him off-guard and get something controversial. But Dr Bhaskar Das is a pro at these, and has offered us a response which we guess everyone will offer. Without much ado, presenting Das Ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

     

    If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

     

    Q. Sunil Lulla, your former colleague at the Times of India group, has recently taken charge as CEO of  BARC. As someone who has always believed in measurement and obviously track BARC ratings week-on-week, your top expectations from the new BARC big boss

     

    A. I have no expectation beyond the continuance of the robustness of BARC as an industry currency and decision support tool. But what really matters is the industry’s expectations supported via collaboration and calibration in sync with the new dynamics of the corporates. Sunil is a thoroughbred professional and the industry has nominated him for the role for that. I am confident that the BARC team under Sunil’s able stewardship would continue the tradition of great work.

     

     

  • Partho Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of BARC India, has announced his plans to relinquish his position and move on. Industry veteran Sunil Lulla has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of BARC

    Partho Dasgupta quits BARC. Sunil Lulla is new CEO

    By A Correspondent

    Partho Dasgupta
    Sunil Lulla

    Partho Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of BARC India, has announced his plans to relinquish his position and move on. Industry veteran Sunil Lulla has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of BARC.

    Said Dasgupta: “It has been a tremendous journey to setup the worlds largest Audience Measurement Company with the least investment and in the quickest time. Having set it up, expanding the panel and introducing new insight products for News, Sports, Music and OOH genres, I thought it’s time to move on and do new things. I have enjoyed setting up new businesses and brands and turning them around both in media and consumer space and its time to explore new domains”. He added “I would like to thank Board members and Techcomm members, specially Punit and Shashi for the tremendous support and guidance.”

    Added Lulla: “I am delighted to lead BARC as its grows its footprint, in coverage, scope and services, in the fast growing and rapidly evolving TV and Digital Industry. Things are changing fast and Audience measurement has to keep pace with all these. I thank Partho for bringing the company to where it is and wish him a great time ahead”.

    Said Punit Goenka, Chairman BARC India: “I welcome Sunil to BARC. He has been a board member before and is familiar. I would also like to thank Partho for steering BARC through tough times, building a great team and establishing the technology architecture that BARC is proud of. Winner of several awards, BARC India is now considered a benchmark by the global measurement community. We wish him the best for his career ahead”. Speaking on the transition, Punit added “Partho and Sunil are working with the teams for a smooth transition in the weeks to come.”

  • The Linus Adventures will be an in-residence consulting service

    Exclusive: Sunil Lulla turns entrepreneur. Sets up ‘The Linus Adventures’

    By A Correspondent

    Sunil Lulla

    Veteran mediaperson Sunil Lulla has caught the entrepreneurial bug. After being professionally employed for 35 years, he is now turning entrepreneur with and in-residence consulting service called The Linus Adventures.

     

    Lulla has moved on from Balaji Telefilms where he has been Group CEO from last year. The Linus Adventures, Lulla informed MxMIndia, is about growing businesses, building brands and enabling cultures, engaging with promoters and CXOs, directly in the consumer, digital and content domain. Meanwhile, he is also looking to spearhead some “interesting content initiatives” on the digital front.

     

    So why the name Linus Adventures? Well, Linus is Sunil spelt the other way around. It is also Lulla’s running moniker (Lulla is a keen marathoner).

     

    An MBA from SP Jain Institute, Lulla has spent long and successful years in advertising and broadcast. And some in digital. He spent 11 years in JWT in India, China and Taiwan, three years at HMV (now Saregama), three years at MTV India which he turned around, a year at Diageo, two years at Indya.com, three years at Sony Entertainment and then eight years as CEO and MD of the Times Television Network. Later he spent nearly four years as CMD of Grey Group India before making the switch to Balaji.

     

    According to information received, a few clients have already signed on, and a few are going to do it soon.

     

  • The former Grey Group CMD will will join Balaji wef May 25

    We told you so. Sunil Lulla joins Balaji Telefilms as Group CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    On April 10, we had reported that Sunil Lulla was moving on from Grey Group to join Balaji Telefilms as Group CEO. We had to use the word rumoured because the official announcement could only be made post the Board meeting. Lulla will join Balaji wef May 25.

     

    Lulla, a veteran of over three decades of experience across media, entertainment and the broadcast industry, was until recently CMD of Grey Group India. Earlier he has worked with HMV (nkaSaregama), MTV, Sony, Times Network and Indya.com. Lulla has been a prominent member on many boards and forums of the broadcast industry.

     

    Commenting on the appointment, Shobha Kapoor, Managing Director, Balaji Telefilms said: “We are pleased that Sunil will be joining us as Group CEO and are confident that he is the right person to lead Balaji to the next stage of growth and value creation. He is a seasoned leader with a stellar leadership reputation and brings with him a wealth of consumer business experience. The Indian media sector is undergoing massive change which also creates enormous opportunities for us at Balaji Telefilms and Sunil will lead the efforts with the rest of the team to seize these opportunities and create value for all our stakeholders.”

     

    Added Lulla in a statement: “I am incredibly excited to join Balaji Telefilms at this stage of the company’s evolution into a B2C media business. Balaji Telefilms has a great combination of engaging and compelling content and distribution on the back of explosive growth in online video consumption. Balaji Telefilms is well positioned to become a leading player in the Indian media sector and I am motivated to join the leadership team and all the great people that have fuelled Balaji Telefilms success so far.”

     

     

  • Samathas been Grey for 25 years, having joined the agency as an Account Director on Pantene

    Yashaswini Samat takes charge as Chairman & MD of Grey. Sunil Lulla exits, rumoured to be joining Balaji as Group CEO

    By A Correspondent

     

    Yashaswini Samat
    Sunil Lulla

    The winds of change are blowing at Grey India. Or have blown already, one may say. Yashaswini Samat, who has been leading P&G, Grey’s biggest clientfor the AMEA region, will be adding to her current responsibilities and has been promoted to Chairman and Managing Director, GreyGroup India. Based in Mumbai, she will work closely with Nirvik Singh, Chairman& CEO, Grey Group Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, to grow the business and address current client needs. Samat takes over from Sunil Lulla who joined the agency to helm it since 2014. Lulla, it is rumoured, is likely to join Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms.

     

    Yashaswini (Yash), an alumnus of IIM Kolkata, has been Grey for 25 years, having joined the agency as an Account Director on Pantene. She has led and mentored large teams across different geographies (Europe, Asia and North America), diverse disciplines and cultures. Before moving back to Asia, Samat was Global Brand Agency Leader for Pantene based out of New York.

     

    Nirvik Singh

    Said Nirvik Singh, Chairman & CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa on the tranisition: “Sunil has done a tremendous job with all aspects of the agency – the creative work and accolades, the working culture and environment and his winning ways which has landed us so many high-caliber clients. Grey is among the few major agencies in India which has demonstrated growth in 2017. It has continued to add strong clients to its already premium roster and with Yash at the helm I am confident we will build exponentially on this success.”

     

    Added Samat in a statement: “I wish Sunil the very best and want to thank him for all that he has done at the agency to bring it to where it is. I am excited to be heading the Grey Group India business and will continue to make strategic decisions which will benefit our clients. The nurturing Grey culture, one which recognizes, supports and encourages women to reach the very top of their game is one of the many reasons why I have been with this company for so many wonderful years. Grey has given me many opportunities during my working career and I am as motivated and keen to make an impact now, as I was when I first joined.”

     

     

  • Raman will lead the agency's strategy offering across its offices in India

    Arun Raman joins Grey India as National Planning Head

    By A Correspondent

     

    Grey group India has appointed Arun Raman as National Planning Head. Raman will lead the agency’s strategy offering across its offices in India. He will be based in Mumbai, reporting to Sunil Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director, Grey Group India.

     

    On Raman’s appointment, Lulla said, “With the right attitude, mindset and unique working style, he is undoubtedly one of the best planners we have hired to give demonstrable impact on our existing and new brands, creativity, businesses and people. We are happy to have him back in the space that he can explore freely to lift our brand’s strategy and able to give a whole new identity to our agency and client’s products.”

     

    Raman returns to Grey from Lowe Lintas, where, as the Executive Director and worked across India and Sri Lanka on an array of clients such as Tata Beverages, Unilever, Axis Bank, Britannia and Indian Rayon amongst others.

     

    Speaking of his move, Raman said “Grey Group is truly playing the ‘integration’ game impressively.  I am looking forward to elevating the Famously Effective credo of Grey to become a way of life across our offices and teams. And we are going to have loads of fun looking for new opportunities across our truly impressive current client roster, as well as the kind of clients we seek for us”

     

  • Films include new and catalogue film like Aligarh, Nil Battey Sannata, Housefull, Cocktail, Vicky Donor, Omkara, Heyy Babyy and the upcoming Banjo

    Eros signs television license deal with Zee Network

    By A Correspondent

     

    Eros International Media Ltd has announced a television syndication deal for their new and catalogue films with Zee Network. The films comprise a number of catalogue films from Eros’ vast library and also pre-sales for a few forthcoming films.

     

    Movies that will be showcased exclusively on Zee Network include Riteish Deshmukh and Nargis Fakhri starrer Banjo, slated for a theatrical release on September 23, the much acclaimed family drama Nil Battey Sannata, and the widely appreciated Aligarh starring Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao.

     

    Apart from the recent releases, the license deal will give the channel access to Eros’ blockbuster catalogue films like Housefull, Heyy Babyy, Cocktail, Vicky Donor, Omkara among others.

     

    Sunil Lulla, Managing Director, Eros International Ltd. said, “This deal signifies yet another step towards cementing our long association with Zee Network. We continue to exploit our significant library and the content licensing deal with Zee is consistent with our pre-sales strategy.  These tailor made packages from our broad film repertoire will suit audiences across networks and maximize the potential from the television broadcast.

     

  • Alvares is based out of Mumbai and will report to Sunil Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director, GREY group India

    Grey appoints Leroy Alvares as President – Digital Services

    By A Correspondent

     

    Gulbahar Taurani

    GREY group India has appointed Leroy Alvares to lead the agency’s digital services in India. He joins GREY group as President – Digital Services. Alvares will be responsible for developing proprietary and innovative digital-oriented solutions for GREY’s clients. Alvares is based out of Mumbai and will report to Sunil Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director, GREY group India.

     

    On Alvares’ appointment, Lulla said, “While GREY has significantly integrated its practices across its offices in India, there is still an enormous opportunity to leverage on Leroy’s skills in the digital domain to ‘New & Next’ oriented services. Leroy brings tremendous maturity, confidence and panache to original and innovative digital thinking.  His new role will see him follow an integrated work culture practice, bringing digital thinking and capability for all clients.  His core focus is to accelerate GREY’s already well-established digital capabilities across India. I know with Leroy at the helm, the Grey Digital footprint will only get stronger.”

     

    In Alvares’ previous stints, he has served as the President of Rediffusion Y&R Digital, Rediffusion-Wunderman and Sudler & Hennessey India. He was with iContact and Ogilvy India before he joined Tribal DDB as country head. A veteran with over 20 years of experience, Alvares has worked across a diverse range of categories including retail, telecommunications, financial services, information technology, pharmaceuticals, travel & tourism, and fashion & lifestyle.