MxMIndia

Tag: Viacom18

  • With this tie up,Voot adds a list of almost 100 characters that cut through broadcast affiliations

    Viacom18 and Turner India announce tie up for kidstuff

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 and Turner India have announced a strategic tie-up that will see Turner’s popular kids shows play on Viacom18’s Voot. With this tie-up,Voot adds a list of almost 100 characters that cut through broadcast affiliations.

     

    Said Siddharth Jain, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, South Asia, for Turner India: “We at Turner are dedicated in engaging consumers and collaborators in new ways to develop immersive worlds that enable our fans to experience our brands, franchises and content wherever, whenever and however they like. The collaboration with Viacom18 is a strategic move towards achieving this objective of being where our fans are and we know from our own New Generations 2016 research that 71 percent of today’s plurals are mobile phone users and 30 percent of them are on surfing the internet.”

     

    Launched earlier this year, Voot has a differentiated offering in the kids’ space, housing “Voot Kids” an especially created destination for kids online. Kids are known to be loyal to characters and Voot has bet big on its kids’ content.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 said, “Online kids content is one of the major white spaces that exists in the country today. Through a dedicated offering within Voot, called Voot Kids we had started our journey to create the largest online destination for kids’ content in India. This vision saw us aggregate content from both within our network brand Nick and outside, to launch with over 7000 videos of kids content. This strategic partnership with Turner India will further bolster our content repository for Voot Kids. Additionally, this also brings two powerhouses of kids’ content on a singular platform to bring forth the best viewing experience for our loyal little viewers.”

     

    “With close to one-fifth of all viewing on Voot coming in for Voot Kids already, we clearly have managed to catch the attention of one of the most discerning audiences and the true digital natives. With this multi-year strategic tie-up with Turner India, we are adding to the depth and variety of content for this audience,” explained Gandhi, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures.

     

    This first ever industry strategic tie-up will see Voot hosting Turner India’s popular kids’ shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Dexter’s Laboratory, Roll No. 21, Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo and M.A.D. In addition to this, Voot has its inhouse franchises like Dora, Motu Patlu and Sponge Bob, and all the Nick shows as well as over 7000 new videos on the app and website. Voot already hosts Chotta Bheem and Mighty Raju that run on Turner India’s broadcast channels Cartoon Network and Pogo, and Pokemon that airs on Disney’s broadcast network.

     

    It surely means more fun for kids on the digital space.

     

  • Vh1 launches Vh1 All Stars programme to expand advertiser outreach

    Vh1 offers new outreach platform

    By A Correspondent

     

    The most important thing for any brand is to hold on to the consumer’s attention. And, to facilitate that Vh1 has crafted Vh1 All Stars – a strategic programme for the benefit of advertisers and brands across the country.  This programme aims to provide customised solutions to clients and brand campaigns taking their message to the relevant target group across on-ground outlets spanning 60 cities.

     

    Said Sabrina D’Souza, Head – Marketing, English Entertainment Cluster, Viacom18: “Vh1 All Stars is a strategic programme designed to help brands reach out to their audience in an effective and impactful manner. With a reach of over three million people each week via our unique set of more than 870 on ground partners, we are certain that advertisers will find merit in this pioneering initiative providing added width & depth to their marketing efforts.”

     

    The program has partnered with renowned brands such as Costa Coffee, Ginger Hotels, Truefitt & Hill, HaagenDazs, Gold’s Gym, Jean-Claude Biguine and Hoppipola, as well as with local brands such as The Humming Tree, Bootlegger, High Spirits, Johnny Rockets, Thalassa, Summer House, to name a few.

     

  • COO Ajit Andhare announced the celebrations reminscing the past and announcing a slew of new projects

    5 years & counting for Viacom18 Motion Pictures

     

    The great Satyajit Ray once said, “Cinema’s characteristic forte is its ability to capture and communicate the intimacies of human mind.”  At its core cinema is about storytelling. For five long years that is what Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has been doing. From a hard hitting movie like Gangs of Wasseypur to the coming of age film Queen, the studio has churned out movies which are commercially viable as well as rich in content.

    Starting its journey in 2010, Viacom18 Motion Pictures aimed at breaking the norm and make content the focus. Over these years,  along with movies with appeal for the masses as well as niche audiences, it has distributed English films and have now ventured in to regional markets with movies in Marathi, Bengali and South Indian languages.

     

    “Viacom18 Motion Pictures is an integral part of the value proposition of Viacom18 as a media network. Over the last five years we have built a distinctive identity for our movie studio that is built around our strong focus on stories. This ‘content-first’ approach is in synergy with our broadcast and digital business lines and together films, broadcast and digital complete the ecosystem of entertainment that Viacom18 offers its consumers.” said Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 on the milestone.

    Marketing is a very important aspect for any studio when they choose to back a film. So, what role does marketability of a film play while choosing a script? Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, said, “First of all comes greenlighting a script which means to see whether there is a significant audience for a film. And, therefore what kind of revenues a certain script or film can generate, which a combination of what the film is and the star cast is and what the film weight is about. The marketing question is the next one. Once you believe you have a certain kind of audience then how do you get that audience to sample that film? Which then addresses the conventional question of how many people need to be made aware, and then what is the waterfall of conversion from awareness to footfalls in theatres and that is where the whole conventional sort of marketing framework takes over.”

    “Last year was a very strong for motion pictures. We are profitable and we have grown to a reasonable size in terms of overall revenues and I think that is a very important milestone for us. Being profitable and earning a return on capital is something which every stakeholder looks to and that drives the entire key decision in the business,” said Andhare regarding the studio’s revenue earnings last year. He also stressed on the fact that apart from producing a film, collaboration with relevant brands also plays an important role in the success of a film. In the recent past we have seen a growing trend in product placement within films. “The main thing is to get media alliances. A brand which is possibly placed in the film will also want to promote that film. And, therefore a partnership on the media side is what is of great value to us. It allows us to curtail our marketing expenditure,” he added.

    Apart from celebrating and cherishing the years gone by, Andhare is excited about the future. He spoke about a strong pipeline of Hindi and regional films and extending their reach with Hollywood movies. “Continuing the agenda of innovation; that is the future for us,” he said in conclusion.

    Taking the celebrations a notch higher, Viacom18 Motion Pictures will showcase its blockbusters in a weeklong festival ending June 17. In collaboration with Cinepolis, the festival will be held across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru showcasing hits like Kahaani, Manjhi – The Mountain Man, Special 26, PyaarKaPunchnama 2, BhaagMilkhaBhaag, Queen and Gangs of Wasseypur I & II.

     

  • The new season of Splitsvilla was launched and this year the theme will be 'Where women rule'

    Women rule in Splitsvilla 9

    By A Correspondent

     

    Once upon a time, there were six princesses. 15 warriors were fighting to get the attention of these six princesses and rule the kingdom of love. Worry not! We are not narrating a fairytale. This is the basic premise of Splitsvilla 9.

     

    MTV is back with its high profile show of finding love. This year the show is hailing women power, with a mix of love and power-play, giving women the authority to call the shots with its new theme, ‘Where women rule’. It will be hosted by Rannvijay Singha and Sunny Leone. 15 boys will be pitted against each other to impress six girls. This time, some of the male contestants will be known faces while some will be new.

     

    Speaking to MxMIndia at the launch, Ferzad Palia, Head- Youth and English Entertainment at Viacom18, said: “It is a consumer shift that we are seeing across the country, where women are finally coming up to claim their own right place be it in society, corporate world or anywhere. People have spoken about it; there has been faff than actual action. As a brand, we are very passionate about the fact that women need to be given their due respect and men need to learn respecting them. It is happening but the more that the brands that youths look up to, if we can push it, which is great., ” about the theme. He also added that over the years, the age group of viewers has also evolved since there has been a rise in slightly elder audiences tuning in to watch the show, which shows that Indian consumers are ready for such bold content.This is the third year that actor Sunny Leone returns to host Splitsvilla 9. “I am thrilled to be back on Splitsvilla 9 more so because the ultimate power lies in the hands of women,” she said.

     

    The show that has been shot in the colonial town of Pondicherry will witness the boys going to any and every extent to make the woman of their choice happy. They will make their every move worthwhile to not only win the heart of the girls but also to survive and win the reigns in this game of love.

     

    “I think what works for MTV content is that we keep evolving year after year. So, to have so many hit shows, and have the same format evolve year after year, it almost becomes a different show in itself. It does not happen by fluke. There is a lot research that goes in, a lot of this is created by design. So, we work very hard behind the scenes, which is why when we put out our Youth Marketing Forum research, a lot of people come to listen because they know exactly what MTV is talking about. So, I think research is a very integral part of what we do and that helps us stay one step ahead of the curve,” Palia said, adding that Season 9 of Splitsvilla is scheduled to start on June 11, 2016 on MTV.

     

    But today people tend to be offended if they disagree with a certain aspect of the content or the content as whole; how does one deal with it without disrupting the reality of the show? “We have dealt with it for many years, we are not being any more careful now than we were a few years back. Self-censorship is extremely important. We understand the laws of the land. We will always be a brand that pushes it to the edge but does not over step the line. We understand that we are television, very very mass medium. You could end up hurting sentiments, unintentionally sort of guiding the youth in the wrong direction; which we will never do. We are the voice of the youth. It is tough but people getting offended are age old. Today, if someone gets offended they put up a post, tweet but you just have to work within the parameters. There is no content that will work for everyone. As long your intentions are good it will largely be okay. ” he said.

     

  • He will continue to head Viacom18 Consumer Products

    Saugato Bhowmik to also head Integrated Network Solutions at Viacom18

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 has announced the appointment of Saugato Bhowmik as the head of its Integrated Network Solutions (INS) business unit. INS is entrusted with developing brand solutions for consumers and live properties across music and entertainment genres. Bhowmik takes on the baton from Jaideep Singh who will be moving on. Along with this new role, Bhowmik will continue to head the Consumer Products business line at Viacom18.

     

    Commenting on this development, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO – Viacom18 said, “Saugato has rich experience in marketing and his expertise in consumer products has enabled us to monetize various brand properties through successful merchandising and licensing partnerships. We are confident that his sharp marketing sense and ability to mine consumer insights will help grow the INS business further. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Jaideep the best for his future endeavors.”

     

  • The initiative aims at infrastructural enhancement and behaviour change communication to clean up Mumbai

    Viacom18 launches ‘Chakachak’ CSR initiatives

    (L-R) Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, Actress Salonee Kulkarni, Actor Mahesh Kothare, Nicktoon Shiva, actor Urmila Kanetkar Kothare and Kesarben Patel, Corporator – Salve Nagar, K-East Ward, Andheri East​

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 flagged off its CSR behaviour change communication campaign to tackle the unhygienic sanitation condition in the slums of Mumbai. The company has adopted four slums in the densely populated Andheri suburb of Mumbai. Under the umbrella of ‘Chakachak Mumbai’, over the last year, Viacom18 has renovated and reconstructed over 200 toilets in the locality. Underlining the importance of instigating a change in people’s mindset at the ground level, the network has roped in Ramon Magsaysay award winner Jockin Arputham and underprivileged women’s self-help collective Mahila Milan, to undertake a behaviour change communication programme.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO – Viacom18, flagged off the drive along with  Smt. Kesarben Patel, Corporator – Salve Nagar, K-East Ward, Andheri East and well-known Marathi film personalities Mahesh Kothare, Urmila Kanetkar Kothare and Sonalee Kulkarni.

     

    “It is my firm belief that just as its people define the organization, the organization has a soul that is the collective of its people. It is with this belief that Viacom18 has been at the forefront of amplifying socially relevant issues, through our movies, TV series, support for social causes and various on ground activities. When we formalised our CSR journey, we decided to contribute towards realizing the challenging dream of a Swachh Bharat, both through enhancing infrastructure and building awareness,” said Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18. He further added, “We are India’s favourite storytellers and we decided to leverage that primary strength to build the story of why good sanitary practices are important. Thus our entire behaviour change communication campaign focusses on how cleanliness leads to prosperity.”

     

    With the 360-degree approach of infrastructure development and behaviour change communication programme, Chakachak Mumbai looks set to bring about a noticeable improvement in the swachhta quotient of this maximum city.

     

  • COLORS Marathi HD is being launched on Airtel and Tata Sky initially and will be rolled out on all other platforms, both direct to home and cable, thereafter

    Viacom18 launches HD feed of its regional GECs

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 has announced the launch of its HD feed for three of its regional general entertainment channels – Colors Kannada, Colors Marathi and Colors Bangla.

     

    Sudhanshu Vats

    Announcing the launch of the HD channels, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 said, “When we brought the regional GECs under the Colors umbrella, we committed to raising the bar on regional content. This philosophy saw us attain pole position in the Kannada market, become a strong leader in the Marathi market and build up the connect with our Bengali viewers. Interestingly, during this period, the regional markets have seen tremendous growth in consumer lifestyles. With the HD launch of our regional channels, we are once again raising the bar by provisioning for the premium viewing experience that the markets now crave.”

    Ravish Kumar – Project Head, Colors Kannada, Colors Bangla and Colors Odiya said, “We strive to offer varied content to our viewers without compromising on excellence – be it powerful storytelling, high production values, international reality formats, festival programming or movie premieres. Our aim is to delight audiences’ everyday with an entertaining and cohesive television viewing experience and launching  HD channels is yet another pioneering step in that direction.”

     

    Anuj Poddar – Project Head, Colors Marathi and Colors Gujarati elaborated saying, “Colors Marathi has consistently innovated and redefined the entertainment landscape for Marathi audiences with its varied bouquet of shows and big scale events, while yet staying true to the roots of its culture.  We are yet again playing a pioneering role and upping the ante by being the first to provide viewers with High Definition viewing experience.”

    The channels will be available on leading cable and DTH platforms.

     

  • SONIC in its new swish avatar will go live, starting 3rd May, 2016

    Sonic undergoes rebranding; revisits content strategy too

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kids franchise, Nickelodeon is set to rebrand its 2011 launched kids channel – SONIC.  With this rebranding, SONIC, an integral part of the kids franchise, is all set to evolve its content strategy to now include edgy comedy along with riveting action. The evolution in the content strategy will be brought alive through the renewed graphic elements and the new vibrant logo imbued with energy and life.  SONIC will go live, starting 3rdMay, 2016.

     

    The channel is already prepped for the transformation through a refreshing programming line-up. This change has already been set into motion with India’s first action comedy series, Shiva moving to SONIC. There will also be new episodes of Pakdam Pakdai and Oggy the Cockroaches along with the ever-green shows Supa Strikas and Shaun The Sheep.

     

    “Our flagship Kids channel Nick has been the genre leader for almost 2 years now and our Kids portfolio is amongst the top 2 in India. Seen in this light, the rebranding exercise for Sonic is part of an evolving  content strategy aimed at building Sonic up as a strong second to Nick, thereby increasing the combined viewership share of our Kids portfolio as we aim to cement our position as the number one Kids’ content destination in India,” said Sudhanshu Vats – Group CEO, Viacom18, as he further underlined the importance of the Kids genre, “Our commitment to the genre is reflected in how we’ve placed it across our network through Consumer Products and a dedicated section in our OTT service Voot.”

     

    Talking about the rebranding of SONIC, Nina Elavia Jaipuria -EVP and Head – Kids Cluster, Viacom18 said “While Nickelodeon continues its dream run, our focus for this year is on building SONIC into a formidable channel that becomes a part of every child’s daily life. Our research shows that Children love action but with a significant dash of comedy.   It is aligning to this insight that we have curated the all new SONIC that is fun, refreshing, vibrant, full of action and entertainment  and with an edgy sense of humor which we are sure that children will love.”

     

    The refreshed look of the channel will be brought to life with the Shiva campaign. The expansive marketing campaign will have promotions with an extensive cross channel plan, large scale on-ground, ambient engagement and interesting on-line interactivity. Adding to this will be the on-ground initiatives like retail and mall partnerships, the association with Pantaloons for the Junior Fashion Icon, SHIVA themed games and meet-and-greets at Funcity, etc, all of which will introduce as well as allow kids’ to engage with their all new SONIC.

     

    With an enthralling programming lineup and an enhanced visual experience, SONIC is all set to zoom into the daily life of every child in India.

     

  • Under the new mandate, Chakraborthy will be in charge of revenue across all entities within TV18. All sales heads within TV18 (except Viacom18) will report to him

    Joy Chakraborthy joins Network18 as President- Revenue

    By A Correspondent

     

    Joy Chakraborthy

    The Network18 group has appointed Joy Chakraborthy as President- Revenue, TV18.

     

    Under the new mandate, Chakraborthy will be in charge of revenue across all entities within TV18. All sales heads within TV18 (except Viacom18) will report to him.

     

    Chakraborthy comes with over 20 years of experience in the media industry. Prior to joining Network18, Joy was Director – Response at BCCL. Earlier, he was the CEO at TV Today Network. He was at Zee Entertainment for seven years, last as Executive Director, handling revenues, channel placement and entire niche channel business. Prior to that he was Executive Vice President at Star India for 6 years.

     

    A graduate from the National Defence Academy with a Master’s degree in marketing management from NMIMS, he has also completed Advanced Management Programme from the Harvard Business School.

     

  • Inspiring children to partner in the journey towards a better tomorrow

    Nickelodeon does its bit for a cleaner India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nickelodeon has announced Together For Good – an initiative  that endeavors to make the kids of India take small steps towards a better tomorrow.  Kick-starting on 18th April 2016, the 1st edition of the campaign will make the process of cleaning more fun and entertaining for children. Together for Good is Nickelodeon’s worldwide initiative that believes anyone, anywhere, any time can help make the world a better place. In India too, the movement has been launched with a vision to empower kids to be the change agents in society.

     

    Given the fact that cleanliness is one of India’s primary concerns, this edition of Together For Good  sets out to address the concern by inspiring children to take small but actionable steps towards creating  a cleaner future. Nickelodeon believes that kids are very creative and hence goes beyond just simple ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ to contribute towards society in their unique way. Hence, this year the campaign will be actioned through the unique idea of ‘Collect -> Clean -> Create’. This will not only help them to be aware but go a step further to unleash their creativity and build simple usable items out of waste, scrap and junk.

     

    In keeping with the core of Collect, Clean and Create, Nickelodeon will begin by seeding messages of cleanliness on-air and online with the help of the kids favourite Nicktoons with whom they share immense equity. Children across the country will be encouraged to take up the issue at an individual level, or even join clubs and groups to help out.

     

    The movement will be brought to life on digital on nickindia.com/TFG. The page will help kids with simple and actionable steps with a starter kit with info-graphics, articles on the importance of cleanliness and various methods and tools that we can use for personal as well as environmental cleanliness. The page will also list all the other activities that are currently active in the country and open to participation.

     

    Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Commenting on this initiative, Nina Jaipuria, EVP and Business Head, Kids Cluster at Viacom18 said. “At Nickelodeon, we believe that children are change agents of tomorrow. Through “Together For Good” we want to start imbibing in children the eternal virtues of cleanliness, while also empowering them to make small but impactful changes in society. Together for good is a movement that will inspire the ever creative and curious kids to bring about a positive change in the world.”

     

  • Alok Nath, Gulshan Grover, Baba Sehgal and a host of celebs will frontline originals in advertising-led Voot platform

    Viacom18 unveils Voot with originals and huge kiddie content

    By A Correspondent

     

    Viacom18 has launched Voot, a digital video-on-demand platform that will will be advertising-led and available for free on iOS, Android and web-led devices.

     

    Other than 17,000 of Viacom18 content from across channels and languages, the Voot drivers will be a massive kids foray plus a diverse set of originals. Voot will house popular characters from across networks – from Nick characters like Dora, Spongebob, Motu Patlu to blockbuster characters like Chhota Bheem and Pokemon. Meanwhile, Voot Originals will roll out shows in both long and short formats across genres like comedy and drama. Bollywood actors Gulshan Grover, Baba Sehgal, Alok Nath and a host of celebrity scriptwriters and directors will be frontlining these shows. Furthermore, Viacom18 will move its entire content library, including Colors, MTV and Nick, to be digitally available only on VOOT.

     

    Commenting on the launch, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, said, “India is at the cusp of a digital boom with over 400 million internet users and 200 million+ smartphone users spending significant amount of time online with entertainment and allied content being the prime driver. As more people move towards consuming content online, it is time for Viacom18 to move into the world of connected screens. Hence Voot.”

     

    Echoing his CEO’s enthusiasm, Gaurav Gandhi, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures explained further, “As a network we are a content powerhouse, be it through our television channels or through our film studio. Our content strategy for Voot is true to Viacom18’s philosophy of inclusive entertainment. Between Voot Originals, Voot Kids, our network content and Content-around-content created exclusively for the platform, the idea is to peddle happiness to the ‘always wanting’ India, racing to go digital. Our marketing campaign, set to kick off in the next few days, also highlights this brand philosophy that is at the core of Voot. ”

     

     

  • The Viacom18 legal team won the Best In-house Legal Team award in media & entertainment category

    Achievers felicitated at Legal Era Awards

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sujeet Jain

    At the fifth Edition of the Legal Era Awards, Sujeet Jain, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, Viacom18, won the Star General Counsel of the Year award, nominees for which included senior General Counsel’s from across sectors. The Viacom18 legal team won the Best In-house Legal Team award in media & entertainment category once again.

     

    Expressing his pleasure at receiving the awards, Jain said, “In-house counsel’s role is becoming more complex than ever since not only are they expected to have technical legal competence but also need to understand business in-depth; therefore this award is a recognition of excellence at business, leadership and law. The Media & Entertainment (“M&E”) sector in India has experienced robust growth over the last decade and the regulatory front of the sector has transformed over these years, throwing numerous challenges and growth opportunities. As we enter the new frontiers of digitization in the Media and Entertainment Industry, we will continue to evolve best practices for our legal, regulatory, IP and compliance needs.”

     

    At the same award ceremony, Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, received the “Lifetime Achievement Award”, Dilip Udeshi, Udwadia & Udeshi, won the “Lifetime Achievement Award  for “ Law Firm Partner”. “Star of the Millennium” for ‘Outstanding Contribution & Excellence in the Legal Industry’ went to Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, whereas Justice A.P. Shah, Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, bagged “Legal Icon of the Year”.