MxMIndia

Tag: What’s-ON

  • Founder, CEO Atul Phadnis to stay on to helm operations as with this acquisition of Asia’s leading TV listings and search provider bolsters Tribune’s reach to 600 million TV subscribers globally

    Achche Din… Atul Phadnis’ What’s-ON is acquired by Los Angeles Times owner, Tribune Digital Ventures

    By A Correspondent

     

    Tribune Digital Ventures, the technology and innovation arm of Tribune Company has announced it has acquired What’s-ON, the leading television search and Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data provider for India and the Middle East. This move expands Tribune’s TV listings and video metadata footprint to more than 50 countries in 30+ languages, reaching more than 600 million pay TV subscribers.  Tribune has interests in multiple media as it runs 42 stations across the US and daily newspapers like Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

     

    Atul Phadnis

    What’s-ON provides EPG data and TV search products for 16 countries, including India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia, Kenya and Sri Lanka. What’s-ON delivers data for more than 1,600 TV channels and helps power more than 50 million set-top boxes through the region’s top cable and IPTV services.

     

    What’s-ON customers include some of the biggest TV networks, service providers and consumer electronics manufacturers, such as STAR TV, Discovery Networks, Hathway Cable, Qatar Telecom, Samsung and Sony.

     

    Earlier this year, Tribune acquired music and video technology and metadata leader Gracenote. The company’s sizable presence in EPG data in Europe, combined with Tribune Media Services’ (TMS) presence in North America, immediately positioned Tribune as a leading provider of TV data, as well as music, around the globe. The addition of What’s-ON further extends this reach and strengthens Tribune’s position internationally.

     

    “The acquisition of What’s-ON fits with our broad strategy of diversifying revenue and scaling our metadata business to meet increasing client demand,” said Peter Liguori, CEO of Tribune Company. “The strategic investments we made over the last year expand Tribune’s presence internationally and enable us to offer a trusted solution to cable, Internet and consumer electronics clients globally. I’m pleased that with What’s-ON we will have a new presence in markets with significant opportunity and What’s-ON’s founder and CEO Atul Phadnis and his team will work together with Rich Cusick and Tribune’s existing TV metadata team to grow this area of our business.”

     

    India is the world’s third largest TV market, after the U.S. and China, with an estimated 175 million homes and a growing base of digital cable subscribers, according to ABI Research. The expansion of digital TV in Asia, featuring popular shows and movies, will enable Tribune to develop new technologies and services on top of its entertainment data that fuel discovery and recommendations on cable, satellite and over-the-top services.

     

    “We felt it was important to find a company that shares our vision for the business and understands the growth potential for TV data and services in Asia. And we believe we have found that with the Tribune team,” said Atul Phadnis, founder and CEO of What’s-ON. “Tribune’s portfolio of entertainment technology and metadata will provide us a solid foundation to grow the business and expand our services throughout the region.”

     

    “Electronic programme guides remain the primary vehicle for the discovery of TV shows and movies around the world,” said Rich Cusick, who oversees the TV metadata business for Tribune. “While data remains the foundation of what we do, our evolution will be centered on data-driven services and features to help define new TV platforms and experiences for viewers around the world.”

     

    What’s-ON will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Mumbai. Its leadership team, including Atul Phadnis, will remain with the company. Tribune’s Asian subsidiaries, including Tribune Digital Ventures Singapore Pte Ltd, are purchasing all of the shares of What’s-ON for $27 million subject to standard adjustments.  Edelweiss Capital served as the investment advisor for What’s-ON.

     

  • T-SeND is the first such study on STB usage in digital homes!

    What’s-ON conducts study to plot behaviour changes post digitization

    By A Correspondent

     

    Asia’s leading EPG specialist company, What’s-ON, recently concluded a multi-city study in India to understand the way viewers search channels, discover new programmes and reach the channel they want to watch. The study, called as TSeND (Television Search Navigation & Discovery) is a path-breaking and comprehensive research study conducted to understand how viewers interact with digital TV using the set-top box (STB) post the cable digitization in major Indian cities.

     

    The in-depth study was conceptualized and designed by TV Street Maps, a division of What’s-ON that specializes in TV Channel Distribution Monitoring. Hansa Research was brought in to do the field survey across DAS1&DAS2 towns.

     

    TRAI plans to implement Digital Addressable System (DAS) for the cable industry in 4 phases out of which DAS1 & DAS2 have been implemented successfully in November 2012 and April 2013 respectively. This covers the top 40 cities in India. Implementation of DAS in these towns simply means analog signals get completely switched off in them and being replaced by Digital TV delivered via a STB.

     

    Post the first 2 phases of Cable digitization, millions of Indian homes in metro cities had to suddenly watch their staple daily TV content using the STB and navigating with an additional new remote control. The other complexity was in the way Digitization played out on the ground level – every operator’s STB and remote controls were different, the STB menus were varied, the way the channels were organized in every operator’s menu were different (i.e. the channel line-ups) – all leading to non-uniform viewing habits and practices at the viewers level.

     

    Given this massive switch at the TV Households level, there were many unanswered questions within the TV industry that perplexed the operators, broadcasters and distributors alike. Some of them were – How is the set-top box (STB) changing viewer behavior from their analog days? How are viewers locating and landing on their favorite channels and programs now that the STB has a structured menu as well as 4-5 times more channels? What are the factors affecting viewer navigation across channels and how much of it depends on viewer demography, operator’s offerings and various channel genres? Do viewers remember channel numbers to reach their preferred channel or use the STB channel guide?

     

    The T-SeND study proved to be a goldmine of insights. Some of the revelations of the T-SeND study are:

    :: There is a correlation between the operator STB menu and the way a viewer reaches a channel. The more complicated the STB menu, the more viewers dread using the remote forcing them to remember channel numbers and randomly surf channels.

     

    :: About 86 per cent of viewers across DAS1&2 towns were aware of EPG (Electronic Program Guide) features. However, substantial variations were observed across towns; where Delhi being the most aware with 99 per cent versus 70 per cent EPG awareness in Kolkata.

     

    :: About a quarter of Cable & Satellite homes in DAS1 & DAS2 homes have noticed advertisements on the EPG menu.

     

    :: Younger viewers seem more evolved in interacting with operator menu to reach channels. They displayed greater depth of the STB menu usage.

     

    :: Almost half of viewers or 46 per cent to be precise, were not aware of channel packs they are subscribed to; with viewers in metropolitanareas being least aware.

     

    This study puts the viewer at the center and the insights will help redefine strategies relating to all aspects in the broadcast value chain like channel marketing, distribution, placement, etc. It will also help Cable & DTH companies to understand the impact of some of their VAS and STB offerings on their subscriber constituencies.