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Category: Comment

  • Jagmohan Dalmiya is Rocky Balboa of India

    Jagmohan Dalmiya is Rocky Balboa of India

    BCCI elections are always overhyped. Sometimes the hype even crosses the level of Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections. It is impossible to make out who is supporting whom, who is foe and who is friend. N. Srinivasan joined hands with Sharad Pawar and Ranbir Singh Mahendra to dethrone Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2004 and now 10 years later Srinivasan seconding Dalmiya is indeed unpredictable. Isn’t it?

     

    Unless Sharad Pawar is certain that he is going to win the election, he won’t contest it and that’s what exactly happened. It’s nothing new. Every time during BCCI elections we see such mutual understandings or adjustments. I would term it old wine in new bottle.

     

    Indian cricket has reached an abysmal low with so much of judicial introspection and legal obligations and it is highly important to regain the integrity of the game. Officials need to plan and act so that they can earn back the faith of cricket lovers, like me, who follow the sport. Why do we need a Supreme Court to intervene when there is a Board and its legal bodies and guidelines? The first priority of the board should be ensuring the fans that they are following a clean sport.

     

    Now the newly elected President is not someone new to BCCI, neither is he a politician. He has proved himself in numerous occasions. It was Dalmiya along with I S Bindra who won the rights for hosting World Cup in South Asia. When he joined BCCI it was not a very rich body, but when he left, BCCI was the richest cricket board of the world. His contribution to ICC is also of very high standard. Overall he is a veteran cricket administrator, who has adequate knowledge of the sport. He has all the potential to repair the damage done; he did it in the past too. Indian cricket was brutally affected by match fixing in 1999 -2000 but he got people’s faith back to the game. I have high expectations from Jagmohan Dalmiya as a liberal and unbiased cricket analyst and I hope he delivers. I will end with a comparison, Jagmohan Dalmiya is Rocky Balboa of India, no matter how much you try to pin him down he always gets up to deliver the knockout blow.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Former first class cricketer and a veteran cricket analyst Hemant Kenkre and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Tech trends to watch out in 2015

    Tech trends to watch out in 2015

     

    Every January brings along flood of predictions to guide us through the trends that will shape businesses in the coming year. With us already in 2015, it would be quite apt to list down a few of our expectations for this year. So here are the top 5 tech trends we can expect to take off in 2015.

     

    Mobility: 2015 will see mobility becoming even more pervasive. According to a recent survey by Citrix, 71 per cent of the enterprises believe that mobility is a top priority while 63 per cent believe it to be the biggest factor in helping them gain a competitive advantage. These stats surely speak aloud about the future of mobility, which will see lots of enterprise applications getting native mobile interface. Many new applications will start with mobile first design and implementation. Along with this, mobile devices (including tablets) will become smarter and more powerful with much better computation and storage capabilities.

     

    Cloud Computing: Trend of cloud computing will continue to grow in this year. With large growth in data storage, more and more applications being delivered on SaaS model, cloud computing will keep growing. According to a study by Gartner, 50 per cent of the enterprises will use hybrid cloud by 2017. This clearly implies that we should be seeing more hybrid clouds where there is an easier integration between private and public clouds keeping different security requirements in mind.

     

    Wearables / Smarter Devices: Market for wearables will expand exponentially. 2015 should see some of innovative prototypes finally coming of age and in mass production and usage. They can be smart watches, google glasses or phones capable of monitoring health parameters and providing value added services.

     

    Smart Data / Intelligent Analytics: Some of the problems being faced in Big Data space about gaining actionable insights rapidly from mountains of data being stored will be resolved. This will lead to further adoption of Big Data in large number of enterprises and products. We should also witness easy integration and innovative usage of Big Data in varied business contexts.

     

    Mobile Identities: With us living in a mobile-driven world, mobile identity emerges as a very critical concern. User’s private and public identity will be more effectively and seamlessly used across applications and devices. This will enhance user-experience, more context specific and personalised services.

     

    (These are purely personal views of IntelliGrape VP Engineering Narinder Kumar and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Does Yuvraj Singh deserve Rs 16 crore?, asks adman Pratap Bose

    Does Yuvraj Singh deserve Rs 16 crore?, asks adman Pratap Bose

    Having played for Bengal in my teens and waking up at 3 am just to listen to the commentary of West Indies playing India, I can proudly call myself a purist of the game.

     

    But the site of cricketers being sold like horses in the ring for the benefit of insolvent owners, Bollywood actresses and wives of rich businessman is another reason why I so despise the IPL. What does Nita Ambani or Preity Zinta know about the cricket beyond a point?

     

    The sight of players being bought like horses for the enjoyment of a few and to enhance the value of their team is not what cricket is meant to be. A few spend crores, using the sport as a platform to make more money. What amazes me more is the fact that players who have crossed their prime are being sold for exuberant amount of money. Take Yuvraj Singh for instance, who was bought by Delhi Daredevils for Rs 16 crore. The player is done and dusted; he wasn’t even included in the ICC World Cup 2015 squad. So, why spend so much on him? There are many like him who are bought for their ‘star’ value instead of others who are the future of the game.

     

    If this cannot be labeled as commercialisation of the game then what can?

     

    And to top all this, we have scandals attached to the IPL, which is a disgrace to the game.

     

    Like I said, I’m a purist of the game who loves longer formats, which helps test the caliber of a player, but I don’t mind a T20 World Cup. It is the IPL, I don’t like and don’t even watch because it has made the game nothing less than a circus.

    (As told to indiantelevision.com’s Meghna Sharma)

  • AAP hurricane demolishes BJP and Congress

    AAP hurricane demolishes BJP and Congress

    If general election was swept by the Modi wave, Delhi assembly election certainly witnessed a Kejriwal hurricane. The Modi juggernaut has been bamboozled as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was restricted to a mere three seats in Delhi. Indian National Congress’ decimating journey took one step forward; they failed to open their account, such was the story of National Capital on 10 February, 2015. Historians and political authors will have to mark this date as historical as any.

     

    A two year old party lead by an ex IIT-ian won 67 of 70 seats contesting against two of the largest national political parties in India. About a year ago on 14 February, 2014 Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the Chief Minister’s post and President’s rule was forced on the capital of world’s largest democracy. Many predicted it as the end of Aam Admi Party (AAP) and Arvind Kejriwal’s political career. Exactly a year later he is all set to take the oath again as the Chief Minister of Delhi, as Delhiites give him a historical mandate.

     

    Few note worthy points of the Delhi elections are:

     

    · The largest opposition party is BJP with three seats, which means Delhi will be legislation without opposition.

     

    · BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi lost to advocate S K Bagga in her Krishna Nagar Constituency.

     

    · Three BJP candidates to win a seat were Om Prakash Sharma, Jagdish Pradhan and Vijender Kumar.

     

    · Congress failed to open its account and its Chief Ministerial candidate Ajay Maken was defeated by AAP’s Som Dutt in Sadar Bazar constituency.

     

    · BJP’s vote share almost remained the same. It was 34.12 per cent in 2013 and this time it is 33.80 per cent.

     

    · AAP’s vote share witnessed a substantial hike. During the 2013 assembly election it was 29.64 per cent, whereas the 2015 vote share increased to 53.30 per cent.

     

    · Congress suffered the worst decline in vote share. They were reduced to 8.60 per cent from 24.67 per cent in 2013.

     

    Indian media covered the ‘election day’ with esteemed sophistication. Every channel deployed huge number of reporters on field to cover each and every development. Media houses decorated their websites with innovative designs. NDTV uploaded ‘Sirf AAP,’ Arvind Kejriwal’s dream result right after the trends indicated a AAP sweep. Aaj Tak had an animation of Arvind Kejriwal ecstatically dancing. Times Now’s #Feb10withArnab was trending on Twitter.

     

    Prominent public figures used social media to share their reactions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first to post a reaction. “Spoke to @ArvindKejriwal & congratulated him on the win. Assured him Centre’s complete support in the development of Delhi,” Modi tweeted. 

     

    Kiran Bedi also posted her reaction. “Full marks to Arvind. Congratulations. Now take Delhi to the heights it belongs to. Make it a world class city,” she tweeted.

     

    Journalists too used social media to share their opinion. NDTV’s Vikram Chandra tweeted, “I can’t recall seeing a 95% majority before. 3 lonely lotuses in a sea of jhaddus. #sirfAAP isn’t just a hashtag today. #NDTVResults.”

     

    Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai posted, “67 of 70 Congress candidates lost their deposits. 60 per cent wins more than 10,000 votes. #AAPSweep.”

     

    Social activist Anna Hazare in an interview to CNN said, “Kiran Bedi not responsible for BJP’s defeat, Narendra Modi is.”

     

    The man of the hour Kejriwal dedicated his victory to party volunteers. He tweeted, “Volunteers. U did an amazing job. Relax for 2 days. Spend with your family. Sleep. Watch movies. Meditate. Chill. God bless u.”  

     

    The Aam Aadmi has won yet again!

  • “Marketing in the Future, Lesson 1.0”: Anita Nayyar

    “Marketing in the Future, Lesson 1.0”: Anita Nayyar

    2015 is bright and action time for delivery over the 2014 euphoria of India on the world stage, sentiments of economic revival and investments worth $43 billion in a year where ad spend was buoyed by the General and Maharashtra elections.

     

    Comparatively the ICC World Cup, Delhi elections and IPL are expected to be major ad spend contributors this year. Modest growth is expected of the global economy with Asia Pacific and India leading the pack. India being a major exporter of oil, the drop in prices as also low inflation will have positive effect on the Indian economy and consumption. And herein lies India’s vantage point – its momentum will be paced more internally, by domestic consumption and domestic investment. Primary Target – the Indian consumer, the driver to put India on the map.

     

    To talk to this Indian consumer and gain a larger share of his wallet, many marketers across the industry will attempt to make a paradigm shift in how they communicate, not only in newsprint story but to market to real customers in real life. It is nothing short of a fundamental rethinking of silos-marketing to marketing. This gains increasing importance as customer touch points increase exponentially in our world of wearable tech, smart homes, smart devices and fresh inventions everyday also yielding unprecedented data of user behaviour. 

     

    Agencies and brands will have to put their algorithms to actionable use today omni channel  else they risk losing control or in the least abandon rich insights to the path to their customer as marketing progresses.

     

    In Lesson 1.0, some marketers will learn with success, failure or aborted attempt, to blur the lines between all communication channels – TV, Print, OOH, Social, Mobile and Online; across platforms, each channel leading to the next to drive conversations; to create the conversion funnel based on brand message, objective and audience; to adapt, alter and be measurable. They are the marketers who will be future ready also making the best use of available technology and techniques today.

     

    THINKING is at the core, of course aided by technology, technique, data, etc.

     

    Marketing Moves we will see more of in 2015:                                                                              

     

    1.       The Traditional Partnership

    Traditional is not dying anytime soon in India and is still the foundation of M&E ad spend in India. All the channels have upped their programming with new channels in the offing; Radio and OOH are to play an active role in 2015 and Print will continue to be important. It augers well for marketers to view traditional as an asset on the balance sheet. E-commerce mapped it to an ROI Win-Win situation for everyone in 2014.

     

    2.       Programmatic Advertising Implementation

    We will see increased implementation of programmatic potential as agencies and brands use it increasingly in campaigns. Yet most will use it more as a buying tool for best rates in 2015 with newsprint on its importance; the exceptions learning to unlock its value. It is pure play right message, right audience, right time, media agnostic drawing from complex algorithms and trend insight of the customer.

     

    3.       The Ubiqutous #, Selfies, Crowd sourcing & CSR Campaigns

    The ‘Hashtag’ will become ubiquitous, marking every readable media. Campaigns with Selfie stories, CSR and Crowd Sourcing as campaign and content will assume greater prominence. 

     

    4.       Brand Integration, Experiential Marketing & Activation

    Brand integration will become more prevalent yet just touch the tip of the iceberg of what it will become and how innovatively it will be portrayed; case in point Zandu Balm and Fevicol in the Dabangg 1 & 2 songs. As will Experiential Marketing and Activations around it.

     

    5.       Grappling with Personalisation & Social Media to the Fore

    Marketers will grapple with ‘personalisation’ the other buzzword, which needs very clean databases, algorithmic audience behavioural – preference mapping and apt customised content.

     

    Social Media will be used for engagement and interaction, its customer behaviour data logs of understanding them. 

     

    6.       Launches on Social, Ecommerce& Mobile

    We have seen the launch of Burger King on eBay, Good Day Chunkies on Amazon, Motorola’s MotoX 32GB on Flipkart and Xolo phones on Twitter. More brands across sectors will take the social, E-commerce and Mobile route to launch.

     

    7.       Mobile Marketing, Apps, Chat leverage

    It’s not only the Smartphone story. The feature phone can scale audience and markets. 

     

    8.       Videos , In-Video Ads, Web Series, Native Advertising

    There will be an explosion of these.

     

    9.       Rise of Technology & Logistics Companies

    The e-commerce boom will see these as advertisers and investment worthy.

     

    10.   Tier 2, 3, 4 cites in Focus

    It will not only be about the cities but also in their regional languages.

     

    In the end really in Twitter language – It’s being Meaningful. It’s ‘Thinking how to Market’ or ‘Re-thinking how we Market’. 

     

    (These are purely personal views of Havas Media Group, India & South Asia  CEO Anita Nayyar and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Major initiatives of the I&B Ministry in 2014

    Major initiatives of the I&B Ministry in 2014

    The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has undertaken key initiatives in the different sectors aimed at enhancing the outreach of policies and programmes across platforms. Some of the initiatives undertaken have been innovative, involving people’s participation, enhancing government’s presence on the social media platforms and strengthening communication at the grassroots. Some of the key initiatives are as under:

     

    Initiatives under Swachh Bharat Mission

    As part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Ministry initiated a 360 degree multimedia campaign to enhance the outreach and impact of the Mission. All media units were involved in outlining audience specific content, tools and action plan. Intensive discussions were held with key stakeholders of the mission and innovative strategies were incorporated across media platforms for greater visibility and impact. Some of the key initiatives undertaken by the Ministry are as follows:
     

    Three Day Rashtriya Bal Film Mela on the theme “Swachhta”

    Organized by the Children’s Film Society of India (CSFI) on the occasion of National Children’s Day celebrations, the three day festival provided an opportunity for children to appreciate high-quality film content, experience value-based entertainment, and to trigger their imagination about environment conservation and cleanliness. The festival showcased a bunch of internationally acclaimed children’s films on the theme of cleanliness.

    The Festival featured interactive workshops on film-making, film appreciation, animation, Charlie Chaplin’s Mimes and storytelling. Live dance performances, magic act, sand act, and puppetry along with various competitions such as painting on the theme, ‘Swachhta’, and digital collage on the theme ‘Clean India’ and the craft of making utility items from waste materials, were being organized on the sidelines of the festival.

     

    1. Creation of Audio-Visual Spots on Swachh Bharat Mission.
    2. Animation / short video competition (less than three minute duration) organized on the digital volunteer platform of the Ministry with 15 October as deadline.
    3. Launch of Photo-Competition depicting “before and after pictures of cleanliness” on the digital volunteer platform with 15 October as deadline.
    4. Creation of an animation film by New Media Wing
    5. Crowd sourcing for the design of print advertisements
    6. Developing platform specific content on social media
    7. Creation of banners, logos and e-mailers for spreading of the message through social media
    8. Jingles on All India Radio
    9. Community Radio Mobilization to effectively reach the grass root communities
    10. Advisory to private TV & FM channels to become part of the campaign so as to enhance impact and outreach of the mission
    11. Anchor based and in-house serials on DD & AIR
    12. News bulletins through special success stories on DD & AIR
    13. Interactive programmes on DD & AIR
    14. Public Information Campaigns to focus on the core issues of the mission.
    15. Interpersonal communication strategies through field units of the Ministry.

     

    Launch of the DAVP Calendar, “Clean India, Green India”: The year 2015 calendar has been developed on the theme of “Clean India Green India” with focus on “Swachhta” and environment issues. The January page of the Calendar displayed the launch of the “Swachh Bharat Mission by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. While the February page carried the message of ‘Swachh Vidyalaya’ and ‘Bal Swachhta Abhiyan’, the March page was designed on the theme, ‘Rejuvenating Rivers.’ The April Page of the Calendar portrayed “Clean Hospitals: A Healthy India,” May depicted the cleanliness drive of Railways, June focused on Rejuvenation of the River Ganges, ‘Namami Gange’, and July on people’s participation in Swachh Bharat Movement. The August page was on the theme of Clean Villages; the month of September highlighted Solar Energy as clean and renewable source of energy; October depicted Wind Power as pollution free source of energy and November emphasized the need to preserve Himalayan Ranges. Wildlife conservation was the theme for December.

     

    For the first time ever, a mobile app of the calendar has been developed. The mobile App would provide access to the latest tweets from the PMO, the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the press releases on the PIB website. In addition to being a window for all websites of Government of India, this informative application would serve as a planner to the users bringing news updates from AIR and DD News. The mobile app was developed for Android platforms initially, which would be made available on other mobile platforms also in due course of time.

     

     

    Organising Press Conferences to highlight achievements and initiatives of the Government:The strategy adopted has been extremely successful in positioning the visibility of Government’s initiatives across media platforms.

     

    Multimedia Exhibition on Former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee:The Ministry of I&B has mounted a multimedia exhibition under the aegis of DAVP on the former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The exhibition would serve as an inspiration and learning to the people in understanding the life and contributions of Shri Vajpayee as a politician, statesman, and poet. The exhibition was inaugurated by Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, and Information & Broadcasting Shri Arun Jaitley on 20 December, 2014.

     

    The exhibition portrays the life of Shri Vajpayee, through a display of around 250 photographs, which reflect his vibrant personality. These rare pictures not only take the visitors through the political journey of this visionary leader, but also provide a glimpse into the diverse phases of his life – as a poet and a great thinker. At this event, different facets of his life will be showcased through photo and electronic exhibition. Scrollers, translites, LED walls, large fascia and title boards are the major attractions of the exhibition. The exhibition was open to public from 20 – 25 December, 2014.

     

    Establishment of Social Media Presence of Government of India: In order to facilitate Ministries/Departments in registering their presence on social media by utilizing the services of the Communications Hub established by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the ministry organized a half day training workshop on 11 July, 2014 at the National Media Centre. The response was very encouraging as about 150 officers representing 59 Ministries/Departments attended the workshop. An interactive Q&A session was also held before concluding the workshop and induction material including a handbook on social media was also distributed to all the participants.

     

    Third and fourth phase of digitization: A Task Force has been constituted with the approval of MIB to steer the remaining two phases i.e., Phase III and Phase IV of digitization in India. The Task Force is headed by the Additional Secretary of the Ministry and comprises stakeholders from various ministries, departments and industry representatives. The constitution of the Task Force paves the way for implementation of digitization initiative in India, which will see digitization of about 8 crores cable TV homes in India. This will bring India in the league of developed nations. It is also a step towards the Prime Minister’s dream of a Digital India, as digitization will enable quick penetration of broadband connectivity in India.

     

    Government of India vide Notification dated 11 September, 2014 has revised the timeframe for digitization for Phase-III and IV of the Cable TV. As per revised guidelines, Phase-III and IV of Cable TV would be completed by December 2015 and December 2016 respectively.

     

    Third phase of FM radio auction: The Cabinet Note on third phase of FM has been moved for cabinet approval. This decision of the Ministry of I&B will pave the way for e-auction of FM Phase-III channels.

     

    Goa declared the permanent destination for International Films Festival of India: In order to develop the “Brand IFFI” on the lines of other international film festivals, Goa has been declared as the permanent destination for International Films Festival of India (IFFI). The IFFI platform propagated the theme “Green India, Clean India” at all the major events organized under its banner.

     

    North East Film Festival: For the first time, a three-day North East Film Festival was held in Delhi (Siri Fort Complex) on a grand scale. It will henceforth be an annual feature, a prominent event in the film festival calendar of the Directorate of Film Festivals. The Festival concluded on 24 August, 2014.

     

    FTII, SRFTII to be institutes of national importance: In order to provide statutory backing through an act of Parliament to declare both the institutes as Institutes of National Importance the government has proposed a Bill. The proposed Bill would enable both the institutes to award its own degrees and diplomas and start new activities on the lines of IITs and IIMs. Cabinet Note has been moved.

     

    Meeting with stakeholders related to Set-Top-Boxes to promote indigenization of digitization: Efforts were taken to fulfill the long pending demand of domestic manufacturers of Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) to get tax concession (C Form benefit) in order to compete with imported STBs. A letter was written by Hon’ble MIB to Hon’ble Finance Minister to resolve the issue of C-Form concession to domestic manufacturers. This was followed by a meeting by Hon’ble MIB with senior officials from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Telecom, Bureau of Indian Standards etc., and other industry stakeholders like indigenous STB manufacturers, DTH Association and MSO Associations etc. As a result of continuous follow up, Department of Telecom has confirmed Set Top Box as “Telecom Network Equipment”. The proposal has also been approved by the Ministry of Finance and a letter has already been issued to all the State Governments, Commissioners of Taxes and other concerned that STB will get the facility of ‘Form C’.

     

    e-initiatives: The Office of Registrar of Newspapers for India, M/o I&B has streamlined its Single Window Public dealing mechanism at its office. The RNI has achieved 100% success in online e-filing of Annual statements by publishers for 2013-14. The software module has been finalized for online filing of title verification application. It has also started sending automatic SMS intimation about status of title and registration application to publishers.

     

    Boost to Community Radio movement in the Country:Hon’ble MIB has been given a lot of emphasis on reaching out to the people especially in rural and marginalized areas with effective development communication. Community Radios are one of the best tools to touch the lives of millions of people as it is the platform, which provides an opportunity to community to not only receive messages from Government but also provide its feedback, which ensures two-way communication. An announcement has been made by Hon’ble Finance Minister in his budget speech allocating an amount of Rs 100 crores for “Supporting Community Radio Movement in India.” This would enable setting up of 600 community radio stations across the country in the 12th Five Year Plan. The resources would also be utilized for enhancing awareness, building capacities of community radio operators and promoting innovations in the sector. Funds would also be provided to various CR operators as a matching grant for setting up /upgrading community radio stations. At present 170 community radios are operating in various parts of India and about 200 are in the pipeline. This major initiative of the new government will strengthen the connect with the population living in rural and marginalized areas.

     

    A monitoring mechanism is also being set up to monitor community radio stations live at Electronic Media Monitoring Centre.

     

     

    Simplification of Procedures for granting Television licenses for starting additional television channels: Ministry of I&B grants permission to private television channels in India. At present about 800 TV channels have already been permitted by the Ministry of I&B. India has a huge broadcasting industry, thanks to the large number of television channels providing news and entertainment in various languages both at the national and regional level. Many companies desirous of starting new television channels have been approaching the Ministry to simplify procedures for launch of additional television channels. The issue of grant of additional television channels had become complicated as previously it was decided that for starting every additional TV channel security clearance would be required even for the same company and same set of Directors, who had been security cleared earlier, within the period of validity of such security clearance.

     

    Proposal cleared for Rs 600 crore National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) to preserve India’s film legacy: The revised EFC proposal for a Rs 600 crore National Film Heritage Mission project to preserve India’s filmic legacy was cleared by the Expenditure Finance Committee in the Ministry of Finance on 3 July, 2014. The modalities are being worked out to launch it at the earliest.

     

    Peoples’ participation in Government Advertising through Crowd-Sourcing of Advertisements: The advertisement for the important events being designed on the crowd-sourcing model. Independence Day advertisement designed on these lines and DAVP has invited suggestions for the proposed advertisement to be brought out on 5 September to observe “Teachers Day”.

     

    Adopting 360 degree approach to information dissemination: Designing integrated campaigns based on the 360 degree approach, the core theme touching all tools including the contemporary as well as new media. For Independence Day, the advertisements were crowd-sourced for the first time and coverage was extended to all media platforms.

     

    Transparency Steps have also been taken by the Ministry to enhance transparency and expedite approvals for which Open House Meetings have been started for Community Radio applicants on the first of every month. For Multi System Operators (MSOs), Open House meetings are held every week on Tuesday. For television applicants, Open House meetings are held every fortnight i.e., on 5th and 20th of every month. This provides an opportunity to applicants to have a direct interaction with the Ministry officials and clarify their doubts as well as to get the status of their pending applications. This has enhanced transparency and accountability in the grant of various permissions to applicants of Community Radios, television channels, MSO permissions etc.

     

    Screening of rare archival footage: A half an hour film, “Road To Freedom,” was produced by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, based solely on rare archival footage. It was screened on DD (National) on 15 August, 2014. More such films will be produced and screened on days like 2nd October, 26th January and such like.

     

    Organisation of One Day Workshop on ‘Crisis Communication’:  In pursuance of the decision taken in Committee of Secretaries (CoS) meeting held on 1 July 2014 to consider measures to upgrade the efficacy of control and response system of Government in crisis situation, Ministry of Information organized a one day training session for senior officers of various Ministries/ Departments on ‘Communicating with Media’ through Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on 22 September, 2014 at National Media Centre.

     

    (These are purely personal views of I&B Ministry secretary Bimal Julka and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • 2014: The year of fatigue for Hindi movie channels

    2014: The year of fatigue for Hindi movie channels

    2014 has been an interesting year for the Hindi movie genre.

     

    The Hindi movie genre holds about 17 per cent of the total TV viewing pie which has been flat compared to 2013 and on an average per week, it clocked 1,187 GVM (Gross Viewership in Millions) in the year. One of the most positive trends observed in the category is the rise of new and smaller channels finding their share of voice in a cluttered environment. Digitisation has given the consumers today many options to tune in to varied content. Riding on this phenomenon, the Hindi movie genre has finally started to carve out more differentiated offerings and the viewership trends on these channels have been extremely positive.

     

    Let me first share our experiences on Zee’s Hindi movie cluster.  Zee Cinema, the premier leading movie channel launched in India, also enhanced its movie library by premiering recent releases like ‘Entertainment’ and ‘Holiday’. In fact, ‘Entertainment’ was the highest rated premiere of this year. The Independence Day premiere of ‘Holiday’ also raked in good ratings for the channel.  In a unique offering, the channel also premiered Prakash Jha’s ‘Satyagraha’. The film was extensively promoted by the film’s lead talent Amrita Rao and director, Prakash Jha in key HSM regions.

     

    &pictures was launched as India’s first interactive and premium Hindi movie channel in August 2013 and it continues to deliver on its brand promise. The channel that has grown from strength to strength in a very short span of time has pioneered trends in the movie channel industry. For instance, &pictures launched a documentary movie ‘Chale Chalo’ endorsed by Aamir Khan receiving thunderous response for this one-of-a-kind initiative from the industry and consumers alike. It also opened avenues for interactivity by introducing live call-ins for viewers with Aamir Khan for the first time in India. In fact, this concept of engaging with the viewers was again replicated by Aamir in promoting ‘Dhoom3’ television premiere and ‘Satyamev Jayate’. Helming the social cause, &pictures also premiered ‘Manjunath’ a true story of a whistleblower murdered for exposing the petrol adulteration scam in UP.

     

    Zee Classic, on the other hand, has progressed tremendously this year. This re-instates our faith in good quality timeless cinema. The season 3 of ‘Classic Legends’ hosted by Javed Akhtar is the most viewed film based show on television. Zee’s Hindi movie cluster has gained its dedicated viewer base. The entry of Sony Max 2 in the same content space as Zee Classic has created exciting competition and it will only help us nurture the category and carve a niche in this segment.

     

    2014 has also seen bigger channels undergoing a slight decline in viewership. One of the key reasons for this can largely be attributed to their dependence on premiering the latest blockbuster commercial films which add immense excitement to the content mix for all the channels. The comeback of commercial potboilers such as ‘Wanted’ and ‘Dabangg’ in 2009-10 made way for a series of such content being dished out from Bollywood.

     

    However, 2014 shall be remembered as ‘the year of fatigue’ for such films.  For instance, the TV premiere ratings of films like ‘Kick’, ‘Singham Returns’ and ‘Dhoom 3’ almost shrunk by 50 per cent as compared to the record breaking ratings achieved by movies like ‘Singham’, ‘Dabangg’ and ‘3 Idiots’ between 2010-2012. 

     

    This fatigue was even more startling at the box office with releases like ‘Humshakals’ and ‘Action Jackson’ that were expected to do well in theatres failed miserably. This occurrence also indicates that there is no fixed formula for success. Bidding for any film after a certain price is definitely not a commercially viable option and even exclusive star led deals struck with A-list actors such as Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn cannot guarantee definite success. Interestingly, these trends in overall viewership and revenues have finally led to the long overdue correction of overpriced satellite rights of most Hindi Movies in 2014. 

     

    2014 has been a great year for Indian cinema as the so-called small films not only increased in numbers but also emerged into huge commercial blockbusters and with them, we also witnessed the younger actors achieve huge successes at the Box office.  Cinema like ‘Queen’, ‘2 States’, ‘Main Tera Hero’, ‘Heropanti’, ‘Highway’ and ‘Mardaani’ are clearly indicating  the mood of the cinegoers and the need of fresh and new ideas right now is more than ever before.  It’s only a matter of time such movies that get maximum footfalls in a multiplex will also find its space on television. The acceptance of such films will help us garner more eyeballs and I see a wonderful fit for such movies with the High Definition (HD) movie channels.  Zee Cinema HD and &pictures HD have already pioneered its presence in this space.   

                                                                                                  

    With the unremitting motto to engage, innovate and entertain, we are excited and geared up with all our six movie channels. Zee’s Hindi movie cluster offers a very distinct and differentiated content mix and has a lot to look forward in the year 2015.

     

     (These are purely personal views of Zee’s Hindi movie cluster business head Ruchir Tiwari and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • Predictions: 2015 will see a spurt in the usage of digital media solutions

    Predictions: 2015 will see a spurt in the usage of digital media solutions

    Digital media has metamorphosed the whole advertisement industry, creating constant ripples in the market. Advertisers have started employing digital media to fulfill all their advertising needs as this has emerged as the best way to reach their target audience. Smart phone usage has increased manifold and hence, it has become the ideal option for advertisers to use them as a source to promote the products and services of companies.   With consumers becoming more app-driven and gadget-savvy, brands have begun to advertise themselves on the mobile platform for the ease and convenience of their patrons. The year 2014 witnessed phenomenal growth in the digital media segment and 2015 will also observe the same trend owing to the escalating use of digital media platforms like smartphones and related applications by consumers.

     

    As far as 2014 goes, the usage of mobile applications has increased tremendously hence companies invested hugely in developing innovative and user-friendly apps. Usage and sharing of digital content inflated substantially, leading to the development of an industry that specifically focuses on production and distribution of such content.   With digital advertising videos gaining popularity, companies started allocating a considerable budget for the same but limited it to a single player.  On the other hand, the conventional digital display media like banners saw a decline in interest and video, native (performance) and content platforms witnessed considerable growth, influencing a major chunk of the market.

     

    The year 2015 is sure to observe programmatic buying that people have been talking about. This will take over most of the display spends. Therefore, technology driven agency trading desks and consolidated programmatic buying by clients will experience an upsurge. In the digital ecosystem, programmatic buying simply refers to a broad spectrum of technologies that assist the buying, placement and optimisation of advertising. People usually get confused with this technical jargon. In layman’s terms, it means buying of any advertisement that gets processed through machines.

     

    Besides programmatic buying, 2015 will see a spurt in the usage of digital media solutions by companies. Mobile advertising will achieve a significant breakthrough, influencing and transforming the sphere of advertising to an extent where advertisements on smart phones will surpass any other kind of promotion on digital media. The umpteen advantages offered by mobile advertising like increased consumer engagement with the company, increasing traffic to web pages and reaching customers on the go make it a lucrative mode of advertising for marketers.

     

    Digital media advertising is here to stay as it helps advertisers attract the right audience. From elevating brand visibility to delivering the digital ads to the target audience, digital media embodies various online advertisements that are devised in conjunction with the needs and demands of the market. 

     

    The emergence of digital media has brought waves in the advertising sphere, resulting in companies embracing online and digital media solutions for all their marketing needs. In accordance with an observation made recently, the Indian telecom network is growing marvelously due to its high population and development potential. This proves that mobile advertising which is a form of digital advertising has a bright future in the country. 

     

    (These are purely personal views of SVG Media co-founder and CEO Manish Vij and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

  • “The market is expanding faster than expected and more brands are going digital”

    “The market is expanding faster than expected and more brands are going digital”

    As 2014 comes to an end and as the media and entertainment industry bids adieu to the year, company executives are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to listing down the achievements it has attracted throughout the year. 

    On the same lines is Vdopia, a programmatic buying and selling platform for mobile and online video advertising. It tags itself as a pioneer in mobile and online video advertising, enabling major brands to engage their desired audiences in premium content environments around the world. 

    Vdopia SVP-APAC Preetesh Chouhan pens down the major digital happenings in the year 2014 for Vdopia and the entire industry and also the future of digital platforms in the coming year.

    Major digital happenings…

    Digital Video Revolution – 

    •             Video viewing on PCs has almost doubled in three years in India. (source – comScore)

    •             India now has over 59 million video viewers. (source – comScore)

    •             73 per cent online audience now watch digital video. (Source – eMarketer)

    •             The share of video in internet data traffic is expected to rise from 41 per cent in 2011-12 to 64 per cent in 2016-17. (Source – Assocham and Deloitte)

    Emergence of specialised apps –

    •             App downloads in India likely to cross nine billion by 2015 (Source – Assocham -Deloitte)

    •             Mobile TV registered a 400 per cent growth rate in viewership. 

    m-commerce revolution India –

    •             India has reached 50 million digital buyers. (eMarketer)

    •             1 out of 3 customers of Flipkart arrive via mobile.

    •             33 per cent of Flipkart revenue originates via mobile based transactions. (Flipkart)

    •             60 per cent of all orders received by Snapdeal originate on mobile phones. (Snapdeal)

    Micro-video multiplied –

    •             Micro-video ads can transcend the mobile, tablet, PC and even TV gap, could eventually result in micro-video becoming the most portable video format across screens.
    Television is going digital:

    •             Television content is no longer being consumed only within the four walls of the viewer’s living room.

    •             TV remains one of the primary modes of communication reaching out to 60 per cent of the population, online videos are witnessing a steady surge in consumption even as internet penetration in India currently stands at about 16 per cent.

    Coke Studio, for example. While the latest season of the show on MTV received lukewarm response on TV, it went on to garner more than 54 million views on YouTube and across social media platforms.

    •             By 2018-end, India’s internet user base is expected to touch 494 million as against 938 million TV viewers.

    Marketers in India are leveraging digital marketing –

    •    96 per cent of the Indian marketers have high confidence in the ability of digital marketing to drive competitive advantage. It is among the highest in Asia-Pacific APAC with only Australia leading with 97 per cent.

    •    Indian marketers believe that the key driver to adopting digital is a growing internet population (70 per cent in India against 59 per cent in APAC).

    The big achievements for Vdopia…

    •    Launched Chocolate, a global programmatic buying and selling platform exclusively for mobile video advertising. 

    •    After major metros and cities, Vdopia’s reach has expanded to tier 2 cities, tier 3 cities and small towns.

    Lessons learnt…

    •    The market is expanding faster than expected and more brands are going digital. The demand has grown for new category of content and rich media video ad formats for better engagement. Like, travel, auto, humour, lifestytle, how-to videos etc.

    •    With 70 per cent growth in Asia Pacific, programmatic is the future. 

    Future of digital platforms in 2015…

    Digital India program – The Indian government’s $17 billion ambitious Digital India programme has the potential to be a game changer for the country. (Source – Forrester)
    P.S. – Currently, nearly 74 per cent of the population has mobile phones, most of which though is in the hands of urban India. 

    Focus on mobile content – In 2014 out of 885million mobile users, 185 million are mobile internet users. (IDC and India Digital Review). It’s a changing world, and businesses absolutely need to focus on ways they can give their marketing efforts a mobile component.

    Focus on Content – Content has been an integral part of digital marketing strategies for a few years now, but with so much of it out there, your content needs to be better and smarter. Content that’s relevant and interesting isn’t just a good idea, it’s a requirement. 

    Programmatic advertising will be understood by the majority of marketers – More than two-thirds of marketers are now using programmatic in one form or other shows programmatic might have become mainstream over the course of 2014. It’s a safe bet that this trend will continue in 2015 as more marketers realise the benefits of programmatic in their paid media programmes (Media Week).

    Clients will dictate the future of programmatic – Fundamentally, we believe the future of programmatic market landscape will be driven by the clients’ diverse characteristics and needs. Clients are either transactional or not, large or small, international or local, e-merchants or brick and mortar, large media spenders or not.

    Spending on RTB display advertising will accelerate – Spending on real time-bidded display advertising will accelerate at a 59 per cent compound annual growth rate through 2016, making in the fastest growing segment of digital advertising over the next few years. (IDC)

     

    (These are purely personal views of Vdopia SVP-APAC Preetesh Chouhan and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

     

  • 2014: A year of improved subscriber numbers

    2014: A year of improved subscriber numbers

    The year 2014 has been better than the previous year, in terms of the share of numbers for all direct to home (DTH) players. Subscriber additions were higher and there was more stability in the overall industry. In terms of price discounting, people were more rational through the year. Overall, it has been a much better year than 2013.

    Increased subscriber numbers and ARPU

    Overall additions in subscribers, for all the DTH players, were higher in the magnitude of 25-30 per cent than the previous year.

    That apart, the churn came down substantially, not only for Dish TV, but for all the other DTH players as well.

    2014 also saw a rise in the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). But there are still problems, since the whole cable TV system hasn’t stabilised and gross billing hasn’t been fully implemented. Though, we do see some encouraging signs, in terms of people getting down to doing that now.

    DTH has been able to take price increases through the year. There was a price increase which took place in April, at the magnitude of 8-9 per cent. But the big collection from the ground will happen only once cable TV gets its act together.

    Different people calculate ARPU differently. For example, Dish TV calculates it on subscriber revenue, whereas Airtel Digital TV, as per its published figures, looks at gross numbers, and so do others. So there is no common matrix being used across the industry for definition of ARPU. But having said that, at the consumer level, the consumer prices are in the average price range of Rs 250-275.

    Challenges in 2014

    One of the major challenges that we continue to present to both the state and central government is on the high level of taxation on DTH. Apart from the taxation element which we have been presenting, we are the only industry which is subject to service tax and entertainment tax. While we were hoping for some relief in the last budget, we didn’t get that, we hope we will get some relief in the coming year.

    Secondly, there is no clarity on the licence fee issue, even though the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a recommendation, there has been no action on that front.

    So while we lived in continued uncertainty in 2014, we hope that the government will take some steps in 2015. People have invested more than Rs 25000 crore in the industry, so at least we have the right to know what the law of the land will be going forward.

    The new launch Zing

    It has been an extremely successful product in all the geographies we launched. The specific proposition that we had, which was regional first and targeting the entire product mix around consumption has clicked very well with the customers. So we are very pleased with the way things have come.

    Highs and lows of 2014

     For Dish TV, it has been a fairly stable year. We regained our share leadership for about last three to four quarters. We launched a significant and tactical product in Zing which has helped us capitalize on the phase III and IV areas. The high point has been that we have been able to, post the balance sheet adjustment that we did last year, been able to get back on the growth path, which is what we have always said and we achieved that in 2014.

    The low point is at two levels: At one level, the whole issue of taxation and licence fee kept dragging for the whole year. Secondly, we expected the cable TV and broadcaster system to stabilize the whole regime. The whole issue of getting proper addressability and customers to actually choose and compare products has still not happened.

    Delayed Digitisation

    First and foremost, the manner of digitisation needs to be addressed. What has happened in the first two phases is simply the change of pipe. This has not been supported by addressability and that is the reason there has been no or marginal change in the revenue flow.

     Until and unless these issues are addressed, a non-addressable digitisation is of no help to anybody, neither to the government nor the stakeholders. We hope that by the time they get down to it, we will have some better roadmap of how to achieve that.

     

    (These are purely personal views of Dish TV CEO R C Venkateish and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views)