ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Vdopia Inc.’s work bags top accolades at the Mob-Ex Awards 2014

    Vdopia Inc.’s work bags top accolades at the Mob-Ex Awards 2014

    MUMBAI: Vdopia Inc., leaders in Online and Mobile Video Advertising, had its work in mobile recognized at the second annual edition of Mob-Ex Awards, 2014 held in Singapore. It’s much lauded Audi A3 SB launch campaign ‘Let us entertain you’  won two top accolades – Gold for “Best In-app advertising” and Bronze for “Best Mobile Advertising Solution”.  

    The Mob-Ex Awards is Singapore’s premier event which celebrates mobile excellence and recognizes the cr?me de la cr?me across the mobile marketing spectrum. It felicitates organizations that have successfully leveraged mobile platforms, through distinct mobile marketing strategies.

     

    Mimmie Ong, Regional Head – Sales, SEA, Vdopia Inc. said, “This award is an honor. It recognizes our depth of expertise and strategy in key areas of mobile and delivery, for us and our client. We are thankful to our client, our agency partners, and Mob-Ex for this accolade.”

    Vdopia recently also surpassed a record 10-million Unique Viewers in India (ComScore Video Ad Metrix) a first for a network as it continues on a wave of global and regional growth.   

     

    Preteesh Chouhan, VP-APAC, Vdopia Inc. reflected, “Creativity and technology investments have consistently enabled Vdopia to create engaging digital campaigns for a wide variety of clients across industries and regions. This is a fantastic beginning to a bigger and bolder 2014 for Team Vdopia.”

    Vdopia Inc. has seen a 100% growth and expansion in 2013, allowing the company to double its staff count globally and open new offices in several key markets. 

  • ESPNcricinfo brings Gaurav Kalra on board to expand digital video content strategy

    ESPNcricinfo brings Gaurav Kalra on board to expand digital video content strategy

    MUMBAI: ESPNcricinfo, the world’s leading digital cricket brand seems to be strengthening its digital team. It has brought on board TV journalist Gaurav Kalra as the Senior Editor for the emerging video editorial and a part of the content development group.

     

    Kalra, who joins ESPN from CNN-IBN, will work with ESPNcricinfo’s in-house digital video production teams and acclaimed editorial team to continue to grow and develop the brand’s use of high-quality video in their journalism and storytelling, as well as original analysis and programming. Kalra will report to Editor of ESPNcricinfo Sambit Bal.

    Kalra will be based out of ESPN’s Bangalore office, where ESPNcricinfo also unveiled a new studio and control room built to enhance the production capabilities and quality for the site.

     

    The highly-flexible digital video production studio is designed with four different “pocket sets” that can be purposed for four entirely different programming uses – including a main set, smaller and more casual “discussion” space, a video wall and a “pitch” demonstration set. Each can be customised for different shows and sponsor elements. The studio features multiple HD camera positions, cutting-edge digital switcher and recorder equipment, an eight-line Telos audio system, professional grade talk back system and a live streaming encoder – allowing it to produce full TV-quality programme production.

    “ESPN has been at the forefront of developing world-class sports content and are known to have revolutionised the way content is delivered on digital platforms. The opportunity to keep pace with evolving tastes of sports fans and develop high-impact, share-able content in the process, is tremendous. ESPNcricinfo has enjoyed enviable brand loyalty from cricket fans thus far, and I look forward to enhancing the offering by looking at new series and video programming to take story-telling to the next level,” said Kalra.

  • MTS Launches #IndiaForShiva movement on social media

    MTS Launches #IndiaForShiva movement on social media

    MUMBAI: Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), that provides telecom services under the MTS brand has launched a movement on social media to bring all countrymen together to support Shiva Keshavan – Olympian from India who is set to compete in “Luge” at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. MTS has been actively supporting Shiva Keshavan in his quest for Gold. Given that Shiva Keshavan would be competing at Sochi as a ‘Citizen Olympian’ under the Olympics flag in place of the Indian Tricolour; the IndiaForShiva campaign has been rolled out as a show of support for the champion luger.

    According to Leonid Musatov, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer – MTS India, “MTS as a brand has always believed in providing a platform to talented youngsters, who bet on themselves, challenge reality and don’t let the present come in way of their future. We have been consistently supporting Shiva Keshavan for the last two years in his journey to the Sochi Olympics. We have always believed in Shiva and his dedication to the sport of Luge, despite the sport not being as popular as some of the other sports in the country. Now, when the chance to win the Olympic medal is so close, it is time that we all stand behind Shiva and cheer for him”.

    The IndiaForShiva campaign by MTS India is an extensive social media movement to generate support and wishes for Shiva Keshavan. The campaign would encompass specially designed twitter feeds, engagement activities on Facebook and other social media channels.

    MTS Brand Ambassador and Winter Olympian, Shiva Keshavan said “As an athlete, winning an Olympic Gold medal is my biggest dream. I am looking forward to the Winter Olympics in Sochi and hopefully this would be my chance to bring the medal home. I would like to thank MTS India and all my fans for supporting me through the IndiaForShiva campaign. It is heartening to see my countrymen getting aware about the sport of Luge and cheering for me as I get set to compete on 8th and 9th February 2014”.

     

  • MTV allows youth to connect with #RockTheVote on Twitter

    MTV allows youth to connect with #RockTheVote on Twitter

    MUMBAI: With the entire nation under the election fever, MTV has announced a strategic use of the Twitter platform as part of the Hero MTV Rock The Vote initiative to enhance the interactivity and reach of the campaign across youth. A first-of-its kind interactive experience to tap the digital universe, the leading youth brand MTV has launched “Follow the Hashtag” which will allow users of all kinds of devices to listen and engage with the #RockTheVote conversation on Twitter.

    This will be the first time this kind of call-to-action innovation will be visible to the audiences globally. Through this feature, the mobile user does not need to be online while listening in to the conversations on #RockTheVote on Twitter. The user can dial 011-30494949 and follow the discussions on #RockTheVote, even while offline. Key tweets and interactions from @MTVIndia on #RockTheVote will be delivered on their phone via an SMS enabled by ZipDial, another strategic technology partner. This underscores MTV’s commitment to encourage every youngster to participate in the campaign and vote in the upcoming elections; and does not limit to their access to internet or expensive phones.

    Speaking about the exciting innovation, Sumeli Chatterjee, Head – Marketing & Insights, MTV India said, “MTV Rock the Vote initiative is an interactive campaign that is designed to fuel conversations around elections. And Twitter is one of the leading real-time, interactive information networks in the world. The ‘Follow the Hashtag’ feature will ensure we reach out beyond just the smart phone users…thus allowing the large user base of regular (feature) phones to interact with the Rock The Vote campaign. Starting with crowd-sourced videos from colleges, web series on Funny FAQs on voting, selfies of youth ‘inked’ during election, live tweeting the college concerts, interactive television programming, comic strips and satires…the tongue in cheek messaging of Hero MTV Rock The Vote is naturally integrated with Twitter conversations. This feature phone service will ensure the conversation reaches far and wide across the online and offline youth universe, and hopefully mobilize the eligible new voters to step out and vote.”

    Commenting on this innovation, Rishi Jaitly, India Market Director, Twitter said, “Twitter is the world’s leading mobile, real-time information network where users follow, share and experience content that is live, public and conversational. In India, Twitter has brought our users closer to the issues and moments that matter to them, while also enabling them to express their views and participate in real-time. We applaud MTV India for innovating on our platform on the occasion of Rock The Vote and for using Twitter’s unique mobile service to engage its viewers.”

    MTV has launched ‘Hero MTV Rock The Vote’ as a non partisan initiative to drive awareness and education of the young generation to vote in upcoming general elections. The campaign objective is to drive conversations around voting and is built on the philosophy that ‘you cannot complain, if you do not vote’. Therefore, it has a huge skew towards the social media and mobile interactions. MTV is also planning to launch hashtag wars on youth issues / voting along with live debates with political spokespersons & election experts leveraging the Twitter platform. Giving this social campaign a humorous skew, the channel has also launched a series of witty videos to capture people’s funny reactions on voting. The web series, ‘Voting FAQs’, captures funny reactions of people to some fun questions asked around the elections. The questions are bold, tricky and most of the times, confusing, thus testing the opponents’ general knowledge while giving you a dose of laughter.

    Discuss with MTV about power to vote using #RockTheVote on Twitter or dial 011-30494949 from your mobile to listen in. This election step out and vote!

     

  • Just Dial reports 86 per cent jump in PAT for Q3-2014

    Just Dial reports 86 per cent jump in PAT for Q3-2014

    BENGALURU: Indian search engine and directory services provider Just Dial limited (Just Dial) reported a jump of 86.4 per cent in its PAT for Q3-2014 to Rs 29.75 crore from Rs 15.96 crore in Q3-2013 and 3.8 per cent more than the Rs 28.66 crore in Q2-2014. 

     

    The company reported a 25.92 per cent increase in total income to Rs 119.86 crore in Q3-2014 from Rs 95.19 crore in Q3-2013 and 6.39 per cent more than the Rs 112.66 crore in Q2-2014. 

     

    Let us look at the other figures reported by Just Dial for Q3-2014 

     

    Expense for Q3-2014 at Rs 90.77 crore was 20.24 per cent more than the Rs 75.49 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and 10.87 per cent more than the Rs 81.87 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. 

     

    Employee cost hiked by 27.36 per cent to Rs 59.59 crore in Q3-2014 from Rs 46.79 in Q3-2013 and 3.22 per cent more than the Rs 57.73 crore in Q2-2014. Other expense went up by 9.25 per cent to Rs 26.93 crore in Q3-2014 from Rs 24.65 crore in Q3-2013 and 36.7 per cent more than the Rs 19.7 crore in Q2-2014.

     

    In October 2013, Just Dial received an order from the Government of Karnataka permitting the company to establish an IT/ITES – BPO and Software Development centre at IT/ITES Park at Devanahalli Industrial Area in Bangalore by August 2015. The company has sought certain clarification regarding the order from Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board. During the quarter the company paid and advance of Rs 7.5 crore to KIADB towards the project.

  • Shotformats win for all its wonders in the digital space

    Shotformats win for all its wonders in the digital space

    MUMBAI: At the 5th International Summit & Award Ceremony on ‘Global Business Opportunity’ on this Saturday, Shotformats Digital Works, a new-age, digital media company, bagged the ‘Fastest Growing Indian Company Excellence Award’ for its pioneering work in the digital space.

     

    The Award was presented to Niyati Shah, CEO & MD Shotformats Digital Works by H.E Khun Korn Dabbaransi Hon’ble Former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and Chief Justice of India Mr O P Verma at Holiday Inn, Bangkok

     

    Shotformats Digital Works Private Limited is a promising digital distribution and a new media company that develops innovative digital platforms, products, and content to service and reaches audiences via varied digital distribution streams.

     

    During its six years drive in the industry, Shotformats with its brand Biscoot is a path-breaking contender in the mobile Value Added Services (VAS) space. It also creates and deploy VAS solutions and applications for media houses, telecommunication firms, film companies, labels, application developers and content providers, among others. The company recently launched its e-books & audio books offline apps that also are absolutely consumer friendly supporting the ‘go green’ theory through e-books and educating the segment which is high on illiteracy through audio books.

     

    Niyati Shah, MD & CEO, Shotformats Digital Works, exclaims; ‘International Achievers Conference (IAC) concentrates how the organizations can help the social & economic infrastructural development in and around the country. For a company like ours, this was a perfect forum to be acknowledged and I am glad that they have accredited us on our company motive and efforts. I am honored that IAC considered us for this category and we are looking forward to contribute the best of innovations in the digital space across mediums.’

  • Star India partners with Times Internet to distribute IPL on digital in India

    Star India partners with Times Internet to distribute IPL on digital in India

    MUMBAI: Star India has licensed the digital distribution rights for IPL 2014 from Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India Group. Star India will offer streaming and video on demand on starsports.com, the Star Sports app, and on mobile operator services powered by Star Sports. Times Internet will distribute IPL streaming and video on demand on its cricket destination on web and mobile, powered by a starsports.com video player. Both companies will market the joint proposition, and Star India will be solely responsible for monetisation, including advertising sales.

     

    Last year, IPL online witnessed a 56 per cent growth in unique visitors, with over 200 million video views. This year, India’s largest media houses will co-distribute IPL, offering unparalleled reach and viewership.

     
    The move deepens Star’s commitment to dramatically shape the sports experience on digital. Launched in June 2013, starsports.com has become the go-to destination for following the best of international sports. It has redefined the sports experience through a revolutionary video timeline that is a first of its kind in the world of sports, and allows the viewer to keep track of live sports as well as catch up on games with ease. The company has also built an advanced technology infrastructure that enables HD quality streaming across multiple devices.

     
    “At a time when more and more fans are following sports across multiple screens, our aim is to deliver an experience for them that is even better than what is on television. This partnership signals our continuing efforts to transform sports and the digital experience, ”said Mr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Operating Officer of Star India. “We want to make IPL the world’s largest sporting event on a digital platform this year.”

     
    Satyan Gajwani, Chief Executive Officer of Times Internet, said, “We have been offering our users IPL for three years, and it continues to be a major driver in consumption and brand, recognized as one of the largest online video events worldwide with rapid growth. Our partnership with Star will enable an even larger reach for the property across digital devices.”

     
    starsports.com is India’s first multi-sports digital service with availability across the web and mobile. Powered by live and video rights, it covers the best of world sports including major cricket tournaments, BPL, La Liga and Serie A in football, F1, hockey and tennis.

     
    Times Internet is the largest Indian online media entity, with over 40 million monthly visitors across its numerous digital destinations. Its portfolio includes news, lifestyle content, entertainment, ecommerce, mobile VAS, music & movie streaming, and local services.

     

  • Sony LIV celebrates its 1st Anniversary with an open love letter to its viewers

    Sony LIV celebrates its 1st Anniversary with an open love letter to its viewers

    MUMBAI: Sony LIV, Multi Screen Media (MSM)’s premium video-on-demand service has launched a unique campaign to thank its viewers for the successful completion of its first year. The brand has written an open letter to viewers personifying Sony LIV as the doting partner of the viewer and describing the relationship between the two. The thought was derived from all the gestures couples indulge in when they complete their first year of togetherness like sending each other flowers, chocolates, putting up testimonials on social media, etc. The letter highlights all the high points of the year gone by for Sony LIV and its viewers.

     

    The beautifully-designed letter that put Sony LIV’s gratitude in words was sent to viewers through Facebook and emails. Overwhelmed viewers wrote back expressing their joy at such a warm way to involve them in the celebrations. Messages ranged from thank you notes to congratulatory messages on social media. Some of them read like this: “The letter made be blush, such a sweet gesture from Sony LIV” and “I have been watching shows on Sony LIV right from the start and I can totally relate to the sentiment of the letter.”     

     

    While the first few months passed akin to the honeymoon phase of a relationship, soon Sony LIV began innovating and experimenting to keep its partner interested and engaged. The idea was to give LIV’s viewers breaks that were worthwhile and fun. After all, modern life is all about those little escapes from the mundane. It successfully stayed at the forefront in terms of product development and technological advancements by introducing the iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry applications so that viewers could truly enjoy the brand proposition: “Mazey Ke Break Lo, Kahin Bhi Dekh Lo”. 

     

    Sony LIV also ran various interactive campaigns to create a buzz around its 1st Anniversary. A special logo was created for this occasion, the Sony LIV website held a contest which allowed fans to wish the brand Happy 1st Anniversary in the style of their favourite Sony character. Fans went all out to express their wishes. Some did it in the signature ACP Pradyuman (of the CID fame) way: “Daya Darvaza Todo, Andar Anniversary ka Cake Band Hai, Happy Anniversary!” or in the style of Dr. Hansraj Hathi from Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah: “Arey Komal! Badi Zorose Bhook Lagi Hai, Chalo Jaldi, Sony LIV ka Anniversary Cake Khane! Badhai Ho!”

     

    Also on Facebook and Twitter Sony LIV ran a contest called ‘Gift a Maze ka break’ where people could gift their friends Sony LIV merchandise and movie tickets by tagging them and stating why their friends deserved to win a maze ka break.

     

    The brand came up with promotional videos to drive traffic on the website. Encouraging viewers to participate in the Sony LIVanniversary party from 24th to 31stJanuary where movie tickets, autographed merchandise and gift vouchers were up for grabs.        

     

    Over the past one year, Sony LIV has consistently brought marquee shows from the Sony Network to its viewers on a device that they could access anywhere, anytime. Indian Idol Junior, KBC, Boogie Woogie, Top Gear and other popular shows were brought to the viewers on their preferred device, so that they never had to worry about missing a single episode. The content repertoire expanded over the year to include English shows from AXN and Sports – LIVE streaming of the New Zealand vs India cricket series; thereby catering to different audience groups, both male and female.

     

    Extensive data analysis helped keeping engagement levels high. Innovations such as driving Indian Idol Junior auditions via the online medium and the app, offering the option to vote across all platforms including social media was offered. Also, introducing the play-along gaming application for KBC viewers enabled audiences to become active and facilitated a two-way communication via LIV.

  • MyRealGames.com releases bumper free games update

    MyRealGames.com releases bumper free games update

    MUMBAI: MyRealGames.com – the free games website – has announced the completion of a bumper upload today.

     

    The treasure trove of new titles for the month includes the eagerly-awaited Dead Paradise 3 along with a series of puzzle and hidden object games. In total there are five brand new games to experience with more planned for a later release in the month.

     

    Dead Paradise 3 is expected to be one of the most popular PC downloadable games for the month of January. A car racing game with a twist, the action-packed adventure is the third installment in the series which has been quick to establish itself as a fan favorite. Set over 12 missions and three dead match missions, players must help survivors to safety while shooting and racing their way across town.

     

    Commenting about the bumper January haul of free games, MyRealGames.com’s Nikolai Veselov said, “Visitors to the site have every reason to be happy this month with our fantastic and fun collection of new games to download and enjoy, including Dead Paradise 3, which we expect to be one of the most in-demand titles of the year.”

     

    New to the ‘Hidden Object’ genre – which is consistently one of the most visited categories on MyRealGames.com – is Alexander the Great: Secrets of Power. Taking on the role of a descendant of the ancient emperor Alexander the Great, players must travel to lands far and wide to collect the emperor’s crown, dagger and ring. To collect the magic artifacts and save the world, gamers must scour 30 unique locations and successfully complete more than 45 enthralling mini games.

     

    And for those who love a brain teaser, there are no less than three brand new puzzle games introduced. Titles include Holiday Jigsaw Christmas, Christmas Griddlers and Royal Jigsaw.

     

    With more than six hours of game play and four unique boxes of puzzles, Holiday Jigsaw Christmas is a great way to recapture some seasonal cheer.

     

    Christmas Griddlers offers more than eight hours of game play set to a host of festive Christmas locations. There are 120 unique puzzles to solve in six exciting rounds for a chance to take home a beautiful Christmas trophy.

     

    In Royal Jigsaw, a range of high-quality and unique artworks provide a colorful backdrop to a huge range of jigsaw puzzle games. The player must reassemble the pictures by dragging and dropping pieces into the appropriate spot. With easy controls, Royal Jigsaw is suitable for both experienced gamers as well as newcomers of any age.

  • SVOD subscriptions on the rise, pay-TV subs declining

    SVOD subscriptions on the rise, pay-TV subs declining

    MUMBAI: A new report from the NPD Group reveals that the number of US households subscribing to premium TV channels over the past two years has witnessed a six per cent decline as against an inverse growth spike of four per cent for SVOD subscribers.

     

    The report, The State of SVOD, states that 32 per cent of US households were subscribed to premium TV channels in August 2013, compared to 27 per cent that subscribed to SVOD services. Overall, digital video transactions were up three per cent since 2012, reaching 70 per cent of all home video transactions in 2013. SVOD made up 71 per cent of all digital video transactions, and it continued to increase faster than all other digital acquisition types.

     

    The SVOD service, Netflix, emerged as the clear leader in SVOD. However, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime are receiving the largest growth benefits in the category, as consumers begin to add on secondary SVOD services.