Category: iWorld

Viacom18 and Turner India tie up for Voot’s kids content

MUMBAI: Viacom18 and Turner India have announced a strategic tie-up that will see Turner’s popular kids shows play on Viacom18’s over-the-top service Voot.

With this deal, Voot will add to its already existing powerhouse list of close to 100 characters that cut through broadcast affiliation. Shows likeThe Powerpuff Girls, Ben10, Roll No. 21 and Chotta Bheem alongside Dora, Spongebob, Motu Patlu, Shiva and Pokemon are among the few.

Commenting on the tie-up, Turner India South Asia senior vice president and managing director Siddharth Jain said, “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% of today’s plurals are mobile phone users and 30% of them are on surfing the internet.”

Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats 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 ~7000videos 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.”

Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi further explained, “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.”

June 24, 2016
Viacom18 and Turner India tie up for Voot’s kids content

MUMBAI: Viacom18 and Turner India have announced a strategic tie-up that will see Turner’s popular kids shows play on Viacom18’s over-the-top service Voot.

With this deal, Voot will add to its already existing powerhouse list of close to 100 characters that cut through broadcast affiliation. Shows likeThe Powerpuff Girls, Ben10, Roll No. 21 and Chotta Bheem alongside Dora, Spongebob, Motu Patlu, Shiva and Pokemon are among the few.

Commenting on the tie-up, Turner India South Asia senior vice president and managing director Siddharth Jain said, “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% of today’s plurals are mobile phone users and 30% of them are on surfing the internet.”

Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats 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 ~7000videos 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.”

Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi further explained, “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.”

June 24, 2016
Netflix unveils brand new icon; even as YouTube stutters

MUMBAI: Netflix bingers and observers have all been used to the Netflix logo appearing every where, even in icons online. Now the global streaming content leader has decided to do away with the whole name of the service in the icon and replaced with a bright N only.

It revealed this transition on its facebook and Twitter accounts. The icon features the N red letter flowing like a ribbon against a black background and stands more vertically instead of horizontally fitting inside an app icon box.

The player made it clear on its Twitter account that it’s not a new logo. “The N is an icon and a new creative element to live with our logo. The current Netflix logo is here to stay :)”, reads the tweet.

“We are introducing a new element into our branding with an N icon. The current Netflix logo will still remain, and the icon will start to be incorporated into our mobile apps along with other product integrations in the near future,” said a Netflix spokesperson.

The new icon will be seen on most places, including smartphone apps, social media and other product integrations making it lot easier to identify the Netflix app.

Back in 2014, Netflix had made the first change to its logo when it opted a flatter, more minimal design, switching from its DVD-era logo with a red background, and old-school typeface.

Even as Netflix introduced its new icon, online video guzzlers in certain countries and ares got a bit of a heart burn when leading streaming media site YouTube went down for a few minutes around 5 pm. Visitors were surprised to see a http 502 error, which mean the site was not available. The outage led to howls and funnies being posted on social media. Users wailed that they thought the end of the world was at hand, that they were frightened. A major howler was one which stated ” that a bunch of highly trained has been dispatched to deal with this situation.”

Nonetheless, close to a billion YouTubers the world over heaved a sigh of relief when it came back on again

June 22, 2016
Netflix unveils brand new icon; even as YouTube stutters

MUMBAI: Netflix bingers and observers have all been used to the Netflix logo appearing every where, even in icons online. Now the global streaming content leader has decided to do away with the whole name of the service in the icon and replaced with a bright N only.

It revealed this transition on its facebook and Twitter accounts. The icon features the N red letter flowing like a ribbon against a black background and stands more vertically instead of horizontally fitting inside an app icon box.

The player made it clear on its Twitter account that it’s not a new logo. “The N is an icon and a new creative element to live with our logo. The current Netflix logo is here to stay :)”, reads the tweet.

“We are introducing a new element into our branding with an N icon. The current Netflix logo will still remain, and the icon will start to be incorporated into our mobile apps along with other product integrations in the near future,” said a Netflix spokesperson.

The new icon will be seen on most places, including smartphone apps, social media and other product integrations making it lot easier to identify the Netflix app.

Back in 2014, Netflix had made the first change to its logo when it opted a flatter, more minimal design, switching from its DVD-era logo with a red background, and old-school typeface.

Even as Netflix introduced its new icon, online video guzzlers in certain countries and ares got a bit of a heart burn when leading streaming media site YouTube went down for a few minutes around 5 pm. Visitors were surprised to see a http 502 error, which mean the site was not available. The outage led to howls and funnies being posted on social media. Users wailed that they thought the end of the world was at hand, that they were frightened. A major howler was one which stated ” that a bunch of highly trained has been dispatched to deal with this situation.”

Nonetheless, close to a billion YouTubers the world over heaved a sigh of relief when it came back on again

June 22, 2016
Idea launches ‘Internet For All’ initiative

MUMBAI: Aiming to connect millions of internet non-users and bring them online, Idea Cellular; the fastest growing telecom operator, has announced an “Internet For All” program. This program empowers all the Idea prepaid consumers and retailers to give one month of free Internet access to Internet non-users just by logging on to http://i4all.ideacellular.com from their smartphones. They can gift free 100 MB data for a month by entering the Idea mobile number of non-internet users.

Idea further personalizes this service by sending periodic information on how to use free data to the non-data user and providing various ways to latch onto the internet. The notifications are also sent to the initiator on the progress of internet usage made by the person nominated by them. As a small token of gratitude, Idea credits 100MB of data to the initiator’s account.

Talking about the new initiative, Mr. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, “Internet adoption today is being shaped predominantly through the use of mobile telephony. However, currently only 25% of India’s population are connected to the internet. Accelerating mobile internet adoption is huge task and requires larger participation. Our ‘Internet for All’ initiative will encourage the uninitiated to learn more about the internet as a tool for education, banking, shopping, and entertainment, while gaining access to a world of opportunity that the internet opens for us all. We believe that internet adoption can be accelerated at the grassroot level if existing internet users introduce their un-connected friends and family to adopt the service, thereby transforming their lives.”

Idea users can log on to http://i4all.ideacellular.com from their prepaid connection or retailer VTOP to gift data to a non-internet user. Alternatively, customers can also avail the service by dialing *756# or sending SMS IFA to 56756.

With pan India 2G operations and 3G and 4G services in 17 telecom circles, Idea has the capability to provide mobile broadband to nearly 880 million Indians. Demonstrating its commitment to connect the unconnected a reality, Idea will continue to work towards connecting the next billion and making them a part of the digital world.

June 22, 2016
Idea launches ‘Internet For All’ initiative

MUMBAI: Aiming to connect millions of internet non-users and bring them online, Idea Cellular; the fastest growing telecom operator, has announced an “Internet For All” program. This program empowers all the Idea prepaid consumers and retailers to give one month of free Internet access to Internet non-users just by logging on to http://i4all.ideacellular.com from their smartphones. They can gift free 100 MB data for a month by entering the Idea mobile number of non-internet users.

Idea further personalizes this service by sending periodic information on how to use free data to the non-data user and providing various ways to latch onto the internet. The notifications are also sent to the initiator on the progress of internet usage made by the person nominated by them. As a small token of gratitude, Idea credits 100MB of data to the initiator’s account.

Talking about the new initiative, Mr. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, “Internet adoption today is being shaped predominantly through the use of mobile telephony. However, currently only 25% of India’s population are connected to the internet. Accelerating mobile internet adoption is huge task and requires larger participation. Our ‘Internet for All’ initiative will encourage the uninitiated to learn more about the internet as a tool for education, banking, shopping, and entertainment, while gaining access to a world of opportunity that the internet opens for us all. We believe that internet adoption can be accelerated at the grassroot level if existing internet users introduce their un-connected friends and family to adopt the service, thereby transforming their lives.”

Idea users can log on to http://i4all.ideacellular.com from their prepaid connection or retailer VTOP to gift data to a non-internet user. Alternatively, customers can also avail the service by dialing *756# or sending SMS IFA to 56756.

With pan India 2G operations and 3G and 4G services in 17 telecom circles, Idea has the capability to provide mobile broadband to nearly 880 million Indians. Demonstrating its commitment to connect the unconnected a reality, Idea will continue to work towards connecting the next billion and making them a part of the digital world.

June 22, 2016
Instagram crosses 500 million members

MUMBAI: Facebook announced yesterday at Cannes that its Instagram community has grown to more than 500 million (50 crore), of which more than 300 million use Instagram every single day. Facebook claimed that Instagram’s community continued to become even more global, with more than 80 percent living outside of the United States.

While thanking its community, an Instagram blog message said, “As you’ve captured and shared the moments happening around you, you’ve formed incredibly varied and diverse communities. Whether you’re an illustrator, a sneakerhead or an astronaut on the International Space Station, every photo and video you share helps bring people closer to friends and interests, broadens perspectives and inspires a sense of wonder. You’ve made Instagram a place where the everyday and the epic are always within reach.”

“Thank you for your creativity, your openness and your passion for sharing your worlds with one another. We can’t wait to see what you create next”.

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile app. Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. It was acquired by Facebook in April 2012 for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock.

June 22, 2016
Instagram crosses 500 million members

MUMBAI: Facebook announced yesterday at Cannes that its Instagram community has grown to more than 500 million (50 crore), of which more than 300 million use Instagram every single day. Facebook claimed that Instagram’s community continued to become even more global, with more than 80 percent living outside of the United States.

While thanking its community, an Instagram blog message said, “As you’ve captured and shared the moments happening around you, you’ve formed incredibly varied and diverse communities. Whether you’re an illustrator, a sneakerhead or an astronaut on the International Space Station, every photo and video you share helps bring people closer to friends and interests, broadens perspectives and inspires a sense of wonder. You’ve made Instagram a place where the everyday and the epic are always within reach.”

“Thank you for your creativity, your openness and your passion for sharing your worlds with one another. We can’t wait to see what you create next”.

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile app. Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. It was acquired by Facebook in April 2012 for approximately $1 billion in cash and stock.

June 22, 2016
Facebook announces four solutions for mobile advertisers at Cannes Lions

MUMBAI: Yesterday at the Cannes Lions, Facebook announced four new solutions that make it easier for advertisers to share their messages across mobile platforms. With more than 1.5 billion people accessing Facebook from mobile devices and more than 1 billion people using Facebook on mobile everyday, the Facebook family has more mobile engagement than any other platform.

Facebook’s announcements include:

The launch of a Creative Hub, where the creative community can learn and build on mobile. Facebook claims that this new, online interface will be a sandbox where agencies can play with different ad formats for online and mobile and experiment with what works best. Most ad creation happens on desktop but is experienced on mobile. The Creative Hub gives ad creators an easy way to preview their work in a dynamic mobile feed. They can also share these mock-ups with stakeholders through a preview URL. The Creative Hub will also provide inspiration with an easy-to-navigate repository of case studies and great content. The Creative Hub is now in testing and should be available to everyone in the next few months.

Introduction of an Audience Insights API in beta, to help businesses build better insights to fuel campaigns. Facebook says that it is currently working with the creative community on how to reach better insights through the Audience Insights API. As part of the beta program, Facebook has partnered with a small group of advertisers like Mondelez International and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Updates to Canvas ads that make it easier for marketers to design, create, share and gain insights. Advertisers can now share their Canvases with stakeholders to simplify the review process. Coming toward the end of this month, Canvas will have a new feed unit to help entice people to engage. Plus, Canvas will be available for all Pages to use in a post (even when it’s not promoted as an ad). Also, marketers will be able to access detailed metrics such as dwell time per component and clicks per component to track Canvas performance.

Enhancements to Slideshow ads that make it easy for businesses to create videos from photos. Enhancements to Slideshow include audio and text overlay, an easy ‘video-to-slideshow’ creation tool, the ability to create slideshow from a mobile device and integration with Pages Photo Library and Shutterstock stock image library. This means small businesses without any production resources can create, edit and boost customised slideshows using existing photos from their Page or any of thousands of Facebook’s stock images. Facebook says that these tools are coming at the end of the month to all advertisers and can be used however they would use a video (across Facebook and Instagram).

Facebook also announced that there were now more than 500 million (50 crore) users on Instagram.

Also read:

Instagram crosses 500 million members

http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/social-media/instagram-crosses-500-million-members-160622

June 22, 2016
Facebook announces four solutions for mobile advertisers at Cannes Lions

MUMBAI: Yesterday at the Cannes Lions, Facebook announced four new solutions that make it easier for advertisers to share their messages across mobile platforms. With more than 1.5 billion people accessing Facebook from mobile devices and more than 1 billion people using Facebook on mobile everyday, the Facebook family has more mobile engagement than any other platform.

Facebook’s announcements include:

The launch of a Creative Hub, where the creative community can learn and build on mobile. Facebook claims that this new, online interface will be a sandbox where agencies can play with different ad formats for online and mobile and experiment with what works best. Most ad creation happens on desktop but is experienced on mobile. The Creative Hub gives ad creators an easy way to preview their work in a dynamic mobile feed. They can also share these mock-ups with stakeholders through a preview URL. The Creative Hub will also provide inspiration with an easy-to-navigate repository of case studies and great content. The Creative Hub is now in testing and should be available to everyone in the next few months.

Introduction of an Audience Insights API in beta, to help businesses build better insights to fuel campaigns. Facebook says that it is currently working with the creative community on how to reach better insights through the Audience Insights API. As part of the beta program, Facebook has partnered with a small group of advertisers like Mondelez International and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Updates to Canvas ads that make it easier for marketers to design, create, share and gain insights. Advertisers can now share their Canvases with stakeholders to simplify the review process. Coming toward the end of this month, Canvas will have a new feed unit to help entice people to engage. Plus, Canvas will be available for all Pages to use in a post (even when it’s not promoted as an ad). Also, marketers will be able to access detailed metrics such as dwell time per component and clicks per component to track Canvas performance.

Enhancements to Slideshow ads that make it easy for businesses to create videos from photos. Enhancements to Slideshow include audio and text overlay, an easy ‘video-to-slideshow’ creation tool, the ability to create slideshow from a mobile device and integration with Pages Photo Library and Shutterstock stock image library. This means small businesses without any production resources can create, edit and boost customised slideshows using existing photos from their Page or any of thousands of Facebook’s stock images. Facebook says that these tools are coming at the end of the month to all advertisers and can be used however they would use a video (across Facebook and Instagram).

Facebook also announced that there were now more than 500 million (50 crore) users on Instagram.

Also read:

Instagram crosses 500 million members

http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/social-media/instagram-crosses-500-million-members-160622

June 22, 2016