ITV

Category: Specials

  • Aaj Tak brings its studio to you, the viewer; Launches ‘Chunav Studio’

    Aaj Tak brings its studio to you, the viewer; Launches ‘Chunav Studio’

    MUMBAI: With the General Elections of the world’s largest democracy, round the corner, India’s number one news channel, Aaj Tak has planned an innovative style of bringing the pre-election momentum and excitement from across the country through a pop-up studio called – ‘Aaj Tak Chunav Studio’.

    With an interesting concept of a roving studio inside a container, the mobile studio of Aaj Tak, Chunav Studio will travel across 7 states and 26 cities in India over a period of 6 weeks covering over 8000 kilometers.

    The studio will be featured in ‘Raj Tilak’, a daily show on Aaj Tak which will be aired on weekdays in the evening at 8PM. The show will have local leaders from various parties along with live audience discussing various issues which could have an impact on the outcome of the upcoming elections.

    Announcing the Chunav Studio initiative, Ms. Kalli Purie, Vice-Chairperson, India Today Group said, “General Elections is the biggest festival of democracy, and the fervor pervades every nook and corner of the country. Aaj Tak reaches out to the masses and reports from right in the midst of them, bringing ‘Sabse Tez, Sabke Beech’ this Election. Making everybody’s voice heard through Chunav Studio, this industry first is set to be another benchmark in innovation.”

    The Chunav Studio will start its journey from Ahmedabad on April 1, covering various cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Amethi, Ayodhya, Patna, Varanasi, Kolkata, Delhi, Asansol, Gwalior, Delhi and Azamgarh to mention a few.

    Besides the programming, Aaj Tak will also conduct a host of on-ground activities like anchor hunt, painting, selfie booth, quiz etc. to drive engagement with the people.

    The anchor hunt event will be called ‘Mai Bhi Anchor’ and will give the participants a chance to become an anchor. They will have to read news for a minute like an anchor in a small news studio set-up. The best videos will feature on Aaj Tak’s digital platforms on a daily basis.

    In addition, a painting activity will also be arranged under the branding ‘Rang De India’. The participants will get to paint on a huge canvas installed at the spot. They can paint their emotions on the India they want to see, the current scenarios, issues to be highlighted or anything else they wish.

    A selfie booth will also be installed along with cut-outs of Aaj Tak’s celebrity anchors wherein people can come and click selfies with their favourite anchors.

    Apart from the above, there will be quiz sessions and some cultural performances too.

    So, gear up for a loaded pre-election drive with the Chunav Studio, only on Aaj Tak. Stay Tuned.

  • News18 India present weekend specials on Lok Sabha Elections from Ground Zero

    News18 India present weekend specials on Lok Sabha Elections from Ground Zero

    MUMBAI: Reinforcing the commitment of bringing the most comprehensive reportage of the General Elections, News18 India has further lined-up extensive and diverse weekend programming for its viewers. Comprising of channel’s renowned shows, the programming aims to bring not only up-to-the-minute updates but also cover substantive issues related to the elections.

    Extending the umbrella branding ‘Sabse Bada Dangal’, News18 India present special on-ground episodes of its popular shows- Lapete Mein Netaji, Desh ko Jawab Do and Ye Desh Hai Hamara. Featuring renowned Hindi poets, Lapete Mein Netaji is based on a ‘hasya kavi sammelan’ format featuring top politicians, bringing humor and sarcasm to the serious political discourse. Recently, the show travelled to Varanasi where it witnessed presence of popular Hindi poets and satirists like Damdar Banarasi, Chirag Jain, Pratap Singh Faujdar and Gaurav Chauhan along with political leaders – Kaushlesh Singh of BJP; Lalitesh Pati Tripathi of Congress and Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi of SP.

    Bringing top newsmakers across leading political parties on a single platform, channel’s intense debates place audience and their issues at the heart of their reportage. Taking the discussions on-ground to enhance engagement, News18 India recently telecast a special episode of Desh Ko Jawab Do from Lucknow. The debate featured top local politicians such as Rakesh Tripathi of BJP; Surendra Rajput of Congress and Anurag Bhadoria of SP, wherein they discussed the key concerns and mood of the voters in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

    Along with fierce debates, the channel is also showcasing in-depth profiling of top newsmakers of every week like PM Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi to name a few, through special election episodes of the show ‘Poster’. With wide-ranging and incisive programming throughout the week, News18 India aims to provide an unparalleled access to its viewers during the world’s largest democratic exercise.

  • Thomas Cook lndia launches ‘Ghar Jao Vote Karo’ campaign

    Thomas Cook lndia launches ‘Ghar Jao Vote Karo’ campaign

    MUMBAI: Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, an integrated travel and related financial services company, spearheads the citizen election agenda 2019 by launching its ‘Ghar Jao Vote Karo’ campaign ahead of the upcoming general elections. The brand seeks to empower citizens to vote while simultaneously rewarding them- both on their flight to their hometown pre-election, as well as holiday discounts post elections.

    According to the Election Commission, merely 540 million Indian voters or 66.4 per cent of those eligible cast their vote in the 2014 general elections. A key challenge attributed to the low turnout was the migrating Indian population, moving from tier II and III cities into larger urban towns and metros. Thomas Cook India has therefore strategically aligned its campaign to tap into India’s vote bank, by aiming to create awareness on the importance of voting while gratifying the voter with incentives.

    Thomas Cook India’s ‘Ghar Jao Vote Karo’ campaign will extend from 26 March to 19 May 2019, to encourage Indians to exercise their right to vote by flying back to their respective hometowns- where they have been registered as voters. As part of the campaign, the pre-election offer includes a discount of Rs 1,000 off on return air tickets (per adult) on providing proof via any official document such as their Voter ID/ Aadhaar Card, etc. The last date of flight departure is 19 May 2019 to coincide with the last date of polling.

    Voting in many states coincides with India’s largest vacation season. Hence, in its initiative to recognise the efforts taken by its customers who vote, Thomas Cook India will offer a special post-voting holiday discount – across both its domestic and international group tours (Rs 3000 off on its domestic group tours or Rs 5000 off on its international group tours, per family). All its customers need to do to avail the offer is to display their inked finger at any of Thomas Cook’s extensive retail outlets pan India. The post-voting holiday offer is valid up to 19 July 2019.

    With several election dates falling on Mondays or Thursdays, Thomas Cook’s data reveals that travel hungry Indians are likely to extend their weekends into ‘smart weekend holidays’ thus giving a fillip to the emerging trend of ‘Election Tourism’.

    Thomas Cook president and group head – marketing, service quality, value-added services, and innovation Abraham Alapatt said, “At Thomas Cook India, we are keen to do our part by motivating consumers to cast their vote in their hometowns and this formed the genesis of our Ghar Jao Vote Karo campaign.”

    He added, “Social media is expected to play a strong role in the upcoming elections. Be it voting selfies showcasing an inked finger or the use of hashtags, consumers are taking their involvement beyond the booth. However, there is a strong urgency in getting the voting population involved in the pre-voting phase as well and hence our campaign motivates customers- both during the pre and post voting phases. Via our Ghar Jao Vote Karo campaign, we look forward to engineering a new wave of proactive social consciousness across metros as well as Tier II and III regions of the country.”

  • Firstpost print launches campaign trails, a unique campaign that enables readers to cover elections as reporters

    Firstpost print launches campaign trails, a unique campaign that enables readers to cover elections as reporters

    MUMBAI: Firstpost print, the weekly newspaper recently launched by Network18, has announced a unique campaign – FP Campaign Trails. Building on its promise of giving readers a ringside view of news and key events driving the current political narrative in the country, the campaign will give selected readers an opportunity to accompany seasoned journalists into the field and experience the heat and dust of elections first hand. For most people, elections are typically limited to armchair discussions – the only on-field experience they get is through the actual act of voting. This campaign will allow readers to experience the actual workings of democratic processes and electioneering like never before.

    The campaign will have 5 different trails from across the country – Coastal Karnataka, Marathwada, Kashmir valley, Bengal and Varanasi. These areas have been selected as much for their political significance as also to give the campaign a pan India spread. Each trail will be for 3 nights & 4 days and will run from April 8th to May 6thduring the last stages of campaigning in each region. Each trail will try to cover an election rally by a big national leader; enable interactions with local leaders and party functionaries; and most importantly, with various communities that represent the key issues at stake in the chosen region.

    Towards the end of each trail, participants would take part in a short workshop, when they report their observations on the trail. The reports would be collated and presented on Firstpost, with due attribution to contributing participants.

    Commenting on this programme, Rahul Kansal – Business Head Firspost print and Group Brand Advisor, Network18 said, “Firstpost’s mission as a newspaper, is to help its readers 'get inside the news’. It tries to do so not just through its editorial content, designed to give readers a ring-side view of what’s going on. But also through programs like Firstpost Campaign Trails, which take readers physically to the ringside, to experience the heat and dust of India’s elections”.

  • Here are the winners of The Indian Telly Awards!

    Here are the winners of The Indian Telly Awards!

    Mumbai 20 March 2019: When indiantelevision.com’s The Indian Telly Awards are held, the stars come out in style and in numbers. The glittering gala was held on 20 March 2019 in Mumbai and the presence of almost every known television star clearly demonstrated why indiantelevision.com’s  The Indian Telly  Awards are referred to as Indian television’s biggest and most entertaining awards.

     The awards have been conceptualized and created by Mr. Anil Wanvari, the founder and CEO of IndianTelevision.com.Says Wanvari: “We are delighted with the support that the entire actor, producer, director and support technical crew gave to indiantelevision.com’s The Indian Telly Awards in its 15 edition. The awards gala was successful becaue of the unprecedented presence of so many stars. The awards are for them,  and decided by them – and we look forward to their continued participation in our future endeavors. We are pleased that the awards show trended at No 2 on Twitter nationally.”

    Indiantelevision.com aired the awards ceremony differently this year. It partnered with Zee Entertainment Enterprises’s Zee5 OTT platform to stream the entire evening live which was hosted by the extremely engaging and fun-loving TV star quartet of Nakuul Mehta, Karan Tacker, Meiyang Chang, and Gunjan Utreja. Moreover, charming actor and presenter Jay Soni hosted the red carpet and curtain raiser.

    The awards night kicked off with celebrities thronging the ceremony in their most glamourous avatars. The event was graced by the who’s who of the television industry, including Divyanka Tripathi, Vivek Dahiya, Parth Samthaan, Erica Fernandes, Vikas Gupta, Hina Khan, Anita Hassanandani, Mohit Malik, Hunar Hali, Jennifer Winget, Aditya Chopda, Dheeraj Dhoopar, Shradha Arya, and many others.

    The four stellar hosts entertained the audience with their sizzling bromance, spontaneous humour, and goofiness. Their infectious energy and hilarious one-liners won the hearts of all present. So much so that close to 400 stars and their colleagues the venue way past midnight when the awards ceremony concluded with more than 57 awards, including jury, fans choice and TellyChakkar.com Editor’s Choice statuettes being given away to the most deserving of performers on screen in calendar year 2018. All in all, it was a night to remember!
    Here’s the full list of winners across the 57 categories of the awards.

    Best Child Artist Boy (Jury) Krish Parekh (Tenali Rama)

    Best Child Artist Girl (Jury) Aakriti Sharma (Kulfi Kumar Bajewala)

    Anchor in a Reality Show (Jury) Maniesh Paul (Indian Idol Season 10)

    Talk Show Host (Jury) Karan Johar (Koffee With Karan Season 6)

    Actor in a Comic Role – Male (Jury) Rohitashv Gour (Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai!)

    Actor in a Comic Role – Female (Jury) Shubhangi Atre (Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai!)

    Actor in a Supporting Role – Male (Jury) Varun Badola (Internat Wala Love)

    Actor in a Supporting Role – Female (Jury) Poorva Gokhale (Tujhse Hai Raabta)

    Actor in a Supporting Role (Comedy) – Male (Jury) Yogesh Tripathi (Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hai!)

    Actor in  a Negative Role  – Male (Jury) Mukul Dev (21 Sarfarosh Saragarhi 1897)

    Actor in  a Negative Role – Female (Jury) Hina Khan (Kasautii Zindagii Kay )

    Fresh New Face – Female (Jury) Aakriti Sharma (Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala)

    Actor in a lead Role – Male (Jury) Mohit Raina (21 Sarfarosh Saragarhi 1897)

    Actor in a lead Role – Female (Jury) Divyanka Tripathi (Yeh Hai Mohabbatein)

    Best Ensemble (Fiction) (Jury) Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah  (Sony Sab)

    Best Jodi (Jury) Sumedh Mudgalkar & Mallika Singh (Radha Krishn)

    Best Show for Kids (Fiction) (Jury) Little Singham (Discovery Kids)

    Best Series (Episodic) (Jury) Breaking Point: High Altitude Warfare School (Discovery)

    Best Program with a Social Message (Jury) Moonbound (Discovery)

    Best Daily Series (Jury) Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala (Star Plus)

    Best Weekender Show (Jury) India's Got Talent Season 8 (Colors TV)

    Best Continuing TV Programme (Jury) Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai (Star Plus)

    Best Drama Series (weekly, daily, bi-weekly) (Jury) Patiala Babes (Sony TV)

    Best Thriller- Horror Programme (Jury) Kaun Hai (Colors TV)

    Best Sitcom Comedy Programme (Fiction) (Jury) Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah (Sony Sab)

    Best Sitcom Comedy Programme (Non – Fiction) (Jury) Entertainment Ki Raat (Colors TV)

    Best Reality Show (Jury) India's Citizen Squad (Discovery)

    Dance Talent Show (Jury) Super Dancer Season 3 (Sony TV)

    Singing Talent Show (Jury) Indian Idol Season 10 (Sony TV)

    Mythological/ Historical Series (Jury) Radha Krishn (Star Bharat)

    Youth Show  (Jury) Troll Police (MTV)

    Best Animated Kids Show (Jury) Super Bheem – Babalok Mein Hulchul (Pogo TV)

    Best Indian Original Format (Non Fiction/Reality) (Jury) India's Citizen Squad (Discovery)

    Fans Choice Awards

    Actor in a lead Role – Male (Fan's Choice) Nakuul Mehta

    Actor in a lead Role- Female (Fan's Choice) Jennifer Winget

    Best Jodi (Fan's Choice) Erica Fernandes & Parth Samthaan

    Actor in a Supporting Role – Male  (Fan's Choice) Kunal Jaisingh

    Actor in a Supporting Role – Female  (Fan's Choice)  Anita Hassanandani

    Actor in  a Negative Role – Male  (Fan's Choice) Rajesh Khattar

    Actor in  a Negative Role – Female  (Fan's Choice) Hina Khan

    Best Show (Fan's Choice) Kumkum Bhagya

    Actor in a Comic role – Male  (Fan's Choice) Dilip Joshi

    Actor in a Comic role – Female  (Fan's Choice) Hiba Nawab

    Special Awards

    Gary Bhinder Award (Special Award) Amit Sharma for Badhai Ho

    Hall of Fame Award (Special Award) Asit Modi – Neela Telefilms

    Next Gen Award (Special Award) Ashnoor Kaur

    Television Personality of the Year (Special Award) Divyanka Tripathi

    Entertainer of the year (Special Award) Bharti Singh

    Telly Chakkar Editorial Choice Awards

    Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Comedy) – Female  (Tellychakkar -Editor's Choice) Ashita Dhawan Gulabani (Nazar)

    Best Ensemble – Non fiction (Tellychakkar – Editor's Choice) Super Dancer (Sony TV)

    Best Game Show  Kaun Banega Crorepati (Sony TV)

    Fresh New Face – Male (Tellychakkar – Editor's Choice) Adnan Khan (Ishq Subhan Allah)

    Best Show for Kids Non Fiction (Tellychakkar – Editor's Choice) Dance India Dance Lil Masters Season 4 (Zee TV)

    Most Popular International Show on Indian TV (Tellychakkar – Editor's Choice) Big Bang Theory – Zee Cafe

    Best Child Actor Award (Tellychakkar – Editor's Choice) Kartikey Malviya – Chandragupta Maurya

    About indiantelevision.com’s The Indian Telly Awards

    indiantelevision.com’s The Indian Telly Awards are India’s first recognition of performance behind and off the screen and were instituted by Anil Wanvari in the year 1998 but came into existence on 6 July 2001. Over the years, it has become the gold standard to recognise and reward television talent in India.

    For further information contact: Tanmaya Vyas, Contact no: 919619872899

  • Cinema content producers still discovering audience taste

    Cinema content producers still discovering audience taste

    MUMBAI: The Indian movie industry is one of the richest in the world and its content has been gaining patrons worldwide. But producers still believe that the industry doesn’t have the pulse of audience preference.

    The point was raised at the third edition of Indiantelevision.com’s ‘The Content Hub’ during a panel discussion on how new Hindi film producers are making their mark and what business models they are drawing up. The panel included Essel Vision (Zee Studios) CEO Shariq Patel, Viacom18 Studios chief operating officer Ajit Andhare, Alliance Media and Entertainment owner Sunil Doshi and Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh. Moderating the panel was film reviewer at Film Companion Suchitra Tyagi.

    Singh said that though we do not have an absolute understanding, we are better informed than we were few years ago. "Let me just give you some facts. Theatrical in India was going single digit till last year, where it actually has its most record breaking year and the business has grown by 14 per cent. Correspondingly, even if you look at Hollywood, last year they have had their biggest theatrical year," he said.

    However, Patel was of the view that the reason behind this is the constantly emerging trends. He shared that it is not possible to foresee or sight the changes in what the audience deems popular.

    Reflecting similar thoughts was Andhare who said, “Trends and cinema are two terms which are not friends with each other, because the moment you try to say this is trend you will falter. You can safely say that yes content has to be taken more seriously, just the package film which used to a success few years ago may not work.”

    He further added, “Also from a purely film business point of view, if you see a movie goer base, it is actually divided in three major markets, Hindi is just one, and the other two big bases are down south. So if you really want to address the entire consumer base for cinema in this country, you have to address all these three and from that stand point regional becomes extremely relevant.”

    There is a great opportunity to be a content producer today. "There is a huge opportunity in OTT and I can tell you that in films there is equally large opportunity. What has happened in Hollywood over the last 10 years, because the contribution from outside America started going up. 10 years back international content contributed 30 per cent and today it contributes 70 per cent. That is the reason why studios are working on franchise films or the few films which have the ability to actually travel across the globe,” Singh concluded.

  • Pre-school kids content’s monetisation and viewership challenges

    Pre-school kids content’s monetisation and viewership challenges

    MUMBAI: Animators have long contemplated the complexity of producing pre-school content for the ages of two to four years. On the third day of FICCI Frames 2019, executives from the industry spoke about ‘Catching youngest viewers: Powering the kids network and advertisers ecosystem through data’. It had panellists BARC India senior VP business development partnerships Elbert D’silva, Sony Yay head programming Ronojoy Chakraborty, DDB Mudra Group executive director Sathyamurthy Namakkal, GroupM business head entertainment, sports and live events Vinit Karnik, Viacom18 head content kids TV network Anu Sikka and Graphiti multimedia co-founder Mujal Shroff. The session was moderated by Punaryug Artvision founder Ashish Kulkarni.

    Sikka threw the limelight over the issue that the industry had been facing since the start and the reason why the kids genre is under-indexed. She said that at first it was a question of finance and so the industry depended on acquired content and later realised the need to produce home-grown content. Parents also exert some control over what the kid watches. A kid may have no issue with Dora being Indian or not, but it is the parents who demand local content. They would want their kids to watch localised content. “Kids from age five demand local content, but in case of kids from the age group of 0-2, the parents are the gatekeepers,” she concluded.  

    She further added that now is the time that we need to cater to specialised content. “If you look at our Nick Jr. channel, it has grown three to four times this year. But unfortunately, if you look at the overall programming, we don’t get viewership of the two to fourteen years age group. And that is why there is a lack of pre-schooling content,” she said.

    On the other hand, Shroff said that there is also a placement issue. He said, “If you look at the viewing pattern, as the child evolves these days, it is on multiple devices. But some age groups still prefer TV.” Kids aged 5-6 or 9-10 tend to consume content on their parents mobile phones or any other device but a 2-year-old kid still watches TV.

    Chakraborty explained that pre-school programming is only justified if it can be monetised. “If you look at our category, one-fourth share is GECs but the revenue share for kids category is one-tenth. Hence the revenue here is very less and therefore, broadcasters are not creating content,” he said. If BARC were to provide some viewership cuts for the pre-school audience rather than keep it as a part of the entire kids genre, broadcasters will be able to curate better content.

    Agreeing with him, Karnik said that it would be difficult to strategise programming for the pre-schooling kids as the category as a whole is under-indexed in terms of advertising. Despite witnessing a hike in ratings, revenues are increasing at a snail’s pace.

    Namakkal chipped in with a different standpoint. He said that the industry shouldn’t get greedy about data because there is already information overload. “One-third of kids consume one and a half hours of video on TV screens. But while we talk about advertising revenue, it will never be equal to viewership share,” he explained.

  • Gazing into the Crystal Ball – Sustaining Growth in Uncertain Times

    Gazing into the Crystal Ball – Sustaining Growth in Uncertain Times

    MUMBAI: In an interesting session titled “Gazing into the Crystal Ball – Sustaining Growth in Uncertain Times, that was held on day 3 of at the 20th edition of Ficci Frames, Shri Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Goverment of India gave a keynote address.  

    While in conversation with Mr. Ashish Pherwani, Partner, Advisory, EY, Mr. Sanyal spoke about how Indian content has found resonance globally. 

    “Few of the successful writers like Amish Tripathi and Chetan Bhagat are writing in the languages that are Indian but are relatable to the audiences internationally. Similarly filmmakers are making films that have indian stories but are attract audiences globally. Dangal for example was not written with an international audience in mind but the story was true to our roots and we succeeded”

    “We have a lot of talent in our country and India has great stories. The time is to reinvent those stories and tell them with top class technologies. We definitely have ability to create global content.” He concluded.

  • Monetisation is the biggest challenge for regional industry

    Monetisation is the biggest challenge for regional industry

    MUMBAI: The growth of the regional sector in the media industry was discussed on the third day of FICCI Frames 2019. Experts from the television sector discussed on the topic ‘Regional: is it the giant waiting to be awakened?’ It had panellists Viacom18 head regional entertainment Ravish Kumar, Reliance Broadcast Network Thwink Big country head Sunil Kumaran, Discovery communication VP head of advertising sales and business head of regional cluster Vikram Tanna, Westland Publications head language publishing Minakshi Thakur, Network18 CEO languages Karan Abhishek Singh and Google industry head media and entertainment Sandeep Ramesh.

    Talking about the challenges in the industry while creating the content as against monetisation, Ramesh said that the latter depends on macroeconomic conditions which are the GDP, per capita income, advertising or subscriptions coming in as a source of income.

    Tanna highlighted that looking at the overall scenario of English as against regional languages, perception is bigger than performance and that will change over a period of time. “If you look at pure regional form in TV or digital, there are two markets of monetisation—one is coming in from the regional local businesses and the other is coming from the national advertisers. If you actually add the pricing of both these buckets in any medium, the indexes for regional are quite higher and the reason is that this hyper looking market can calculate ROI much better beyond a simple measurement ROI system,” he added.   

    Singh chipped in and said that it is also incumbent upon them as content creators to do what it takes. “We need to create an environment where regional content formats are not seen as ‘long tail’ for media planners,” he said.

    Meanwhile, an interesting observation was put across where a homogenisation culture was happening, such as the influence of Diwali, Holi and other festivals are witnessed in the Bengali culture these days, which in reality are not so famous in these cultures. Speaking about the trend, Kumar said, “These festivals are actually making the culture larger than life. Of course, there is homogenisation in these cultures, consciously or unconsciously, but it’s the desire to be larger than life because people want entertainment and we look at it very differently.”

    Though Baahubali is one regional movie that has travelled internationally the question still remains as to why we can’t make more such innovative content. Kumar replied that we are lazy. He added that we are very good at learning the markets or develop from the ecosystems but not as good as putting out originality. “I would love to see Indian dramas like Turkish content and these are not just working in one market, they are working in multiple markets. We need to come up with something new and innovative and way bigger than what it is.”

    A major reason why no content is created for the north-eastern part of the country is budget constraint. Kumar added, “But we can’t put the blame just on budgets. Give us four to five years to offer the content of your choice.”

  • Ad industry not kept pace with consumer and digital changes

    Ad industry not kept pace with consumer and digital changes

    MUMBAI: The last decade has been disruptive for media, advertising and marketing with the evolution of digital. However, Sam Balsara, the veteran in advertising industry, feels that media buying has not been able to keep pace with that change. He also said that the currency that really should be looked at from marketing point of view is cost per unit of brand outcome rather than CPRP or CPT.

    Throwing light on the magnitude of the change, Balsara said that the advertising market has tripled in size in the last ten years, moving up from Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 61,000 crore in 2018. He also added that the growth came on the back of digital while the share of the digital medium itself has reached 19 per cent from merely four per cent ten years back. According to him, digital will replace print as the second largest medium in the next two to three years.

    “The only thing that has not changed, I will say regretfully, is the way media buyers and media agencies buy media. It has, probably, not changed as dramatically as the media scene has,” Madison World chairman Sam Balsara commented in a session “Advertising, Media, Marketing: #10yearChallenge” on the third day of FICCI FRAMES 2019 while highlighting all the changes in the last decade.

    Ultratech joint executive president, marketing head Ajay Dang also expressed his concern on the same. Dang seemed sceptic about whether the industry, including creative agencies, marketers, content generators, has been able to keep pace with audience evolution. He also expressed his concern about the industry’s understanding of the needed change in storytelling and measuring the reach of the story to the final audience.

    “We are constantly in a phase of catch-up, we are falling behind. That’s my take. Because of our lack of putting it all together, at the end of the day our return on investment that we are supposed to deliver to our organisations is suffering,” he commented.

    Balsara also spoke on the “democratisation of advertising”. While the top 50 advertisers accounted for as high as 43 per cent of total adex in 2009, the number came down to 35 per cent last year thanks to the huge growth of regional brands.

    “We have to look at efficiency, effectiveness and innovation. I think today we are in a scenario where there is democratisation of data as well and data is threatening to become a deluge to drown companies if they do not do something about it. That’s largely becoming a priority for us to take up now,” Marico media and digital marketing head Ankit Desai said.

    BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta also pointed out the lack of talent in terms of media analytics tool. While sectors like BFSI and telecom have data analytics talent but in media finding people who understand the media domain and the big data tools of analytics is a big problem.

    It was also noted in the session that the FMCG brands are ever-inclined to TV despite the rapid growth of digital growth. On the issue of bias towards TV, experts think as the communication journey of many companies has been built around the medium over all these years, TV still plays the role for audience aggregator for these brands. However, it has also been said that the shift towards other mediums like digital has started.

    Viacom18 Hindi Mass Entertainment & Kids TV Network head Nina Elavia Jaipuria concluded the session calling for unity among all three parties including the media owner, advertiser and the media agency. She said that there is a need for all three to come together as the common goal is to drive market share for brands but sometimes a conflict of interest is good for the growth of the business.