ITV

Category: Year Enders

  • A view of the trends in Hindi mainstream cinema in 2019

    A view of the trends in Hindi mainstream cinema in 2019

    2019 was a great year for Hindi mainstream cinema starting with Vicky Kaushal’s Uri: The Surgical Strike, based on the Uri attack of 2016, which did over Rs250 crore net box office.

    And somewhere it is ending with Dabangg 3 , which has underperformed and opened at 5th position this year, behind Ayushman Khurana’s Bala .

    What’s happening here since the last 3 years in Hindi cinema is a renaissance of a certain kind.

    To me it’s the classic buffet v/s a-la-carte menu- earlier a meal out was always to a buffet place- value for money meant getting a variety, didn’t matter if the menu repeated itself – butter chicken, dal tadka, palak paneer , papad pickle .. but now the audience prefers an a-la-carte, curated menu. ( It can still be the butter chicken and dal tadka, with a twist and served with the most authentic kulcha that does not come from a cookie cutter.

    2019 has further proven that formulas don’t work. What’s clearly working is unconventional storylines coupled with a few more important aspects of storytelling.
    The audience really wants authenticity coupled with entertainment. Indian audiences are reacting positively to the shift to show more local content that represents them and provides wholesome entertainment. 
    The audience is not relating to films on just who the star is- they don’t care if it is big or small as long as the films represent what they have set out to tell , with honesty, quirkiness, and relatability.

    Success is being witnessed with biopics, patriotic and multiple small star films in 2019 and ones that show unseen flawed characters played by lead actors..

    Rajkummar Rao has played the lovable, desi, non sophisticated , wearing- his- emotions- on- his- sleeve- hero to great effect. No six packs abs, no conventional hero looks- just sheer acting prowess bringing hours of joy to the audience. “Vicky Pleeej” has charmed the hearts of the staunchest propah English speaking audience. 

    2019 further brought dialogue delight . We started the year with 'How's the Josh?' which was quickly followed by 'Apna Time Aayega.' These dialogues connected with the audiences and will stay on even after the year ends. 
    Localised dialects are also becoming more of a norm with authenticity being key to how audience member responds to a film. Be it the Mumbai slang we see in Gully Boy, or the accents that show us the universe of Dreamgirl, the more specific the dialogues are, the wider its mass appeal. 

    Kabir Singha, the Telugu remake of Arjun Reddy became a blockbuster. Personally I have an issue with the subject, but the film also worked because it was authentic in terms of its characters. The flawed titular character in the film, who even though is scary with his violent streak, struck a chord with the masses.

    At the same time, stories that come from a real, personal space like Chhichhore, did well- backed again by authentic characters , with its soul in the right place and a story that resonated and entertained 

    Besides authenticity and entertainment, the emotional foundation in a film should be strong and relatable and this renaissance we are witnessing shows us that films withrealistic emotional depth work brilliantly – Article 15, Gully Boy also proves that. 

    Akshay Kumar, the only actor besides Ayushman Khurana who has had a long run of hits , set a new trend for himself and Hindi cinema by doing unconventional storylines.
    Khiladi Kumar had an unforgettable 2019 with three consecutive hits so far, each of which was a different genre film. He started the year with the historical film Kesari, which garnered him rave reviews and great collection at the box office. This was followed by the real-life Mars' mission-inspired Mission Mangal, which had an ensemble cast primarily dominated by female actors. The movie won the masses again with a timely release over the Independence Day weekend. His last film Housefull 4, the fourth instalment of the comedy franchise, quickly became a super hit partly because of the uniqueness of the story itself. The actor's last film of the year would be the family entertainer Good Newwz, which is also being touted to win hearts with its uniqueness and humour. 

    A huge trend that will continue to work is heartland heartland heartland- this has proven to be the cash cow, as audiences are charmed by the language the setting the humour and the stories themselves.

    Ayushmann Khurrana, has created a huge die hard audience base by bravely playing flawed, insecure men with confidence issues much to the delight of writers, directors and producers who can now look at the so-called hatke films with dollars in their eyes.

    If 2018 showed Khurrana’s range as an actor, 2019 showed his talent at drawing numbers at the box office with each of his three films – Article 15, Dreamgirl, and Bala. With every film being as different as it can get, Khurrana managed to pull a coup with his idiosyncratic characters. Each of Khurrana’s films delved into a socially relevant and yet unique idea which given the numbers, audiences strongly related with. He even managed to draw crowds in the Chinese multiplexes with his 2018 release Andhadhun, which released in China this year and minted $45 million at the box office.

    This takes me to what Vijay Sethupathy has done for Tamil cinema, similar to Khurana – playing comical, vulnerable and flawed characters.

    The underdog that is unapologetically exposed, is worth every rupee.

    War is not part of this trend, but then War’s trailer kept its promise- bromance, high class sophisticated action, sex on toast, bronzed Hrithik and Tiger—and a film that held it all together. The audience got its bang for their buck… at an average Rs 300 it was truly worth spending 3 hours in the cinema hall.

    There is also the learnings from what didn’t work- Kalank, Student of the Year 2, amongst many others. The learning were- top stars, great opulent sets, fantastic songs and choreography cannot ensure box office success. The film needs to touch hearts , make people laugh, be genuine and written really well. And no amount of marketing can take the place of the powerful word of mouth. 

    The Indian audience is smart, sassy and knows value for money. 

    In terms of the business side of things, 2018 saw steller performance in the box office revenues which grew by 12.2% to reach an annual revenue of Rs 174.5 billion. Of this amount, the domestic film revenues crossed Rs 100 billion with net box office collections for Hindi films at Rs 32.5 billion – the highest ever.
    Thirteen Hindi films reached the Rs 100 crore mark in 2018, the highest number the industry has ever seen. Multiplexes added to the total screen count to reach 9,601.
    A major reason for this exponential growth is digitisation and the infusion of over-the-top (OTT) platforms.
    Specifically, the digital revolution has created a tectonic shift in content consumption in India. In keeping with the global digitisation trend, OTT platforms invested heavily in acquiring exclusive rights to cinematographic films.
    2019 will also be a growth year- growth coming from the unconventional and from Khurrana.  But to me finally, any film, that makes the popcorn taste better, is the one to watch. 

    (The author is senior VP, creative and production at Kross Pictures. The views expressed are her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
     

  • Peak TV and the year of the sheroes

    Peak TV and the year of the sheroes

    A barrage of shows from across the globe has left a thin line between pampering and spoiling our consumers for choice. It, infact, nudged the coining of the term, Peak TV.When John Landgraf, the King of FX, at an industry event for TV critics uttered the phrase “Peak TV”, he was trying to address a problem, a problem all of us face in our lives these days … WHAT TO WATCH? He was only trying to get our attention to the fact that with the volume going up, audiences will find it difficult to find good shows they can enjoy. There is so much of good television around, that at times it is exhausting catching up to these shows.

    New streaming services will add to the existing list of services already present in the country from the ever-popular Hotstar to international services like Amazon Prime and Netflix. 20+ OTT players, pivoting business models, regional explosion, self-censorship, and the classic AVod vs SVod debate will continue for the time to come. In the West, Christmas came early to content lovers with the arrival of 2 more platforms Apple TV and Disney Plus. In this battle of the giants, we will see a few smaller platforms perish and the strain on niche English TV channels will only continue to grow in India. But I am not going to jump onto numbers of platforms and who stands where and who caters to what. As famously said, people watch shows not channels and so I am going to stick to what shows made news this year. But is a burnout in the horizon and will the hyper competition see fewer active players in 2020?

    “Sheroes in Spotlight”

    It’s been the year of the “Writer” along with the Year of the “Female hero”. From Phoebe Waller-Bridge picking up outstanding lead actress to outstanding writing for a comedy series to writing the new Bond Franchise  and Susannah Grant’s “Unbelievable, it’s been a definite year of the Female Hero, whether she has been in front of the camera or behind.These women have been behind some of the biggest hits of the year. Big Little Lies, Watchmen, Dead to Me and Glow Russian Doll were all shows led by female stars. But,also do imagine a year forcontent, where one forgets to actually talk about the last season of Game of Thrones or the last year of the 3 Masterchef Judges.

    If in 2018 Wild Wild Country was the standout documentary series, 2019 was the year of the Fyre Festival and Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood-testing technology company Theranos, who went from the tech industry's darling to a pariah in just a matter of years. The streaming giants have exposed us to series of documentaries in 2019 from the ever popular All or Nothing to Drive to Survive or the much awaited docu-series on the Australian Cricket Team. Hopefully, these shows will continue to pave the wave for more docu-series, a genre which is under serviced in nature. It couldn’t reinforce Peak TV any better, not only is there an explosion of scripted content but also genres like documentary series which have added to the ever-expanding wish list.

    The 200 million TV homes market

    If anyone remotely thought the streaming hype and the world of OTT will dent the ‘bhagya’ of the popular soaps, they were mistaken. Even in 2019, we have an ‘Icchadari Naagin’ that continues to garner attention on primetime television sharing space with Yeh Rishta and Kumkum Bhagya. India will continue to remain a single screen market for the time to come and nothing will take away Indians from their staple diet of daily mother in law and daughter in law drama. This drama will continue to fold in front and behind the TV for the years to come. The mobile screen is going to compliment the TV screen, but not replace it in the next few years.Along with mainstream television, regional television is flourishing whether it is the nth year of the popular Marathi Show Chala Hawa Yeu Dya or the popular Tamil daily shows. The staple diet for most viewers is their daily soaps, which are complemented by the popular big-ticket shiny floor shows with big names like Salman Khan on the weekend on Bigg Boss, the popular TV format Big Brother is now in its 13th season or KBC which is now in its 11th season with megastar Amitabh Bachchan. These shows continue to rule weekends for the audience while the bahus take care of weekdays.

    This is what makes India such an exciting market to work in for content producers. At one end of the spectrum, you have Taarak Mehta, Kundali Bhagya, and Kumkum Bhagya to a small show like Little Things that explodes suddenly as a Netflix original in season 2 to Family Man and Made in Heaven picking up all the accolades in their debut season. Delhi Crime was a standout female cop drama on the backdrop of the Nirbhaya case.

    The phrase Peak TV suits India very well, with the mega bucks IPL cricket tournament attracting millions of eyeballs in the summer has made Hotstar a name to reckon with among the streamers in India. There is just so much to watch in these months with Cricket and Kabaddi leagues mushrooming in India. Hotstar launched its set of originals this summer in the middle of IPL and 2 shows that became household names were the popular BBC Drama series Criminal Justice and the popular Israeli drama Hostages, both launched with the same names in India. 

    The obsession of franchises will not fade so easily, whether it is Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Love Lust and Confusion 2, Nagin 4, Inside Edge 2, the yearning to attract audience in a cluttered market will always remain high. This hype supersedes the reality in this Indian market.

    The Chinese year of the pig has ended well for Hotstar and it abodes well for the theme of the “Sheroes”.Out of Love starring Rasika Dugal has emerged as an outright winner in the year, based on the popular BBC Drama series Dr. Foster, starring Suranne Jones who won the Bafta in 2016 for Best Actress. The show has put Rasika Dugal on the top of the list of female actors in the country and has only strengthened her case after Delhi Crime and Mirzapur. The real pleasure after watching this series lies in the fact that a powerful female protagonist is at the center of it all and the series has not treated the character like a victim, which not many players were willing to experiment with, at least with Indian originals to begin with.

    Will the audiences continue to be pampered with more quality shows? Will mainstream TV get their ratings mojo back? Will English cluster in India survive the heat from the streaming giants? Will mobile phones become replacement devices? Will more platforms launch content services? A lot will unfold in 2020.

    Let’s see what content choices it leaves for us in 2020 from being a year of sequels like Family Man, Delhi Crime, Mirzapur, Hostages, Criminal Justice, Out of Love to Peak TV staying  for a couple of more years, only time will tell.

    (The author is business head, Productions BBC Studios. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • Economic slump – time to introspect marketing function?

    Economic slump – time to introspect marketing function?

    Let's face it. Asian Tiger China's GDP growth rate has hit a 27-year low and is likely to end 2019 under 6 per cent. And GDP growth rate of India – the other Asian tiger has also hit a six year low and is expected to fall to 6 per cent in this fiscal year, according to the World Bank. Both these big cats are however, above the Asia Pacific GDP growth rate which is expected to be below 4 per cent. 

    2019 – year of the falling economies?

    While a steep fall in demand, direct trade disputes with the USA & political churn in Hong Kong is responsible for the 27 year low in GDP growth rate of China, to make matters worse, the Chinese government has not yet recovered from the after effects of providing stimulus to the Chinese economy for nearly a decade.  

    Back home, the real estate industry is still struggling & factory output is slowing down, resulting in slow growth in employment. However, considering the situation in our neighbouring country, while the government has taken a slew of measures – steep cut in corporate tax rate (22 per cent from 30 per cent) and an even lower tax rate for new manufacturing companies (15 per cent) to attract new foreign direct investments (FDI), the same is yet to translate into meaningful outcome and spur growth. 

    Economy in advertising

    With all this economic downturn, advertising was bound to be depressed. And it did, especially in the last two quarters. The Indian advertising industry's estimated worth was Rs 62,000 crore in 2018. Most predictions of Indian ad spend growth hovered between 10 per cent & 12 per cent riding on the wave of ad spends during the 2019 General Elections & the ICC Cricket World Cup. However, the actual growth may be lower at around 9 per cent – 10 per cent (including inflation), taking the total annual ad spend to Rs 67,000 crore. (By the way, the Asia Pacific ad spend growth rate for 2019 is predicted at 4 per cent.) 

    So what worked & what didn't? 

    Television medium growth is estimated between 9 per cent and 10 per cent in 2019. Digital medium growth is estimated between 25 per cent and 30 per cent in 2019. Print medium growth is expected to range between 5 per cent and 7 per cent and all the other media growth being under 6 per cent. So while television managed to hold its fort, print medium was marginalised in a real sense.  Meanwhile, digital medium hopscotched to pole position from where it is poised to overtake print & challenge television. And the other media chugged along.

    Role of marketing dept in slowdown

    It's all very well to acknowledge the economic slowdown, demand slump and the marketing slack. Question is, with a full team strength, what should marketing focus on during this slack period?

    For one, marketing can start adopting technology seriously. This is a challenging task for the CMO & his team, but if successful, this is the surest way of boosting marketing ROI. How? Because you can only improve what you can measure. And bringing IT into marketing is the first step towards measurement.  The objective itself is deceptively simple: bring information technology closer to marketing strategy as well as marketing operations.

    The first step can be total process automation for Marketing Depts., where every activity is included. Apart from bringing discipline, process automation will also bring uniformity & transparency.

    . Once marketing processes are automated, a central marketing database is automatically created and populated in real time.

    . This bridges the "data chasm" between Marketing, Finance & Sales, bringing data transparency.

    . This "data transparency" will result in immediate cuts in unnecessary marketing expenditure – as managers will start to spend with more caution. This itself can result in 10% to 15% immediate savings.

    . The central marketing database will also provide real time dashboard reporting to Marketing Managers for quick reviews.

    . This data can be clubbed with sales, research, share of voice … to get ROI statistics.

    . And the clubbed data can be further used for conducting analytics exercises & generating deep marketing insights.

    Marketing departments must adopt information technology. And for this, the CMO must lead & exert his influence on his team. And this is the perfect time to solemnise marketing department's marriage with information technology & contribute to the company’s savings for now & the future!
    (The author is founder, Brandintelle Services. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • OTT & streamers 2019: Full steam ahead!

    OTT & streamers 2019: Full steam ahead!

    MUMBAI: If 2018 was big for the over-the-top (OTT) platforms, 2019 was even bigger for the ecosystem. Existing platforms pumped in in even more money into content creation, distribution and customer acquisition even as new players made a grand entry. While in the previous year, the focus was just on content creation, 2019 was about course correction, forging partnerships, striking distribution deals, entering new segments, innovating and getting to know the consumer better. Not just for the homegrown players but for the big international ones as well.

    2019 was the year when indiantelevision.com evolved its Vidnet OTT confab into one which offered conferences, training and masterclasses from some of the creators of successful originals.

    New kids on the block:

    Maybe a little late in the day, but a few platforms started their journey this year and created a buzz in the market. In February 2019, Times Internet launched a new avatar of its one of the most ambitious bets, MX Player. To grab a bigger slice of the ambitious video streaming market, the OTT platform commenced its play with five MX Original Series. Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd, one of the legacy players, which owns a rich content library, forayed into the space around the same time. However, Shemaroo banked on its existing content for ShemarooMe rather than burning cash for original content. But while MX Player went totally advertising-led, ShemarooMe took the freemium route.  

    Later in the second half of the calendar year, IN10 Media, a diversified vertical of infotainment channel Epic TV launched a new subscription-based documentary streaming platform DocuBay. The last quarter witnessed another major announcement – the launch of VOOT Kids from the house of Viacom18 which has already established a significant digital play with VOOT.  Unlike its main OTT platform, Viacom18 is relying on subscription for the kids’ platform right from the get-go. 

    Moreover, the year was equally eventful in the global OTT market as well. Tech giant Apple forayed deeper into streaming with the launch of its subscription-based video streaming service Apple TV+ in November. A few days later, Walt Disney launched its much-awaited streaming service Disney+ at a very reasonable sticker price. While the former made its streaming service available in India at Rs 99 per month, what the Star Disney combine will do with Disney+ in India has to still to be worked out, considering the huge popularity of Hotstar.

    More investment in original content:

    Along with new OTT platforms entering the market, the existing platforms also increased their investments in original content.  ZEE5 from Zee Entertainment Enterprises spent the year increasing its focus on large-scale originals, franchises, digital original films and regional language shows even as it has already developed a robust original content library across languages.

    Among  the shows that struck a chord with viewers include: Rangbaaz, which was launched late 2018 soared in 2019. The Kunal Khemu-starring BP Singh-produced Abhay too made its mark after being launched in early 2019. Kaafir – an original from Siddharth Malhotra’s Alchemy Films – too was much talked about. Zeel took its successful TV show Jamai Raaja to Zee5 in the shape of Jamai 2.0 during the year.

    After banking on catch-up and sports content for a long time,  Star India’s Hotstar also decided to invest in premium original content. Reportedly, Hotstar jumped onto the bandwagon with a Rs 120 crore investment plan. The primary reason to launch originals is to convert users into paid subscribers in the face of increasing competition. Hitherto, adapting successful foreign shows by infusing local flavours had been an important aspect of Hotstar’s strategy but it is certain that the platform is not going to limit itself to adaptations.

    Another player with deep pockets, Amazon Prime Video, also scaled up its local content offering along with a stellar roster of movies. With highly acclaimed originals like Made in Heaven, The Family Man, the OTT platform has already attracted enough user attention. Moreover, the second seasons of earlier hits are also in pipeline.

    Amazon Prime Video’s international rival has gradually evolved its investment in India – Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in his latest visit revealed that it is committing Rs 3000 crore in this year and next for Indian content.

    Other homegrown players like VOOT, SonyLIV also realigning their focus on original content as they don’t have significant play in the segment.

    Innovation with pricing:

    The streamers are not only experimenting with content to make build consumer love, but they are also jiggling around with pricing  in order to find the sweet spot which appeals to consumers. Rather than directly slashing prices, the streaming platforms have opted for sachet pricing.

    All the major players – Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5, SonyLIV followed this strategy.

    Hotstar launched a Hotstar VIP pack at Rs 365 a year, much lower than its premium service which is priced at Rs 999 per year. SonyLIV has already tested a weekly subscription package priced at Rs 29 only. While ZEE5 has  launched special packages in languages including Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, it is looking at a mobile-only plan as well.

    Even ALTBalaji is also likely to consider having sachet pricing in the next two years.

    Most importantly, Netflix in an industry-first move launched a mobile-only pack in India priced at Rs 199. Maybe the myth that Indian consumers are shy to pay for content has been broken but the players have also realised Indian consumers are value-conscious.

    Experimenting with new partnerships:

    At the same time when the platforms were trying to differentiate in the crowded space, they also forged interesting partnerships. The new entrant MX Player stitched content tie-ups with Sony Liv, Arré and Hoichoi. Hotstar did a deal with Hooq to make its Hollywood offering stronger. But the most interesting one was the betrothal announcement between ZEE5 and Alt Balaji. It went way beyond content syndication – more towards content sharing, an arrangement that includes co-creation of a number of premium originals which will be available to subscribers of both the platforms.

    Although telco-partnerships have proved to be helpful for OTT platforms, the profitability of platform-to-platform alliances in the long-run yet remains to be tested.

    Key people movements:

    Along with changes in business plans, content strategy, the OTT platforms reshuffled their teams in 2019 as well. Netflix continued expanding its Indian team with TV and streaming veterans being hired locally,  including the appointment of Voot content head Monika Shergill, and the BBC’s Myleeta Aga. VOOT on its part recruited its new COO Gourav Rakshit from Shaadi.com keeping its subscription business in mind. After Uday Sodhi quit, SPNI handed the reins of SonyLiv to television vet Danish Khan. Ekta Kapoor-led ALTBalaji has seen high profile exits as CEO Sunil Lulla and COO Sunil Nair quit the organisation this year.

    2019 was exciting for the OTT platforms undoubtedly. The cloud of content regulation over the platforms also seems to be clear as the government has reportedly agreed to allow the streamers to self regulate.

    But a few of the old issues like lack of OTT measurement systems, lower broadband penetration, content piracy are still proving bothersome.

    In addition to that, the global and Indian economic crises, a hike in telecom and data tariffs may prove a dampener for the industry, if not in the long-term, at least for the first half of the next calendar year.

    So the challenges will continue to dog the streamers as they plod on to conquer a nation’s TV junkies.

  • 2019: The year industry got hit in the gut

    2019: The year industry got hit in the gut

    MUMBAI: The year of churn. Gut-wrenching churn like the industry has never experienced before. That’s how the media and entertainment history books will describe the year 2019. CEOs of media companies had to develop cast-iron stomachs to see it through.

    “We are struggling to just survive,” said a CEO of a leading news broadcaster to indiantelevision.com. “I am praying that I can see through the next 12 months with my head above the water.”

    In the backdrop of an impending global recession sparked off by the trade spat between two presidents – the US’ Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping – and the dreaded Brexit chaos under Boris Johnson, the industry had to deal with the cautious mind state that crept into the business on account of the slowdown. Add to this the lending phobia that has become endemic in the banking system, courtesy the implosion of a few financial institutions and banks. Net result: cash evaporated in the economy, leaving many organisation cash strapped.

    The year started with a new TV pricing order which was finally enforced, sending the pay TV broadcast, cable, satellite industry into a tizzy. While welcomed by all, the manner in which it was rolled out was questioned as the distribution fraternity, for the most part, was not geared up for it.  Subscribers vanished. What were considered important genres once were hit by an earthquake that saw ratings plummet. Niche regional language channels suddenly raced to the numero uno spot, thanks to the fact that they were free to air.

    Mergers shook the landscape globally, including India, as the year 2019 and were all set to hit the Indian landscape as the year was ending with Mukesh Ambani having parleys with Sony to merge with his TV18 and Viacom18 venture. Disney went through with the execution of its merger globally with Fox reflected in India in the form of Star absorbing Disney India. Unlike the rest of the world where Disney was the primary driver of the union. Viacom merged with CBS in a deal that could have repercussions worldwide. The promoters of Zee Entertainment Enterprises bit the bullet on ownership, in order to pay off hungry creditors. They chose to sell their equity and retain a minority position, and paid off creditors through the proceeds but keep India’s largest indigenous broadcast network in play amongst the top three.  Free to air channels flourished and blossomed, even as the pay TV sector groaned under the changing paradigm brought about by the new tariff order. However, the entire pay TV sector acknowledges openly that the NTO is the best way forward for the entire industry. On the advertising front, WPP sold 60 per cent of its stake in Kantar to Bain Capital.

    2019 will be noted as the year when advertisers tightened the noose on promotional spends, what with consumer off-take slowing down. Almost every category of product witnessed reduced or stagnant custom.

    The top agencies also splurged to improve their digital expertise. Havas Group acquired UK management consultancy Gate One, UX agency Think Design, and digital agency Langoor.

    It was the year of elections – both at the centre and in different states. But strangely for the news channels, the advertising dollars did not shower on them as expected.

    A relatively insipid festival season meant that not enough cars were driven out of the showroom; not enough consumer – both fast-moving and durables – were bought like it used to be. Estimates were that the advertising industry would have grown at around the pace of the economy.

    Cricket, cricket – it was the year of cricket. 2019 witnessed a host of high-end cricket events rolling outright from the World Cup to the IPL to India’s tours domestically and internationally. And of course, they sucked in a fair bit of ad spends, across Star and Sony.

    But optimism continued to run high as channels continued to hit uplink stations and playout facilities. The Epic group launched a free to air channel and was in line to introduce more. Zee TV was also pacing the sidelines with its new regional language offerings.

    On the distribution front, Airtel flirted with the acquisition of DishTV, which was still recovering from the indigestion it suffered following its swallowing loss maker Videocon d2h. Tata Sky on its part emerged as the satellite platform, which knew where it was headed thanks to the strong leadership, which has instituted discipline in its deal making with content providers and a very strong customer orientation.  The distribution platforms started pushing devices which in turn had the streaming services installed in a bid to retain consumers.

    Streamers gathered steam as the platforms swore to spend big on churning out eye-popping content, even as they continued to focus on customer acquisition and retention. And they tossed around money for productions like a gambler with a winning streak on the casino floor, giving birth to a new breed of producers, creators who let loose cutting edge content, much to the delight of a select bunch of OTT viewers.  Following in the footsteps of their global brethren, the Indian streamers as well acquired or commissioned producers to create exciting local shows. Global leaders in turn had to reorient their pricing strategies and introduce low level value packs in line with that of the Indian OTTs and more suitable to Indian incomes.

    On the people front, the year witnessed upheaval of sorts. The bad economic clime apart, which led to companies focusing on productivity, saw head counts falling. Then there was the merger pressure, which led to attrition. Estimates are that almost 2,500 media executives lost their jobs in 2019.

    Senior executives said sayonara to their companies. Amongst the high profile departures included: Raj Nayak, CEO of Colors, Sunil Lulla at Balaji Telefilms, Sanjay Gupta at Star India, Sunil Nair at Alt Balaji, Ashok Venkatramani at Zee Media, Barc India CEO Partho Dasgupta,  Sneha Rajani at Sony Pictures Networks, Uday Sodhi at SonyLiv, Nikhil Gandhi at Zoom, among several others. 

    Other executives got reappointed: Punit Goenka as the head honcho of Zee Entertainment for the next five years (despite the fact that he – along with his brother Amit and father Subhash Chandra – is a minority shareholder today), and Jawahar Goel as the chief at Dish TV India.   Even as the year was ending, Uday Shankar found a real cool way to fill the mighty big shoes of Sanjay Gupta. He handed over the entire TV operations of Star Disney to his long time regional language colleague K Madhavan, while temporarily retaining control of Hotstar. Apparently, a senior executive with long experience in both television and streaming is slated to be announced as the new Hotstar lead very soon, if insider info is to be believed. Voot hired a new CEO in Gourav Rakshit, who filled in a seat which had been left vacant with the departure of Gaurav Gandhi in 2018.

    Dentsu Aegis Network found a new India CEO in Anand Bhadkamkar as incumbent Ashish Bhasin moved to Singapore to lead as APAC CEO. Its daughter company SVG Media suffered a big human loss with the untimely demise of its CEO Anurag Gupta. Erstwhile COO Deven Dharamdasani was promoted to the vacant post.

    Most of the TV executives are making a beeline for the digital world. Examples: Sanjay Gupta towards Google, Sunil Nair towards Firework, Nikhil Gandhi as Byte Dance boss.

    While 2019 left a lot to be desired for those in the business, executives are hoping that 2020 will prove to be closer to being a twenty-twenty year.

  • Sony Pictures Networks’ sports cluster’s year in review, road ahead

    Sony Pictures Networks’ sports cluster’s year in review, road ahead

    MUMBAI: In the tough two-horse race of Indian sports broadcasting, Sony Pictures Networks has had a slight edge over Star India when it comes to football events, while the latter holds the sway in Indian cricket. Currently, the NP Singh-led network is in charge of premier football properties like La Liga, Serie A, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. 

    SPN India has also invested in domestic leagues, firmly believing that such products are not only gaining prominence but are bound to witness a formidable growth in the future. One such success story is the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), which will return to SPN for its fourth edition. Besides this, the network will also broadcast the inaugural edition of the Pro Volleyball League that has gained considerable steam of late.

    Multi-sporting destination

    2018 was a successful year for the broadcaster in terms of multi-sporting properties, with big-ticket events like Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup, NBA and Asian Games helping it differentiate itself from others.

    “Multi-sports viewing is on the uptake and we will continue to provide our viewers diverse content across different sports categories along with innovative programming initiatives to increase our penetration in both urban and rural markets,” SPN India chief revenue officer and head – sports business Rajesh Kaul said.

    SPN has been the home of La Liga for the past four seasons in India. However, last year Facebook won the media rights for the top tier of Spanish football for the Indian subcontinent for three seasons starting 2018-19. The deal with the social media giant was the first of its kind for La Liga.

    While the 380 matches were to be available for free to people on Facebook in eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Facebook and SPN reached an agreement wherein the broadcaster earned the right to air over 100 games via its sports cluster.

    The deal will allow SPN to broadcast key clashes including the El Clasico and Madrid Derby across its sports channels as well as SonyLIV.

    Record-breaking show

    The headline act for SPN in 2018 was the FIFA World Cup. There was a humungous buzz around the tournament this time as it aired during primetime in India after almost two editions. The broadcaster had four language feeds for the showpiece event, which was telecast on Sony Ten 2 in English, Sony Ten 3 in Hindi and Bengali and Malayalam audio feeds on Sony ESPN.

    A total of 110.5 million viewers in India watched the quadrennial event, according to the broadcaster. The tournament had 64 live matches aired across Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 3, Sony ESPN channels and their HD versions.

    The broadcaster, which had managed to attract more than 40 advertisers on television, is estimated to have pocketed close to Rs 200 crore in advertising revenue. The 2014 edition had fetched the network Rs 100 crore in ad revenue.

    70 million viewers across India tuned in to watch the World Cup on SPN’s OTT SonyLIV. The average time spent per viewer was 15-16 minutes per match.

    “Sports’ viewing as a trend is becoming participative and we saw an opportunity to launch interactive engagement for our viewers in both entertainment and sports. Second screen engagement and interactivity is moving to the forefront and we will continue with his trend as it gives viewers deeper insights and a more immersive experience. While TV is still the preferred choice for sports viewing, we have observed trends of a growing user base on digital platforms for sports viewing in 2018 and we see it strengthening its position further in 2019,” Kaul added.

    Cricket rights play

    When it comes to cricket, SPN currently holds the broadcast rights for eight boards – Cricket Australia, England and Wales Cricket Board, Pakistan Cricket Board, Sri Lanka Cricket, Cricket South Africa, Cricket West Indies, Cricket Ireland and Zimbabwe Cricket Board. 

    It had acquired exclusive media rights from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the Indian subcontinent for a period of five years from 2018 through 2022. This agreement with ECB gives SPN the rights to both televise and digitally broadcast within the Indian subcontinent, men’s and women’s international matches, including Test matches, T20 Internationals and ODIs, played in England.

    SPNI also acquired the media rights for T10 Cricket League for three years (2018-20) for the Indian sub-continent and Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The broadcaster also had the rights for T10 Cricket League in 2017.

    The broadcaster currently has 10 channels in its sports bouquet after the network pulled the plug on Sony Ten Golf HD in the wake of TRAI’s new tariff order.

    The Prasar Bharati problem

    In October, MIB proposed to amend the Sports Act 2007 to offer ‘sports events of national importance’ on Prasar Bharati-owned free-to-air Doordarshan Network, an extended reach via private direct to home and cable TV Networks.

    The move to amend the Sports Act 2007 has been necessitated due to a Supreme Court verdict which held that the public broadcaster Doordarshan cannot air events of national importance on private distribution platforms.

    In the same month, MIB issued a notice for receiving feedback/comments from general public/stakeholders on the draft bill, 2018. The deadline for submitting the feedback was 15 January 2019, but there is no update on the date extension. The earlier deadline was 31 December 2018.

    This may result in a preference change of the consumer, thereby pushing them to unsubscribe private sports network channels. This will also give the distribution platforms an opportunity to negotiate harder with the sports broadcasters.

    A move of this nature could adversely impact the revenues of sports broadcasters, throwing the entire ecosystem into a tizzy.

    Challenges in 2019

    India’s historic win over Australia ensured that SPN kicked off 2019 to a rather glorious start. With the immensely popular Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni delivering match-winning knocks, SPN is likely to have posted big viewership numbers on its channels as well as OTT. However, the remainder of the year isn’t going to produce a lot of fireworks for the broadcaster especially when it comes to Indian cricket. Barring India’s tour to the West Indies, SPN does not have a lot to offer to Indian fans. Rival Star India, with the rights to the IPL and the World Cup, is bound to be the home of India’s cricket-crazy public in 2019.

  • Sun continues to shine on its namesake broadcaster

    Sun continues to shine on its namesake broadcaster

    BENGALURU: Television penetration is high in South India about 95 per cent as compared to the national average of about 65 per cent. A little less than forty per cent of television viewership in India is from South India. According to a Sun TV Network investor presentation, the addressable television advertisement market for South Indian television broadcasters, which comprises national, regional and local level advertisers, is pegged at Rs 6,000 crore.

    The four major South Indian languages are (in order of populations of the major territories they are spoken in) Telugu in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Tamil in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kannada in Karnataka and Malayalam in Kerala. Besides, there is a global diaspora from South India that speaks one or more of these four languages. The largest regions in terms of population is Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In terms of television households, Tamil Nadu leads because of its higher television penetration, followed by Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala in that order. There are about 225 channels spread across the four South Indian languages that beam into India, besides many more that beam South Indian language content into other geographies.

    Networks, be they regional or pan-India, have been trying to attract as many eyeballs in these regions to their channels as they can. The focus in new channel launches seemed to be Telugu and to some extent Kannada in 2018. Though channels were launched in Tamil and Malayalam languages by major networks, it seemed more as efforts to enter these spaces, rather than to consolidate further.

    Among the major networks, Star India, Sun TV Network, Viacom18/ETV and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) have channels that cater to the viewership pleasure of speakers of at least three of the four languages. All of them would like to lead in each of the four languages. The Sun TV Network has channels across genres such as GEC, movies, music, kids and comedy in all the four languages. The network also has news and ‘life’ channels in Tamil and Telugu.

    As things stood, until 2018, only Sun TV Network and Star India had major channels in all the four languages. Zeel launched its Malayalam GEC Zee Keralam on 19 November 2018 and completed its quartet. The network had catered to only the Telugu, Tamil and Kannada audiences until then. With the launch of Zee Keralam, Zeel had five channels for South Indian viewers – Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada, Zee Tamil and Zee Cinemalu, a Telugu Movies channel.

    The major GECs from the Star India stable included Asianet for Malayalam, Star Vijay for Tamil, Star Suvarana for Kannada and Star Maa for Telugu. Besides, Star India has been wooing sports viewers in South India -it now has 3 sports channels in South Indian languages – the last one to be launched near the end of 2018 – Star Sports 1 Kannada. Earlier, on December 7, the network had launched Star Sports 1 Telugu to join Star Sports 1 Tamil. The launch of Star Sports 1 Kannada took the Star Sports channel count to 15 with 10 standard definition and five high definition channels.

    Another national network, Network18, through Viacom 18 and ETV, has also been making rapid strides to catch up with its peers in the South Indian space. Earlier in the year, on February 19, Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd (Viacom 18) had launched Colors Tamil. The company followed it up by launching a Kannada movies channels – Colors Kannada Cinema. Viacom 18 also started the Kannada feed of two of its kids’ channels – Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon Sonic. Through the ETV brand, the Network 18 group launched ETV Pus HD, ETV Life HD and ETV Aburichi HD, ETV Cinema HD were launched on December 27, 2018.

    As many as nine HD channels were launched by two pan India networks in South India. Seven of the new HD channels were Telugu– five GEC and two movies and one each GEC HD channel was launched in Kannada and Malayalam. Network 18 through Viacom 18 and ETV launched five, while Zeel launched four HD channels. Zee Kannada HD was launched on 3 November 2018, while Zee Telugu HD and Zee Cinemalu HD were launched on 1 January 2018. Zee Keralam HD was launched on 5 December 2018.

    2018 saw elections in a number of states in the country. It also saw launch of regional news channels in the south. NewsX Kannada, a Kannada news channel was launched in 2018, while in the Telugu News space, Thota Chandrasekhar who holds positions in actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, launched 99 TV on 11 July, 2018. The Jana Sena Party also reportedly supports another Telugu News channel that started test runs on 24 October 2018 -Prime9 News.

    According to a Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) presentation in April 2018, television viewership in 2017 grew by 32 per cent as compared to 2016. In South India, viewership of Kannada content led the growth, followed by Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam with 63 per cent, 33 per cent, 30 per cent and 16 per cent growth respectively. Comparatively, viewership of the largest language – Hindi, grew by 27 per cent.

    The Sun continues to shine on Sun TV

    BARC data for top 10 channels across genres NCCS All India 2+ reveals that the Sun TVv Networks flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV is the most watched channel in the country. In 2018, Sun TV headed BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for 48 of the 52 weeks of 2018. It was only during some weeks of the eleventh edition of the Indian cricketing bonanza IPL that channel lost its prime position in BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for four of the seven IPL weeks.

    Among the 4 languages, it was Sun TV that topped BARC’s weekly ratings in Tamil, Star Maa that generally topped the weekly ratings in Telugu, Colors Kannada that topped the ratings in Karnataka and Asianet that topped the ratings in Malayalam during 2018.

    Since week 1 of 2018, BARC has also started putting in the public domain weekly ratings of news channels in these languages – and there are more than forty of them spread across the four languages. Polimer News in Tamil, TV9 Telugu in Telugu, TV9 Kannada, and Asianet News in Malayalam were the regional news toppers according to BARC’s weekly list of top 5 news channels in each respective language during 2018.

    From the financial aspect, the Sun TV Network has been one of the most profitable media and entertainment companies in India. The company has been rewarding its shareholders with dividends for at least three of the four quarters of a fiscal. Financial year 2018-19 or FY 2018-19 (period between 01 April 2018 to 31 March 2019) seems to be no different – the company has already rewarded its shareholders with dividends for the two quarters for which it has declared results so far.

    Despite not having a number 1 position in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 channels in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, the network’s channels have a huge combined viewership. The company claims in his investor presentation that about 29 per cent of the estimated Rs 4,500 crore television ad revenue and 60 per cent of subscription revenue of the four South Indian spaces accrues to it. The Sun TV Network’s revenue for FY 2018-19 was Rs 2,862 crore, profit after tax (PAT) was Rs 979 crore (36 per cent margin). Sun TV Network’s ad and subscription revenues for fiscal 2018-19 were Rs 1,172 crore and Rs 1,116 crore respectively.

  • Star India awaits cricket bonanza in 2019 after solid sports growth in 2018

    Star India awaits cricket bonanza in 2019 after solid sports growth in 2018

    MUMBAI: Uday Shankar, who was recently promoted to president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and chairman of Star and Disney India after the Fox-Disney units combined, has disrupted the Indian sports broadcasting business in the last couple of years. From scooping the media rights of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) to bolstering his sports networks’ regional offerings with the launch of Telugu and Kannada language, Shankar has thrown caution to the wind on more than one occasion in his bid to change the rules of the high-stakes game. Shankar’s grand vision and appetite for big bets has now placed Star India in a rather enviable position with a stranglehold over cricket properties this World Cup year.

    Tightened grip on Indian cricket

    Star wasted no time in setting the tone for the year as it appointed Gautam Thakar as the new Star Sports CEO on 15 January 2018. Thakar was roped in to fill up the void left by the exit of Nitin Kukreja, Shankar’s blue-eyed boy, who left the organisation in March 2017.

    The broadcaster tried to alter the IPL timings (8 pm game to 7 pm and the 4 pm match to 5.30 pm), a controversial development which was confirmed to Indiantelevision.com by then IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla. Despite the IPL governing council on board with the idea, opposition from team owners stalled Star’s plans.

    In February, Star won the rights for IPL’s audio-visual production as well as the BCCI domestic circuit for 2018-19, further tightening its grip on Indian cricket.

    In April, Star kept its foot on the pedal as it retained the BCCI rights, conducted via an e-auction for the first time, until 2023 for mind-boggling Rs 6,138.1 crore. Star came out on top after a fierce bidding war, which lasted three days, against Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI).

    The broadcaster paid Rs 60.1 crore per match for the 2018-23 home rights across five years which, a 50 per cent increase from the Rs 40.1 crore it shelled out for the 2012-18 cycle with a bid of Rs 3,851 crore for 96 matches.

    Kicked off IPL with a bang

    Star couldn’t have asked for a better start to its IPL reign, firing on all cylinders. The IPL final, aired live on 17 channels across eight different languages, powered the network’s growth by 34 per cent with 52.9 million average impressions. The title decider was produced with 11 live feeds across the TV network and Hotstar.

    Super streamer Hotstar, then led by Ajit Mohan, hit a world record for concurrent online viewing with 10.7 million viewers for the final. The final witnessed a sudden hike from eight million to 9.1 million and then to 9.7 million before hitting the 10.7 million mark.

    The television viewership for the tournament was 1.4 billion impressions with a growth of 15 per cent. With a total of six regional languages contributed to 22 per cent of the overall viewership.

    According to industry sources, the network clocked close to Rs 2000 crore in advertising revenue for the first season.

    For the first time, IPL was also aired on public broadcaster Doordarshan. According to the agreement, Doordarshan could telecast a select number of matches with a 60-minute delay along with some highlights.

    Another potential Star-Prasar Bharti face-off

    It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the broadcaster. In October, MIB proposed to amend the Sports Act 2007, which will provide ‘sports events of national importance’ on Prasar Bharati-owned, free-to-air Doordarshan Network an extended reach via private direct to home and cable TV Networks.

    The MIB has now proposed to amend the act to make such events available on DD through all mediums of distribution. This may result in preference changes of the consumer and would not subscribe to costly private sports network channels. This will also give the distribution platforms an opportunity to negotiate harder with the sports broadcasters.

    The move to amend the Sports Act 2007 has been necessitated due to a Supreme Court verdict which held that the public broadcaster Doordarshan cannot air events of national importance on private distribution platforms.

    In the same month, MIB issued a notice for receiving feedback/comments from general public/stakeholders on the draft bill, 2018. In a recent update, the ministry has extended the deadline to give feedback on the draft sports broadcasting signals (Mandatory sharing with Prasar Bharti) (Amendment) Bill 2018 till 15 January 2019. The earlier deadline was 31 December 2018.

    A move of this nature could adversely impact the revenues of sports broadcasters, particularly Star given its big bets on Indian cricket.

    Bolstered regional play

    Star India launched three channels in 2018, in line with its commitment of fostering a multi-sports culture in the country. Star Sports 3, a multi-lingual channel, was launched on 15 September and the first big event to air on it was Indian Super League (ISL) Season 5 in Hindi.

    Star Sports launched its third regional channel Star Sports 1 Telugu after Star Sports 1 Hindi and Star Sports 1 Tamil. The channel went on-air on 7 December.

    The broadcaster added a fourth regional channel, Star Sports 1 Kannada, on 29 December. Star India’s attempt at securing an exclusive sports channel for its Kannada viewers didn’t see the light of day for the 11th season of IPL. Regulatory hurdles made the broadcaster switch the Kannada feed to Suvarna Plus.

    According to FICCI- Re-imagining India’s M&E sector 2018, the sale of broadcasting and media rights is the biggest source of revenue for most sports organisations, and can account for 55 per cent to 70 per cent of total revenues. The global sports media rights is expected to breach the US$50 billion barrier in 2019 and could reach US$54.3 billion by 2021.

    2019 cricket bonanza

    2019 is loaded with marquee cricket events with Star India owning rights to most of them. The summer has four key series or tournaments – New Zealand versus India, India versus Australia followed by the 2019 IPL and the all-important ICC World Cup 2019. Barring two series, Star is bound to be the home for Indian cricket lovers this year. That’s not all. The broadcaster intends to further dominate the regional language market play with the launch of three additional sports channels in Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam. 

  • Modern brand marketing methods not just digital-exclusive

    Modern brand marketing methods not just digital-exclusive

    MUMBAI: The use of the internet and other digital media and technology to support 'modern marketing’ has given rise to the concept of digital marketing, and we at Tanishq believe that the focus has always been on building a 360-degree marketing plan, with seamless integration of products, services and communication. We try to not look at traditional and digital as two separate entities. Although digital ad spends have shown a considerable increase in comparison to traditional media, the base however, continues to be relatively smaller. Regardless, we have intensified the number of digital assets and we are also leveraging new-age tools at disposal like geo-targeting, virtual reality, online-to-offline attribution modelling etc., basically all tools that help us ensure maximum accessibility of the brand, for the consumers.

    Most categories and brands are focusing on a multichannel media approach and that has reflected a lot in the festive season as well. With regards to the ad spend share for FMCG brands, we have noticed a reduction in their focus from traditional mediums like TV and seen them re-direct their path to the digital front with customised campaigns across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and other social channels.

    With the upcoming concept of omni-channel marketing, a smart digital strategy becomes all the more critical. No more can we focus only on one medium, especially if buyers themselves are branching out through new arenas. A diversification in mediums is essential when it comes to communicating our brand messaging.

    Brands today are evolving with its consumers, and are looking towards transforming mass online marketing to one-to-one interactions to engage with the consumer. As a result of this, we are already on our way to developing a big-data driven approach to create moments of delight for our consumer through an intelligent recommendation system, not to mention taking the in-store experience online through AR/VR tools. Basically we want to be present with the customer, when the “intent rich” digital discovery moment occurs.

    (The author is  associate vice president, marketing, jewellery division at Titan Company. The views expressed here are her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)   

  • Expectations from the brand and marketing industry in 2019

    Expectations from the brand and marketing industry in 2019

    MUMBAI: The world of marketing is perpetually changing with constant innovative practices in the field of social media and automated ad tech. As broad-brush marketing techniques have dwindled, brands are battling to maintain their originality and meet customer expectations in an ever-evolving technologically advanced world. From multimedia content creation to influencer marketing, 2018 saw some excellent marketing trends adapted by brands across various verticals.

    The next big leap is the application of artificial intelligence and voice search for personalised advertisements and better data analytics. AI and voice searches have grown from niche to buzzword to mainstream and brands are entailed to incorporate them in their marketing strategies.

    With numerous emerging trends, the B2B marketing landscape has become more competitive. From email marketing to landing pages and content recommendations, personalisation isn't limited for B2C brands anymore. What a brand stands for has become very relevant for B2B organisations as well. Companies working in B2B space now understand how content outreach and online advertising can help them strengthen their customer base and create brand awareness. However, they are still in transit to use more digital tactics to drive ROI and growth. Marketers are continuously looking for more exciting ways of story-telling and more innovative content formats to lure their B2B prospects.

    Advertisements are no longer the pool for the same kind of talent. Brands have gotten smarter about the content they publish on various platforms. They know that to allure a better reaction from the audiences, they need to give an experience tailored according to consumers' dialect.  Everything brands do, need to help them achieve their goal, target their ideal audience and get the most out of the content as possible.

    Ephemeral content and stories have soared in popularity as they display quick content with different features such as polls, GIFS, boomerangs, etc. Viewership of digital videos, both on over-the-top and social platforms, continues to be more captivating than television. Besides, with brands investing in influencer marketing, Instagram and Snapchat are increasingly gaining ground. Mobile spending across all the sectors has increased because it provides more targeted ad campaigns.

    With new marketing trends continuing to evolve, the pressure on marketers for optimising the digital strategies has increased. Advertisers want to engage consumers with more relevant content and thus, are spending on platforms providing a direct and real-time connection with the consumers. Communicating with customers on a one-to-one basis encourages them to engage more with a brand's product or service.

    Team Pumpkin has grown well and healthy in terms of revenue and bagging new clients in 2018. The New Year is looking more promising. I believe that we need to connect deeply with other people, not just within our agencies, but with the people who are going to buy what we are selling. We aim to provide integrated communication solutions to maximize our client base and expand our footprint nationally.

    (The author is co-founder and CBO, Team Pumpkin. The views expressed here are her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)