Category: Technology

MUMBAI: Vserv.mobi, a mobile ad network for app developers, publishers and advertisers, has appointed three senior executives to its global team.

Rohit Verma will join the company as VP – India and Middle East while Elliot Renton comes on board as GM Publisher Alliances- South East Asia. The company has hired Narayan Murthy Ivaturi as GM – Sales Strategy.

These appointments form an integral part of the company strategy to accelerate its growth across emerging markets, the company said.

Vserv.mobi co-founder and CEO Dippak Khurana said, “We have built critical mass over the last three years and our network has witnessed tremendous growth across all emerging markets as mobile becomes the ‘primary‘ screen for consumers. This growth ties in to our aggressive hiring strategy and corresponds with our goal of being the leader in emerging markets to meet the needs of publishers, developers and advertisers through our unique and differentiated mobile advertising proposition. We are confident that these eminent mobile industry mavens will bring an enormous amount of knowledge and experience to the company and will be instrumental in making us the #1 Ad Network across Emerging Markets.”

Verma has over 15 years of experience of building mobile products and driving business development in the telecom space. In his new role, he will focus on strengthening the Telecom and Media Partnerships at Vserv.
Prior to Vserv, Verma has worked with Times Mobile, Airtel and ACL Wireless.

Renton brings over 12 years of experience in the digital media and mobile space. He will lead strategic alliances with premium publishers across Southeast Asia at Vserv.

Prior to Vserv, Renton has also worked with Nokia, managing brand partnerships across the APAC mobile app ecosystem and has also held senior roles with Getty Images and Thomson Reuters in Asia.

Based in Singapore, Renton will report to Vserv VP- South East Vikas Gulati.

Ivaturi brings with him more than 10 years of experience and will be based at Mumbai in Versv.

Ivaturi dons a strategic planning role and will lead the rollout of Brand solutions for advertisers across categories, as they progress on their Mobile Marketing journey. Having started his career with stints in traditional and digital advertising agencies, he subsequently lead key roles at Yahoo and Tyroo Media. In his last role, he was with Times Internet, wherein he headed the company‘s sales strategy for its portfolio of 13 portals.

MUMBAI: Out of the total ad spend in India only one per cent goes towards mobile which makes it a Rs. 2.5 billion market. For mobile ad revenues to grow by 30-40 per cent some things need to happen.

Firstly mobile should be part of an integrated media plan. This means that mobile ad networks should approach advertisers and their agencies to explain how it can add legs to a campaign. Also advertisers who use mobile should focus on emerging consumer behaviour and not on emerging mobile technology.

These were some key points made at a session of IAMAI‘s Mobile Marketing Conference today. The speakers were Aircel AGM – New Services, VAS Digital Marketing & Mobile Advertising Anurag Sachdeva, InMobi Country GM Sandeep Deshpande, MadHouse COO Vinod Thadani, Nielsen MD Prashant Singh and Vserv.mobi MD, CEO Dippak Khurana.

Deshpande said that one big thing to note is that by the first quarter of next year accessing net from the mobile will be more than accessing it from a laptop or a PC. That will have huge implications on brand interaction. In that sense India will follow China and Japan. He noted that a lot of simultaneous usage of TV and mobile happens when people are at home. So if an advertiser spends money on TV for reach and then uses mobile as well it will give a multiplier effect.

Asked about the difference between a PC and mobile he noted that at work laptop is used while during a break or on a commute the mobile is used. “The mobile is not about creating content for users. It is about consuming content. So if a brand wants a consumer to fill out a long form it might be better off trying another medium. The user context is different. What one can do with a mobile is different from what one can do with a PC.”

For him another difference is that online ad technologies were developed by publishers themselves like Yahoo!, Google. But on the mobile, ad networks came in to develop ad technologies. “InMobi has played a key role in developing technologies for mobile advertisers.”

Sachdeva said that 30 million smartphones devices are in use. The figure will reach 150 million by 2015. There are 20 million credit card users and so the concept of the mobile wallet will grow. “One must remember that the mobile is a medium in itself and a connecting tissue. It can add legs to a marketing campaign. Mobile is not just about display advertising.”

Asked about the role mobile operators would have in mobile advertising going forward, he said operators in India would not become dumb pipes. “Users demonstrate intent on devices which an operator captures. The mobile wallet will play an important role especially if there is no other means of payment. Location-based services are becoming important. At the same time it is important to not confuse advertisers with technical jargon like smartphones.”

Thadani said that consumer is the king. He changes his behaviour and mobile advertisers and networks have to map his/her behaviour. “An integrated media plan is key rather than just thinking about the mobile. Mobile advertising shouldn‘t be sold on its own. Advertisers and mobile ad networks need to see how mobile can add incremental reach to a media plan. The mobile part of a media plan can be customised for different brands.” He notes that 30-40 per cent ad growth is possible if one understands the merits of a mobile device.

Singh says that there is diversity in users. “You have tablet users. There are smartphone users which increases app usage. There are also rich feature phones. After that you have basic phones. At all levels the mobile phone is the most prized gadget. Brands that target SEC A can target smartphone users. The price drop for a smartphone will change the market three years from now.”

At the same time one needs to know what the consumer is doing. Metrics are needed in the mobile space. TV for instance has TRPs, GRPs. This is a short term challenge for the mobile. He also said that the targeting option for advertisers could be a device and then overlay that with content that apps use. Brand advertising is growing. Consumers can be engaged with rich media. An effective metric is cost per engaged user. How many people clicked, how many people went beyond a click and engaged with an ad can be seen.

Khurana said that there is a need to understand how mobile consumption is happening, “Marketers need to embrace the telecom ecosystem. The gap between telecom and media should be bridged. In India there are 12,000 mobile devices that browse the Internet. “A mobile phone allows you to browse. This is a user‘s most important gadget. It is important for advertisers to not worry about new operating systems coming in. It is more important to focus on innovative ways to reach consumers.”

Mumbai: As a tribute to the “Shahenshah” of Bollywood, Techzone, has developed a new ‘BigB app‘ and a WAP page for the fans of Amitabh Bachchan.

Techzone are developers, publishers and distributors of entertainment content.

The ‘BigB app‘ will allow customers to browse and download content by giving access to top 100 songs from Universal music, Filmography (list of his 200 odd movies with release dates and other information) and a quiz on him.

This app is supported on IOS 4.3 to IOS 6. Users can also get the content on a regular phone by sending a text message, SMS BIGB to 56060 for all the content available on the appThe app also features integration with the official Big B Twitter pages where fans can View Big B tweets and get an insight on his life. The launch of the Big B application is on his birthday, 11 October. This app enables his fans to wish him directly.
 
Techzone director Naveen Bhandari said, “Looking at the ever increasing love for celebrities, we decided to start building apps specifically dedicated to celebrities and who better to start with than Mr. Bachchan! His fan base is spread across the world and we are expecting to start with more than 2000+ downloads, with the number increasing constantly!”

The BigB App is for $2.99.

Apart from the Big B app, Techzone is also working towards creating newer apps for categories like entertainment, music, news, lifestyle, city guide in its all new Development Centre in Bangalore.

MUMBAI: Leading cricket portal ESPNcricinfo has said it has posted its best-ever audiences for the Twenty20 format of the game during the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. T20 cricket Fans logged more than 800 million page views and spent total of 2.3 billion minutes on the website through all devices and platforms.

India contributed more audience to ESPNcricinfo than any other territory globally, with more than 35 per cent of all total global page views and more than 32 per cent of global total minutes coming from fans in this country. It also contributed the greatest total mobile web usage, logging more than 183 million total page views so far in the tournament and almost 324 million total minutes of time spent via mobile devices.

Additionally, throughout the tournament, ESPNcricinfo said it had an average minute audience of almost 80,000 people across computers, mobile web, and mobile apps – meaning that during any given minute of the 18-day tournament, an average of 80,000 people were engaging with ESPNcricinfo. The average minute audience is four times greater than the 2010 tournament.

Fans also watched 164,000 videos on average per day on ESPNcricinfo during the tournament not counting streaming video which is available in some regions.

The portal said the most dynamic growth in audience and engagement for ESPNcricinfo since the 2010 tournament has come on mobile devices. Globally, the brand saw 678 per cent growth in total page views (to more than 445 million) and a staggering 981 per cent growth in total minutes (to nearly 855 million minutes) via mobile devices, compared to the tournament two years ago.

Across all platforms – online, mobile web, apps and tablets – ESPNcricinfo posted its best day of the tournament on the final day of the Super 8s stage registering 266 million minutes and 101 million page views.

The tournament has also marked a milestone for ESPNcricinfo and ESPN3 in the US, helping expand access to, and exposure for, cricket in the country. US-based cricket fans constituted ESPNcricinfo‘s second-biggest audience globally for the tournament (trailing only India), with nearly 17 per cent of global page views and nearly 19 p er cent of all minutes spent during the tournament – across all devices – coming from the US. US-based fans also accessed more videos per day on average (71,171) than any other territory worldwide.

Meanwhile, UK-based cricket fans engaged more via ESPNcricinfo‘s mobile apps than fans in any country globally. During the tournament so far, more than one-fifth (21%) of the 8.1 million minutes spent daily (on average) with ESPNcricinfo‘s mobile apps came from the UK.

ESPN International vice president, digital media Arne Rees said, “We‘re thrilled fans from around the globe chose ESPNcricinfo as their go-to across all platforms to follow the World Twenty20 Championship. We‘re proud to be serving a growing audience of US cricket fans while continuing our leadership in delivering for fans across the Indian subcontinent, the UK, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and around the rest of the world. ESPNcricinfo prepared for one of its most comprehensive tournament packages to date around the World Twenty20 Championship and fans have clearly appreciated that content and connected to it through the devices they use every day.”

MUMBAI: Wipro Technologies, the global information technology, consulting and outsourcing business of Wipro, has launched Wipro Accelerate, a prepaid broadband solution that enables cable system operators to reduce or eliminate cost and credit obstacles, and expand broadband services to unserved or underserved markets in the United States.

An end-to-end service, Wipro Accelerate will enable operators to deploy prepaid packages without incurring heavy capital and operational expenses towards new billing or product-support platform development, and facilitate a positive return on investment for cable operators, even at low price points, Wipro said.

Wipro Accelerate seamlessly allows the cost-effective launch of prepaid packages that can increase market penetration and address regulatory issues, including the Federal Communications Commission‘s “Connect to Compete” program.

Using the cloud-based hosted solution, operators can offer products that are specifically designed to meet the needs of prepaid subscribers, and also avoid cannibalising existing broadband deployment.

“The new challenge for the cable industry has been to drive penetration to the 30 per cent of households that are yet to adopt broadband,” said Wipro‘s Global Media and Telecommunications Strategic Business Unit Stephen Snyder Global Head Business Innovation.

“Wipro Accelerate uses industry-leading expertise, field-proven solutions along with a competitive pricing model to enable operators to expand the addressable market.”

“At a time when broadband is seeing migration to usage-based models, prepaid packages offer the industry new opportunities to study customer behavior and attitudes, and create packages that are aligned to specific needs,” said Snyder.

“In addition to opening up new market segments, we believe Wipro Accelerate can provide a unique platform for experimentation regarding broadband pricing and packaging, as well as a vehicle for educating subscribers regarding the cost-per-Megabyte of broadband service.”

MUMBAI: SES has said that it has selected Boeing to build a new communication satellite, SES-9, to serve the fast growing markets in Asia.

The new satellite ordered through SES‘ affiliate company SES Satellite Leasing will expand SES‘ capabilities to provide direct-to-home broadcasting and other communications services in Northeast Asia, South Asia and Indonesia, as well as maritime communications for vessels in the Indian Ocean.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The spacecraft will be positioned at the orbital slot of 108.2 degrees East and provide incremental as well as replacement capacity to this well established SES slot over Asia, where it will be co-located with the existing SES-7 and NSS-11 satellites.

SES-9 will be built in Boeing‘s El Segundo Satellite Development Center based on the Boeing 702HP platform. The satellite is designed to operate for 15 years in geosynchronous orbit with a 12.7-kilowatt payload and 57 high-power Ku-band transponders (equivalent to 81 x 36 MHz transponders). The spacecraft will carry a xenon ion propulsion system (XIPS) for all on-orbit maneuvering and a chemical bi-propellant system for initial orbit raising.

Boeing has a 25-year relationship with SES. SES-9 is the 11th spacecraft that SES has ordered from Boeing and the contract includes an option for an additional satellite.

SES president and CEO Romain Bausch said, “We look forward to work again with Boeing on an important addition to our global fleet: SES-9 will greatly expand our transmission capacity over Asia, while adding increased flexibility and redundancy to a strategic orbital slot. SES is convinced that Boeing‘s 702HP will prove to be mission-critical in order to provide state-of-the-art, high-power satellite capacity to the thriving markets of Asia.”

“We are pleased to be selected by SES to build a highly flexible 702HP satellite, which has a uniquely configured XIPS propulsion system and chemical bi-propellant system, reducing the spacecraft‘s launch weight while allowing for maximum payload capacity. Boeing has continuously evolved the 702 design since it was introduced over 15 years ago, allowing us to provide SES a satellite that will be consistent with their business requirements,” said Boeing Satellite Systems International CEO and Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems VP and GM Craig Cooning.

MUMBAI: Havas Media Asia Pacific has appointed Gaetano Squillante as head of digital strategy for the region.

Squillante will be based out of Singapore and his responsibilities include leading the digital practices and platform led solutions for Havas Media in Asia Pacific. He has several years of experience in the digital marketing industry, having worked with well known agencies and brands.

Prior to joining Havas Media, Squillante was at Adidas as global head of social and digital media, and was responsible for building global digital ecosystem and platforms through partnerships and developing the brand‘s global social media strategy. He was actively involved in the brand‘s 2010 World Cup campaign and has driven the development of the global social media team.

Havas Media APAC head of strategy SK Biswas said, “Gaetano is a very welcome addition to the regional strategy team. He brings in unique skill set of understanding not just the digital ecosystem but also what really delivers for a brand. He is a cool head and brings in “walk-the-talk” philosophy and approach.”

Squillante started his career with Havas Digital (Media Contacts) London office. Prior to working with adidas he was with OMD Digital as an account director and MEC as Director of Integration. Outside adidas, he has worked on Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, Peugeot, Intel and Accenture.

MUMBAI: As the deadline for digitisation in the four metros nears, advertisers are worried about TAM coming under pressure from the government and the broadcasters not to report viewership data from cable TV homes which do not have digital connectivity from 1 November.

The broadcasters have made it clear that they want viewership data from analogue cable to stop in the metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai which come under the first phase of digitisation from 1 November.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that major broadcasters and multi-system operators (MSOs) have agreed to switch off genre-wise analogue signals of television channels in phases ahead of the 1 November deadline for digitisation in the four metros.

In the coming week, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) are meeting with television ratings provider TAM Media Research in Mumbai to discuss about this and other issues.

Leo Burnett South Asia chairman and CEO, AAAI president and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) chairman Arvind Sharma, who is currently abroad, informed via a text message that the meeting will most likely take place sometime next week.

A TAM official told indiantelevision.com, “Our standpoint is very simple. We have not made a decision yet. All the decisions will be taken only after a common consensus from all the three stakeholders of the industry. As of now, we will be meeting the three bodies and I hope a common ground is reached during the meeting.”

The government has suggested that TAM should not report viewership data on any channel that has been fed via any non-digital signal.
 
The advertising industry is worried that if a significant number of cable TV homes do not get set-top boxes (STBs) installed and continue to receive television channels the way they receive now after 31 October, the viewership data reported by TAM based on digital homes will be incorrect.

Reporting of skewed data by TAM would make it impossible for advertisers to carry out post campaign evaluation. Also, digitisation deadline happens to be just before the Diwali festival, ahead of which advertising peaks.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 19 September said 68 per cent of the cable TV homes in the four metros had switched to digital reception of television channels. In its further push to complete digitisation in the four metros, the ministry has even suggested that broadcasters withdraw analogue channels genre-wise before 1 November.

The TAM official said, “At the end of the day, we are service providers. We hope the three stakeholders (AAAI, ISA and IBF) reach a consensus on issues in the upcoming meeting.”

ZenithOptimedia CEO Satyajit Sen said, “The advertisers of course want the ratings to continue coming in. The money is coming in on the basis of that so there has to be a declaration of ratings. If the ratings are not there, there will be no benchmark available to the advertisers.”

When contacted, ISA Secretary General Y Harikrishnan declined to comment saying, “I am not in a position to comment on this.”

MUMBAI: After cable operators from Kolkata, it‘s the turn of their counterparts in Chennai to dispute the digital television penetration figures given by the Ministry of Information and broadcasting (MIB).

The Chennai Metro Cable Operators Association (CMCOA) has written a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni saying the government‘s claim that 69 per cent cable TV households in Chennai have been seeded with set-top boxes is incorrect.

According to CMCOA, the Chennai DAS area has four million cable television homes, but only 160,000 homes have been seeded with STBs. “You may call for latest SMS report of any pay channel billed with two existing MSOs Kal cables and Jak Communications,” CMCOA general secretry M R Srinivasan said in the letter.

CMCOA also said both the existing MSOs don‘t have enough STBs to seed.

“Considering the above facts kindly review the DAS implementation exclusive for Chennai after Task Force and Becil inspection in Chennai physically, Srinivasan added.

Earlier, Kolkata Cable & Broadband Operators Welfare Association (KCBOWA) had issued a rejoinder to the ministry’s claim. The KCBOWA had disputed the claim that STBs had been deployed in 60 per cent of the cable TV homes in Kolkata by mid-September, up from 20.67 per cent in June, saying the MSOs did not have adequate supply of STBs.

The MIB had on 28 September through a statement said that the digitisation penetration in the four metro cities was 73 per cent up from 68 per cent announced earlier.

Incidentally, the West Bengal government had last week urged the government to extend the digitisation deadline in Kolkata due to the Durga Puja festivities and unavailability of STBs.

The government had once earlier extended the digitisation deadline from 30 June to 31 October.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has expanded its partnership with YouTube to launch two brand new original content channels.

Coming soon to YouTube will be a new nature channel, showcasing a feast of new films created by the commercially funded BBC Earth Productions, based in Bristol, the home of the BBC‘s Natural History Unit. Another topical science channel, produced in partnership with 360 Productions, will launch in early 2013 with James May and his crack team of scientists.

BBC Worldwide EVP & Managing Director Digital Daniel Heaf said, “BBC Worldwide is very excited about expanding our successful relationship with YouTube. Not only is it a place to distribute the best British content around the world it will, through our original content, be a place where we can experiment with new forms of creativity. We couldn‘t be more thrilled at the prospects this brings our company, indies and audiences alike.”

In addition, BBC Worldwide will be launching a selection of long-form programming in the UK and Canada for the first time, including the first ever episodes of EastEnders, classic comedy The Likely Lads, a selection from the BBC‘s Shakespeare Collection and The Trials of Life and other dramas such as Campion and The Onedin Line.

A third strand of the deal sees BBC Worldwide renew its commitment to continue to add to its existing selection of over 8,000 clips, across its 6 bespoke redesigned channels. To date there are 1.7 million subscribers to these channels. The existing channels have all been re-branded, including the most popular BBC Worldwide channel. New clips launching today include Top Gear series 18, for the first time.

BBC Worldwide currently manages six channels on YouTube, with the most popular being BBC Worldwide, Top Gear and EastEnders. BBC Worldwide believes that this latest deal will support the ambition to drive subscribers and views through the combination of high quality originated content and unlocking more of the BBC‘s archive.