Category: Software

MUMBAI: BookmyShow, the entertainment ticketing website, is the exclusive ticketing partner to the electronic music festival, Sunburn.

BookmyShow has been associated with Sunburn Festival since its inception to provide exclusive ticketing for the three day event.

The tickets for Sunburn Goa 2011 are live on BookmyShow.com for all three festival days i.e. 27th, 28th and 29th of Dec, 2011. The tickets are priced between Rs 3000 for the first day to Rs 299,000 for the VVIP table for all three days.
 
BookMyShow founder and CEO Ashish Hemrajani said, “BookmyShow has been associated with Sunburn for the past five years and the demand for it has grown steadily over the years. There has been an overwhelming response from the audience not only from India but across the globe. It was encouraging to see that the early bird tickets were sold out in its first four hours of going live. As India is seeing a high growth in entertainment options, BookMyShow as a brand is trying to deliver value across all verticals as we move along. From the best in movies and sports, we have brought the finest sporting, cultural, music events and festivals, films closer to our audiences.”

With the ever growing popularity of the event, ticket sales have seen an enormous growth year on year. As compared to its first year, ticket sale in the second year had seen an increase of 15 per cent followed with 38 per cent and 49 per cent increase in the third and fourth year respectively.
Percept Limited joint MD Shailendra Singh said, “With the festival entering its fifth edition, we are looking forward to make the experience of our Sunburn fans bigger and better. For us, it‘s important that the user get the ultimate lifestyle experience in every respect. BookMyShow has been supporting us for 5 years now and they deliver services that match not just our expectations but also the expectations of scores our fans in India and abroad.”
 
The biggest names to grace the sands of Candolim during Sunburn 2011 include Above & Beyond, Axwell, Infected Mushroom, Markus Schulz, Nic Fanciulli, Moguai, Michael Woods, Mad Maxx, Clement, Janux, Sashanti, Ajit Pai, Boombaba, V-Society, Dj Siren, Praveen Acharaya, Vipul Angrish, Vik and Anish Sood.

MUMBAI: With the Indian government approving the ordinance on pan India digitisation of cable network by 2014, Cisco is betting big on the cable market in the country and sees tremendous potential for its Service Provider (telco) business.

The key focus of Cisco‘s Service Provider division is to enable service providers (wireless, wire line, cable service providers) to monetise their investments in technology and drive new revenue streams without incurring additional capital expenditure. The proposed digitisation will help cable operators in India to transform into lifestyle-experience providers and help enable services like residential TV, HDTV, gaming, digital video recording, video on demand and future ‘connected home‘ services to retail consumers.

Cisco claims to have several products and solutions that benefit cable service providers like Cisco Cable Digital TV solutions, Cable Video, Cable Separable Security solutions and Cisco Videoscape, a solution that lets consumers combine content from multiple sources, social media, communications, and mobility to create an immersive TV experience. Cisco has also recently announced a Wireless TV Solution, which allows consumers to watch TV in virtually any room in the house, wirelessly.

Cisco India and SAARC Sr VP, Service Provider Sanjay Rohatgi said, “The onset of digitisation would help the cable service provide sector enhance quality of services and increase their subscription revenue by offering plethora of innovative and interactive services. Moving to a digital platform will also allow cable and Internet service providers to curb losses due to piracy. Cisco‘s cable digitisation solutions provide the massive scaling, capital and operational cost optimisation that cable operators need, to transition to a digital platform.”

Rohatgi further added, “Cisco‘s Service Provider business has been a key contributor to Cisco India‘s overall revenues. We have been working with leading service providers in India to enable them to transition to an IP NGN (Next-Generation Network) architecture and offer varied services to consumers across platforms. With the introduction of new technologies like 3G and 4G, the Indian telecom market offers tremendous potential to drive business growth.”

In India, Cisco is working with cable service providers to help them transition to a digital platform and enhance consumer experience, the company said.

Gujarat Telelinks Private Limited (GTPL) is one such customer that will deploy more than 300,000 next-generation digital set-top boxes from Cisco over the next 12 months in Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. 

MUMBAI: Ketchum Sampark, the Indian affiliate of global communications network Ketchum today announced the launch of its digital media business Ketchum Sampark Digital. Aimed at garnering market share in the emerging digital media business, Ketchum Sampark Digital will offer full-service interactive strategy, web design, video production and multimedia development to help companies tell their stories and build engagement with their audiences on digital media (internet and mobile).

Ketchum Sampark MD NS Rajan said, “The launch of Ketchum Sampark Digital reflects the emerging significance of engaging with consumers through prolific use of digital domains. There has been a distinct shift in usage patterns wherein consumers look beyond email and casual surfing to complete engagement and internet as the media of choice for information. We are initially launching our digital business with a team of young social media experts and progressively build a bandwidth of skills and digital capabilities including a team of interactive strategists, digital designers and producers.”

Ketchum Digital partner, global director Jonathan Kopp said, “Globally, Ketchum Digital has created innovative digital media solutions for clients including FedEx, Kodak, ConAgra, Absolut amongst many other industry-leading companies. With the launch of Ketchum Sampark Digital India joins other Ketchum Offices and digital experts around the globe in the Ketchum Global Digital Network bringing digital social media solutions from around the world for our clients everywhere.”

The company will offer products and services catering to digital media. The Indian team will be trained on the systems and processes. “Digital will grow in importance. The growth curve ahead will be big given the spread of mobile in India. Digital is blurring the lines in traditional communications. The distinctions between advertising, marketing, public relations no longer exist in the social media space.”

He also notes that the difference between paid media and earned media is disappearing as well in the digital realm. Paid media refers to advertising while earned media refers to when a journalist or a blogger feels the content is worth writing about and writes from the point of view of a brand.

“The consumer in the digital space though who uses things like RSS feeds does not make a distinction. Each line of content is the same no matter where it comes from. This has created a level playing field. So it is the quality of content that drives conversation. Our aim is to create compelling content for clients which fuel the art of conversation.”
 
The aim of the agency is to listen to conversation, understand how the client is perceived by customers and then become a part of the conversation by adding value to what is a shared experience. Now communication is no longer top down but bottom up. For a brand to succeed in the digital space transparency is very important. The brand needs to be authentic and very clear about what it stands for and what its message is. The aim of Ketchum Sampark Digital is to help brands be more responsive and personal.

He is clear that all companies need to be in the digital space. “Companies cannot afford to sit out of the social web. Some companies think that digital is only important for them if they are consumer facing. However my experience shows that there is opportunity in the B2B sector as well. Mistakes will be made as digital media is still an evolving beast. It is important to tread judiciously, do your homework. You have to experiment, adapt and learn as you go along,” Kopp said.

He spearheaded Barak Obama‘s social media campaign during the US Presidential Election in 2008. Things have changed though since then. Three years back it was about driving traffic to a site. Now with the explosion in social media it is about getting your message across to places where people are having conversations. “Your message has to be available in places where people are ready to hear it.”

MUMBAI: Frost and Sullivan recently hosted the Digital Media – India Summit 2011, which addressed the challenges of emerging technologies such as digital television, digital asset management, over-the-top (OTT) content distribution on the web and mobile media, cloud implementation in media-related services, and digital cinema.

India is at the cusp of a revolution in digital and high-definition (HD) adoption, with content companies and publishers seriously evaluating new media delivery alternatives as well as planning significant capital expenditures to upgrade their infrastructure over the next 3-5 years.

In the inaugural address at the Summit, former I&B joint secretary Arvind Kumar said, “Fortunately, now, there is a general consensus amongst all the stakeholders, from broadcasters to cable operators, that digitisation is the need of the hour and that it should be implemented in a time-bound manner. The Ministry in consultation with Trai has now finalised a way forward which includes amendments to the Cable Act, timelines for a four phased transition, increase in FDI limits and other incentives required to be given to the industry.”
 
Today, just about five per cent of the broadcast channels is transmitted in HD and a little over 30 per cent of the television households have access to digital television services in India.

Frost and Sullivan notes that India will be an emerging and potentially high-growth market for digital media companies in the next five years, though not without its share of challenges.

The challenges faced by this market include a slow regulatory process to define digitisation deadlines for cable multi system operators (MSOs) and broadcasters, inadequate drive among stakeholders to increase investments in digitisation, rapidly changing technologies in recent times that slow CAPEX decisions, and legacy of content on tape across various verticals.

Frost and Sullivan global industry manager digital media Vidya S Nath said, “The Indian digital story is dichotomous. On one hand, there are some cable MSOs and large broadcasters who understand and absorb the benefits of complete digitisation. They lead the industry from the front, trying to orchestrate a digital makeover for India, creating successful businesses. On the other hand, there are tens of thousands of cable operators and hundreds of broadcasters who perceive digitisation as a novel story with few returns.”

However, she believes that this industry still operates largely on “word of mouth” and that many companies are waking up to understand the benefits of advanced digital technologies and solutions.
 
Frost and Sullivan‘s research indicates that the biggest challenge is the legacy of tape and the requirement of rapid digitisation, along with efficient asset management solutions. End users in this market want a centralized content repository, fast and intuitive search, easy-to-use UI, seamless and collaborative workflows for creative and business aspects of digital media, asset security, ability to manage and transform the maximum possible media formats, meaningful analytics and reporting for asset workflows, and cross-channel content publishing, and monetization.

According to Frost and Sullivan, the world digital asset management market is expected to cross $530 million in 2011 and grow at over 20 per cent CAGR from 2011 to 2016. Cloud-based services are a fast-growing segment within this market, and Indian companies such as Tata Communications, Prime Focus Technologies, and Airtel are eyeing this space for future prospects.

Another trend that is fast catching up and is likely to change the dynamics of digital media in the Indian sub-continent is OTT or multimedia video consumption. With over 100 million Internet subscribers and about 900 million mobile subscribers, India exhibits a high usage of broadband/mobile-delivered content, prodding several content companies to capitalize on this media.

Frost & Sullivan‘s Digital Media – India Summit 2011 brought together people from a spectrum of the industry to discuss myriad topics such as asset management, cloud-based services, OTT video delivery, digital cinema technologies, and key areas for investment opportunities for emerging digital technology companies.

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC‘s commercial arm BBC Worldwide‘s four-day TV export market, BBC Worldwide Showcase, will for the first time incorporate a dedicated digital day as it adapts to the evolution of the media industry, with speakers from Netflix and Miso in February 2012.

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos is confirmed as a keynote speaker. He has helped Netflix become one of the industry‘s most talked about and watched companies, with over 20 million streaming subscribers in 47 countries.

Miso CEO, co-founder Somrat Niyogi will also address delegates. Miso is an internet start up that focuses on social TV viewing. Recent studies show that tapping into digital communities during transmission is becoming an increasingly important focus for broadcasters to retain audiences.

BBC Worldwide president, MD for sales and distribution Steve Macallister said: “Showcase guests this year are in for an incredibly rich experience. A new host city, hundreds of hours of the world‘s finest new television, abundance of on and off screen talent plus a whole day totally dedicated to digital exploration.

“Digital growth is a huge focus for BBC Worldwide and we‘ve made great strides in the past year. I‘m thrilled that we‘re able to bring some of the leading minds in this space to join us in Liverpool to share and debate their insights with an international delegation.”

Seminars, panels and speeches will run throughout the day addressing areas such as IPTV and connected televisions, trends in over-the-top services and discussions around standardisation in digital formats and delivery. Other keynote speakers include Mike Walsh, author of Futuretainment and CEO of innovation research agency Tomorrow, a leading authority on the digital future.
 
BBC Worldwide Showcase is the largest event of its kind hosted by a single distributor. Over 5000 TV buyers flock to the UK to watch the programming BBC Worldwide has to offer. The four day event, to be held at the ACC in Liverpool for the first time in its 36 year history, will take place between 26 – 29 February 2012.

BBC Worldwide Showcase, a cornerstone event for British television, provides a major boost to television exports and accounts for around 20 per cent of BBC Worldwide‘s annual programme sales. The event is an international platform for British talent as buyers view over 2,000 hours of TV content and attend premieres of brand new programmes.

MUMBAI: Spice Digital, the mobile value added services (Vas) provider, has launched educational and entertainment BlackBerry applications for kids aged between 1 to 10 years.

The apps are designed to keep children engaged as they can learn alphabet, numbers, spellings and a lot more anytime, anywhere. They are already used by 2 million parents worldwide and are available free of cost to the BlackBerry users.
 
Spice Digital Global CEO – Services Saket Agarwal said, “With the mobile internet ramping up faster than the desktop internet we at Spice believe that there is something to offer to every age group and hence Spice Labs introduced the BlackBerry Apps for kids, which enables every child to have fun while they learn. These applications were designed with complete dedication to assist youngsters in their educational and entertainment requirements.”

This offering of Spice Digital is made available to close to 25 mobile networks across the globe with presence in Saarc, APAC and MEA markets.

MUMBAI: With recent research conducted by Acquity Group showing that one in four retailers in the US now have a mobile app, it seems that businesses are keen to reach a new mobile audience.

There are many benefits to be reaped by companies with mobile apps, mainly due to the fact that almost everyone owns a mobile phone these days. With companies increasingly using mobile apps and processes in their everyday working lives, time is saved whilst performance is improved too. Other benefits include increased efficiency in terms of communication; the ability to download the same everyday applications that are on desktop PC‘s; constant internet access; and quick completion of tasks.

Mobile phones have made it possible to talk, text, email, watch television, watch films, and listen to music, no matter where in the world we are. Through businesses investing in mobile apps, work can therefore be conducted wherever one is, with there being no need to be in the office to carry out a simple task, such as reading emails.

Today there are more and more businesses that have developed apps. Giving employees the opportunity to access any of their work regardless of where they are, companies are therefore increasing their employees‘ productivity as a result.

With some companies developing a mobile app, or in some cases paying for a mobile app to be developed, they are most commonly either an app of the actual business, or an app that will help the business to grow and be successful. As a great way to promote a company, mobile apps will only get better, as in months to come it may be possible for additional services to be sold through them.

A company that‘s recently invested in a mobile app is the financial services firm Prudential. After launching new mobile tools in a bid to make it simpler for clients and business partners to access the company‘s products and services, Prudential is definitely tapping into the previously unknown world of mobile apps. Not only that but Prudential Retirement, part of the Prudential Financial group, has unveiled a new website optimised for mobiles, which will allow account access to 2.5 million of its retirement plan participants whilst they‘re on the move. 
 
In addition to this, the company has also invested in a retirement income calculator app for smartphones, which has been designed to allow users to calculate their estimated monthly retirement income, as well as their estimated monthly retirement income need.

The fact that mobile app development is becoming popular all over the world makes it easy for mobile app freelancers to secure work. Not only is app development a task that requires the knowledge of someone highly skilled within that particular area of development, but it‘s also a task that‘s costly and therefore needs to be completed correctly first time around. The opportunity for a mobile app developer to pick up work is great for those working in the freelance industry; with many freelancers often signed up to various different outsourcing websites in order to secure such work, as well as to ensure they‘re contacted by those who want to make use of their skills.

OutsourceMyProject is an example of an outsourcing website that has many skilled people signed up to it, from freelance web designers to freelancer programmers. As a UK based platform that‘s been created to open up the global market place for professional services across a wide range of sectors, OutsourceMyProject helps businesses and those in the self employed industry to decrease their costs significantly. A freelance mobile app developer, for example, can be found to complete work within a specified budget, without the need for companies having to compromise on the quality of work delivered.

MUMBAI: New episodes of the comedy series ‘Arrested Development‘ will be coming exclusively to Netflix for its US members to watch instantly, beginning in 2013.

For the first time in their histories, Twentieth Century Fox Television and Imagine Television will produce original first-run entertainment content for the internet subscription service, bringing back the series to production on all new episodes five years after its cancellation.

The tale of the formerly wealthy, deeply eccentric Bluth Clan aired for three seasons, 2003-2006, on US broadcaster Fox and was honored with the Emmy award for Outstanding Comedy Series after its first season on the air.
 
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said, “Arrested Development is one of the finest American comedies in TV history and its return through Netflix is a perfect example of how we are working closely with studios and networks to provide consumers with entertainment they love.

“It‘s also a perfect example of how broad and successful our relationship has become with Fox as we work together with their film, television, international and digital divisions on several exciting initiatives”.

Fox Filmed Entertainment president of new media and digital distribution Peter Levinsohn added, “Netflix‘s bold entrance into original programming presents an exciting new opportunity for our two companies. Bringing a classic show back to production on new episodes exclusively for Netflix customers is a game changer, and illustrates the incredible potential the new digital landscape affords great content providers like Twentieth Century Fox Television and Imagine.”

NEW DELHI: Yahoo! India has launched ‘Yahoo! Video, a dedicated premium video destination that offers original content across multiple genres such as news, entertainment, lifestyle and movies.

The internet giant has currently partnered with 35 content producers including NDTV, Star TV, Shemaroo, Headlines Today, PVR Pictures and Ultra.

Yahoo! says that that video platform would be a high quality video experience, free for all Internet users in India guaranteeing a trusted and safe environment for publishers.
 
The launch of Yahoo! Video is aimed at meeting the growing appetite of Indian online users. According to a recent ComScore report, over 30 million unique users in India watch online videos each month and on average each user consumes about 58 videos a month.

Yahoo! India MD Arun Tadanki said, “Online video consumption is growing at a rapid pace, however, what the Indian market lacked was a safe and piracy free destination delivering high quality and strictly original content.

“Yahoo! Video is a bold step and redefines the online video category through licensed, original and diverse content promising an unparalleled experience to Indian users.”

Yahoo! Video offers content acquired from original sources, spanning short and full-length movies, video capsules across news, entertainment, lifestyle, sports, providing access to an archive of thousands of videos. 
 
Yahoo! India had recently launched Movieplex – a destination where users can watch licensed full-length movies for free.

Yahoo! Video also provides opportunity for advertisers to connect with their target audiences through a range of video and display advertising solutions.

NDTV Convergence deputy CEO and managing editor Suparna Singh said, “We are excited about this partnership with Yahoo!. NDTV doesn‘t believe in walled gardens in the rapidly-expanding digital space. Early diagnosis has shown that Yahoo! does not cannibalize our business – it provides an additional audience and a new video platform that we believe users will enjoy. Yahoo! has shown respect and understanding for real news, and we look forward to increasing our reach together.”

Star India VP – Digital Lalit Bhagia said, “Yahoo! is the biggest web portal in the country with more than 38 mn unique users. What I like about Yahoo!’s video strategy is the whole concept of “content in context”, which is the real differentiator. With Yahoo! Mail, editorial, chat, news and now video it completes the picture for the consumer. As a broadcaster, it potentially becomes a place to build affinity to our shows and characters as well as sample new content. We plan to start with short form content and work on possible new show launches through the partnership.”

Shemaroo Entertainment director Jai Maroo added, “Our association with Yahoo! India is a harbinger of the exciting possibilities and potential in the digital entertainment space. We are working together to not only serve diverse audiences but to also provide a legal video content alternative. The association started with Shemaroo being one of the launch partners for Yahoo!‘s Movieplex and we pushed the innovation quotient higher with our recent tie-up for the exclusive online premiere of “Super K” on the Movieplex platform on Yahoo! Movies.”

MUMBAI: With the Ordinance on digitisation going through, cable operators in the four major Metros have to switch from analogue to digital by 30 June 2012. The sunset date for the country is 2014. This is encouraging cable television technology companies.

NDS India country head, GM Jayant Changrani said that the company which offers solutions for the secure delivery of pay TV services is investing $450 million in the country over the next four years. It has already invested $250 million so far.

“We will close three more deals shortly with medium and small sized cable operators. Our solution is scalable. Operators can start with VideoGuard. But what we are seeing is that they also want Mediahighway as they have to compete with the DTH players.”

The investment in India will look to enhance resources, skill sets. The company does roadshows to educate operators on its products. These will held more frequently now. He notes that education on components like digital headends will become important.

Conax head of product marketing Tryggve Arveschoug says that the company is looking at a robust growth this year and is aiming to double the client base. Its biggest client globally is Dish TV. He expects mergers and JVs to happen in the cable market. He noted the price sensitivity of this market but adds that Conax‘s USP is that its price performance is good. Clients can choose from 200 STBs. For him what has been seen in India is that operators are finding new ways to do business.

New players are also entering India sensing a big opportunity. One of them is Swedish company Cryptoguard which offers conditional access solutions. Earlier the company was in India through test equipment. The conditional access solution was brought in this year. The company‘s sales manager Asia Patrick Lagerstadt though notes that at the moment many cable operators are waiting and watching.
 
“They are not ready to invest. There is however a lot of interest given that they will have to switch. Our solution has low start-up costs which makes it a viable option even for small service providers.” He says that the solution that his company gives is more flexible for the smaller operators compared to what the larger technology companies have. The solution offers both content protection and a subscriber management system.

Rudraksha Technology offers system integration solutions for digital technology. The company‘s VP sales Samrat Mitra says that the company is targeting operators looking for a stable and a cheap solution. Since it is made in India the solution is less expensive compared to competition. The aim is to have a 70 per cent growth over the next four to five years. This fiscal it is looking to sell 15 headends compared to 10 in the previous fiscal. It works with large networks like Sun Direct as well as with smaller operators like 7Star.