Category: Software

MUMBAI: T-Mobile accepted the TV ad of the year award at the British Television Advertising Awards for their early 2009 ad release dance.

The ad, created by Saatchi and Saatchi London, featured 350 dancers breaking into a routine en-masse at Liverpool Street station in London. The filming of the advertisement was done in “guerrilla-style”, with hidden TV cameras placed around the station.
 
The cameras captured the spontaneous reactions of London commuters as they watched the dancers complete a range of synchronised moves. Filming and editing the ad in just 36 hours was impressive in itself but now the ad has been rewarded with a most envied award at the BTAA – TV ad of the year. 
 
T-Mobile head of brand and communications Lysa Hardy says, “We are extremely excited by this award as it is the first time a telecoms company has ever won TV ad of the year at the BTAA and is a real accolade for marketing excellence. It was ambitious to turnaround the ad in such a short time, but the fact it was an instant link to the event in Liverpool Street Station made it even more special.
“As a result of the ad and the hard work we put into clarifying the “life’s for sharing” insight, we saw retail footfall increase, web sale results rise by 22 per cent and searches for T-Mobile jump 30 per cent. We also had over 20 million views of “dance” on YouTube – it was the most viewed ad and an instant hit with the public.”

MUMBAI: Flo TV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, has expanded its partnership with Turner Broadcasting to bring consumers CNN Mobile, a channel that includes programming from CNN/US, CNN International and HLN, as well as CNN.com content.

The channel will be available on the Flo TV Personal Television and Flo TV Auto Entertainment platforms, in addition to its current availability as part of AT&T Mobile TV.
 
Flo TV senior VP of programming and advertising Jonathan Barzilay says, “Live, breaking news is consistently a top performer on the Flo TV service, as people strive to stay connected to the world around them. Adding CNN Mobile to additional devices with our service is a natural fit and keeps our subscribers connected to news and analysis anytime, anywhere.”

Live coverage of US, world, political, health and entertainment news will be available to FLO TV subscribers through a dedicated 24/7 CNN Mobile channel, which showcases popular programming from CNN/US, CNN International and HLN – including Anderson Cooper 360, Larry King Live , Amanpour, Backstory and Morning Express with Robin Meade. 
 
The Flo TV service is currently available on multiple platforms, including the recently launched Flo TV Personal Television, the first-ever portable digital television with a dedicated network. In collaboration with Audiovox, FLO TV also offers Flo TV Auto Entertainment, an in-vehicle entertainment system that delivers high-quality mobile TV.

Additionally, iPhone™ and iPod touch users will soon be able to view Flo TV’s live mobile TV service at the flip of a switch with the mophie juicepack TV.
 

MUMBAI: DCI Mobile Studios, a mobile applications development company, has announced that its official Indian Premier League application is now available from the Nokia Ovi Store portal.
 
The IPL T20 application is now available for Nokia smartphones through the Ovi store platform. The company claims that this move towards Nokia OVI will help the company to monetise this year‘s IPL T20 fever, while taking advantage of Nokia‘s international and Indian smartphone market share,

All Nokia phone users can download the app in single click via the OVI Store on the Nokia handset or from the web on www.ovi.com for just €2 (Euros). Once downloaded, users can use the app till this 2010s‘ IPL season and need to re-subscribe for the future IPL seasons. 
 
Some of the basic features in the app include:

Live News Feeds

Match Schedules
IPL team list with team members
Individual Team Performance
Live score
Live text commentary
DCI CTO R. Vijayakumar says, “IPL T20 app on Nokia OVI Store extends our commitment to offering worldwide Nokia mobile users to enjoy high quality IPL T20 updates on the go. This IPL T20 Cricket season and the Nokia Ovi Store application combined with our applications on iPhone (and soon in other platforms) help us to bring our vision to life.”

DCI MD, CEO CR Venkatesh says, “With IPL T20 app for Nokia smartphones, more than 200 million smartphone users worldwide will be able to take the IPL T20 Cricket app features. Alongside, Symbian platform enables us to bring this year‘s IPL season to more and more Nokia smartphone users, ensuring a good scale for our mobile app across all platforms and other compelling mobile solutions, such as IPL T20 app. We‘re seeing numerous downloads a day on Apples‘ iTunes Store and now, we believe that this IPL T20 app for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users.”

DCI‘s IPL T20 app is available for purchase on the Nokia Ovi Store portal at an introductory price of only €2 (Euros). Once downloaded, users can use the app till this 2010s‘ IPL season and need to re-subscribe for the future IPL seasons.

MUMBAI: Dish TV is sitting on a cash pile of Rs 9 billion following the completion of the third tranche of its rights issue.

The Essel Group-promoted direct-to-home (DTH) company has raised Rs 4.16 billion in the third and final tranche.
 
Dish TV had earlier raised Rs 7.24 billion in two tranches.

Earlier, Dish TV had received a funding of $100 million (Rs 4.65 billion) from US-based Apollo Management, through a GDR (Global Depositary Receipt) issue.

“We are sitting on a cash of Rs 9 billion. This has come from rights issue and GDR. We will use the fund for customer acquisitions,” Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel tells Indiantelevision.com. 
 
The promoters‘ holding in Dish TV is 68 per cent, while Apollo has 11 per cent.

With this funding in place, market leader Dish TV will be aggressively ramping up its subscriber base.

MUMBAI: Television programming in India has traditionally chased revenues from its first-run life on channels. There has been some mythological content such as Ramayan, Mahabharat and Om Namah Shivay that have enjoyed syndicated revenues or travelled successfully abroad. But generally library content has gathered dust or lived in a state of penury, failing to amass strong audience or advertising support.

Now content owners are trying to open another revenue window: online sites that offer video-on-demand content. Though at a nascent stage, they hope the delivery platform will emerge stronger among younger audiences as the infrastructure on the broadband front improves and bandwidth costs further fall.

Rajshri.com and BigFlix.com have in their menu a horde of TV serials and soaps. While Rajshri.com has shows like Ramayan, Fauji, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, Mahabharat, Maayka, Bandini and Ghar Ki Laxmi Betiyaan, BigFlix.com has serials like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Saara Akash, Kumkum, Khichdi, Kehta Hai Dil, and Seeta aur Geeta. 
 
The genre on exposure is broad, ranging from soaps to social drama and comedies. Says Rajshri Media MD and CEO Rajjat Barjatya, “There are people who want to have a repeat view of the shows of their liking. No TV channel repeats its shows after the telecast run expires. The only option is to find them on websites that have them.”

Mythology, however, stands out as the most popular TV content on VoD. On Rajshri.com epics such as Ramayan and Mahabharat have so far got views amounting to 225,904 and 4,135,833 respectively while shows like Fauji has had 152,386 views, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai 537,630, Bandini 85,754 and Maayka 198,237 views.

Avers Barjatya, “You see, somewhere, even today, we are linked to our mythology. Everyone admits that Ramanand Sagar and BR Chopra have made the finest adaptations of Ramayan and Mahabharat respectively. That is why even today, these serials get maximum number of hits.”

The kids genre also exhibits a strong repeat value. Serials like Vikram aur Vetal, Karadi Tales, Tenali Raman and Arabian Nights have their own followers on online streaming sites.

Another genre that has just started peeping in on online streaming websites is the reality TV genre. NDTV’s latest Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is today’s rage among viewers.

Regarding the size of the VoD market, India pales in comparison to the US and other matured markets. “I think it is around Rs 50 million annually. It is taking time to grow primarily because of the lack of infrastructure and bandwidth availability,” avers Shemaroo Entertainment Director Hiren Gada.

For the whole lot of its content, Big Flix has revenue-sharing arrangements with content providers, who are either producers themselves or are holders of digital rights.

“We don’t get into exclusive deals and generally the revenue share model is 70:30,” says BigFlix.com business head Murtuza Kagalwala. “Online streaming gives people ease of use as it fills the needed gap.”

Does it pay to have your TV show on these websites? “Certainly,” says Creative Eye founder-promoter Dheeraj Kumar. “There is always a scope of payment. Sites like YouTube and Rajshri.com, as far as TV shows and serials are concerned, are very reliable and they pay well.”
 
So what is the commercial arrangement between online sites and content owners? “Firstly, it is done on revenue-sharing basis of 70:30. Then for some shows, producers are paid on the basis of ‘hits’ that the serial gets. In the last option, some websites resort to paying a minimum guarantee,” says Kumar.

Adds Prem Sagar, “To me getting paid on the ‘hits’ is great. See the number of hits our serial gets. It shows that Ramayan is popular even today.”

So how are the online sites making money? On the internet, there are three ways to monetise – charging for downloads, ad supported streaming and subscription of library content.

Adds Barjatya, “Currently, 95 per cent of our revenues come from advertising. As advertising keeps on rising, we are putting a strategy in place to scale up the download business.”

Will there be strong growth for TV shows on VOD? “The size of the market would grow between Rs 700 million to Rs 1 billion in about five years,” says Gada.
 

MUMBAI: Consumers in the US want their Internet TV, according to market research firm, In-Stat.

Already, based on In-Stat’s new multi-client research study, 26 per cent of consumer respondents report viewing Internet TV more than once per week. However, rather than a substitute for traditional pay TV services, consumers want their Over-the-Top (OTT) Internet video to compliment their traditional TV offerings.
 
In-Stat analyst Keith Nissen says, “Consumers want the best of both worlds: Pay TV and Over-the-Top Video. Nearly 40 per cent of consumer broadband household respondents want a combination of linear TV and on-demand TV, and nearly three quarters want to acquire all their video content from their pay TV service provider.”

The recent research by In-Stat also found the following:

While PCs remain the primary devices used for viewing Internet TV, consumers are increasingly using multiple devices, including internet TVs, and mobile devices.

Consumers use a variety of devices to get internet video to their TVs, including PC-based media adapters, dedicated media adapters, gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, and Internet-enabled TVs.
 
As of year end 2009, there are an estimated 24 million web-enabled devices in operation in the US. This is expected to grow to 102 million by 2013.

MUMBAI: As part of its strategy to exit from bad businesses, TV18 is selling its entire 50 per cent stake in Jobstreet.com India.

The joint venture made no progress and TV18 has taken a hit of Rs 25 million in the entire exercise, a source in the company says. The shares have been sold back to the partner, Jobstreet.com Singapore. 
 
Floated in late 2006, the joint venture company was to tap into the rapidly growing job portal space in India and provide consolidated value to Web18, the internet and mobile arm of TV18. The market cap of Info Edge, the holding company of naukri.com, is Rs 25.09 billion. Though Info Edge has other smaller properties like www.jeevansathi.com, www.99acres.com, www.quadranglesearch.com and www.shiksha.com, it definitely provides an indicative valuation of a successful job portal in India.

“We are streamlining our businesses. This was one line of activity where we had no control over it and we were joint venture partners,” says the source.
 
Web18 had earlier conducted a major surgery at the time of economic downturn, getting rid of one-third of its workforce which had peaked to a strength of over 650 professionals.
Web18 had cobbled together a string of portals including Moneycontrol.com, In.com, Ibnlive.com and cricketnext.com. It had to shelve its plans of raising money through an ADR (American Depository Receipt) issue.

Web18 had posted a net loss of Rs 304.44 million on a revenue of Rs 499.11 million for the three quarters of the current fiscal. “We are going to be Ebitda positive in the fourth-quarter as we have controlled costs. We expect to operationally break even in the next fiscal,” the source says.
 

MUMBAI: Fantasy cricket game Dream11.com has launched ‘India Ka No1 Selector‘, a fantasy cricket gaming competition focussing on the upcoming T20 cricket. Also, the company has roped in music and gaming retail chain Planet M as the official sponsor.

As part of this competition, cricket fans will have an opportunity to create their own dream team from over 180 Indian and international cricketers and win Rs 5, 00,000 in cash. Contestants will also have a chance to win Rs 10,000 in cash by playing daily.
 
Each contestant will be allocated Rs 1 billion of virtual money to choose their favourite cricketers from across various teams and create their Dream11. Depending on how those cricketers perform in upcoming real-life matches, the contestants will earn points. Contestants scoring the highest points stand a chance to win Rs 5,00,000 in cash and Rs 2,25,000 in gift vouchers.

Dream11 Gaming CMD Harsh Jain said, “With the upcoming T20 cricket action such as the IPL, cricket fever in India is at an all time high. Through ‘India Ka No1 Selector‘, Dream11.com is searching for India‘s most knowledgeable cricket fan. This competition empowers a billion cricket enthusiasts to compete and be crowned as the best cricket selector.” 
 
“We are happy to have Planet M as our sponsor for ‘India Ka No1 Selector‘. Their national presence will accelerate our efforts to popularise fantasy cricket gaming to a wider audience in India,” Jain adds.

MUMBAI: Nearly nine out of ten Indians believe that free content on the internet should remain free in the future. However, three fourth of the Indians are willing to pay for the content if the quality is significantly better than what is currently free online, according to a survey conducted by The Nielsen Company.

As per the survey, 70 per cent Indians are willing to pay for online content if they get the right to copy it and share it with others. 63 per cent will pay if the payment system is easy to use and 61 per cent Indians are willing to pay for the same content online if the costs are comparable to what they currently pay off-line for it.

Nearly, seven in 10 Indians (69 per cent) would rather pay for individual pieces of content instead of subscribing to the entire website. Three-fourth of the consumers will stop using the website if they have to pay for the content because they can find the same information on a free site. 
 
Said The Nielsen Company associate director – Nielsen Online Karthik Nagarajan, “Internet is a huge space and content is available for free at the click of a button. Out there exists immense quantity of information but most of it lacks in quality, and this stress on quality by consumers will be a major factor in driving consumers to pay for online content.”

The Nielsen survey polled more than 27,000 consumers in 54 countries globally and examined consumer attitudes to paying for online content. Results show that 29 per cent Indians have already paid for books, while 19 per cent have paid for online magazines, and 18 per cent have paid for music.

When asked on what they would consider paying for in the future, half the Indian consumers said they were prepared to pay for books (50 per cent), magazines & music (both 47 per cent), and professionally produced videos, including current television shows (46 per cent). Many consumers also indicated they would consider paying for theatrical movies (45 per cent) and games (44 per cent).

When it came to news content online – perhaps the most hotly debated of any of the paid-for content model discussions, just ten per cent of Indian consumers said they had previously paid for internet-only news, and 12 per cent had paid for newspaper content online in the past. Asked whether they would consider paying for online newspapers or internet-only news sources in the future, nearly half said they would not (both 49 per cent).

Conversely, a majority of consumers in India are not prepared to pay for consumer-generated-content such as blogs (70 per cent), social communities (61 per cent), and consumer generated video (60 per cent), although interestingly Asia Pacific consumers are more willing to pay for consumer-generated video than any other region. Radio and podcasts also fared poorly in the study with 66 per cent Indians not willing to pay for news/talk radio and 60 per cent not willing to shell out for podcasts. 58 per cent Indians will also not consider paying for music on the radio.

The Nielsen survey highlights a growing acceptance amongst Indian consumers for the need for some form of paid-for content models – nearly half the Indian consumers (48 per cent) concede that quality of content on the internet will decline unless companies can charge for it.  
 
More than six out of ten (66 per cent) Indians will also accept more advertising on the internet in the future to support the cost of content. However, consumers drew the line at combining online advertising with paid-for content, with more than half the consumers (54 per cent) saying that there should be no advertising on the internet content that they have paid for.

Interestingly, nearly eight in ten (78 per cent) Indians feel that their existing off-line subscriptions to services such as newspapers, magazines, radio or television should extend to the online medium. A majority of Indians (60 per cent) also believe that content on the internet should be supported by a combination of advertising and content fees.

Said Nagarajan, “Consumers have a much higher propensity to pay for content which they know has been professionally produced such as music, movies, games, but are reluctant to pay for online content that has been generated by fellow consumers, such as blogs, etc. Considering the fragmented attitude of consumers to pay for online content, the content providers will have to offer multiple options to entice the choosy consumers.”

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) and its licensing partner Global Cricket Ventures (GCV) have announced an agreement with vRock Mobile Communications, which has acquired the exclusive worldwide SMS, MMS and IVR rights for a period of five years.

vRock Mobile will have the rights to utilise CDMA, GSM, GPRS, MMS, WAP, EDGE, 3G and any other mobile or desktop technology, capable of sending or receiving SMS/MMS alerts, SMS/MMS contest/ activations and live audio commentary / IVR platform.

This partnership with vRock Mobile will help the IPL reach out to a huge global cross-section of its fans on a real time basis and engage them in various activities including score and match-day updates, mobile sms and mms contests, live audio mobile commentary, and regular alerts. All of which marks a new chapter in terms of convergence of IPL content onto the mobile phone and to an enhanced fan experience.
 
IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi says, “The association with vRock Mobile is yet another effort to extend the IPL fan experience to a new and unique delivery platform. Convergence is the new age mantra, wherein mobile phones are set to play a critical role in delivering a unique fan experience and it is critical for the IPL to deliver on that platform. Through this association IPL fans anywhere in the world will now be able to access scores and information on matches, get LIVE commentary and participate in interactive programmes and contests – all from their very own mobile phone.”

IPL will soon be announcing a partner for mobile video, Modi adds.

VRock Mobile Communications CEO Jatin Ahluwalia said, “The IPL is an excellent platform for vRock Mobile to offer some truly unique services to IPL fans around the world. We have planned some exciting and engaging SMS and MMS – based contests to build consumer engagement with youthful cricket loving audiences. We promise to deliver to Cricket and IPL fans the world over an exhilarating, enhanced and rich user experience on their mobile handsets.”

MMS will include things like best shot and best moment of the match. 
 
GCV director Vijay Srinivasan said, “The agreement announced today is another example of GCV’s commitment to delivering the IPL experience to cricket fans around the world through the use of multiple delivery platforms. This partnership will lead to a wide range of exciting and innovative services becoming accessible to millions of cricket fans, reaching out to new generations across the world. We believe that the way in which audiences follow sport is changing with more and more fans enthusiastic for real-time information and a more interactive role, and we are pleased to be at the forefront of these changes.”

vRock Mobile will provide fans with live score alerts (subscriptions & on-demand); SMS contests – including daily contests and through the IPL 2010 season, not to mention live in-stadia sms contests. Fans will also be able to experience live mobile commentary with contests over an interactive voice response (IVR) system using the latest mobile telephony technology. Lastly, fans will also be able to get the latest IPL news through SMS subscriptions and also get post-match party gossip, match statistics; and loads of MMS pictures, exciting content and much more.

Ahluwalia adds that for this year there will be no ads. The aim is to establish this service. Ad revenue will come in from next year. Cricket experts will be roped in for the commentary service. He also says that telecom service providers have to be educated that there are IPR issues in this domain. He also expects rates for SMS to fall.