ITV

Category: GECs

  • Twitter gives power to woman

    Twitter gives power to woman

    MUMBAI: In the last two years, Twitter has just seen a rise in the number of users. It has become a phenomenon. But the microblogging site was criticised time and again for gender imbalance in the top ranks. However, the social media platform seems to have rectified it by bringing on to board executive Marjorie Scardino to its director ranks.

     

    Scardino is not just Twitter’s first female director; she’s also one of the first person with an experience in old media. Scardino with whom the Twitter board to expand to eight members, is a former chief executive of publishing company Pearson and has served as an editor for the Associated Press, a publisher of a Georgia Gazette newspaper and is also the former CEO of The Economist Group and a former board member of phone maker Nokia.

     

    In a regulatory filing, Twitter said that Scardino will replace David Rosenblatt on Twitter’s audit committee. However, Rosenblatt will continue to be on the compensation committee.

  • HealthKart ropes in Gaurav Agarwal as CTO

    HealthKart ropes in Gaurav Agarwal as CTO

    NEW DELHI: HealthKart – one of the leading online health and fitness store – has appointed Gaurav Agarwal, a Silicon Valley veteran for 12 years, as the chief technology officer (CTO). He will also head HealthKart’s products division, with a specific focus on the company’s web and mobile initiatives. In his previous role, he was responsible for the iconic game ‘FarmVille’ for Zynga.  Under his leadership, Farmville grossed over $ 1 billion in revenue and became the largest game in the world.

     

    Agarwal has held multiple technology and management roles in the Silicon Valley. Commenting on his addition to the team, HealthKart co-founder and MD Prashant Tandon said in a release: “We are very excited to have someone of this caliber join the team at HealthKart. With Gaurav leading technology and product, we are confident that we can create world class web and mobile products that help take both HealthKart.com and HealthKartPlus to the next level.”

     

    “I am excited to be back in India and thrilled to be a part of HealthKart. This is a very exciting space and I believe a lot of interesting technology work can be done with a platform like HealthKart. I am looking forward to working with the great team and create a distinctive experience for the users here”, added HealthKart CTO Gaurav Agarwal.

     

    Agarwal holds a Bachelors degree in Technology (B.Tech – Computer Science) from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

  • After FreeDish, Rishtey rides onto Dish TV

    After FreeDish, Rishtey rides onto Dish TV

    MUMBAI: It debuted in India on 1 December on the pubcaster DD’s free DTH service FreeDish. Now Viacom 18’s second GEC channel Rishtey has got carriage on India’s oldest DTH platform Dish TV.

    Rishtey is currently running its test feed on Dish TV at LC number 1000 as well as on Freedish, India’s only FTA DTH broadcaster. Deals with other cable and DTH players are in progress to get the channel’s distribution intact before launch. Sources say that it would have paid anywhere between Rs 4 to Rs 6 crore get carriage on the pubcaster’s DTH service.

    IndiaCast – which is distributing the channel in India – sources indicate that test feeds will soon commence on Airtel Digital TV and Videocon d2H as well.

    The FTA channel that launched September last year in the UK, broadcasts reruns from Colors and original programming from channels in Pakistan such as Maat (currently on) and Humsafar (completed).

    Recently, Rishtey UK doubled its ad rates on completion of its successful run in year one during the course of which it beat even Colors there. Primetime commercials are being sold there for as high as ?600 for a mainstream advertiser and ?100 for an ethnic one.

  • Indias economic confidence revives says Ipsos study

    Indias economic confidence revives says Ipsos study

    MUMBAI: India’s economic confidence revived substantially due to healthy farm output, a sharp boost in exports and narrowing of current account deficit, according to a report by global research firm Ipsos.

     

    According to the “Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World” study, India’s economic confidence jumped sharply by 11 points to 51 per cent in the month of November compared to the month of October 2013. India now stands as the seventh most economically confident country in the world after Saudi Arabia, Germany, Sweden, Canada, China, and Australia.

     

    Three in ten (32 per cent) Indians believe a health increase of five points. Indians are very hopeful about stability and growth in future with general election in the first half of 2014; four in ten (42 per cent) people expects that the economy in their local area will be stronger in next six months, a slender rise of one point.

     

    “Indian economy has bottomed out after a two-year slump and it is likely to see a positive growth trend from here on with positive indicators like narrowing CAD, revival of exports, growth of manufacturing sector and increasing investor confidence,” said Ipsos in India CEO Mick Gordon.

     

    “Good Monsoon resulted in bumper crop output, which in turn generated rural demand for goods such as tractors, motorcycles and consumer goods leading to growth of the manufacturing sector,” added Gordon.

     

    The online Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World survey was conducted in October 2013 among 18,083 people in 24 countries.

     

    After a significant decline last month, the average global economic assessment of national economies surveyed in 24 countries took a one-point turn for the better this month as 37 per cent of global citizens rate their national economies to be “good.”

     

    Saudi Arabia (85 per cent) continued to dominate the global ratings of national economies, followed in a distance by Germany (68 per cent), Sweden (67 per cent), Canada (66 per cent), China (65 per cent) and Australia (64 per cent). Once again, only a handful of those in Spain (four per cent) rate their national economies as ‘good’, followed by Italy (five per cent), Hungary (10 per cent), France (10 per cent), and South Korea (19 per cent).

     

    Countries with the greatest improvements in this wave were Indonesia (45 per cent, 14 points), India (51 per cent, 11 points), South Africa (27 per cent, six points), Brazil (35per cent, five points), Great Britain (29 per cent, five points) and China (65 per cent, four points).

     

    Those from Brazil (62 per cent), once again, hold the strongest future outlook for their local economy in the next six months. The other high-ranking countries, which followed at a distance, were: Saudi Arabia (48 per cent), India (42 per cent), China (39 per cent), Indonesia (37 per cent) and Argentina (37 per cent).

  • ‘We always look at ways to improve our consumer experience’

    ‘We always look at ways to improve our consumer experience’

    MUMBAI: While growing up, we all loved the flavour of the soft, creamy choco-filled candy that effortlessly melted in our mouths, leaving us craving for more. Most of us have grown up with that familiar taste of Cadbury’s Eclairs. We have shared the choco-candy with our friends and family in the moments of joy and celebration and even otherwise. Now, the confectionary brand is repackaging one of its most popular products.

    Keeping up with the fast-paced lifestyle, Cadbury re-launched Cadbury Éclairs as Cadbury Choclairs. Even in 2009, Cadbury Eclairs was re-launched with an enriched chocolate center.

    The reason behind this change is very simple – as a brand, Cadbury always looks at ways to improve its consumer experience. Elaborating more on it, Cadbury India powdered beverages (Gum & Candy) associate vice president Amit Shah says, “In 2011, Cadbury Éclairs heralded in the New Year with another exciting addition to its fold – the new Cadbury Eclairs Rich Brownie. Our rebranding decision is based on this philosophy of product innovation and not so much on what is going on in the market place. Also, we hold the global copyrights for Choclairs and thought the time is right to introduce this name in India to align with the global brand name for the candy.”

    Except India, the candy from the house of Cadbury has globally been known as Choclairs. And it’s not just the name that has changed; there some specific positive product innovation as well in order to give consumers a new experience with every bite of Choclairs. Adds Shah, “Apart from enabling us to align with the global brand name, this name change will also help consumers distinguish our brand, the original Cadbury candy, from other branded and unbranded Eclairs available in the market.”

    And since old habits take time to die, the launch is accompanied by a 360 degree campaign to generate rapid awareness about the change. Television is, of course, the key medium that introduces the new brand name. However, the TV campaign is also supported by a radio campaign, print inserts, cinema campaign and social media activation.

    Besides, to reach consumers in small towns, the brand has opted for cyber cafe integrations with a branded jigsaw puzzle and Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) integration with Cadbury Choclairs caller tune. All these initiatives along with trade activation have been initiated to create awareness and build the excitement amongst consumers for Cadbury Choclairs.

    Contract Advertising has been brought on board to work on the campaign.

  • Star TV UK debuts on Sky’s on demand service

    Star TV UK debuts on Sky’s on demand service

    MUMBAI: The News Corp owned Star TV UK has got all its channels onto Sky Digital’s on demand service and has become the first Asian broadcaster to do so. With this, Star’s programmes will be available ‘on demand’ to Sky customers at no additional cost.

    More than 3.4 million homes have their set top boxes connected to the broadband to enjoy this catch up service.

     

    Four channels are available in the Star TV pack- Star Plus, Star Gold, Life Ok and Star Jalsha.

  • Zee Lamhe launches on Freeview in UK

    Zee Lamhe launches on Freeview in UK

    MUMBAI: Zee’s entertainment channel, Lamhe, has found a place on Freeview in the Greater Manchester area as a part of the basic digital terrestrial service. Estimates put the reach of the channel at 1.2 million and increasing the reach of Zee Lamhe to 13 million homes in UK.

    Lamhe was launched earlier this year to showcase good quality south Asian entertainment such as drama, classics and Bollywood, lifestyle, cookery and travel. The FTA channel is also available on Sky Digital.

     

    Speaking to media247, Zee FTA channels business head Archana Kanade said, “Lamhe has been going from strength to strength in a short period of time since it started broadcasting earlier this year in June. The channel offers a distinct viewing experience by offering content that is not available anywhere else and it is outperforming other GEC channels that have been in the market for longer and beating them at certain slots since being BARB rated. Over 10% of Manchester’s population is South Asian, with Freeview being a popular platform here. It is great that an even wider audience will now be able to enjoy the unique offerings of Lamhe.”

    Lamhe broadcasts old shows that it feels is of quality that can engage UK viewers.  Freeview is UK’s only FTA digital terrestrial TV service.

  • Zee TV is the only gainer in Week 48

    Zee TV is the only gainer in Week 48

    MUMBAI: As the alleged rape case involving Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal and a female journalist working with the magazine unfolded last week, the focus of Indian television viewers seem to have shifted from the general entertainment channels to the news channels.

    Otherwise there’s no reason for almost all the general entertainment channels (GECs) to witness a drop in its ratings in the week 48 of TAM TV ratings. It was just Zee TV that has gained with 448,553 GVTs (433,447), though it maintains its third position in the chart. Star Plus continues to lead with 548,331 GVTs (560,497) followed by Colors that has registered 478,534 GVTs (513,415).

    Life OK continues to be at number four with 334,327 GVTs (335,013), Sab TV with 269,269 GVTs (308,133) is at number five. Sony continues to be at number six with 238,987 GVTs (269,332). Sahara One is still lagging behind and is at the bottom of the ratings list with 33,691 GVTs (30,429).

    Coming back to the chart topper, Star Plus, its most popular and loved show in the prime-time slot seems to be losing out on viewers. This time Diya Aur Baati Hum has registered only 11,449 TVTs (12,298). Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, another popular offering from the channel too registered 7,329 TVTs (7,863). Even the viewership of Pyar Ka Dard Hai went down as it scored 6,661 TVTs (7,351). However, Sath Nibhana Saathiya managed enough to balance it out. The show registered 8,683 TVTs (8,290). The epic series Mahabharat too notched up and scored 7,170 TVTs (6,835). And surprisingly, the ratings of Saraswati Chandra too went up. It registered 5,367 TVTs (5,071). The ratings of popular celebrity dance reality show, Nach Baliye, however didn’t witness much change and registered 4,267 TVTs (4,736).

    Colors longest running and the most popular fiction series, Balika Vadhu generated 6,513 TVTs (6,684), while Madhubala – Ek Ishq Ek Junoon scored 4,329 TVTs (4,749). Uttaran that has been on-air on the channel since quite some time now also witnessed a significant rise and rated 4,031 TVTs (3,645). However, Comedy Nights with Kapil that has been tickling the funny bones of the audience and has been really popular seems to have lost its charm this week and has witnessed a drop with 7,851 TVTs (8,464). The international series 24 starring Anil Kapoor has also failed to click with the audience and has registered 2,797 TVTs (3,058 TVTs). The unfolding romance and drama in the celebrity-reality show Bigg Boss too hasn’t worked too well for the channel as even that has lost out on viewers. Bigg Boss registered 5,102 TVTs (5,491).

    For Zee TV, its period drama Jodha Akbar seems to have worked well. The ratings of the show notched up taking its tally to 10,182 TVTs (9,801). Its sitcom Bh se Bhade too managed enough viewers and scored 2,079 TVTs (1,650). Even the ratings of Qubool Hai registered 5,862 TVTs (5,830). The ratings of Pavitra Rishta and Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se escalated as well with 5,468 TVTs (5,043) and 5,369 TVTs (5,019) respectively. Its popular dance reality show, Dance India Dance 4, however witnessed a drop and scored 4,323 TVTs (4,666) during the weekend.

    Fourth placed, Life OK witnessed a slight rise in its popular mythological series Mahadev and managed 3,312 TVTs (3,212). Even its new horror series Khauff Begins fared well in the first week with 2,539 TVTs. The ratings of Ek Boond Ishq and Do Dil Ek Jaan remained stable with 2,833 TVTs (2,834) and 1,491 TVTs (1,494) respectively. Crime-based show Shapath witnessed a huge drop and generated 3,055 TVTs (4,057). Crime-based show Savdhaan India scored 3,024 TVTs (3,035). Tumhari Paakhi managed to grab enough eye balls to take its TVT to 2,183 TVTs (1,877).

    Sab’s fiction show, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah that has been keeping viewers in splits since last few years, has lost viewership it seems as it registered just 7,647 TVTs (8,856). Even Chidiya Ghar saw a significant drop and generated 2,935 TVTs (3,479). Lapataganj saw a slight dip as well and generated 1,769 TVTs (1,921). Baalveer registered 2,643 TVTs (3,293).

    Almost all the shows on Sony witnessed a drop in its ratings. Even its longest running crime series CID that has been really popular with the viewers witnessed a drop with 4,600 TVTs (5,254). Even Crime Patrol managed just 2,964 TVTs (3,255). The channel’s historical show Maharana Pratap recorded 2,733 TVTs (3,054), while quiz show KBC witnessed a drop and registered 3,248 TVTs (3,738). Other fiction shows either maintained a stable position or dipped marginally during the week. Its horror flick, Bhoot Aaya doesn’t seem to entice viewers as it registered only 1,423 TVTs (1,662).

    In the movie channel genre, Zee Cinema reported 253,575 GVTs (197,512); Star Gold registered 181,167 GVTs (178,122) and Movies OK scored 133,805 GVTs (127,470). On the other hand, &pictures witnessed a huge drop and scored 81,291 GVTs (112,609), Zee Anmol registered 55,524 GVTs (46,088) and Max scored 129,948 GVTs (200,508).

    While all the GECs have maintained a stable position this week with only Zee TV gaining few extra points, let’s see what’s in store for the channels in the coming weeks.

  • Infocom 2013 kicks off in Kolkata today

    Infocom 2013 kicks off in Kolkata today

    KOLKATA: The twelfth edition of Infocom, a three-day annual Information Technology (IT) conclave from the Kolkata-headquartered media company, ABP group, kicked off in the city today.

     
    Driving IT awareness and envisioning organisations and individuals to be IT enabled has been of prime focus of the conclave every year. Now in its 12th edition, Infocom has chosen “Empowerment” as the theme for 2013. The focus of the conclave this year would be on digital empowerment and also on empowerment with innovation and creativity.

     

    ABP managing director and CEO DD Purkayastha on the sidelines of the event said that with India envisioning to become a developed nation in the next few years, there is a growing need to incorporate the concept of creativity in our developmental planning. “And with the aid of technology we also have to drive innovations. These would be areas under focus this year,” he said.

     

    “When we talk about empowerment, the emphasis is on the fact that we want to empower individual consumers, citizens of the country as well as organizations digitally, technologically, socially, gender-wise, educationally, occupationally and many more ways. India needs young entrepreneurs,” he said.

     

    West Bengal IT minister Partha Chatterjee, who inaugurated the event said, “Despite economic downturn, the IT exports from the state stood at Rs 11,200 crore in the last fiscal year 2012-13 as compared to Rs 9,500 crore achieved in the financial year 2011-12. The IT industry gives direct employment to around 1.30 lakh IT professionals and an indirect employment to around 6 lakh people in the state.”

     

    The event is expected to bring together over 1,200 delegates, 75 speakers and 40 sponsoring companies. Besides, more than 100 exhibitors from across the globe would display their products and services.

  • Zee Khana Khazana gears up for The Urban Cook show

    Zee Khana Khazana gears up for The Urban Cook show

    MUMBAI:  Zee Khana Khazana, a 24-hour food channel, is launching a new show ‘The Urban Cook’. The show hosted by Chef Sabyasachi Gorai will make home cooking quick, simple, comforting and delicious with a recipies designed for the urban audiences who have little time to cook in their day-to-day schedules.

     

    On the concept of the show, Zee Khana Khazana business head Amit Nair stated: “The urban life style is full of challenges, endless work with very less time. With such action packed days, we may skip cooking and end up munching on quick bites and order out, but doing so regularly takes a toll on both your health and pocket.”

     

    “Considering all these factors, we at Zee Khana Khazana conceptualized the ‘The Urban Cook’ – an Instructional and entertaining Food Show especially designed for Urbanites. It is a proven fact that cooking is also a stress buster and The Urban Cook will help drive home that point through its method of instruction.  It is sure to hit the right spot with every urbanite in every fast-paced city,” he added.

     

    The show will premier on 14 December and will air on weekends at 8.30pm, with repeats on Monday to Friday at 10pm.