ITV

Category: GECs

  • WarnerMedia names Jason Kilar as CEO

    WarnerMedia names Jason Kilar as CEO

    MUMBAI: WarmerMedia has announced that media, entertainment and technology executive Jason Kilar will be its new CEO, effective 1 May. He will report to AT&T president and chief operating officer John Stankey.

     “Jason is a dynamic executive with the right skill set to lead WarnerMedia into the future. His experience in media and entertainment, direct-to-consumer video streaming and advertising is the perfect fit for WarnerMedia, and I am excited to have him lead the next chapter of WarnerMedia’s storied success,” said Stankey. “Our team led by Bob Greenblatt, Ann Sarnoff, Gerhard Zeiler and Jeff Zucker has done an amazing job establishing our brands as leaders in the hearts and minds of consumers. Adding Jason to the talented WarnerMedia family as we launch HBO Max in May gives us the right management team to strategically position our leading portfolio of brands, world-class talent and rich library of intellectual property for future growth.”

    “In partnership with this world-class team, I'm so excited for the opportunity to lean into the future at WarnerMedia,” said Kilar. “Stories well told have always mattered, and they matter even more in this challenging time for the world. It will be a privilege to invent, create, and serve with so many talented people. 1 May can't get here soon enough.”

    Kilar previously was the founding CEO of Hulu and SVP at Amazon. He was CEO of Hulu from its start in 2007 until 2013. He served in several leadership positions at Amazon from 1997 to 2006, including SVP of Worldwide Application Software. Also, Kilar was co-founder & CEO of video streaming service Vessel from 2013 to 2017. Additionally, he served as a board member at DreamWorks Animation (2013-2016) and Univision Communications (2016-2020). He holds a bachelor’s degree (journalism & business) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

  • Viacom18 announces financial aid to production workers

    Viacom18 announces financial aid to production workers

    MUMBAI: In the wake of the fast-spreading Covid-19, Viacom18 will financially support all daily-wage earners engaged with the production of all its original content across India, said a company release. The company will now make select content available for public broadcaster Doordarshan’s viewers, thus keeping them entertained with the very best of stories

    This is part of a slew of measures to ensure that audiences continue to remain entertained while being socially responsible. 

    Additionally, Viacom18 has partnered with GiveIndia to roll out a nationwide fundraising campaign to support daily wage earners across industries. Frontlined by contribution from its own employees, the company will be launching a social media campaign to encourage Indians to contribute, and will match the corpus collected. 

    In an attempt to make content easily available to its viewers across the country, Viacom18 will be making Colors Rishtey available as a Free-To-Air channel until further notice. 

    Viacom18 will also continue to amplify awareness and messaging around best practises during these times through its new public sector awareness campaign #RahoSafeGharPe. The campaign will stress on the need to stay home, wash hands frequently, and practise social distancing. The PSA will run on all Viacom18 network channels, its OTT platform VOOT and its social media channels. 

    Speaking on the numerous efforts being made at an organizational level, Viacom18 Group CEO and Managing Director Sudhanshu Vats said: “Unprecedented times like these demand for measures that are special, generous and speedy. The COVID-19 outbreak has created tremendous disruption across the nation. Even during such times, constant efforts are being made to ensure that our viewers are being entertained while being educated about the situation. Despite the risks, a few of our employees have stayed back at our offices thus ensuring that viewers get their daily dose of entertainment. We have been ensuring they are safe and are following safety measures.  We have always believed that the onus rests upon us in giving back to society in times of need.  We have extended support to all those daily wage workers that have been supporting us round the clock during production schedules. As a media company, we will continue to play a responsible role in echoing the larger message and extend support in all possible manners to help curtail the pandemic.”

    Furthermore, supporting the Cellular Operators Association of India’s (COAI) massive efforts in ensuring that the existing bandwidth is not over-stretched, Viacom18’s over-the-top platform, VOOT, has temporarily reduced its HD and (ultra-HD) streaming to SD quality to prevent infrastructure overload. This effort is being made considering the potential impact on the cellular network infrastructure caused by the unpredictable surge in mobile network consumption as people are staying indoors.

  • Sony Pal, Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey free to viewers for two months

    Sony Pal, Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey free to viewers for two months

    MUMBAI:  Four leading broadcasters have come forward to waive off all tariffs and charges for a period of two months, informed the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). Sony Pal, Star Utsav, Zee Anmol and Colors Rishtey will be available to all the viewers.

    IBF says, "While the constituents of the IBF face significant uncertainties, given the impact on advertising revenue for the industry due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we stand together to support the government’s effort to help people in these difficult times. As there is a state of lockdown in the country and the government has urged the people to maintain 'social distancing' and stay at home, four major broadcasting networks have come forward and decided to waive off all tariffs and charges for four channels for a period of two months." 

    Sony-run Sony Pal, Star India-run Star Utsav, Zee TV-operated Zee Anmol and Viacom18’s Colors Rishtey will be available to all viewers across the country for a period of two months free of charge on all DTH and cable networks.The broadcasting fraternity feels that this will provide people who are restricted to their homes, wholesome entertainment and invigorating content and will help provide relief during the period of lockdown.  

  • COVID-19 to impact 2020 ad rev estimates: FICCI-EY report

    COVID-19 to impact 2020 ad rev estimates: FICCI-EY report

    MUMBAI: The rapid spread of COVID-19 has fractured the whole world, particularly hitting India’s economy, which could have a drastic impact on the predicted advertising revenues for 2020, says FICCI and EY India’s media and entertainment report 2020.

    According to the report, “the coronavirus’ impact on various segments of M&E could include postponement or cancellation of events, impact on theatrical revenues due to loss of weekends, stoppage of print production or circulation in impacted areas, newsprint import blockage, stoppage or delay of content production and post-production, etc.”

    Already, a majority of sporting events at both international and local levels have been postponed or cancelled, including the first-ever postponement of 2020’s Tokyo Olympics. Even tech seminars and auto events are being scrapped one after another to curb the spread of the virus. FICCI’s own international convention – FICCI Frames – had also been postponed. The event was scheduled to take place between 18-20 March.

    The report estimated that the pandemic will cause disruption across the sector in the world, reducing the global economy by 0.5 per cent in 2020. “Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reduced its growth forecast for India by 1.1 per cent for 2020, despite it being the fastest-growing major economy in the world,” says the report. The country’s growth was expected to be around five per cent, which is higher than the global average of around 2.5 per cent. India’s expected growth rate is a little higher than that of China.

    Reaffirming a positive stance for India in the future, the report expects that despite a growth slowdown in 2019 and 2020, India is expected to regain its position as a global growth leader. As a glimmer of hope, the report mentions that the positive angle is the increased time that people will spend with media in their homes. This is likely to boost media consumption and sampling.

    Giving a fresh statement on the current economic situation of the world, International Monetary Fund’s chief Kristalina Georgieva in her online press briefing said: “It is now clear that we have entered a recession as bad or worse than in 2009.” Her statement came on the back of unstoppable cases of coronavirus that has created a financial stir across the globe.

    Projecting a recovery in 2021, Georgieva adds: “There may be a sizeable rebound, but only if we succeed with containing the virus everywhere and prevent liquidity problems from becoming a solvency issue. A sudden stop of the world economy could create a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs.”

  • Colors brings back four old shows to entertain viewers

    Colors brings back four old shows to entertain viewers

    MUMBAI:  Colors is bringing back four of its old shows to keep entertaining its viewers in the current challenging environment. Rightfully picked to cover a variety ranging from comedy, drama,  slice of life, and reality shows, the channel will enable viewers to enjoy their time at home. The channel will air Belan Wali Bahu and Bhaag Bakool Bhaag from 5-6 pm. Sidharth Shukla and Rashmi Desai-starrer love story, Dil Se Dil Tak, returns at 6 pm from 30 March onwards.

    The early primetime will be followed by the current fiction line-up starting with Vidya, Choti Sarrdaarni, Shakti…Astitva Ke Ehsaas Kii, Barrister Babu, Shubharambh and Naati Pinky Ki Lambi Love Story. The unparalleled leader of entertainment, Bigg Boss 13 has already started airing from 23 March at 10 pm. 

    Viacom18 Hindi Mass Entertainment  Chief Content Officer Manisha Sharma says, “We are going through unprecedented times. However, as audience’s preferred channel, COLORS wants to make sure that in these social-distancing times, we provide you with wholesome entertainment for the entire family ranging from original shows to seasoned shows across genres. To drive away your lockdown blues, we are presenting dedicated blocks for comedy, drama, romance to give you the best of the best content. As we all try to get ahead of the pandemic, we want to continue to be your companion for everything entertainment.”

  • M&E industry grew by almost 9% to reach Rs 1.82 tn in 2019: FICCI – EY report

    M&E industry grew by almost 9% to reach Rs 1.82 tn in 2019: FICCI – EY report

    MUMBAI: The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector reached RS 1.82 trillion (US$25.7 billion) in 2019, a growth of 9 per cent over 2018 states the FICCI EY report ‘The era of consumer A.R.T. – Acquisition Retention and Transaction,’ launched today. With its current trajectory, the M&E sector in India is expected to cross INR2.4 trillion (US$34 billion) by 2022, at a CAGR of 10 per cent*.

    While television and print retained their positions as the two largest segments, digital media overtook filmed entertainment in 2019 to become the third largest segment of the M&E sector. Digital subscription revenues more than doubled from 2018 levels and digital advertising revenues grew to command 24 per cent of total advertising spend.

    The sector continues to grow at a rate faster than the GDP, driven primarily by growth in subscription-based business models and India’s attractiveness as a content production and post production destination.

    The rapid proliferation of mobile access is enabling on-demand, anytime-anywhere content consumption nationwide. With a population of 1.3 billion, a tele-density approaching 89% of households, 688 million internet subscribers and nearly 400 million smartphone users, India’s telecom industry is poised to become the primary platform for content distribution and consumption. India ranks as one of the fastest-growing app markets globally, where entertainment apps are driving significant consumer engagement.

    Online gaming retained its position as the fastest growing segment on the back of transaction-based games mainly fantasy sports, increased in-app purchases and a 31 per cent growth in the number of online gamers to reach around 365 million.

    Uday Shankar, Senior Vice President FICCI, said, “Riding the wave of exponential progress made towards digital accessibility and adoption, the M&E industry has been a forerunner of a dynamic and aspirational India. New products and business models are being imagined to capitalize on the rise in media consumption. Global players are recognizing the need to build India-centric offerings. The coming years are likely to usher in greater innovation in content formats, means of dissemination, and business models.”

    Ashish Pherwani, Partner and Media & Entertainment Leader, EY India, stated, “The M&E sector witnessed a surge in content consumption as digital infrastructure, quantum of content produced and per-capita income increased in 2019.  Driven by the ability to create direct-to-customer relationships, the sector firmly pivoted towards a B2C operating model, changing the way it measured itself. As entertainment and information options grew and choice increased the era of consumer Acquisition, Retention and Transaction (ART) redefined the media value chain leading to the emergence of many new trends and strategies across content, distribution, consumption and monetization.”

    “The coronavirus outbreak will have a significant adverse impact on the sector, the situation is still evolving both in India and many parts of the world, the scale of the impact cannot be estimated immediately,” he added.

    Key findings

    Television:

    The TV industry grew from Rs 740 billion to INR 788 billion in 2019, a growth of 6.5 per cent. TV advertising grew 5 per cent to Rs 320 billion while subscription grew 7 per cent to Rs 468 billion. Regional channels benefited from the New Tariff Order as their consumption increased by over 20% in certain cases. General entertainment and movie channels led with 74 per cent of viewership. On the back of several key announcements by the central and state governments such as Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and a general election, the news genre witnessed a growth to almost 9 per cent of total viewership, up from 7.3 per cent in 2018. In sports cricket emerged as the big winner in 2019 as it accounted for over 80 per cent of the sports viewership, up from 70 per cent last year, due to the ICC World Cup.

    Key insights – Television will remain the largest earner of advertising revenues even in 2025, approaching Rs570 billion. Viewership of regional language channels will continue to grow and reach 55 per cent of total viewership in India as their content quality improves further. Content viewed on smart TV sets will begin to reflect that consumed on mobile phones, providing a window for user generated content companies and other non-broadcasters to serve content on the connected television screen.

    Print:

    Despite a 3 per cent revenue degrowth at Rs 296 billion, print continued to retain the second largest share of the Indian M&E sector. Circulation revenues increased by 2 per cent to Rs 90 billion as newspaper companies tactically increased prices in certain markets. Advertising revenues fell 5 per cent to INR 206 billion in 2019 as AdEX volumes fell by 8 per cent. Margins improved as newsprint cost measures were implemented and companies benefited from the reduction of newsprint prices.

    Key insights – 2019 witnessed a significant growth in digital news consumers over 2018 when 300 million Indians consumed news online. Most large print companies had a defined digital business, with two companies crossing Rs 1 billion in digital revenues. Digital subscription, though nascent, has increased as several publications have put digital products behind a paywall.

    ·Digital media:

    In 2019, digital media grew 31 per cent to reach INR 221 billion and is expected to grow at 23 per cent CAGR to reach Rs 414 billion by 2022. Digital advertising grew 24 per cent to Rs 192 billion driven by increased consumption of content on digital platforms and marketeers’ preference to measure performance. SME and long tail advertisers increased their spends on digital media as well.  Pay digital subscribers crossed 10 million for the first time as sports and other premium content were put behind a paywall.  Consequently, subscription revenue grew 106 per cent to Rs 29 billion. Digital consumption grew across platforms where video viewers increased by 16 pe cent, audio streamers by 33% and news consumers by 22 per cent.

    Key insights: By 2020, OTT subscription market will approximate 10 per cent of the total TV subscription market (without, however, considering data charges).  We estimate over 40 million connected TVs by 2025, which will provide a huge opportunity for content creators to reach family consumers.  Better bandwidth will drive large screen consumption. By 2025, 750 million smart phone screens will also increase the demand for regional, UGC and short content, creating a short video ecosystem that can create significant employment.  The battle for content discovery will intensity and move to the unified interface.

    ·Films:

    The Indian film segment grew 10 per cent in 2019 to reach INR 191 billion driven by the growth in domestic theatrical revenues and both rates and volume of digital/ OTT rights sold. Domestic film revenues crossed INR 115 billion with Gross Box Office collections for Hindi films at Rs 49.5 billion – the highest ever for Hindi theatricals. Overseas theatricals revenues fell 10 per cenr to Rs 27 billion despite more films being released abroad primarily as films with superstars didn’t perform as well in 2019. 108 Hollywood films were released in 2019 as compared to 98 in 2018. The gross box office collections of Hollywood films in India (inclusive of all their Indian language dubbed versions) grew 33 per cent to reach Rs 16 billion. As single screens continued to reduce, the total screen count decreased by 74 to 9,527.

    Key Insights: Digital rights continued to grow in 2019 with an increase in revenues from Rs 13.5 billion in 2018 to Rs 19 billion in 2019. Digital release windows shortened with some movies releasing on OTT platforms even before their release on television. In-cinema advertising grew marginally to Rs 7.7 billion in 2019 as multiplexes and advertising aggregators started signing long-term deals with brands. Seventeen hindi films entered the coveted Rs 100 crore club in 2019, which is the highest ever. Interestingly, six movies made it to the rs 200 crore club in 2019, as opposed to three in 2018. The future will be driven by immersive content (technology and VFX rich) experiences to drive theatrical footfalls and some genres of films could migrate to home viewership only.  We can expect to see creation of a segmented Hindi-mass product for the heartland at low ticket prices.

    Mergers and Acquisitions in M&E

    While the number of deals increased to 64 in 2019 from 41 in 2018, the overall deal value was

     much lower at Rs 101 billion as compared to Rs 192 billion in the previous year. This was largely due to the absence of big-ticket deals with only four deals crossing the US$100 million threshold. The highest amount of investment was made in television, followed by digital, radio and gaming. Deal activity was spearheaded by new media such as digital and gaming, which witnessed 54 of the 64 deals in 2019, however, in terms of deal value, the share of traditional media segments such as TV, radio and film exhibition was 63 per cent.

  • Zee TV brings Alt Balaji’s OTT premium content on TV

    Zee TV brings Alt Balaji’s OTT premium content on TV

    MUMBAI: The Covid-19 pandemic is changing the paradigm of the businesses across the world. Now, it’s converging content of linear television and streaming services sooner than expected. It's been touted long that television as a device serves as an extension of digital medium and a collaborative and complementing ecosystem is in making.

    While last year Alt Balaji and ZEE5  stuck a content sharing deal, Zee Tv has come up with an innovative strategy of offering fresh OTT premium content to the television viewers on the back of that partnership. The channel is all set to air the three Alt Balaji's shows – Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat, Baarish and Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain – to TV viewers. Considerably, these three shows have the potential to attract traditional GEC audience. Moreover, the audience is already familiar with faces like Ram Kapoor, Sakshi Tanwar, Mona Singh, Ronit Roy.

    In the wake of Covid-19 crisis, the Indian film and television industry decided to halt shooting for films, TV and web shows from 19 March to 31. After the recent announcement of 21-day lockdown across the country, it is now uncertain when the shooting will restart. Major TV broadcasters have been impacted mostly by the decision as they are not able to churn new episodes of daily soaps.

    Now, starting March 25, viewers can get hooked on to finite series like Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat, Baarish and Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain for the first time on television between 9 PM and 11 pm every week. 

    Karle Tu Mohabbat, starring Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar, is about a struggling superstar recovering from his addiction to alcohol, and his new counsellor. It will follow the story of how the superstar and the counsellor fall in love while at his estranged daughters’ wedding and all the drama that ensues. Karle Tu Mohabbat will air from 9 pm to 10 pm, Baarish will air at 10 pm and at 10.30 pm slot Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain is scheduled on Zee TV.

    Ekta Kapoor tweeted: "We can’t do anything to help our viewers but entertain them during these tough times so this gem from our library for you all! Your favorite pair #SakshiTanwar & @RamKapoor 
    are back from tonight 9-10pm in #karletubhimohabat on TV! Enjoy the show while you're home & be safe!"

    She further says: "Very tough times but we will get through this together. Since we cannot make any more episodes of #kumkumbhagya #kundalibhagya, we have extended our family shows to @ZeeTV so from 9pm to 10pm instead of Karan-Preeta or Abhi-Pragya, you will see tipsy and karan! For all those of you asking for #Baarish on TV. From tonight 10 pm watch this sweet love story on @ZeeTV everyday! We are bringing the rains with this simple drama! Hoping the weather of doom changes! Stay home stay safe."

    Zee TV Business Head Aparna Bhosle said: “In times where social distancing is the need of the hour to curb the outbreak of Covid-19 and people are spending more time indoors, the idea is to provide audiences with the most engaging entertainment for the entire family. We have a new 9 to 11 PM band with three new finite series – Karle Tu Mohabbat, Baarish and Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, that will reassure viewers that we can conquer the biggest challenges with the power of love. Each of the shows has strong TV faces that the masses are closely attached to. We are also reintroducing classics like Kasamh Se and Brahmrakshas as well as faciltating binge-watches of crowd favourites – Kundali Bhagya and Kumkum
    Bhagya, so that the audience has a wide variety of content to view and can enjoy this extended family time together.”  

    Baarish, airing at 10 pm slot, stars Sharman Joshi and Asha Negi. The show will explore the lives of two strangers from starkly different backgrounds. While Anuj (Sharman) is a Gujarati businessman, who had left studies at a tender age to take over the family business, Gauravi (Asha) is a Maharashtrian girl who feels education is of prime importance and works in Anuj’s company. When the two get married because of their families, will they realise they are like chalk and cheese or fall in love eventually? Only time will tell!

    At 10:30 PM, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain delves into the love triangle between a chartered accountant Rohit (Ronit Roy), his wife Poonam (Gurdeep Kohli) and an interior designer Ananya (Mona Singh). Initially, everything seems hunky-dory in the family, but when the actual truth comes out, everyone is shocked. Will Rohit stay with Poonam or will he sacrifice his whole family for Ananya? Tune into Zee TV to find out!
    Apart from these three shows, viewers can binge-watch some of the most intriguing episodes of cult favourite shows such as Kumkum Bhagya and Kundali Bhagya, which have been planned from 7 pm to 8 pm and 8 pm to 9 pm respectively, Monday to Friday. Popular Zee TV classics like Ram Kapoor – Prachi Desai’s Kasam Se and Krystle D’Souza, Parag Tyagi and Kishwer Merchant’s Brahmarakshas will also be reintroduced on the channel and will air from 2 pm to 3 pm and 5 pm to 6 pm respectively.

  • Viacom18 beats Monday Blues with fun social media chatter within its brands

    Viacom18 beats Monday Blues with fun social media chatter within its brands

    MUMBAI: The coronavirus outbreak has brought dramatic changes in our lifestyle. To slow down the spread of the pandemic in the country, we have been asked to maintain social distancing. This Monday could have been more gloomy than usual. But, Viacom18 brands started social chatter within themselves to beat the Monday Blues.

    Using #LetsBinge, the brands started talking to each other.  Led by the mother brand, Viacom18, all the other brands followed. From COLORS that encouraged binge watching on VOOT to VOOT that asked MTV India to help it choose between COLORS and MTV shows, to MTV and Vh1 providing music to the background and much more. It also included Viacom18 Motion Pictures or any of our regional channels behind. All in all, it became a long banter chain between Viacom18's channels, whether on air or digital, Hindi or kids or English entertainment, movies or the regional cluster. 

    “We love being close to our fans and engaging with them. So we thought, why not have a social chatter with all our brands; a fun banter on a usually 'blues' Monday, and use the might of the network for something cool. When Viacom18 tagged COLORS and said #letsbinge, COLORS tagged Voot, and so on the chain cut across our channels and reached about 10 million followers. Now that's the power of the digital medium in times of quarantine. We had fun while engaging with our fans and sending out our message to them to watch our content, while sitting at home,” Viacom 18 Corporate Marketing, Communications and Sustainability head Sonia Huria said.

    Through the conversation, the brands wittly highlighted the popular shows and movies available across its portfolio including Barrister Babu, Big Boss, Asur,Marzi, Andhadhun, FRIENDS. While all the brands are constantly reminding people to stay home, there are chances to sound as panic monger and preachy or awkward and opportunistic others. Viacom18 found a different and creative way to stay connected with the audience ruling out both the possibilities. 

  • Viacom18 network to air PSA around CoVid 2019 at 5 pm today

    Viacom18 network to air PSA around CoVid 2019 at 5 pm today

    MUMBAI: Even as a billion Indians have heeded prime minister Narendra Modi’s call for a curfew since this morning and as millions of them are getting ready to clap and clang their food plates from balcony’s and windows at 5 pm today, Viacom 18 has announced an initiative called #PauseForACause. Cheer and Applause. campaign across all its media assets.

    #PauseForACause. Cheer and Applause. is a social awareness and public awareness announcement inclined campaign that urges viewers across all platforms to pause, remember and appreciate efforts and contributions of all those who are providing essential services in the fight against COVID-19, practise social distancing and support the Janta Curfew.

    #PauseForACause. Cheer and Applause. will be front lined by a 310 seconds ad that will air once on all Viacom18 channels simultaneously at 4:59:50PM on 22 March 2020. Viacom18 will further use its reach on its social media channels as well as on its OTT platform VOOT thus amplifying the message in the digital ecosystem.

    Speaking on the initiative, Viacom18 group CEO & MD Sudhanshu Vats said: “At Viacom18, we are deeply invested towards using our presence to create awareness around issues however large or small. We have always leveraged the power of storytelling to ensure that our viewers become more socially responsible while being entertained. The current health and social crisis has created unprecedented disruption at the national and global level.

    While constant efforts are being made by the Government to keep it in control, we would like to play a small role to amplify the message. Keeping this in mind, we would like to pay our tribute to medical, paramedical and all other professionals who have been providing round the clock support during this pandemic with our campaign #PauseForACause – Cheer and Applause. We are deeply grateful for all their efforts. We urge citizens to practice social distancing, avoid travel & social gatherings at a personal level to help the Government flatten the curve for the greater good of the society.”

  • Quarantunes for the quarantined!

    Quarantunes for the quarantined!

    MUMBAI: Vh1 is turning the boring quarantine into lovely Quarantunes! As more and more stay-at-home people are tuning in to home entertainment options in these times of COVID-19 pandemic, Vh1 has got something special in-store: a playlist with the most popular songs handpicked.

    It recently launched a new special – Vh1 Quarantunes. The channel will curate a special playlist daily which will encompass the most popular songs handpicked just to ensure viewers don’t get bored. For example, tracks from international sensations such as Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Kayne West, Katy Perry, and Miley Cyrus featured on the playlist on Thursday.

    Through this initiative, Vh1 India is asking viewers to stay home while they groove to tunes of the globe’s top-notch artists. Vh1 Quarantunes began on 18 March and will air at 1 pm daily.

    Vh1 Quarantunes will be in line with the channel’s other shows such as Vh1 Top 10, a weekly playlist of the top 10 songs in the country which airs on Saturdays at 7 pm and Vh1 Trending which airs the most trending songs of the week across cities and in India which airs on Sundays at 7 pm.

    Analysts are predicting that consumers’ media consumption tends to rise during broadly disruptive events. As India’s biggest cricket showbiz IPL has been delayed, GECs have stopped churning new episodes; niche channels now have the opportunity to pick up on the back of innovative programming.