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  • MediaCom South Asia president Jasmin Sohrabji

    MediaCom South Asia president Jasmin Sohrabji

    The Indian media industry today boasts of some powerful and intelligent women who have, through their incessant hard work and grit, found their place under the sun. In the second of the series – Ms. Media: 25 Women Who Matter – we tried to find out what MediaCom South Asia president Jasmin Sohrabji is all about and what it took her to get to the top!

    Jasmin has been in the industry for the last 16 years and is looked upon as “one of the most brilliant media professionals the industry has had in a long long time.” She is one of the members of Tam India’s Joint Industry Body (JIB) Committee, which advises Tam on corrections and also guide them about the placement of samples in newer areas.

    Sporting an MA in Economics and an MBA, this double postgraduate joined Trikaya Grey (now Grey worldwide) in 1989 after a short stint with Contract. Within Grey, she was sent to Bangalore in 1996 to set up the media department after the agency won the Wrigley account. Under her guidance MediaCom was launched in September 1996. The lady then packed her bags and was off to Indonesia to head the MediaCom operation there, where she worked on clients like Proctor & Gamble (P&G), GlaxoSmithKlien (GSK) and British American Tobacco (BAT).

    After a year, Jas (as she’s popularly called in the industry) zoomed off to New York to work on MediaCom clients – P&G and GSK – in the US. There she was also instrumental in training the US, South American, Eastern Europe and Asian markets on MediaCom’s proprietary optimiser tool – Maxis.

    Jasmin returned to Indian soil in 1999 and now heads MediaCom South Asia as president along with co-president Harish Shriyan. In addition to MediaCom South Asia (Bangladesh and Sri Lanka), Jasmin was also responsible for the P&G planning for the P&G AAI GBU including nine Asian countries.

    Her mantra for always being ahead of the others in this game is research. Today, MediaCom is known for its extensive research and has also won a lot of laurels through awards. In an environment where television ratings drive most decisions that media planners and buyers make, Jasmin has made it a point to go beyond mere ratings and churn out addressable solutions for the agency’s clients through extensive research. It’s no wonder that MediaCom has been consistently winning the Emvies for their research papers.

    Credit goes to her for giving the media industry two landmark research papers. The first one is TeleOsmosis, which is a paper on light TV viewers, which was a first for India. This research is an important input into TV optimisation and has won a Silver at the Emvies. What’s more, light TV viewer planning has become part of the media planning norm. Her second paper demonstrated the impact of multiple TV sets penetration on television viewing and therefore television planning and optimising. This paper – set2view – won three awards at the Emvies last year — the Gold for Best Media Research; the Grand Emvie for the best entry across all categories and the Tam cash award for Best TV Research.

    We asked this MediaCom loyalist, (who only dresses in black), whether she would be game to shift to an entirely new profession for the challenge of it. “I totally love what I do, but if a challenge comes my way I would be open to consider. But it’s not really about the challenge, the work content has to interest me! There are some sectors that are extremely challenging, but don’t interest me in the least. The business has to engage me before I engage the consumer,” she confidently replies.

    Being in the media industry for close to 16 years, Jasmin has a keen eye on what the future holds for the television and media industry. “The future will get more and more consumer focused, where on the one hand non-traditional touch points will be sought to effectively address the consumers, while on the other hand television planning will get further sophisticated in its attempt to not just reach out to numbers, but reach relevant quality consumers. Studies such as multi-set analysis on viewing impact will become more the order of the day, than just ratings. What’s leading these trends are new genres, new programming formats and new transmission formats!” says Jasmin.

    A no-nonsense woman, Jasmin is keen on making the media industry attractive enough to bring in talent from across sectors. “Our industry is shrinking in its talent pool and we need fresh blood and a fresh perspective,” she opines.

    Another thing on her agenda is to elevate the media agency function in the country to its justified remunerative status.

    Her mantra in life is to work hard and shop hard! “If you’re not going to spend it, why earn it! To many it’s ‘work hard, party hard,’ for me it’s ‘work hard, shop hard’,” Jasmin confides.

    What has the industry taught her? “I have been in this agency for 16 years and one thing this place has taught me is that hard work and loyalty are valued and will help me face any challenge,” says she.

    To her, Grey is her family and will always remain close to her heart! And when she needs to get away from work, her favourite pastime is “S&S” aka “Spa & Shopping”! “My work has always given me travel opportunities and I don’t really need to ‘get away’ from work, I just need to mix work with some pleasure,” says Jasmin. She loves to shop in New York and Paris.

    When asked what her strengths and weaknesses are, she says, “Media planning is my strength and shoes are my weakness! On a more serious note, I believe my strength is my ability to nurture and motivate my people. My weakness is my inability to easily accept people who do not fit into my benchmarks of ‘good’ human beings. I try to put people into ‘black’ or ‘white’ compartments where in reality there are only shades of gray. It’s the one fault I have always been pulled up for, and it’s the one mistake I keep making.”

    Jasmin is known among her colleagues as a person who loves to give career advice. “I believe I am very philanthropic with regard to career counseling as well as career planning for both current and past employees who have worked with me in any capacity. So there are many people in whose prayers and blessings I would always be present. Apart from this, I am also involved with CRY (Child Relief and You) but at a very base level.”

    In this day and age when it doesn’t take much to lure talent from one company to the other, Jasmin has stayed on with MediaCom for 16 years, which in itself is commendable for a person her stature. “One should enjoy the work one does. It’s not enough to be successful; it’s important to enjoy doing so. The means to success should be as enjoyable as success itself. Hard work and loyalty pays and the reason why I am where I am today is because after 16 years, I am just as passionate about what I do,” signs off the lady.

     

     

  • Star Movies gets the rights to air Star Wars, Bond films

    Star Movies gets the rights to air Star Wars, Bond films

    MUMBAI: Star Movies has secured the exclusive pay-TV rights to the Star Wars and James Bond franchises for India, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

    The channel launched its Absolute Bond campaign this month, airing back-to-back features over the course of 11 weeks. This will be the first time that all 21 Bond films will air on the same channel in Asia. Star Movies is also set to showcase all six Star Wars movies, including the premiere of Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith.

    Star movies executive VP content Ross Crowley says, “2006 is going to be another banner year for Star Movies. Now the home of household names such as James Bond, Darth Vader, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, Star Movies has reinforced its position as the destination of choice for fans of Hollywood movies.”

  • New Zealand goes on an African Safari; play 3 test series against the Proteas

    New Zealand goes on an African Safari; play 3 test series against the Proteas

    New Delhi, April 14, 2006- ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s number one broadcaster, will telecast Live and exclusive, New Zealand’s African Safari starting April 15, 2006. The islanders play a 3 test series against the Proteas in continuance to their 5 ODI series in October 2005. New Zealand is the second team from the pacific to tour the African country this month after Australia.

    Kiwi premier bowler, Shane Bond, has been cleared to play the First test despite a niggling knee injury that kept the fast bowler sidelined during warm up matches. The lanky bowler has been a proven match winner for the Kiwis with an impressive record of 64 wickets in 14 tests at an average of just 17.57 runs per wicket.

    On the other hand, South African skipper Graeme Smith is struggling with his finger injury to be fit for the first test. The young Proteas captain and opening batsman has been fighting to be in shape since the last test he played against Australia in the first week of April. Jacques Kallis, who captained South Africa in that test, is on stand by to lead them in case of Smith not being declared fit.

    Kallis or Smith, the Proteas will have a big task on hand after a demoralising first ever whitewash at home in tests by Australia. The Kiwis would be looking to take their chances with the master tactician Stephen Fleming marshalling his troops ever so effectively. Fleming is arguably best captain in the game today.

    The two sides have met each other 30 times in a test match with South Africa leading the head to head count 14-6. The Kiwis would be looking to set the record straight and would look to take the series to prove their cynics wrong. New Zealand has been one of the best ODI sides but still needs to put things in perspective in Tests and they will be counting on this opportunity in South Africa.

    Catch the action live and exclusive on ESPN STAR Sports

    Schedule of the Bangladesh Vs Australia Test series

    Date
    Time
    Event
    Channel

    April 15-20, 2006
    13.58
    South Africa Vs New Zealand, First Test Match, Centurion
    ESPN

    April 27- May 1, 2006
    13.58
    South Africa Vs New Zealand, Second Test Match, Cape Town
    ESPN

    May 5-9, 2006
    13.28
    South Africa Vs New Zealand, Third Test Match, Johannesburg
    ESPN

    For further information, contact ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd at
    011-4154 4444 – 51:
    Sameer Bajaj, Manager – Corporate Communications, Email:
    sameerb@espnstar.co.in
    Or Tarundeep Singh, IPAN at 011- 42492100, 9811017310 Email:
    tarundeep.singh@ipan.com
    For the latest schedules and programme information visit
    <http://www.espnstar.com/> www.espnstar.com

  • Zoom Glam Awards 2006 recognises stylish stalwarts on 30 April

    Zoom Glam Awards 2006 recognises stylish stalwarts on 30 April

    MUMBAI: In an era where award shows are a dime a dozen, glamour and lifestyle channel Zoom announces a unique event – The Zoom Glam Awards 2006 for the stylish stalwarts in society. Today, styles are changing with dizzying velocity, evolving as rapidly as the insatiable media has expanded to chronicle the individuals who epitomize sophisticated style.

    These awards are a logical extension of the Zoom brand identity of being a ‘Glamour & Lifestyle Television’ channel. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com the channel’s national sales head MK Anand said, “Our awards celebrate India’s current finest individuals from different walks of life who contribute to the glamour quotient in society. This event will emphasize the fact that Zoom is reaching new standards of excellence in the television industry.”

    The Awards will recognise individuals in areas of fashion, music, business and politics amongst other categories. Going beyond an individual’s work, in his or her functional area the channel will focus on the individual’s style and attitude. Anand explains, “We aim to establish the Zoom Glam Awards as an aspirational property for the Indian glam circuit – they’ll be the final word on the who’s hot and who’s not / what’s in and what’ out. The Awards is a celebration of individuality. This is a step to recognize glam which is such an important quotient in our society today. It is going to be a real annual event, not episodic as our earlier initiatives as far as programming is concerned.”

    A group of experts are currently deliberating a list of nominees. Finally, it will be the channel that decides the winners from the names thrown up. The awards will maintain an exceedingly premium and aspirational look to them in all ground executions and marketing communications. The promos will start airing from 17 April and it will be written about in all publications and channels that belong to the parent group. The campaign designed will definitely have high curiosity value among those who matter in every field.

    The award ceremony is scheduled for 30 April at the Hilton Towers in Mumbai and is expected to be attended by the country’s glitterati. “We hope to create the glamour and excitement of a first class event for a select audience of 250 people complete with red carpet and press interviews of arriving guests. To some glitz and glamour, add a few sequences performed to international standards, then sprinkle this concoction with some industry stalwarts getting felicitated and you have the recipe for a perfect evening of mind-blasting niche entertainment, ” says Anand.

    On the sponsors, Anand says, “We welcome Tuscan Verve, with its inimitable brand, reputation and all-round glamour as the main sponsor to the event. The other sponsors are National Institute of Fashion and Design, Reliance, D’Dmas and L’Oreal. Anand said that he expected many more high end brands to sign in once the promos start airing. We guarantee the highest degree of visibility and exclusivity in being associated with the event.”

    On what the channel hopes to achieve with this event, Anand says, “It is our personality on display and we are gearing to make it the most envied property in the industry. We are taking a step forward from two of our successful shows, Page 3 and Popkorn. It is an extension of Page 3. It is a channel positioning statement as the stress is on the action itself. It is different in the fact that it steers away from any public activity, in keeping with our efforts to reach a niche audience.”

    Few of the categories for the Zoom Glam Awards are :

    – Politician with panache- Male/Female
    – Glam Fashion Designer – Male /Female
    – Glam Party Host
    – Stylish Businessman
    – Most Glamorous Personality of the year
    – Flamboyant Actor – Male/Female
    – Most talked about debutante – Male/Female
    – Glam Sports Star
    –Image makers.

    WOW Entertainment is the event management company that is working behind the scenes for the event. Zoom will shortly telecast a curtain raiser to the event.

  • ‘The Office’ creator Gervais hits out at the quality of British television

    ‘The Office’ creator Gervais hits out at the quality of British television

    MUMBAI: The creator of BBC’s sitcom The Office Ricky Gervais has come down heavily on the state of entertainment on British television.

    He says that most shows are lacklustre and tired.

    Media reports indicate that Gervais considers US television programming to be of a far greater standard. He says that American writers and programmers show an appetite that is not present in Britain. He praised American writers for being good, funny and ambitious.

    He cites shows like 24, CSI as being examples of creativity. Britain, he laments, does not have comparable shows. The reason he says for this is the fact that American television does not tolerate hack writers. If they are no good they are out of the picture.

  • HTMT board approves demerger, media biz to be in one entity

    HTMT board approves demerger, media biz to be in one entity

    MUMBAI: Hinduja TMT Ltd. is demerging its IT/BPO business into a new company, while simultaneously merging its media and content subsidiary InNetwork Entertainment Ltd (INEL) into the residual entity. Both the companies will be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.

    HTMT’s current shareholders will be allotted shares of both the companies in proportion to the capital employed in the respective businesses. “The appointed date of the demerger would be 1 April,” the company said in a release.

    In simple terms, all the existing assets of HTMT barring the IT/BPO business will be in the residual entity. This includes IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd (IMCL) which operates cable TV under the Incablenet brand, a cable Hindi movie channel, and the broadband business. What this means is that a media holding company will emerge after the merger of INEL and it will also have under its umbrella IMCL.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that the media business was to be brought under a holding company. The HTMT board, which met today, has granted approval to the demerger.

    The telecom holding in Hutch will also reside in the residual entity. HTMT plans to exit from the telecom business by selling its entire stake. It controls an effective stake of 5.11 per cent in Hutch, a leading GSM service provider, through a subsidiary Indusind Telecom Network Ltd. “The company has received offers for purchase thereof which are under consideration. The board has set up a committee of directors to appraise the offers, negotiate and finalise the deal,” HTMT said in a release.

    The money raised from the sale will, thus, be in the media company. “The board will decide where to make the investments. The name of the residual entity will also be decided later,” IMCL executive director, corporate services, Ashok Mansukhani said. The valuation of INEL will also be carried out, he added.

    Commenting on the demerger, HTMT chairman Ashok P Hinduja said “the related restructuring will unlock immense shareholder value. While the current market cap is about Rs 22.2 billion, the sum of parts valuation is significantly higher, which could get unlocked. It will also go a long way in speeding up inorganic growth opportunities in both the technology and media/telecom companies, apart from aiding the induction of strategic and/or financial partners. Operational efficiencies in both the resultant companies would also increase”.

    HTMT’s technology business employs over 7000 persons (with over 3000 overseas employees) and ranks among the few BPO companies with a global delivery model with presence in five countries and significant revenues generated overseas. It has domain expertise in healthcare and insurance, financial services, manufacturing, telecom, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, household products, energy and utilities.

    According to a company statement, the media business is well poised to take advantage of the emerging business opportunities in content and distribution that have recently opened up and is in negotiation with several leading players for collaborations and contracts in these spaces. “It would also continue to be the holding company of IMCL, a leading multi-system operator (MSO) with extensive intra-city fiber networks, with 6000 km of trunk and access HEC networks, 80 per cent of which is 2-way enabled. IMCL has a presence in 14 cities (9 of which are big cities) with over 40 per cent market share in most of these markets,” the release added.

    HTMT believes the demerger will unlock individual values. “The demerger and related restructuring would enable the full potential of all the diverse businesses to be realized and take the companies to the next level,” said Hinduja.

    Added Mansukhani: “The cable business has the potential to be a money-spinner in future.”.

  • BBC introduces documentary shows for UK kids

    BBC introduces documentary shows for UK kids

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC has announced that its children’s programme Newsround, which it says is still the only dedicated daily news service for children in the UK, is to screen Newsround Investigates.

    This is a half-hour documentarie series and takes an in-depth look at issues affecting children’s lives. It kicks off next month.

    Newsround Investigates is a half-hour documentary format for children on BBC One and, for the first time in its 34-year history, the award-winning programme has been extended to 30 minutes.

    In the first programme, Lizo Mzimba and leading criminologist David Wilson take a look at the alarming scale of arson attacks committed by schoolchildren.

    This documentary talks to some of the youngsters who commit arson, looks at some of the reasons why they do it and examines the consequences of their actions.

    Every year, around 90,000 children in England and Wales are affected by arson. Every week, there are around 20 fires in schools and most of them are started by children with some connection to the school.

    School fires traditionally happen when schools are empty, particularly in the summer holidays. But increasing numbers of these fires are now occurring in school hours.

    Newsround Investigates speaks to children whose schools have been burnt down, children who have been injured in fires and children who have deliberately started fires.

    It also visits various anti-arson schemes across the country, such as the first-ever fire fighter embedded in a school.

    The show also questions why less than 200 schools in England and Wales have sprinkler systems when the problem of fires in schools is so great.

  • Men’s handball Championship does well in TV ratings across Europe

    Men’s handball Championship does well in TV ratings across Europe

    MUMBAI: The Handball Euro 2006 which took place in Switzerland was the most extensively covered and viewed tournament in the history of Men’s European Handball Championships.

    More than 760 million cumulative viewers followed 707 hours of televised event coverage. The event took place from 26 January to 5 February this year and is the European Handball Federation’s (EHF) premier event.

    The championship was transmitted by close to 120 television and radio broadcasters worldwide and benefited from approximately 800 accredited journalists, photographers and technicians to deliver record media coverage.

    This result is based on an independent programme analysis including information provided by broadcast partners worldwide. The report was compiled by the German communication research agency Sport+Markt AG on behalf of Infront Sports & Media AG, the EHF’s television and marketing partner.

    The is seen as a conservative estimate for the event’s total coverage. This is due to several key markets — such as Russia, Turkey, Argentina and Brazil — not being able to provide audited audience data to meet the full criteria of the study. If the unaudited data from these markets were taken into account, the total figure of 760 million would increase to an estimated 850 million cumulative audience.

    The total transmission time grew by 20 per cent and the cumulative audience figures increased by more than 30 per cent (based on the audited cumulative audience) compared to the last Men’s Championship in 2004.

    The 2006 television report demonstrated that coverage reached virtually every European country. The victory of the French team over Spain in the final match benefitted from significant news coverage around the world. Extensive television coverage was also reported from countries not represented in the competition, e.g. Romania (25 matches), Belgium (16), FYR Macedonia (15), and Sweden (10). Live broadcasts of Euro 2006 matches were also shown in the Middle East and North Africa. Delayed transmissions and/or news coverage was available in several Asian and South American territories.

    The official tournament website, www.euro06.com/, which was jointly provided by the EHF, the Swiss Handball Federation and Infront, provided fans with extensive information about the event, participating nations and players. It received 74.6 million page impressions from the beginning of January through 5 February. The result more than tripled those compared to the 2004 event website – another tournament record.

    EHF president Tor Lian said, “We are proud of our deep-rooted partnership with Infront Sports & Media. It dates back many years and has played an absolute crucial role in the development of the EHF, especially in terms of the growth of its flagship event, the European Handball Championships. The innovative and close-knit partnership has made the European Handball Championships into a leading event on the sporting market, as the figures underline.

    “The 2006 Men’s European Championship, held in Switzerland in January, turned a corner and set a precedent for international, indoor sporting events. The EHF will continue its work with Infront for the next period to encompass the 2008 and 2010 European Championships to reach even greater heights.”

    Infront has acted as the EHF’s exclusive commercial partner for almost thirteen years. In 2004, both partners renewed their cooperation until 2010.

    The EHF and Infront are currently preparing to broadcast the Women’s European Championship from 7 to 17 December 2006 in Sweden, where TV4 Sweden will be acting as host broadcaster and offering live signals for all 47 games.

  • Zee Sports completes deals with foreign broadcasters for Abu Dhabi series

    Zee Sports completes deals with foreign broadcasters for Abu Dhabi series

    MUMBAI: Zee Sports has reached agreements with major international broadcasters and radio players for the DLF Cup, India-Pakistan One Day International series. The entire multimedia rights for all the major television territories have been finalised.

    For Pakistan, Zee Sports has signed agreements with PTV for their terrestrial network and on Ten Sports for C&S homes. Hum FM will provide the live radio commentary in Pakistan and the Middle East. In Singapore the matches will be available on Star Hub. For the Malaysian territory, Astro All Asia Network will broadcast the two-match series.

    For the USA, the channel has entered into agreement with Echostar Satellite for the DLF Cup. Zee will leverage its international network in the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and South Africa, where the matches will be broadcast through its own Zee International feeds in the respective countries.

    Commenting on the deals, Zee Sports business head Himanshu Mody offers, “We are pleased to enter into agreements with various international broadcasters for telecast of this series between India and Pakistan. Our internal syndication team has been able to do a very effective job in a very short span of time.”

    Zee Sports has acquired the global media rights for all matches that India will play in non-ICC member countries. As part of the deal 25 matches will be played over a period of 5 years with an average of 5 matches per year. The global media rights comprise television, radio and Internet rights. The rights are for a period of five years from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2011.

  • China tightens control over international TV news

    MUMBAI: China’s broadcasting watchdog State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has issued a notice banning its local broadcasters from using news footage taken from foreign satellite programmes and international news material acquired from channels other than state-run.

    SARFT said in its latest notice that local television stations could draw only from the international news reports provided by the state-run China Central Television and China Radio International.

    “Recently, some foreign news agencies and media have used a variety of methods to sell international news material to domestic local TV stations, which have clear political intentions,” the notice said. According to SARFT, local broadcasters should avoid using international news material from foreign sources to make international news programmes or special coverage about international affairs.

    The new order also bans television stations using news footage taken from foreign satellite programmes broadcast with news reports from the official Xinhua News Agency. SARFT also insists that, broadcasting administrations at all levels should check up on local broadcasters and correct any wrong operations.