ITV

Tag: advertising

  • Kappa TV asks viewers to shoot an idea

    Kappa TV asks viewers to shoot an idea

    MUMBAI: First, it dared to go off the beaten track with a programming mix in four languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and English. And now, Kerala Mathrubhumi Group’s youth-centric music channel – Kappa TV – will telecast a new contest show for a month starting end-November.  

    The contest is about being creative with your mobile gadgets and though a date and time hasn’t been fixed yet, it will be a half an hour show with 24 minutes of content and 6 minutes of advertising during prime time from Monday to Friday with repeats over the weekend.

    Participants will be required to click/record a short film or photo gallery/music album and submit online to the channel, with entries of not more than 3 minutes’ duration. The second level will see 30 people selected from each category, whittled down to 10 each. Three winners will be chosen from each category in the third and final level, with prizes worth Rs 3.5 lakh distributed among the nine winners, who will be featured on Kappa TV. Of the three levels, the first has no particular theme while the second and third rounds will be more specific.

    “We want to see to what extent people can extend their imagination,” says Mathrubhumi TV CEO Mohan Nair, who is helming the eight-strong in-house team producing the show.

    What about the authenticity of the clips being received? Nair says they won’t know in the first round but for the next two rounds, a separate team will monitor the participants.

    While the show host and three judges are being finalised, it is certain they will be popular local personalities. Each episode, shot in Malayalam at the Mathrubhumi TV Studio, will feature six people demonstrating not only their creativity but also delving into their work, family and aspirations.

    Promotions are on since 22 October, and will go on till 21 November, involving the Mathrubhumi Group’s strong media line up of news and radio channels, newspapers and website, as also outdoor hoardings and college activities in the form of game shows.

    “The contest is open to all but we are getting the youth involved because they are very much in tune with mobile phones and they are also keen to be involved with channels. Our research revealed that not just students but also parents are watching Kappa TV,” says Nair.

    Not surprisingly, Kappa TV has 22,773 subscribers on YouTube while its Facebook page boasts 31, 632 likes. In keeping with the concept of the show, Kappa has roped in Idea Cellular as on-ground and on-air sponsor.

    Hope this ‘idea’ works for Kappa TV gets in youngsters as well as elders to spin their creative ideas.

  • Television looks ‘Outdoors’

    There’s no escaping now, everywhere you go it follows, across buses, trains, kiosks and more. Striving to use every possible object within its reach to grab eyeballs. Such is the impact of outdoor advertising!

    It is estimated that currently, the outdoor space availability in metros is ‘zero.‘ With festivity around the corner, television channels are beefing up their programming and the most opportunistic way to utilize advertising appears to be via this medium.

    The outdoor business is estimated to be growing at 20 per cent and the size of the organized industry alone has been pegged at Rs 11 – 12 billion by industry experts. These figures are proof that advertisers‘ dependence on outdoor has significantly increased.

    The biggest players this year among television channels are the ususal suspects Sony, Star and Zee. The average spends among these channels is estimated to be close to Rs 700 – 800 million annually on outdoor advertising. 30 per cent of these spends are dedicated to the festive rush spanning September – December, says Star Sight CEO Sanjay Shah.

    Bright director Yogesh Lakhani opines that spends usually go up by 15 – 20 per cent during the festive period. Jhalak Dikhla Ja got the ball rolling for Sony but now Kaajal and Extraaa Innings from the same stable are straddling Mumbai city. It is believed that more than 50 per cent of Sony‘s spends in launching properties is dedicated to out of home.

    Star has followed suit with its three big launches Antariksh and yet to be launched Paraya Dhan and Sathi Re. Naach Baliye was also given this life-size value during its launch period.

     

    Slide Show: Different mediums used in Outdoor

    Zee went all the way with Betiyann and is planning to use outdoor to build the buzz for the Sa Re Ga Ma finale on 28 October, as well as the newly launched youth block Klub. Zee alone is estimated to spend about 15 to 20 million on each property.

    In addition to these big players, other contenders currently in the outdoor space include Disney Channel with its latest local offering Vicky Aur Vetaal and Tata Sky‘s DTH platform battling it out with Dish TV. Primesite head GM West Aneil Deepak remarks that channels usually adopt a dual strategy, whereby 30 – 40 per cent of their spends go to permanent sites on an annualized basis, however in promoting certain properties they will increase their spends depending upon its significance.

    Outdoor is consistently used by channels as it not only acts as a reminder medium but it also gets people to sample a new show. Ogilvy Activation country head – Landscapes and Signscapes Nabendu Bhattacharyya opines, “Outdoor builds quick awareness and is the most cost efficient option. It is beneficial because it can be city specific and have a customized plan by which campaigns can run from 7 days to months.”

    Though the outdoor industry falls short of a common currency measure, individual specialists with the likes of Star, Sony Entertainment, Zee TV, Times Now and Sahara that use outdoor all the year round, have their own proprietary tools to derive accountability from the medium.

    Besides TV, the biggest spender this year are from the Telecom sector says Aaren Initiative president Vivek Lakhwara. Reliance and Airtel have a pan Indian presence, adds Shah. “Normal medium vacancy level of 20 per cent during the year becomes zero during September to December as brands like telecom, finance, press, automobiles, radio are also fighting to grab the available spots,” says Bhattacharyya.

    Going beyond billboards and bus shelters out of home as a category is fast expanding into areas like retail and entertainment. With emerging technology like LED screens, interactive facia at malls, backlit air blimps and large building wraps, Bhattacharyya forsees, “Airport advertising will take on a much greater significance with clients. Technology driven platforms like bluecasting will see the emergence of different options available to advertisers which will add to the array of the outdoor armament.”

    The future is bright! On a rather optimistic note, Bhattacharyya predicts that this year will prove to be a watershed year for the outdoor advertising industry. “The area of consolidation both from a buyer and the concessionaire‘s perspective, is around the corner. It has happened the world over and India will prove to be no different. The outdoor specialists will control about 75 to 80 per cent of the entire outdoor market in India in two years time and consolidation amongst them will also happen very quickly. Alliances and mergers will take place, media groups will broaden their services, bandwidth will be built in order to deliver efficiencies and scale, and the big buyers will only get bigger.”

    He also sees foreign investors and large media groups waiting for an opportunity to lunge into the Indian market. He says, “The big daddies like Viacom, Clear Channel and Decaux know it‘s a profitable business to get into. They are just hoping and crossing their fingers that tighter legislation and better regularities come into play, for them to invest long term in India.”

    Of course, one such biggie has already made a quiet landing on Indian shores. News Outdoor India (NOI), the local arm of News Corp’s OOH subsidiary News Outdoor Group (NOG) and headed by a former senior executive of Star India Sumantra ‘Sumo‘ Dutta, has been operating in the country for the last six months.
     

  • Mobile TV is creating a new demographic appeal in the US: Study

    Mobile TV is creating a new demographic appeal in the US: Study

    MUMBAI: Telephia, a measurement information provider to the mobile industry in the US, has announced a research undertaken shows that more than two million, or 1.4 percent, of the US wireless user base subscribed to a mobile video plan during the first quarter of 2006.

    The average U.S. mobile TV subscriber spends $40 a month more on wireless services than non-TV subscribers.

    Telephia president and CEO Sid Gorham says, “Mobile TV represents a huge revenue opportunity for companies in all parts of the communications and entertainment value chain.”

    Telephia research shows that the Hispanic and Black/African-American demographic groups made up 23 and 19 per cent of the mobile TV subscriber base in the US during the first quarter of this year, respectively. This is approximately double the share these groups represent of the broader mobile user population.

    “The early popularity of mobile TV with these groups continues the demographic trend we see in the adoption of all advanced mobile data services. Mobile TV will allow marketers to reach this audience with a wide range of innovative advertising and commerce approaches. To execute successfully on this exciting opportunity, the industry needs detailed research that tracks the evolving behavior and preferences of the mobile TV user. Our clients are particularly interested in using audience measurement data to target advertising and interactive commerce” adds Gorham.

    Telephia, had launched the industry’s first mobile television user panel last month. This longitudinal research panel will provide the mobile industry with detailed measurement of the attitudes and behaviours among the rapidly growing mobile TV audience.

    Telephia will begin by tracking users of the current unicast-based services (e.g. the MobiTV-based offerings on Sprint and Cingular Wireless, and Verizon’s V Cast service). The panel will expand to include subscribers of multicast mobile TV networks when they launch in late 2006 and 2007. Telephia is currently building its panel in the US and the UK and will expand coverage to the rest of Europe and parts of Asia in 2007.

  • EMI releases music catalog on Qtrax

    EMI releases music catalog on Qtrax

    MUMBAI: EMI Group would make its music catalog available to the first advertising supported peer-to-peer service as the entertainment industry embraces the same technology that once nearly crippled it.

    The service, called Qtrax, was developed by LTDnetwork, and at launch, will provide consumers the ability to download songs for free only as well as the option to subscribe to a premium version of the service or to purchase music tracks and albums on an a la carte basis.

    The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    “Working with Qtrax is just one way EMI is actively supporting emerging business models, technologies and platforms to deliver music to fans,” said EMI Music North America chairman and CEO David Munns. “We believe Qtrax offers a good consumer experience and significant up-selling opportunities. Our collaboration with Qtrax will give us great consumer insight and help us gauge the boundaries between sampling and purchasing music. Ultimately, the feedback we get from Qtrax will help EMI be more responsive to consumer demand. The Qtrax service will also ensure that our artists are compensated for their works and that the value of their music and integrity of our content is protected.”

    In an official release, Qtrax will offer two tiers of service: the first is a free, advertising-supported tier designed to work with and filter copyrighted content from existing peer-to-peer networks.

    The second tier is a premium subscription service which will require a monthly fee. The two-tiered business model is intended to attract a broad base of consumers to try out the service, and then graduate those consumers to purchase music permanently or subscribe.

    In the ad-supported, free tier, users will be able to search the network for specific tracks, and those tracks registered with Qtrax will be made available for download in Qtrax’s proprietary “.mpq” file format.

    Users will then be able to play the downloaded .mpq file in full-fidelity sound quality for a pre-defined number of times. Each time a consumer plays a track, the Qtrax player will also offer fans click-to-buy purchase options, as well as the opportunity to upgrade to a premium subscription service for a flat monthly fee.

    The premium subscription service tier uses Microsoft’s Janus DRM technology, which allows consumers to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to music in the Qtrax network. Subscribers will also have the ability to transfer content to Windows Media enabled portable devices for as long as the subscription stays active.

    The service will also include consumer-friendly community-building and music discovery tools, which enable fans to easily access to a vast selection of music and other content, all while generating revenues for artists and content owners.

    In addition, Qtrax will offer incentive programs that will allow fans to accrue points redeemable for additional plays for tracks acquired through the free service, or for discounts off a la carte purchases or subscription fees.

    “Qtrax is an innovative approach to creating a legitimate P2P offering, so we are pleased that EMI has agreed to be the first of the major music companies to participate. In addition to offering a great consumer experience which we believe will get more consumers excited about digital music, Qtrax will ensure that artists are getting paid when their songs are accesses in a P2P environment. In addition, EMI and other music companies will share in Internet advertising revenues, which according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers reached a new record of $3.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006 in the US — a 38 percent increase over Q1 2005,” said Brilliant Technologies parent company of LTDnetwork president & CEO Allan Klepfisz.

    The Qtrax service is expected to enter a test phase later this year and will initially pilot the service in the United States. In preparation for the launch, EMI will immediately begin delivering and registering its content with Qtrax’s filtering system, powered by Audible Magic.

  • WorldSpace Noah Samara to deliver key note at International Radio Conference Dubai

    WorldSpace Noah Samara to deliver key note at International Radio Conference Dubai

    MUMBAI: International Radio Conference (IRC) is scheduled to be held from 22 May to 24 May in Dubai. The key note will be delivered by WorldSpace Corporation chairman and CEO Noah A. Samara.

    The conference is aimed at a global audience of radio professionals and contemporaries from associated industries, including advertising and media.
    It will also examine the future of radio in the Middle East. The sessions are; Shifting Stands, Breakfast Confidential, Smarter Music Scheduling, Bumpers ‘n Stabs, Doughnuts ‘n Stings, They’re not all Mad, Only the Good Ones!, Print vs Radio, 10 Great Ways to Make People Listen Longer, News You Can Use, New Frontier, Kill or Cure? Can Radio Survive the Ipod Era? and Paying the Piper! to name a few.
    Arabian Radio Network Join Abdullatif Al Sayegh will speak on Shifting Sands and other major players in the region as they give an upfront assessment of the future of radio in the Middle East.

    Emap UK expert Mark Story and Capital 98.5 UK expert Keith Pringle will provide top tips and closely guarded secrets to building the best breakfast show.

    European award winning Imager EMap UK Andy Roberts, Soniic Design Jean Michel Meschin, BBC World Service on air editor Steve Martin, Radio Advertising Bureaux UK Douglas McArthur, BBC World Service business development head Simon Kendall and Virgin Radio James Cridland will provide a low-down at the sessions.

    The sessions organised will also cover the pertinent issues facing radio professionals today including programming, technology and production.

  • Viacom acquires online game service for $102 million

    Viacom acquires online game service for $102 million

    MUMBAI: With a view to let Viacom and its MTV Networks unit connect online gamers, Viacom has acquired Xfire, a Silicon Valley company that makes free instant messenger software for computer game players.

    Owner of MTV Networks, Nickelodeon and the Paramount movie studios, Viacom said it will buy Xfire for $102 million in a bid to dominate the youth market on the Internet as it has on television.

    Social networking and online gaming sites are two of the hottest investment areas for top U.S. media companies as they try to hold on to younger consumers dividing their time between the Internet and traditional outlets like television.

    As part of MTV Networks, Xfire will be better able to maximize its advertising revenues through more aggressive marketing, greater global penetration and comprehensive integration with the company’s other digital and cable properties that address the gaming demographic.

    Launched two years ago in California, Xfire has 4 million registered members who use its software. Its 1 million active users average 91 hours per month, with an average session length of over three hours. The ad-supported application supports hundreds of the latest PC games and provides social networking, instant messaging and information for online gamers.

    Viacom’s chief executive Tom Freston said. “It’s a wonderful component of our overall digital strategy, particularly on the gaming front. Our key audiences are and probably will remain kids, teens, young adults–we want to be anywhere these audiences are. On both a strategic and an economic level, this is a terrific deal for Viacom. Xfire is far and away the leading PC gaming communications and community platform, has outstanding management, and is a perfect fit with our growing digital businesses at MTV Networks. It’s a bull’s eye against our young audiences.”

    Freston said Viacom continues to look at other Internet properties as potential acquisitions, mostly deals valued much less than $1 billion, and said further purchases were possible this year. At the same time, he said, Viacom is investing in building up entertainment channels it already owns into new formats for its audience.

    MTV last year acquired NeoPets.com, a site that allows users to invent and care for virtual pets. Rival News Corp. purchased social networking site MySpace.com as well as gaming company IGN Entertainment.

    Xfire’s services are advertising based and its features will be incorporated into MTV’s online properties. The company’s technology also allows users to share such entertainment as their favorite music videos, lending itself well to distribute video from MTV.

    Xfire has a distinct combination of tools, including:

    > Friend List for Gamers – Users can see when their gamer friends are online and what games they are playing.

    > One-Click Join – Users can see what games their friends are playing and use the one-click join feature to play alongside their friends instantly.

    > Xfire In-Game Messaging – Xfire users can send and receive instant messages while playing in many games without having to minimize or leave the game.

    > Stats Tracking – Through automatically updated player profiles, Xfire displays what games users are playing and how many hours they have played them.

    > File Downloads – Xfire’s file download system delivers demos, patches, trailers, and other files to users via a closed peer-to-peer distribution system.

    > Voice Chat – Allows gamers to talk to each other over a private peer-to-peer chat network.

    “Online gaming is an intensely social phenomenon, with millions of young adults around the globe interacting constantly. Xfire is the leading gamer community platform, and we look forward to integrating its services and user base into our multiplatform strategy at MTV Networks, which already includes assets like Neopets, GameTrailers, iFilm and more,” said MTV Networks CEO Judy McGrath.

    McGrath said MTV would seek to expand Xfire’s base regionally, particularly in countries with ardent gaming communities like Japan and Korea. MTV will also promote the community network, possibly with plugs on its television shows and Internet sites.

  • Radio Mirchi turnover rises 58 per cent in FY06, net profit at Rs 295 million

    Radio Mirchi turnover rises 58 per cent in FY06, net profit at Rs 295 million

    MUMBAI: Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) has posted a 57.69 per cent rise in gross turnover to Rs 1.2 billion for the fiscal ended 31 March 2006, as against Rs 762.2 million a year ago.

    Net profit stood at Rs 294.6 million as compared to a net loss of Rs 179.2 million in FY 2004-05.

    The earning before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation excluding license fee for the year was Rs 445.7 million, a rise of 61.5 per cent over the previous year.

    For the last quarter of FY 06 fiscal, net profit was at Rs 54.9 million. ENIL, the company which operates FM broadcasting under the brand name of radio Mirchi, has announced its results for the first time since its initial public offering (IPO) in February 2006. Comparative fourth quarter figures for the previous year are, thus, not available.

    ENIL’s consolidated net profit stood at Rs 310.5 million for FY 06 while total income was at Rs 1.4 billion. Earning before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation was Rs 407.6 million.

    Under the consolidated results fall the wholly owned subsidiary company Times Innovative Media Private Limited (TIMPL) for a period of five months. TIMPL was incorporated on October 26, 2005 and it acquired Event Management (3600) and Out of Home Media (Times OOH) business from Time Innovative Media Limited (TIML).

    ENIL has set its sights on increasing its turnover from the additional radio stations to be set up this year. The company has already launched its radio stations in Hyderabad, Jaipur and Bangalore.

    Times OOH won advertising rights of Delhi Metro – Connaught Place and Dwarka (13 stations), Kolkata Metro (80 hoardings spread across the city) amd Delhi-Noida toll bridge for a license fee of Rs.340 million payable over two to five years.

  • Sify launches online magazine store

    Sify launches online magazine store

    MUMBAI: www.sifymall.com, the online store on portal Sify has launched magazine subscription service online.

    The store has magazines from both Indian and foreign publications across categories like advertising, audio/video, automotive, aviation, beauty and fashion, business, films, music, travel and leisure and women to suit users interests.

    Sify senior VP, interactive services, Surya Mantha says, “Our aim is to ensure that the best offers are always available on SifyMall for users to experience real value for money. Be it the popular Deal of the Day, occasion based online gifting, or shopping online, we work to ensure customer delight in a number of ways. Our online magazine store extends this philosophy with subscriptions that offer real value to users with a wide range of magazines to suit their interests. We’ve also redesigned SifyMall to enhance the shopping experience for our users”.

    All a user needs to do is to go online on www.sifymall.com to the Magazine Store, and choose the title of his/her choice from an array of 130 magazines, with more to be added in future. The magazines are arranged conveniently by topic, publishers as well as alphabetically for users to locate the magazines of their choice easily and quickly.

  • Zee bucks the trend as Sensex crashes

    Zee bucks the trend as Sensex crashes

    MUMBAI: The Sensex underwent a dramatic “corrective” drop of 157 points on 7 April but Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL), was among the few stocks that bucked the trend.

    ZTL, which closed the previous day’s trade at Rs 246.60 on the BSE, had opened the day on a strong note. Zee’s acquiring the telecast rights for one day international matches to be played by India on neutral venues over the next five years yesterday seems to have made the market hungry and it was just waiting for the next day’s trading to open to pounce on the stock. The buying spree even saw the stock price touching its 52-week high of Rs 270 (Rs 291 at NSE) before falling prey to the negative sentiment that gripped the market, around afternoon.

    The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended the session at 11,589.44, lower by 1.34 per cent than its previous closing mark, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) 50 stock Nifty index settled at 3454.80, recording a 56.10 points or 1.6 per cent loss.

    During the early day trade, the Sensex had surged past the 11,900 mark to a new lifetime high of 11,930.66. Just when it seemed that the12,000 mark was within reach, the Sensex took a beating amid rumours that the regulator had banned eleven foreign institutional investors from participating in the market. Consequently, ZTL also took a plunge from its day’s best Rs 270 to a rather poor score of Rs. 244.60.

    Then, after SEBI came out with a denial of that report, the stock made a timely recovery along with a few blue chip stocks which also regained some lost ground. ZTL finally saw it closing for the day at Rs 250.10 at the BSE, up by 1.42 per cent or Rs 3.50 higher than its previous closing mark. At the NSE, it closed at Rs 250.45, up by 1.42 per cent or Rs 3.50 than the previous closing mark.

    A total of 2 million ZTL shares were traded during the day, while the average number of shares traded per day during the last two weeks period is 1.5 million.

    According to broking analysts indiantelevision.com spoke to, the positive performance ZTL has been displaying in the recent times shows that the stock is on its way to reach a value that is more in conformity with the levels that the Sensex has reached. “ZTL is yet to reach its real value and speaking about the overall performance of the stock in the recent times, we can assume that it is in the process of realising its actual price at the Sensex,” says an analyst.

    “Acquiring the neutral venue International cricket rights might have helped the stock to buck the negative trend at the Sensex today. But, there are more significant factors that have been boosting the stock overall. The four-way demerger, the remarkable improvement on the programming front, the advertising rates consequently going up, all have been helping the stock to attract buyers,” he adds.