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Tag: Amagi

  • Amagi expands TV ad network to international markets

    Amagi expands TV ad network to international markets

    Indian advertisers can reach more than 200 million viewers worldwide on B4U Network and Zee Bangla across to US, Europe, Asia, GCC, Canada, Africa and Australia.

     

    MUMBAI: Amagi has expanded its India ad network to key international markets like North America, Canada, Africa, Australia and Asia. Amagi will now offer an advertising platform to Indian advertisers with B4U Network and Zee Bangla in these international markets. The company’s move will now enable Indian advertisers to reach more than 200 million viewers on these channels.

     

    The company’s ad network will be extended to Zee Bangla and the entire B4U network including B4U Movies, B4U Music, B4U Plus and B4U Aflam. This opens up doors for several brands within India to expand their advertising footprint across the globe in markets of their choice. While this will instantly help in expanding the consumer base of Indian brands, television networks will also benefit from increased ad revenues.

     

    Amagi co-founder and head of global operations KA Srinivasan said, “Our endeavor is to serve as a global TV ad platform for brands within India, helping them to penetrate and capture international markets essential for business growth; and collaborating with widespread networks like B4U and Zee Bangla, who are our long-standing partners, allows us to do just that. Indian advertisers, who were earlier restricted to Indian audiences alone can now advertise worldwide and reap the benefits of global exposure. Amagi hopes to see more such partnerships with TV channels and continue to bring more Indian brands on board for international advertising.”

     

    Amagi’s global ad network allows advertisers to target audiences across regions, while optimising ad budgets and increasing their return on investments. Advertisers can buy ad spots through Amagi across its international network and target consumers across markets.

  • ‘The more local digital advertising gets, the more effective it will be:’ Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan

    ‘The more local digital advertising gets, the more effective it will be:’ Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan

    In this era of digitisation, the advertisement ecosystem has taken a big leap with digital advertising entering the fray. There was a time when people used to read advertisements, and then with the advent of television came visual ads, which could only be shared by word of mouth. Now with access to internet, ads can be read, seen and shared with help of just one device.

     

    With brands choosing the digital platform to announce launches of new products with help of email marketing, search engine marketing mobile and web marketing, have now given ads a new dimension to reach people. Digital advertising has broken the limitation of time slot for ads and has increased reach by leaps and bounds.

     

    Amagi co-founder KA Srinvasan spoke to  Indiantelevision.com about geo-targeted marketing, brands shifting towards digital marketing and much more.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    Many channels are tying up with Amagi for geo targeting. Property Now from Times Network is one of them. Do you think split broadcasting will be the way forward?

     

    Hyper local advertising will be the future of broadcast and television; in general it is going to be more geo targeted. Customised content created as per consumer’s preference is going to have a lot of impact. With the concept of geo generic mass content, as content becomes more local, the ad’s visibility for viewers will increase. Nowadays, content is created based on country, city and regional level not just in India but across the globe. The original goal for over-the-top (OTT) in digital world is to personalise lifestyle and provide content depending on consumer’s interest, preferences and their past watching behavior.

     

    What do you think will define the new era of effective advertisement?

     

    The change that we have observed is the more local advertisements get, the more effective it will become. Many of our advertisers are targeting specific local audience. It is effective from both advertising and communications perspective. Viewers will identify the product and advertisers will have a much better brand name at regional levels. From a content owner’s perspective, more advertisers will be able to reach out and from a broadcaster’s perspective, the future is all about getting local in terms of content.

     

    Now after installation of your technology in multiple system operators’ (MSO) headend, how do you plan to seize digital?

     

    Keeping that in mind, we launched a product called Thunderstorm, which allows television content owners and television networks to provide personalised advertising in the digital space. Our customers will be able to deliver their content over mobiles, tablet, and television screens and on web. However, there is one problem with monetising the content as the ads, which are telecast on television and which go on the sites are the same. The same goes with handsets. Everyone is watching the same ad on mobile but it is not giving any revenue. We have built a platform that allows advertising networks to have completely different advertising depending on the targeted audience and geographical area.


    Is Amagi focusing more on the digital space now?

     

    We are enabling content on advertising for television and helping local network owners to ‘hyper local’ the ad content. As content viewing shifts more towards digital, we are trying to bring the product in a more personalised way in digital. Our aim is to personalise and localise cable, television and digital.

     

    From many years the ten second ad slot has been ruling television and continues to do so. What more will the digital medium adapt?

     

    Today, the digital media is used as a distribution platform by television networks. What we are trying to do is, using the same content in different versions and using the digital platform for distribution of these ads. In terms of distribution, digital can do much better experimentation and inter-activity than what traditional television offers. Many advertisers are not only creating one commercial but creating multiple versions of it. On the digital platform, attention time span is going to be very limited as compared to traditional television. And because of this broadcasters and advertisers are experimenting. They are trying to create content, which can get the brand name in just five seconds, so that the user does not skip it.

    Digital allows fine grain targeting and that is the reason why we are able to do a lot more interesting stories. It is going to evolve and shift the platform from television to digital. We will then see more of digital specific content. 

     

    How many broadcasters do you have on board right now?

     

    We have around 20 plus broadcasters and multiple television channels across many countries. And at the end of this financial year we will have 40 plus channels. And many of them are from traditional satellite and television that are shifting towards the digital platform.

     

    You talked about the product Thunderstorm for creating personalising content for advertising. What are the new innovations that Amagi is currently focusing on?

     

    We have partnered with television networks to conceptualise content better. Geo targeting is focusing on satellite to help advertisers in creating personal advertising. We aim to eliminate satellite completely and move to digital where they can use closed bar internet technology. By using that platform, they can deliver their content in fraction of the cost to operators and consumers not only in India but around the world. Many big platforms are leveraging ahead from traditional television and satellite. We see rapid growth in terms of digital advertising in future.

  • Amagi wins IBC 2015 Innovation Award

    Amagi wins IBC 2015 Innovation Award

    MUMBAI: Cloud-based broadcast infrastructure and targeted TV advertising company, Amagi has bagged the IBC Innovation Award 2015 in the ‘Content Delivery’ category.

     

    Winners were honoured on 14 September during an awards ceremony at the RAI Amsterdam during IBC2015, Europe’s largest electronic media and entertainment conference and exhibition.

     

    Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan said, “Winning the IBC Innovation Award signals a new era for content regionalisation where TV networks can deliver localised channels in an affordable and efficient manner than traditional satellite and fiber-based delivery methods. As television viewers around the world continue to demand more personalised content, Amagi’s advanced cloud and watermarking technologies will make it a cinch for broadcasters to address viewer preferences on a global scale.”

     

    Amagi’s solution was given the IBC Innovation Award based on its unique ability to replace key content on Sundance Channel Global’s Latin American feed with content specifically geared toward the Brazilian audience, without using separate satellite feeds or degrading audiovisual quality.

  • Amagi launches next-generation managed playout service

    Amagi launches next-generation managed playout service

    MUMBAI: Cloud-based broadcast infrastructure and targeted TV advertising specialist Amagi has launched a new managed playout service designed to simplify video content preparation, management, and delivery for broadcasters by leveraging cloud capabilities.

     

    Utilising the end-to-end cloud-based service for content delivery, playout management, ingest, asset and archival management, quality control, traffic and scheduling, and 24/7 monitoring, broadcasters can dramatically increase workflow efficiency, reduce costs, and gain complete visibility and control over their playout. Amagi will showcase its complete technology offering at IBC2015 in Amsterdam (11 – 15 September).

     

    “Faced with the challenge of delivering more content to an ever growing number of devices, today’s broadcasters need scalable, flexible, and cost-effective playout solutions,” said Amagi co-founder K.A. Srinivasan. 

     

    He further added, “Our next-generation cloud-based service transforms the way broadcasters handle video content, enabling them to distribute content more efficiently and cost-effectively on a global scale. Building on our successful CLOUDPORT infrastructure, we are now providing automated, technology-driven services, and a partner marketplace to provide a completely managed playout service to TV networks.”

     

    Amagi’s next-generation playout service enables asset management on the cloud. Broadcasters can store and archive all necessary assets without requiring a large capital investment, as is the case with traditional asset management platforms. With built-in replication, the cloud is disaster-resistant and provides easy collaboration across multiple sites. Amagi’s cloud-based approach to asset management also provides broadcasters the ability to easily alter the content for VOD and OTT multiscreen delivery.

  • B4U partners Amagi for content delivery, playout operations

    B4U partners Amagi for content delivery, playout operations

    MUMBAI: B4U Television Network India has signed on Amagi, the cloud-based broadcast infrastructure and targeted TV advertising company, for a range of end-to-end cloud-based playout services.

     

    Through its flagship channel playout platform, Cloudport 2.0, Amagi’s services will include playout, 24/7 monitoring, conditional access and measurement systems leveraging satellite distribution from satellite operator AsiaSat.

     

    The development marks a step in the adoption of cloud-based managed playout services by TV networks in India and Amagi’s growing expertise in this area. It also demonstrates increasing adoption of the Amagi’s next-generation channel playout management services by TV networks worldwide to monetise their content delivery and distribution.

     

    Amagi is known in the Indian market for geo-targeted advertising. It has served over 30 million ad seconds for more than 2,500 clients including names like HUL, Reckitt & Benckiser, Britannia, and Wipro.

     

    “Amagi’s playout services offer us improved flexibility, transparency, and channel control at very cost-effective rates. We are also delighted with the excellent technical support delivered by Amagi in transitioning from our earlier playout infrastructure in just under two months,” said B4U Network chief financial officer Sandeep Gupta.

     

    “With all our content assets on the cloud, we are in a position to efficiently expand to new geographies and target specific markets as the business demands. It also makes us future-ready, as Amagi’s platforms are extendable for content regionalization, ad monetization, and OTT platform integration,” he added.

     

    The content and playlist is contributed by B4U in Mumbai, India, and the United Kingdom, while playout is uplinked in Hong Kong via AsiaSat. The entire workflow is stitched through Amagi’s cloud infrastructure and monitored by Amagi at its headquarters in Bengaluru.

     

    “Cloudport is rapidly becoming the preferred platform of choice for channel playout and management as TV networks look to leverage new efficiencies available through virtualized playout models,” said Amagi co-founder Srividhya Srinivasan.

     

    “By supporting multisite workflows and collaboration, our Cloudport platform dramatically enhances playout and distribution efficiencies for B4U Television Network India while enabling them to deliver a world-class entertainment experience to customers,” he added.

     

    “We are pleased to continue to support our client, B4U, with high availability ground and space integrated monitoring/control and up-linking service from our Tai Po Earth Station in Hong Kong, along with Amagi who provides end-to-end playout services, enabling B4U to enjoy a total transmission solution for access to Asia-Pacific-wide audiences via AsiaSat,” said AsiaSat VP sales and business development Philip Balaam.

  • Amagi and Zee expand partnership for geo-targeted ads

    Amagi and Zee expand partnership for geo-targeted ads

    MUMBAI: Amagi Media Lab and Zee Entertainment Enterprise Limited (Zeel) have furthered their partnership by adding Zee Cinema to their list of channels that serve geo-targeted TV ads. 

     

    A significant development, Zee Cinema will now give advertisers targeted access to over 158.6 million viewers and coverage across 16 markets where Amagi has the capability to deliver geo-targeted content. 

     

    The 16 markets are: Delhi-NCR, UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, North-east, J&K, Mumbai, Rest of Maharashtra, MPCG, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and All India- direct-to-home (DTH). 

     

    Zee Cinema gets added to the list of high-viewership channels, which are already on Amagi platform that includes: Zee News, Zee TV, Zee Marathi, Zee Kannada and Zee Bangla (for Bangladesh).

     

    In a diverse market such as India, Amagi’s platform offers advertisers the benefits of targeted reach and increased relevance in key markets. Advertisers can use Amagi’s platform to market region-specific products, communicate regional offers and promotions and to increase share of voice in target markets. 

     

    Zee’s partnership with Amagi is reflective of the company’s commitment to driving incremental value for advertisers.

     

    Zeel chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal said, “We are confident of the value that Amagi’s platform offers our advertisers. Geo-targeted TV ads will add greater direction and specificity to media planning, especially in the Indian market. Our partnership with Amagi will significantly boost our efforts to offer greater return on investment (ROI) to advertisers.”

     

    Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan added, “We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of geo-targeted TV ads for Zee Cinema. We feel there is tremendous scope for the growth of geo-targeted TV ads in a country as varied as India. It is our endeavour to be India’s central advertising platform that offers advertisers a reliable and cost-effective solution to TV advertising. The addition of Zee Cinema to our bouquet of channels is a step forward in this direction.” 

  • Amagi to unveil Stormplus Hybrid Sat+Cloud ird at BVE2015

    Amagi to unveil Stormplus Hybrid Sat+Cloud ird at BVE2015

    MUMBAI: Amagi, the leader in cloud-based TV broadcast infrastructure, will be unveiling its advanced Satellite + Cloud Receiver-Decoder (IRD), Stormplus at BVE2015.

     

    The Stormplus IRDs work as satellite receivers enhanced with support for local content and ad insertion. They are capable of content store, trigger detection, HD video insertion, multiple audio tracks including Dolby surround, subtitles and multi-layer animated graphics.

     

    Stormplus can receive local content from both satellite and cloud, enabling greater infrastructure flexibility for TV networks as the broadcasting ecosystem embraces cloud like never before. Unlike most ad-insertion systems, these IRDs give TV networks complete access and control on insertion of local content and advertisements.

     

    Stormplus has a robust cloud UI management platform enabling TV networks to schedule, control and monitor playout of local content and Ads at remote headends.

     

    “For TV networks who distribute their content through satellite, Stormplus provides a cost-effective alternative to regionalise content on existing feeds instead of setting up new satellite feeds. Especially in cases where TV networks are slowly transitioning from traditional satellite broadcast to the cloud, Stormplus augurs well as it is fully equipped with satellite + cloud hybrid capabilities,” said Amagi co-founder Srividhya Srinivasan.

     

    Amagi is a pioneer in content regionalization and geo-targeting advertisements on satellite TV feeds. The company has developed innovative and proprietary content watermark technology for automatic detection of triggers and content replacement. Stormplus also supports traditional triggers such as SCTE-35 and DTMF cue-tones.

     

    “Amagi holds multiple patents in delivering targeted advertising and content. We are committed to invest in technology research and bring out products that are revolutionary in the TV broadcast industry,” added Srinivasan.

     

    Amagi will also showcase its channel playout, regionalization, linear OTT and monetization platforms at its stand #R06. The company has more than 4,000 edge servers deployed in over 15 countries across five continents.

  • ICC Cricket World Cup: Experts give thumbs up to Star’s geo targeting strategy

    ICC Cricket World Cup: Experts give thumbs up to Star’s geo targeting strategy

    MUMBAI: Beginning 14 February, the ICC Cricket World Cup is going to be this year’s biggest sporting spectacle to be jointly held in Australia and New Zealand. As national brands scurry to invest and make their presence felt, official broadcast network Star India has extended the opportunity for brands with a regional presence too. Star has created multiple sponsorship and spot buying options tailor-made for different feeds allowing advertisers for the first time ever to buy different cuts and air creatives in different languages to target their audiences sharply. The network is evidently looking at geo targeting.

     

    The World Cup this year will be telecast on 12 channels and in six different languages. While eight sports channels from the network’s stable will broadcast the event, the others are Star Vijay (Tamil), Jalsha Movies (Bengali), Asianet Movies (Malayalam) and Suvarna Plus. 

     

    A Star official said that the network is looking at exploring two options. Firstly, brands with higher budgets can pick for national advertising, which will have different ad spot rates. Secondly, if a brand wants to communicate to only a select audience in markets like Chennai, West Bengal or Tamil Nadu, it can advertise on these regional channels of the network. The network is currently in talks with more than 100 brands especially those from the e-commerce segments, in different markets including tier II and tier III markets.

     

    Geo targeting advertising firm Amagi co-founder Srinivasan K.A says that sports feed in limited languages was one of the biggest problems for brands who were keen on investing in cricket. “They were unable to invest due to lack of structure in geo targeting and languages. If a particular brand had to run a Hindi ad campaign, most of South India would not comprehend it completely,” he says.

     

    While ad rates on the national channels are being sold for close to Rs 4.5 – 5 lakh for a 10 second slot, the regional channels will command a price tag close to Rs 1 lakh or less for a 10 second spot. Brands like Nestle, Marico, Yepme.com, Paytm, Raymonds, Pidilite and Lloyd have already come on board.

     

    Srinivasan finds the strategy as a wonderful opportunity for local brands. “This allows specific brands with limited budgets to come up with specific campaigns in particular markets and advertise for this massive property. At the same time they can seek to tap the audience that they want,” he adds.

     

    How well could this strategy work? “This was previously tried and tested by Sony Six during last year’s FIFA World Cup and was a massive success on Sony Aath, which provided Bengali feed for the matches. Viewership too shot up,” he informs.

     

    Celebrity and sports management firm, CAA KWAN COO, Indranil Das Blah finds the move welcoming too for brands that do not have a huge pocket and want to look at advertising in specific markets. “While the price of advertising on Star Sports Tamil feed for example could probably be one tenth of what the national feed would be, the strategy makes sense for both Star and the local brands because it gives you less spill over,” he says. 

     

    But will brands look at team India’s current performance in the tri series before investing? “Yes there is a bit of a worry about India’s performance. However with the format of the World Cup, unless there is a huge unmitigated disaster, the top eight nations will make it to the next phase. Besides, the World Cup gives you highs that no other cricket tournament does. So that gives some surety to advertisers to go ahead and invest in the World Cup,” concludes Blah.

  • Itochu Cable Systems inks partnership with Amagi

    Itochu Cable Systems inks partnership with Amagi

    MUMBAI: Itochu Cable Systems has inked a partnership with cloud-based TV broadcast infrastructure and targeted advertising Amagi, offering overseas distribution of Japanese TV content through advanced cloud technologies.

    ICS general manager Kenichi Yamagata said, “Content licensing and distribution across multiple geographies can get quite complex. In Amagi, we have found the perfect content localization platform that can safeguard the interests of Japanese content owners. Amagi’s technology solutions are highly innovative and truly world-class.”

    Using cloud technologies, Amagi enables both large and niche broadcasters to not only operate channels but to also localize content without creating new satellite feeds. Amagi has installations in more than 10 countries, and holds patents in the area of TV content watermarking for geo-specific localization.

    Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan added, “Amagi has deployed its STORM platform in many countries to cater to content licensing, viewer preferences, and regulatory compliance challenges for TV networks. ICS being the leading video system integrator in Japan, we are very proud to partner with them, and offer our technology innovations and best-in-class TV broadcast platforms to their customers.”

     

  • Amagi deploys Cloudport playout for Magic of Cinema

    Amagi deploys Cloudport playout for Magic of Cinema

    MUMBAI: Amagi, the cloud-based broadcast infrastructure, has announced a full-fledged deployment of its Cloudport Edge Playout servers for Magic of Cinema (MOC), a 24×7 free-to-air movie channel across 17 digital cable platforms.

    Using cloud technologies, Amagi has enabled MOC to launch its channel at a fraction of traditional satellite/fiber infrastructure costs. The entire playout is managed at Amagi’s Data Operations Center in Bengaluru. Amagi’s Cloudport edge servers and its cloud-based unified management user interface has dramatically simplified channel playout across multiple cable platforms for MOC.

    “We evaluated several platforms and finally chose Amagi for its technology superiority and an attractive PaaS business model. It allowed us to avoid high capital expenditure and upfront investment without compromising on the broadcast quality. As our viewership expanded over time, Amagi helped us scale our business giving us the required flexibility and reliability. Amagi has been a true partner in our growth” said MOC CEO Sricharan Iyengar.

    Amagi’s Cloudport platform runs on the cloud, with benefits of unlimited storage and accessibility. Amagi has already implemented its cloud technologies in more than 10 countries covering multi-country feeds. The platform has advanced features such as dynamic graphic overlays and sub-parting that met MOC’s exacting quality and feature requirements.

    “MOC is a fast growing movie channel with a line-up of rich and contemporary content. Amagi’s advanced technology platforms coupled with uninterrupted 24×7 playout and monitoring service has successfully and consistently met MOC’s evolving needs. We are very positive about MOC’s potential and Amagi is fully equipped to support the channel’s growth aspirations” said Amagi cofounder Srividhya Srinivasan.

    MOC has a wide array of over 1,500 Hindi cinemas, and is available on leading digital cable platforms including Hathaway, DEN, Siticable, UCN and Incable.