ITV

Tag: Amagi

  • Amagi launches ad monetisation solution in international markets

    Amagi launches ad monetisation solution in international markets

    MUMBAI: Amagi, a targeted TV advertising and cloud-based broadcast infrastructure, has launched its ad monetisation platforms that are uniquely designed for TV networks whose satellite feeds cover countries outside its origin.

    “In the last few months, we have witnessed a surge in demand from TV Networks to monetise their pan-regional feeds. Owing to their unique regional structure and demographics, Europe and the Middle East region are emerging as the priority markets for local ad insertion. As a pioneer in targeted TV advertising, we are best positioned to offer local ad insertion platform for these markets,” commented Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan.

    For TV networks reaching Europe and the Middle East, Amagi will now deploy its patented content watermark technology with flexible workflows to replace ad breaks on satellite feeds with local ads. Amagi can watermark any content provided by TV channels and replace such content at local headends based on a pre-determined playlist. The entire solution can operate on existing satellite infrastructure of broadcasters using STORM IRD and Amagi’s enhanced satellite receiver.  “STORM IRD can store ads and replace watermarked ads locally while the entire workflow can be managed remotely through a cloud-based user interface. STORM IRD also supports traditional content triggers such as SCTE-35 and DTMF cue tones,” added Srinivasan.

    Using Amagi’s proprietary remote ad insertion technology, TV Networks operating on pan-regional feeds can now monetise their ad inventory in Europe and the Middle East. This can result in new revenue streams from these two markets which until now was left un-monetised.

    The company has successfully monetised ad inventory in Singapore and other countries in the Asia Pacific region for large TV networks. In India, Amagi runs TV ad network with over 1,000 installations and more than 2,000 advertisers, providing geo-specific ad inventory on some of India’s leading entertainment and news channels.

     

  • Amagi opens its first regional office in Tokyo

    Amagi opens its first regional office in Tokyo

    MUMBAI: One of the leading players in cloud-based TV broadcast platforms, Amagi has announced the opening of its sales and support office in Tokyo, Japan today.

    With the aim to give regional television networks a better access to its unique channel playout and monetisation solutions, the office in Tokyo will manage Amagi’s venture into the Japanese TV broadcasting industry.

    Former executive technology officer for future strategies at Panasonic Shunsuke Matsuda will now oversee Amagi’s operations in Tokyo. Commenting on the expansion, Matsuda said, “The office creates a range of opportunities for Amagi Japan and has great potential to further deepen our engagements with the Japanese broadcasting industry.”

    Amagi uses cloud-based technologies to launch new television channels, manage the entire channel playout, localise content and targeted advertisements on traditional as well as OTT platforms. The company, that works with global television networks, with over 1,000 installations in 10 countries, has platforms that deliver 99.99 per cent broadcast SLAs at nearly half the cost over a traditional set up whilst being reliable, flexible and cost effective.

    Matsuda commented, “TV networks in Japan are looking for cost-effective solutions for OTT and traditional playout, and are seeking partners who can provide both playout and ad monetisation capabilities. Amagi’s advanced cloud-based infrastructure enables OTT and traditional broadcasters to manage their playout over the cloud as well as monetise mid-roll advertising in their content.”

    “Japan is a key market for us and our expansion into the region is a testament to the growing confidence of TV networks in our platforms and technology. It presents us with a tremendous opportunity to work with local broadcasters to positively impact their operational efficiencies and create more avenues for channel monetization.” said Amagi co-founder Baskar Subramanian.

    Later this week, Amagi Japan is participating in the InterBEE 2014 conference where it will showcase its flagship channel playout platform at the Alvix Corporation stand. Attendees will get an opportunity to understand how Amagi’s platforms can support “Cool Japan” initiatives.

     

  • Targeted advertising is the way forward for news channels

    Targeted advertising is the way forward for news channels

    MUMBAI: In a tough environment how can news channels monetise better from brands? Well, speaking at the Seventh Indian News Television Summit 2014 organised by indiantelevision.com, Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan answered the big question.

     

    He began his keynote by giving the number of brands and advertisers on print and television. “Print media today has about 1.2 lakh or 1.5 lakh advertisers as compared to a paltry 11,000 on television.  When we look at brands there are about 17,000 brands on television compared to 2 lakh brands on print,” he said referring to a study conducted by Amagi from 13 October to 14 September.

     

    News as a genre, specifically English and Hindi channels, has 600 advertisers and about 1,000 to 1,400 brands advertising for the entire year. He then compared these numbers to print readership, which has a penetration of 20 per cent. “In any market outside India, print advertising is typically half of TV advertising size. While in India, a market where print is dramatically under penetrated compared to TV, we are seeing equal, if not more, advertising revenue generated by print,” said Srinivasan.

     

    He added, “As per the study, regional advertising consisting of only local brands on print, radio and outdoor is at least Rs 6,500 crore. The print classified size market is Rs 1,300 crore and is expected to grow to Rs 3,600 crore in the next two years.”  

     

    He then suggested ways by which news channels could tap into this market. A national channel which delivers substantial audience in various markets can monetise better by going after regional brands which is what Amagi has been doing. “In the US such targeted marketing was worth Rs 30,000 crore,” he informed.

     

    Srinivasan stated the example of how a television channel being watched at the same time in four different geographies can potentially showcase four different ads at the same time. By creating ad inventory regionally to address more advertisers and brands, news channels can increase revenue dramatically. The model can be utilised by local advertisers and large national advertisers while launching a brand specifically for one region and can save on spillage.

     

    “Hyundai ran an ad for different regions of Maharashtra like Baramati, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nasik etc simultaneously. Each of these ads ran with the local contact detail of the local dealer in each of these local cities,” he said. The study also presented a case study about the Telugu news classifieds market. “The market includes non FCT scrolls, tickers, ashton bands and brand builders predominantly scroll driven with local matrimonial, property deals that is worth Rs 20 crore and just in one market. Can it be replicated across India?” he asked.

     

    Another monetisation opportunity for news channels is by aggregating a number of channels together as advertisers find it attractive since this presents them a substantial chunk of viewership. “We believe that there are umpteen number of opportunities today that are completely untapped in terms of targeting geographically from a pure FCT perspective,” Srinivasan said in his closing remarks.

  • Star India gets AdSharp; targets regional advertisers

    Star India gets AdSharp; targets regional advertisers

    MUMBAI: The Modi sarkar promised acche din aane wale hai. If one saw the full page advertisement by India’s leading TV network Star India in The Economic Times on 3 July then it looks like good days could be coming the way of regional, small and medium advertisers which have been looking at advertising on the mainline GEC but have found the sticker price too high.

     

    The who’s who of the advertising industry took notice of the path-breaking step initiated by Star network CEO Uday Shankar.

     

    The network’s advertisement says, “Grow your business with the power of Star!” and invites marketers, planners and advertisers to attend  free  45-minute seminars through which they can get familiarised with the art of targeting their customers in a cost-effective manner to stay ahead of the competition.

     

    The target advertiser is  those businesses which are still not advertising on television. Media observers believe that India is a land of opportunity and various small and medium sized businesses have an opportunity to grow by advertising their products on TV, but have been loath to do so because they don’t have agencies, TVCs and also find the cost exorbitant. They cite the example of CavinKare’s Chik shampoo which began as a small regional player, but went on to challenge even the MNCs successfully. 

     

    The Star India seminars are likely to give more details for its, soon-to-be launched offering, AdSharp, which marks the network’s plunge into geo-targeted advertising in an organised manner. Through it, advertisers can target customers region specifically, as the ads will be local.

     

    The network which has advertising revenues of around Rs 5,000 crore annually is hoping to increase those top line numbers by luring the small and medium advertiser.

     

    The first of such seminars will start from Mumbai (15-19 July), followed by Pune (24-26 July), Delhi (5-9 August) and the last will be in Ahmedabad (21-23 August). Registration began almost a month back.

     

    The invitees can choose from the seven sessions offered in each day-long seminar. The day will not be just about selling and buying of geo-targeted air time by its ad sales team; attending advertisers will also get a chance to get a TV commercial produced free for them by Star India on taking up a package.

     

    HDFC Life senior executive vice president – head marketing, product, digital & e-commerce Sanjay Tripathy believes that Star India’s first of its kind initiative is laudatory and “will help the network increase its client base.”

     

    Rivals also expressed appreciation.  Zee’s chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal believes that Star’s seminar campaign  will educate advertisers who have been sitting on the periphery on how to market locally and eventually help expand the overall TV ad market.

     

     “We have been offering geo-targeted advertising for more than a year now with Amagi. We are part of almost every geo-targeted advertising plan that Amagi does for smaller regional advertisers, and this has worked well for us,” says Sehgal while highlighting that technology plays an important role here. “Broadcasters can choose to outsource geo-targeting to a third party or do it in-house; we have chosen the former so far.”

     

    Similarly, Amagi’s co-founder KA Srinivasan says that if the largest Indian broadcast network starts pushing geo-targeted advertising then it validates what he and some others have been doing for years now. “It is a good move for the industry and geo-targeting will only pick up in the coming years.”

     

    Star’s Adsharp which was scheduled to launch by June end, will now be launched by next week or so. It has opted for Cisco as its technical partner for the geo-targeting service.

  • Zee TV and Amagi shake hands for geo-targeted advertising

    Zee TV and Amagi shake hands for geo-targeted advertising

    MUMBAI: Getting more money out of advertising-that is always what everyone wants and Amagi Media Labs gives channels and advertisers just what they have been wanting for long in the form of geo-advertising and it is slowly building up its portfolio of clients as well as creating a name for itself  in the TV industry.

    Recently, the Bengaluru-based innovative ad solution providing company, Nickelodeon and HUL got in bed together to geo target the MNC FMCG‘s brand.  Now, going a step further, Amagi has stitched together a partnership with  Zee TV to customise ads as per location, making it the first ever deal with a national GEC. A month ago, sister channels Zee News and Zee Business from ZMCL partnered with it to provide regional advertisers inventory according to location. Now, because of this deal, viewers of Zee TV from different locations will get to watch different TVCs based on the area they are located.

    It already boasts of having more than 15 channels to which it offers this service and with a mass caterer like Zee TV on board, Amagi‘s 200 million  viewer base is set to shoot up. Now, regional advertisers will have a chance to promote their brands on a national level, albeit locally which will help increase reach. At the same time it’s a win-win for Zee TV as well, because brands catering to local audiences will pull in more viewers.

    Commenting on the partnership, Zee TV chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal says, “By partnering with Amagi, we are once again making history. We are very happy to tie up with Amagi and make available a whole new set of targeting options for advertisers. Zee TV is also looking to increase its client base through geo targeting, which will help local clients target their specific markets on a large GEC and shift monies from print to Zee TV.” 

    Clearly, the aim is to get as many people on board and to make TV the prime medium to advertise. Amagi has been rated as the second fastest growing tech company in India by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Looks like it is racing to be the first in this league.

    Amagi business head L S Krishnan says, “Our advertisers have always been on the lookout for targeted offering on a large GEC. We are excited to offer Zee TV- leader in GEC space, to our advertisers. With this tie-up, Amagi continues to deliver on its vision of transforming the TV advertising space.” 

    One by one, GECs are being pulled in. This, even though some broadcasters have been skeptical about how effective this type of geo-targeted advertising will be. It would also mean selling spots for lower prices. Will Zee TV be fine with it? Seems as much. 

    Amagi has been created with an investment of Rs 70 crore and its current yearly revenues of about Rs 50 crore rupees seems to be going up the ladder.

    It already has a long list of broadcast partners such as TEN sports, Times Now, CNBC Awaaz, IBN7, CNN-IBN, UTV Movies, Maa TV, Zoom, Udaya TV as well as Tata Sky as its DTH partner. Its list of advertiser clients includes Chevrolet, Toyota, Fortuna, Skoda apart from local ones such as Kuberan Silks, YLG, Mysore tarpaulins etc. It’s time to wait and watch who else jumps on the bandwagon.

  • Horse & Country TV partners with Amagi for signal delivery in India

    Horse & Country TV partners with Amagi for signal delivery in India

    NEW DELHI: Horse & Country TV, the specialist equestrian sports and lifestyle network, has tied up with Amagi Media Labs to deliver its signal to cable, satellite and IPTV operators as part of its international expansion plans.

    Amagi offers a next generation cloud-based broadcast distribution and play out infrastructure for television networks. The Bangalore-based company runs India’s largest local advertising network playing more than one million local ad seconds every month on more than ten TV networks ranging from sports and news to entertainment and lifestyle. The company also has international deployments of its broadcast infrastructure in Singapore and Africa.

    Horse & Country will leverage Amagi’s cloudport infrastructure platform to deliver localised channel feeds to current and future markets where the channel is distributed.

    The cloudport platform is designed as a full-featured alternative to traditional channel play-out options (like satellite, fibre). TV networks can deliver feeds with rich channel branding, diverse language versions and subtitles using cloudport.

    The platform can incorporate local advertising and local programme insertion and will shortly also allow for the insertion of live programming. Unlike earlier iterations of remote play-out technologies, the platform allows for full monitoring of programme play-out and health of the play-out servers at the headends. The play-out servers are fully redundant which ensures seamless and fail-safe operation.

    H&C TV conducted an extensive review of technology options for international delivery and play-out of localised content including satellite, fibre and IP delivery, working with John Wallace of Wallace Broadcast, before selecting Amagi cloudport as the best solution for its specific needs for international expansion.

    H&C TV CEO and chairman Heather Killen said, “Future-proofing our channel for multi-platform international distribution has been a key strategic goal for H&C as we expand our presence in new markets. We are confident that we have found in Amagi a partner that will support our development in an extremely flexible and targeted way.”

    Amagi co-founder strategy investments and R&D Baskar Subramanian said, “We believe that cloud-based models are the future of broadcast. Cloudport holistically addresses all the needs of broadcasters for channel play-out and is set to become the standard for multi-platform channel delivery, replacing expensive satellite and fibre-based content delivery. We are delighted to announce Horse & Country TV as Amagi’s first Europe-based, international channel and look forward to a long and successful partnership as they continue their international roll-out.”

    Horse & Country TV broadcasts in the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Malta. The Channel carries exclusive sports event coverage, news, documentary and personality-led programming to the passionate audience for horse sports and country living. 

  • Maa TV partners with Amagi to launch customised channel feeds to Singapore

    Maa TV partners with Amagi to launch customised channel feeds to Singapore

    BENGALURU: India’s Telugu language Maa Television Network is using Amagi’s localisation platform for creating customised local feeds to Singapore for its “Maa TV” and “Maa Movies” channels claims Bangalore headquartered Amagi Media Labs.

    Maa TV has gone live with custom feeds on SingTel mio TV since April, 2013. Maa TV network uses its existing satellite feed playout for India as the base feed for Singapore as well, but masks few hours of programming and all advertising everyday on its feed to Singapore using Amagi’s localisation platform.

    Amagi says that broadcasters with common multi-country broadcast feeds can now adapt Amagi’s patent-pending localisation platform to easily fine-tune programming played out in individual countries. Broadcasters can ‘opt out’ of specific programs or even specific spot advertising in a country and replace it with some other locally appropriate content for the country by utilising Amagi’s cloud-based localisation platform.

    “We are able to ‘reliably’ and ‘cost effectively’ comply with all regulatory aspects related to programming and advertising for Singapore on both channels. Amagi gave us an end-to-end solution which has seamlessly merged with our existing systems and workflows”, said Maa TV COO J Sekhar

    Maa TV’s Sr. general manager, P Masthanaiah added, “We were looking for solution which would efficiently enable us to generate a local feed for Singapore from our India feed and Amagi offered just that. The technology is simple yet powerful and augments the existing systems effortlessly.”

    “Regionalisation of content is a pressing need for broadcasters. Amagi’s platform can easily integrate with existing workflows and systems of a broadcaster and reliably address regionalisation needs like local advertising, local programming to meet audience preferences, content masking for regulatory or copyright restrictions, etc. We are extremely pleased by the positive response to our exclusive platform from global broadcasters and are delighted to add Maa TV network as the latest customer”, said Amagi , Co-founder and CTO S Srividhya.

  • CTM to handle Amagi’s FCT sales in Delhi NCR

    CTM to handle Amagi’s FCT sales in Delhi NCR

    MUMBAI: Giving Creative Thinks Media (CTM) exclusivity, Amagi has entered a strategic agreement with the agency to handle its FCT sales in the real estate category in the Delhi and NCR region.

    Amagi co-founder KA Srinivasan said, “We are confident that CTM will help Amagi deliver tremendous value to real estate clients in Delhi/NCR using our unique smart advertising platform on TV. Amagi‘s smart advertising platform provides an opportunity for real-estate clients in Delhi/NCR to build their brand on premium national TV channels without any wastage or spillage”

    CTM MD Ritesh Malik said, “Amagi with its unique smart advertising platform gives an opportunity for regional brands to experience targeted geographical coverage and penetration on national T.V networks, thereby giving value for their investment. CTM with its best market knowledge in the said vertical chose to take this concept to all its existing and new clients.”

    Amagi Media is one of the first players in the field of geographically targeted television advertising and has clients like Chevrolet and Deepkala.