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Tag: Aparna Bhosle

  • Living Foodz sees 25% growth in advertiser response

    Living Foodz sees 25% growth in advertiser response

    MUMBAI: After Aparna Bhosle’s elevation in the Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (Zeel) from the premium English cluster head to now being the business head of Zee TV’s Hindi GEC channel, Shaurya Mehta along with handling the lifestyle genre, Living Foodz (LF), is also given the additional responsibility of donning the hat of the premium English cluster– Zee Cafe, &flix and &prive.

    Talking about the lifestyle channel that launched in 2015, LF COO Shaurya Mehta said that since the start, the channel’s only focus was to offer original content to the Indian audiences and being true to its factor, it has been the cornerstone to its success.

    Despite the disruptive elements that the lifestyle genre witnessed in the form of demonetisation and GST, it didn’t affect LF which took two years to break even. “We broke even a while back. It took less than two years to break even,” he said. According to him, the genre within these 2-3 years has grown 10-15 per cent y-o-y and the channel claims to have grown in excess to the growth of the overall space.

    Not only this, as far as advertisers’ response on the channel is concerned, it claims to have witnessed a healthy growth rate in excess of 25 per cent y-o-y. Also, whether or not the ad rates of the genre increased, Mehta said that the channel has already increased its ad rates. “The ad rates have already increased and over these past three years, we have consistently seen our ERs growing. LF is more on the premium side now from a viewer and advertisers perspective and we enjoy a much healthy ERs than our competition.”

    When it comes to adex that declined in FY18, according to the KPMG report 2018, the lifestyle genre observed 1.3 per cent adex in FY17 and 1.2 per cent in FY18. “We at LF have seen great growth within these 2-3 years. The genre stayed a little stagnant from the ad sales perspective and going forward this would improve and there will be relatively steadier phase over the coming years.”

    Considering the BARC data, LF has been ruling the charts. Mehta said that the channel continues to lead the market share in terms of viewership with a healthy margin in a genre which is already cluttered. “With the channels that have been around for almost a decade especially some leaders in the market like Discovery and others and to go up against them and draw us a span of viewership shares is quite a big thing.”

    The network has plans to launch 6-8 shows this month and many more in the coming month with a mix of both original and acquired shows. The channel garners most of the viewership during the daytime, between 1-7 pm depending on the shows that could vary. Several shows were launched on 3 October, slotted for the typical prime time of 9 pm.   

    LF provides just local content for the viewers buy other players offer a mix of syndicated and local content. Mehta said, “We have seen much of our competitors also adopting our strategy where instead of airing syndicated content, they are also airing a mix of original shows. So as the overall content strategy, competition will have a mix of both syndicated and original content and in case of LF, original shows remain our main pillar.”

    He added that as per the consumers’ choices, there is an appetite for syndicated content as well. There is a room for both local and syndicated content where there are people in the market who want to consume the content from all around the world.

    Mehta said that considering the infotainment and lifestyle genres together, lifestyle has seen growth from the perspective of the accretion value of the viewers that is known in India. According to him the outlook remains positive and the viewership base will continue to grow. “We have seen digital as a medium growing tremendously in this genre and competing with TV viewership. So from that perspective as well, LF has a strong strategy for our digital footprint also playing an important role for growth in the group and LF as a brand. We have been investing our digital platform as well since last year and we continue to do so. We bring the shows that are available on TV and we also do some originals to publish on our livingfoodz.com. We do realise that in order to build the story over the next 5 years, our digital footprint will also play an important role,” he said.

    A Tamil feed was also to be added this year for which he said, “The Tamil feed is still in progress. We want to ensure when we are completely ready to announce. We are looking at all the possibilities.”

  • Zee TV launches new show ‘Tujhse Hai Raabta’ to conquer 8-9 pm time band

    Zee TV launches new show ‘Tujhse Hai Raabta’ to conquer 8-9 pm time band

    MUMBAI: Zee TV just got its new business head in Aparna Bhosle and the channel is launching a new fiction show named Tujhse Hai Raabta on 3 September, weekdays at 8.30 pm, produced by Full House media.

    Set against a Maharashtrian backdrop, the show depicts the irony of the life when every relationship isn’t truly what meets the eye. It has a year’s contract with the production house and then will be renewed as per the ratings.

    Bhosle said that Zee TV is currently leading by a decent margin from 9 pm to 10.30 pm. “Kumkum Bhagya, Kundali Bhagya and Ishq Subhan Allah are the shows that doing well on the channel. So, if we divide the prime time viewing into three parts, we already have our 9-10.30 pm time slot working best for our channel, so we have 8-9 pm time slot that is left. The strategy is to constitute this slot with two launches,” she said.

    Zee’s shows will continue to show the middle class family. “Largely middle class issues are dealt with very strong female protagonists because we do stand for empowered women. So we are very rooted in that,” she said. There are almost six to seven shows in the pipeline but the trick is to observe and identify which shows works well, at what time and what kind of audiences watch a particular show.

    For now, the content isn’t going to be dubbed into regional languages but it might figure in their to-do list later since the content is also something that the rural audience would like.

    India being a single TV household, channels have to keep females above the age of 30 in their mind. “But you have to look at the least common denominator, which is why we have focused on the wholesome family viewing. So if you look at BARC terms, we target 2+ but we do keep women in mind,” Bhosle explained.

    As far as the marketing and promotional strategies are concerned, as the show is all about the Maharashtrian family, the focus will be on Zee Yuva and Zee Talkies. The channel has also planned above the line activities on other networks such as news channels. “We have also planned outdoor marketing. We will be doing digital marketing as well, but not much. Also, marketing via radio will also be happening in UP and Maharashtra,” she added.  

  • Aparna Bhosle appointed Zee TV business head, Shaurya Mehta to lead premium cluster

    Aparna Bhosle appointed Zee TV business head, Shaurya Mehta to lead premium cluster

    MUMBAI: Aparna Bhosle will lead Zee Entertainment’s flagship channel ZEE TV as its business head. Bhosle will continue to lead the FTA GECs and will report to ZEEL domestic broadcast business CEO Punit Misra.

    The Premium Cluster will now be led by Shaurya Mehta, in addition to his current role as the chief operating officer, Living Entertainment. He too will also to Misra.

    Bhosle has been with ZEEL for more than six years. She joined the company in 2012 as the business head of ZeeQ and Zee Anmol. In 2017, she was elevated as business cluster head of premium & FTA GECs.

    Before joining ZEEL, Bhosle worked with Astro Malaysia as Food Food head – programming, production and broadcast operations for more than two years.

    She also had a stint with The Walt Disney Company as director – programming, production and broadcast operations of Hungama TV/Disney Channel/Disney XD. Bhosle has also worked with companies like UTV, Wisden India, Diageo and Reckitt & Colman.

    Shaurya Mehta started his career in 2003 as systems associate at GE healthcare. After serving the company for about two years, he joined Deloitte Consulting as the senior consultant. In 2012, he was the co-founder and COO of Ekstop.com and after three years, in 2015, he was the head of Ecommerce at Godrej. Last year, Mehta was appointed as the Essel Group’s lifestyle channel-Living Foodz COO and now, in addition to his current role, he will also look after the premium cluster that Bhosle used to head.

  • Zee Café, BBC Worldwide launch second season of premium British dramas

    Zee Café, BBC Worldwide launch second season of premium British dramas

    MUMBAI: Zee Cafe has partnered with BBC Worldwide to once again entertain Indian audiences with premium British dramas.

    Starting 16 July 2018, the channel will host the second edition of the BBC First content block featuring 12 shows, weeknights at 10 pm.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, ZEEL business cluster head – premium channels Aparna Bhosle says,“After the phenomenal response to the BBC First content block last year, we are thrilled to bring the best of British dramas once again for our audiences in association with BBC Worldwide. Our research found out that 90-94 per cent of the content in the English space was from the US, hence through this alliance we wish to bridge the gap and cater to the need for great stories with superior quality British dramas.”

    For the first season, the shows were not available for the digital platforms, but for the second season the channel is planning to add some of the shows to the Zee5 library. The second season of the shows like Doctor Foster, Maigret and Top Of The Lake will be there on ZEEL’s digital arm because its first season was showcased last year.

    Talking about the response of season one last year, she says, “For the first season at the 10 pm slot, the GTVTs went up to 600 per cent and the time spent doubled from three minutes to 6.3 minutes. In terms of performance, the time band worked very well, increasing the channel’s reach by 26 per cent and added one lakh additional viewers.”

    Brands like Domino’s, Brookside, L’Oreal, Philips and Vicks dominate the band. The exciting line-up of shows include Doctor Foster Season 2, Top Of The Lake Season 2, Maigret Season 2, Paula, Wolf Hall, Unforgotten, Broken, In The Dark, Burton and Taylor, The Inceptor, Born to Kill and The Collection. 

    In terms of total revenue, the channel has exceeded the season one numbers, according to Bhosle.

    Keeping in line with its proposition, Zee Café has chalked out a robust marketing campaign #GreatBritainGreatStories. The channel will be engaging its viewers through high impact out-of-home, print and digital mediums across key three mega cities which are Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

  • &Privé HD presents The Black List – stories that challenged the norms

    &Privé HD presents The Black List – stories that challenged the norms

    MUMBAI: Cinema has always been a classic means of expression. However, over the years, there have been multiple Hollywood scripts that struggled to see the light of the day. These were stories which broke the norms but were pushed into the dark owing to either their controversial themes or because it didn’t fit the ‘normal’ storytelling values of the society. &Privé HD, the premium English movie destination for nuanced cinema, brings to you its newest unique property – The Black List which showcases the famous blacklisted scripts of Hollywood which were condemned by many. The Black List premieres 18th of June, weekdays at 9pm.

    &Privé HD, known for bringing the other side of cinema for its non-conformist audience, takes the movie viewing experience a notch higher with The Black List. These are stories that challenged the status quo and dared to rise. Movies in this property include Margin Call, Prisoners, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, Up in the air, 50/50, Mighty heart, Brothers Bloom, Jackie, Kite Runner, Meet Bill, Nebraska, Lucky Number Selvin, Peacock, Things we lost in fire, Demolition, The Ides of March, The Beaver, Foxcatcher amongst others which highlight the perseverance and faith of the filmmakers. These movies drive the art of stellar storytelling about subjects that people tried to stifle but could never be silenced.

    Speaking about the new property, ZEEL, Business Cluster Head – Premium channels, Aparna Bhosle said “We at &Privé HD have always focused on bringing movies and properties that enable our audiences to feel the deeper side of cinema. Staying true to our channel’s promise, we have curated our new property The Black List which will showcase movies that defied the odds to exist. These movies not only received rave reviews from the critics, but also garnered immense love from the audience. Some of them even won prestigious awards and nominations. We are sure these movies will be enjoyed and appreciated by our viewers.”

  • ZEEL gets aggressive with &flix launch

    ZEEL gets aggressive with &flix launch

    MUMBAI: And now following in the footsteps of &Prive HD, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has announced that it is rolling out &flix come 1 pm on 3 June 2018 on major DTH and digital cable TV platforms. The target audience for the new offering: the striver, which the channel defines as those who are always pursuing new experiences, are ready to upgrade and take that quantum leap.  

    Thus &flix will feature 52 premiers of hit movies – amongst a total roster of 400 – that have stories that show not just what is, but what could be. Among the top notch titles –  that it has acquired from 10-11 independent Hollywood players and studios such as Sony, Paramount and Disney – that will debut on &flix feature: Spider-Man: Homecoming, Baby Driver, Life, The Emoji Movie, The Atomic Blonde, Jumanji and Blade Runner 2049.

    &flix is initially seeking a market in the six metros and will be available on Dish TV, Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Sun TV, Hathway and TCCL to name a few to start with.

    According to ZEEL premium channels- business cluster head Aparna Bhosle, 60 per cent of the total English content viewership comes from mega cities and has been growing at a CAGR of an impressive 35 per cent over the past three years.

    “Out of the 183 million TV households, 51 million households consume English movies in India,” she elaborated.

    Keeping in mind, that it is targeting millennials, its agency Publicis and the in-house team has laid out an expansive digital and print campaign in combination with cross promotions on sister HD channels and the great outdoors.

    The idea is to get 350 million impressions over six weeks with messaging going out on platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, BuzzFeed, HuffPost and many more. The Twitter integrated outdoor innovation to unveil the channel’s first communication saw movie fans tweeting 10,000 tweets along with the channel’s hashtag, generating more than 52 million impressions in just 24 hours in the process.

    “The brand proposition, Leap Forth, was created with the thought that you can have an extraordinary life with unlimited possibilities if you dare to take the leap,” shared ZEEL CMO Prathyusha Agarwal with indiantelevision.com.  “Our marketing campaign has been chalked out keeping in light the awe-inspiring larger than life experience we wish to offer. Our innovations, across mediums, reflect the magnitude of our offering, surely making it one of the biggest launches in our sector this year.”

    Sources reveal that a marketing and promotional budget in excess of Rs 5 crore has been kept aside for the launch activity.

    “For our ever-evolving audiences who are spoilt for choice, &flix will fuel the drive to take a quantum leap and break out of their orbits,” added Agarwal. “Our research led us to understand that over 60 per cent of all English movie viewers fall under the category of un-satiated strivers. With &flix, we aim to enthral the audience which is persistent in its pursuit of new experiences and is not easily satiated.”

    &flix’s packaging was assigned to Canadian design agency Zink which is behind &Prive HD’s look as well.

    At stake is a piece of the Rs 550-crore-600-odd crore spend that brands and media fork out on the English movie genre. Five brands have come on board as launch sponsor partners.  Among these feature Fiama (ITC), Lloyd (Havells), 100 Pipers (Pernod Ricard), Amazon Fire TV stick and Domino’s Pizza, revealed ZEEL EVP Sales Mona Jain.  She adds: “The strong brand proposition has helped us connect with some of the key like-minded brands across sectors. The response has been extremely positive from our clients and such partnerships further validate our belief in our offering. We are hoping to drive synergies with more brands as we embark on this new journey.”

    According to insiders, the spot rates that it is asking for from agencies are even higher than &Prive HD as &flix is available in both HD and SD feeds.

    Bhosle is sanguine that the heightened activity in the English movie genre is likely to work positively in its favour and she sees it growing faster and at a higher rate than in the past two years.

    Shall we say Amen to that?

  • This May, Go Limitless as Zee Studio brings the biggest Hollywood blockbusters to your screens!

    This May, Go Limitless as Zee Studio brings the biggest Hollywood blockbusters to your screens!

    Mumbai, May 2018: Zee Studio, the ultimate destination for the best of Hollywood movies, is all set to take its audience on a journey of limitless entertainment, stories and experiences! Through the month of May, the channel brings to its viewers an exceptional library of some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of recent times. From action and drama to comedy and animation, it promises to be the perfect fix of thrills and adrenaline rush so that you become Limitless You!

    In May, Zee Studio brings ‘Limitless Premieres’ where four big blockbusters will be seen for the first time on Indian television every Sunday – John Wick: Chapter 2, The Marine 5: Battleground, Smurfs: The Lost Village and Swan Princess: Royally Undercover on 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th May respectively at 12 noon and 9 pm. The channel also brings ‘Limitless Blockbusters’ every Saturday at 9 pm and 11 pm which will showcase movies like – Pixels, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Godzilla, The Last Witch Hunter and Chappie amongst others. Additionally, the channel will also bring mega hits like Transformers: Age of Extinction, Resident Evil Retribution, Kung Fu Panda, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Madagascar, Terminator Genisys, and Shrek 2. With this carefully curated library, the movies cut across genres for audiences to enjoy ‘Limitless Hollywood’.

    Speaking about the same, Aparna Bhosle, Business Cluster Head – Premium & FTA GEC channels, ZEEL shared, “We are thrilled to bring the ‘limitless’ offering to our viewers. Through this spectacular line-up of movies and properties, our endeavour is to offer content that enables our audience to not only unwind with action packed movies, but also experience the limitless world of Hollywood entertainment.” 

  • &Privé HD to showcase top notch film titles at prime time

    &Privé HD to showcase top notch film titles at prime time

    MUMBAI:  Ooh la la! Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s premium English movie channel &Privé HD has even bigger plans to tickle the fancy of its exclusive audience. The channel has announced that its prime time programming slot from 9 pm to 12 pm every day will feature some very recent gee-whiz award nominated or winning titles. Among the titles which will be on offer includes: the critically acclaimed Steven Spielberg directed, Meryl Streep Tom Hank starrer The Post,  the Aaron Sorkin directed Molly’s Game, the Luca Gauadagnino directed, James Ivory written Call Me By Your Name. Most of the films in this slot will be those which were released theatrically in the US in the last two months of the calendar year 2017.  The overall catalogue of &Privé HD today consists of 450 library and 48 premieres. At launch,  it was at 350 titles with 40 premieres.

    The new content been curated from different studios and distributors such as Paramount, Reliance, Tanvir and PVR. “We picked up the content from small, small producers from Europe who own  three to six movies. That meant dealing with close to 30 independent studios globally,” says  Zeel business cluster head – premium & FTA GEC channels Aparna Bhosle. Some of these will be available on Zeel’s soon to be launched OTT play – Zee5.

    It has plans to push the top daily pick movie through newspapers like the Times of India and Hindustan Times. “On the digital front, we will be using Google and YouTube banners or video promos,” reveals Bhosle.

    &Privé HD, which competes with Star Movies Select HD, MN+ and Sony le Plex for the estimated  Rs 600 core English movie advertising pie, has been doing well since its launch in September 2017 with its non-conformist 22-50 age group viewers. It was number one in its fifth week with the film Lion and also in the month of December in six metros according to  BARC ratings claims Bhosle. The channel has gained a lot of traction in Mumbai and Delhi.

    “The way we design and package the channel – it is the constant effort and is the endeavour that the ad rates should increase,” Bhosle points out. “The ad rates are absolutely comparable to channels that are considered leaders in the space.”

    Bhosle is hoping to expand the channel’s distribution with deals being signed with distribution platform operators that have not been showcasing &Privé HD as yet. “Talks are still in progress with Videocon D2H, as they had some bandwidth issue at the time of launch. We are planning to have a deal with Hathway in some time” she adds.

    The channel – by virtue of its positioning – is aimed at high net worth homes and individuals who can afford a high definition viewing package. Their tribe has swelled to around 14 million in India today. And Bhosle believes that it is this audience which will ensure that the English movie genre will continue to do well. “The OTT platforms will never affect the business of English movies channels. Yes, they could offer some competition – but finally content is king,” she says.

    Adds an analyst: “A part of the audience that consumes &Privé HD content  has access to massive internet bandwidth as well as smart TVs in their homes. They could not care how they consume – through OTT or through linear TV. If &Privé HD can lure them to watch the linear TV service of the channel, then it could be on a good wicket. Additionally, all these movies are freely available on pirate streaming and  torrent sites. How it manages to curtail the pirates will also help build its audience.”
    That’s a challenge the entire media and entertainment sector faces.

    Also Read :

    ZEEL’s  &Privé  HD channel to target upscale non-conformists in six metros

    &Privé HD ropes in Fiama and Vaseline, premieres with ‘Moonlight’ on Sunday

     &Prive HD campaigns for ‘Jackie’, ‘Pele’ etc premieres, presents first twin-screen trailer

  • Sony Pictures Television signs first output feature film pay TV deal with ZEEL

    Sony Pictures Television signs first output feature film pay TV deal with ZEEL

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Sony Pictures Television (SPT) have announced that the duo has entered into a first output pay TV features firm deal.

    As part of this, Zee will have first access to Sony Pictures releases over the next few years. And this will include blockbusters like Spider-Man: Homecoming, Blade Runner 2049, Baby Driver, The Emoji Movie and Life, among others.

    “We are very excited about this new partnership with Zee in India. Given the recent box office success of films like Spider-Man: Homecoming, we are confident that Indian audiences will be thrilled to know that they can soon enjoy our premium films on Zee. From our franchise films to our big blockbusters and critically acclaimed films, we look forward to working together with Zee to entertain what is a very important and fast-growing market,” said SPT international distribution Asia Pacific SPT senior vice president Ken Lo.

    “It is our endeavor to become a formidable player within the English entertainment space in India, and this deal with SPT, will help us become the number one choice for movie lovers” said ZEEL business cluster head premium and FTA GEC Aparna Bhosle.

  • Zee Café’s new Rated ‘H’ shows to captivate millennials (updated)

    Zee Café’s new Rated ‘H’ shows to captivate millennials (updated)

    MUMBAI: Zee Café viewers can expect fresh entertainment in its upcoming slot Hollywood on Café from 16 October. 5 new drama series – The Young Pope, Taboo, 11.22.63, The Son and Guerrilla – will air from Monday to Friday at 9 pm.

    These new shows are a part of its new concept called ‘Rated H’, where TV shows are made with Hollywood-scale budgets, with intriguing, refined and compelling narratives, and provide a unique and extremely premium experience. Hollywood names like Tom Hardy, Jude Law, Pierce Brosnan, Idris Elba and James Franco will be the highlight of the shows.

    Despite other broadcasters leaning towards the digital medium, Zee Café still considers TV as the king of content. Considering the Year-to-date ratings from April, the channel claims to have maintained its top position.

    ZEEL business cluster head-premium and FTA-GEC channels Aparna Bhosle says, “The English entertainment sector, which has a market of Rs 3.5–4,5 billion, has always been niche and exposing more people to the content will help in its expansion. To stay true to our tagline of ‘All Eyes On You’, we must keep engaging our audience with new shows.”

    The section targets discerning millennials who crave scale and quality. An all-round marketing plan, while keeping in mind the scale of the shows and unconventional storylines, has been adopted. Advertisers on board include Renault Captur, Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour Music CDs, Nokia Smartphones and Engage Perfume Spray. “Zeel has an ongoing outdoor marketing deal with the airports authority (of India – AAI) at its Mumbai and Delhi locations,” Bhosle said.

    The 5 drama series are:
    The Young Pope is an English-language Italian drama television series created and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. The series stars Jude Law and Diane Keaton. It was co-produced by European production companies Wildside, Haut et Court TV, and Mediapro. It has only one season with 10 episodes in it and the runtime is 46-60 minutes. It will air on Mondays at 9 PM.

    The Son is an American drama television series of 10 episodes based on the 2013 book of the same name by Philipp Meyer. The show was created and developed by Meyer, Brian McGreevy, and Lee Shipman. The runtime is 42- 49 minutes. On May 12, 2017, the series was renewed for a second season. It will air on Tuesdays at 9 PM.

    Taboo is a British television drama programme produced by Scott Free London and Hardy Son & Baker. It was created by Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, and his father, Edward Hardy, and is based on a story written by Tom and Edward Hardy. The eight-part series, set in 1814, begins with James Delaney (Tom Hardy) returning to England after spending twelve years in Africa with fourteen stolen diamonds, following the death of his father and when the war with the United States was nearing its end. The runtime of the series is 55-57 minutes. Taboo will air Thursdays at 9 PM

    11.22.63 is an American science fiction thriller mini-series based on the book 11/22/63 by Stephen King, and consisting of eight episodes. The series is executive-produced by J. J. Abrams, King, Bridget Carpenter and Bryan Burk, and produced by James Franco, who also has the main role. The production companies involved are Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The runtime of the series is 44-81 minutes. 11.22.63 premieres 18 October, Wednesdays at 9 PM.

    Guerrilla is a six-part British drama mini-series set in early 1970s London, against the backdrop of the Immigration Act 1971 and British black power movements such as the British Black Panthers and Race Today Collective. It was written and directed by John Ridley and stars Idris Elba, Freida Pinto and Babou Ceesay in leading roles. The production company is ABC Signature studios. The runtime is 60 minutes. Guerrilla premieres 20 October, Fridays at 9 PM.

    Out of the five, the channel has digital rights for The Young Pope, Taboo and Guerrilla.