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Tag: Ashwin Kotian

  • “We expect to garner Rs 2.1 billion or 60% of the total ad spend on air time during the World Cup 2003” : Harish Thawani Nimbus communications chairman and MD

    “We expect to garner Rs 2.1 billion or 60% of the total ad spend on air time during the World Cup 2003” : Harish Thawani Nimbus communications chairman and MD

    He cuts an impressive figure. One of the few to have seen the potential in the sports business and made money out of it. Meet Harish Thawani, the promoter of Nimbus Communications and the co-chairman and managing director of Singapore-based World Sport Nimbus (WSN). Filled with oodles of derring-do, the tonsured Thawani did a Palace coup when he managed to acquire the rights to the cricket World Cup under the noses of larger multinationals and then resold it to Sony Entertainment Television for a humungous figure apart from limited matches rights to state owned pubcaster DD.

    Currently, his firm is in the thick of finding sponsors, partners and advertisers for the cricket matches that are being aired on DD National. An economics graduate from Mumbai University, Thawani is a mean chess player having outplayed some of the nation‘s top players.

    Oozing confidence and in a pretty usual combative mood, Thawani took time off to speak to indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Kotian on his company, cricket and the World Cup.

    Excerpts:

    First, ‘Let‘s Talk’ (pun intended) cricket! Who are your favourites for the finals of the World Cup 2003?
    Well, everybody is talking of an Australia-South Africa final.

    However, I would urge everyone to watch out for West Indies. A new-born West Indies without Brian Lara was one of the few teams that recently beat India in ODIs on the Indian pitches.

    But naturally, my business acumen makes me pray that the Indian team advances to the finals. After all, any incremental gains in our revenues would depend on India‘s progress.

    There is an interesting joke doing the rounds; that “Harish Thawani should have invited Saurav Ganguly and the Indian cricket team to the function on 18 December at the Taj Land‘s End Hotel in Mumbai. This would have enabled them to get the pleasure of holding the coveted World Cup trophy as it might be their only chance to do so and hog the media limelight.”

    Well, I feel that there is no need to be so pessimistic. I believe that India will definitely do well.

    What is the DD-Nimbus combine offer to the viewers?
    Amongst the four major obsessions of India: cricket, religion, films and politics, only cricket transcends caste, creed, language, social, economic and geographic boundaries.

    The hectic four-year wait has come to an end as cricket‘s mega event has become bigger and better. With spectacular timings, guaranteeing full prime time coverage and the highest ever fan following of Indian cricket, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 holds the promise of killer ratings and new audience delivery records. All this is possible on DD, the single largest audience delivery media vehicle.

    The true action and ratings lie in the ‘Big Gun‘ matches; the bulk of which are obviously India matches, key weekend matches, ‘Super Sixes‘ weekends, Semi Finals and Final.

    DD will also be airing a one hour daily highlights package throughout the 43 day tournament, apart from the Opening Ceremony and the Concert of the Official Music Album of the Cricket World Cup 2003.

    Additionally, for the first time ever the Cricket World Cup‘s broadcast on Doordarshan will be supported by a multimedia promotional campaign including Print, FM radio, outdoor, the Internet, mobile telephony, on-air promos, consumer contests etc.

    DD is taking precautions to ensure that the telecasts in the viewers homes will be of top class digital quality (DD National is also a must carry channel, hence cable operators will be forced to carry it).

    What about pre-match programming?
    The world feed will start 15 minutes prior to the first ball being bowled and Nimbus will be involved with this portion of the programming.

    DD has agreed to create 60 minutes of programming prior to the beginning of the match and 30 minutes after the match ends. The total DD-Nimbus programming will start 1:15 hours prior and will continue 30 minutes after the match ends.

    Additionally, the commentary team includes Ravi Shastri, Barry Richards, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian Botham, Martin Crowe, Rameez Raja, Ian Healy, Michael Holding, David Gower, Ian Bishop and Bob Willis and this will ensure that the viewers stay hooked.

    However, I feel that there is no concrete evidence that substantiates the necessity of creating pre-match programming in excess of what we are planning to do. During the Champions Trophy, the pre-match programming TVRs reached a high of around 6; but the viewership was concentrated roughly around the 1-hour period prior to the match.
    “For the first time ever, the cricket World Cup‘s broadcast on DD will be supported by a multimedia promotional campaign “

    Will the preparation for the school and college exams affect viewership during the afternoons?
    Actually, February-March is a peak ‘cricket‘ period and a lot of matches are played during these months. In many places, the exams are usually slotted for April and May.

    In Mumbai, we might face a situation wherein the students might be preparing for their Board exams in March. But the beauty of our packaging is that we have got the best 16 matches. Many of the Big Gun matches involving India (or not involving India) will be telecast during the weekends.

    Even if the parents place restrictions on the viewing, it will be on watching all the 54 matches. The parents will definitely allow the youngsters to watch the important matches; namely our 16 Big Gun matches, over the weekends.

    It is possible that the weekday Big Gun matches might be affected but that is a normal trend. Even, in these cases, the zest and passion for the game might override any restrictions on viewing.
    “We have already tied in 10 major sponsors who will account for 70 percent of the total spend.”

    How does DD score over the C&S channels?
    Every match which matters from a ratings viewpoint and weekend big matches will air on DD National. The TRPs of the 16 Big Gun matches are likely to range between 11 and 15 with daily highlights attaining a 3-4 TRP.

    The cricket World Cup 1999 ratings of the Big Gun matches were 40 percent to 62 percent higher than that of even the ICC Knock Out 2000 (The ICC Knock Out was reformatted and re-named as ICC Champions Trophy from 2002

    The total GRPs for the telecasts as a whole on DD would potentially be around 320 with a cumulative gross reach on DD exceeding 2.5 billion.

    With a reach span of 80 million TV homes, Doordarshan came out a clear winner in the recently concluded ICC Championship Trophy 2002. The satellite channel showed a drop of 50 percent in viewership from India semi final to non-India semi final, whereas DD viewership remains constant. DD out-performed satellite channel by 165 percent in non-India matches. Outside of ‘Big Gun‘ matches, TVRs on satellite channel drop to a mere 1 percent.

    In fact, our estimates show that the Big Gun matches, Frequency builder matches, also-ran matches and highlights can deliver a total GRP of 320, almost 19 percent higher than the satellite channel.

    Over 20 major advertisers including Hindustan Lever , Cadburys , LG , Colgate , Godrej soaps , Kodak , Samsung , P&G , Boost , Sansui , Nirma , Balsara , Marico , Pidilite etc advertised exclusively on Doordarshan during the ICC champions Trophy 2002.

    What is the total size of the advertising pie in terms of revenues? What will be your share?
    We expect that the total size of the pie would be around Rs 3.5 billion.

    In terms of our pre-sales mapping, we had clearly identified the categories which we could target. The initial feedback is that brands in nine different categories have committed to advertise on DD.

    These nine categories are soft drinks, television, appliances and white goods, two-wheelers, lubricants, adhesives, airlines, FMCGs, banking and insurance.

    In fact, we have already tied up Rs 2.1 billion that constitutes around 60 percent of the chunk. It would not be fair on my part to announce the names right now as the agreements have to be signed. We shall be making the announcements about the advertisers (whom we have tied up) just before Christmas.

    We can accommodate only 18 or 19 advertisers. We have already tied in 10 major sponsors who will account for 70 percent of the total spend. The smaller sponsors will account for the remaining 30 percent. We have already tied-up 4,180 seconds out of the total of 6,000 seconds of advertising time available for each match.

    We have got a favourable response for more than half of the remaining time. We should be able to tie up the entire 6,000 seconds within a week..

    What does the DD-Nimbus combine offer media planners and buyers?
    For the first time ever, media planners and buyers can avail of ‘Flexi-buys‘ pick & choose your matches. They can choose a package and top it up with individual match buys. They can even specify position in matches and are not compelled to buy more.

    However, there is a limit of 500 seconds per match for each advertiser, with the exception of sponsor partners.
  • “A new sense of dynamism prevails within DD” : Dr S Y Quraishi Doordarshan director general

    “A new sense of dynamism prevails within DD” : Dr S Y Quraishi Doordarshan director general

    Doordarshan director general Dr S Y Quraishi was pretty upbeat on the evening of the announcement of its World Cup Cricket 2003 telecast plans on the national network. The state-owned pubcaster and its air time sales and broadcast sponsorship partner Nimbus Communications were confident that it would garner a substantial chunk of the world advertising spend for the World Cup 2003.

    Quraishi came across as fairly open to deal with market realities. He unveiled the original World Cup trophy, held it aloft, and posed happily with the Prasar Bharati CEO K.S. Sarma and Nimbus Communications boss Harish Thawani for the paparazzi. And he answered questions of media planners, journalists with aplomb.

    “We are changing as a corporation, becoming more market responsive,” he said. Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Kotian caught up with him for a short interview on the sidelines of the Nimbus World Cup bash.

    Excerpts:

    Are you happy with the deal worked out for the telecasting the World Cup 2003 cricket matches ?
    As a public broadcaster, our mandate is to take sports to the people. Our highest priority is to bring major events to a platform which could be easily accessible to as many Indians as possible. We are extremely happy that Nimbus, an organization that has shared a wonderful relationship with us, has brought the World Cup 2003 event to DD and AIR. This arrangement, (we shall refrain from calling it a “deal” because the word “deal” has got some wrong connotations in recent times) is in the best interests of the viewers.

    Both GCC (Global Cricket Corporation) and Nimbus Communications came up with a reasonable proposition. There were six long meetings with Nimbus coupled with some hard bargaining. There were several internal meetings before we finally crystallized the mechanics of the arrangement. We have be to careful of every minute detail as DD is a government body that is subjected to audits and vigilance.

    For the World Cup 2003, DD will get a minimum guaranteed revenue of anything between Rs 160 million and Rs 200 million for the World Cup Cricket 2003. Again, it depends on how well the Indian cricket team does!

    However, every match which matters from a ratings viewpoint and weekend big matches will air on DD National. DD will also be airing a one hour daily highlights package throughout the 43-day tournament, apart from the ‘Opening Ceremony‘ and the ‘Concert of the Official Music Album‘ of the Cricket World Cup 2003.

    For the forthcoming World Cup 2003, the original digital world feed will be transmitted by DD. And our commentary team is par excellence: Ravi Shastri, Tony Greig, Barry Richards, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian Botham, Martin Crowe, Rameez Raja, Ian Healy, Michael Holding, David Gower, Ian Bishop and Bob Willis.

    What do you feel about the “deals” involving the telecasting of sports events?
    Sports events appeal to everyone and cut across all kinds of barriers. This is true of a highly populated country like India where there are many people who love to watch sporting events. However, the owners of sporting event properties have exploited the situation. DD faced a lot of problems during the World Cup Soccer 2002 and the Asian Games 2002.

    DD is a member of the Asian Broadcasting Union (ABU) and we should not have had any problems in bagging the telecast rights of the Asian Games. However, the Korean company that had the rights of the Asian Games acted tough with us in order to obtain a better deal. Also, the delay in negotiations resulted in the finalisation of the agreement at virtually the last moment. This delay prevented us from effectively marketing the time slots available.

    A similar problem was witnessed during the World Cup Soccer 2002 earlier this year. We were unclear till the last moment and the uncertainty led to dissatisfaction amongst the country‘s soccer fans.

    What was the biggest success for DD in 2002?
    The greatest commercial success story for DD in 2002 was the fact we mopped up Rs 530 million in booking and marketing of airtime for the India-West Indies domestic cricket series in October 2002.

    The series included seven One-Day Internationals and three Test matches. It was an eye opener!

    It also made us aware of our abilities. Initially, we advertised for a basic guaranteed amount but did not get a single bid. Later, a marketing agency backed out at the last moment. We decided to market it ourselves and did an extremely good job. We actually sold the inventory within four days!

    DD booked three main sponsors including TVS, Coca Cola and Hindustan Lever. The five associate sponsors for the series were Kelvinator, LG Electronics, Asian Paints, Cadburys, HPCL, Blue Star, Raymond, Hyundai, Onida, Canon amongst others as advertisers for the series.

    The best part is that we geared up quickly to handle the entire programming on our own. We had to coordinate the entire effort in terms of screening the ‘live‘ feed and the scheduling of the advertisements. There were some minor glitches – just around five instances – in the entire series. But, overall, we are happy with our performance and so are our advertisers.

    We expect many of these advertisers to support us during the forthcoming World Cup.

    Quraishi unveiling the World Cup 2003 trophy along with Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma at the Nimbus bash in Mumbai on Wednesday    		 “DD is the single largest audience delivery vehicle in the country“

    What initiatives have you drawn up to replicate this success and promote future DD programmes?
    DD‘s success with the India-West Indies series has infused a sense of dynamism into our promotional efforts.

    For the first time ever, the cricket World Cup‘s broadcast on Doordarshan will be supported by a multimedia promotional campaign including print, FM radio, outdoor, the Internet, mobile telephony, on-air promos, consumer contests etc.

    Earlier, we did not have marketing offices in different parts of the country. Since the last year and a half, we have been recruiting some young professionals with management degrees to man our marketing offices in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. There are plans to start new offices in Trivandrum and Delhi. This is in addition to our other marketing partners like Nimbus.

    We have entered into a barter arrangement with several newspaper groups wherein they give us coverage for our programmes.

    We are also examining the possibility of using the outdoor media in a big way. In fact, we are meeting one of the top outdoor publicity firms in the next few days. They are giving us a concrete plan for optimizing the awareness levels of our programmes.

    We are also examining other non-traditional channels such as multimedia publicity.

    The independent producers have stepped up their individual efforts to promote their programmes. Recently, a certain producer sent me an entire set of the media coverage he had generated for a certain programme. That particular programme started off with a TVR of 6.2 for the first episode and touched 7.9 in the next one.
    “The fifth ranked programme on DD had a better rating than the first ranked programme on the best C&S channel”
    Quraishi and Sarma pose with the World Cup trophy with Nimbus‘ Harish Thawani and Carat India‘s Meenakshi Madhvani

    What advantage does DD have over the satellite channels?
    DD is the single largest audience delivery vehicle in the country!

    Our rates are fixed and don‘t fluctuate as the ‘perceived value‘ of the programme increases. Transparency and rigidity are part of our rate structure. This instills a certain amount of trust in our style of operations. We don‘t have any hidden agenda. And, we constantly deliver higher audiences to our advertisers.

    DD has a reach span of 83 million TV homes. If you multiply that by a minimum of four people in each household, you can imagine the number of viewers that we bring to the table. DD reaches larger audiences than private channels do.

    Recently, we conducted a study wherein we compared the top five programmes on DD with those of the best C&S channel. The fifth ranked programme on DD had a better rating than the first ranked programme on the C&S channel. All our five programmes delivered audiences ranging between 7.8 million to 13.5 million.

    What about the issue of reception of DD and other channels?
    We continue to receive complaints from viewers about the quality of the reception. However, it is imperative to note that the entire reception chain comprising of the broadcast of all the DD channels via satellite and our 1200 transmitters is in the digital format. The onus is on the cable operators to present it in the requisite form to the viewers.

    Of course, it is mandatory for the cable operators to place three channels on the prime band. But, this mandatory norm is not often implemented.

    However, whenever the cable operators have a tussle with the C&S channels and resort to using DD for telecasting a particular programme, the telecast quality of DD improves drastically. The quality of the telecast of these cricket matches proves that the ‘quality‘ problem exists at the cable operators‘ end.

    The viewers should either assert themselves with the cable operators or pass on the relevant feedback to us in order to enable us to act.

    We hope that the forthcoming implementation of CAS (conditional access system) will eventually change the existing situation. For the forthcoming World Cup 2003, the original digital World feed will be transmitted by DD.                 

    Will any of the other DD channels go pay in the near future?
    That is absolutely out of the question!

     

  • “Sony’s World Cup Cricket telecast will eclipse shows across all channels!” : Rajat Jain MAX executive vice president and business head

    “Sony’s World Cup Cricket telecast will eclipse shows across all channels!” : Rajat Jain MAX executive vice president and business head

    Rajat Jain is the man in the hot seat as MAX prepares to stir up passions, drum up hype and hoopla. The next three months will see Jain conceptualizing and implementing the intricate details of an exercise that is being billed as a make-or-break session for the Sony Entertainment Network. Jain will need to find his feet as he grapples with ground (or should we say terrestrial) realities of being locked in a head-to-head battle for the advertising rupee with the fiesty rival combine of DD-Nimbus Communications for the World Cup Cricket 2003.

    Jain currently holds the business responsibility for the channel with the key mission to take it to the number one position in this genre. Prior to this, he was the executive vice president – corporate development and new media for Sony Entertainment Television (SET). In this role, Jain was responsible for identifying and implementing new business development plans and driving all the new media initiatives for Sony. He was also assisting and developing corporate HR strategy in keeping with the expanding business needs.

    Unfazed by the aggressive strategies being resorted to by the DD-Nimbus combine, Jain was at his usual confident best as he took time off to speak to indiantelevision.com assistant editor Ashwin Kotian about cricket and the World Cup.

    Excerpts:

    How will MAX make the 'real thing' better than the Champions Trophy?
    From the very beginning we have been saying that cricket is more than sport, it is a spectacle and the World Cup is the greatest spectacle of them all! We shall ensure that all slots across all bands will be affected. Our telecast will eclipse the programming across all channels.

    Our endeavour will be to present cricket in the most entertaining manner possible. Cricket with personality, fun and plenty of doses of masala! That is the treat MAX has lined up for cricket and non-cricket fans. I repeat that when we acquired the exclusive C&S rights for the ICC tournaments, we saw the franchise as an opportunity to expand the viewer base to include women and children.

    The pre-event shows are the first in a slew of programming, which will aim at making the ICC properties we have a fusion of sports and entertainment without diluting the passion which cricket arouses. We are aiming to go beyond the die hard cricket fan, roping in uninitiated audiences, driving the initiated ones to frenzy and increasing the frequency of exposure. The entire operation started with the Champions Trophy and will climax with the World Cup in March 2003.
    "We are aiming to go beyond the die hard cricket fan, roping in the uninitiated audiences, driving the initiated ones to frenzy and increasing the frequency of exposure. We shall extend the programming concepts devised during the Champions Trophy and make them bigger and better than ever before. "
     

    What kind of cricket and non-cricket related programming is being planned?
    We are going to extend programming concepts used during the Champions Trophy and make them bigger and better than ever before. However, the intention is not to distract but to make the viewers indulge. A new element is that we are planning to capture OOH (out of home) viewers. Recent research indicates that OOH was pretty much an 'in-thing' during the World Cup Soccer 2002. If soccer can create such a frenzy, then cricket will surpass it and create new records. We are aiming to ensure that the OOH viewing grows.

    This apart we have the entire gamut of short formats to creat excitment around the World Cup – interstitials, vignettes, five to six different human-interest fillers from a cricket perspectives and countdown shows. The countdown shows started 75 days prior to the World Cup 2003.

    True to the channel's motif of being the place where movies and cricket come together, there will be loads of filmi masala to keep those interested as well as disinterested in cricket tuned in. Fun moments on the field, with film personalities roped into the studio as well as on the field, are what are planned.

    Extraaa Innings, the highly successful programming concept will make its comeback. Interstitials, differentiated across various categories, have been created that are aimed at "building interest in cricket and building the association with MAX. The Lagaan character and animated characters will resurface to be used as cricket mascots; scampering across the screen with the appropriate expressions during instances like run outs, clean bowled, sixes, fours and the like.

    Kapil Dev, the famous all-rounder and recently voted as Wisden Indian cricketer of the century, features prominently in the interstitials.

    Segments like Gullies of Fame had Kapil Dev trekking off to the location in neighbourhoods where the cricketers began their careers. Kapil Dil Se also is aimed at getting people to think about how passion for success is important in all aspects of life.

    Cricket Masala, a weekly half-hour show highlights the lighter side of cricket and aims to draw in the entire family. With a mix of the light and serious, Cricket Masala, will provide information on the game, its players and even its fans.

    Both these shows are being repeated at different timeslots (afternoons, evenings, nights) and different days (weekdays and weekends) in order to rope in as many people as possible.

    There are 15-16 properties in the sales packages that we have created that will be available to advertisers. These include the cricket related ones and the non-cricket related ones. The cricket related ones include Cricket Fundas, Pitch Reports, Toss, Best Fours, Sixes, Catches, Fall of Wickets, Best Saves, Classic Catches, Turning Point and other statistics and ratings. The non-cricket related opportunities include Tourism, Cuisine, Post cards, Predikta, Khel Kismet Ka, Weather report, Barometer, Fan of the Match and Confidence Meter. The astronomical show called Khel Kismet Ka will actually offer predictions based on charts.

    "MAX will increase and encourage viewer involvement before, during and after the matches"

    What are the various promotions that are being planned?
    The MAX van has already started touring cities and stopping at key locations from mid-December. The MAX van, with its posters of Bollywood stars, movies and a huge screen, will screen clips of the blockbusters and movie programming. It will also announce the various offerings that the channel has in store for its viewers. People could join the van at any of the locations and participate in games and contests and win exciting prizes.

    In the latest Name The Tiger Contest, viewers are required to come up with a 'unique, interesting, exciting and lovable name' for the MAX Tiger which first made its appearance on the channel during the ICC Champions Trophy Sri Lanka 2002 in September. The contest will be promoted on-air on MAX, SET and AXN and Discovery till 4 January 2003. The viewers will have to tune in to the channel for details and participate by sending in their entries by postcards or by logging on to the channel's website http://max.setindia.com.The grand prizes for the contest includes a trip to South Africa for the World Cup 2003.

    MAX will increase and encourage viewer involvement before, during and after the matches. We have devised an enhanced version of Predikta, a unique, innovative prediction game that will give viewers several opportunities everyday to be lucky winners and win loads of prizes. Participation will be by SMS, mobile phones, call-ins and the prizes will be given away every day. Pepsi will be the sole sponsor of Predikta.

    What kind of trends do you expect to see during the telecast of the matches?
    As I mentioned earlier, all slots across all bands will be affected. There are some essential differences between the Champions Trophy matches and the World Cup 2003. On those days when there are two matches coinciding with one another, the feed will be shown on both Sony Entertainment and MAX. In fact, around 15-18 matches will be telecast on Sony TV.

    During the Champions Trophy, day matches were held in the mornings and went on till 4 pm whereas the day-n-night matches extended till 9:30 pm. But during the World Cup, the day matches will start at 1:30 pm and end around 9:30 pm whereas the day-night matches will end post-midnight.

    Our build-up programmes prior and during the World Cup will ensure that female viewers switch to matches. In fact, MAX created some kind of a record wherein the growth of female viewers watching the Champions Trophy matches increased phenomenally. The female gross impressions, the number of times women sampled the fare, increased by 300 percent over that during the NatWest Trophy between India and England. The unduplicated reach increased by 25 percent over that of the NatWest Trophy.

    OOH will also become very important during the afternoons where people can watch the matches in their offices or at other places. It is also possible that youngsters could team up at hanging out joints or happening hot spots.

    We expect that the peak viewing period start between 6 pm and 7 pm onwards till the end of the match.

    Our programming will start two hours prior to the first ball being bowled and continue for an hour after the match ends. The highlights will be shown only in the mornings.
    "We believe that the pre-match programming will play an important role in keeping the viewers glued to the TV sets"

    What about pre-match programming?
    The world feed will start two hours prior to the first ball being bowled. We believe that pre-match programming will play an important role in keeping viewers glued to the TV sets.

    We have had tremendous success with programmes revolving around cricket during the Champions Trophy. Interestingly, the channel's programming around cricket, Extraaa Innings, had entered the TOP 100 list at the 17th and 18th spot, proving that viewers were quite willing to lap it all up.

    Master Blaster, Bajaj Boxer Total Knockout and Super Fours were the other cricket-based shows that registered their presence in the Top 100.

    What are the categories of advertisers that you are targeting?
    Several categories of advertisers will be advertising during the World Cup 2003 and many of them are in advanced stage of negotiations with us. These include soft drinks, FMCGs (chocolates, soaps), banking, insurance, telecom, lubricants, automobiles, white goods, foods, automobiles and two-wheelers. The fact remains that cricket is an expensive proposition but it always delivers audiences.

    Pepsi is the prinicipal sponsor of Predikta. In fact, there are nearly 4800-5200 seconds per match up for grabs. This might increase or decrease depending on how the matches progress.