ITV

Tag: BBC Worldwide

  • BBC Worldwide re-equips advertising sales team in India

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has rejigged the structure and responsibility of the advertising sales team in India.

    As part of the restructuring process, BBC Worldwide team is bifurcated into news and non-news streams. Seema Mohapatra has been promoted to regional sales director, BBC Worldwide South Asia. Mohapatra was earlier head of advertising sales for India.

    Taranjeet Singh has been elevated to head of advertising sales, News, BBC Worldwide, South Asia. Prior to the promotion, Singh was regional sales manager, BBC World, North and East India.

    Singh will be responsible for revenue generation, client servicing and performance management for BBC World and bbc.com. As part of his team, and reporting to him, will be Jabir Merchant who has been promoted to senior sales account manager, News, West, and Gaurav Pahwa, account manager, News, North.

    Neena Dasgupta has been elevated to the post of head of advertising sales, non–news, BBC Worldwide, South Asia. She was earlier regional manager, West and South.

    In her new post, Dasgupta will be focused on driving advertising sales for BBC Worldwide’s non-news portfolio of television and online products and services, from both existing clients and new categories and brands across the country.

    Likewise, Komal Sangani has been promoted to senior sales account manager, Non–news, West, and in New Delhi Jaya Chaudhry becomes senior account executive, Non–news.

    BBC Worldwide VP sales, Asia and Australasia Sunita Rajan said, “I am confident that our new team structure will further help strengthen the strategic direction required for growth in such a dynamic market, and across the wider South Asian markets, as well as bringing greater focus to our business across BBC World, Global Channels and bbc.com throughout the region.”

  • BBC Worldwide takes ‘Blue Planet’ to a bigger scale in 2008

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has announced that the road show The Blue Planet Live! which is based on the BBC documentary The Blue Planet, returns to the UK on a bigger scale in April 2008.

    The performances allow fans to enter the dramatic underwater world of the oceans with a two-hour edit of the scenes from the programme.

    These scenes will be projected onto large screens with performances in several venues including London Wembley Arena.

    Alistair Fothergill who produced the TV show says, “In creating The Blue Planet I wanted to take the viewers on a journey to a place that they had never been before, and to be emotionally moved by it. I am delighted that World Class Service has teamed up with BBC Worldwide to produce the live events in 2008 which capture the original spirit of the BBC television series. From the creatures of the deep to the awesome blue whale The Blue Planet Live! puts the audience in a moving and dramatic world at an immense scale.”

    The BBC adds that the tour is an opportunity for audiences to see these sequences synchronised with George Fenton’s music score for which he won a Bafta. Fenton says, “The Blue Planet Live! offers a unique and emotional ride, experiencing the story of life beneath the oceans on a theatrical scale. The show is presented in a way that heightens the drama, the fascination and, ultimately, the awareness and I very much look forward to the opportunity of taking the show to new audiences in the UK.”

    One of the BBC Natural History Unit’s most successful brands of the last 20 years, The Blue Planet TV show was created in 2001 and has been sold to more than 140 countries, winning countless awards.

    To help reduce the environmental impacts of the show, customers can choose to use Ticketmasters innovative new ticketing solution MobileTicket for shows at Manchester Central and Wembley Arena which allows ticket buyers to receive their event tickets directly to their registered mobile phone as a unique barcode that is valid for entry to the event without requiring any paper.

  • Joyce Yeung is BBC Worldwide global TV sales senior VP Asia

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide has appointed Joyce Yeung to the newly created role of senior VP for global TV sales in Asia. She joins next year.

    Currently Sparrowhawk Media VP sales and business development Asia Pacific, Yeung will lead BBC Worldwide’s content distribution activity across television, DVD and digital platforms, as well as licensing.

    The move reflects an increasing focus on the region for BBC Worldwide’s global TV sales division with ambitions to build on its successful programme distribution business and expand on growing digital and local production opportunities.

    BBC Worldwide MD global TV sales Steve Macallister said, “Asia is core to our growth plans. With an established team achieving strong distribution sales, we are well placed to take our Global Sales business to a new level of competition and commitment.

    “Bringing Joyce into our senior management team and tapping into her formidable strengths in the region are pivotal steps in raising our Asian profile and driving our business forward.”

    Yeung says, “It’s very exciting to be joining BBC Worldwide at a time of new expansion in the region. The vast extent of BBC Worldwide’s content is unrivalled, and I am really looking forward to working with the team to steer the business to new levels.”

    Yeung will be based in BBC Worldwide’s Hong Kong office but will also oversee the Toyko sales team. She will lead an overall sales force of 24, supported by the Asian management team comprising Katsuhiko Waza in Tokyo, and Pierre Cheung, Linfield Ng, Maggie Wong and Helen Wong in Hong Kong.

    Yeung is BBC Worldwide’s second SVP appointment in the region, working alongside senior VP Asia Pacific for Global Channels, Christine Leo-McKerrow.

  • ‘Over one third of BBC’s revenue comes from Asia’ : Sunita Rajan – BBC Worldwide VP- advertising sales, Asia and Australasia

    ‘Over one third of BBC’s revenue comes from Asia’ : Sunita Rajan – BBC Worldwide VP- advertising sales, Asia and Australasia

    BBC is expanding in the media space in India with not just new channel launches but also in the arena of FM radio and TV production.

    Among the recent launches are BBC Entertainment and Cbeebies. BBC World which was for years a free-to-air news channel, has gone pay to open up subscription revenues.

    BBC has also taken a minority stake in Mid Day Multimedia’s private FM station Radio One.

    And to expand its footprint in India, BBC has recently set up a production centre in Mumbai to tap the rapidly growing TV content market.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision’s Nasrin Sultana, Sunita Rajan, BBC Worldwide VP – advertising sales, Asia and Australasia, talks of BBC’s growth plans for this market.

    Excerpts:

    How is BBC giving the Asian region a push with its content, marketing and ad sales strategy?
    We have a strong presence in the Asia Pacific region. As far as the editorial position goes, our news bureaus are spread widely all over. We have Asia centric programming like Asia Business Report, Asia This Week and news features for Asians. We recently launched an Asia specific show – World News Today presented by Nik Gowing. All the shows are produced in London but our target is Asian audiences.

     

    Our India specific show India Business Report was favoured so much that we had to bring it back on air. But we are an international news channel. So our competition is not the local news channels of any country.

    Asia has been a strong revenue driver for BBC. How much does India contribute as a percentage to BBC’s total ad sales kitty?
    Over one third of the revenue comes from Asia. We do not break it down market by market. So I won’t be able to tell you about the Indian market alone. We have six beams of ad slots and rates across the globe. So an ad rate can be similar for India as well as in Latin America or South Asia. We kind of dice and slice it all across the globe.

    But the good thing is a good amount of ad sales comes from the Asia Pacific region. In recent times, we have seen a huge interest from our Indian clients to reach out to the Asia Pacific markets. At the moment, we are carrying campaigns by Indian clients targeted at the international audience.

    With this trend, how has BBC evolved an ad sales strategy?
    After some amount of internal research we found that there is a common trend among our audiences across countries. One commonality is that they are internationalists. Internationalists are those who are concerned about international news and have an international lifestyle. Keeping this in mind, we launched the “Internationalists campaign.” The campaign is nothing but telling “this is what our audience looks like”. What we did was we picked and chose the basic commonality of all the internationalists, which we identified.

    What is the basic idea behind the ‘Internationalists campaign’?
    Reaffirming and re-auditing that our audience are affluent. It is to give us a profile of our audience. We are focusing on this – through our content as well as on the advertising front. We are talking about Indians who are ‘internationalist’ in their attitude. We also did the Global Indian survey to find out who are affluent, who work in MNCs, who travel abroad, who use foreign products, and who are interested in the stock market.

    What is BBC’s audience profile in India?
    Affluent Indians living in the top 20 cities form the BBC audience profile. They are reflected in the ‘Internationalist’ campaign. The Indian audience or the ‘Internationalist’ is identical to any other Internationalist living in Tokyo, Korea or USA.
    ‘Affluent Indians living in top 20 cities form BBC’s audience profile’

    Who are your major advertisers in India?
    We have 90 brands advertising coming from India on our channel. They are from various categories – financial institutions, IT and auto. Blue chip companies like Nokia and Samsung are strong advertisers on our channel.

    Since BBC has also launched a GEC, how are you tapping advertisers beyond the traditional news genre?
    GEC definitely has a different profile of advertisers. FMCG companies are an important breed of advertisers who back GECs. We are looking at tapping such companies.

    What are the marketing and advertising plans for the kids channel Cbeebies?
    Cbeebies is for pre-schoolers. No kids channel in India has such a target group. Cbeebies is very popular in other markets where we have launched. BBC’s Teletubbies is a most liked brand. We are looking for advertisers for our kids channel.

    Cbeebies is still restricted to a DTH footprint. How are you getting into carriage deals with the cable networks?
    Right now we are available on the TataSky DTH platform. But we are in talks for distribution deals across cable networks.

    How do you tap advertisers for Radio One where you are an equity partner with Mid-Day Multimedia?
    Though BBC has a stake in Radio One, we do not handle the advertising at all.

    BBC recently launched BBC Knowledge in Singapore. When are you bringing it to India?
    We launched BBC Knowledge in August on the IPTV platform. The channel showcases some of the best features and documentaries. We have 3000 hours of content in our archives. We are soon to launch BBC Knowledge in other markets too.

    How is the recently launched commercial venture BBC.com faring?
    BBC.com is our commercial venture to offer advertising on BBC’s international online service for users outside the UK. The current site has been very successful in attracting international traffic. Currently, it has more than 40 million unique users per month from outside the UK who mainly access the news pages.

  • Neil Chugani is BBC Worldwide CFO

    MUMBAI: Former BSkyB director of corporate finance and Goldman Sachs banker Neil Chugani joins BBC Worldwide as its chief financial officer, succeeding David King who has been appointed MD, Acquisitions. Neil will join BBC Worldwide in December 2007.

    He will lead the financial team at BBC Worldwide, which in 2006/07 posted profits of £111.1 million from revenues of £810.4m – a three-fold increase in profits in just three years. He will be responsible for leading and developing all aspects of BBC Worldwide’s financial strategy, in particular the development of the five year growth plan.

    BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith says, “I am delighted that Neil is joining the Board at BBC Worldwide. He brings tremendous financial, strategic and negotiating expertise to our team and joins us at a really exciting time of our international development.”

    Chugani adds, “This is a fantastic opportunity. BBC Worldwide is a dynamic and fast growing business with operations and partnerships around the world. The recent acquisition of Lonely Planet demonstrates the ambitions of BBC Worldwide and I am looking forward to playing a major part in the business achieving its strategic and financial goals.”

  • Philip Fleming to head communications for BBC Worldwide’s home ent. biz

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has appointed Philip Fleming as head of communications for its home entertainment business.

    Home entertainment incorporates Worldwide’s Children’s and Licensing department (responsible for the global exploitation of brands such as Doctor Who and In the Night Garden) and its audio and music department which comprises of BBC Audio Books, record and track licensing, radio and TV programme sales, and music publishing.

    Fleming will also oversee communications for the company’s joint ventures including 2Entertain (DVD), Ebury (books), Ragdoll Worldwide (the management of Ragdoll Productions Ltd’s back catalogue) and Penguin (Children’s books).

    He joins the Home Entertainment team from BBC Magazines, where he has been head of communications since 2004. During his time at BBC Magazines he steered public relations for over 40 titles, including Radio Times, Top Gear, Olive and CBeebies Weekly and popular websites such as radiotimes.com, bbcgoodfood.com and topgear.com.

  • BBC Worldwide opens local production office in India

    CANNES: UK pubcaster the BBC‘s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has announced the opening of its Indian production office.
    The office, headed up by Saul Nassé, will be responsible for bringing the production expertise of the BBC to the Indian market and working with local talent in India to produce and deliver world class television.

    The Indian office, which will trade as BBC Worldwide Productions India, is BBC Worldwide‘s third local production base. It will complement BBC Worldwide‘s hugely successful Los Angeles production studio – which currently works with all the major US networks and is responsible for producing the record-breaking Dancing with the Stars on ABC – and its production company in Australia, a joint venture with Freehand.

    Making the announcement at the ongoing television trade event Mipcom in Cannes, France BBC Worldwide MD content and production Wayne Garvie said, “India is one of the most important and successful territories for BBC Worldwide. This local production office underlines our commitment to Indian broadcasters and audiences and firmly positions BBC Worldwide as a leading global content network. Under Saul‘s leadership, I‘m confident that the office will quickly become a key player in India‘s growing television industry.”

    Nassé added, “I have spent the past year in India, setting up the office and meeting representatives from all the many broadcasters with whom BBC Worldwide works. Two indisputable facts: local productions are by far the most popular programming in India and BBC Worldwide has one of the world‘s richest catalogues of television content and formats. Taken together, therefore, the Indian production base offers genuine synergy. I‘m delighted that the office is now open for business.”

    BBC Worldwide has enjoyed a strong distribution business in India for many years as well as close relationships with all the networks. Standout local production successes include Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Dancing with the Stars, which has just started its second series on Sony. Other shows that have been done are The Weakest Link, Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.

    Nassé recently led the BBC‘s India & Pakistan ‘07 season, having previously been Editor of Tomorrow‘s World and Acting Head of Religion and Ethics at the BBC. Working alongside Nassé will be Sonia Chowdhry, Creative Director, Development and Special Projects, BBC Worldwide Productions India. Chowdhry launched the award-winning Haath Se Haath Milaa (Let‘s Join Hands) programme for the BBC World Service HIV/Aids campaign in India and was Head of Programming for Nickelodeon in India. She will be driving the future business of the company, working with the development teams in London and pitching to local broadcasters.

  • BBC Worldwide acquires travel information group Lonely Planet

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC has acquired travel information group Lonely Planet in a deal that will build the Lonely Planet franchise around the world.

    The privately owned business is being sold by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who founded the company in 1972, and John Singleton who became a shareholder in 1999.

    BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith said, “We are delighted to be announcing this acquisition today. Lonely Planet is a highly respected international brand and a global leader in the provision of travel information. This deal fits well with our strategy to create one of the world’s leading content businesses, to grow our portfolio of content brands online and to increase our operations in Australia and America.”

    Lonely Planet, which has operations in the UK, California and Australia, is led by the CEO Judy Slatyer and her management team, who will be staying with the business. Lonely Planet’s global headquarters will remain in Melbourne.

    Maureen and Tony Wheeler, joint founders, who will retain a 25 per cent shareholding in the company said, “Joining BBC Worldwide allows us to secure the long-term future of our company within a globally recognised media group. In our discussions with John and his team, we felt that BBC Worldwide would provide a platform true to our vision and values, while allowing us to take the business to the next level.”

    BBC Worldwide non-executive chairman Etienne de Villiers says, “Closing this prestigious deal is a great feather in the cap for BBC Worldwide, its management and the BBC overall. It is further evidence of BBC Worldwide’s ability to become a major international media player. It is testimony to BBC Worldwide’s reputation that the Wheelers believe we are the right partner to take the business forward, given the many organisations that have approached them over the years. We are all convinced that the association will strengthen Lonely Planet’s visibility and growth potential, particularly in the digital arena, as well as providing their users access to the wide range of BBC content which connects with their interests – from Michael Palin’s New Europe to Planet Earth.”

    Lonely Planet publishes around 500 titles including specialist activity guides, shoestring guides and phrasebooks. It publishes in various languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Spanish. The company also produces and develops factual programming for international broadcasters (Lonely Planet Television).

    Its flagship TV series, Lonely Planet Six Degrees, produced for Discovery is now in its third season, and screens in over 100 countries. Meanwhile, Lonely Planet’s website receives 4.3 million unique visitors a month and Lonely Planet’s travel video site, lonelyplanet.tv, is establishing a valuable online community of independent travellers, allowing travellers to upload and watch their own video as well as view videos created by Lonely Planet.

    Maureen and Tony Wheeler adds, “We will remain completely focused on the delivery of unique content to our travellers around the world. We are very optimistic about the prospects for the Lonely Planet brand under the BBC Worldwide umbrella.”

  • BBC Worldwide restructures in US for growth

    MUMBAI: Five months into the job, BBC Worldwide America president Garth Ancier has restructured his senior team to take BBC Worldwide’s American-based businesses to the next level.

    He says, “By creating new roles, bringing in some fresh faces and promoting talent within the organisation I am positioning the company for growth. The BBC produces more quality television content than any other company and is one of the premier media brands in the world. We now have a strong team working together to expand that brand across the US, focussing on growth areas including channels, content and production and digital.”

    In the newly-created role, BBC executive VP, business development and digital media, Luke Bradley-Jones transfers to the company’s New York headquarters, starting 1 September. Most recently head of strategy at BBC Worldwide in London, Bradley-Jones will work closely with Ancier and Michael Ross, recently appointed executive VP, business affairs and operations, to develop new revenue streams and identify acquisitions and joint ventures to help the business grow aggressively in this market. He will also oversee US digital media initiatives, including setting and implementing the company’s digital on-demand strategy, and ensure that BBC Worldwide America is strategically aligned with global digital media activities, including bbc.com and global distribution deals.

    Chris Carr has been appointed as COO, US channels. A member of the original BBC America launch team, Carr was formerly CFO. In his new role, he assumes responsibility for all channel operations. Andrew Bott’s role as CFO is expanded across the whole company to include BBC America.

    Paul Telegdy continues to head the company’s growing West Coast production house, responsible for Dancing with the Stars. His promotion to executive vice president, content and production, reflects the company’s scale of ambition and addition of a second production base, in New York, focussed on the cable industry.

  • BBC Worldwide appoints Global Licensing as agent for key brands

    MUMBAI: The British pubic broadcaster BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide Australasia has appointed Global Licensing NZ as its merchandise representative for its hit properties Doctor Who, Top Gear and In the Night Garden.

    Global Licensing will hold exclusive merchandise rights, including rights for both the classic and new series of Doctor Who. Toys of Doctor Who will be launched this month at The Warehouse, Kmart, Farmers and Toy World, including the famous Cyberman Voice Changer Helmet, the UK’s Toy of the Year, 2006.

    Global Licensing is expected to appoint local partners for all properties across a broad range of categories including apparel, accessories and games ranges.

    Doctor Who first aired in 1963, and was re-launched in 2005. A co-production between BBC Wales and CBC in Canada, the fourth series is about to go into production in Cardiff. Series 3 will air on Prime, New Zealand’s third free-to-air network, from August.

    Top Gear has consistently been the most watched programme on BBC2 in the UK. Now seen in more than 120 countries around the world, it has become famous for its combination of wit, irreverence and unbiased honesty.

    In the Night Garden is currently airing on TV2 in New Zealand. Filmed in real woodland, the programme weaves together the very latest technical innovations in live-character costume technology and computer animation to create a compelling experience for young viewers. 17 licensees are already in place in the UK.

    A full merchandise programme is planned in New Zealand to complement the launch and other existing platforms. Hasbro, the master toy licensee, has announced an October toy launch, apart from books from Penguin and DVDs from Roadshow.

    Global Licensing NZ is planning an early 2008 launch for an extensive apparel range, and will roll out home wares, apparel accessories, stationery, footwear, bags, games and puzzles.

    Global Licensing NZ head Mark Paul says, “Doctor Who has a long history in New Zealand and the success of the new TV series and UK merchandising programme will provide some great opportunities for NZ retailers and licensees. For Top Gear we intend to create a comprehensive lifestyle programme with products and promotions appealing to the whole family. In The Night Garden is a fantastic production and we anticipate great demand for infant/preschool products beginning with the new toy line from Hasbro”.