ITV

Tag: Bengali

  • Sun Bangla to rise on 3 February

    Sun Bangla to rise on 3 February

    MUMBAI: In 2018, it was reported that the Southern broadcast behemoth, Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun TV Network intended to travel to new language markets of the country – Marathi and Bengali. The broadcaster has now fixed 3 February as the launch date for its Bengali offering.

    Sun Network has started promoting its channel, Sun Bangla, with the tagline ‘MonePraneBangali.’ Sun Group chief financial officer (CFO) SL Narayanan told analysts during a post-earnings conference call that it will invest Rs 150 crore on Sun Bangla in its first year.

    In addition to this, in the earlier conference call, the Sun TV Network management had said that Sun Bangla is expected to achieve break-even within two or three years. The channel will have original commissioned content. The management has projected that the Bangla channel will achieve 10-12 per cent viewership within a couple of years.

  • Start the New Year with a high voltage of entertainment on Amazon Prime Video!

    Start the New Year with a high voltage of entertainment on Amazon Prime Video!

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video enters the New Year with a power-packed lineup of entertainment across Indian and International titles for its prime members. With the onset of 2019, Prime Video adds Punjabi movies to its content library, thereby adding another language after English, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. With this launch, catch the digital premiere of Punjabi blockbuster Banjaara: The Truck Driver soon after its theatrical release only on Amazon Prime Video. This is not it! In regional titles, Prime members can also stream the recent Kannada blockbuster Orange and the coming-of-age story of friendship in the Bengali release Generation Ami immediately after their theatrical releases. Amazon Prime Video also brings to its prime members a recently released multi-starrer, big banner movie – Thugs of Hindostan, making a digital premiere right after its run in the theatres exclusively on Prime Video. And adding to an indulgent Bollywood evening with friends and family, viewers can also stream the soulful tale of Mauji and Mamta in Varun-Dhawan-Anushka Sharma starrer Sui Dhaaga: Made in India on Amazon Prime Video.

    For an impeccable dose of comedy, watch an all-time favourite NBA stars Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Webber in one frame in Uncle Drew – an American sports comedy film and Game Night. Crime drama Luther that stars superstar Idris Elba is back with another thrilling season. And of course, there’s something in store for Prime’s youngest fans with all-new adventures of their favorite talking moose and flying squirrel in Rocky & Bullwinkle.

  • How engagement works in the kids’ space

    How engagement works in the kids’ space

    MUMBAI: Kids make our world go around! Quite literally, for channels focused on children as audience, observing their growing influence on choices, preferences and consumption habits of families in India, is a revelation! In this season of holidays when families gather around a TV set, it’s the children who call the shots.

    In 2018, we have witnessed an upward spurt in viewership in the kid’s category, with numbers rising by 10 per cent (from average GRP 499 to 550 GRP)*. The newer entrants in a competitive space of children’ TV programming has actually helped in growing the audience which indicates that more children are opting to watch new programming. Keeping this insight in mind, Sony YAY! is committed to adapting and developing kids’ programming suited to their preferences and such trends help further validate our approach. The consumption patterns that have significantly grown this year further ensures our focus on homegrown toon characters. 

    The 2018 emerging trends clearly reflect that flagship shows and localising content in regional languages pay dividends. Kids’ entertainment channels prosper on the dominance of marquee/flagship shows. 70 per cent of airtime and 80 per cent of GRP for leading channels in India comes from one leading show. Thus reiterating the fact that building a long-term relationship with toon characters, around whom shows, merchandise, and digital engagement are built, being the most effective manner to engage with kiddie audiences.

    While kids treat their favourite characters as their best friends, they prefer watching them on multiple platforms – digital platforms help us fulfil every kid's demand, where we focus on curating content especially for our YouTube channel. Kids are engaged on all the digital platforms through games, shows, contests on social media, etc. thus creating a strong affinity towards their favourite toons. Building upon toon characters and developing them as digital properties have had our audience respond enthusiastically. Using social media also helps in strengthening this relationship. Kids have the world at their feet; we’ve got to keep them engrossed by offering them the best of everything.

    We always sensed that regional language programming for children has potential and outreach. Hence, Sony YAY! produced content in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam languages, of which we are leading in Kerala and West Bengal since we have the first mover advantage in these two markets. We have adapted to regionalisation effectively and swiftly. 

    Another trend is telefilms and programming with longer duration, keeps kids engaged for a longer time. We’ve produced over 12 films this year at Sony YAY! with each film was well received by the kids. It’s a space that’s waiting to explode and is evolving quickly. 

    The author is business head Sony Pictures Network India, Kids Genre (Sony YAY!). The views expressed here are  her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.

  • No changes in Bengali, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil markets in BARC data week 42

    No changes in Bengali, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil markets in BARC data week 42

    MUMBAI: No changes were observed in the Bengali, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil markets in BARC data week 42. Mazhavil Manorama climbed to the second position from fourth position as compared to the last week in the Malayalam segment. Moreover, in the Telugu space, Zee Telugu and ETV Telugu interchanged their third and fourth positions.

    Bangla

    No changes were observed in this space. Zee Bangla, Star Jalsha, Jasha Movies, Colors Bangla and Sony Aath continued to be on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 327197 impressions '000s, 288997 impressions '000s, 63477 impressions '000s, 62105 impressions '000s and 55104 impressions '000s.

    Bhojpuri

    This week, no changes were in this sector too. Big Ganga, Bhojpuri Cinema, Bhojpuri Dhamaka Dishum, Housefull Action and Oscar Movies Bhojpuri retained their first, second, third, fourth and fifth positions with 60594 impressions '000s, 54137 impressions '000s, 16174 impressions '000s, 6034 impressions '000s and 4591 impressions '000s respectively.

    Kannada

    No changes were observed in this segment. Colors Kannada and Zee Kannada continued to be at first and second positions with 443615 impressions '000s and 411711 impressions '000s respectively. Udaya TV, Udaya Movies and Star Suvarna also retained their third, fourth and fifth positions with 254080 impressions '000s, 211542 impressions '000s and 157136 impressions '000s respectively.

    Malayalam

    Asianet, the Malayalam general entertainment channel from Star TV retained its first position this week as well with 306584 impressions '000s. Mazhavil Manorama climbed to the second position from fourth position as compared to the last week with 109101 impressions '000s. Surya TV, Flowers TV and Asianet Movies stood at third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 98928 impressions '000s, 90778 impressions '000s and 65889 impressions '000s.

    Marathi

    No changes were observed in the Marathi market. Zee Marathi, Star Pravah, Colors Marathi, Zee Talkies and Zee Yuva retained their first, second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 336449 impressions '000s, 143735 impressions '000s, 133325 impressions '000s, 96659 impressions '000s and 54648 impressions '000s.

    Tamil

    Sun TV retained its first position with 1045876 impressions '000s. Zee Tamil, Star Vijay, KTV and Sun Life also continued to be at second, third, fourth and fifth positions with 542190 impressions '000s, 524513 impressions '000s, 313189 impressions '000s and 86600 impressions '000s respectively.

    Telugu

    Star Maa and Gemini TV held on to first and second positions respectively with 777657 impressions '000s and 506944 impressions '000s. Zee Telugu and ETV Telugu interchanged their third and fourth positions respectively with 455374 impressions '000s and 447884 impressions '000s. Gemini Movies retained its fifth position with 213101 impressions '000s.

  • News18 launches Google Progressive Web Apps in Hindi and Bengali

    News18 launches Google Progressive Web Apps in Hindi and Bengali

    MUMBAI: News18, India’s leading destination for news with more than 100 million active viewers per month, has worked with the Google team in India to launch Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in Hindi and Bengali. For the uninitiated, PWAs are unique Google products that combine the best qualities of apps and websites. So while consumers may be on the https://hindi.news18.com website on their smartphones, via the Google Chrome browser, the website will have the look, feel and functionality of an app. PWAs are much lighter than other apps, they load much faster, consume much less data and storage and are therefore accessible to wider audiences.

    News18 offers content in nine regional languages, in addition to English and Hindi, in order to cater to the diverse Indian audience. “With the exponential growth that the Indian market has seen in content consumption and engagement on mobile, it is important that our products deliver our experiences to every relevant user. Given the accessibility that our multi-lingual coverage offers, our technology is now aligned to the same vision of democratising access to news,” said Mitul Sangani, Business Head, News18 Languages.

    With 80% of News18’s audiences accessing the information on their smartphones, these state-of-the-art PWAs ensure speed of access and reliability under poor network conditions and enhance user engagement. Network18’s Chief Product Officer Avinash Mudaliar confirms that the Hindi PWA, which was released first, has driven significant improvements in performance and consumer behaviour. He said, “Better load times have enabled us to provide a superior user experience. The proof is in the numbers. Users are spending more time on our pages, and engaging more with our content.”

    PWAs also offer the ability for users to subscribe to the publisher’s push notifications. Over 3 lakh users have subscribed to News18 Hindi’s push notifications since it was launched.

    Manish Maheshwari, Network18 Digital CEO said, “Progressive web applications have shown a lot of potential in improving access to quality content in the Indian market. Network18 Digital is one of the largest digital publishers in India, with over two dozen properties across formats in all major Indian languages. Given the success of the News18 Hindi PWA, we rolled out another one in Bengali and will be rolling out more of our other properties in the months to come.”

  • Enterr10 to launch two Bengali channels

    Enterr10 to launch two Bengali channels

    MUMBAI: There was a time when Hindi speaking market was much preferred by the Indian audiences, whereas regional markets weren’t much spoken about. Considering the increasing viewers’ interests towards regional space, broadcasters have also planned to shift their focus on launching regional channels for the viewers.   

    Enterr10, an Indian media and entertainment company which already has a Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) called Dangal TV, a Bhojpuri and Marathi movie channel named Bhojpuri Cinema and Fakt Marathi in their cluster. The company has added another feather to its cap by launching two more Bengali channels, which will be GEC and a movie channel.

    A source close to the development confirmed the news and revealed that Enterr10 Bangla will be a GEC channel and Shaandaar Cinema will be a Bengali movie channel. “Both these channels are SD and free-to-air. The GEC channel will have original content. As of now, everything is the in the planning process.”  

    The source also disclosed that both the channels will be launched in the next two months. “We have already the soft channels. The dates of the launch will be decided within 3-4 days.”

    The network has started test transmission service from Intelsat17 satellite at 66.0 degree east.

    The other players in the Bengali GEC and movies market include Star, Zee, Sony and Colors. Sun TV is the other network that will set the ball rolling to enter into the Bengali market. It will be interesting to know whther or not these regional GECs and movie channels are able to resonate well with the Indian audiences.  

    Also Read :

    Will launch two OTTs before end of this year: Discovery India’s Karan Bajaj

    Sony takes audiences to the crossroads with new show

    ITV Network readies Punjabi music channel

  • Star india signs superstar prosenjit as official ambassador for broadcast of vivo ipl in bengali on jalsha movies

    Star india signs superstar prosenjit as official ambassador for broadcast of vivo ipl in bengali on jalsha movies

    MUMBAI: Unparalleled in sports broadcasting in India, Star India is all set to reimagine the broadcast of the VIVO Indian Premier League 2018 by making India’s greatest sporting spectacle a never before experience for cricket fans across the country.  For the first time ever, Star India will broadcast live matches of the league in 6 languages – Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali. The VIVO IPL will also be beamed LIVE in these 6 languages on Hotstar.

    With fans at the heart of the experience and to leverage the power of localisation, Star India has announced Jalsha Movies as the destination for the Bengali language broadcast of VIVO IPL 2018. Star India celebrates this announcement by launching a TVC featuring Bangla superstar and a big VIVO IPL fan, Prosenjit Chatterjee.

    The film opens with Prosenjit in his living room, looking for something. As he strolls about, he excitedly starts talking about possible match scenarios. As the film progresses, the viewer realizes that it’s his TV remote that Prosenjit is looking for, following which he reveals that VIVO IPL 2018 will be more special this year as the Bengali cricket fans will get to catch the Best vs Best action in their mother tongue, Bangla! The driving thought behind the initiative is that the pride of watching your favorite sporting spectacle in your own language is an experience like never before.

    Mr. Prosenjit Chatterjee, while commenting on his association said, “I’ve always been a cricket enthusiast and VIVO IPL has been one of the tournaments I look forward to every year. I’m excited about my association with Star India for VIVO IPL 2018 and looking forward to enjoying the best of cricketing action in my mother tongue.”

    West Bengal is a unique market with high affinity to language content and very distinctive viewing habits. Star India’s strong presence in the state has helped the broadcaster understand the pulse of the Bangla cricketing fans. The film with Mr Prosenjit Chatterjee is an extension of Star India’s belief to give the Bangla sports fan more personalised content and further enhance the universal appeal of VIVO IPL by reaching out to their viewers in their own language.

    The 11th edition of VIVO IPL starts on Saturday, April 07, 2018 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings.

  • Sony Ten1 starts regional feeds for Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam

    Sony Ten1 starts regional feeds for Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network (SPN) India is all set to launch regional language feeds for Sony Ten1 HD and SD. The languages are Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam.

    It was about time Sony took a bite of the regional apple, an opportunity rivals haven’t wasted time in invading. According to FICCI-KPMG report 2016, regional makes up 33 per cent of India’s TV viewing pie. Sony has already attempted several regional-focused attempts recently such as broadcasting the El Clasico in Hindi, Malayalam and Bengali and the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Hindi and Bengali.

    This move will give sports viewers the choice to pick their language any time of the day. The test signal of the Hindi feed was visible during the first test match in the ongoing India versus South Africa series.

    According to sources, the channels will be available on all pay DTH operators and some cable networks. 

    Also Read :

    Sony Ten to broadcast El Clasico in 4 languages

    ISL piggybacks on EPL’s popularity to gain viewership

  • Bengali film Posto to premiere on Hoichoi before satellite TV

    Bengali film Posto to premiere on Hoichoi before satellite TV

    NEW DELHI: Digital Bengali entertainment content platform Hoichoi has acquired exclusive digital rights of this year’s most successful Bengali feature film Posto, ensuring it a world digital premiere today before a satellite TV premiere.

    This will provide Bengali moviemakers a robust additional pipeline of movie-loving Bengali diaspora across the world, who have so far been deprived of many movies in the language because most have a weak or no international theatrical release.

    Hoichoi has already created a huge buzz in the Bengali entertainment industry with the launch of a slew of engaging original web series and shorts, and the acquisition of the Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy directorial venture, Posto, is set to further disrupt the industry.

    SVF & Hoichoi co-founder Mahendra Soni said, “What adds to our delight is that it is with this, the most successful film of 2017 so far, that Hoichoi will not only delight the Bengali diaspora across the world but will also help the Bengali film industry to overcome the challenges and limitations of international theatrical releases and take their forthcoming movies to a massive global audience of movie lovers worldwide.”

    Posto, which grossed more than Rs 50 million within four weeks of its release, received critical acclaim from the film fraternity. Portrayed by Arghya Basu Roy, Posto is a little boy raised by his grandparents (Soumitra Chatterjee and Lily Chakraboty) in Shantiniketan, a small town in Birbhum district, West Bengal. Posto’s parents (Jisshu Sengupta and Mimi Chakraborty) who are settled 200 km away in Kolkata, visit their son only on weekends.

    Trouble ensues when Posto’s father gets a new job offer outside India and plans to take Posto along with him. The boy’s grandparents are against the decision and the argument finally drags the kid into the courtroom.

    The film’s director, Shiboprosad Mukherjee, said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce that Posto will be exclusively available on Hoichoi, which has become the one-stop destination for people looking for great Bengali entertainment content. Any director would want his creation to be seen and liked by as many people as possible and Hoichoi will enable my film Posto to do just that!”

    Hoichoi showcases exclusive original shows every month and more than 500 Bengali movies. Founded in 2017, it is SVF New Media’s maiden venture. Hoichoi is headed by co-founder Vishnu Mohta, who is also SVF’s executive director.

  • Google AdWords and AdSense support Bengali now

    Google AdWords and AdSense support Bengali now

    MUMBAI: The most important aspect of making the web more useful and meaningful for all of India is to make India’s Internet more representative of today’s India.

    Google India, building on its commitment to help publishers and advertisers to create relevant and engaging content for its audience, announced support for Bengali for both, Google AdWords and Google AdSense.

    India has 234 million Indian language users who are online (compared to 175 million English web users) and it is expected another 300 million Indian language users will come online in the next four years.

    Bengali, being the sixth most spoken language around the world, publishers and advertisers can now reach a large audience globally and target them with Bengali-language search and display ads. In addition to that, content creators who have websites and blogs in Bengali can now easily monetise their content and attract advertisers from across the globe.

    According to Google India director – Google Marketing Solutions Shalini Girish, “With the availability of Hindi, and today’s launch of Bengali language capabilities, we are working hard to ensure that digital advertising is keeping up with the needs of an evolving Internet audience. Over the coming months, we will share more about our efforts to further build on this.”