ITV

Tag: Big Boss

  • APOS 2025: Banijay Asia and its grow-grow urge

    APOS 2025: Banijay Asia and its grow-grow urge

    BALI: Banijay Asia, the formidable content producer, is strategically expanding its reach into Southeast Asia, with a sharp focus on Indonesia and a ground breaking reality series that will propel contestants into space, according to a report in Variety. Group chief executive Deepak Dhar, speaking at the APOS conference, revealed the company has “already locked a couple of deals in Jakarta” for both scripted and unscripted ventures.

    This expansion includes an enhanced version of Banijay Asia’s previously announced cross-border reality show, which initially sought one Indian participant but will now search for “one Indian and finding one Indonesian who we can send to space in a Blue Origin rocket.”

    The move comes as Banijay Asia continues to scale its substantial operations in India, a market with a “voracious content appetite,” according to Dhar. He noted the company produces “800 days of Big Boss [the local version of Celebrity Big Brother] in our calendar year of 365 days,” highlighting the sheer volume of content generated.

    “The timing is right for us personally, because we’re happy in the position that we are at in India, and now we can focus our bandwidth into the rest of the region,” Dhar explained. “We are really doubling down on Indonesia and then subsequently in Thailand.”

    Banijay Asia has built a strong reputation for successfully localising international formats while also developing successful Indian originals. Its  adaptation of The Night Manager for the erstwhile Disney+ Hotstar garnered massive viewership, with a second season currently in production. The company also recently rebooted the long-running crime procedural CID, which delivered “massive strong results on Sony television” before its subsequent windowing to Netflix.

    Dhar articulated the company’s broader regional ambition: “It’s really time that an Indian story catches the fancy and attention of global audiences as well. So that’s really something that we’re excited and working towards.”

  • Licious announces association with ‘Bigg Boss’

    Licious announces association with ‘Bigg Boss’

    Mumbai: The famous meat brand Licious has been associated with the country’s most popular and longest-running reality show, Bigg Boss, for its latest season.

    As part of this unique integration, Licious will cater to contestants’ meat cravings by setting up an experiential zone called The Licious Greed Zone in the house.

    Bigg Boss is arguably the most preferred prime-time viewing by fans of the show, and adding to its charm is the host, Salman Khan. The iconic show enjoys a plethora of celebrity associations and brand engagements, which is a testimony to the show’s value.

    Joining this club, Licious will be offering its assorted range of premium quality and delectable varieties of fresh meat, seafood, and ready-to-cook items in the house. The tie-up will also roll out an interactive contest, where Bigg Boss fans will get a chance to vote for their favourite Licious staple on the Licious app. The most-voted dish will be available in the Licious Greed Zone inside the Bigg Boss House. The dish with the maximum number of votes will find its way to the participants, also giving the audience a chance to become a part of the show. To take things a notch higher, three lucky voters will get the golden chance of meeting Bollywood superstar Salman Khan!

    Speaking about the association, Licious vice president of brand development Santosh Hegde said, “Bigg Boss is the epitome of entertainment and laughter. The show comes with a massive reach and an ever-increasing viewership, which only makes it a perfect platform for integration. At Licious, we are always looking out for moments to bring people together because food is the greatest emotion for all of us, and nobody knows meat like us! Our partnership with Bigg Boss is an exciting move through which we are ready to showcase our wide variety of products, catering to every taste and craving. What makes it better is that the audience will also get an opportunity to help their favourite housemates get the best of Licious via the greed zone.”

  • Voot launches first OTT season of Bigg Boss Kannada

    Voot launches first OTT season of Bigg Boss Kannada

    Mumbai: Viacom18-owned, Voot, is all set to exclusively launch its first-ever OTT season of Bigg Boss Kannada on 6 August 2022.

    Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep will host the OTT season.

    For the six-week digital exclusive season of Bigg Boss OTT Kannada, Voot welcomes Vimal Elaichi as ‘co-presenting’ sponsor and Paytm as ‘special’ partner.

    Comprising shows and movies like ‘Humble Politician Nograj’, ‘Badava Rascal’, ‘Honeymoon’, ‘Dear Vikram’ etc., the platform has successfully amplified its regional content repertoire to reach out to its Kannada viewers.

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     

     
     

    A post shared by Voot Select (@vootselect)

    Following the overwhelming success of its reality show Bigg Boss OTT Hindi last year, Voot will once again unleash over-the-top entertainment and drama for all its Kannada viewers, starting 6th August 2022. With six weeks of unprecedented access, engagement and interactivity, viewers will get a chance to watch exclusive cuts, round-the-clock content drops, and a fully interactive 24*7 live feed from the house.

    Talking about bringing Bigg Boss OTT to its Kannada viewers, Viacom 18 digital ventures chief operating officer Gourav Rakshit said, “Kannada has been an important market for us at Voot, and our recent movie slate has helped us consolidate our leadership in the market. Voot’s success with Bigg Boss OTT Hindi in 2021 proved to be a game-changer in the digital entertainment space, and we’re excited to launch Bigg Boss OTT Kannada, reinforcing our commitment to bringing fresh and engaging shows to Voot audiences across the country.”

    Speaking on the maiden edition of Bigg Boss OTT Kannada, Viacom18 business head of Kannada cluster Param said, “Year-on-year, Bigg Boss has been delivering outstanding and ground-breaking editions across languages, both on television as well as digital. The Kannada market has always stayed ahead of the curve and the launch of Bigg Boss OTT Kannada will further create an immersive and engaging experience for all our Kannada viewers. We are hopeful that the upcoming digital edition will take the show’s fandom a notch higher and engage and interact with viewers like never before.”

    Adding to it, Kichcha Sudeep said, “It’s really exciting to see the growing anticipation for the first OTT season, and the new avatar will surely live up to this craze. As the promo suggests, the OTT season will be a dream come true for the Bigg Boss fans to see 24×7 live action with entertainment, drama, and a lot more that will certainly keep our viewers hooked for 6 weeks. The madness has just begun. Stay tuned.”

  • Voot ropes in Swiggy & CoinDCX as ‘co-powered by sponsors’ for Bigg Boss OTT

    Voot ropes in Swiggy & CoinDCX as ‘co-powered by sponsors’ for Bigg Boss OTT

    Mumbai: Days before Bigg Boss OTT debuts exclusively on Voot, the streaming platform has successfully onboarded food delivery platform Swiggy and cryptocurrency exchange platform CoinDCX as co-powered by sponsors for the reality show.

    The OTT special edition will be hosted by Karan Johar for the first six weeks following which it will be aired on Colors TV. The deal will allow the two brands to engage with consumers through industry-first innovations, said the platform on Tuesday.

    Swiggy is among the earliest digital-first companies in India and will use this occasion to celebrate its seventh birthday with both viewers and contestants. Swiggy will deliver one of the most special IPs of Bigg Boss OTT that will enable fans to digitally interact with their favourite contestants once a week, it said.

    While CoinDCX is looking to build trust through education to foster awareness and credibility with respect to the cryptocurrency industry. They have chosen to partner with Bigg Boss OTT with a host of innovative content integrations and digital interactivity that will build awareness and educate users about cryptocurrency. A trivia quiz “Hazaaron Jeetenge Karodo Inaam” has been specially designed for Bigg Boss fans on Voot along with CoinDCX’s Learn team, giving viewers a chance to play and win multiple prizes as they watch their favourite reality show.

    Apart from the digital interactivity, CoinDCX is also set to garner deep brand exposure and visibility through an exclusively designed branded zone in the house, where CoinDCX will share a screen with the entertaining contestants of the house, setting up space for some juicy conversations, arguments, and fights amongst them.

    Viacom18 digital ventures, head – AVOD (Voot), Chanpreet Arora said, “Bigg Boss OTT is a pioneering step that blends entertainment and technology seamlessly.  Given the all-digital play, Bigg Boss OTT is designed to empower the viewer with one-of-a-kind interactive features brought to life through polls, quizzes, voting, and a lot more, thus changing the narrative of reality shows and bringing in a whole new paradigm of engagement. Bigg Boss OTT, power-packed with gamification and engagement, has successfully garnered patronage of cutting-edge brands and we are excited to welcome Swiggy and CoinDCX as our ‘co-powered by’ sponsors. We are driven to explore newer ways to keep our viewers engaged while partnering with top-notch brands for India’s biggest reality show!”

    Elaborating on the partnership, Swiggy, director-marketing, Umesh Krishna K said, “Bigg Boss has been a marque property in Indian entertainment for more than a decade. When we started our partnership with Voot for Bigg Boss in 2018, we were taken aback by the scale of viewership on VOD. Bigg Boss helps us connect with our core audience through advertising and meaningful integrations, and we hope that the engagement will be far-reaching this year around.”

    Talking about the collaboration, CoinDCX, head of marketing and communications, Ramalingam Subramanian said, “I believe the audience that CoinDCX appeals to is well-aligned with Voot. The OTT platform already has a large share of the audience that falls under the same category which we focus on. This makes it a perfect fit for us. CoinDCX has been a pioneering player in the crypto space in India with a vision to make crypto accessible to Indians. Our association with Voot for Big Boss OTT should further help CoinDCX in creating awareness and educating retail investors about cryptocurrency as an asset class.

    The show will start streaming on Voot from 8 August.

  • Bigg Boss 14 clocks 1.5 billion viewing minutes on Voot in opening week

    Bigg Boss 14 clocks 1.5 billion viewing minutes on Voot in opening week

    KOLKATA: India’s favourite and biggest reality show Bigg Boss has opened to power-packed entertainment and unlimited drama. The national phenomenon, after the stupendous success of the last season on Voot, has once again unleashed its power and brought in fans garnering a stupendous 1.5 billion minutes of watch time just in its opening week.  

    With 11 digital sponsors and brand partners and an immersive, digital-only, exclusive content slate on Voot, the iconic show has delivered an unmatched entertainment experience for the #AsliFans of Bigg Boss, once again.

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gourav Rakshit said, “Our objective on Voot has always been to provide content experiences to our viewers that is immersive and engaging. Bigg Boss is a show with a massive and loyal fan base and the show on Voot this year has once again created many milestones like over 40 per cent  growth in watch-time and an increased contribution of 35 per cent in viewership from tier 2 towns as compared to the past 3 seasons. We are sure that the specially curated immersive experiences surrounding content on digital have added significant value to our users as well as partner experiences.”

    With Bigg Boss continuing to get significant patronage on digital, the show has also garnered support from leading brands who have come on board the digital bandwagon and partnered with Voot to bring to life engaging interactivities for the #Aslifans.

    While MPL and Samsung have partnered with the show as digital sponsors and have also sponsored properties like Fantasy League, Voting and Bigg Buzz, Flipkart Video has partnered with the platform for a special interactive segment titled the Bigg Buzz Challenge, crafted around the iconic show. Apart from this, brands like PhonePe, Mama Earth, Magic Moments Music Studio, Swiggy, Durex, Lotus Herbals (Beauty), JBL, Philips have also come on board for the Bigg Boss experience on Voot, through fun curated segments.

    Some of the marquee digital properties built exclusively by Voot for the #AsliFans of Bigg Boss include –

    · Fantasy League presented by MPL (Mobile Premier League): Fantasy League is an interactive offering from Voot for the #AsliFans of Bigg Boss. Bigg Boss viewers are close observers and build strong fan camps to root for their favorite contestants. Fantasy League is fans’ one-stop destination to choose their teams and win prizes throughout the season.  The league will see #AsliFans join by selecting contestants with a pre-assigned credit score. Points are scored basis the contestant’s performance in the show with longer the selected contestant stays in the game, the more points will be scored by the participant. There will be daily multipliers if the selected contestant stays longer in the game. A leaderboard will track the top scorers regularly and the top users will be gratified. Every day 10 winners will be gratified by MPL.

    · Official Voting Partner Samsung: – In addition to being the official voting partner on VOOT, Samsung is integrated on Bigg Buzz via a series of fun and customized integrations which highlight the Samsung Galaxy A71/A51 series.

    · Bigg Buzz Season 4 presented by Flipkart Video: This season, Voot’s popular magazine show is presented by Flipkart Video. Hosted by popular actor Karan Wahi, the show will have weekly episodes every Monday. As part of this association we have created a special interactive segment titled The Bigg Buzz Challenge which is co-hosted on Flipkart Video that provides viewers an opportunity to answer intriguing questions based on the current and past seasons of Bigg Boss.

    · BB Extra Masala- The unseen drama, unedited fights, and unabridged content from the house will be available to the viewers.

    · BB Catch up – A weekly round-up of the drama and action from the house for the viewers to catch-up everything they might have missed during the week.

  • Star Maa goes in for an identity refresh

    Star Maa goes in for an identity refresh

    MUMBAI: When you are the leader, you set the pace. Disney Star India’s Telugu bouquet under the Star Maa umbrella – which has been numero uno in that language ever since one can remember – is going in for an identity refresh. Coinciding with the launch episode of the fourth season of its blockbuster Big Boss, it unveiled a new vibrant channel identity with host Nagarjuna saying it saying it’s a new start for an even more glorious journey of an already very strong brand.

    A press release issued by the network states that “Star Maa holds together three important aspects – pride in our Samskruthi (culture), our Sampradayam (tradition), and weaving stories towards Purogati (progress). At Star Maa, our attempt is to celebrate the blend of these three aspects in every story we tell. We believe that there is a little bit of Star Maa in every one of us “

    The Star Maa cluster of channels operates and leads in three genres: GEC, movies and music. Commanding a combined market share of 25 per cent  these channels own the largest share of Telugu television viewership. In the GEC category, Star Maa enjoys a 30 per cent plus market share and is a dominant leader with the widest variety of programming. Star Maa Movies is the biggest movies channel and Star Maa Music most vibrant and distinct youth destination.

    Star Maa is so dominant in the Telugu market that its general entertainment/reality shows occupy four of the top five slots there. Amongst these: Karthika Deepam, Intinit Gruhlakhsmi, , Mounaragam, Teff Vineya Vidheya Rama.

    Says a Star Maa spokesperson: “We are incredibly humbled by the love the audience has showered on us in the past few years and our attempt with the new identity is to thank our viewers and offer them a channel they feel more proud to be a part of. Our viewers are our inspiration and their ability to keep their roots while developing the wings to fly is what drive us. This change is intended to celebrate the cultural richness of the Telugu region and build us as not just an entertaining brand but also an inspiring storyteller, that shapes society.”

  • Viacom18’s Sudhanshu Vats: Indian media’s growth will be similar to China

    Viacom18’s Sudhanshu Vats: Indian media’s growth will be similar to China

    MACAU: Even as he said that the growth trajectory of the Indian media space will be similar to that of China, Mumbai-headquartered Viacom 18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats made it clear that both television and digital spaces were complementary to each other having a great future in India.

    “Indian media market’s evolution will be very similar to that of China. Where we (India) are today in 2017 is where China was in 2011,” Vats said on Wednesday during the opening keynote on the third and last day of the CASBAA Convention 2017 here in a conversation with media industry veteran Marcel Fenez of Fenez Media.

    “In India, the future of television is television and also digital. If you are a content provider or a story teller, you have an advantage,” Vats said, adding that he expected a significant growth surge on the AVoD and SVoD sides of the media business.

    Vats went on to highlight the reasons for pushing the company’s digital venture VOOT, stating that not only has the app downloads run into double digit millions, but that about 15-18 per cent of the content on the platform was exclusive even as the Viacom18 team learns from the digital evolutionary processes in the US and China markets. Launched in early 2016, VOOT engages kids as well as adults with 17,000 hours of network content.

    “We do a lot of content around digital, which is called VOOT exclusive. India has a big appetite for reality shows and there is a huge amount of curiosity about what happens behind the scenes,” Vats explained. Viacom18 hosts some of India’s biggest reality shows – ‘Fear Factor’ and `Bigg Boss’. He also thinks that India will skip credit cards to e-payment, which can help aim for VOOT SVoD with a paywall.

    According to Vats, a Unilever India veteran marketer-turned-media professional (he jokingly mentioned that in his previous company he was famously referred to as the `Laundry Man’ for driving Unilever’s home washing products in India), “Essentially we are storytellers. The big business we are in is content and we need a robust pipeline of content and creative talent. But the challenge is getting talent, and retaining them.”

    In this context, he explained later, Viacom18 has started a start-up initiative, encouraging young talent to express themselves in a creative manner as new disruptive ideas in Indian media will not come from within an organisation, but from outside.

    (Another reality show running on MTV India is Dropout, a nationwide hunt to find hidden creative talent in ‘dropouts’ to be groomed by industry leaders into entrepreneurs, to solve real-world business problems in a short span of time.)

    Terming Viacom18’s 10-year eventful existence as “fantastic” when it had grown 40x, Vats, whose many passions include running marathons world over, said the company’s journey had “now just begun” in India’s media landscape that has been changing dramatically over the years pushed by content, delivery mechanism and technological evolutions. (Incidentally, he completed his daily quota of an hour’s running before getting ready for the morning keynote.)

    As part of innovations being undertaken by Viacom18, Vats pointed out that the company plans to set up an engineering hub in India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore, to help various in-house products.

    “The big media companies are consolidating and coming together with telecom companies,” Vats said highlighting the disruptions and convergence happening in the Indian media landscape, “If you had asked me before, I wouldn’t have thought that would happen.”

    Batting on the front foot for a digital India, Vats said the country was an “exciting” market. “It’s at the cusp…ready to take off. If you have a five-year horizon, it (India) is where you should be,” he aptly summed.

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  • TV content: Madras HC seeks Centre’s clarification on regulatory mechanism

    TV content: Madras HC seeks Centre’s clarification on regulatory mechanism

    NEW DELHI: Joining issues with a petition presently being heard by the Supreme Court on a similar matter, the Madras High Court yesterday directed the federal government to clarify on the existing regulatory setup governing contents aired by television channels in India.

    The first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sunder gave this direction to assistant solicitor general Su Srinivasan, who appeared for the central government, during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) to stop telecast of Tamil reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, hosted by actor Kamal Haasan on Vijay TV, part of Star India, according to a report filed by PTI from Chennai.

    The matter has been posted for further hearing on August 18, 2017.

    Earlier, senior counsel P S Raman, who appeared on behalf of the actor and anchor of the TV show, submitted that there were two bodies to regulate the channels. One was the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), a self-regulatory body headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and the other was ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), the PTI report quoted Raman as telling the local high court.

    BCCC is a self-regulatory body set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, an industry organisation that has a large number of TV channels as its members. Though there’s no formal content regulatory body in India on the lines of American FCC or the UK’s Ofcom or Singapore’s MDA, IBF’s self regulatory body takes up complaints relating to TV content. Separately, the content code, part of India’s Cable TV Act (enforced by MIB) outlines broad guidelines for TV content.

    The PTI report stated that petitioner Saravanan has alleged that in the reality show Haasan played with emotions and behaviour of female contestants, which he termed vulgar and obscene. He further submitted that to protect Tamil culture and tradition and in the interest and welfare of the general public, the telecast of the show must be stalled immediately.

    “The dress code and behaviour of female contestants on the show are very vulgar and obscene making my family members and me uncomfortable in watching the programme. Also, the reference to ‘cheri’ (slum) behavior, made by a participant to describe the behaviour of another contestant, greatly hurt downtrodden people,” the petitioner said.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a similar case and has enquired from the central government whether it has a proper mechanism in place to regulate TV content.

    Outgoing film certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani, dubbed nationalist and ultra-conservative by a section of content producers and audience alike, in a media interview had urged the government to extend CBFC’s jurisdiction to oversee television shows too.

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    Govt formalising TV & radio complaints’ redressal mechanism

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  • Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan signs with Universal Music India for ‘Back 2 Love’

    Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan signs with Universal Music India for ‘Back 2 Love’

    MUMBAI: Maestro Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has signed up with Universal Music India for the release of his long awaited album ‘Back 2 Love’.  This is his fourth album and the first in 7 years. The album will see a global release on 9 June 2014.

     

    `Back 2 Love’ is a collection of 10 soulful melodies that aims at enthralling audiences, both new and existing. The album includes collaborations with Indian musicians including the music composer brother duo Salim- Sulaiman and a duet with play back singer Shreya Ghoshal.

     

    This Ustaad of `Qawaali’ and `Sufi’ music, has an envious list of Bollywood hits to his credit including ‘Sajda’ (My Name is Khan), ‘Teri Ore’ (Singh is King), ‘O Re Piya’ (Aaja Nachle), and ‘Jiya Dhadak Dhadak’ (Kalyug) to name a few amongst his poignant works that have always tugged many a heart strings. This time round too, the world renowned musician is all set to mesmerize with his 10 new soulful and heart rendering compositions from `Back 2 Love’.

     

    Rahat Fateh Ali Khan said, “I am excited about my signing with Universal Music Group and look forward in creating magic with ‘Back2Love’ as it is perhaps my best solo effort so far. I feel honoured being part of a label like Universal Music as it represents some of the top most artists in this world. I look forward for a long lasting musical relationship with UMG and thank my Producer Salman Ahmed and Universal Music’s Devraj Sanyal for putting this deal together.”

     

    Adding an Indian feel to his compositions is the much in love couple of `Big Boss’ fame Gauhar Khan and Kushal Tandon who feature in the music video shot for the lead track ‘Zaroori Tha’ that will break closer to the album release date.

     

    Universal Music / EMI Music, South Asia managing director Devraj Sanyal said, “We are extremely proud to present the work of a legendary artist as Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Khan’s works being an inspiration and solace to many, have always been looked forward to by avid music lovers the world over. His new album `Back 2 Love’ is an all new extension to his already prolific body of work and is definitely his best work yet! Needless to say, we are rolling out a red carpet plan for this brilliant new album as we are confident of its impending success! We will ensure that this one reaches out and touches millions of hearts worldwide!”

  • MEC forecasts 30% increase in Big Boss’ debut ratings

    Mumbai: MEC, a leading media buying and planning agency and a founding partner of GroupM, has estimated 30 per cent increase in the debut ratings of the sixth season of Big Boss on 7 October.

    MEC has predicted the opening TVR for this season to be at 3.9 among all Adults, 15 years+, SEC ABC, all India. This is 30 per cent higher compared to the opening TVR of 3 in the last season.

    Big Boss is moving from the late night slot of 10:30 pm last season to the prime time slot of 9 pm this season. This in itself should lead to an increase in rating compared to last season. However, it will compete with KBC in this time slot.

    MEC national director, analytics and insight Geetha Shiv said, “We have found in our model that promos are a key influencing factor. While the promos on Colors are comparable to last season, we are seeing a spike in promos on other channels in the last one-week. This can add to the rating increase.”

    It may be noted that Colors has been holding its share in the 9 to 10 pm slot with Jhalak Dikhla Ja even post the launch of KBC.

    The search volume index which has been taken as an indicator of buzz is comparable to the last season.

    Meritus Analytics managing partner Sunder Muthuraman added, “Analytical process of forecasting is fine-tuned with testing/ validating various variables that are affecting the results and a sound business appreciation of those variables. Continuous forecasting helps in managing and timing investments better.”