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Tag: digital media

  • Vivaki Exchange bags Indian Badminton League’s media biz

    Vivaki Exchange bags Indian Badminton League’s media biz

    MUMBAI: VivaKi Exchange, a division of TLG India, has bagged the media mandate for Indian Badminton League (IBL) following a multi-agency pitch.

    The $1-million IBL is a joint venture of Badminton Association of India (BAI) and Sporty Solutionz.

    VivaKi will offer IBL not just traditional media but transcend into social and newer forms of digital media.

    The account is estimated to be worth around Rs 25 crore in the inaugural year.

    Hailing this association, BAI president and MP Akhilesh Das Gupta said, “The Indian Badminton League aims to bring long-term benefits for the players and will usher in a new era in the sport. We welcome VivaKi on board and hope this association will take badminton to new heights.”

    Sporty Solutionz CEO Ashish Chadha said, “The world‘s biggest badminton league demands the maturity, size and depth for national and international launch and VivaKi posses the requisite skill sets. We are extremely pleased with the vibrant approach and enthusiasm of the entire VivaKi team.”

    VivaKi Exchange CEO Mona Jain said, “Of late, sports category has seen a massive upward swing, largely due to plethora of sports channels and coupled with Indian accolades internationally. Badminton is undoubtedly the fastest-growing sport in the world and enjoys a massive following in India after Saina Nehwal‘s exploits in the 2012 London Olympics. I am sure IBL will be seen as a viable destination for large spending advertisers, who want to maximise their spends on media through sports this year.”

    “Working on sports leagues is the most challenging part. We are thrilled on this appointment and with our bandwidth we will build IBL as the most lucrative sports property in India,” VivaKi Partnerships Unit COO Tarun Nigam added.

    The inaugural edition of the IBL will be held from August 14-31. Almost all the top players of the world, including India‘s badminton players Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, Parupalli Kashyap, Ashwini Ponnappa, and PV Sindhu have confirmed their participation in the League.

  • Publicitas establishes presence in Japan

    Publicitas establishes presence in Japan

    MUMBAI: Publicitas, the leading international media service company, has opened a new office in Tokyo on 15 April. Escalating its global footprint, the firm will be an important link between media brands and the local advertising market in Japan.

    It represents international media owners in local markets, offering advertisers direct access to a premium, global media portfolio. The operations in Tokyo provide Japanese advertisers with print, TV, and digital media solutions along with premier OOH and custom events to reach their international and premier local target audiences.

    Japan MD Hiroko Minato with support from India and Asia CEO Marzban Patel will head the initiative in delivering bespoke solutions to clients in the region.

    Patel is extremely proud of opening its operations in Japan and said, “We have a brilliant team on the ground that will work closely with our regional and global experts to deliver the right solutions to our media partners and esteemed advertisers across media platforms”.

    Minato said, “We are very excited at the launch of Publicitas Japan. Publicitas‘ worldwide network, wealth of knowledge, experience and premier portfolio of traditional and new media enables us to offer clients in Japan an unparalleled fully integrated service”.

    Japanese businesses increasingly allocate a significant portion of their marketing budget to overseas advertising and bespoke communication, emphasising the importance of partnership with non-Japanese clients and overseas markets. Publicitas Japan is distinctively well placed to benefit from this new market development.

  • R K Swamy Media Group picks Vinish Joshi as VP- North & East

    R K Swamy Media Group picks Vinish Joshi as VP- North & East

    MUMBAI: Vinish Joshi has joined R K Swamy Media Group as vice president of North and East.

    He will be responsible for the integrated media offering of the company in these regions.

    Based out of New Delhi, Joshi will be a part of the management team at R K Swamy Media Group.

    R K Swamy Media Group president Sandeep Sharma said, “We look forward to Vinish strengthening our Delhi and Kolkata operations and growing the business. His marketing and media agency experience along with his understanding of digital media will help in enhancing our integrated media offering to clients.”

    Joshi said, “I am delighted to be given this opportunity and look forward to be part of an agency that has a clear vision of growth and a result oriented culture.”

    Joshi has over 19 years of experience having worked with Shaw Wallace,ABP and Spicejet on the client side and JWT, Lintas, Mediacom on the agency side.

    In his last assignment he was heading the Mediacom Delhi office for over six years.

    For the record, R K Swamy Media Group comprises of four units – Media Direction, Digital Direction, Hansa Media and Hansa Outdoor.

  • WPP’s Sorrell bearish about print media as an ad medium

    MUMBAI: When WPP group CEO Martin Sorrell speaks, the world listens. And he does not pull any punches.

    Sorrel, while speaking at the FT Digital Media Conference in London yesterday, said something that should make owners of traditional print media like newspapers and magazines sit back and do some introspection about their future. Sorrell said that advertisers should think about reducing the amount that they spend on newspapers and magazines and focus more on online and digital media.

    The WPP group and its clients are already doing that. Come next year, and Google could well overtake News Corp next year as the place where the agency spends most of its clients‘ money.

    Citing numbers, he said that 34 per cent of WPP‘s $72 billion media investments on behalf of clients went towards digital last year.

    ews Corp – a relatively more traditional print media player with oodles of magazines and newspapers – was the biggest media outlet for its clients‘ communications at $2.5 billion last year. But Google is coming on strong and WPP spent $2 billion on ads across its products, which was a 25 per cent jump over last year.

    By the end of next year Google could push News Corp away as being at the top of the list of media outlets where WPP spends its client money, he highlighted.

    Citing data from the US, where WPP spends $40 billion a year on media, Sorrell said that there is a big disparity between advertisers‘ print spend and consumers‘ print usage. “We are investing 20 per cent of WPP clients‘ media budgets on magazines and newspapers, but consumers are only spending seven to 10 per cent of time consuming print. That has to change.”

    He pointed out that the share of ad spend in other media such as TV, outdoors and radio is matching the time that consumers spend on them “TV viewing is about 43 per cent of consumers‘ time, (ad) investment is 43 per cent” he said.

    He has also accused Google, Facebook and Twitter of being media owners masquerading as tech companies. “I do regard Google as a media owner, yes. These are media owners masquerading as technology companies. Google sells Google, Facebook sells Facebook. Twitter sells Twitter.”

  • Over 70 per cent of pay-TV subscribers in Western Europe able to receive multiscreen services

    Over 70 per cent of pay-TV subscribers in Western Europe able to receive multiscreen services

    MUMBAI: Parks Associates research finds over 70 per cent of pay-TV subscribers in Western Europe are able to receive a TV Everywhere/multiscreen service.

    In Eastern Europe, multiscreen availability topped 25 per cent of pay-TV households in early 2013. However, average revenue per user (ARPU) remains low, pushing many operators to test new business models such as a la carte pricing.

    Parks Associates president Stuart Sikes said, “Connected CE and digital media usage continues to grow in Europe, and cloud-based services, including music, video games, and storage, will drive more data across broadband provider networks.”

    “However, several challenges unique to Europe, including low margins, competition, and regulatory and economic factors, create uncertainties on the best path to boost revenues.” Sikes concluded.

  • Ditto TV strengthens regional bouquet with Raj TV alliance

    Ditto TV strengthens regional bouquet with Raj TV alliance

    MUMBAI: Zee New Media, the digital media arm of Zeel, is slowly and steadily building its over-the-top (OTT) platform Ditto TV. Close on the heels of adding ETV network channels, Ditto TV has strengthened its regional offering by inking a strategic alliance with Raj Television adding the latter‘s bouquet of channels to its regional pack.

    The alliance will now enable Ditto TV to stream live TV content from Raj TV Network to avid viewers of South Indian language channels on their mobiles, PCs and tablets. Raj TV Network‘s bouquet includes channels across genres like GECs, News and Music comprising channels like Raj TV, Raj Digital Plus, Raj Music, Raj Musix and Raj News 24X7.

    Commenting on the partnership, Zeel Business Head – New Media Vishal Malhotra said, “Our partnership with Raj TV is of strategic importance to Ditto TV as it will help us strengthen our foothold in the southern markets that we have already penetrated through the ETV range of channels. More importantly, with the enhanced channels offering on the Ditto TV platform, we are delighted to have reached out to the hearts of Indians from around the world, who yearn for such content.”

    Raj TV Distribution Director M. Rajrathinam said, “With the evolution of technology, we need to keep pace with the demands of our New Age Viewer, who prefers to view content not only at his convenience, but also at the place of his choosing. Our partnership with Ditto TV offers us the right choice for us to reach out to this viewer. The partnership will also help us accelerate our business beyond our audience base in southern India, to national and global markets.”

    The partnership with Raj TV is in addition to the associations Ditto TV already has in place with other leading content providers such as IndiaCast, Multi Screen Media (MSM), Sri Adhikari Brothers (SB), TV Today Network and BBC.

  • $99 bn spent on internet ads globally in 2012: GroupM

    MUMBAI: Global internet advertising at $99 billion has amounted to 19.5 per cent of the total ad investment for 2012, according to GroupM‘s This Year, Next Year: Interaction 2013 report. This justifies GroupM‘s prediction in last year’s report that said internet ad spends that year will surpass $98 billion.

    Global internet advertising, according to GroupM, posted a 16.2 per cent growth over the year-ago period.

    Geographically speaking, North America led the list with internet spends to the tune of $38.3 billion (38.69 per cent of global internet ad spends) followed by the Asia Pacific region at $30.6 billion (30.91 per cent) and Western Europe in third place with spends of $ 24.1 billion (24.34 per cent).

    In 2011, the spends on internet advertising stood at $84.8 billion. Back then, it made up 17 per cent of the total global advertising investment. In 2011 too, North America led the pack in terms of overall digital ad spending with an estimated $34.5 billion; Asia-Pacific came in second with $24.8 billion followed by Western Europe with $21 billion.

    The study is part of GroupM‘s media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by parent company WPP‘s worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research, and specialist communications. The study has expanded its scope since last year, adding six new countries to its research bringing the total to 26 countries.

    The study predicts that in 2013 digital advertising spending will reach $113.5 billion globally, a spike of 14.6 per cent from 2012. This is estimated to be 21 per cent of all measured advertising investment in the year. North America will continue to be the region with the highest internet ad spends with an estimated $42.8 billion; Asia-Pacific is predicted to follow with $36.8 billion and Western Europe is estimated to see ad spends in the range of $26.6 billion.

    In the U.S., digital ad spends reached $35.4 billion in 2012, a 23 per cent share of the overall domestic market and a 10 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the study. This year those figures are expected to reach $39.7 billion for a 25.4 per cent share and a 12 per cent increase over 2011.

    GroupM global chief digital officer Rob Norman said, “The internet no longer belongs to the old world and eastern Asia, nor does it depend upon evolution of infrastructure conceived a generation or more ago, but instead reaches every continent and economically active individual. Ken Olsen, founder and CEO of Digital Equipment said in 1977, ‘There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.’ It turns out that he may, inadvertently, have been right. Why have a computer in your home when you can have computing anywhere you like?”

    Norman also touched upon the issue of the rise and impact of online video. “Tablets created an entirely new and original mechanism of media consumption in less than three years. Tablets combine the display quality of HDTV, the interactivity of the PC and the location awareness, touch interface and app ecosystem of the mobile phone. Media is being re-imagined for the tablet and is increasingly seen as the future home of what we have always described as the print industry, the decline of which is precipitous with ever-fewer exceptions,” he sated.

    According to the report, e-commerce per user will stand at $859 in 2013, a 64 per cent increase since 2007. International e-commerce total adds up to $917 billion for 2012 with a run-rate growth of 18 per cent to a predicted $1.1 trillion in 2013. This volume of e-commerce generates an estimated 40 per cent of online paid-media ad investment today.

    The study also reveals that the average percentage of consumers’ “media time” spent online has risen from 21 per cent in 2007 to a predicted 30 per cent in 2013. In 2011, it was 19 per cent.

    Additionally, it was also found that investment in print media continued to lose share while digital media investment continued to gain. While print accounted for 14 per cent of the media time spent in a day, it attracted about 24 per cent of investment, down from 48 per cent. The decline of print advertising reflects falling circulations in the old world, but its share of the world‘s media day has been surprisingly stable, and even increased in 2011, thanks to China.

    % shares of the media day (26 countries)
     
    2007
    2008
    2009
    2010
    2011
    2012
    2013f
    Online
    21
    22
    25
    26
    27
    29
    30
    TV
    42
    42
    42
    41
    39
    38
    38
    Print
    15
    16
    15
    14
    16
    14
    14
    Radio
    16
    19
    19
    18
    18
    18
    18
    Total
    100
    100
    100
    100
    100
    100
    100

    These figures thrown up by the GroupM report substantiate the media communications conglomerate‘s confidence in the medium. The year 2012 saw media communications networks focus on digital capabilities with the big guns going on a shopping spree around the world.

    UK-based WPP, led by media honcho Sir Martin Sorrell, made as many as 18 digital buys across the globe with America’s AKQA being the crowning jewel in its acquisition trophy. The company made some strategic investments in the Indian subcontinent as well with the acquisition of Indian digital services agency Hungama Digital and Pakistani digital agency Converge Technologies.

    France based Publicis Groupe was also aggressive in its digital aspirations and made 13 acquisitions in the digital ad agency space, three of which were in India. Other media agency networks like Havas Media, Dentsu and the Interpblic Group have also taken the acquisition route to strengthen their digital capacities. Havas underwent a restructuring that made way for an exclusive Digital Umbrella in order to better integrate its digital arm with its creative and media businesses.

    The advertisers too seemed to be gung-ho about the medium with almost every major brand making sure it gets its share of limelight in the digital space. Brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Mercedes and McDonald‘s made use of tools like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter apart from display ads to influence and engage the audiences.

  • Exponential Interactive relaunches Firefly Video

    MUMBAI: Exponential Interactive, the global provider of advertising intelligence and digital media solutions, has relaunched its brand engagement video advertising solution Firefly Video.

    The launch includes two new ad units, Glow and Illuminate, which are designed to drive consumers to actively choose to watch a brand’s video content.

    According to the company, campaigns using the new Glow unit have delivered an average of almost 1.5 times the average time spent (ATS) of previous units, while campaigns using the full-featured Illuminate format delivered an average of twice the ATS. Average engagement rates are more than 1 per cent, it added.

    Firefly Video is offered on a cost-per-engagement (CPE) model, meaning advertisers pay only when a consumer actively chooses to watch content. Both units require prolonged user rollover on the teaser video to spark expansion of the unit and sound. Combined with CPE pricing, this ensures advertisers are only paying for the Active Attention of their prospective customers.

    Firefly Video is powered by Exponential‘s e-X Advertising Intelligence Platform, which enables advertisers to target against a taxonomy of 50,000 different user interests and intentions at scale.

    Exponential‘s premium publisher network reaches more than 450 million unique monthly users worldwide. This means brands can combine the power of video advertising with the scale and audience targeting only available in ‘traditional‘ online display advertising. An automotive advertiser, for example, can choose only to reach people to have indicated an interest in buying a car, or people who have recently visited their site. By leveraging their long-form video or TV ads, they can then engage with their prospective customers with their most impactful advertising format.

    Joe Gallagher has been appointed as general manager of Firefly Video to lead the newly formed division.

    Gallagher also held management positions at Dow Jones, Tribune Company and Real Media. He said, “These new units, combined with a cost-per-engagement pricing structure, guarantee advertisers the Active Attention of their intended users. Brands know that the users viewing their content have chosen to do so, and they know they only pay when that happens. With strong video content constantly available to brand advertisers, along with the added features of social sharing, multi-video content and product information, Firefly Video delivers a strategically advanced platform to reach and engage their prospective customers.”

    “Compelling video, delivered to the right eyes and ears, has more power to drive brand interest, consideration and overall awareness. Firefly Video offers opt-in engagement solutions that cater to consumers’ interests, ultimately providing stellar results – at great value using our advertiser-centric pricing system — for brands,” he added.

  • Discovery hires Laslie Grandy to look at its Digital Media arm

    Discovery hires Laslie Grandy to look at its Digital Media arm

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has named Leslie Grandy as Senior Vice President of Product & Development within the company’s Digital Media division.

    Grandy, a former executive at T-Mobile, Apple and RealNetworks, will oversee Discovery’s U.S. TV Networks’ digital product, mobile, development, design and project management teams.

    In the newly created role, Grandy will be tasked with driving innovative product development behind the digital extensions of Discovery Communications’ U.S. TV networks. Grandy will focus on delivering compelling digital experiences that delight fans of Discovery’s networks before, during and after the on air shows.

    “Our mission is to deliver, extend and enhance the living room experience across all screens in a way that super serves our fans,” said Guhan Selvaretnam, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, to whom Grandy will report.

    “With a strong track record of delivering results, Leslie brings the perfect mix of consumer-focused, data-driven and user-centric experience to the team. We are thrilled to have her join the Discovery family.”

  • Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs partners Business Broadcast News

    NEW DELHI: Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India and Business Broadcast News have formed a strategic partnership to introduce a series of trade shows in the Indian market.

    The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two is aimed at developing exhibitions in India around various themes including but not limited to infrastructure development, power and energy as well as telecommunications. The two companies are expected to synergise to deliver innovative offerings in the Indian market.

    Reliance Broadcast Network, which is part of the Reliance Group of India and is associated with Business Broadcast News, owns and manages a portfolio of media vehicles across India that covers everything from radio and television to print and digital media.

    The MOU was signed by Raj Manek, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India, and Sriram Kilambi, President of Business Broadcast News, in Mumbai. Messe Frankfurt, through its own initiatives and experience, has already established a series of shows within India, including Light India, ACMA Automechanika and Techtextil India. These fairs have become highly-recognised staples in Messe Frankfurt’s global portfolio, which includes more than 100 exhibitions annually worldwide.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Manek noted: “Messe Frankfurt has received great success and recognition so far with the three shows we have in India. But in order to continue on the growth path, and tap emerging opportunities in the country, it is imperative that we form strong alliances with strategic partners where we complement each other’s strengths. To date we have received fantastic support from government departments and industry associations, and believe this will now only increase and further enhance after our tie-up with an experienced powerhouse Business Broadcast News, which will enable us to reach these new sectors in India and install both the heritage and proven professionalism of the Messe Frankfurt brand within this market. We very much look forward to working with our new partners, and I believe our firms will benefit greatly from this cooperation.”

    “We entered this new partnership because we truly believe that Messe Frankfurt is committed to the India market. They offer professional platforms which have been proven again and again to be effective, informative and well-rounded. Our goal is to present Messe Frankfurt a better understanding of key growth areas in India’s economy and ultimately work together to conceptualise and ideally position our joint exhibitions as the leading events within the chosen sectors. Through our extensive network of media channels and products, as well as our knowledge of the Indian business needs, Business Broadcast News plans to grow our influence in the Indian exhibition industry,” said Kilambi.