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Tag: digital media

  • Making all efforts to comply with new IT media guidelines, says Twitter

     New Delhi : US tech giant Twitter on Monday said that it has assured the government that it is making every effort to comply with the new IT media guidelines. The microblogging site said it has already shared an overview of the progress with the government.

    A Twitter spokesperson said that the company has been and remains deeply committed to India and serving the vital public conversation taking place on the service and will continue its constructive dialogue with the Indian government, reported ANI.

    “We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government,” the spokesperson added. According to media reports, Twitter has sought more time in wake of the pandemic situation in the country.

    Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) had on Saturday issued ‘one last notice’ to Twitter Inc asking it to immediately comply with the new IT rules, failing which it could face stern action and lose exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.

    According to the ministry, the US company has not informed about the details of the chief compliance officer. The resident grievance officer and nodal contact person nominated was not an employee of Twitter Inc in India, as required by rules. Furthermore, the office address of Twitter Inc shared by the company was that of a law firm in India, which was also not as per rules.

    The new IT (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) rules, 2021 came into effect on 26 May, but Twitter has refused to comply with the provisions of these Rules, the government said.

    The rules recommend a three-tier mechanism for regulation of all online media. As per the rules, each significant social media intermediary is required to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and a resident grievance officer. All three should be resident Indians.

    Meanwhile, Facebook on Monday named Spoorthi Priya as its chief grievance officer on it’s website and shared her email ID. Google and WhatsApp have already shared the details of their chief grievance officers as per the rules.

    India is a major market for global digital platforms. As per data shared by the government, India has 53 crore WhatsApp users, 41 crore Facebook subscribers, 21 crore Instagram clients, while 1.75 crore account holders are on Twitter.

  • Ruchir Khanna joins Asianet News Media & Entertainment as COO

    New Delhi : Asianet News Media & Entertainment Pvt Ltd (AMEL) on Friday announced the appointment of Ruchir Khanna as chief operating officer of the company’s digital business.

    An accomplished digital media professional, Khanna was earlier working with Times Internet as the head of product and growth. During his stint at Times Internet, he led the digital growth of various properties of the group. He has over two decades of experience across product development, growth and marketing, content strategy and P&L management. He has also had leadership stints at Hike messenger, India Today Group and Yahoo! India, said the company.

    AMEL, executive chairman, Rajesh Kalra said, the team is building a media/ent-tech company of the future and building on the strong digital brands. 

    AMEL has multiple digital brands in it’s portfolio including asianetnews.com, indigomusic.com and serves consumers in multiple languages.

    “Our mission is to significantly expand audiences of each of these brands – with more innovation, content and services. Ruchir will provide significant leadership to this mission of ours. He brings with him the experience of building and growing some of the biggest and most successful digital products in India. I am really excited about the leadership team we’ve built. Ruchir joins us soon after Nachiket Pantvaidya took over as managing director. We are now fully geared-up in our mission to make AMEL India’s leading Media-Entertainment Tech enterprise,” said Kalra.

  • IAMAI announces formation of Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council

    IAMAI announces formation of Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council

    KOLKATA: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Friday announced the formation of the Digital Publishers Content Grievances Council (DPCGC) as part of the self-regulatory and grievance redressal framework for Online Curated Content [OCC] Publishers.

    The Council is being set up in light of the recent Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 with the intent to empower consumers to make informed viewing choices, it said on Friday.

    It will have an OCCP Council consisting of publishers of OCC as members and an independent Grievance Redressal Board [GRB] — consisting of a chairperson and six members. The GRB will be chaired by a retired Supreme Court/high court judge. The members will comprise eminent persons from the media and entertainment industry, experts from various fields, including child rights, minority rights, and media law.

    The GRB will oversee and ensure the alignment and adherence to the Code of Ethics by the OCCP Council members, provide guidance to entities on the Code of Ethics, address grievances that have not been resolved by the publisher within 15 days and hear grievances/appeals filed by the complainants.

    IAMAI President Subho Ray said: “IAMAI and members of the DPCGC are deeply committed to protecting consumer rights and empowering consumers with the right tools to make informed decisions, as well as have their grievances addressed. The formation of this body is an important step towards consumer choice, as more and more people are viewing content online.”

    IAMAI has also notified the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) that they are in the process of forming the DPCGC and has also shared a list of publishers who were confirmed to be members of the Council. So far, it has received confirmation from 10 publishers, including 1.) Alt Balaji 2.) Amazon Prime Video 3.) Arha Media 4.) Firework 5.) Hoichoi 6.) Hungama 7.) Lionsgate Play 8.) MX Player 9.) Netflix and 10) Shemaroo and is awaiting confirmation from several other such digital publishers.

    “The creation of Digital Publishers Content Grievances Council (DPCGC) is a significant step in ensuring that publishers of OCC are compliant with IT rules 2021. The Digital Publishers Content Grievances Council will serve as a transparent and open channel to effectively address consumer grievances. As part of the process to be compliant, this newly formed body is an important step towards consumer empowerment and choice,” IAMAI stated.

  • MIB has eyes on digital media publishers too

    MIB has eyes on digital media publishers too

    KOLKATA: The social media-Indian government tussle regarding compliance of new IT rules has hogged all the limelight lately. Along with these platforms, digital media, OTT platforms were also given a three-month window to comply with a new set of rules.

    The digital media division of the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has sent a notice to digital media publishers seeking information under Rule 18 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Codes) Rules, 2021.

    The ministry has asked publishers to furnish information in the applicable format within 15 days of the notice as different formats were devised for traditional media publishing news and current affairs on digital media, pure-play digital publishers, and OTT platforms.

    A total of around 60 publishers, and their associations, have also informed the ministry that they have already initiated the process of formation of self-regulatory bodies under the new rules. Some publishers have also written to the ministry regarding registration with the ministry under the rules, MIB noted in its missive.

    The notice highlighted that the ministry held interactions with the publishers of online curated content, as well as the publishers of news on digital media duly after notifying the new rules.

    Meanwhile, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has written to MIB requesting exclusion of traditional television news media and its extended presence on digital news platforms from the aforementioned rules, as per reports.

    “While NBA appreciates the need for regulations, the traditional news media need not be subjected to and/ or covered under the scope of the IT Rules 2021, since it is already sufficiently regulated by various statutes, laws, guidelines and codes, regulations, and judgments set,” NBA said in a letter.

    The electronic news media is no different from print media and majority of content hosted on their digital platforms is nothing but a replica of content which is already a part of the broadcast, the body argued.

  • ASCI unveils final guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media

    ASCI unveils final guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media

    Mumbai: Advertisers now have a clear set of guidelines on which they can base their influencer driven ads/commercials. Industry watchdog – the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci)  –  unveiled the final guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media today. The ombudsman had initially released some draft guidelines  in February and sought feedback from all stakeholders – advertisers, agencies, influencers and consumers. Asci then incorporated the responses before drawing up the final framework.    To ensure a collaborative process and expert inputs, ASCI tied up with Big Bang Social, a leading marketplace for social storytelling, to get India’s leading digital influencers’ views on board.

    The new rules will become applicable to commercial messages or advertisements published on or after 14 June 2021. The guidelines clearly lay out the definitions for the terms influencer, virtual influencer, material connection and digital media. Asci has introduced  Asci.social platform- a digital platform that will house information about the rules applicable to the  community of influencers, marketers, agencies and consumers. Additionally, all promotional content in which they feature will have to mandatory  be labelled as such by the influencers. Asci has roped in Reech, a French technology provider to monitor potential violations of the guidelines.

    GUIDELINES:

    Disclosure: All advertisements published by social media influencers or their representatives, on such influencers’ accounts must carry a disclosure label that clearly identifies it as an advertisement.

    Criteria for disclosure :

    a. Disclosure is required if there is any material connection between the advertiser and the influencer.

    b. Material connection isn’t limited to monetary compensation. And includes anything of value given to mention or talk about the Advertiser’s product or service, like free or discounted products or service or other perks

    c. a disclosure is needed even if they weren’t specifically asked to talk about that product or service.

    d. Disclosures are required even if the evaluations are unbiased or fully originated by Influencer, so long as there is a material connection between Advertiser and Influencer.

    e. If there is no material connection and the influencer is telling people about a product or service they bought and happen to like, that is not considered to be an advertisement and no disclosure is required on such posts.

    · Disclosure must be upfront and prominent so that it is not missed by an average consumer

    · Any one or more disclosure labels can be used: advertisement, ad, sponsored, collaboration, partnership, employee, free gift

    · If the advertisement is only a picture or video post without accompanying text (such as Instagram stories or Snapchat), the disclosure label needs to be superimposed over the picture/video

    I. For videos that last 15 seconds or less, the disclosure label must stay for a minimum of 3 seconds.

    II. For videos which are 2 minutes or longer, the disclosure label must stay for the entire duration of the section in which the promoted brand is mentioned.

    · In live streams, the disclosure label should be announced at the beginning and the end of the broadcast.

    · In the case of audio media, the disclosure must be clearly announced at the beginning and at the end of the audio, and before and after every break that is taken in between.

    · The disclosure should be in English OR in the language as the advertisement itself in a way that is easy for an average consumer to understand.

    Responsibility of disclosure of material connection and also of the content of advertisement is upon the advertiser for whose product or service the advertisement is, and also upon the Influencer.

  • Transition from print to digital is inevitable in comic industry: CBAM summit

    Transition from print to digital is inevitable in comic industry: CBAM summit

    NEW DELHI: The comic book industry is a well-recognised part of Indian popular culture, having produced many familiar cultural icons like Suppandi, Chacha Chaudhary, Tenali Raman, Detective Moochhwala, Shikkari Shambhu, Mayavi, and Akbar-Birbal. The industry was at its peak during the late 1980s and 1990s, when it flourished with a record number of sales. 

    However, post 2000, the Indian comic book scene hit a major stumbling block due to the arrival of television in almost all households, along with the introduction of video games in middle-class families. Sales and circulation plummeted, and comic book publishing companies either folded or merged. It was a ‘do or die’ situation – and as the saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Now, it is commonplace to find digital versions of comic books; be they Indian or foreign publishers, everyone has an online buying option that enables readers to access their comic on the device of their choice – mobile, tablets, laptops etc. And with television and smartphones continuing to hold sway over new-generation children, the industry is facing an inevitable shift where print comics are losing their prominence to the digital format. 

    In the Comic Books and More Summit & Awards 2021 (CBAM 2021), organised by Animation Xpress, a division of the Indiantelevision.com group, several industry experts talked about the progress of the Indian comic industry, and the swift transition from paper comics to digital mediums. 

    We’ve already seen this conversion to digital happen before, with books and newspapers; comic books have proved to be no exception.

    "We had Amar Chitra Katha comics. They used to publish new editions every month. We used to collect it. We used to exchange it with our friends and make sure that it was circulated privately within them. And most of these comics were available in school and public libraries. And there was one more thing I remember was Sportsweek. Along with the comic book, we used to eagerly wait for Sportsweek as well. So, we all grew up with that culture, and today we suddenly see that the digital ecosystem has taken the centre stage,” recalled FICCI chairman of AVCG Forum and Punnaryug Artvision founder Ashish Kulkarni. “We have a lot to really see as to where, in which direction things are going. According to me, in the comic industry, the print medium is the greatest foundation medium.”

    Global Comix director of business development Eric Tapper asserted that the digital medium is currently dominating, and is going to dominate the comic industry in the coming years. 

    "The next-gen audience is looking for access to stories and content at their fingertips and the transition from books to mobiles/tablets is the product of time. The next-generation audience has the access to stories and comics at their fingertips at any moment, and creators can polish their stories and can engage a much broader audience," said Tapper during his speech at CBAM 2021. 

    Storytellers should find the most effective way to reach children, and it is the best way to stay afloat in the industry, suggested Tinkle editor-in-chief Kuriakose Vaisian.

    Said he: "In India, the most challenging thing is to acquire new readers. I do feel the market is still there, the challenge might be to reach out to the kids on devices that they are comfortable with. [Print] might not be the way to go.” 

    Balarmax founder Sumit Kumar revealed that problems with the distribution network is one of the biggest challenges faced by creators in the country. One of the best ways, he remarked, to overcome this issue is by initially publishing web comics, and gauging readers’ response to the product before taking the call to go into print.

    "The distribution network isn't strong in India, hence we decided to go ahead with webcomics. It's much easier to first come up with the webcomics, see if it works and then we go ahead to publish it," said Kumar. 

  • Digital media, gaming dominated M&E deals in 2020

    Digital media, gaming dominated M&E deals in 2020

    KOLKATA: Over the last few years, the media and entertainment industry has seen a number of major deals with the rapid change in the business. Some of the global merger and acquisition activities have impacted the Indian M&E sector too. Along with that, Indian media companies also witnessed big deals in the traditional broadcasting space as well as increased activity in the digital segment.

    The experts were skeptical about deals in the space as the Covid2019 pandemic derailed the economy. However, the sector witnessed moderate activity in 2020 with 77 deals compared to 64 in 2019. However, overall deal value reduced to Rs 68 billion in 2020 from Rs 101 billion in 2019, the recently released FICCI-EY report revealed.

    The decline in deal value has been attributed to the absence of big deals with only two deals crossing the $100 million threshold as compared to four such deals in 2019. But even before the pandemic, there were fewer high value deals in 2019 compared to earlier years. The overall deal value was significantly lower at Rs 101 billion as compared to Rs 192 billion in the previous year.

    The lockdown during the pandemic boosted the uptake of digital media and gaming. Hence, these two segments together attracted 92 per cent of the investment in 2020. New media increased its share in terms of deal value from 37 per cent in 2019 to 92 per cent in 2020. Considerably, television saw the highest investment in 2019.

    For instance, Dream11 raised $225 million from Tiger Global Management, TPG, ChrysCapital and Footpath Ventures. Dailyhunt got funding of $100 million from Google, Microsoft, Falcon Edge, Sofina and Lupa Systems.

    Moreover, a number of Chinese apps like TikTok, PUBG were banned due to political tension amid India and China. As many of the banned apps were leaders in the space, the sudden vacuum created opportunity for local apps which got investors' backing to scale up their operations.

    The audio streaming segment also saw a few important deals. While Reliance Industries bought a further 10.9 per cent stake in Saavn Media for Rs 6.5 billion from its erstwhile promoters, Gaana raised Rs 3.8 billion from Tencent and Times Internet.

    On the other side, traditional media’s contribution to overall M&E deal value plummeted to eight per cent, compared to 63 per cent in 2019. There were primarily just three deals in the space including the Eros International-STX Filmworks merger, PVR’s rights issue and Inox’s fund raising via QIP, compared to 10 deals in 2019 including four marquee deals.

    Private equity and venture capitalist firms led 70 per cent of the M&E deals in 2020, contributing to 79 per cent of the total funding received in the year. The share of deals led by strategic players fell to 27 per cent compared to 52 per cent in 2019.

    The report forecasts more investments in scalable d2c business models, digital companies with a differentiated product offering, companies with strongholds in next-gen technologies in the next few years. Traditional advertising agencies and tech giants will both continue to invest in niche martech companies. Media entities under financial stress will also look at partnering with a larger strategic player.

  • HUL tops personal care & hygiene advertisers on TV, print: TAM AdEx 2020 report

    HUL tops personal care & hygiene advertisers on TV, print: TAM AdEx 2020 report

    MUMBAI: The TAM Adex overview of advertising in the personal care and hygiene sector across TV, print, radio and digital media for the year 2020 has thrown up some significant insights. All four media witnessed a thumping recovery in Q4 advertising over Q1. The trends also reflected the growing importance of handwashing and sanitisation due to the Covid2019 scare.

    The personal care/hygiene sector witnessed 38 per cent growth in television ad volumes in Q4 of 2020, compared to Q1, according to the TAM AdEx overview of the segment across TV, print, radio and digital in 2020. Compared to Q1 of 2020, Q4 witnessed 3X ad insertion growth on digital, while ad space in print witnessed double digit share from November 2020 onwards. Ad volumes for the personal care and hygiene sector grew by 4X on radio in Q4 over Q2 of 2020.

    Television

    Ad volumes of the personal care/hygiene sector on TV increased by seven per cent in 2020 over 2019. Compared to Q1 of 2020, Q4 witnessed 38 per cent growth in ad volumes of this sector. Due to Covid2019, the lowest ad Volumes were observed in Q2, which includes the lockdown period. A drop recorded in personal care and hygiene sector advertising was seen during April 2020 over March 2020 due to the lockdown. However, during September-December 2020, ad volumes on television witnessed a double digit share. The GEC genre topped preference list of personal care/hygiene players during 2020.

    The top three product categories contributed more than 55 per cent to the ad volume share of the personal care/hygiene sector. Top 10 Advertisers accounted for more than 80 per cent share of ad volumes in 2020 with FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) topping the list. Among the Top 10 brands, five belonged to the toilet soaps category. Top 10 brands accounted for more than 30 per cent share of ad volumes in 2020 with Dettol Toilet Soaps topping the list.

    Print

    Ad space in print witnessed double digit share from November 2020 onwards. Compared to the first quarter of 2020, Q4 witnessed 45 per cent ad space growth in print publications.

    Ad space of the personal care/hygiene sector in print decreased by 19 per cent in last year over 2019. Compared to Q1 of 2020, Q4 witnessed 45 per cent ad space growth. Print ad space recovered to pre-lockdown level within four months of post lockdown period. Ad space in print witnessed double digit share in the months of September, November and December of 2020.

    Fairness creams leads the list of top 10 categories under the personal care/hygiene sector. Top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 65 per cent share of ad space in 2020 with HUL leading the list, followed by SBS Biotech. 

    Among four zones, north topped for personal care/hygiene advertising with 41 per cent share in print during 2020. Mumbai and Kolkata were the top cities in the west and east zone respectively as well as in overall India.

    Radio

    Ad volume for the personal care/hygiene sector on radio dropped by 11 per cent last year over 2019. Q3 of 2020 registered the highest advertising of personal care/hygiene on radio. Due to Covid2019, lowest ad volumes were observed in Q2 which includes the lockdown period. Highest share of ad volumes for personal care/hygiene sector registered during August to October of the previous year.

    Ad volumes for the personal care/hygiene sector grew by 4X in the fourth quarter over second quarter of 2020. On radio, ads for tooth pastes and toilet soaps ruled with more than 45 per cent of the total ad volumes.

    Maharashtra was the top state with 16 per cent share of ad volumes followed by Gujarat with 15 per cent share. Top 10 advertisers accounted for 74 per cent share of ad volume in 2020 with Vicco Laboratories leading the list. 

    Digital

    Ad insertions of the personal care/hygiene sector on digital decreased by 24 per cent in 2020 over 2019. Compared to Q1 of 2020, Q3 and Q4 witnessed 2X and 3X growth in ad insertions, respectively. The highest share on digital was observed during the festive period, that is, October-December 2020, which had 40 per cent share of total ad insertions on the medium.

    On the digital medium, tooth pastes and face wash were the top personal care/hygiene categories, with 24 per cent and 13 per cent share, respectively. The top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 75 per cent share of ad insertions in 2020, with GlaxoSmithkline leading the list.

    The top 10 brands accounted for 47 per cent share of ad insertions on digital in 2020. Sensodyne Rapid Relief topped the list with 11 per cent share of the total ad insertions for the personal care/hygiene sector.

  • New digital media rules to bring level playing field: Parliamentary panel

    New digital media rules to bring level playing field: Parliamentary panel

    KOLKATA: The parliamentary standing committee on IT has said that the new digital media rules under the IT Act will bring a level playing field for all media categories. However, the panel headed by Shashi Tharoor also mentioned that more initiatives are required, according to media reports.

    The parliamentary panel also asked the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) to launch an awareness campaign about its new rules for social media intermediaries, OTT and digital news platforms.

    While maintaining a robust oversight mechanism, the panel hoped that the ministry would implement the rules with due regard to the importance of promoting creativity and protecting freedom of expression.

    The government laid down new rules for social media platforms, digital media, OTT platforms on 25 February. In a gazette notification, it spoke of a three-tier oversight mechanism for online content.

    In light of this, a PIL has been moved before the Delhi high court challenging the new rules under the Information Technology Act to regulate internet intermediaries, over-the-top (OTT) platforms and digital news media. The petition has been filed by the Foundation of Independent Journalism which publishes The Wire. A similar plea by another petitioner was filed in the Kerala high court. The courts have issued notices to the Centre in this regard.