Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar India president and head Sunil Rayan has decided to move on from the company due to personal reasons, sources have confirmed to IndianaTelevision.com on Thursday. He will be associated with the company until the end of May.
Rayan oversaw Disney+ Hotstar’s overall business in India. He was responsible for driving scale, innovation and breadth of content.
He joined Disney+ Hotstar India from Google where he worked for eight years, and last served as the GM and managing director, cloud for games.
Rayan has global experience – having scaled businesses in the US, setting up large teams in South East Asia, and working with super app players in Latin America. He has also worked with Infosys, iGATE Mastech, and IBM.
He completed his bachelor of engineering in computer science from Madras University in 1996, after which he moved to the US in 1997.
Mumbai: Disney Star Network is all set to broadcast the world television premiere of “Pushpa: The Rise” across four languages in Star Maa, Star Suvarna, Star Vijay and Asianet. The film will premiere on Star Maa and Star Suvarna in March followed by Star Vijay and Asianet in April.
Directed by Sukumar, the action thriller featuring superstars Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna, took the country by storm and garnered phenomenal success with its theatrical release in December 2021.
“’Pushpa: The Rise’ is a rage worldwide across theatres and social media and is a welcome addition to the Disney Star network’s robust regional portfolio,” said the media company in a statement.
“’Pushpa: The Rise’ is one of the most sought-after films in recent times and we are thrilled to bring the blockbuster title to our viewers at the comfort of their homes,” said a Disney Star network spokesperson. “We remain committed to delivering exciting content on our channels that delight our viewers and derive immense value to our advertisers. Demand for rich content amongst viewers is only growing and we look forward to presenting an exciting line-up of movies and entertainment shows on our network throughout the year.”
As per IMDb, “Pushpa: The Rise” is the biggest grosser of 2021 and the film’s list of accomplishments continues as it also bagged the ‘Film of the Year’ accolade at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2022.
“As the multi-lingual viewing culture strengthens in India, the movie industry is betting big on regional content,” said the statement. “‘Pushpa: The Rise’ is one of the few regional movies that have managed to capture the hearts of both the Hindi and regional speaking audiences.”
Mumbai: Disney Star India has appointed Avik Chatterjee as director-emerging sports at Star Sports, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new innings in my career as director – marketing at Star Sports (The Walt Disney Company)!” Chatterjee said in a LinkedIn post. “Armed with my enthusiasm for sports and my cross-sectoral marketing experience, I look forward to driving the consumer strategy for emerging sports and catalyse India’s transformation into a multi-sport nation.”
Chatterjee was previously associated with Visa as its director of consumer marketing for India and South Asia. He has had stints at telecom company Vodafone India, American MNC Mars, and began his 18-year long career at Capgemini.
He has completed his Bachelor of Technology (Information Technology) from the University of Kalyani and his MBA from Nanyang Business School, Singapore.
Mumbai: Disney Star India is likely to phase out its English general entertainment channels Star World, Star World HD, and Star World Premiere HD, as per details in its reference interconnection offer (RIO) published on 15 October.
The broadcaster published the tariffs of 78 channels out of which the English GECs were absent. According to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India, the English GECs account for less than one per cent of total TV advertising spends. The fall of English GECs was first sounded when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) implemented the new tariff regime that required subscribers to select only the TV channels that they actually watched.
The migration of English viewers to OTT platforms and the pandemic that began last year has made the English GEC genre extremely unviable for Indian broadcasters from a business perspective.
A response from the Star network is awaited and we will update this piece if we receive any.
Mumbai: Disney and Star India network has published the new MRP of its channels as per the Tariff Order 2017 as amended and Interconnection Regulation 2017, as amended.
As per the new rate card, the standard definition channels Star Plus, Star Jalsha, Maa TV, Asianet, Star Sports 1, Star Sports Select 1, Star Pravah, Vijay, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports 1 Telugu, and Star Survarna are priced more than MRP of Rs 12 which is the condition to be included in a bouquet.
Similarly, its HD channels Star Plus HD, Star Gold HD, Star Jalsha HD, Jalsha Movies HD, Vijay HD, Star Suvarna HD, Asianet HD, Star Movies HD, Disney International HD, Disney International HD, Star Sports HD1, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports Select HD1, Star Sports 1 Tamil HD, Star Sports 1 Telugu HD, Maa HD, Maa Movies HD, Star Pravah HD, Star Kirano HD, and Asianet Movies HD will not be part of any bouquet.
These channels will not be part of the 32 bouquets offered by the broadcaster under Star Value Pack (SVP) and Star Premium Pack (SPP).
Additionally, the broadcaster plans to launch several new SD and HD channels between 1 December 2021 and 24 January 2022. These channels include Hindi movie channel Star Gold Thrills, Bengali movie channel Jalsha Josh, Marathi movie channel Pravah Pictures, Odia GEC Star Kirano, English movie channel Star Movies Select, Hindi movie channel Star Gold 2 HD, sports channels Star Sports 1 Tamil HD, Star Sports 1 Telugu HD, Star Sports 1 Telugu HD, kids channel Disney Channel HD, Odia GEC Star Kirano HD, Marathi movie channel Pravah Pictures HD, Tamil GEC Vijay Super HD, Malayalam movie channel Asianet Movies HD and kids channel Hungama HD.
Marvel HQ will be renamed to Super Hungama effective from 1 December.
MUMBAI: 31 December 2020. A chapter ended in the history of Disney Star India. According to public announcements by the mouse house, it was the last working day for chairman Uday Shankar at Star India, a company he steered – along with the Murdochs – into its arms over a decade. No announcement has been made regarding his replacement. Not much is known about where he is headed.
Mutterings have been heard in the media that he is setting up an investment fund along with other high net worth individuals (the gossip is that it is James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems) to help talented young entrepreneurs polevault their start-ups to the next level and even unicorn status. Which he might end up being very successful at as his track record has shown. Star India has had quite a few CEOs – Andrew Carnegie (general manager), Gene Swinstead, Rathikant Basu, Peter Mukerjea, Sameer Nair and then Uday. He probably has the distinction of being the longest running head of the network.
Uday himself is worth a few hundred crore (some say, the stocks he has accumulated during his tenure with 21st Century Fox over the years are valued at between $100-150 million). He has been appointed as the president of industry lobbying body Ficci – reportedly the first media and entertainment executive to be given that position. Which puts him centre stage in Indian industry – amidst some of the top businessmen and industrialists in the country – and gives him tremendous access to different ministries. His track record and public profile is enough to open many a door but the Ficci handle would really come handy.
That track record saw Star India being valued at around $17 billion in the acquisition price of $72-odd billion that Disney paid for Fox’s entertainment assets. Clearly, Uday had a big hand to play in that growth.
Uday, however, is leaving behind the company in good hands. K Madhavan is managing director Star and Disney India. He has the impeccable track record of transforming an ailing business, Asianet, in the previous decade into a hugely profitable one, which Star finally acquired. And he worked very closely with Uday to build its regional language business. President & head infotainment, kids & regional entertainment channels, Disney & Star India Kevin Vaz has seen and participated in the broadcaster’s growth curve for more than a decade in different roles. President & head English and Hindi entertainment Star India Gaurav Banerjee is a long-timer Uday has had tremendous trust in and he has delivered by keeping the network on the top of the ratings charts. Star veterans CFO Sanjay Jain and chief legal counsel Deepak Jacob and the highly respected HR head Amita Maheshwari have domestic and APAC responsibilities for The Walt Disney Co. President of TV distribution Gurjeev Singh Kapoor, India and International for Star and Disney knows the ins and outs of getting the channels into Indian and international homes, having seen the network report increased revenues year on year.
President ad sales Disney and Star India Nitin Bawankule too has tremendous pedigree with experience in companies such as Google, Dell, and Motorola.
Then there is the new hire Sunil Rayan, who is heading the OTT business in the shape of Disney+ Star India, and has had international experience leading Google Cloud for Games before hopping on board for his new challenge. Head corporate development direct to consumer business APAC, The Walt Dsiney Co Prateek Garg too has a respectable track record with experience at Ernst & Young, HSBC, Sun group and many years at Star India. Finally, Uday has left the fortunes of the studios business for both Disney and Star India in the hands of Bikram Duggal, who too has a long track record in the business.
Will the mouse house find a replacement for Uday? Or will it let the current structure continue? Probably The Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Chapek and international operations & direct to consumer chairman Rebecca Campbell know. And we will have to wait until early 2021 when Campbell said Uday’s successor would be announced.
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.”
MUMBAI: If there’s one sport that unites people all over the world, it is football. Cricket maybe a religion in India, but football is life for billions of fans in every nation. When a Neymar changes teams for $260 million, as many – if not more – weep or rejoice. India too has its legions of football lovers: Estimates are that 283 million of them viewed football in 2018-19. The Premier League remains by far the most watched and supported football league with an awareness level of 79 per cent amongst soccer fans, according to a Brand Finance research report. The league itself has estimated that 155 million Indians track it, its teams and the players throughout the year, religiously. In the 2018-2019 season, 30 million actively watched the Premier League.
Run by the UK’s Football Association, the 28-year-old league is available in 643 million homes in 212 countries globally with a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion. 20 clubs each play 38 matches against each other (at home and away) on Saturdays and Sundays in the afternoon.
In 2017, the league roped in Gully Boy Ranveer Singh- who is also a keen Arsenal follower – as its official brand ambassador for India, thus broadening its appeal within the country.
The typical Premier League enthusiast is a new millennial, affluent, someone who wears either Levis or Killer jeans or a Zara T-shirt, goes on a holiday in India at least a couple of times a year, uses personal transport, orders from an e-commerce platform at least once a month, and is located in the metros and mainline cities. He meticulously follows the game scores, is tech savvy, tweets and posts about the game on social media. Women also seem to have developed a fancy for the Premier League as they comprise a sizeable 30 per cent of the fan base.
The Premier League mania is so strong that official clubs have sprouted up nationwide in almost every metro supporting the top teams: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Tottenham Spurs. These clubs have affiliations with the mother clubs in the UK and have a presence in almost every metro and major city in India. Memberships run into 500 plus in almost each city, making for a massive fan base.
31-year old Mayur Bhosale is a Chelsea fan and also the marketing head of the team’s official fan club in India. “For me football is my life. I am so looking forward to the next season of the Premier League. This time the gap between the previous season and this one has been short, which is good.”
MAYUR BHOSALE (SECOND FROM LEFT):A DIEHARD CHELSEA FAN
Mayur’s day job is as a chief engineer with one of Airtel’s data centres in Pune. But the nights are devoted to football. “I watch every match – even when the kick-off is late at night 12:30 and ending at 2:30 am. I will wake up the next morning and head to my meeting weary in body but fresh in spirit.”
Tony George, who works in a pharma company, is the chairman of the Arsenal India Supporters Club, Kerala chapter. “We have been following the Premier League for the past 19 years and especially Arsenal. We are expecting the team to do better this year, with new signings.”
In fact, the supporters’ clubs normally have screenings when the matches are on, with 50-200 members gathering in a club, and making merry while watching the furiously-paced game on a large screen. Brands such as Budweiser, Kingfisher and Heineken have supported the get togethers in the past. Other brands which have been consistent partners – especially of the Manchester United Supporters Club – include: HCL, nutrition brands like ON and RiteBrite, Apollo Tyres and home grown beer brand White Owl.
“People come dressed in colours of their favourite team,” says Mayur. “They are tattooed and they cheer every forward’s move and defender’s success at intercepting a rival’s pass. We replicate what we believe is happening in the stadium. Budweiser is the partner for many of our initiatives and for us Budweiser is our favourite beer and is equal to the Premier League.”
According to him, most of the members of the fan clubs are either students or those who are newly into their professional careers. “70-75 per cent of them are in that age group of 23-29 years,” he reveals. “25-30 per cent are above 30 like me.”
With clubs being shut thanks to the pandemic, fans have migrated to the virtual world. Mumbai-based Chelsea fan Andre Rodrigues says meetups have happened over Zoom ever since the pandemic hit India. “The Mumbai chapter has organised some Zoom meets for quizzes and discussions over the last few months. And we will continue to do so for the coming season as well during the matches as well.”
Mayur adds that the Chelsea Fan Club has made five Zoom bridges bringing together 600-700 fans across cities, thus catching their reactions towards the action during the live matches and screenings in the past few months. ”We have done at least four or five these,” he says. “These probably are here to stay. Then we have our Whatsapp group, Instagram handles, and our Facebook pages where we constantly engage.”
Disney Star India – the broadcast partner of the Premier League in India – organises large format match screenings for various team fans across cities under the brand Select FC.
Mayur, who loves his Jawa two-wheeler, wears Woodland or Adidas shoes, when he goes to screenings, remembers his experience fondly. “It was a fantastic vibe,” he says. “They gave us a few gifts, had quizzes, free beer coupons and the fact that we were all together egging our team on was memorable. For us, Premier League fans, it rules.”
This access to young affluent and passionate fans of Premier League is wooing over marketers, media buyers and planners. The platform helps drive associative value for brands and categories which want to target this unique audience and are driving initiatives and association which help them dive right into the fan sentiment and integrate/embed themselves amidst this tribe and get the rub off and preference of this audience.
PREMIER LEAGUE FANS GATHER FOR A SCREENING IN A CLUB
For instance, Hero Motocorp associated with the Premier League broadcast on Star Sports last year in a Twitter contest towards the fag end of the tournament. Fans were asked to send their #HeroFanMoment with the hashtag #Raiseyourgame to support their respective teams.
Net result: the contest generated 6.9 million impressions, with Star Sports reaching out to 2.59 million unique accounts. The original announcement of the contest alone generated 3.53 million impressions and 125,725 engagements, and took the initiative amongst the top 10 trends in India for an hour and a half on the short messaging engagement platform.
Then, lubricants major Gulf Oil is a votary of the Premier League, especially in the current circumstances. According to the company’s CEO & managing director Ravi Chawla, the English Premier League is one of the most awaited seasons for football enthusiasts. Amidst the gloom around Covid, these sporting events are bringing back much-needed excitement among the consumers. Although the fans may not be able to watch the action in the stadium, we feel that a combination of the digital adoption behaviour and aspiration to continue to see their favourite players on the field will keep the fans glued more than ever. Keeping with the enthusiasm, Gulf Oil released a global film #GulfGetMovingAgain with Manchester United illustrating a new world emerging post lockdown to communicate a strong message that – "The world may have changed but our dreams haven’t”. It garnered an engagement of 4.5 million plus Manchester United fans.”
“…given that EPL is an extended format, it will have relevant brand associations. Brands are evaluating all opportunities very keenly right now,” expounds Havas Media India managing director Mohit Joshi. “The football fan base has only been increasing in India over the years and that is clear from the buzz around the sport. In this Covid year, viewers have been deprived of live sports. As a result, the season will do extremely well. More than viewership, it is the social buzz that one can already feel around it.”
With that kind of positive sentiment, don’t be surprised if during this season, brands rain heavily on the Premier League, rather than just the just the normal summer showers.
MUMBAI: Disney Star India chairman Uday Shankar seems to thrive in crisis moments. The ongoing pandemic seems to have brought out the best in the former journo. The world’s most prestigious and valued cricket tournament the Indian Premier League (IPL) – on which he had betted big three years ago by bidding unheard of acquisition fees – is taking place in the UAE come 19 September after it was aborted in March end. For only the third time in its 13 years of existence it is being held in a foreign land.
And it's taking place in very trying circumstances: Covid 2019 is on a rampage in India and cases are rapidly rising every day and the CSK team has reported that one of its players and many of its staffers have contracted the SARSCov2 virus – that’s even before a single ball has been bowled.
Hence, Uday and his team are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that it runs smoothly at least from the broadcast end. Speaking to The Times of India, he said that “Star has been working on its own bio-secure bubble. The challenge that has been presented to my team is to deliver an exciting IPL, while keeping every crew member and team member totally safe from the pandemic. That remains our top priority. It’s not an easy one because there are no global role models for something like this.”
The Disney Star India team has put in place the bio-secure bubble in Mumbai to accomodate 400-plus staffers across six floors of the production facility which has been set up for the IPL. Staffers will be rigorously tested – pre-screened, tested before taking them in and periodic testing will be resorted during their stay in the production hub. “Stringent sanitization and social distancing protocols at production facilities and multiple zones are being set up to keep teams separated,” explained Uday.
He added that the same stringent Covid-related protocols will be followed for 65-70 days at the three stadiums with around 700 plus crew and around 90 commentators working across UAE, India and globally.
The crew’s output will reach 100 countries, result in seven fully customised broadcast feeds across languages and 18 hours of daily live and special programming around the IPL, Uday further shared.
“IPL has gone out of India twice, but this exercise is going to be phenomenal… The BCCI is the umbrella under which everybody operates, and they have a right to expect full safety and reassurance from us …The onus is on us to take the responsibility,” he said. “The protocol we’ve designed for this IPL can become a global benchmark for any tournament to be held safely….In the end, we all know, it’s a virus and anything can happen, but we would like to have a very clear conscience that we put our best foot forward.”
Even though there won’t be spectators in the stadia in Abhu Dhabi, Sharjah and Duba, Uday expects TV viewership to cross 550 million in India across live broadcast and beyond live programming. “There’s been a massive drought of live sport. People have been in a state of mind where they need a break from the last few months and IPL is ideally positioned for that. We are very focused on making sure the fan experience at home is not impacted. Technology has only made the engagement of the fans deeper and wider,” he averred.
Uday further highlighted that the IPL coming back could be viewed in a more positive light. “At a time when the country has been gripped by concerns, and people have mostly been spending time locked indoors, something as important to their lives as the IPL coming back is highly symbolic of the triumph of things positive over things negative,” he expounded. “IPL is India’s only global brand and one of the top sports properties globally too. This year’s IPL is a professional and personal commitment.”
MUMBAI: So, the Indian Premier League is moving to the UAE after all. All that it awaits is the official government go-ahead, which is likely to come in the next couple of days or so. The IPL’s governing council green signaled the holding of the world’s most premium cricket tournament in the UAE on Sunday from 19 September to 10 November.
The council also approved the retention of all its sponsors including Chinese mobile company Vivo, which has committed to Rs 440 crore annually for five years. The tournament will be played in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi – all of which have world class stadiums.
Ten of the matches will be played in the afternoon from 3.30 IST while the evening matches will be played from 7.30 pm.
The IPL governing council agreed that each team will have a squad of 24 while allowing any number of replacements in teams in case players get infected. However, standard operating procedures are being prepared. The final will take place during the Diwali week, which should augur well for brands and broadcaster Disney Star India as well.
Fans who have been starved of cricket are clearly looking forward to the recommencement of live cricket starring their favorite Indian players.
Meanwhile the IPL council has also agreed to go ahead with the women’s IPL, featuring three teams and four matches to be played during IPL Playoff week.
