ITV

Tag: EVP

  • Toshibas passion for cricket unlocked by Dentsu Marcom

    Toshibas passion for cricket unlocked by Dentsu Marcom

    MUMBAI: Dentsu Marcom has brought out a new campaign for Toshiba – India’s latest Cricket Series LED televisions.

     

    The aim of the campaign which will be on TV, retail and digital is to showcase the television in a distinctive and never-before manner. For a consumer who is evolved and understands technology, in a category where picture quality and design are hygiene and a market where competitors peg bets on superior technology features to stay current, the challenge in front of the agency was to stay away from the twin clutter of  television set ads and cricket/sports ads.

     

    “If you’ve ever sat in front of the TV when Chris Gayle hammers one of his sixes but have no idea where the ball went, because the TV couldn’t capture it; if you’ve ever looked at the brown blotch on the screen on which Ravi Shastri was pacing and giving out his pundit-like pitch report and wondered what he was able to see there; if you’ve ever wondered at why the ground looks greener when you’re in the stadium versus on the TV; if you’ve ever wondered why your eyes and ears and your cricket-crazed senses never seem to have the richest cricket-enjoying experience on any TV until now, the all-new Cricket Series LED televisions from Toshiba was made just for you. So you can Enjoy. Every. Bit. As a cricket Fanatic myself, I could relate easily to the frustrations of the Fanatic that must have been the inspiration for Toshiba to develop this TV. And so when we set out to create the communication for it, we saw it more as a reverent offering to the Cricket Fanatic than as a mere ad,” said Dentsu India Group EVP and national planning head Narayan Devanathan.

     

    All the clichés about cricket being a religion in India notwithstanding, one thing is clear when an experience promises to be so rich, you will want to miss nothing. Hence the proposition: Enjoy. Every. Bit.

     

     “We’ve seen so much cricket advertising in this country. We’ve also seen so much of TV advertising on TV. The idea was to do something unique that stands out off the clutter and makes Toshiba Cricket TV the best way to consume cricket. The insight was that when you want to enjoy something, you want to enjoy every bit of it. So with the Toshiba Cricket TV, a cricket fan can now enjoy every gasp and every gulp of the game,” said Dentsu Marcom NCD Titus Uppturu.

  • Weber Shandwick elevates Mabel Phoon to EVP international client services

    Weber Shandwick elevates Mabel Phoon to EVP international client services

    NEW DELHI: Weber Shandwick, the public relation firm today elevated Mabel Phoon to the position of executive vice president, international client services, Asia.

    As part of her new role, Phoon will relocate to India with immediate effect and also becomes a part of the Indian leadership team. She will report jointly to vice chairman Asia Pacific Baxter Jolly and Weber Shandwick India managing director Atul Ahluwalia.

    In India, she will divide her time between New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru offices focusing on supporting key client programmes. She will also take a lead role in managing relationships within the global Weber Shandwick network and also join Weber Shandwick’s newly formed India management board.

    Phoon joined the agency in Singapore in 1997. There she rose to lead the local technology practice before being appointed regional practice head, advancing to executive vice president in 2008.She then moved to New York in 2010 as a client leader for one of the firm’s top global clients.

    “We are thrilled to have Mabel return to the region,” said Jolly. “Her move to Weber Shandwick India reflects the huge importance we attach to developing our operations and capabilities in India. We will be investing heavily in new talent and services in India in the coming months and Mabel will be very involved in helping us bring these plans to fruition. Her experience with major campaigns in Asia and with driving key global client relationships from New York will be major assets to our India leadership team.”

  • Priyanka to deliver keynote at SAMMA

    Priyanka to deliver keynote at SAMMA

    Priyanka Chopra has been making waves on the international stage ever since the release of her first single In My City. Now adding yet another feather to her cap is the keynote that the actress will deliver at the 4th Annual South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Summit.

     

    Chopra will be one of the members delivering the keynote while the others include Dr. Mehmood Khan, EVP and Chief Innovations and Science Officer at PepsiCo and Keli Lee, EVP and Head of Casting at ABC Entertainment, according to a media release.

     

    The two-day networking conference for South Asian leaders and innovators in digital media, television, film, advertising, marketing and entertainment, is co-presented by SAMMA (the South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Association) and long time presenting sponsor Time Warner Inc.

  • Horlicks Nutribic invites consumers to unveil new TVC

    Horlicks Nutribic invites consumers to unveil new TVC

    New Delhi: Horlicks Nutribic- one of the latest offerings from GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, is taking an interesting route to engage with consumers online. As part of the launch plans for its new campaign, the brand has announced a contest on Facebook asking consumers to guess the storyline of the TVC.The contest, live on the brand'sFacebook pagesince August 5, 2013, posts several clues about the new TVCthat will help users guess the story line of the new TVC.This contest ends on August 8, 2013, post which the new TVC would be unveiled.

    Post the TVC launch, the second phase of the contest invites consumers to interact with the TVC in an exciting way, for a chance to grab multiple prizes.

    Commenting on the new campaign,Mr.Jayant Singh, EVP, Marketing, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare India said, "Horlicks Nutribic is arange of Digestive biscuits targeted atworking people who spend long hours and often lack the right snack options at work.This particular consumer group spends a lot of their surfing for information and entertainment online. This campaign, along with the contest, will surely engage our consumers and drive participation in unveiling our new television campaign."

    For details, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/HorlicksNutribic

  • Hathway appoints Jagadesh Babu Botta as EVP- operations

    Hathway appoints Jagadesh Babu Botta as EVP- operations

    MUMBAI: : Viacom18‘s 24×7 English comedy channel Comedy Central has been getting some popular international properties to India like Suits and Anger Management. This time, the channel brings a local flavour to its programming by airing Comedy Central presents Ash Chandler and the Ministry of Schitick on 21 April at 9.00 pm.

    The title presenter of the show is Fiat.

    The half an hour long show will have two to three minute gags by Chandler and his troupe – Varun Thakur, Anuvab Pal, Raunaq Rajani, Rohit Shankar and Neville Shah.

    “When Ash came ot us with the concept, we thought it must be given a shot. We are very happy to be dishing out local content of this kind on Comedy Central and are very optimistic of this experiment,” said Viacom18 Media SVP and GM – English Entertainment Ferzad Palia.

     This is the first time that a local stand up comedy show has been shot in the studio and will be aired on television. Most recently, the channel aired the Sugar Sammy on ground shows in the weekend prime time slot.

  • Techzone gets exclusive mobile rights for Honey Singh’s ‘Bring me back’

    Techzone gets exclusive mobile rights for Honey Singh’s ‘Bring me back’

    MUMBAI: Continuing its efforts to bring authentic mobile music and entertainment content to its consumers, aggregators, developers, publishers and distributors of entertainment Techzone has clinched the exclusive rights for the song-track ‘Bring Me Back’ by Honey Singh.

    The company has entered exclusive right agreement with MTV for providing the song content on mobile and desktop internet. Through this right, Techzone will provide music tracks downloads, videos, ringtones, caller ring back tones and other digital entertainment formats for the song.

    ‘Bring me back’ is the controversial rapper’s latest single hit. Unlike Honey Singh’s other famous party song tracks which have a fun theme to their lyrics, ‘Bring me back’ touches the soul with a hard hitting message, the premise of MTV Spoken Word.

    Techzone MD Naveen Bhandari said, “Yo-Yo Honey Singh is an extremely famous Indian artist and his songs have a mass appeal. Acquiring the exclusive songs for Honey Singh’s ‘Bring me back’ is a very exciting moment for Techzone. The song has already gauged a record of mobile downloads on the first day of the availability which is phenomenal.”

    MTV, India’s leading music channel has a great youth appeal and is followed by youngsters across the country. ‘Bring me back’ was launched by Honey Singh at MTV‘s brand new music show, MTV Spoken Word.

    MTV EVP and business head Aditya Swamy said, “Bring Me Back is a very special collaboration between Honey Singh and MTV and is the opening track on our latest music project MTV Spoken Word. We have always been successful at leveraging platforms beyond television and this partnership with Techzone will ensure the track is available across every single mobile VAS vertical.”

  • Music channels sing growth tune in 2012: Punit Pandey, EVP & Business Head, 9X Media Group

    Music channels sing growth tune in 2012: Punit Pandey, EVP & Business Head, 9X Media Group

    The Music Broadcasting scenario in 2012 has registered a significant growth both in terms of viewership, which is more consumption of the genre leading to absolute GRPs, and also in terms of ad revenues as compared to 2010.

    Way back in early 2010, the youth & music genre had a viewership share of 5.6 per cent in the total TV space, which went up to 6.7 per cent in 2011 and has grown to 8.5 per cent by end of 2012. One of the key reasons for the growth in consumption is the number of channels launched in these three years. There currently exist 15 Hindi music/youth channels catering to youth (the C&S 15-24 ABC target segment), which had only a count of eight in early 2010.

    Music genre revenues for the year 2012 were in the region of Rs 5.50 – Rs 6 billion with the Hindi Music genre contributing the lion’s share at approximately Rs 4.25 – 4.50 billion. In 2011 this number was around Rs 3.50 – 4 billion and should translate to Rs 4.80 – 5 billion in calendar year 2013.

    I would optimistically call this a significant growth given the nature of the content on a pure play music channel. Music which forms over 90 per cent of the content on any pure play music channel is a generic commodity. Therefore the key differentiator between pure play music channels is the packaging and the presentation by the channel which is the ‘Viewer Experience’.

    Like at 9XM, we give equal attention to content and the on-air presentation. The A Cappella version of Maa Tujhe Salam or the Ganesh special collaboration with Taufiq Quershi or the special rendition of the popular freedom song Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka aired on 9XM has always resonated well with the viewers giving the channel an edge over other similar pure music channels. With viewers now having the option to choose the channels they want to watch, content may soon become more important than distribution in the digital era and therefore the on-air presentation will play a bigger role in case of pure music channels like ours.

    Another trend in the music broadcasting sector is the launch of regional and niche channels. At 9X Media, we have launched regional channels such as 9X Tashan (the Punjabi music channel) and 9X Jhakaas (Maharashtra’s first Marathi music channel) and have also ventured into the niche category with 9XO (International music channel) and 9X Jalwa (Timeless Bollywood Hits channel). These regional channels get their fair share of loyal viewers thus bringing in ad revenues from regional as well as national clients with regional focus. The niche channels are now part of media plans to target a specific set of consumers who are loyal viewers of such channels. With digitisation, the subscription revenues for such channels are also on the rise.

    In the first phase of digitisation which was restricted only to the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, niche television channels have gained ground. These channels have witnessed an increase in viewership thanks to the higher reach of digital networks. While analog networks had the bandwidth to carry only 80 to 90 channels, digital networks can carry as many as 500 channels.

    Also, broadcasters earlier had to shell out exorbitant carriage fees to cable operators. In the digital era, this fee is expected to drop significantly.

    The implementation of Digital Addressable System (DAS) in the second phase will cover 38 cities. This will positively impact the music television genre on account of increase in viewership driven by increasing Reach and TS (Time Spent) Viewer. This in turn should help to increase genre revenues. Music channels would now be included in Media plans to boost incremental reach along with frequency. Also, as music channels broadly do not operate at high PCS levels like the GECs, with DAS this factor gets negated. Hence, Music channels will witness increased reach.

    2012 also witnessed the change in the programming strategy of some of the music and music + youth channels, with Channel [V] dropping music from its content and MTV lowering the music content substantially. In 2013, we may see more channels going this route because of higher GRP / Revenue potential. Ad sales deals could be CPRP (Cost per Rating Point) driven instead of ER (Effective Rate) driven. However such a business model will need larger break even periods.

  • ‘Segmentation in kids TV genre makes biz sense in digital era’ : Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    ‘Segmentation in kids TV genre makes biz sense in digital era’ : Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Kids channels, bogged down in an analogue cable TV environment, suddenly find space to grow. Segmented channels is the new mantra. After launching an action and adventure channel Sonic in 2011, Viacom18 has launched another dedicated offering in the form of Nick Junior, a preschool channel targeted at 2-6 years.

     

    Nickelodeon‘s move follows Disney‘s foray into the preschool space and Zee‘s entry into the kids broadcasting space with the launch of its edutainment channel ZeeQ. The common thread between the three channels is that they are pay-driven, unlike the earlier ad supported models.

     

    Nick Jr. makes its arrival at a time when India is moving towards mandatory digitisation of cable networks.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Javed Farooqui, Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria shares her enthusiasm about why she is bullish about the preschool segment and the impact that digitisation will have on the kids TV genre.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    Preschool blocks had existed on kids channels. Now we are seeing full-fledged channels being launched targeting preschoolers. How has the business climate changed?
    The biggest change is digitisation. We are seeing that happen now. The segmentation in the kids TV genre makes more business sense now because we will have transparency. Subscription revenues will also increase.

     

    Does digitisation make more sense for segmentation in the kids TV genre primarily because of carriage being corrected or you see a substantial gain in subscription revenue as well?
    It‘s both. It will allow us to try very focussed segmentation which we could have not done in analogue cable TV environment. Today in digital, we can segment as much as we can. Carriage payouts will no longer be a deterrent and pay revenues can only grow. So we are all riding the wave of digital right now and hoping that while we cater to need gaps, we also make business sense.

     

    That is not to say the launch of Nick Junior is a sudden development. Since I started working with Nickelodeon, I always wanted to bring Nick Jr. to India. But then it had to make business sense for everyone.

     

    Are we in a situation where full-run preschool programming on a channel is not yet commercially viable?
    I don‘t think so.

     

    Why then did BBC shut CBeebies in India despite knowing that digitisation of cable TV networks is happening?
    Actually, I am very suprised that it happened so abruptly. I am sure they have their reasons for moving out of the country.

     

    Why do you then have this dual slot (Nick Jr. and Teen Nick) on Nick Jr.?
    We could have gone either way — done a 24-hour channel or have the model of preschool content till 7 pm and teenage programming after that. We have the product and the content that is our own, so it‘s just a matter of dishing it out to them.

     

    But we seriously believe that towards the evening this channel will get switched off as most toddlers and their mothers are winding down for the day. So it‘s a good idea to use a frequency that is going to be switched off and wanting to keep them switched on. We are also assuming that in a one television household you always have younger siblings and older siblings and when the younger siblings go away, the older siblings take care of the remote.

     

     ‘We will see a lot of localised content as digitisation picks up. In all this, what will continue is animation. No matter how hard you try, live action can never help children to transport to their imaginary world. We will stick to animation‘

    How do you differentiate Teen Nick from Nickelodeon?
    Nick is hardcore animation and will run from 6 am to 7 pm. Teen Nick, on the other hand, is only live action and has all the sitcoms and dramas that are rocking internationally. Most of the kids in India are watching them on YouTube. So you will have Victorious and Unfabulous and those kind of shows which have made it really big in the West but haven‘t really got the chance to come to India. They are very teenager shows because they are based on college, music, internet, digital and a lot of comedy. So there are sitcoms and drama that are very different from Nick.

     

    Since Nick Jr. is targeting 2-6-year-olds, wouldn‘t the upper end of this age group want to watch television even after seven in the evening?
    We have seen that post 7 pm, kids are winding down; most of the remotes are also not in toddlers hands. Even at dinner time, it‘s not the toddler that has the remote. I don‘t think even the kids category has the remote post 7 because it‘s the GECs and News channels that take over. You have this trend in a single television household. That way the battle for remote will continue across every segment.

     

    What kind of research went into launching this channel?
    There was no rocket science really about the research. To me every parent would like to do what is best for their child and in today‘s competitive world you want your child to learn and develop fast. Therefore, parents are doing everything they possibly can to ensure that their kids are learning and developing and this (Nick Jr.) is filling that need gap to my mind. There certainly was a gap there and there was no offering. The research to that extent is that there is a need gap and parents are looking for this kind of learning and development. What happens in school is hardcore education. We are only complementing that with edutainment.

     

    What is researched is the content and we do this internationally. It‘s content that is made worldwide, so the curriculum is set in place. Every show, therefore, teaches a particular skill . So if you look at Team Umizoomi, it‘s really maths.

     

    And you must remember that we are getting our international content here. There is even research going on there before they produce any preschool content. We are very careful in keeping Nick Jr. a destination for safe viewing with no violent content.

     

    How important is the preschool segment within the kids genre?
    It‘s very important from perspectives. One is it allows you to cater to the entire range of kids right from zero to teenage which is what we are now looking at. This was the missing gap that we had in Viacom18. But it‘s also important from the consumer products business point of view. We all are trying to create ancillary revenue streams for ourselves outside of ad sales and outside of subscription. Nick Jr. will play a very large role in driving this part of the business.

     

    Will it be an ad-free channel?
    Currently it is an ad-free channel, but I don‘t think we can continue to be ad-free. Despite everything being said about digitisation, the ratio of subscription-to-ad sales is still skewed. In the Western world, subscription contributes about 65 per cent of the revenues and in India we are not even half of that. However being a responsible broadcaster, we will be very selective of how much and what ads we put.

     

    How much is the subscription revenue for kids channels?
    It is under-indexed, I don‘t think it will even hit Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion).

     

    What kind of an upside do you see with digitisation?
    Nobody has any answer to this question.

     

    Why is Nick Jr. only in English?
    It is inherent in India for every parent to learn English. This is an aspirational channel which teaches your child English. If we do this in regional languages, it will defeat the very purpose of being aspirational. The shows are very easy to understand. So when Dora teaches to say A for Apple, that is what causes the child to learn.

     

    So is Dora the link between Nick and Nick Jr.?
    Dora has been on Nick and we will keep her there as well because that is the driver show. It also help us from the consumer products perspective.

     

    Will you have local productions for Nick Jr.?
    No, because we believe that for this kind of a product there is no boundary. In fact, even as kids grow older it doesn‘t matter to them whether it‘s a Japanese show or an American show. Therefore you will see a lot of animation featuring on normal kids category. There is no need to create so much desi content and the pipeline we are creating for Nick where we have Keymon Ache and Motu Patlu for this audience is done after a lot of research. It takes a lot of time to make a show.

     

    Disney also launched its preschool channel. What impact will competition have on the genre?
    It will only grow the category as there will be more choice. It‘s the best thing that can happen to the category. It will only grow the preschool category that was almost non-existent until all of us launched.

     

    How do you see segmentation within Nick?
    Nick is the mother brand and it delivers a very core need of a child, which is humour. Nick will continue in that space. While we talk about Nickelodeon audience being very universal, I think it‘s 4-14 years, so I never like to box it at any level. I think the core really lies at 6-12 if you really ask me and we will continue to cater to them in humour and comedy.

     

    Within comedy, you have action comedy, family comedy, silent comedy and slapstick comedy. The character either becomes a role model or a superhero and it‘s the character that takes over after a point. As you move along, you will see newer episodes of Ninja coming in and that‘s how we drive our viewership. You will see the mother brand engaging on the television platform and outside the platform. The Keymon game had 3 million downloads on Nokia Ovi, so we are dealing with what I call the ‘screenagers‘. It‘s all about staying ahead of the curve and engaging with kids across various screens.

     

    Will Nick have more localised content?
    I see more localisation happening on that front. But that is also a chicken and egg situation and we have to look at the investment-to-revenue ratio. We don‘t know when the subscription revenues will start getting corrected. After that happens, you will see more focus on local content. But having said that, we have two shows and we have a third in the pipeline; you will see a lot more progress on that front. In all this, what will continue is animation. No matter how hard you try, live action can never help children to transport to their imaginary world. We will stick to animation.

     

    Will we see more movies coming out?
    We had Keymon Ache & Nani in Space Adventure movie
    and you will see movies from Motu Patlu because Bollywood and Hollywood have become not just kids but also family entertainment. As we move from kids to family, you will see more extensions happening.

     

    But till now Nick has not been airing movies?
    Series is the bread and butter for us. Kids like to watch, as Farah (Khan) was saying, repetitive content. They want to watch more of the same, so that‘s what we give in the weekend as well. We don‘t miss not having movies on the channel.

     

    Has ad growth stayed flat for the kids genre this year?
    Ad revenue will grow anywhere between 10 to 14 per cent. If you look at the last five years, the CAGR is 14 per cent.

     

    Isn‘t the space tough as we have 12 channels fighting for Rs 2.5-3 billion ad revenue market?
    It is a hugely under-indexed market. From viewership perspective, we have eight per cent genre share while ad revenue share is just two per cent. Correction is bound to happen. A few years back, this revenue share was just one per cent. So we are growing, although we don‘t get what we deserve.

     

    Do you see room for local players entering this space?
    We saw UTV launch Hungama years ago. Zee has already made an entry. Let digitisation complete, then only there will be space. In the current scenario, it will be a tough proposition for local players.

  • ‘No advertiser or competitor can ignore the disruption we have created in the marketplace’ : Channel [V] EVP and GM Prem Kamath

    ‘No advertiser or competitor can ignore the disruption we have created in the marketplace’ : Channel [V] EVP and GM Prem Kamath

    For Channel [V], the radical moment has arrived. The reinvention process it started in 2009 as music channelsfailed to create differentiated content and had to settle for low revenues. Making the shift, the Star group channel has decided to discontinue all the music slots in its programming lineup effective 1 July.

     

    The new avatar will do away with Bollywood music as it searches for youth audiences that are monetisable. The positioning that it will take is a complete youth entertainment channel with 100 per cent content customised for this target segment. 

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Gaurav Laghate, Channel [V] EVP GM Prem Kamath talks about the channel‘s growth plans.

     

    Excerpts:

    Doing away with music is definitely a bold step. But what about the trailers that channel [V] airs?
    Trailers will continue as they are a source of revenue. We sell them as any other spot for promotions. But we won’t be airing any Bollywood music as part of our programming lineup.

    So from where did this idea come from? Do you see a lacuna in youth-targeted programming?
    The “Youth channel” word has become a misnomer in the Indian context with music channels calling themselves as youth channels. Unless you are creating youth content, you cannot be a youth channel.

    Music is as youth as a movie channel or a news channel or a sports channel is for that matter because if you see demographically with over 60 per cent of youth population, all the channels have youth as their main TG.

    So how is Channel [V] differentiated?
    We are very clear that we don’t want to be a commodity channel playing just music. If you see, all the music channels are in the same GRP (gross rating point) bracket and the content is identical.

    On the other hand, we offer 100 per cent customised youth content. And all our shows have worked really well and today ratings wise, we are two-and-a-half times of these channels.

    As you said, all channels have majority of their audience as youth. Why will an advertiser select Channel [V]?
    We are delivering to a youth audience, which is exclusive and substantial in number. This has made Channel [V] a vehicle through which the advertisers can target the said audience.
    ‘There is a risk in adding original content and not having anything to fall back on (like music) in case the shows don’t work‘

    So when did you finalise on shedding the Bollywood music completely?
    When we relaunched in June 2009, the plan was ready then. We were focussed on increasing the original content.

    In 2009, we had 75 per cent music content while 25 per cent was original content. And we gradually and consciously reversed that order. Since the last six months, we have been airing only three hours of music in a day.

    But don’t you think creating original content will increase the operational cost?
    Substantially, but we were clear that youth centric shows per hour cost a lot more than the usual music that runs on these kind of channels. We, therefore, built slot by slot.

    Today, we have 10 hours of original content per week. We have three successful fiction shows and will add on to have weekday primetime from 6-8.30 pm. And on Saturdays and Sundays, we will be airing a one-hour show at the 7 pm slot.

    Isn‘t one of your shows picked up by Star Plus?
    Yes, Gumraah, our weekly show, which we are changing to a daily. It is being aired on Star Plus at 8 pm as a repeat on Saturdays and Sundays. This also shows the strength of our content.

    Once you stop music, how will you fill up the slots?
    We will air all our shows three times a day. It suits our viewers also as India is predominantly a single TV householdand parents are in charge of the remote. So our TG can catch up on the show during the repeats. Also, colleges here operate in morning and afternoon shifts, so having three repeats will help in that case.

    If you see all the music channels, the main TRPs come from the morning band where you also were playing music. Don’t you think that removing music will affect badly on the ratings?
    Our channel is viewed by over 25 million people and we average over 50 GRPs week on week, which is a proof that our viewers are watching shows and not music.

    Moreover, as you pointed out, most of the GRPs on the music channels come from morning bands, which is ad free. So even if it helps in getting the ratings, it may not necessarily be monetisable.

    But these are safe GRPs?
    I agree that there is a risk in adding original content and not having anything to fall back on (like music) in case the shows don’t work. However, we are extremely confident about our content.

    Our break TVR is four times that of other channels. This goes to show the strength of our content – that is sticky and engaging. In case of music, people tend to change the channel the moment ad begins. Even our show to break conversion is as high as 80 per cent.

    But still when you say Channel [V] or MTV, the first image that comes to mind is that of a music channel. The legacy factor is there. Won‘t that get affected?
    Numbers are absolute truth and perception is not. And we have numbers to substantiate.

    How do you see current competition coming from music and youth channels?
    The disruption that we have created is so wide that it can’t be ignored by the advertisers or competitors. The current problem with music channels is that no advertiser is going to pay a premium, unless you have a differentiated offering.

    Having said that, top players will be profitable, albeit small. There will be a time when some of these players will have to relook on their business models.

    Earlier you had said that monetising the music content is difficult. How?
    Exactly. Today the same music is available on not just the music channels but also on multiple platforms like internet, mobiles and tablets. And consumption of music videos is very high on high-end mobiles and tablets.

    Anything that can get monetised on a television channel is loyalty. And that can‘t happen with the same content. That is why we decided to offer customised youth content.

    Everyone is bullish on digital today. What future role Channel [V] will have on the digital front?
    Everyone is trying to figure out the answer to this question. How and up to what extent digital entertainment will affect TV is yet to be seen. Having said that, if you understand your audience well and create content for them, it will work.

    Moreover, digital as a medium changes very fast, which adds further complexities. There are some myths,though, that are busting – like on internet only short form content works. Today, YouTube plays full length feature films and long format is also working well.

    Talking about our website, for now it will be an extension of the channel adding ancillary programming for TV.

    Unlike some of your competitors, you are not much into licensing and merchandising. Why?
    L&M for us is not making bags or T-shirts. It is not a marketing stunt and our belief is that L&M should be strongly differentiated and have big potential. So we have two properties – [V] Spots and IndiaFest.

    We have seen phenomenal success with [V] Spots. Both Saket (New Delhi) and Gurgaon outlets have broken even within a month of launch. We will soon be launching in Pune and by the end of our next fiscal (June 2013), we will have 10 [V] Spots across India. We are looking at Chandigarh and Bengaluru as potential markets.

    IndiaFest is one of its kind youth festival, which we organise in Goa every year. It is also growing year-on-year.
  • Fox News elevates Clemente, Moody

    Fox News elevates Clemente, Moody

    MUMBAI: US news broadcaster Fox News has elevated two executives in the network’s hard news division. Michael Clemente has been promoted to EVP of News Editorial and John Moody, currently the CEO of Newscore, will return to Fox News as executive editor and executive vice president.

    Both executives will report directly to Fox News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes.

    Newscore, a news service that allows worldwide editorial properties to share content and resources across all News Corp entities, will now be absorbed into the day to day operations of Fox News.

    Ailes said, “As our fiscal year comes to a close, I’ve determined that Newscore will operate more efficiently and effectively inside Fox News. This move will strengthen our overall news gathering capabilities and enable us to operate at an even higher level.”

    Clemente will continue to run day to day operations for the entire news division while Moody will operate as a senior adviser to Ailes on all editorial matters. Moody will also serve as the executive editor of foxnews.com and oversee all news related digital assets.

    Ailes said, “John’s extensive experience in news for the past several decades both in television and in print remain unmatched in the industry. John helped us become the number one news network and I look forward to working closely with him again.”

    Ailes further noted, “Michael Clemente is one of the most seasoned television news executives in the business. He continues to have the mindset of both a journalist and the instincts of a television programmer which have served the network very well during his tenure.”

    Prior to his role with Newscore, Moody served as the EVP, News Editorial of Fox News where he was responsible for all editorial direction and story content for 13 years. Before this, he spent more than a decade at Time Magazine as both a writer and bureau chief.

    Clemente joined Fox News in February of 2009 as the senior Vice President of News Editorial and has overseen all news operations and news editorial for the network, including the notable political coverage of the current election season.