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Tag: France

  • Netflix to boycott Cannes Film Festival 2018?

    Netflix to boycott Cannes Film Festival 2018?

    CANNES: Netflix is known to do things differently. While almost everyone trips over every hurdle to get into the Cannes Film Festival, the world’s largest streamer is mulling over giving it a miss this year.

    The reason: festival director Thierry Fremaux’s announcement last month that he would not open the doors to any producer to enter the Cannes official competition selection if the film does not have a theatrical release in France.  It had enforced the stricter regulations in 2017 and Fremaux reaffirmed that the regulations would stay last month.

    And that seems to have got the Netflix management, led by Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, agitated as one of the world’s largest creators of content releases most of its films on its over the top (OTT) platform for consumption by its 117 million paid users.

    The film festival’s team, however, has allowed studios, without a French release for a film, to submit it for screening but not take part in the Palm D’Or competition.

    French law forbids films released theatrically in France to be shown online until a three-year window since the first exhibition is crossed; which does not make for a good business model for Hastings, as subscribers pay anywhere between $9 and $14 for a Netflix subscription, depending on whether pricing plan is basic or premium. And the streaming service is not about to change its biz model for the festival. Last year the Cannes Film Festival competition jury president Pedro Almodovar had raised a stink that having a film win the Palm D’Or without a theatrical release was unthinkable. French theatrical exhibitors have been fuming that Netflix films are not being released in their cinemas, thus cutting them out of potential revenues. 

    Hastings and Sarandos were not available for comment at the time of writing. But Reed unequivocally had stated at the time when the rules were announced last year by the festival that the “establishment” was “closing ranks” on his company.

    Also Read :

    Siddharth Kumar Tewary features among Asian producers to watch at MIPTV

    Cannes Lions awards lifetime achievement to Piyush & Prasoon Pandey  

    TVF’s ImMature first Indian show to reach Canneseries

     

  • India, US lead in VoD subs as global viewing increased 34 per cent

    India, US lead in VoD subs as global viewing increased 34 per cent

    MUMBAI: Millennial consumers worldwide lead the growth of online video consumption, according to a research report from Limelight Networks, a leader in digital content delivery.

    Taking a close look at consumers’ changing viewing habits, the annual report shows that the average global viewer watches online video five hours, 45 minutes each week and subscribes to one or more video on-demand (VoD) services.

    The report is based on a survey of 4,000 consumers ranging in age, gender, and education in France, Germany, India, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the US.

    The increasing shift to online viewing video is a global trend with viewers in India, Singapore, and the US spending the most time watching online videos, averaging seven hours, seven minutes; six hours, 37 minutes; and six hours, 35 minutes per week, respectively. Germany had the lowest rate of online video viewership at four hours, 14 minutes, and nearly half of respondents watching only one to two hours per week.

    “With the proliferation of online video content, viewers are moving away from traditional broadcast television viewing and have increasing expectations for broadcast-quality experiences,” said Limelight Networks senior director Michael Milligan.

    “Our research over time has shown a clear increase in expectations and decreasing patience with poor quality experiences.”

    Additional insight from the report includes:

    Millennials watch the most online video: Younger people watch the most online video, with viewers 18-25 averaging seven hours, 18 minutes per week and people 26-35 watching six hours, 53 minutes per week. Viewers 60 and older only watch three hours, 46 minutes per week.

    Growth of eSports: Although traditional sports programming was the third most watched type of online video content by men, males 18-25 watch more eSports and online video gaming than traditional sports programming.

    Consumers won’t waste time on a poor experience: Rebuffering (when a video pauses during playback to load more content) is the top frustration when viewing videos online – surpassing poor video quality and limited device access. If a video rebuffers twice, more than 61 per cent of viewers will stop watching. Only 15 per cent will continue watching after rebuffering happens for a third time.

    Smartphones gain popularity for viewing: Although computers and laptops are the primary online video viewing device globally, smartphones are the preferred device in India and South Korea. Smartphones are also the preferred device for millennials.

    Cable subs keep the cord, go further over-the-top: Despite cord-cutting concerns, the report uncovered that people subscribing to cable have twice as many over-the-top subscription services than those without cable.

    US and India lead subscriptions to online video streaming services: Consumers globally are signing on to streaming with 30 per cent of viewers noting they subscribe to two or more services. Subscription rates are highest in the U.S. and India, where 50.8 per cent and 46.8 per cent, respectively, subscribe to two or more services. In comparison, only 16.7 per cent of respondents in France subscribe to two or more services.

    Movies and TV shows lead online viewing: Globally, viewers spend more time online watching movies than any other type of content. However, viewers in South Korea and the U.K. watch TV shows most often. When viewed by gender, men prefer movies, while women prefer TV shows.

  • Virtual screens to start replacing TVs & theaters in a year, consumers expect: Ericsson

    MUMBAI: Ericsson ConsumerLab has reported that seven out of 10 consumers believe that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will become mainstream in media, education, work, social interaction, tourism and retail. Consumers expect virtual screens to start replacing televisions and theaters in less than a year.

    For VR and AR to merge with physical reality and become mainstream, 5G is crucial to provide mobility, improve social experiences and address nausea concerns.

    Ericsson has published its latest ConsumerLab report – Merged Reality – revealing insights into how consumers expect virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to merge with physical reality, and that 5G will be a key technology for such experiences to become mainstream. The report reveals that when boundaries between people’s perception of physical and virtual reality start to blur, this could result in a drastic impact on lives and society. The way we live, work, and consume information and media will fundamentally change.

    Realities will not merge if the user is tethered to a computer or cut off from physical reality. Early adopters of VR/AR expect next-generation networks like 5G to play a central role. Thirty-six per cent have expectations on 5G to provide VR/AR mobility through a stable, fast and high-bandwidth network. Thirty per cent of early adopters also expect 5G to enable tethered headsets to become wireless.

    Key findings of the latest report include that seven out of 10 early adopters expect VR/AR to change everyday life fundamentally in six domains: media, education, work, social interaction, travel and retail. Media is already being transformed and consumers expect virtual screens to start replacing televisions and theaters in less than a year.

    The qualitative research in the report included an innovative focus group discussion series completely in VR with participants from North America and Europe, as well as traditional focus groups with current users of VR from Japan and South Korea. A series of qualitative VR tests with 20 Ericsson employees were also done to understand how lag in VR can trigger nausea.

    In the quantitative part of the study, the report presents insights from a survey of 9,200 consumers in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US, aged between 15-69 with awareness of the concept of VR.

  • Shilpa Shetty is Yakult Danone brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Yakult Danone India Pvt. Ltd., a 50:50 joint venture between Yakult Honsha, Japan and Groupe Danone, France, both global leaders in probiotics announced Bollywood celebrity Shilpa Shetty Kundra as their new Brand Ambassador. This comes in wake of the company’s concerted plans to spread the health benefits of Probiotics and Yakult among Indian consumers which was the main highlight of the press conference today. Present on the occasion were Yakult Danone India MD Minoru Shimada, Bollywood celebrity Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Yakult Danone India GM — Science and Regulatory Affairs Neerja Hajela.

    In light of the fact that India is grappling with lifestyle disorders and health issues due to factors like unbalanced diet, stress, lack of sleep, inadequate physical activity, irregular working hours and improper nutrition, there is an urgent need to find solutions that can counter the growing threat. Fascinating insight shave shown that the largest immune organ of our body or the intestine is vital in determining our state of health because it contains more than 70% of the immune cells of the human body which improve our overall immunity and keep us protected.

    Shimada remarked, “With growing consumer interest in holistic health, the concept of Functional Foods that provide a health benefit besides basic nutrition is becoming increasingly important. Interestingly the concept was introduced in Japan in the early 1900’s, when Japan was an economically weak county, people were dying due to disease and heath care costs were very high. The Functional Food concept focuses on prevention of disease through foods rather than treatment with medicine.”

    Shirota, a Microbiologist from the Kyoto University in Japan, firmly believed that a healthy intestine was key to a long disease free life. Intrigued by the fact that 100 trillion bacteria are present in the intestine which play a very important role in determining health, he successfully isolated a probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) that significantly improved intestinal health and immunity. He introduced it in a fermented milk drink called Yakult which was launched in Japan in 1935. The introduction of Yakult was very useful in improving the health of people in Japan who were suffering from diarrhoea, dysentery and other infectious diseases. Yakult is being consumed by more than 35 million people in 33 countries and regions across the world.

    In India, Yakult is being manufactured in a state of the art production facility in Sonepat Haryana. While Yakult is the most iconic brand in Japan, China and Indonesia, India is a challenging market for us because of limited awareness about the benefits of probiotics.

    Shimada said, “We are proud to have Shilpa Shetty as our brand ambassador as she is synonymous with good health, fitness and an active lifestyle. Having carved a niche for herself in the health and fitness space, Shilpa is completely in sync with “Shirota-ism” our core ideology which focuses on the idea of “prevention being better than cure” and “a healthy intestine leads to a long life”.

    Kundra remarked that “I was over-awed by the scientific revelation about probiotics and intrigued to know that a healthy intestine is the key to good health not only because it is responsible for absorption of nutrients but also for the fact that more than 70% of the immune cells are found there. I am very careful about my association with brands and therefore it was important for me to visit the Yakult factory to learn more about the little bottle that contains 6.5 billion Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota.”

    According to Hajela, “The intestine is being recognized as a very important organ for determining your state of health because it harbours 100 trillion organisms (intestinal flora) which weigh almost 2 kg and are referred to as the “Forgotten Organ”. These organisms play a very important role in ensuring proper digestion of food, absorption of nutrients, building immunity and producing essential vitamins like Vitamin B and K and keeping you protected”.

    Unbalanced diet, Stress, unhygienic conditions, antibiotics, lack of sleep and pollution can disturb the balance of the intestinal flora which negatively influences our immunity making us prone to infection. Scientific evidence has shown that “Probiotics” which act by favorably modulating the intestinal florahelp in restoring the balance and thereby improve health and prevent disease.

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  • Creating distinctive value: Times Network wins Porter prize

    Creating distinctive value: Times Network wins Porter prize

    MUMBAI: Times Network was recently awarded one of the most coveted corporate awards, Porter Prize 2016, which aims to recognize strategic acumen of corporates in India. The Porter Prize Award in creating distinctive value category was received by Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand and head of international business Naveen Chandra in the august presence of the minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha at an event held in Delhi.

    The award honoured Times Network International business for their outstanding performance in the industry, ability to offer unique solutions to customers, effectively creating new market spaces, segments and providing solutions that redefine the market.

    Anand said, “With over 100 million English viewers, Times Network is the most powerful media platform to influence opinion makers in and about India. We realize that beyond nurturing a profitable business we are also in a unique position to speak to our audiences and effect positive change in the Social and Economic spheres through our powerful channels.”

    Porter Prize is organized in honour of the renowned philosopher, thinker, Harvard faculty member and the father of the modern strategic field, Michael E Porter. The central idea of the Porter Prize is to propel companies to compete on the basis of value creation, innovation and strategy and has a robust three-stage process of making an application, strategy audit and jury evaluation.

    Chandra added, “Times Network has reached over 80 countries on five continents in just under five years building distinctive value for the business. The Indian diaspora globally is a very potent audience and we have built many high impact engagement platforms for the diaspora.”

    The network that expanded its operations in UK last November, now delivers segmented and differentiated content to over 1.4 million viewers in UK. Internationally, the network is present across 83 countries in the world and has an aggressive expansion plan to start operations in France and Germany, in the near future. In India, the channel engages with over 100 million urban affluent viewers and its network channels enjoy an undisputed leadership in the country.

  • Creating distinctive value: Times Network wins Porter prize

    Creating distinctive value: Times Network wins Porter prize

    MUMBAI: Times Network was recently awarded one of the most coveted corporate awards, Porter Prize 2016, which aims to recognize strategic acumen of corporates in India. The Porter Prize Award in creating distinctive value category was received by Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand and head of international business Naveen Chandra in the august presence of the minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha at an event held in Delhi.

    The award honoured Times Network International business for their outstanding performance in the industry, ability to offer unique solutions to customers, effectively creating new market spaces, segments and providing solutions that redefine the market.

    Anand said, “With over 100 million English viewers, Times Network is the most powerful media platform to influence opinion makers in and about India. We realize that beyond nurturing a profitable business we are also in a unique position to speak to our audiences and effect positive change in the Social and Economic spheres through our powerful channels.”

    Porter Prize is organized in honour of the renowned philosopher, thinker, Harvard faculty member and the father of the modern strategic field, Michael E Porter. The central idea of the Porter Prize is to propel companies to compete on the basis of value creation, innovation and strategy and has a robust three-stage process of making an application, strategy audit and jury evaluation.

    Chandra added, “Times Network has reached over 80 countries on five continents in just under five years building distinctive value for the business. The Indian diaspora globally is a very potent audience and we have built many high impact engagement platforms for the diaspora.”

    The network that expanded its operations in UK last November, now delivers segmented and differentiated content to over 1.4 million viewers in UK. Internationally, the network is present across 83 countries in the world and has an aggressive expansion plan to start operations in France and Germany, in the near future. In India, the channel engages with over 100 million urban affluent viewers and its network channels enjoy an undisputed leadership in the country.

  • Tata Sky Kids’ Showcase service launched; features films from across globe

    Tata Sky Kids’ Showcase service launched; features films from across globe

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, pioneer of innovative services in the DTH industry, will be launching an exclusive array of kids-based cinema from multiple countries with the launch of Tata Sky Kids’ Showcase service.

    Launched on 21 May, Kids’ Showcase features films from across the globe; including Denmark, Norway, France, Japan, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland, United Kingdom and United States of America apart from Indian movies. The bouquet of over 40 kids film on Kids’ Showcase will feature Indian, English, foreign feature & short films. 

    Tata Sky chief content and business development officer Paolo Agostinelli said, “With Kids’ Showcase, Tata Sky aims to create an opportunity for our kids to enjoy some unique, mostly unseen, high quality content, coming with different perspectives from India and around the world. Not just as some fun times, this could be an opportunity for them to share some quality time with their parents, hopefully stimulating reflections and discussions around a broad range of beautiful, diverse and meaningful stories.”

    Children can look forward to an exciting mix of award winning and nominated films, features and shorts from renowned studios such as Celluloid Dreams, Ghibli, Trust Nordisk, Folimage, Entertainment One and many more. Some of the movies acquired for the platform are The Nut Job, Labrinthus, Giraffada, Secret of Kells, Gattu, Jalpari, La Cage and many more.

    This new showcase service will air children’s films selected with the help of eminent children’s content curator, Monica Wahi, who is the founder of South Asian Children’s Cinema Forum and curated kids content at festivals such as The Mumbai Film Festival.

    Kids Showcase will run movies all day back-to-back and children can watch what they like on both the television and the Tata Sky Mobile App. With a bouquet of 21 kids channels, and 4 unique interactive services, Tata Sky has been continuously bolstering offerings for children.

     

  • Tata Sky Kids’ Showcase service launched; features films from across globe

    Tata Sky Kids’ Showcase service launched; features films from across globe

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, pioneer of innovative services in the DTH industry, will be launching an exclusive array of kids-based cinema from multiple countries with the launch of Tata Sky Kids’ Showcase service.

    Launched on 21 May, Kids’ Showcase features films from across the globe; including Denmark, Norway, France, Japan, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland, United Kingdom and United States of America apart from Indian movies. The bouquet of over 40 kids film on Kids’ Showcase will feature Indian, English, foreign feature & short films. 

    Tata Sky chief content and business development officer Paolo Agostinelli said, “With Kids’ Showcase, Tata Sky aims to create an opportunity for our kids to enjoy some unique, mostly unseen, high quality content, coming with different perspectives from India and around the world. Not just as some fun times, this could be an opportunity for them to share some quality time with their parents, hopefully stimulating reflections and discussions around a broad range of beautiful, diverse and meaningful stories.”

    Children can look forward to an exciting mix of award winning and nominated films, features and shorts from renowned studios such as Celluloid Dreams, Ghibli, Trust Nordisk, Folimage, Entertainment One and many more. Some of the movies acquired for the platform are The Nut Job, Labrinthus, Giraffada, Secret of Kells, Gattu, Jalpari, La Cage and many more.

    This new showcase service will air children’s films selected with the help of eminent children’s content curator, Monica Wahi, who is the founder of South Asian Children’s Cinema Forum and curated kids content at festivals such as The Mumbai Film Festival.

    Kids Showcase will run movies all day back-to-back and children can watch what they like on both the television and the Tata Sky Mobile App. With a bouquet of 21 kids channels, and 4 unique interactive services, Tata Sky has been continuously bolstering offerings for children.

     

  • Disney & CanalSat ink exclusive Disney Channel deal for France

    Disney & CanalSat ink exclusive Disney Channel deal for France

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company and Vivendi’s Canal+ Group have inked a deal through which the multi-channel French satellite-cable-IPTV operator CanalSat will now become the exclusive distributor of Disney channels in France.

     

    CanalSat will have exclusive carriage rights in France for Disney Junior, Disney XD and Disney Channel as well as the new premium service Disney Cinema, Disney catch-up services and new educational on-demand service Disney English.

     

    According to Canal+, the deal marks a new stage in its partnership with Disney. The two first collaborated in 1997. The new agreement will strengthen its position in family viewing, with exclusive carriage of four channels that together represent a 42 per cent share of the 4-14 audience.

     

    While the Disney English on-demand service will be included in Canalsat’s Panorama package, Disney Cinema will be included in the Grand Panorama package.

  • Digital pushing growth even as linear content consumption declines

    Digital pushing growth even as linear content consumption declines

    SINGAPORE: Interesting revelations came forth on Day 3 of Asia TV Forum (ATF) 2015 where formats were the pivotal topic of discussion. 

     

    At the onset was a presentation by Eurodata head of global research and content strategy Sahar Baghery, who spoke about a few trends that are currently worth making note of. 

     

    According to a study by Eurodata, consumption of linear television is on the decline across progressive nations like France, Germany, Canada and US among others; whereas there is only a marginal growth in the consumption patterns even in countries in Asia and Africa. “What this study suggests is that even though linear consumption is witnessing a downward trend, digital consumption is on the rise,” Baghery stated.

     

    What was even more interesting is the fact that countries like France, Netherlands, Sweden and UK are working on evaluating the viewership of content across screens to give a better understanding to content creators as well as brands advertising on the various platforms about the presence and viability of their investments. Sahar also touched upon the fact that a lot of kids content is now being exclusively produced by OTT players like Amazon and Netflix as they believe that is the future of content consumption by millennials.

     

    The study further educated about the various genres of shows that are currently doing well across the European and American circuits. “Stories dealing with corruption, a spy drama and crime thrillers are doing the best in terms of viewership across popular regions as of now.” She added that anthology series were also doing well as a format and could be further explored by other markets as well.

     

    The next couple of sessions for the day dealt with how leaders in Asia, primarily South Korea, are creating content that travels the world. The Korean wave has been sweeping the world and it was no different at ATF either. In a session, which spoke about the trending shows in South Korea, various case studies were discussed as to what led to their success domestically and how that translated into deals with European, Middle Eastern and US markets. CJ E&M manager Spencer Craig Thomas said, “We are very confident of our linear distribution presence, and thus are now looking to grow our content exponentially on the digital side. Our belief is that by creating follow-up or catch up content for our already existing properties on digital, we are only going to increase our consumption traction further.”

     

    On the other hand, Indonesia’s MNC Group VP content Hendy Liem stated that international content is only capable of gaining eyeballs but can’t be monetised well. “It’s important to understand pricing and return on investments in the first place before venturing into international syndication deals or spending heavily on creating content without knowing its monetising capabilities.”

     

    On the kids’ front, a panel discussion was held on the possibilities and success stories of some of the formats, which have been led by kids as the main protagonists. According to research data by Eurodata, 40 per cent of content, which has kids as their protagonists are fictional; 39 per cent is in the entertainment genre and the remaining 21 per cent are factual shows.

     

    The conclusion of the panel was that though the protagonists of shows like The Voice Kids, Super Kids and Master Class are children or young adults, they look at targeting families and not only kids for gaining that many more eyeballs and touch the empathy chords with their viewers.

     

    That brings us to the end of the TV market at ATF 2015; ScreenSingapore will take centre stage tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates!