ITV

Tag: future

  • Comscore gets social to boost global media reach across nine new markets

    Comscore gets social to boost global media reach across nine new markets

    MUMBAI: Audience measurement just got a serious glow-up. Comscore, the NASDAQ-listed media analytics firm, is now tracking social reach as part of its global MMX platform suite adding nine new international markets to its existing lineup. The latest expansion brings Chile, Colombia, Peru, Germany, Ireland, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia into the fold, allowing for a deduplicated view of audiences across desktop, mobile and now, social media.

    With this move, Comscore’s Social Incremental enhancement is poised to change the measurement game for brands and publishers, offering a sharper lens on total digital reach, a boon for campaign optimisation, cross-platform planning, and unlocking real value from social audiences.

    Already available in 10 other countries including India, the US, UK, and Brazil, this expanded rollout means that publishers and advertisers can now track true audience overlap, total combined reach, and platform-specific lift with unprecedented precision.

    “Having Comscore’s unified view of audiences across all platforms, including social, is incredibly powerful,” said Future senior director of marketing Vic Chappell. “It’s essential not just for transparency, but for unlocking value in our advertiser partnerships.”

    Social media isn’t just getting its due, it’s becoming a cornerstone. As Sandra Prosperi of Hearst Spain put it, “Social media is essential for building brand relationships. Now we can show total reach that includes social, an absolute must for global campaigns.”

    Comscore’s secret sauce? A proprietary digital panel at scale, which powers its Social Incremental methodology privacy-first, deduplicated, and engineered for action. According to Comscore EVP international Alejandro Fosk the innovation “efficiently organises data with precision and uncovers interconnections across platforms. This is not just audience tracking. This is audience intelligence.”

    The update will also reflect in Comscore’s Digital Industry Rankings, provided entities have activated full measurement now with social baked in.

    With attention spans fleeting and platforms multiplying, Comscore’s new move might just be the clearest signal yet: in the race for reach, you can’t afford to leave social on the sidelines.

     

  • Future Watch: Expectations from Indian OTT Industry in 2017

    Future Watch: Expectations from Indian OTT Industry in 2017

    India has witnessed an over-the-top (OTT) explosion in 2016. The entry of leading international players, coupled with the rise of local OTT ventures, has only intensified the competition in a market earmarked for exponential growth.

    Statistics underline why OTT is fast becoming the primary medium of entertainment consumption for Indian viewers. Over 65% of the 450+ million internet users in India are currently mobile-only, and the country is adding 6 million new internet users every month who are exclusively accessing digital connectivity through on a mobile phone.

    With almost 2.1 billion people, or 28.7% of the world’s population, already estimated to own smartphones, the rate of smartphone adoption will continue to be robust across the globe with double-digit growth. Smartphones will also outstrip feature phones when it comes to sales and adoption. “Nearly 47.4% of mobile phone users own a smartphone at present. Keeping in mind the industry trends, smartphone users could very well outnumber feature phone users by the end of 2017.”

     Nearly 47.4% of mobile phone users will possess smartphones by the end of this year. By the end of 2017, smartphone users will outnumber feature phone users. (Source: eMarketer)

    public://11111.jpg

    Source: eMarketer

    public://2222222.jpg

    Source: iCube

    Mobile is driving the growth for Internet in India; the country is predicted to be home to 640 million internet users and 700 million smartphone users by 2020 (Source: iCube). Online video content, as a result, is thriving; videos comprise 50% of total mobile data traffic at present. This clearly shows the potential that the Indian market is sitting on. The gold rush will continue in the future as well, as more viewers shift towards easy-to-use, on-demand services that offer cross-platform access.

    public://3333333333333.jpg

    The Indian OTT industry has been majorly driven by disruption. OTT Trends to watch for in 2017 (Source: MUVI):

    LIVE Streaming:

    As more consumers shift towards anytime, anywhere viewing experience, live streaming will continue to be in demand in 2017. To make the most of it, OTT platforms must have to leverage the following:
    –    Capture live on Ad-hoc/breaking stories (to capture the thrill)
    –    Live Sports & Events
    –    Linear TV schedule of the series programming (creating a VOD playout)

    People are demanding more and more live experiences for their favorite content over-the-top, especially for top content such as news and sports. Studies suggest that viewers in fact demand this content later if they miss the live broadcast.

    Sports live streaming saw impressive reception in the year 2016, with UEFA European Champions 2016 in France scoring massive viewership on SonyLIV’s web and mobile app platforms. With much more expected in the live streaming space in the coming year, the trend is here to stay.

    AR, VR & 360 videos:
    Videos in recent times have moved beyond their traditional boundaries and have become more immersive with the advent of augmented reality and virtual reality tech. With 4K becoming the hot new trend for device manufacturers, video qualities have improved dramatically. As a result, engaging  life-like experiences through videos are no longer far-fetched fantasies, but are actively becoming a part and parcel of the overall entertainment viewing.

    Original Content:

    OTT players have started coming up with their own original series to hook viewers’ attention. This is generating impressive traction and has viewers switching over from the expensive Pay TV, thanks to the freshness and greater relevance of the content as well as the increased convenience of anytime, anywhere viewing.
    Hybrid Platforms:

    OTT right now, is at a position where e-commerce was a few years ago – new, and trending, and adapting to new ways of winning. Making OTT platforms capable of selling physical products along with audio and video service offerings is definitely going to be an upward trend in 2017 due to the synergy between the two sectors. A prime example of this is Amazon, an e-commerce company, which has now jumped into video streaming. Allowing free shipping of Amazon products on Prime Video memberships has very quickly allowed the company to transform most of its e-commerce consumers as streaming service subscribers.

    Rural will drive the internet growth and local languages content will rise:

    India is estimated to have 250 million rural internet users, while non-metros are driving 60% of the overall e-commerce growth. Nearly 43% of internet users are non-English, a number which is estimated to grow to 62% by 2020. This could see a tangible increase in regional language-based content available on the digital medium, as more and more OTT platforms and production houses develop entertainment tailored to meet the specific requirements and sensibilities of their regional audiences.

    public://444444444444.jpg

    Source: IAMAI India Internet Report, Indian Readership Survey

    Micro transactions & cashless transactions:

    According to a Frost & Sullivan report, there are 66 million unique connected video viewers in India, of which 1.3 million are paid video subscribers. These video subscription numbers, however, are not absolute, and fluctuate drastically every month. But with the country heading towards becoming a cashless economy and colossal changes expected in the way netizens make their day-to-day transactions, the number of OTT subscribers is expected to grow and stabilize, even as the number of unique online video viewers grows to 355 million by 2020.

    E-payments and mobile wallets are getting more popular among the millennials in the country. Digitization of cash will accelerate over the next few years. Non-cash payments, which today constitute 22% of all consumer payments, will overtake cash transactions by 2023.

    Digital payments instruments will drive the growth in non-cash payments, according to a Google BCG Report. Micro-transactions will form a substantial portion of the industry, with over 50% of person-to-merchant transactions expected to be under INR 100 according to the study. The report also predicts that the value of remittances and money transfer that will pass through alternate digital payment instruments will double to 30% by 2020.

    public://555555555555555.jpg

    Source: Google – BCG

    TV ad revenue to shift to Digital by 2017 in Asia-Pacific

    Net advertising revenue in the Asia-Pacific has grown at 5.8% in 2016 and is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% till 2020. This reflects stable but moderate growth across both mature and emerging markets in the region.

    India and China will continue to be the fastest growing ad markets in the region, expanding in excess of 10% and 8% respectively according to a new report by Media Partners Asia, an advisory, research, and consulting firm. The share of digital media in the advertising market in Asia-Pacific is projected to overtake that of television by 2017 and increase to 44.2% by 2020, up from 30.7% in 2015. The biggest contributors to this growth will be Australia, China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

    Although television will remain a critical advertising medium, its regional advertising share will decline as ad spending in Australia and China shifts to digital. However, television will continue to be the biggest advertising medium in key markets such as India, Japan, and Korea even in 2020. The Media Partners Asia report forecasts that over the next five years, the fastest growing markets in Asia-Pacific will be India at 10.7%, China at 8.4% and Indonesia at 8.2%. In 2015, the net advertising revenue in Asia-Pacific grew by 5.3%, the slowest rate of growth since 2009. Advertising expenditure growth continued to remain slow in Indonesia and contracted in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

    Social Platforms

    Mobile video accounts for 50% of mobile traffic around the world and, by 2021, video will account for 70% of the overall mobile internet traffic. (Source: Ericsson Mobility Report).
    1 out of 8 people around the world accesses Facebook on a mobile phone at least once a day. (Source: BI Intelligence estimates, Facebook)

    Snapchat is the up-and-coming disrupter. It isn’t just mobile-first; it is mobile-ONLY and is witnessing exponential growth in its mobile audience. (Source: Snapchat, BI Intelligence estimates)

    Skype, WhatsApp video call has brought the world and its people closer to one another. LIVE serves the same purpose, allowing brands an opportunity to add personality and a personal touch to their communication. LIVE comes as a breath of fresh air to engage with dormant audiences and boost engagement. From a brand’s point of view, this can be a way of showing people what actually happens behind the scene rather than pushing out branded content all the time. This will allow them to  tap Audiences which might have otherwise been inaccessible to them. For example, while only a few thousands could attend the Coldplay concert in India, millions could view it on the LIVE broadcast. Additionally, when a brand goes LIVE, it gives an assurance to audiences that there is no gimmick involved and everything that is being showcased is true, which adds credibility. With LIVE, the brand and consumer relation stands to evolve. Facebook LIVE has started a new trail of information share from brands. Some good examples of LIVE video are the El Clasico LIVE voting on SonyLIV, which got a reach of 1 million organically in only 90 minutes while the match was live. Multiple creative uses of the feature can be seen in the coming year, as marketers will look to use it differently to engage their target audiences. With LIVE expected to evolve further in future iterations, brands and marketers can look forward to exciting times ahead.

    Cord Cutting:

    The increased digitisation of entertainment means that cord cutting will continue to grow in the coming year as well. One in every four millennials does not subscribe to pay TV, and 13% have never used a pay TV subscription. Digital TV Research estimates that the number of pay TV subscribers in Canada and the U.S. will fall, while Statista predicts that there will only remain 96.4 million pay TV households by 2019.

    People have been ditching their pay TV connections due to the lack of interesting content on-demand and the high costs of subscriptions. OTT platforms, by providing viewers the flexibility of accessing their favourite content at their fingertips, anytime, anywhere, have been winning this battle.

    On-demand platforms are adding TV programs to their bundles, bringing in a better content library of old as well as original programming, localizing in niche territories, and keeping up with technological innovations such as 4K, AR, VR and 360-degree video production. This will allow them to leapfrog appointment-based TV broadcasters and establish OTT platforms as the default medium of entertainment content consumption.

    public://YMNIVzea_400x400.jpg
     
    (Abhishek Joshi is Sony Pictures Networks India VP & Head – Marketing & Analytics, Digital Business. The views expressed here are personal, and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them.)

     

  • Q2-2016: PS4, Music mitigate lacklustre results by other Sony segments

    Q2-2016: PS4, Music mitigate lacklustre results by other Sony segments

    BENGALURU: Good performances to the extent of double digit percentage revenue growth by Sony Corporation’s (Sony) Games & Network Services (G&NS) and Music segments helped mitigate the lacklustre and poor performance by the company’s Mobile Communications (MC) and more specifically its Financial Services segments. ‘All Other’ segment reported almost flat revenue growth. Sony’s other segments – Imaging Products & Solutions (IPS&), Pictures, Devices, segments reported almost flat to growth in single digit percentage terms. The company’s Home Entertainment & Sound (HES) segment and reported a slight decrease in revenue, but a growth in operating income. On a constant currency basis, Sony’s sales decreased seven per cent YoY.

     

    Sony reported almost flat sales and operating revenue (decline of 0.5 per cent) in Q2-2016 (Quarter ended 30 September, 2014, current quarter, second quarter of 2015) at ?1892.7 billion as compared to the ?1901.5 billion in Q2-2015. The company reported net income attributable to Sony shareholders of ?33.6 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to a loss of ?136 billion in the corresponding year ago quarter.

     

    Sony says that sales were essentially flat YoY mainly due to a decrease in Financial Services segment revenue, reflecting a deterioration in investment performance in the separate account, and a decrease in MC segment sales, reflecting a significant decrease in smartphone unit sales, substantially offset by the impact of foreign exchange rates and a significant increase in G&NS segment sales, reflecting an increase in PS4 software sales.

     

    Segment Performance

     

    Mobile Communications

     

    Sony’s MC segment reported a 15.2 per cent decline in sales to ?279.2 billion in the current quarter as compared to the ?329.5 billion in Q2-2015, which Sony says was due to a significant decrease in smartphone unit sales resulting from a strategic decision not to pursue scale in order to improve profitability.

     

    Consequently the segment reported a lower operating loss of ?20.6 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to ?170.6 billion in Q2-2015. Sony says that this decrease in operating loss was primarily due to a ?176.0 billion impairment charge of goodwill recorded in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. The operating results were also primarily affected by the negative impact of the appreciation of the US dollar, reflecting the high ratio of US dollar-denominated costs, and an increase in restructuring charges. The negative impact of the above-mentioned decrease in smartphone unit sales was offset by an improvement in product mix reflecting a shift to high value-added models, as well as reductions in costs including marketing and research and development expenses. During the current quarter there was a ?24.4 billion negative impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

     

    Game & Network Services (G&NS)

     

    GN&S segment reported a 16.5 per cent increase in sales to ?360.7 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to the ?309.5 million in Q2-2015, which Sony says was primarily due to an increase in PS4 software sales as well as the impact of foreign exchange rates, partially offset by a decrease in PlayStation3 (PS3) software sales.

     

    This segment’s Operating Income increased 9.8 per cent to ?23.9 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to the ?21.8 billion in Q2-2015. The gain due to increase in PS4 software sales was partially offset by the negative impact of the appreciation of the US dollar, reflecting the high ratio of US dollar-denominated costs and the above-mentioned decrease in PS3 software sales. During the current quarter there was a 13.1 billion yen negative impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations informs Sony.

     

    Imaging Products & Solutions (IP&S)

     

    IP&S segment reported a 4.1 per cent improvement in sales to ?186 billion in the current quarter as compared to the ?178.6 billion in Q2-2015 due to an improvement in product mix of digital cameras reflecting a shift to high value-added models and the impact of foreign exchange rates, partially offset by a decrease in unit sales of digital cameras reflecting a contraction of the market.

     

    IP&S operating income increased 28.6 per cent to ?25.9 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to the ?20.1 billion in Q2-2015. During the current quarter there was a 1.9 billion yen positive impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations says Sony.

     

    Home Entertainment & Sound (HE&S)

     

    Sony’s HE&S segment reported an almost flat (declined 0.2 per cent) in revenue to ?289.1billion in the current quarter as compared to the ?289.7 billion in Q2-2015 due to a decrease in home audio and video unit sales reflecting a contraction of the market, offset by an improvement in product mix of LCD televisions reflecting a shift to high value-added models and the impact of foreign exchange rates.

     

    HE&S operating income reported 73.9 per cent growth in operating income to ?15.8 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to the ?9.1 billion in Q2-2015 due to cost reductions and an improvement in product mix, partially offset by the negative impact of the appreciation of the US dollar, reflecting the high ratio of US dollar-denominated costs as well as the impact of the above-mentioned decrease in home audio and video unit sales. During the current quarter there was a ?10.4 billion negative impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

     

    In Televisions, sales increased 1.6 per cent YoY to ?203 billion. This increase was primarily due to an improvement in product mix reflecting a shift to high value-added models and the impact of foreign exchange rates, partially offset by a decrease in LCD television unit sales resulting from a strategic decision not to pursue scale in order to improve profitability. Operating income increased ?4.8 billion YoY to ?9.7 billion. This increase was primarily due to cost reductions and an improvement in product mix, partially offset by the negative impact of the appreciation of the US dollar, reflecting the high ratio of US dollar-denominated costs, and the impact of the decrease in unit sales.

     

    Devices

     

    Devices sales increased 7.4 per cent YoY to ?258.1 billion in the current quarter from ?240.4 billion. This increase was primarily due to the impact of foreign exchange rates and an increase in demand for image sensors, partially offset by a decrease in battery business sales. Sales to external customers increased 17.3 per cent YoY.

     

    Operating income of the segment in Q2-2016 increased ?4.4 billion YoY to ?32.7 billion from ?28.3 billion in Q2-2015. This increase was due to the positive impact of foreign exchange rates and the above-mentioned impact of an increase in sales of image sensors, partially offset by an increase in depreciation and amortisation, an increase in research and development expenses and a decrease in battery business sales. During the current quarter there was a ?12 billion positive impact from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

     

    Pictures

     

    Sony’s Pictures segment reported 0.9 per cent growth in sales to ?183.7 billion in Q2-2016 as compared to the ?182.2 billion in Q2-2015. However, in terms of US dollars there was a 14 per cent decrease due to significantly lower sales for Motion Pictures reflecting lower home entertainment revenues, as the same quarter of the previous fiscal year benefitted from the home entertainment performances of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Heaven is for Real, as well as lower television licensing revenues.

     

    Operating loss in the current quarter increased ?21.4 billion YoY to ?22.5 billion from ?1 billion in Q2-2014 due to the impact of the above-mentioned decrease in Motion Pictures sales as well as higher worldwide theatrical marketing expenses due to a greater number of significant theatrical releases in the current quarter as compared to Q2-2015.

     

    Music

     

    Music reported 15 per cent increase in sales to ?138.7 billion in q2-2016as compared to the ?120.6 billion in Q2-2015 due to the impact of the depreciation of the yen against the US dollar. The increase in sales on a constant currency basis was primarily due to an increase in Visual Media and Platform sales reflecting higher live entertainment venue revenue and higher sales of animation products. Best-selling titles included David Gilmour’s Rattle that Lock, Future’s DS2 and Maitre Gims’ Mon Coeur Avait Raison.

     

    Operating income increased ?2.4 billion year-on-year to ?14.6 billion ($122 million). This increase was primarily due to an improvement in product mix, reflecting an increase in digital streaming revenues.

     

    Financial Services

     

    Financial Services reported a steep decline of 21.8 per cent in sales in the current quarter to ?201.7 billion as compared to the ?269.6 billion in Q2-2015 due to a significant decrease in revenue at Sony Life.

     

    Operating income decreased ?6.5 billion YoY to ?41.2 billion mainly due to a decrease in operating income at Sony Life.

     

    All Other

     

    Sales increased one per cent YoY to ?87.4 billion in the current quarter from ?86.5 billion in Q2-2015.

     

    Operating income of ?0.5 billion was recorded in Q2-2016 compared to an operating loss of ?19.8 billion in Q2-2015 due to a decrease in PC exit costs, including restructuring charges and after-sales service expenses, as well as the absence of sales company fixed costs charged to the PC business in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year which were allocated based on the prior year results.

  • CNN International explores India’s place on the modern ‘Silk Road’

    CNN International explores India’s place on the modern ‘Silk Road’

    MUMBAI: This month, ’Silk Road: Past, Present, Future’ continues an 8,000 kilometre journey across the ancient silk and spice routes, traveling south from Central Asia, across remote snow-topped mountains, to explore one of Asia’s most important corridors of commerce: India.

     

    Following the series’ first two episodes in China and Kazakhstan, this month’s show sees presenter Sumnima Udas explore India’s historic role in the world’s most important trade route and uncover the country’s place in the modern Silk Road. 

     

    India is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet; the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient medicines and even spicy curry. CNN’s Sumnima Udas explores one of the largest wholesale spice markets in Asia, in India’s national capital, New Delhi.  From coriander to pepper to turmeric, spices are a centuries-old staple of Indian heritage.  Decades ago, Indian cooks used to spend hours preparing their spices, manually grinding everything to make their own blends. Today, the process is much easier.  CNN meets India’s self-proclaimed ‘King of Spices’, the 93-years-old, Dharampal Gulati, and learn how his Delhi spice company, MDH,  started in the year of India’s independence, 1947, is making cooking easier for thousands of consumers.

     

    The program also travels south to India’s growing tech-hub, Bengaluru to discover how Indian technology firm Wipro is partnering with the American company GE to design and manufacture low-cost baby warmers for new-borns to help reduce the neonatal mortality rate.  The concept, often called ‘reverse innovation’, is to create and sell new technology for the Indian market at a fraction of the cost that they are normal sold around the world. Sumnima also examines how Ayurveda, an ancient system of healing based on balance and nature is enjoying a resurgence.

     

    India is the world’s second largest producer of tea in the world and drinking the beverage is a national pastime.  Udas treks through the hills and tea plantations of Darjeeling in North East India. This lush, mountainous region, near the borders of China, Bhutan, and Nepal, is world-famous for Darjeeling teas. The program meets Kaushal Dugar, a young Indian entrepreneur who is hoping his three-year-old e-commerce start-up, Teabox, will change the way tea is bought and sold around the globe by shipping tea straight from the field to the consumers, just days after it is plucked in the tea gardens.

     

    Following the India episode, The Silk Road: Past, Present, Future will visit the Arabian Peninsula as it makes its way across the old routes over nine episodes before completing its journey in Northern Italy.