ITV

Tag: Hotstar

  • Indian online video to grow to US 1.6 bn at 35 percent CAGR by 2022

    MUMBAI: Media Partners Asia (MPA) estimates that the Indian online video industry generated approximately US$ 230 million in total sales in 2016, and is on course to reach approximately US$340 million in 2017. MPA projects a 35 percent CAGR to 2022 as total industry sales top US$1.6 billion.

    Further, the MPA report entitled Asia Pacific Online Video & Broadband Distribution, says that the Asia Pacific online video market will scale to US$ 46 billion by 2022, with China contributing more than 75 percent. MPA indicates that online video revenues, including net advertising and subscription fees, will grow at a 21 percent CAGR across the region between 2017 and 2022, climbing from US$17.6 billion in 2017 to US$46 billion by 2022.

    Said Mumbai-based MPA Vice President Mihir Shah: “In 2016, Jio’s 4G launch intensified competition slashing mobile data prices. The currency demonetization initiative by the government, implemented towards the end of 2016, also helped spur a significant improvement in the digital payments infrastructure in the country. Both these events have served as catalysts for online video consumption and monetization. By 2022, SVOD will account for 17 percent of the online video market in terms of revenues. Online video consumption will remain dominated by YouTube with domestic challengers Hotstar and Voot performing robustly but in a distant second and third place, respectively.”

    China will continue to contribute the lion’s share of customers and revenues to the online video industry in Asia Pacific, garnering 85 percent of SVOD customers and 78 percent of online video sector revenues by 2022. Such growth and scale reflects: (1) Wide-scale investment in original and acquired OTT content, including early and exclusive windows; (2) A weak market for traditional pay-TV, creating an opportunity for premium content distribution and monetization through online video; (3) Steady improvements in broadband reach and infrastructure, as well as increased adoption of smart TVs and set-top boxes; (4) Consumer adoption of seamless payment systems, developed by the owners of some of the most popular online video services, who are also leveraging data analytics and bundling to create new cohesive new ecosystems for content, commerce and communication. China’s online video market is largely ad-supported but with subscription’s share of revenue hitting 33 percent in 2017 (compared to 18 percent in 2015 and 26 percent in 2016), prospects for a demand-driven subscription model remain bright.

    Japan, Australia, India, Korea and Taiwan will emerge as the markets ex-China with the most scale in online video revenues and distribution. This reflects robust payment infrastructure, including in India, along with the growth of advertising-funded platforms and the steady rise of premium, subscription-based platforms. Piracy and under-developed payment infrastructure will continue to limit growth across much of Southeast Asia although increased broadband penetration (led by mobile connectivity) positions telcos as key partners to drive online video revenues. Online video advertising, in particular, remains a scalable and vital opportunity in Southeast Asia while SVOD revenues will grow rapidly from a very low base.

    Said MPA executive director Vivek Couto: “Advances in telecoms and payment infrastructure continue to point the way forward for the online video sector in Asia Pacific, although business models and regulations continue to evolve in a sector that’s still nascent in most territories. Key trends are emerging: (1) Services anchored to nimble, robust and sustainable business models – built around strong execution and scalable content consumption – are rising to the top; (2) Access to local and Asian content is increasingly essential in almost all markets, while demand for recent windows for franchise-based Hollywood product is also robust. Demand for original content along with movies, kids content and sports is also becoming more important; (3) Content curation, packaging and pricing remain critical, along with brand equity. Telecom operators, which have been focused on either paid conversion or mass reach to drive value, are increasingly moving to tighter payment per consumption models in pursuit of ROI across key video partnerships; (4) The value of branded destinations will increase rapidly within the online video ecosystem as platforms and operators forge partnerships with broadcasters and content players; (5) Leading local and regional players ex-China will start to capitalize on a massive online video advertising opportunity, hitherto dominated in the main by YouTube.”

    According to MPA, the online video advertising pie in Asia Pacific will grow from under US$12 billion in 2017 to more than US$25 billion by 2022. Ex-China, this opportunity equates to US$7 billion by 2022 versus US$3 billion in 2017. YouTube and to some extent Facebook will remain dominant, with an average 75 percent market share of online video advertising between them ex-China by 2022, versus 85 percent in 2017. Japan, India and Australia, followed by Korea, will be the biggest online video ad markets after China over this period. In SVOD, consumer spend ex-China will accelerate from a low base as revenues reach ~US$3.1 billion in 2022 versus US$1.5 billion in 2017. Japan and Australia will account for a combined 55 percent of value by 2022 versus 68 percent in 2017. Southeast Asia’s contribution will climb rapidly from a mere 9 percent in 2017 to 15 percent by 2022. Indirect SVOD revenues, which reflect wholesale fees paid by telcos to online video platforms as part of bundling and integration agreements, will remain important in the medium term but become less significant longer-term. Even in the short-to-medium term, telecom operators are recalibrating their approach to ROI with a greater focus on payment per consumption models. Ex-China, SVOD indirect fees will grow from only US$110 million in 2017 to US$213 million by 2022. Average SVOD subscriber penetration of the population will only reach 9.8 percent in 2017. This should increase to ~19 percent by 2022 as total SVOD subs, including direct and indirect connections, scale from 341 million in 2017 to 676 million by 2022 (from 58 million to 102 million ex-China).

    Exponential growth of mobile internet connectivity, combined with a slow but steady transition to next-generation fixed broadband, will provide a significant boost to online video consumption, reach and monetization. According to MPA, data revenues across fixed and mobile networks in Asia Pacific are sizable at US$236 billion in 2017. These will reach US$318 billion by 2022, with the ex-China market size at ~US$175 billion by 2022 versus US$126 billion in 2017. Average mobile broadband penetration will reach 73 percent per capita by 2022 versus 59 percent in 2017, with some of the biggest growth coming from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Average fixed broadband penetration will grow steadily from 44 percent to 52 percent of households over 2017-22, with the focus increasingly on upgrading high-speed networks using fibre and next-generation cable technologies.

  • VIDNET 2017: MINING THE BURGEONING OTT/VOD SECTOR

    MUMBAI: Leaders of India’s OTT, live streaming and video on demand ecosystem will be congregating at the Hotel Westin in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb to participate in the second edition of indiantelevision.com’s industry confab VIDNET 2017- Content on the Go.

    Heads of Hotstar, DittoTV, Voot, SonyLiv, YuppTV and Viu, BARC’s planned digital measurement offering and the entertainment and media partnership heads of YouTube India and Facebook India will be highlighting the progress that their platforms have made and the way forward for video on demand and streaming services which are in their relative infancy but have seen tremendous traction over the past year or so..

    “2016-17 has been a year of an explosion in video consumption for the plethora of VOD and streaming service providers who have popped up in India,” says Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO & editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. “This is thanks to dropping bandwidth prices, the Reliance Jio effect of free data. Humungous investments are being poured into original content by Netflix, and Amazon, even as others are either investing in movies, sports, or kids content. This at a time when they are grappling with the business model: go pay or free or a mix of both. Our estimate is that around Rs 1,500-1,700 crore has already been invested by the various players. Thus, VIDNET 2017 is happening at an apt time. It will help foster discussions, relationships, deals between the various players and possibly allow for new ideas to flow in. A stellar lineup of speakers makes VIDNET, the industry’s leading VOD thought gathering.”

    VIDNET 2017 is slated to feature panel discussions on whether OTT/VOD/digital video is a sound investment proposition, its attractiveness to advertisers, the need for deeper distribution for the platforms, and who should be commissioned to produce the content, Bollywood biggies or smaller independents.

    Among the speakers who will be sharing their views at VIDNET include:

    Arre co-founder & CEO Ajay Chacko,

    Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan,

    Still and Still Media collective founder

    Amritpal Singh Bindra,

    Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO & editor in chief Anil Wanvari,

    Pocket Aces founder Anirudh Pandita,

    Z5 Business EVP & head of digital India Archana Anand,

    Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami,

    VideoTap founder & CEO Dilip Venkatraman,

    Viacom18 digital ventures Voot COO Gaurav Gandhi,

    VideoconD2h COO Himanshu Patil,

    Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd director Jai Maroo,

    BARC India digital business head Jamie Kenney,

    Aisa TV Forum and Market Reed Exhibitions executive producer & editorial director Lunita S V Mendoza,

    Asia TV Forum & Market – Reed Exhibitions business development manager Meen Yi Phua,

    Media Partners Asia vice president Mihir Shah,

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures content head Monika Shergill,

    Cheetah Mobile India director of brand solutions Neel Sapre,

    Principal Provocateur Advisory Paritosh Joshi,

    Monozygotic co-founder & chief creative officer Raghu Ram,

    WATConsult founder & CEO Rajiv Dingra,

    Prime Focus technologies founder & CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan,

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sameer Nair,

    Akamai Technologies country sales manager, media Sandeep Reddy,

    Youtube entertainment partnership head Satya Raghavan,

    Facebook India media partnership head Saurabh Doshi,

    Swastik Productions, One Life studios founder & creative director Siddharth Kumar Tewary,

    Viu India marketing head Shantanu Gangane,

    Producer Siddharth Jain,

    Den Networks Ltd CEO S N Sharma,

    Amagi Media labs co – founder Srinivasan KA,

    Sourabh Pant,

    Perform group director content sales India Subhayu Roy,

    RBNL CEO TaruN Katial,

    Yupp TV founder & CEO Uday Reddy,

    SonyLIV EVP & digital head Uday Sodhi,

    Viu country head India Vishal Kumar Maheshwari,

    Emerald Media executive director & investment head Vivek Raicha

    Castle Media Pvt Ltd executive director Vynsley Fernandes.

    An initiative by Indiantelevision.com, Vident 2017 is powered by Viu. The summit partners for the event are Hotstar and Voot. Prime Focus Technologies, Sony Liv and Perform group is associate partners. Akamai is OTT partner. Animationxpress.com, Tellychakkar.com and Radioandmusic.com are online partners. The event is executed by ITV 2.0 productions.

    VIDNET 2017 will also be honoring key pioneers and movers and shakers of the industry with a plaque for their contribution to rapidly emerging digital video ecosystem.

  • Hotstar & CBS agree to bring Showtime content & brand to India

    MUMBAI: Hotstar, India’s largest premium streaming platform, and CBS Corporation today announced an SVOD content licensing and trademark agreement for SHOWTIME in India. The agreement will introduce the SHOWTIME brand to India for the first time and bring a roster of Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning programming from SHOWTIME to the territory.

    The agreement will provide Hotstar Premium subscribers in India access to future SHOWTIME series such as the new comedy SMILF, the new limited series, ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA, starring Oscar® winners Benicio Del Toro and Patricia Arquette and Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano, and the new TWIN PEAKS. Also available to Hotstar Premium subscribers are hundreds of hours of critically-acclaimed series including THE AFFAIR, BILLIONS, RAY DONOVAN and the recently premiered, I’M DYING UP HERE.

    Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan said, “Over the last year, we have established Hotstar Premium as the most exciting destination for American TV shows and movies in India on demand. We have been continuously raising the bar on what is already the best streaming service for an Indian audience interested in international stories. The deal with CBS is in line with our strategy of bringing the best of new shows and movies from around the world to our Premium subscribers. Today, SHOWTIME joins an exciting slate on Hotstar. It is clear that there is no equivalent service like this in India, or, frankly, anywhere in the world. We are clear that we are building Hotstar Premium as the most compelling subscription service that will showcase the best story tellers from around the world.”

    “We are thrilled to be partnering with Hotstar to bring critically-acclaimed programming from SHOWTIME to Indian audiences,” said CBS Studios International president and CEO Armando Nuñez. “Thanks to this agreement and other partnerships with top platforms around the world, the footprint of the SHOWTIME brand and programming continues to expand in the global marketplace.”

    For CBS Corporation, similar agreements for SHOWTIME have been announced with FOX Networks Group in Asia, Canal+ Group in France, along with Sky UK, Germany and Italy, Bell Canada, Stan Australia, Movistar Spain and other output partners around the world.

    Setting its sights on shaping the connected TV experience in India, Hotstar appropriated the top spot on iTunes as Apple TV’s App of the Year for India in 2016. The recognition came on the back of a breakthrough year in which Hotstar continued to lead and disrupt the Indian market place. The service has more than 250 million downloads to date, and was the first local service to cross 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Globally, only one other video streaming app has hit the same milestone.

    Hotstar Premium now becomes the one of the few services in the world with exclusive content partnerships with the best global studios like Disney, Fox, HBO, and, now, SHOWTIME.

  • Ultimate Table Tennis: Ceat is title sponsor

    MUMBAI: In what can be termed as a major boost to the inaugural edition of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), India’s leading tyre manufacturing brand Ceat has come on board as title sponsor.

    Ceat has been associated with other sports in the past and their latest association with India’s first-ever Professional Table Tennis League comes as a shot in the arm for the sport. Ceat is the flagship company of Rs 22,000-crore RPG Enterprises.

    With this new association, the league will be called Ceat UTT. “Table Tennis is a very dynamic sport and we are very happy to come on board as the title sponsor for Ultimate Table Tennis which has the potential to revolutionise the sport in India. We at Ceat believe that the young crop of players have it in them to create greater success stories in the following years. We already have several Olympians in India from Table Tennis and I am sure that with the right kind of backing and exposure which Ceat UTT will provide, their performances in other major international events will be impacted positively. Ceat is committed to the development of the sport in India and are keen to help the sport in its endeavour to achieve glory,” stated Ceat Limited MD Anant Goenka.

    The corporate giant further stated that apart from the title sponsorship, they would continue to help the players in different ways like they do with other Indian sports. “CEAT has been actively involved with various other sports in India for a while now and we are very grateful to them for coming on board as title sponsor. This is another boost in our endeavour to bring about a revolution in table tennis and help the sport grow to greater echelons in India,” said Ceat UTT league owner Vita Dani.

    Ceat Ultimate Table Tennis will start from 13 July, 2017 in Chennai then will move to Delhi from 21 July and the ultimate culmination, two semifinals and final will be held in Mumbai from July 26, 2017. The league will have 24 of the best Indians as well as 24 world-class international players competing against one another through six clubs. Each club will have eight players—four men and four women with an equal mix of overseas and Indian players, apart from a foreign and an Indian coach. The league will be broadcast live on Star Sports Select 2 HD, Star Sports Select 2, Hotstar and JioTV.

  • ZEEL to globally strengthen its ‘largest Indian entertainment’ brand identity, says Amit Goenka

    Internet is significantly changing the way we consume entertainment — AR and VR are becoming commonplace. Over 60% of the world’s population is ‘digitally connected’ today. Content companies and advertisers are swiftly adapting to the new reality and redefining their strategies to stay on the top of the game. ZEEL’s international presence makes it one of the largest Indian entertainment brands and it wants to make the brand stronger, going forward. ZEEL CEO – international business Amit Goenka discusses the group’s plans and strategies in the company’s annual report:    

    How do you think the digital market will evolve and at what stage is India in that evolution process?

    Internet is dramatically changing the world as we know it. Over half the world now uses Internet, and technologies like AR and VR are fast becoming commonplace. Internet has already become an integral part of everyday life for most of the world’s population. Over 60% of the world’s population now owns a mobile phone and is ‘digitally connected’ and we will see a proliferation of this trend going forward. With increasing online content consumption, media businesses, content companies and advertisers are also rapidly adapting to the new reality and redefining their strategies accordingly to stay ahead and stay relevant.

    Given that Internet penetration in India is still under 40%, there is a significant growth potential

    for digital content consumption. We see the growth momentum across digital increasingly

    coming from smaller towns and rural areas, as urban areas get saturated. Businesses, across

    the board, will have to look at innovative ways to reach and capture the rural market given its

    propensity to consume content in vernacular languages and lack of comfort with English.

    What is ZEEL’s strategy for digital business?

    As an entertainment content company, it remains extremely important for us to be present where

    our consumers are, and so having a digital presence remains integral to our strategy for

    future growth.

    We launched the first Over-The-Top (OTT) platform in India in 2012 – dittoTV, our aggregator

    SVOD offering for live TV. We re-launched it last year at a strategic and disruptive price of ` 20 per month. We also partnered with leading telecom operators for both distribution and payment, which has been a successful move for us. OZEE, our free-to-consumer AVOD platform, has been showing excellent traction and is a leader in engagement metrics. With the launch of our global OTT platform Z5, we will consolidate our SVOD and AVOD offerings. It will be the single destination for all our content.

    How do you see competition from local players like Hotstar, Voot and international players like Amazon Prime and Netflix?

    The industry is still at a nascent stage. Though the digital consumption has grown significantly

    over the last couple of years, most of the players are still experimenting with different monetisation models. At this point, the entry of new players, especially the international ones, to my mind, is expanding the market size and popularising the category. Players have raised significant funds and are investing in content creation. These are also exciting times for users who are being wooed across the board with a plethora of choices and are getting to experiment with different genres of content. We do see this trend settling down in the future and expect a

    degree of consolidation in the industry. This will also lead to players finding their own content

    niche in which they would want to operate. We have our own strategy in place and are geared to create a distinct positioning for ourselves despite the cluttered market.

    What would make your digital product stand out from the others?

    Content is the key to attract a sustainable viewer base across any platform. Our experience and understanding of content and consumer certainly gives us a natural edge. The content viewing pattern on digital platforms is different from television and we are tweaking our content strategy accordingly to suit these needs. In addition, a rich viewing experience aided by a highly intuitive UI (user interface) across multiple languages is one of our key focus areas. Also, given our spread of channels across languages and geographies, a strong recommendation engine would help users to seamlessly navigate content suiting their needs.

    Do you think digital will take away share of advertising from television?

    I think both would complement each other. In a market like India where television penetration

    will continue to grow for years, it will remain the primary medium of entertainment for majority of the population. Digital allows content consumption on the move and is adding to the overall video consumption. Even in evolved markets like the US, television advertising is still growing despite the increasing share of digital. While we see growth in both the mediums, digital will grow at a higher rate over the next few years in India.

    Could you give a brief overview of ZEEL’s international business?

    There are two parts of our international business – the first part caters to the Indian and South Asian diaspora and the second part, caters to the foreign audience in their native languages. As far as the diaspora is concerned, I think we have reached most of the countries with sizeable Indian population. The endeavour here is to offer more channels and expand our distribution reach.

    We started targeting foreign audience having affinity for Indian content in 2008, and have significantly expanded our presence in the last eighteen months. I think this journey has just begun. Currently, we are offering content made for Indian market, dubbed, subtitled or repurposed as per the requirements of a country. We have 13 channels in this category and as we learn more about the needs of the audience, we will gradually make content for some of those markets.

    How would you describe your international journey so far?

    ZEEL forayed into the international business in 1994 with the launch of Zee TV in the Middle East & Pakistan. Following that, we commenced operations in Europe (UK) in 1995, Africa in 1996, US in 1998 and lastly APAC in 2004. Having reached Indian diaspora in all significant markets, we started targeting markets with a liking for Indian content. This journey commenced with the launch of Zee Aflam in MENA region. Our international presence makes us one of the largest Indian entertainment brands and we want to make this brand stronger, going forward.

    What are the factors you consider while launching a channel for non-Indian audience?

    The proposition to launch a new channel begins with identifying markets where a content gap

    exists and we can leverage the strength of our library to offer differentiated content. This involves extensive research to understand the market dynamics including learning about consumer preferences, competition and market size amongst others. This is a lengthy process and only a few of the markets meet our criteria for launch. We are happy that most of our launches targeted at the non-Indian audiences have been received well. Our channels in the Middle East – Zee Aflam and Zee Alwan – have been performing well for a long time. One of our recent launches, Zee World, consistently ranks amongst the top three channels in the South African market.

  • Hotstar’s Tamil original starts today

    MUMBAI: India’s leading digital streaming platform, Hotstar, has announced its new original series in Tamil, in association with celebrated film director, Balaji Mohan, titled “As I’m Suffering from Kadhal.” It will stream on Hotstar on 16 June, with all 10 episodes releasing simultaneously. Apart from Tamil, the series will also be available in Telugu, with English subtitles available for both languages.

    The 10-part series revolves around the lives of three young couples, a young divorced man and his 8-year old daughter. Through its various characters, the show charts the entire arc of optimism one experiences in love, and its transitions from giddy excitement to utter frustration, with large doses of insight and humour.

    This is a familiar theme for director Balaji Mohan, whose past work also explores different facets of the theme of love. His last project, Maari, featuring Dhanush and Kaajal Aggarwal was one of the biggest hits of 2015, with fans eagerly awaiting its sequel, Maari 2.

    ‘Falling in love is the easy part. It’s staying in love that’s tougher. And the endless optimism of human beings to try it over and over again, despite mixed results, is quite fascinating for me. It’s a subject I’ve explored in different ways, and this time, with a series. Urban audiences across the country would resonate with a theme like this, and I wanted this show to be able to reach all of them. Hotstar, with its massive reach, is the ideal medium to do so,’ shares Balaji Mohan.

    ‘Throughout our conversations with our viewers from the state, especially the younger users, one thing that comes out is that there is huge appetite for stories that are authentic and contemporary. This show is an effort to address that appetite. We believe that we have a unique proposition for our audiences in Tamil Nadu: with shows like this, with a large roster of Tamil movies, with TV shows and with sports coverage in Tamil, we now have a very distinctive offering for our millions of loyal users in the state’, shares Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan.

  • Hotstar & Star Sports select2 SD, HD to telecast Ultimate Table Tennis live

    MUMBAI: Forty eight players have been shortlisted in the draft for selection for the franchises of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) containing an equal mix of Indian and foreign players. Each franchise had to pick four Indian and four foreign players from the draft. UTT, to be held in different Indian cities from 13 July, will be telecast live on Star Sports select2 SD HD and Hotstar.

    The UTT will be hosted in Chennai (13 to 20 July) and New Delhi (21 to 26 July, with the final leg being held in Mumbai (27 to 30 July). It will have 18 matches divided into 15 leagues, two semis and one final with the price money of US$ 450,000.

    The six franchises are: BaySide Spinners TTC (owned by owned by Sameer Koticha of ASK Group), Challengers (owned by Vivek Bhargava CEO DAN Performance Group), Dabang Smashers TTC (owned by Radha Kapoor Khanna of Dolt Sports), Maharashtra United (owned by Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of Rajesh Wadhawan Group), Olimax Stag Yoddhas (owned by Kapil Garg and Vivek Kohli) and RP-SG Mavericks (owned by Sanjiv Goenka of RP-SG Group).

    Unlike other major sporting leagues being run in the country like IPL and ISL, UTT will have club-based franchises rather than city-based franchises.

    Starting with Round 1, BaySide Spinners TTC received the rights for the first pick and went all out to sign foreign player Wu Yang (Women, World No. 12) from China. Maharashtra United then took Wong Chun Ting (Men, World No.7) from Hong Kong. Challengers pulled a thriller and picked World no. 7 in the women’s category Han Ying from Germany before Dabang Smashers TTC had the next bid and picked Marcos Freitas (Men, 16) from Portugal. Dilmax Stag Yoddhas went for Doo Hoi Kem (Women, 13) from Hong Kong followed by RP-SG Maverics who picked Stefan Fegerl (Men, 21) form Austria.

    Teams with their eight players including domestic and International players (with their rankings) are:

    BaySide Spinners

    Domestic: Sanil Shetty, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Arjun Ghosh and Priyadarshini Das.
    International: Wu Yang (China, World no. 7), Ho Ching Lee (Hong Kong, 33), Par Gerell (Sweden, 44), Liam Pitchford (England, 51)

    Challengers

    Domestic: Soumyajit Ghosh, Mouma Das, Manav Thakkar, Moumita Datta.
    International: Li Ping (Qatar, 48), Han Ying (Germany, 9), Petrissa Solja (Germany, 20), Andrej Gacina (Croatia, 38).

    Dabang Smashers TTC

    Domestic: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, A Amalraj, Madhurika Patkar, Mousumi Paul
    International: Marcos Freitas (Portugal, 16), Melek Hu (Turkey, 15), Kou Lei (Ukraine, 24), Bilenko Tetyana (Ukraine, 56).

    Maharashtra United

    Domestic: Harmeet Desai, Krittwika Sinha Roy, Pooja Sahasrabudhe Koparkar, Ronit Bhanja.
    International: Chun Ting Wong (Hong Kong, 7), Liu Jia (Austria, 17), Fu Yu (Portugal, 35), Joao Moteira (Portugal, 49).

    Oilmax Stag Yoddhas

    Domestic: Manika Batra, Jubin Kumar, Abhishek Yadav, Selena D Selvakumar.
    International: Hoi Kem Doo (Hong Kong, 13), Panagiotis Gionis (Greece, 36), Aruna Quadri (Nigeria, 37), Polina Mikhailova (Russia, 54).

    RS-PG Mavericks

    Domestic: Sharath Kamal Achanta, Archana Girish Kamath, Birdie Boro, Amruthapushpak Shekhar.
    International: Fegerl Stefan (Austria, 21), Tiago Apolonia (Portugal, 19), Polcanova Sofia (Austria, 50) Sabina Winter (Germany, 39).

     

  • Data analytics & the formula for efficient marketing

    MUMBAI: Data increasingly powers every element of the marketing mix – source of growth, consumer performance, content creation, mix optimisation and measurement. A panel discussion on ‘Data Powered Marketing is the new Disruption’ was held at the ‘Data Science Congress’ in Mumbai.

    Experts on the panel were V I Tech Ukraine data scientist Dr. Kodliuk Tetiana, Gramener CEO Anand S, Aegis School of Data Science CEO Bhupesh Daheria (moderator) and Mindshare South Asia chief product officer M A Parthasarathy and Hotstar data sciences and analytics leader Santosh Bhat.

    Every stage of the marketing loop – starting from defining source of business, through consumer insight, strategic direction, campaign planning, implementation and finally measurement & redeployment of learning – is defined by data. It supplements intuition, strengthens conviction and drives accountability, Mindshare’s M A Parthasarathy said.

    At the outset, data drives the definition of the marketing objective. Parthasarathy said, “Consumer understanding has always been powered by a mix of intuition and data. While intuition is critical, the nature of data has changed exponentially. From sample-based studies based on claimed behavior to census-level understanding of actual behavior and intent, we now have a much richer appreciation of the consumer.”

    To promote the latest offering by Castrol for mini-truck drivers, for example, Mindshare India commissioned a research and based on the findings developed the campaign. This data allowed them to identify key pockets where their target audience was present and come up with a targeted campaign using them as influencers among their peers. “The team managed to reach out to almost 85% drivers pushing sales by 40% for Castrol India,” Parthasarathy said.

    This has translated to a much more agile manner of targeting the consumer in media. There is a marked shift from buying inventory to buying audience. And, customising the messaging to them in real-time

    While data-rich categories like BFSI, hospitality, e-commerce and retail have led the adoption of these practices, it is rapidly getting adopted and customised across all major categories.

  • IPL tendering process to commence 17 July; bidding to be fierce

    MUMBAI: The Mukesh Ambani-owned Mumbai Indians pulled of a wafer thin victory against the Rising Pune Supergiants in the final of the Vivo IPL 2017, possibly giving a super boost to the TV ratings that Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN India) will notch up for its telecast. The final match could also be the last time both SPN India and Hotstar could be telecasting the Vivo IPL as both their contracts with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have ended.

    Come 17 July, and the tendering process will start to bag the IPL telecast and rights – both national, international and streaming over the internet. The auction process was supposed to commence last year but was quashed by the Supreme Court appointed Justice Lodha committee.

    The IPL title sponsorship tender will commence earlier on 31 May 2017. Chinese smart phone maker Vivo’s title sponsorship contract too has ended with the latest edition of the IPL.

    The decision on the two dates was taken by the BCCI, the members of the IPL governing council, and the Supreme Court appointed committee of administration on Saturday 20 May.

    Industry experts expect the price for the five year rights – yes, the cycle of the IPL rights has been reduced to five years by the BCCI to further exploit its potential – to reach stratospheric heights. The expectation is that potential bidders like Star India, SPN India, Amazon India, and new player in the game the Discovery promoted D-Sports could end up writing cheque amounts close to double of what was paid for the previous cycle – on a like to like basis.

    For both Star India and SPN India, bagging the rights is crucial. Star India has targets to achieve $1billion EBIDTA by 2020 and one of the tools to help it get there is of course the spread of Hotstar. Over the last two years, it has launched a clutch of sports channels in its bouquet. SPN India too will want to retain the rights as it has been one of its cash cows over the past three to four years, notching up new records in advertising and viewership every year. It too has launched a clutch of channels and has even partnered with ESPN for a channel in India.

    Clearly, the side which bats and bowls well during the tendering process will win.

  • Times Now leadership continues, new launches notwithstanding, says MK Anand

    MUMBAI: The past month or so has seen the noise levels in the English news television space reaching a crescendo with the launch of the Arnab Goswami-helmed Republic TV which has been grabbing all the media space.

    We now turn the focus on The Times Network which has been  the frontrunner in this space, with its Times Now and Mirror Now (earlier, Magic Bricks Now) channels. The MK Anand-headed news network says it is doing very well, the claims by Hotstar and Republic TV, notwithstanding.

    The English news channel has been pushing the tag line “Times Now Next Level.” Led by one of the more familiar news anchors and just-promoted editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar,  it  is further planning to strengthen its leadership in the news space as the most cutting-edge, engaging, and dynamic news destination in India.  

    Shivshankar along with veteran news anchors Navika Kumar and Anand Narasimhan are setting the pace to position Times Now as “a channel that is constantly redefining and reinventing news broadcast in India, with‘Next Level,’  and giving its viewers an innovative, immersive and involved experience.”

    The news network says that shows such as ‘The Newshour Debate’ and “India Upfront”-  the relative percentage shares of which have reached 60 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively, in the current week – have been  recording  maximum viewership in prime time. Whether it’s the expose of the Hurriyat-ISI link or #MallyaGate, Times Now claims it has seen its average weekly impressions grow by 66 per cent in the 13-week period since mid-December and five per cent in relative share percentage – thus living up to its pledge and justifying its brand statement ‘Action Begins Here.’

    Recently, it introduced The Morning NewsHour in Hindi in order to expand its viewer base. “The idea is to convert an educated non-English news watcher to become a viewer of English news,” Times Network CEO and MD MK Anand says.

    Additionally, it has also rolled out its Times Now  HD service in order to gives viewers a better viewing experience.  

    Its presence on social – through up-to the minute updates –  has a humungous 15 million followers and its Times Now App is also beginning to get traction. Finally, Anand points out that  its 3D VR newsroom and a virtual studio, enhances the viewers experience.  With a 360-degree view, the network has been working on presenting the future of news reporting with a cutting-edge technology.

    Concepts such as ‘Snapwrap’ and ‘Picture Book’ are helping  viewers keep a track of all the news throughout the day at a glimpse with pictures onscreen. ‘News Day360’ gets five critical developments on the two biggest stories of the channel whereas ‘Top10’ gives 10 important highlights to the viewers while they are hooked on to the main story. From connecting with viewers on-air to online, Times Now, Anand says,  is changing the face of newsroom reporting.

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