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Tag: Hungama

  • Hungama to live stream Khazana ghazal concert

    Hungama to live stream Khazana ghazal concert

    MUMBAI: Digital entertainment company Hungama will make the most of its live streaming ability by broadcasting ‘Khazana – A Festival of Ghazals’. The company has been the digital partner of the concert for seven long years.

    Users across the globe can tune in to Hungama Music, Hungama Play, Artist Aloud app and the platforms’ respective social media pages to catch the show. Moreover, post-show, it will also provide catch-up content from Khazana on Tata Sky Music, Tata Sky Music+, Airtel DTH, Airtel Linear Channel – Nazrana, Hungama Play, Mi TV and Mi Music.

    The festival which will be held on 27 and 28 July will feature live performances from some of the greatest ghazal voices, including Pankaj Udhas, Talat Aziz, Anup Jalota, Rekha Bhardwaj and Sudeep Banerjee.

    “Our association with Khazana is a unique blend of creativity and technology. It allows us to leverage the power of digital and take the craft of ghazals to an international audience. We are elated to take the festival live on our platforms and also extremely honoured to lend our support to the two charities,” Hungama Digital Media managing director and CEO Neeraj Roy said.

    This year’s concert will also see performances from the most promising talent seen at the contest Khazana Artist Aloud Talent Hunt. The contest which has been executed digitally on Artist Aloud received participation from 75 cities across the country.

    “Through Khazana we aim to help people discover the beauty of ghazals and fall in love with the art all over again. We are excited for this year’s festival as we’ll be introducing four fresh voices that we found through the Khazana Artist Aloud Talent Hunt. I am certain that through our association with Hungama, we’ll be able to take ghazal singing to greater heights,” the renowned Ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas commented on the association.

  • Hungama to launch four new original programs

    Hungama to launch four new original programs

    MUMBAI: Hungama, is one of the India’s largest digital entertainment company, today announced its foray into long-form original programming. Four shows, Damaged, Hankaar, Bar Code and Boys with Toys, each belonging to a different genre and showcasing a wide-ranging cast and crew from the film, TV and theatre world will launch over the next three months. Damaged, premiering on 6th June 2018 on Hungama Play, will kickstart this initiative of the company.

    While the initial 4 shows would be in Hindi, Hungama also plans to create original content in other major Indian languages.

    Commenting on this, Hungama Digital Media  managing director and CEO, Neeraj Roy, said, “Hungama Originals are a step forward in storytelling for us. Each of our originals explore different themes and feature strong, contemporary storylines with compelling performances in order to appeal to a diverse, heterogeneous digital audience. We hope to launch 10 – 12 shows in this fiscal year and are certain that through our long-form content, we’ll be able to significantly increase our user base.”

    Damaged, a psychological crime drama, stars Amruta Khanvilkar as the seductress, Lovina – a promiscuous, brutal and remorseless serial killer, and Amit Sial as Abhay – a ruthless, angry and trigger–happy cop. The story begins with the disappearance of a famous painter. Soon the cops realize that his case is just the tip of the iceberg, there are numerous other young men who have gone missing and have never resurfaced. Investigations start and a suspect emerges – Lovina. This turns into an intriguing cat and mouse game between Lovina and the police, led by Abhay.

    The show is an interesting study of human behaviour with both the lead stars playing characters that are flawed and have more shades than one. Lovina is an ordinary woman who has a way with men, but finds it difficult to forgive their trespasses. She ultimately embarks on a dark journey from which she can’t return. Abhay, a cop obsessed with solving the serial killings to the extent that he’ll go to any lengths possible, is plagued by his own inner demons that rob him of his humane qualities. The worlds of these ‘Damaged’ characters collide, creating a dramatic and gripping confrontation. The show is directed by Aarambhh Mohan Singh and produced by Alligator Media Productions.

    Hankaar, an original crime drama, narrates the story of five Mumbaikars – Nisha (Yogini Chouk), Mangesh (Pramod Sanghi), Pradeep (Rajesh Balwani), James (Shardanand Singh) and Joy (Ram Menon). The story arc follows their struggles and triumphs. Unknown to each other, their lives get intertwined because of a common enemy and certain events in their lives push them to take an unexpected journey. Hankaar is produced by Pocket Films, Talkaholics Productions and Cancom.

    Bar Code, an original drama is about the uber-elite and is set against the backdrop of Mumbai’s buzzing nightlife. Starring heartthrobs Karan Wahi and Akshay Oberoi, the show deals with the lives of 2 best friends-turned-enemies, both owners of two rival nightclubs in the city. As much as they have a good life going for them, destroying the other is the only thing on their minds, considering the grudge from the past they hold for each other. Bar Code is produced by Panorama Studios.

    A young comedy, Boys with Toys is a hilarious take on the lives of two young men, Aditya (Umang Khanna) and Jignesh (Rishabh Chaddha) whose lives go into a complete flip when one of them receives an unusual inheritance – a box full of sex toys. The boys need to figure ways to turn the inheritance into a thriving business and in the process, have some misadventures along the way. Boys with Toys has been produced by Ashvini Yardi’s production company, Vini Yard Films.

    Hungama will continue to focus on stories that appeal to both, Indian and global audiences. Hungama Originals will address a large audience pool seeking differentiated content across different age groups, genders and geographies, offering something for every viewer.

  • Kids genre grows on TV despite digital onslaught

    Kids genre grows on TV despite digital onslaught

    MUMBAI: There was no dearth of excitement in the kids’ entertainment space in 2017. Despite the digital onslaught, original content producers grew from strength to strength, keeping children enthralled on television. TV viewership grew during the year even as doomsayers predicted that the end of the good old box was nigh.

    Among the major events of the year, Toonz India Media Group struck a deal with ReachMe.TV in the US to enable streaming of Toonz TV through the latter’s mobile web platform. Green Gold Animation signed a deal with Netflix for creating a spinoff of popular character Chhota Bheem for snippets of Mighty Little Bheem.

    Here’s a look at what each channel did this year.

    Disney

    A favourite among young adults, the Disney channel is known for television programming for children through original series, movies and third-party programming. This year witnessed top-level corporate reshuffling. The company promoted Amit Malhotra as the country head for Singapore and Malaysia. Earlier, Malhotra was the general manager for media networks, responsible for businesses across all functions in the media networks in Southeast Asia (SEA). Abhishek Maheshwari was elevated to country head (India).

    There were reports that Doordarshan was in talks with Disney for kiddy content in evening slots. Disney also launched a three-week campaign for merchandise, celebrating the spirit of sisterhood, featuring two young daughters and how the Frozen sisters inspired them in their day-to-day lives.

    Furthermore, Disney’s sister channel—Hungama—came up with Chacha Bhatija who go on a new adventure in the second movie.

    Turner

    Turner India creates and manages the sales, distribution and marketing of entertainment brands in India and South Asia, including CNN International, Cartoon Network, Pogo, Toonami, HBO and WB.

    It turned out to be a fruitful year with great deals and partnerships. Turner India was successful in imparting a larger-than-life feel to its characters through a tie-up with Amaazia, an upcoming amusement park in Surat. The park is owned and operated by Gujarat-based Rajgreen group. Scheduled to open in 2019, the park will serve as a medium for Turner’s kids channel Cartoon Network (CN) to launch new products and conduct ‘meet and greets’ with its animated characters. Out of the four sections in Amaazia, only the theme park is branded by CN. The rest are a water park, family recreational hub, and serviced apartments and retail shopping area.

    Apart from having a chase comedy in the bouquet, Pogo came up with another indigenous slapstick comedy show for its fans. Focussing more on home-grown content, Tik Tak Tail was the chase comedy that it experimented with in September and then came the slapstick show Andy Pirki. It also announced the launch of a brand-new show, Grizzy and the Lemmings. Moreover, Cartoon Network came up with the fifth and sixth parts of Oggy and the Cockroaches.

    Discovery Kids

    The channel announced a deal with IM Incorporated, a London-based content distribution company, to premiere Sunny Bunnies in India. Angry Birds Sing the Blues came up for the first time in Indian television in a series format.

    Nickelodeon

    This year, Nickelodeon came up with the Halo Movement—a new year-round pro-social initiative celebrating kids who are helping and leading others. In terms of viewership, too, the channel has done pretty well for itself. In week 50 of Barc data, the channel was ranked number one with 127600 impressions (000s) sum. Another important event was the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2017, which honoured the best in the world of entertainment across film and television.

    Sony Yay

    On 18 April 2017, Animax Asia was replaced by Sony Yay. While the former focussed on serving young adults, Yay concentrated on children of all ages. Animax was handed over to SonyLiv.

    The channel is building local characters to monetise and launched four original shows Guru AurBhole, Sab Jholmaal Hai, Prince Jai aur DumdaarViru, and Paap-o-Meter and it holds the IP rights for all of them. The channel also associated with ‘animals matter to me’ to make Diwali ‘pawsome.’

    Although 2017 wasn’t an eventful year, there were plenty of nuggets of action with the latest entrant, Sony Yay, throwing its hat into the ring and fighting it out with the existing players in the kids genre. We will have to wait and see how channels gear up to take on the growing trend of digital in 2018 and whether OTT adds significant value for kids.

  • Indranil SenGupta leaves Viacom18

    Indranil SenGupta leaves Viacom18

    Mumbai: Indranil SenGupta, associate vice president, business head – Non Music IPs, brand and B2B marketing, Viacom18, has recently left Viacom18. He had joined the company in May 2013.

    Prior to Viacom 18, SenGupta has worked with Hungama as general manager and head – marketing. Before that, he worked with Zee Entertainment Enterprises as assistant vice president, marketing head. He has also worked with Baaya Design, Rediffusion Y&R and Good Relations in the course of his 17-year career.

    SenGupta will take up his next assignment in January.

  • Kids prefer entertainment over edutainment on TV

    Kids prefer entertainment over edutainment on TV

    MUMBAI:  Broadcasters’ various attempts at creating content that can get children hooked has repeatedly turned up one result – animation entertainment is what each child comes for.

    The OTTV Kids and Animation Summit 2017’s saw a session on ‘the content and storytelling strategies for kids’ with panelists-Hungama Kids Artist Aloud original content VP Soumini Paul, animation screenwriter Vivek Shukla, Discovery Kids Network head of content Uttam Pal Singh, Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle group creative director Neel Debdutt Paul and Avant Garde Films founder, CEO and content creator Sohini Mitra. The panel was moderated by Dveo Media CEO Deepak Ramsurrun.

    Discovery’s Singh highlighted that it is exploring more entertainment content for kids aged 2-14. Instead of forcing them to watch particular content, the channel is internally conducting research to understand their tastes.

    Mitra said that apart from rhyming kids content, which is a rage on her channel catering to 3-year-old kids, kids are guzzling humour and action-based series. She added that parents play a key role to get kids to watch content at a specific time.

    Whether one should mix education with this content was the question of the day. S Paul drives home the point by saying, “According to me, educational content, by itself, is boring. The topics we take up, which could be generic, educational or even learn-the-basics kind, are done in a fun and simple manner.”

    Adding more to the context, N Paul said that children don’t want to be bogged down with educational content on screens after they’ve had a heavy dose of the same in school and tuition.

    Agreeing to Neel’s point, Singh said that obviously, parents must be worried and concerned about what their kids are watching. However, when it comes to watching their favourite content, children do not like it when they see the shadow of their parents or teachers in their favourite cartoon characters. Questions like ‘Did you have your milk?’ will only turn them off.

    Ramsurrun asked whether content is selected on the basis of market trends or new ones are experimented with. To which, Mitra said that both things go hand in hand. “Originality is very important. However, at the same time, market trends are also important. As a mother I observe that my son gets tired of seeing the same content repeatedly, so this a market trend for me as an animator. We do a lot of research and then find new content.” Shukla also reiterated the need for original content. “We can have mythological shows but I do not favour copied content,” he said.

    Giving an alternative viewpoint, Singh said that cartoons like Doraemon or Chhota Bheem are always repeated but children are still hooked. “They do look out for original content, but they take time to know these new characters,” he added.

    S Paul brought in economics into the discussion by saying that local content production needs high budgets. “We have a small team but if we have basic resources, we can get into producing local content. If we talk about acquiring the content, the budget is certainly a consideration.”

    Singh added that children don’t bother to know where content has been acquired from or whether it is original or not. They just need to see their favourites on screen and be entertained by them.

    With umpteen numbers of foreign shows available at their disposal such as Doraemon, children will not prefer to watch the likes of Kaali Gufa ka Jaadu. The superior quality of animation is something India is still catching up to.

    Concluding the panel discussion, Shukla emphasised the need for improving the quality and content of originals. He said, “What made Chhota Bheem work? The story and the content were good, but what next? We need to move ahead and get more local original content for kids.”

  • Hungama’s ‘Chacha Bhatija’ to go on a new adventure in second movie

    Hungama’s ‘Chacha Bhatija’ to go on a new adventure in second movie

    MUMBAI: Hungama channel’s famous jasoos jodi, Chacha Bhatija, have entertained young audiences with episodes full of dhamaal and masti and in no time the animated series has become one of the most-loved shows on the channel.

    After the overwhelming response from fans towards the series and the first Chacha Bhatija movie – ‘Khazane Ki Khoj’, Hungama Channel is back with another feature that promises double masti, double dhamaal as the detective duo go on a new investigative journey in ‘Golmaal Hai Bhai Sab Golmaal Hai’.

    This time, the jasoos jodi are embroiled in a tricky situation themselves! Chacha gets accused of stealing a precious stone from the historical crown and so to prove his uncle’s innocence, Bhatija and Chacha both have to travel back in time through Khoji’s time machine. And this marks the beginning of ‘double trouble’ filled ride spruced with lots of chaos, confusion and comedy.

    Chacha Bhatija’s ‘Golmaal Hai Bhai Sab Golmaal Hai’ will be telecast at (10 am), Sunday, 19th November on Hungama Channel.

  • iCubesWire hires Hungama’s Veerappa as group head – south

    iCubesWire hires Hungama’s Veerappa as group head – south

    MUMBAI: iCubesWire, a digital marketing solutions provider, has announced the appointment of Shashank B. Veerappa as the group head of the south region. He will head iCubesWire’s Bengaluru office while expanding and strengthening its business.

    Shashank brings 13+ years of experience to iCubesWire, having worked in areas such as digital online sales and marketing, product design and management, client and partner management, operations responsibility and has defined multiple roles with broad range of analytic and creative skills in marketing, lead management, sales and operations.

    Prior to joining iCubesWire, he was associated with Hungama Digital Services as south India head. He has also worked with Times Internet and Tyroo Media.

    iCubesWire founder and CEO Sahil Chopra says, “I am certain that Shashank will expand our business prospects in the southern region.”

    Veerappa says, “It’s going to be a great start at the Bengaluru office where I look forward to leveraging my skills.”

  • Rebranded ‘Spectra’ CEO aims to offer speed and service at par with developed countries

    Rebranded ‘Spectra’ CEO aims to offer speed and service at par with developed countries

    MUMBAI: It has been touted as the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) in India to benchmark 100 Mbps speed across its offerings.

    Spectranet, which is India’s fastest internet service provider according to Netflix’s latest index, has unveiled its brand name – Spectra and website – spectra.co.

    As part of a revamped customer-centric strategy, the company also launched its new product catalogue by introducing 100 Mbps only plans for its customers in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

    With the new brand approach, Spectra has chosen a typography-led expression which resonates with the brand’s new offerings and agile customer support. The company’s new website — spectra.co — takes a minimalist approach and enables a simple and fluid digital web and mobile experience for customers and visitors.

    The company roped in Ochre, a brand and experience consultancy based in London and Dubai. Ochre had been working closely with the leadership team and customers to create the overall brand expression and experience strategy.

    By providing 100 Mbps speed across all its packages at affordable price points, Spectra has set a new benchmark in the FTTH category in India.

    Spectra MD & CEO Udit Mehrotra said: “By rebranding to Spectra, we intend to bring a new level of broadband experience to consumers. We are aiming to expand our business operation to maximise our customer outreach in the cities we are operating.”

    “We are fully committed to offer higher speeds, better service, and an overall better experience to our customers; at par with services offered globally in the developed countries,” he added.

    The new brand aspires to deliver not just speed but will also follow on three principles – Speed, Service and Simplicity. The company will provide more services to its customers apart from being a high speed internet with unlimited data usage. The company recently forged a partnership with content service provider Hungama.com and is also planning to add more content solutions for its customers to enjoy wider range of services to its customers.

    “People have become more device-agnostic to video streaming, gaming, education, video conference, medical assistance or eGovernance; consumers are looking for high speed internet to access these services. They are craving for connectivity and looking for option that is reliable. We have internet bandwidth to meet the growing need in urban areas of the country. Our new offerings will help our customers connect to devices and make their life better, right from streaming movies to researching homework assignments and more,” he further adds.

    Zia Patel, Strategy Director, and Sebastian Klein, Creative Director from Ochre brings western expertise and local Indian knowhow. The dynamic pair have worked together for over 10 years at Wolff Olins. Zia used to lead Wolff Olins in India. They have created brand identity for some of India’s leading business houses as well as big international brands.

  • Shemaroo cautiously optimistic on Indian Rlys’ entertainment service bid

    Shemaroo cautiously optimistic on Indian Rlys’ entertainment service bid

    MUMBAI: Well, it may be one of the 24 media and tech companies that have evinced initial interest in providing wi-fi delivered entertainment on demand content to passengers of Indian Railways, but Shemaroo Entertainment is still evaluating the business proposal. Reason: it involves investment of billions of rupees in setting up the whole system, especially on moving trains that may pass through broadband dark areas, which is a technologically challenging work.

    Shemaroo whole time director & CFO Hiren Gada told indiantelevision.com, “It is a technically complicated work. It involves latest technology access, hardware components and a big capex investment. The technology involves giving access to content via a wi-fi platform that will work within a rail coach when the train is moving.”

    According to Gada, an in-house team is preparing a business plan to get a “better sense” of the potential costs and return on investments though, admittedly, the Indian Railways do offer captive eyeballs. “Once we have worked out the costs and equipments needed to put the mechanism in place, we’d make a final decision. If revenues don’t match up to our costs, then it may not be viable for us to bid,” he added.

    The Indian Railways’ local wi-fi network will be available to everyone on board via a distribution box and passengers will be able to log in through their phones or other smart devises to access the entertainment content, according to some media reports.

    Shemaroo, along with 23 other media companies like Viacom18, Zee and Hungama, has shown initial interest in the Indian Railways’ proposal to offer entertainment content on 3,000 trains. The bid will be valid for five years and extendable by another five years.

    The proposal that seeks to raise approximately Rs. 5 billion in non-fare revenues is similar to entertainment services offered on all international and some domestic flights by airlines.

    According to reports where government officials have been quoted, a distribution box will be installed in the coaches, which will be updated regularly for a seamless experience for passengers. However, it is not clear yet how the Indian Railways proposes to monetize such a service from the passengers.

    “Based on the actual revenues that get generated, there could be some additional amount that Railways may share (with the service provider) if the revenue reaches a certain level,” Gada explained the revenue share model proposed by the Indian Railways.

    The tender documents are slated to be opened in the afternoon of 24 August 2017 after bidders have made their final submissions. Only one service provider (successful bidder) will be permitted per designated sectors. The project is being tendered on a revenue sharing model.

    The project shall be executed on a build operate and transfer model. Some of the pre-qualification demands made by the India Railways include the prospective bidders/consortium members having relevant experience in

    India or abroad in providing i) content either as content IP owner/linear broadcaster/aggregator/ OTT player (ii) in providing technology solution in entertainment domain for transport/Railways sector and (iii) experience in monetisation of content through either advertisements or subscriptions.

    Can this project help in making more enjoyable a journey on Indian Railways, apart from the scenic beauty of the country’s hinterland that is visible on long-haul trains? Only once the service starts, the question, probably, would get answered.

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  • NICK & Motu-Patlu films most watched kids channel & programme in BARC week 13

    BENGALURU: Five channels have been consistently present in the top 5 Kids channels list All India (U+R) : NCCS All : 2 – 14 years Individuals during all the first 12 weeks of 2017. They are NICK, Cartoon Network, Pogo TV, Hungama and Disney Channel.

    Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for week 13 of 2017 (Saturday, 25 March 2017 to Friday, 31 March 2017) reveals that the same channels were also present in the top five list in terms of Impressions (Sums)in that week.

    As in the preceding weeks, Viacom’s children’s 24-hour pay channel in Hindi, with the option of English, Tamil and Telugu audio feed on DTH, NICK (Nickelodeon) topped the charts in week 13 with 1,22,702 Impressions (000s) Sums. Turner’s Pogo moved up one place to second place with 88,178 Impressions (000s) Sums from the previous week’s third place.

    Disney’s Disney channel moved up to third place in the current week (week 13) with 84,737 Impressions (000s) Sums from fifth place in week 12. Disney’s Hungama TV moved down in week 13 to fourth place with 81,855 Impressions (000s) Sums from second place in week 12. Turner’s Cartoon Network moved down one place in week 13 to fifth place with 79,433 Impressions (000s) Sums.

    In the case of the top five programmes during week 13, Motu Patlu films on NICK ruled the roost with four of the top five positions – Hindi Feature Film (HFF)-Motu Patlu Kung Fu King Returns was the most watched programme in the week with 1116 Impressions (000s), followed by HFF-Motu Patlu Kung Fu Kings with 1,023 Impressions (000s) at second place.

    HFF-Motu Patlu 36 Ghantey Race Against Time with 886 Impressions (000s) was at third place followed by HFF-Motu Patlu In Double Trouble with 758 Impressions (000s). The fifth place in the top five programmes for the kids genre in week 13 was held by HFF-Doraemon The Movie Ye Bhi Tha Nobit with 752 Impressions (000s) on Hungama.