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Tag: India

  • India is BBC’s largest market for global audiences: GAM report

    India is BBC’s largest market for global audiences: GAM report

    Mumbai: India continues to be the biggest market among the BBC’s international audiences, with a weekly audience of 72 million adults, said the British broadcaster in its latest annual Global Audience Measure (GAM) report.

    This includes BBC News’ Indian languages, BBC.com and BBC Studios’ international channels, and is an increase of nine million from last year (63m in 2020). The GAM report records the total weekly number of adults accessing the BBC around the world.

    For 2020/21, the BBC achieved record figures globally with an average audience of 489 million adults every week, an increase of over 20 million from the previous year. This brings the BBC’s global audience close to the 500 million people target for 2022, it said in its report.

    According to the report, BBC’s international news services also reached record levels with 456 million adults using them each week (an increase of 18m). This includes audiences for World Service languages, World Service English, World News TV, BBC.com and BBC Media Action.

    BBC director-general Tim Davie said, the organisation is well on target to hit half a billion people by its centenary next year. “The fact that our audience has more than doubled in the last decade shows how trusted and increasingly valued BBC services are right around the world,” he said.

    According to the report, the languages division drove the largest share of total BBC growth, up 20m.  The language services now reach 313 million adults weekly. BBC News Hindi attracted an additional four million people. Both BBC News Gujarati and BBC News Punjabi service recorded a growth of more than 75 per cent, said the British broadcaster.

    BBC Indian Languages head Rupa Jha said, BBC has continued to reach a wider audience in India. “This growth comes from the impartial, accurate and courageous journalism that is helping audiences better analyse and understand current events in a growing era of polarisation and global disinformation,” she added.

    BBC Studios’ international channels reached 65 million adults, an increase of 16 million.

  • NBCUniversal launches OTT platform hayu in India

    NBCUniversal launches OTT platform hayu in India

    Mumbai: NBCUniversal has launched its all-reality TV ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service in India called hayu. It has launched the direct-to-consumer (DTC) service on a full array of devices: mobile, tablet, laptop, connected TVs, and selected consoles.

    Targeting the broad base of viewers who are fans of the reality genre, hayu offers over 8,000 episodes of top reality TV content including all seasons of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” from the very beginning to the final season, as well as its spin-offs – along with numerous other franchises, including the popular “The Real Housewives,” “Top Chef,” “Million Dollar Listing,” and “Family Karma.”

    “hayu’s breadth of content uniquely super-serves reality fans. The service offers extensive choice, with a wide variety of unscripted sub-genres in the English language including home and design, dating, cooking, fashion, and true crime. Subscribers don’t have to worry about spoilers as the vast majority of US shows are available on hayu the same day as their US broadcast,” said the company in a statement. 

    “Given the immense popularity of reality TV in India, we are thrilled to be launching hayu in the country and we look forward to super-serving Indian viewers with the best-unscripted content has to offer,” said NBCUniversal managing director direct to consumer – global Hendrik McDermott. “hayu is already the premiere destination for must-watch reality TV in 27 other countries and will now deliver the same great service in India.”

  • Absen appoints Vishal Kanwal as industry development director for India

    Absen appoints Vishal Kanwal as industry development director for India

    Mumbai : Absen has appointed Vishal Kanwal as its India industry development director. The company specialises in providing LED display manufacturing.

    Kanwal has 18 years of experience in the technology industry and has worked across research and development, AV and B2C consumer electronics job functions.

    “I am extremely delighted to join team Absen. My prime focus would be to establish the brand ‘Absen’ in India by close cooperation with esteemed partners to provide appropriate solutions and service to our end customers for their requirements,” said Kanwal.

  • Saurav Ganguly & VVS Laxman team up for My11Circle’s T20 World Cup campaign

    Saurav Ganguly & VVS Laxman team up for My11Circle’s T20 World Cup campaign

    Mumbai: Multi-game platform Games24x7 that owns fantasy sports platform My11Circle has launched a mass media campaign for its T20 World Cup fans.

    The new campaign launched on Sunday is called ‘Game Ke Deewane’ and celebrates the fervour of cricket fans. And in order to laud their winning spirit, whenever Team India wins a match, the player gets to win double the prize in the fantasy game.

    Games24X7 director-brand and marketing strategy Avik Das Kanungo said, “We set out to give a tribute to the game of cricket, celebrating the passion of Indian cricket lovers, and the campaign captures the sentiment extremely evocatively. We’re delighted with the initial response from all quarters, and are glad that cricket fans are enjoying yet another unique offering from My11Circle.”

    Speaking about the campaign, The Script Room co-founder Rajesh Ramaswamy (Ramsam) said, “It’s a very simple and fundamental thought. All of us know that India has a crazy following for cricket. And this love and passion often get expressed through what is called ‘fan-giri’. The films are trying to capture this through multiple stories – deewangi for our favourite stars, and deewangi for our favourite game. We are really lucky and super delighted that Abhinay Deo came on board. Only he could’ve captured this madness in the scale and spirit that it finally came out.”

  • Zee Entertainment is Global Citizen Live’s India broadcast partner

    Zee Entertainment is Global Citizen Live’s India broadcast partner

    Mumbai: International advocacy organisation Global Citizen in partnership with Wizcraft recently announced that Mumbai will be represented in Global Citizen Live’s broadcast. The organisation, on Wednesday, said that Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd will broadcast the festival on its television channels and digital entertainment platform Zee5 in India and across the globe.

    VH Group’s Venkys India Ltd, Adani Group, Serum Institute of India (SII), and Maharashtra Tourism have come on board to support the initiative.

    According to a statement, Global Citizen Live festival will call on world leaders, philanthropists, and corporations to defend the planet and defeat poverty, to take action on climate change, famine, and advance vaccine equity.

    “This year, Global Citizen has yet again brought together a slew of committed personalities with an aim to educate and empower both corporations and the general public alike on meeting critical goals in these areas,” said a Zee spokesperson. “The city of Mumbai will be one of the select few iconic locations to host the event live, not only bringing home the immediacy of these causes but also letting the city add its own unique flavor to the endeavor, with a gallery of our very own stars gracing the occasion.”

    The campaign has the support of Venkateshwara Hatcheries’ Venkys as lead partners who have partnered with Global Citizen for its India focussed initiatives for the third successive time. They have previously been presenting partners of Global Citizen Festival-Mumbai and Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, which was broadcast at the height of Covid-19 and called for global vaccine unity.

    “It is great to witness these conversations taking place on a global scale which is amplified by world leaders and eminent personalities in an exciting format that attracts people and also motivates them to act individually. We look forward to joining this campaign that aims at ensuring every citizen on this planet cares for it too,” said SII chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla.

    “We are proud and excited to continue our association with Global Citizen once again. We are delighted to continue our promise with this grand association while we celebrate 50 years of VH Group,” said VH Group’s Venkys India Ltd managing director B Balaji Rao.

    Global Citizen Live is supported by a corporate coalition, including global partners: Accenture, Cisco, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, Google, Live Nation, P&G, Salesforce, Verizon, and campaign partners Hilton, WW International, and World-Wide Technology who will engage support from the private sector in driving new commitments toward the campaign’s policy objectives. Access Bank is a Global Citizen Live campaign partner in Nigeria.

    “We are elated to announce that this time Zee Entertainment is our official broadcast partner. We are also grateful to VH Group, Adani Group and Serum Institute Of India who have been as enthusiastic about this campaign and event as we are,” said Wizcraft co-founder Andre Timmins. “One thing that binds us together is our common goal of catalysing pro-activeness on long-standing pressing issues concerning people, states, and environment.”

    Actor Anil Kapoor will host the initiative from the Gateway of India and artists like Amit Trivedi, Ajay-Atul, Badshah and Tanishk Bagchi will perform live along with appearances by Sachin Tendulkar, Madhuri Dixit and Varun Dhawan who have come on board to support the campaign. There will also be appearances by Sadhguru, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Dia Mirza, Farhan Akhtar, among many others.

    Campaign co-chairs include Cisco chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins; Citi CEO Jane Fraser; The Coca-Cola Company chairman and CEO James Quincey; Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian; Google CMO Lorraine Twohill; Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino; P&G CBO Marc Pritchard; Salesforce chairman and CEO Marc Benioff; Verizon chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, and WW International CEO Mindy Grossman.

    Executive producers of the Global Citizen Live campaign include UMG’s Michele Anthony, Francine Katsoudas, Tina Kennedy, Eric Ortner, Guy Oseary, Michael Rapino for Live Nation, Brian N Sheth, Wassim ‘Sal’ Slaiby, and Chris Stadler.

    The program will be executive produced by Jane Y Mun, with producing partners Deviants Media, Diversified Production Services, Done and Dusted Productions, Ken Ehrlich Productions, Live Nation, Livewire Pictures, TMPL Motion Pictures, and U-Live (a UMG Nigeria company).

  • Wadhwani Foundation names Sanjay Shah as COO, India & SE Asia

    Wadhwani Foundation names Sanjay Shah as COO, India & SE Asia

    Mumbai: Wadhwani Foundation has announced the appointment of Sanjay Shah as chief operating officer (COO) for India and SE Asia.

    Shah has over three decades of experience in founding and steering software product companies to the global market. His last stint was with iManage as managing director for Asia responsible for business development of its solutions in Asia. He founded Zapty, Instavans Logistics, Skelta, Everest Software and Accel Computers, some of which were successfully acquired.

    With MS in computer science from Virginia Tech and a B Tech in aeronautical engineering from IIT, Bombay, Shah sits on the board of Sasken Technologies and Instavans Logistics as independent director, and on the advisory board of Avo Automation.

    “My experience in building multiple technology startups, working with entrepreneurs and helping businesses to scale using technology has inspired me to embrace the mission of Wadhwani Foundation,” said Shah on his new role.

    Wadhwani Foundation was founded in 2003 by Dr Romesh Wadhwani, with the primary mission of accelerating job creation in India and other emerging economies through large-scale initiatives in entrepreneurship, small business growth, innovation, and skilling. It operates in 20 countries.

  • Brands serenade Indian Olympic winners with bonanzas

    Brands serenade Indian Olympic winners with bonanzas

    MUMBAI: First came the free pizzas for a lifetime, then the free cement to build their dream homes and now free healthcare services. Brands are pulling out all the stops and sparing no effort to woo the Olympic medallists from India.

    In a country where Cricket attracts majority of the brand endorsements, the latest celebrations of other sports like wrestling, weight-lifting, fencing is undoubtedly laud-worthy. But, it also raises questions on why such endorsements and support continue to remain limited to athletes when they rise to fame, and not when they are slogging hard to claim that hard-earned victory?

    At this year’s Tokyo Olympics, it began with India’s first medallist – the 26 years old weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu who clinched the silver medal in women’s 59 kg category on the second day of the international sports event. Post the win, the ecstatic medallist shared her wish to celebrate her victory with a pizza. Within hours, the pizza brand, Dominoes jumped into the fray with a lifetime offer of free Dominos pizzas for the champion. The smart and quick marketing tactic may have brought the brand into limelight and brought a smile to Chanu’s face, but it also led netizens to ask if the brand really intended to celebrate the weight-lifter’s achievements, or cash in on the moment.

    As a special reward to India’s medal winners at the ongoing Games, cements brand, Shree Cements also announced that the company will offer free cement to the medallists ‘in order to help them build their dream homes’. India has so far clinched two medals at the Olympics, including a silver medal by weightlifter Mirabai Chanu and bronze medal by shuttler P.V. Sindhu in the women’s singles badminton.

     “India’s athletes are competing at the highest level of sporting prowess and making us proud,” said Shree Cements Ltd, managing director, H M Bangur. “As both an Indian and a sports enthusiast, I feel that it is important to give back a little something for all that they are doing.”

    The latest in the line-up of brands offering gift hampers to our Olympians is multi-speciality healthcare provider Glamyo Health. The healthcare brand has gone a step ahead and announced free healthcare services to all 127 Indian athletes competing in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

    The brand with a network of over 200 hospitals across nine cities including Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai, declared that the athletes may avail any surgical treatment from the bouquet of 50 + surgeries free of cost for life. These include surgeries related to Sports Orthopaedics, Proctology, Urology, Laparoscopy, Vascular, Ophthalmology etc.

    Regular and timely medical services are important for sportspersons who slog day in and day out to perfect their moves, and this could undeniably prove to be one useful goodie bag to a practising athlete.

    “Sports people have a demanding schedule and when they require such treatments, it needs to be handled with utmost care keeping in mind their sports career. Glamyo Health is humbled and proud to be doing its bit for our heroes making India proud at the global stage,” said Glamyo Health co-founder Dr Preet.

    While all of these special gestures of honouring the sportspersons who make the country proud need to be encouraged, one hopes brands and companies start investing in other sports and athletes as well for the longer term. One gets to hear innumerable tales of struggles and hardships on their way to the top- to get even basic equipment, let alone world-class, with lack of facilities and training in the country. No doubt, things are looking up gradually, but India still has a long way to go to match global standards of infrastructure

    Hence its time brands and marketers took their commitment to sports a notch higher and got serious about investing in emerging sporting talents in the country by way of long-term commitments, as against indulging in moment marketing riding on their success bandwagon and grandiose gestures, when the athlete’s struggle is done and dusted with.

    This would ensure better credibility for the brand, as well as assuring the country’s struggling sportspersons a sponsorship when they need it the most.

  • Uber elevates Ameya Velankar to head of marketing, India & South Asia

    Uber elevates Ameya Velankar to head of marketing, India & South Asia

    Mumbai: Uber has promoted Ameya Velankar as head of marketing, for India and South Asia region. He was previously the head – product marketing at the company.

    Velankar will be working closely with the India & SA leadership team to consolidate Uber’s growing presence in these strategic markets and further strengthen the brand Uber, said the company said in a statement.

    Velankar is a seasoned marketer who comes with over 13 years of experience in marketing, sales & operations across different geographies. He has been the interim lead for INSA since November 2020, and has played multiple roles at Uber in his two-and-a-half-year stint. Before Uber, he led category marketing for SC Johnson & was the group product head at Marico.

    “We are delighted as Ameya takes on his new role as head of marketing for INSA,” said Uber India South Asia president, Prabhjeet Singh. “Ameya has had a fantastic track record with Uber since 2019, and I am confident that he will help us build a stronger, diverse, and more engaged marketing team. At Uber, we continue to build and strengthen a team of industry experts who appreciate the impact of ridesharing and drive innovation for a better tomorrow.”

    Velankar commented, “I am extremely thrilled to be part of Uber’s journey as it continues to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Uber has had a great impact on cities & communities in India. I am excited to be a part of this journey & make the brand Uber accessible to millions of customers in India.”

  • First-ever common entrance exam for media studies on 14 Aug

    First-ever common entrance exam for media studies on 14 Aug

    New Delhi: India’s first-ever national level common entrance exam for media studies will be held online on 14 August. The AIMCET (All India Media Common Entrance Test) is being guided by recently set up Global Media Education Council (GMEC).

    The exam will be organised virtually by educational news portal, Edinbox.com for over 30 universities across the country including MUIT Noida, Adamas University Kolkata, Uttaranchal University Dehradun, JagranLakeCity University Bhopal, Ajeenkya DY Patil University Pune, Mody University Rajasthan among several others.

    It will offer admission to the undergraduate journalism, mass communication, and other media courses in various partnering Universities across the country for the current academic year. Next academic year onwards, it will include the post-graduate media programs as well.

    Set up early this year, the Global Media Education Council is a media body of educators and senior professionals looking into nurturing better quality human resources for the communication domain, and periodically contributing its suggestions on various niche media domains for consideration of institutes. It will also organise counseling sessions for entry-level media learners to assist them to make an informed choice, along with psychometric tests to judge their suitability for the profession.

    Talking about the objectives, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication (Bhopal), vice chancellor and GMEC, president, Professor K.G Suresh said, “AIMCET is a good endeavour for upgrading the standards of media education. Global Media Education Council is a guiding force for it, and not commercially involved. GMEC is planning to bring a 75 days online event bringing the best media educators of India and the world soon to contribute to the learning of media and communication ahead.”

    “AIMCET is the first national level test of its kind for media and communication domain. We have such tests for law, medical, engineering and management, not for media till 2020,” said Adamas University, Kolkata, pro vice chancellor, PR and Media and secretary, GMEC, Prof Ujjwal Chowdhury.

    The test involving five sections will be of total 100 marks consisting 100 objective-type questions and has to be completed in 120 minutes. The last date to apply for AIMCET examination is 12 August and the application form costs Rs 750.

    Interested students can look up AIMCET website (www.aimcet.in) for more information.

    Elaborating on the working of GMEC, DME Media School, DME Media Academy, founder dean, Prof (Dr) Ambrish Saxena and GMEC, Vice President said, “The GMEC Executive Body shall meet once in quarter: thrice a year virtually, and one time physically which will be powered by Edinbox.com. The Secretariat shall keep functioning continuously towards the goal of the Council. There shall be small groups for specific functions working continuously as well.”

  • Cisco names Daisy Chittilapilly as India and SAARC president

    Cisco names Daisy Chittilapilly as India and SAARC president

    Mumbai: Tech company Cisco has elevated Daisy Chittilapilly as the president of India and SAARC region. Chittilapilly succeeds Sameer Garde, who recently announced his decision to join the social sector after four years at Cisco.

    With over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, including 17 years of leadership experience at Cisco, Chittilapilly had a proven track record of transforming operations and cultures to drive growth at scale. In her new role, Chittilapilly would be responsible for strategy and sales, operations, and investments to drive long-term growth in the region. said the company in a statement.

    She will start her new role from 1 August, which also marks the beginning of Cisco’s new financial year, it added.

    Chittilapilly most recently held the position of managing director for Cisco’s Digital Transformation Office, where she worked with customers to capture and scale opportunities emerging in the digital world.

    Chittilapilly’s appointment comes at a time when Cisco is looking at India and SAARC as an engine of innovation and growth, Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China president Dave West said.

    “With businesses across the region looking to capture the economic rebound, her wealth of experience and knowledge in digitally enabling organisations and developing Cisco’s go-to-market strategies around software and services will help propel Cisco, our customers, and partners to the forefront of the digital economy,” he added.

    Commenting on her new role, Chittilapilly said in today’s digital and cloud-first world, Cisco’s leadership across networking, cybersecurity, and collaboration, put the company at the forefront of helping business with their digital transformation and unlocking a new era of growth.

    “I am excited about the possibilities we can shape for India’s people and businesses, and I look forward to working closely with our customers, partners, communities, and the government to bring these possibilities to life,” she added.