Tag: India

Chanpreet Arora appointed CEO of Vice Media India

MUMBAI: Vice Media India has a new sheriff in town. Chanpreet Arora has been appointed as the CEO of the company and is working from the Vice office in Delhi. A veteran with 15 years of experience as a consultant and as an entrepreneur, she has charted strategy and operations along with framing macro policy for regulators in India.

Arora has been shifted to current role from her position as the head of revenue strategy and sales operations at Times Internet. At Times Internet, she set up the revenue strategy and sales operations division in 2016 and was a part of the core team that led the restructuring of the company, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Arora joined the Vice operations earlier this month.

As a business and strategy expert, Arora has helped redefine and restructure some of the most reputed entities in media, sports and digital in India and abroad.

In India, Vice Media has partnered the Times of India in a bid to accelerate the business in the country. In June 2017, the US-headquartered company received a capital infusion of $450 million.

Known for its online videos and edgy reporting, Vice operates a popular YouTube channel and produces news programming for Time Warner’s HBO.

Also Read:

Vice Media to build largest OTT platform, expand to 80 markets by early ’18

VICE India hires Pragya Tiwari as content head and OML’s Samira Kanwar as head – video

January 23, 2018
81% Indians find ads intrusive: KMB study

MUMBAI: A well-executed multichannel campaign is a thing of beauty. But over one in four of the campaigns we see are not well integrated, and consumers are much more critical than marketers about campaign connectivity. Also, less than half of all campaigns take full advantage of different channels by properly customising content to different contexts.

The address the issue, Kantar Millward Brown conducted a study which examined the global state of multichannel advertising campaigns. The study revealed that 78 per cent of consumers surveyed in Asia Pacific are seeing more ads in a wider variety of places than they did three years ago and consumers in India are seeing the most substantial uplift followed by Philippines and Singapore.

People believe multichannel advertising builds brands and leaves a stronger impression. Well-integrated and customised ad campaigns can improve overall campaign effectiveness by 57 per cent. This implies that brands can have a larger impact with their investment and more than half of marketers are missing out on the opportunity to substantially boost their activity.

Ineffective and disengaged advertising runs the risk of alienating the viewers and people are uncomfortable with the increase in intrusive advertising. Indian consumers feel most bombarded by intrusive advertising (81 per cent), followed by New Zealand (76 per cent) and the Philippines (72 per cent). On the contrary, Koreans and Indonesians are the least bothered by intrusive ads but more than half the population see ads in a negative light and that should be a wake-up call for marketers.

While stating that marketers need to start thinking intelligently about how they integrate their campaigns, Kantar Millward Brown head of media and digital for APAC Pablo Gomez opines that marketers are putting enough focus on customisation. “Consumers are exposed to more advertising than ever before and are becoming more judgemental of what they see as a result. Importantly, the study showed that people react to advertising differently depending on the channel, and crucially, they are least receptive to ads on digital media,” he said.

Consumers expect multichannel campaigns to deliver basic connective elements or hygiene factors like the same logo and slogan. To some extent consumers are right. All brand cues contribute to campaign effectiveness, and the more cues the better. However, consistent characters or personalities are the individual cues which most help brand impact; these differentiate the best campaigns.

Viewers expect TV to be the best with the rest of a campaign, but integration benefits all channels. Brands should plan for synergy because about 25 per cent of all brand contributions from media are typically attributable to synergy effects. We know that all channels benefit from synergies, but some channels work particularly well with each other. The strongest overall synergy combinations are TV & Facebook, and TV & outdoor. A recent Budweiser campaign in China was strongly integrated thanks to multiple consistent elements (celebrity, colour scheme, bottle, logo, slogan) across TV, online and outdoor executions. It is a well-executed example of ‘matching luggage’ which also extends to the style and mood of the content.

At the end of the day, brands need to use all senses. Visual cues are important, and memorable characters differentiate, but audio cues like consistent voiceovers and music also help. Consumers will not notice all brand integration cues, so test to see if the campaign fits together. Additionally, marketers need to develop content for channels where they can adapt excellently and make the most of the format. They need to find a balance between integration and customisation and a great campaign needs enough familiarity to tie campaign elements together, but enough novelty to engage with complementary content.

January 19, 2018
Dsport acquires India rights of tri-nation tournament in SL

MUMBAI: Discovery’s sports channel Dsport has acquired the exclusive India broadcast rights of Nidahas Trophy 2018, a tri-nation international T20 tournament involving India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The transaction was facilitated by Lagardère Sports, the global marketing consultant of Sri Lanka Cricket for Nidahas Trophy.

The Nidahas Trophy 2018, played in celebration of Sri Lanka’s 70th year of independence, will follow a round robin format with all the three teams playing each other twice, and the top two progressing to the final to be played on 18 March 2018. All the matches will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

“We are delighted to partner with the Sri Lankan Cricket board and showcase this important tourney to the cricket aficionados in India,” said Discovery Communications India senior vice president and general manager South Asia Karan Bajaj. “Nidahas Trophy 2018 will also mark the first time when the Men in Blue will feature live on Dsport. This will give a further fillip to the channel and bolster our efforts to showcase world class sporting events to our fans in the country.”

Sri Lanka Cricket Board president Thilanga Sumathipala said, “Dsport is fast emerging as an important destination for premium sports in India. We are happy that cricket fans in India will join in and celebrate Sri Lanka’s 70th independence anniversary via Dsport. We look forward to a closely contested tournament.”

Also Read:

Dsport acquires broadcast rights of New Japan Pro-Wrestling

DSport sends notice to Impress Matra for protecting its BPL T20 broadcast interest

January 18, 2018
CEAT gets children to ensure parents follow road safety

MUMBAI: Indian tyre manufacturer CEAT is airing a special social media campaign to build awareness to reduce road accidents as part of the road safety week 2018, i.e., 11-17 January 2018. The campaign, ‘drive safe dad’ originates from an innovative idea that blends emotions and technology in one package.

The campaign film showcases a dad receiving a personalised bobblehead which is connected to the odometer of the vehicle. On over speeding, the device plays the recorded personalised message from their sons or daughters asking them to slow down. To take this initiative to the masses CEAT has launched the bobblehead on Amazon.

CEAT vice president of marketing Nitish Bajaj says, “The campaign taps into the love and bond shared between a father and his child, encouraging parents to be more responsible on the road and follow the rules, more diligently. The crux of this concept comes from the fact that parents tend to take road safety more seriously when they hear it directly from their kids.”

CEAT’s core idea of making mobility safer and smarter every day is reflected by this campaign which restrains dads from over-speeding their vehicles which had taken more than 73,896 lives in the year 2016 in India.

January 15, 2018
Guest column: Taking Indian content to the global market

The year 2017 has been a year of paradigm shifts in the wake of Digital India. Over the last couple of years, international OTT and VOD players such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc, have been making inroads in the Indian market to unlock the true potential that our increasing digital-first audience provide. Telecom, print, broadcasting, FMCG, and virtually every industry has ventured into the digital space. India’s journey on the digital path saw a rise in the number of homegrown content streaming platforms, with some creating original content and some taking and distributing content from external creators. While it came as a boon to India’s digitally driven audience, there was still a paucity of locally relevant content creators and platforms. On the other hand, short length format shows/series soon began to launch in regional markets as well. Additionally, region specific OTT platforms took shape. These developments assured that not just millennials, but family audiences as well were fed entertaining content on digital that matched their tastes and preferences.

Internet penetration and adoption in India has been at an all-time high. As per the KPMG India – Indian M&E report 2017, currently there are 462 million internet users in the country out of which 82 per cent of them access the web through mobile devices. Competitive mobile data pricing and the overwhelming mass adoption of 4G led to a revolution of gigantic proportions for content creators in the digital space. It positively aided the growth of OTT/VOD platforms and thereby, short format content. However, while we continue to open windows for international players and brands to get more and more access to Indian audiences, either by placing our shows on their platforms or striking partnerships to deliver their content here, the most significant question for me is how far are we actually taking ourselves beyond India and Hollywood?

While India’s vision of digital continues to get served, how is that making a difference to the country’s economy? How far are we expanding our digital footprints beyond existing geographies by leveraging both homegrown and international OTT platforms? The year 2018 might well be a step in this direction which in turn would begin to provide the answers to us. A SWOT analysis for the possibility of this happening in the near future would give some key insights on the plan of action.

Focus on the strength – Content, the driving force

While we speak about the generalisation of Indian content across territories through OTT platforms, a similar example was already set this year. Dangal’s staggering success numbers in other countries and approx Rs 200 crore (fifth-highest earning non-English film in global box office history) in China speaks for itself. A similar fate followed for Secret Superstar. These examples prove the potential that lies for Indian content creators to venture into untapped regions beyond India. These mega movies clearly state that strategy plays a vital role in accomplishing the desired results. India is another key selling factor is the original content curated by every media and entertainment entity which brings a fresh perspective. With such great pool of data that lies with us, only selling it won’t serve the purpose. Where do you sell it and how is what will decide its best outcome.

Understand weaknesses

The major roadblock in venturing into other regions is the language barrier. Upon deciding the target regions, next thing to consider is the national language of the country and whether its audience prefers the global language. Analysing this would mean additions or modifications for dubbing or sub-titles in the content, such that it match the sensibilities of the audience across different languages and sensibilities.

Tap into the right opportunities

India’s rich content resonates well with the masses. We are fed with entertainment from across the world, likewise, there also exists a majority of Indian diaspora in regions where we haven’t made in-roads yet. Evaluating such regions helps tapping onto a ready audience base. In order to expand the reach further, it is very crucial to research about the consumption pattern of the region, the inclination towards short-format content, internet usage statistics, number of mobile device users in that region. The digitally savvy audience looks for great content, be it from any source. A populous region having an audience base with varied tastes automatically ensures effective penetration of content into a newer market.

Evaluate the threats – adapt a differentiated approach and have an evolving nature

The digital world in itself is quite vast with various existing and upcoming mediums that provide access to entertaining content making it widely available. A stark comparison would be between Asia’s first premium VOD service Hooq and the homegrown platform Voot. Hooq’s strong strategy reflects in its distinguished offering. It serves its customer with varied options to choose from Hollywood, local and regional shows across multiple platforms. On the other hand, Voot has tactfully planned its expansion across geographies in a short span of time. There is this agnostic nature of the players from other territories looking at a similar expansion plan that would increase the competition for Indian content creators to gain visibility overseas. Building a differentiated plan of action and being flexible is the key in such a scenario.

While we analyse the various means by which we can best cater to the potential markets across territories, the digital platforms and content creators should continue to maintain a strong foothold within India itself. Having a catalogue of rich content and effective reach pan-India will attract more international brands that look at reaching out to their TG in the country. This in turn will bring in more international buyers which will eventually pave way for homegrown content to have a global presence few years down the line without having to actually root for the expansion, the other way round. This indeed will be a game changer in taking Indian content to global markets.

The author is the CEO of Worldwide Media.The views expressed are personal and Indiatelevision.com may not subscribe to them.

December 28, 2017
ITW Consulting bags in-stadia ad rights for Ind & Aus tours of SA 2018

MUMBAI: ITW Consulting, India-based sports management company, has acquired in-stadia advertising rights for the Indian and Australian Tours of South Africa for 2017/2018. ITW Consulting rights will market and sell these in-stadia advertising rights to non-South African companies and entities.

With these rights, ITW Consulting will cover three tests, six ODIs and three international T20s under South Africa vs India Series and four tests from 1 March to 30 March 2018 under South Africa vs Australia Series.

ITW is permitted to re-sell and market the in-stadia advertising rights and can enter into contracts with potential clients and agencies towards exploiting the rights commercially.

Commenting on the association, ITW Consulting director MS Muralidharan said, “We are one of the new generation companies and are delighted to partner with Cricket South Africa and Megapro Marketing (Ry) Ltd for these two series. We are sure that we will be able to build strong and strategic brand associations that will be fruitful for both, the brands and cricket fans across the globe.”

Commenting on the deal, ITW Consulting co-founder Bhairav Shanth said, “With utmost pride in bagging these rights, ITW welcomes brands around the world to stand tall with global brands and cherish a seamless branding experience in South Africa, across two months of high-octane competitive cricket.”

“The Proteas have always been marquee opponents to the visiting Men in Blue over the last three decades. It’s ‘Redemption’ time for the Indians now playing away from home, post their overhaul by the South Africans during the Freedom Trophy in India, way back in 2015,” he further added.

December 18, 2017
Netflix and chill but pay more now

MUMBAI: Netflix has made Black Friday a dark day for its subscribers. The content company has increased prices for its standard and premium subscription packages. On 24 November, in an email sent to its subscribers, Netflix communicated that the increase in the membership cost will bring about an addition in content.

The company’s email read: “The cost of your membership will increase to $10.99/$13.99. So we can add more of what you like to watch. Awesome entertainment built around you is what we’re all about. We have enhanced our features so you can download your favourites and watch without wifi, too.”

The standard package, which allows subscribers to watch on two screens at once, will be bumped up from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. The premium package, which lets users watch 4K video on four different devices, will go up from $11.99 to $13.99. The basic $7.99 per month plan will remain the same for US subscribers.

For the UK, the price for the standard plan is going up from £7.49 to £7.99 per month. Moreover, the price of the most premium plan is going up from £8.99 per month to £9.99. The price of the cheapest plan, however, will remain the same at £5.99 per month.

According to Netflix director communication Thomas Cherian, the price hike is not applicable for Indian subscribers because the market is nascent and it wants to build its presence. So, Indians can relax and ‘Netflix and chill’ at the same rates.

But, Twitter was inundated with tweets by various subscribers outside India, taking to the platform to make their displeasure vocal. Announcing the price hike with an email notification has been considered a bold move by a few of the Twitterati and smart because it gets a place to hide amongst other emails.

Twitter links:

https://twitter.com/bangordad/status/934058041460346881

https://twitter.com/mxjrdn/status/934064057463734278

https://twitter.com/TopAnnuity/status/932646366123261952

November 25, 2017
Hershey’s eyes India; to invest $50M in 5 years

MUMBAI: The confectionary industry has emerged as one of the largest and well-developed food processing sectors of India. With international companies coming in and a stiff competition within Indian players to create a space for themselves, it is at an interesting juncture.

Amidst all this, US confectionary giant The Hershey Co has announced that it will invest $50 million in India over the next five years to focus on growing and expanding their presence in India. “India is one of our key International focus markets and we are investing to build this important business,” says Hershey India chairman and managing director Praveen Jakate.

India has emerged as the fastest growing market for the company, according to its recently announced its Q3 2017 global earnings and revenue. Hershey India recorded a strong double digit constant currency net sales growth, according to a statement from the company. As per the company’s Q3 2017 results, the constant currency net sales for Brazil in the third quarter increased by 3.3 per cent, while Mexico registered a net sales increased by 10 per cent. India outnumbered and recorded a net sales and growth of 16 per cent.

Hershey’s sells 11 brand in India, including Hershey’s chocolate syrup, milkshake and chocolate almond spreads, along with Sofit soya milk and Jumpin juice, which it acquired from an erstwhile joint venture with Godrej Industries.

The company plans to focus most of its investments now in brands owned by The Hershey Co. rather than in those brought from the joint venture, Jakate.

“Our transition of the Indian portfolio is enabling a higher margin business, and we are on track to expand gross margins here by 1,000 basis points in 2017,” says Hershey chief financial officer Patricia A Little.

In India, Hershey faces competition in the chocolate confectionary market from Mondelez, Mars, Snickers and Nestle.

Market research firm Euromonitor expects the Indian market to grow at an 8 per cent compounded annual growth rate to be worth Rs16,000 crore by 2021.

November 6, 2017
STB cos in India, China enhancing features, providing customised solutions, Technavio enlists top vendors

MUMBAI: The global STB market is characterised by intense competition as the market is saturated in developed countries. The market share of these players is declining because of the entry of new players. The STB companies are enhancing the features of STBs and providing customised solutions to retain their market share.

Technavio, a technology research and advisory company, has enlisted the top five leading vendors in their recent global set-top box (STB) market report. This report also lists 45 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during 2017–2021.

There is a high demand for pay-per-channels used by customers who use gateways and multiscreen devices. The ongoing shift to the HD format contributes to the growth of the market. Digitisation in China, India, and Brazil contributes significantly to market growth. The ongoing shift from analogue to the digital platform in China and India has created the demand for HD STBs in these countries.

Competitive vendor landscape: “The global STB market is characterised by intense competition as the market in developed is expected to be stagnant in future. The market is fragmented owing to the presence of a large number of small players. The entry of new players intensifies competition and reduces the profit margins of other vendors. The players are enhancing the features of STBs and providing customised solutions to retain their market share,” says Ujjwal Doshi, a lead consumer electronics research analyst from Technavio.

The growth of the global STB market is driven by digitisation that has been taking place in developing countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, China, and India, since 2010.

ARRIS International: ARRIS International offers STBs, digital video and IPTV distribution systems, broadband access infrastructure platforms, and associated data and voice equipment. The wide portfolio of the company offers end-to-end solutions that offer service providers a variety of choices to customize their approach to IP transition. The company focuses on expanding its product and solutions portfolio through organic development, partnerships, and acquisitions.

Broadcom: Broadcom offers a range of consumer electronics products including STB, central office broadband access equipment, residential gateways, and stand-alone broadband access modems. Global service providers introduce new technologies and services in STBs such as HD content, transcoding, digital video recording, and increased networking capabilities.

Pace: Pace provides technology solutions and caters to the subscription-based TV services providers and broadband industries. It offers a wide range of media servers, STB, gateways, software, optical transport and access control network solutions, and highly specialized services.

Roku: Roku focuses on manufacturing streaming entertainment devices. The first product launched by the company was designed to secure movies from Netflix and feature them on TV with the help of the Internet. The streaming players can be connected directly to the user’s TV and grant access to movies, TV shows, games, music, and extra channels.

Technicolor: Technicolor provides production, post-production, and distribution services to content writers, network service providers, and broadcasters. The company offers film processing, visual effects, and animation services along with the manufacture and distribution of digital video disks, Blu-ray disks, STB, and gateways.

The emerging markets offer opportunities for growth to vendors as the developed countries have reached saturation, according to Technavio. The availability of affordable STBs fuels growth in the market.

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October 11, 2017
India, China focus of report on ‘bundling interactive services with IPTV content delivery’ to accentuate market

MUMBAI: Interactive Services are being bundled with Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) content delivery to accentuate market. QYResearchReports.com has announced the addition of a new market intelligence report, titled “Global Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) Market Research Report 2021”.

The research provides a granular analysis of major factors shaping the consumer demand and preference in various regions such as North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, with a focus on India, Japan, and China.

The intensifying demand for services to deliver standard or high-definition television signals over the internet in real time is a key factor driving the evolution of IPTV. The growing popularity of IPTV for streaming media to access TV channels is attributed to several distinct advantages it offers over traditional cable and satellite pay-TV services. Over the past few years, cable operators and satellite broadcasters in developing and developed channels are increasingly using IPTV to provide additional channels to their subscribers. This is a key factor accentuating the market.

The rising demand for customizable TV content and the pressing need for improving quality of service (QoS) for content providers are key trends expected to stoke the demand for IPTV. The unique advantage of IPTV to subscribers to view programs that they want and at their convenient time is a key factor propelling the demand for IPTV in various parts of the world.

The growing popularity of video-on-demand (VoD) and time-shifted TV is a prominent trend catalyzing the growth of the IPTV market. Recent advances made in broadband infrastructure in several developing and developed nations and the advent of robust video compression technology are key factors expected to accentuate the IPTV market.

The ability to bundle a variety of hybrid services with IPTV services is a key factor bolstering their demand across various industries for creating targeted advertising-on-demand video (AVoD). The offering of interactive services has further boosted the IPTV market. In recent years, IPTV has offered exciting avenues for a number of telecommunication companies exploring new revenue streams to improve their profitability in developing and developed nations. The rising internet penetration in several developing economies and the rising adoption of wireless communication technologies are key trend expected to fortify the IPTV market in the foreseeable future.

However, the lack of viable communication infrastructure in less developed regions is a key factor likely to hinder the growth of the IPTV market. Furthermore, the high cost of setting up dedicated network architecture and platforms for delivering high-quality TV over the internet is a vital factor likely to hamper the adoption in several countries.

The need for high bandwidth requirement is also likely to hinder the demand in less developed regions. The growing popularity of OTT services in developed regions is also anticipated to negatively impact the market to an extent. Nevertheless, the prominence of wireless-based distribution networks in various developing and developed countries is a key trend expected to create lucrative avenues for market players in the coming years. In addition, the demand for premium content to be delivered over IPTV is gaining significance, thereby unlocking exciting opportunities in various regions.

Prominent players operating in the OTT market, according to the report, include PCCW Limited, NTT Plala, Neuf Cegetel, Deutsche Telekom, BT Group plc., UTStarcom, Bharti Airtel, AT&T, Orange S.A., Verizon Communications, and China Telecommunications Corporation.

October 11, 2017