ITV

Tag: India

  • India’s Got Talent wins Best Entertainment Programme award

    India’s Got Talent wins Best Entertainment Programme award

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia produced India’s Got Talent won the Best Entertainment award at the 18th Asian TV Awards which was held at Singapore. The show is aired on Colors and is currently gearing up for its fifth series.

    FremantleMedia India’s Mission Cover Shot, which airs on National Geographic and gives photographers the chance to showcase their creativity before an esteemed panel of judges, was also awarded Most Commended show in the Best Reality Show category.

     

    FremantleMedia India managing director Anupama Mandloi said, “It’s an enormous honour to receive the two awards at the Asian Television Awards and is a real testimony to the hard work of our talented production teams and partners behind the shows.”

  • MEC India wins at 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards

    MEC India wins at 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards

    MUMBAI:  MEC India has bagged an award for the ‘Most Effective Location-based Service/Campaign’ at the recently concluded 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards ceremony held on 28 November in London.

    The agency received the award for one of its campaign designed for Colgate at Kumbh Mela. Centered around the Maha Kumbh Mela held in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the campaign was aimed at connecting with audiences at the festival, that is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings witnessing over 80 million people in attendance this year.

    Speaking on the occasion, Red Fuse Communications CEO Shubha George said, “We feel honoured to be recognised on a renowned global platform like the 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. Executing and implementing the campaign was a challenging task for the team, especially for a mammoth project of the scale of the Maha Kumbh Mela. The prime objective at the Maha Mela was to attract and engage consumers in a highly competitive environment, which inspired us to think beyond traditional methods. The award encourages us to push further boundaries in the future.”

    Mobile phone was selected as the medium to connect with the large audiences at the Maha Kumbh Mela. “This was the very first time in India that a brand had used location-based voice communication to convey the desired message and generate direct response from the audience” said George.

    A total of over 700,000 pilgrims visited a specially erected Colgate stall during this whole Maha Kumbh Mela promotion.

  • Sweets brand to launch in India

    Sweets brand to launch in India

    MUMBAI: Hershey India Private Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY), today announced it will bring the iconic North American sweets brand, Jolly Rancher™, to India, underscoring the importance and strength of the growing Indian confectionery market.  India is the first international market for the Jolly Rancher brand outside of North America in the brand’s 65-year history.

    The Jolly Rancher brand is known for a unique combination of sweet and tart fruity flavours that deliver a never before taste experience to the consumer. Jolly Rancher Lollipops will be the first Jolly Rancher candy introduced in India. The lollipops offer a long lasting fruit-like taste experience that is distinct from the typical lollipop currently available in India. The lollipops will come in three flavours: Green Apple, Watermelon and Mango.  Mango was developed specifically for the India market.  The three flavours were tested with Indian consumers who gave them high scores for appeal and delivering uniquely bold, fruity flavours.  

    “The Jolly Rancher brand is a perfect line of products for sweets-loving consumers in India,” said Atul Razdan, General Manager, Marketing, Sweets and Refreshments, for Hershey India.  “We’ve tailored our new Jolly Rancher products for India to appeal, specifically, to local palates with bold, fruity flavours that are unlike any other candy available in the market.”

    Priced at Rs. 5 /- in India, Jolly Rancher Lollipops are immediately available in select outlets in metropolitan cities.  The company is manufacturing the product in its Chittoor plant in India.

    The launch of Jolly Rancher brand in India will contribute to The Hershey Company’s focus on global growth. The Indian confectionery market is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world with a strong double-digit annual compound growth rate of about 18 percent. 

    Jolly Rancher is one of five brands that Hershey has identified as “global brands” that will drive the company’s worldwide growth over the next several years.  It is also the first global brand from North America to launch in India. The international expansion of Jolly Rancher in India and other iconic Hershey brands around the world is an integral part of Hershey’s global growth vision to achieve $10 billion in annual revenue by 2017. 

  • After FreeDish, Rishtey rides onto Dish TV

    After FreeDish, Rishtey rides onto Dish TV

    MUMBAI: It debuted in India on 1 December on the pubcaster DD’s free DTH service FreeDish. Now Viacom 18’s second GEC channel Rishtey has got carriage on India’s oldest DTH platform Dish TV.

    Rishtey is currently running its test feed on Dish TV at LC number 1000 as well as on Freedish, India’s only FTA DTH broadcaster. Deals with other cable and DTH players are in progress to get the channel’s distribution intact before launch. Sources say that it would have paid anywhere between Rs 4 to Rs 6 crore get carriage on the pubcaster’s DTH service.

    IndiaCast – which is distributing the channel in India – sources indicate that test feeds will soon commence on Airtel Digital TV and Videocon d2H as well.

    The FTA channel that launched September last year in the UK, broadcasts reruns from Colors and original programming from channels in Pakistan such as Maat (currently on) and Humsafar (completed).

    Recently, Rishtey UK doubled its ad rates on completion of its successful run in year one during the course of which it beat even Colors there. Primetime commercials are being sold there for as high as ?600 for a mainstream advertiser and ?100 for an ethnic one.

  • Licensed Indian channels drop to 784

    Licensed Indian channels drop to 784

    MUMBAI: It has come under flak in the past for being rather liberal in issuing licences to TV broadcasters. But the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has been cracking down on this front over the past year or so.

     

    And this is evident from the list of permitted private satellite TV channels which the MIB released on 2 December 2013. According to the list, there are 784 channels which have been allowed to beam over India.

     

    The MIB’s 2012 official list had 848 channels when it was released on 20 December 2012. That means around 64 licences have been revoked in the past year.

     

    After the Sarada Group scam last year, the MIB had sent notices to various companies asking for details about their shareholdings and structure. It then started the process of cancelling licences based on their response.

     

    Among the reasons that it gave for the revocation figured: companies had not started broadcasting even a year after being issued a licence and shareholding patterns and directors were changed without the ministry being informed.

     

    The MIB has also gone easy on issuing new licences to potential broadcasters. Some 50 applications are pending with it, according to industry officials.

     

    The files for licence clearances have piled up because several representative meetings between the MIB and the Ministry of Home Affairs have been postponed over the past two months, point out industry executives.

     

    A highly-placed industry source reveals: “A meeting was supposed to happen last week and this week as well, but it failed to take place.”

     

    Among some of the channels which are awaiting MIB’s nod include: Epic TV, Al Arabiya News, Maha Movie, Blue TV etc.

     

    Another source adds: “State elections and general elections have been a priority for the government. We, as an industry, are worried and feel that licenses are not on its priority list.”

  • Infocom 2013 kicks off in Kolkata today

    Infocom 2013 kicks off in Kolkata today

    KOLKATA: The twelfth edition of Infocom, a three-day annual Information Technology (IT) conclave from the Kolkata-headquartered media company, ABP group, kicked off in the city today.

     
    Driving IT awareness and envisioning organisations and individuals to be IT enabled has been of prime focus of the conclave every year. Now in its 12th edition, Infocom has chosen “Empowerment” as the theme for 2013. The focus of the conclave this year would be on digital empowerment and also on empowerment with innovation and creativity.

     

    ABP managing director and CEO DD Purkayastha on the sidelines of the event said that with India envisioning to become a developed nation in the next few years, there is a growing need to incorporate the concept of creativity in our developmental planning. “And with the aid of technology we also have to drive innovations. These would be areas under focus this year,” he said.

     

    “When we talk about empowerment, the emphasis is on the fact that we want to empower individual consumers, citizens of the country as well as organizations digitally, technologically, socially, gender-wise, educationally, occupationally and many more ways. India needs young entrepreneurs,” he said.

     

    West Bengal IT minister Partha Chatterjee, who inaugurated the event said, “Despite economic downturn, the IT exports from the state stood at Rs 11,200 crore in the last fiscal year 2012-13 as compared to Rs 9,500 crore achieved in the financial year 2011-12. The IT industry gives direct employment to around 1.30 lakh IT professionals and an indirect employment to around 6 lakh people in the state.”

     

    The event is expected to bring together over 1,200 delegates, 75 speakers and 40 sponsoring companies. Besides, more than 100 exhibitors from across the globe would display their products and services.

  • Fastrack launches helmets; eyes revenue of Rs 500 crore

    Fastrack launches helmets; eyes revenue of Rs 500 crore

    BENGALURU: Titan’s urban youth brand Fastrack announced the launch of a new category – helmets in Bengaluru. The new range will see 24 different variants for ‘guys and girls’ in different colours and graphics, making them a style-essential for its TG. Titan plans to include a range of bicycle headgear and accessories in the near future.

    Fastrack, which was launched in 1998, has seen revenue growth of more than fifty times from Rs 30 crore to Rs 770 crore, hence making it the largest fashion accessories brand in the country, claim Titan officials. By the end of this fiscal in March 2014, the company expects revenue of just Rs 8 to 10 crores from the helmet stream and about Rs 50 crore during FY-2014-15.

    We are looking at revenue of about Rs 500 crore from this stream over the next five years, says Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhatt

    The company says that the present size of the organised helmet market which constitutes about 45 per cent of the overall market is Rs 400 crore in India and is estimated to grow to about Rs 1500 crore over the next five years. “We are looking at revenue of about Rs 500 crore from this stream over the next five years,” reveals Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhatt to www.indiantelevision.com.

    “India has one of the highest numbers of two-wheelers in the world. With unorganised players currently driving the helmet business, the category has a large potential in the market. We are trying to buck the trend – even if a person doesn’t want to buy a helmet, she or he will buy it because it’s from Fastrack, because we believe that it is not the helmet that the person will buy, but brand Fastrack,” Bhatt further adds.

    For the present Fastrack helmets will be sold through the 147 Fastrack stores across the country. Titan plans to increase the number of Fastrack outlets to 200 by 31 March, 2014. The company also plans to sell helmets online through its own portal as well as other fashion online retailers such as Myntra, Jabong, etc., in the near future.

    “We are looking at outdoor promotions over the next few months. We’ll probably launch a multimedia campaign including TVCs sometime in the near future,” informs Titan Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Ronnie Talati. Lowe Lintas handles the creative duties and Maxus the media buying for Fastrack.

    Company sources peg the outdoor Fastrack helmets campaign at about Rs 2 crores till the end of this fiscal, and then depending upon the response, will chalk out a campaign for the next year.

    “Being in the business of youth fashion accessories, helmets were a natural extension for us after watches, sunglasses and bags. Many of today’s youth use protective gear to make bold fashion statements. The youth being the dominant consumers for the category, launching the helmets range under the Fastrack umbrella would help keep a firm grip on the capricious youth market,” adds Talati.

  • Bing releases the top search trends of 2013

    Bing releases the top search trends of 2013

    MUMBAI: Women are on top, literally! The 2013 search trends released by Bing that includes search data from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S, reveal that women ruled and were in the top searches. In eight of the 12 participating countries around the world, women were the most searched. Beyoncé reigned in the US, while Miley Cyrus’s highly publicised twerking made her the top-searched person in both Australia and Canada.

    Former flames Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were the most-searched people in the U.K. and Germany, respectively. Actress and actors Bruna Marquezine, Wen Zhang and Salman Khan were the most-searched people in Brazil, China and India, while singers Rihanna and David Bisbal ranked at the top for France and Spain, and gorgeous TV personalities Danmitsu and Belen Rodriguez were favorites in Japan and Italy.

    It was also a year of American songs, superhero movies, Facebook love, high-end designer brands, controversial sports stars, European getaways and fierce women.

    Bing search trends, found at  www.BingTrends.com, indicate what has most captivated people around the world in 2013.

    However, when it came to the top searches in India, surprisingly, it was not the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who bid adieu to international cricket in 2013, who was searched the most. He was at number four, only after Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif. 

    While he may have led the search among actors, Salman’s films did not feature in the top ten most searched films. The fast paced action flick Race 2 bagged top honours followed by Shahrukh starrer Chennai Express. And the surprise package among the top 10 Hindi movies was Nasha, starring Poonam Pandey. And Shah Rukh Khan may have missed top spot in the most searched actor and film, but his Lungi Dance from Chennai Express made it to the top of charts as the most searched song in India. This was followed by Party on My Mind from Race 2 and Challa from Jab Tak Hai Jaan.

    Sports stars too were popular. While Sachin Tendulkar was the most searched among sports stars, young and feisty Virat Kohli too made it to the top ten. However, the surprise entry was sprinter Milkha Singh, proving that the biopic on him did arouse curiosity about him in the country. Shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Saina Nehwal made sure that their sport was represented in the top ten dominated by cricketers.

  • Brands have to take a back seat and tell human interest stories

    Brands have to take a back seat and tell human interest stories

    MUMBAI: At a time when the world is moving towards the digital medium, can advertising be far behind?

     

    Indeed, the last couple of years have seen several brands and agencies falling back on this space to reach out to their consumers.

     

    D&AD’s CEO Tim Lindsay and president & Dare CD Laura Jordan Bambach who are in the country to address the forthcoming seminar (organised by Kyoorius) on Building Brands via Digital Media, shared some valuable insights on the subject with indiantelevision.com.

     

    On the fast blurring line between traditional and digital advertising in India, Tim quips: “Probably there are other markets which are further ahead when it comes to digital; and this is simply to do with the penetration of tablets, laptops and smart phones. Mobile is highly developed in this country and will only amplify. Therefore, digital advertising and marketing will develop in a separate way in India.”

     

    Still to recover from jet lag, Laura adds: “It is quite an exciting time and I can see the behaviour change and there is a more digital approach in various campaigns; which is more worldwide, but it is there here as well. The change in advertising message is becoming more purposeful.”

     

    Speaking about the trend of viral videos, Laura says they would work better if people had an interesting story to tell rather than the brand putting forth its message. “The brand has to take a back seat and tell a human interest story. Not all viral campaigns are good, there are many bad ones as well because they don’t tell you the story you want to hear,” she says, pointing out that videos which are entertaining, funny and have a human angle are likely to click with the viewers.

     

    Also the co-founder of SheSays, an international volunteer organisation encouraging women to take up digital creative careers, Laura feels things are changing now as more and more women are not only entering the field but also reaching high positions. “There are a quite a few women in the higher ranks and the things are looking up in India as well,” she says.

     

    Asked to point out the two important advertising trends of 2013, Tim talks about ads and campaigns having moved more towards story-telling apart from the increased engagement of people through branded content and added efforts by companies to take their CSR activities more seriously. He cites the example of Unilever’s latest Project Sunlight (Unilevers Project Sunlight promises a brighter future) . “In India, HUL’s Lifebuoy campaigns have been very successful. Be it the village one or the stamped rotis,” he says.

     

    In the coming year, Tim feels there will be more acquisitions including digital acquisitions of smaller agencies which will only serve to increase their credibility and sustainability.

    Both Tim and Laura feel that hereon, the digital space is only set for a further boom, with agencies milking the medium to reach out to as many people as possible.

  • Fox Star Studios to release 28 films in 52 weeks in India

    Fox Star Studios to release 28 films in 52 weeks in India

    MUMBAI: Fox Star Studios’ seems to be on a roll. After releasing Bullett Raja directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, the studio is set to roll out as many as 28 films in the next 52 weeks that is more than one film every 2 weeks across Hindi, English and Tamil. It would be the highest ever for any studio in India.

     

    With as many as nine Hindi films, four Tamil films and 15 English Films slated for release in 2014, the studio is looking at its busiest year ever since its inception in 2008. The Bollywood titles will feature A-listers like, Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Arjun Kapoor and leading ladies Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Vidya Balan.

     

    Speaking about the Hindi lineup that includes mega productions, massy entertainers and clutter breaking films, Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh says, “In doing so, the Studio is making a strong statement about scaling up and becoming a key player in the Hindi film industry as also working with diverse talent cutting across genres!”

     

    The studio is strengthening its old partnerships and has new associations too. They have a three-film deal with Vishesh films (on the back of Raaz 3, Jannat 2 and Murder 3’s success) and Amole Gupte’s Hawaa Hawaai (post Stanley Ka Dabba’s criticial and commercial success). In terms of new alliances, the studio has joined hands with Pooja Entertainment and Films Ltd, Phantom Films, Illuminati Films and Endemol India.

     

    “Our partnership with Vishesh films and others, is a testimony to the fact that FSS has used its strength in creative, distribution and marketing, in sustaining lasting partnerships and creating new ones in the industry since its inception in 2008.”

     

    In Tamil, the studio will lead with its partnership with CV Kumar’s Thirukumaran Entertainment with two films — V.Chitram and Mundasupatti and Cukkoo with Next Big Films. The studio is also partnering with Atlee Kumar once more.

     

    Among its Hollywood lineup, the studio plans to roll out as many as 15 films including some major titles like The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Rio 2, X Men First Class: Days of the Future Past, How to train your Dragon 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Night At The Museum 3 and Oscar runner, The Book Thief.