ITV

Tag: Latin America

  • FremantleMedia has two new CEOs for its Latin America Offices

    FremantleMedia has two new CEOs for its Latin America Offices

    MUMBAI: There’s change atop at FremantleMedia’s Latin America office. FremantleMedia, one of the largest creators, producers and distributors of television brands in the world, announced the appointment of two new Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) for its Spanish and Portuguese-speaking operations in Latin America.

     

    Daniela Busoli has been promoted to CEO FremantleMedia Brazil, based in S?o Paulo, while Adrián Santucho becomes the new CEO of FremantleMedia Mexico, US Hispanic and Pan-Regional Productions, based in Miami.

     

    The new CEOs will directly report to FremantleMedia’s Chief Executive Officer, Cecile Cout-Frotaz and will be responsible for the overall management of the day-to-day operation of their businesses and will drive the strategic vision for operations in their respective markets.

     

    The CEOs will develop and produce programmes for broadcasters in their territories and will work closely with FremantleMedia International’s licensing and sales operations.

     

    On announcing the appointments, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, FremantleMedia’s CEO said in a release: “I am delighted to have Daniela and Adrián leading our operations across Latin America and the Hispanic US. Both are well-respected executives, and their drive and experience will really help FremantleMedia exploit the many opportunities available to us as we look to grow our business in these incredibly vibrant markets.”

     

    Busoli and Santucho joined FremantleMedia from Endemol in Latin America and boast extensive experience in working across well-established formats in the entertainment industry. They will take up their respective posts with immediate effect.

  • Ses: Continued Robust Performance

    Ses: Continued Robust Performance

    MUMBAI: SES S.A. (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) reports financial results for the nine months and three months ended 30 September 2013.
    Romain Bausch, President and CEO, commented:

    “SEShas delivered a robust performance in the year to date. We have increased our capacity and are commercialising new market opportunities. Forthcoming launches will further develop this capability and create the conditions for future growth. Our European business, which is almost entirely Video DTH, continues to grow (revenue +5.6%, when excluding analogue). New business and renewals with major customers, including Sky Deutschland and Arqiva, have contributed to an increase in the contract backlog to EUR 7.4 billion. In the International segment (revenue +12.5%) we have added a number of new DTH platforms, in Latin America, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. Although the launch schedule continues to be subject to some delays, total revenue growth (excluding analogue) was 5.7%, with considerable momentum from the video business.”

    “Despite some delays experienced earlier this year with regard to new satellite launches, we have significantly expanded our capacity with the launch of SES-6 in June and ASTRA 2E in September, and we now expect to launch SES-8 later this month, followed by ASTRA 5B in early December.”

    “SES’ 2013 revenue and EBITDA growth guidance at constant FX, of 3-4% and 2.5-3.5% respectively, and 5.5-6.5% excluding analogue, is reiterated.”

    “Our performance to date as well as our fleet development underscore SES’ commitment to growing its presence in the developed markets and to accelerate inroads in emerging markets. Our investments are focused on growth opportunities based on differentiated offerings and secured anchor customers in the video business. We are continuing to build DTH neighbourhoods.In the data business, the numerous contracts signed so far this year underscore the complementarity of SES’ geostationary satellite capacity with the High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capabilities of the O3b Networks Mid-Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation.”

    “SES is now entering a period in which capital expenditure will reduce significantly, even while additional growth investments are pursued. This, coupled with rising revenue and EBITDA, will deliver strong growth in free cash flow, which may be applied to further profitable investments and acquisitions and/or be returned to shareholders.”

  • Global ad spend goes upward in the first half of 2013

    Global ad spend goes upward in the first half of 2013

    NEW DELHI: Ad spends grew by a substantial 6.4 per cent in the first half of 2013, making it the largest growth among different regions of the world.

     

    Marketers continue to gradually increase their global ad spending, as expenditures grew 3.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 and 2.8 percent on a year-over-year basis for the January-June periods of 2013 and 2012, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.

     

    Although many marketers remain conservative with advertising budgets, those in Latin America continue to buck the norm, increasing their expenditures by 13.1 percent (to $13.5 billion) for the January-June period.

     

    All regions contributed to global growth for the first half of the year except Europe, where marketers remain modest with their ad budgets amid the regions’ continued fiscal crisis, resulting in a six percent decline for the period. Ad spend continued to recover after slumping during the economic downturn, with growth of 3.9 percent in the Middle East and Africa, and 2.7 percent in North America.

     

    Argentina contributed significantly to growth for the Latin America region with nearly 30 per cent growth. Indonesia, China and the Philippines all contributed to double-digit ad growth in Asia-Pacific for the first half of 2013, with expenditures reaching $51 billion. In Europe, ad spend increased in Norway, Switzerland, and Greece (2.5 per cent, 0.6 per cent, and 7.4 per cent respectively), while expenditures declined in all other countries in the region.

     

    Nielsen Global AdView Pulse measures ad spending for TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor, cinema and Internet display advertising. Ad spend is based mainly on published rate-cards. Some markets may exclude select media due to data availability.

     

    The external data sources for the other countries included in the report are:

     

    Argentina: IBOPE
    Brazil: IBOPE
    Croatia: Nielsen in association with Ipsos
    Egypt: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
    France: Yacast
    Greece: Media Services
    Hong Kong: admanGo
    Japan: Nihon Daily Tsushinsha
    Kuwait: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
    Lebanon: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
    Mexico: IBOPE
    Pan-Arab Media: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
    Portugal: Mediamonitor
    Saudi Arabia: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
    Spain: Arce Media
    Switzerland: Nielsen in association with Media Focus
    UAE: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)

  • Yahoo partnering with Samsung to provide latest news and weather reports on TV

    Yahoo partnering with Samsung to provide latest news and weather reports on TV

    MUMBAI: For most of us, TV is part of our everyday lives. Whether you turn it on first thing in the morning when you wake up or prefer to watch it after a long day, it’s one of our most familiar habits. That’s why we’re excited to share that Yahoo is partnering with Samsung to bring our latest news and weather information to your TV screen. Rolling out in select markets around the globe, the “NewsON” panel delivers the latest local news articles, videos and weather to Samsung Smart TV users with the click of a remote.

    Now, when you need instant information about current events, you can click over to “NewsON” for a snapshot of the latest headlines. Once a story gets your interest, click through to see the summary, full article, or streaming news video. Or check the weather with weekly forecasts combined with location and weather based photos from Flickr.

    The “NewsON” panel is available on Samsung Smart TVs in select countries in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. It’s the first product from a new, multi-year partnership to bring more Yahoo content and services to Samsung Smart TVs worldwide. Stay tuned!

  • Nielsen: Global ad spend up in first half of 2013

    Nielsen: Global ad spend up in first half of 2013

    MUMBAI: Global ad spend has hiked 2.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis for the first half of 2013, according to Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse report, which finds that marketers in Latin America had the highest increase in spending for the period.

     

    For the second quarter of 2013, expenditures grew 3.5 per cent.

     

    All regions contributed to the global growth, except Europe, where there was a six per cent decline for the period from January to June. Latin America was booming, with gains of 13.1 per cent to $13.5 billion. There was a quarterly growth of 3.9 per cent in the Middle East and Africa. The Asia Pacific had growth of 6.4 per cent and North America of 2.7 per cent.

     

    Within Latin America, Argentina contributed significantly to the growth in the region, with a nearly 30 per cent increase in ad spending. Indonesia, China and the Philippines all contributed double-digit growth in the Asia Pacific for the first half of the year, with expenditures reaching $51 billion. In Europe, ad spending was up in Norway (2.5 per cent), Switzerland (0.6 per cent) and Greece (7.4 per cent), though all other countries in the region saw a decline.

  • Pinterest unveils ads, strikes international mobile deal

    Pinterest unveils ads, strikes international mobile deal

    MUMBAI: After announcing its intention to do so last month, the fast-growing social network unveiled its new ‘Promoted Pin’ advertisements recently. The pins are marked by a subtle label below the item description. In a blog post, Pinterest CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann said ‘Promoted Pins’ are still in a testing phase and “nobody’s paying for anything yet – we want to see how things go and, more than anything, hear what you think.”

     

    San Francisco-based Pinterest promises the ads will be tasteful, transparent and relevant: “No flashy banners or pop-up ads,” Silbermann said in the blog post. The ads will appear in both Pinterest’s online and mobile apps, and are being rolled out now to a small portion of users for feedback.

     

    Don’t expect the ads to remain unpaid for long. Once fine-tuned, Pinterest is expected to open the floodgates for its first revenue-generating product. With an estimated 53 million users and a value of $2.5 billion, ads should significantly cushion four-year-old Pinterest’s coffers.

     

    In a separate development, Pinterest announced Thursday a deal to place a special widget on Android phones sold through Spanish mobile giant Telefonica. Pinterest already has an Android app, but the prominently placed widget will update faster and allow non-users to search it for shopping, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

     

    No money is involved in the deal, but Pinterest is hopeful it can add international users, as well as bolster its mobile footprint. Telefonica has about 316 million customers in Europe and Latin America.

  • Sundance Channel Global Expands with New European Launches

    Sundance Channel Global Expands with New European Launches

    NEW DELHI : AMC/Sundance Channel Global, the international division of AMC Networks (NASDAQ: AMCX), has announced today new launches for Sundance Channel in Europe.  The company has also appointed Geraud Alazard as Vice President of Marketing, AMC/Sundance Channel Global.  Bruce Tuchman, President of AMC/Sundance Channel Global, made the announcements today ahead of the company’s participation at MIPCOM.

    Sundance Channel has launched as a 24-hour linear network on the cable/IPTV platform Bouygues Telecom in France, one of the fastest growing pay TV platforms in France. This partnership adds to the network’s broad distribution in France on Numericable, Virgin, SFR on Neufbox and Free. In addition, Sundance Channel is now available as a 24-hour network on the cable TV operator VOO/BeTV in Belgium for French-speaking audiences. This deal enables Sundance Channel to be seen widely across Wallonia to complement the network’s extensive distribution across Brussels and Flanders on Belgacom and Telenet. Both deals include access to authenticated on demand programming.

    In Eastern Europe, Sundance Channel has experienced substantial growth in recent months. The network has expanded in Poland, where it has been widely seen across numerous pay-TV platforms, via recent deals with Inea, Promax and many other local operators. The network is now also being carried on UPC Hungary in standard definition and high definition on the basic tier, which has significantly increased distribution throughout the country. Sundance Channel has previously been available in high definition on UPC Hungary. Today’s announcements follow numerous recent launches, including Sundance Channel’s debut last month for the first time across Latin America.

    The company has also made a personnel announcement to help bolster growth across the globe. As Vice President of Marketing, Alazard will oversee marketing and multiplatform media campaigns for AMC/Sundance Channel Global to support affiliates and drive consumer and distributor demand for the company’s international brands, Sundance Channel and WE tv. Based in New York, he will report to Tuchman. He will also report to Ed Palluth, EVP Global Distribution, on affiliate marketing matters related to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. 

    Alazard has an extensive background in international marketing and distribution.  Most recently, he served as managing director at PureScreens in Paris, France, where he negotiated and executed distribution on European pay-TV platforms for The Museum Channel. Prior to this role, Alazard served as Director of Marketing, Sales and Business Development at Televista, which operates French lifestyle channel Vivolta. He has also held positions at A+E Television Networks in the US and Germany.  He holds a MS in International Corporate Strategy from ESSEC Business School, Thunderbird Graduate School and a BS in Politics and Management from Sciences-Po Paris, Heidelberg Universität .

    Tuchman commented, “These exciting launches reinforce the strong demand for the globally renowned, high quality programming exclusively available on Sundance Channel.” He continued, “Geraud is an accomplished brand strategist with a wealth of valuable experience. His experience in identifying global marketing and distribution opportunities will enable him to play a key role in our rapid multi-platform expansion.”

    Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of first run original drama and other iconic programming, award winning and locally appealing independent films and documentaries. It is available to pay-TV operators as a standard and high definition linear television channel, VOD service and via mobile and online authenticated streaming.

    Additionally, select VOD program offerings are available during theatrical windows so audiences can watch films that are still in theatres from the comfort of their own homes.

    In addition to Sundance Channel, AMC/Sundance Channel Global offers WE tv in Asia, a women’s lifestyle focused network featuring top industry figures in food, weddings and fashion with acclaimed series by Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray and Joe Zee, inspiring viewers with their expertise and innovation.

  • Twitter Certified Product Flowics launches in India to bring Real-time Social Content Visualization and Engagement

    Twitter Certified Product Flowics launches in India to bring Real-time Social Content Visualization and Engagement

    MUMBAI: Zauber, a US/Latin America based, venture-backed, social analytics’ products company, has entered Indian market with its social curation and engagement platform Flowics – a Twitter Certified Product. Twitter’s Certified Products Program seeks to bring some of the most innovative products and services from Twitter developers to companies that need them the most.

     

    Flowics filters and displays social media content in real-time on any digital screen and the Web, to increase engagement of brands, TV shows and publishers with their audience.

     

    Flowics can help brands to build community around their digital presence, and stimulate and grow social conversations about them. For TV networks and shows, Flowics can be used to drive increased social engagement with their audiences, by providing on-air integration and big screen visualizations of real-time social streams,  as well as second screen experiences that can be deployed directly on their digital properties. Publishers can also use Flowics to deploy live data visualizations on any relevant topic, using original content, curated from social media. Flowics’ innovative technology can filter and curate the buzz generated by TV shows, political, sports and entertainment events and any important news stories.

     

    “We are excited to launch Flowics in India and looking forward to developing our local operations in the TV and media ecosystem.” said Gabriel Ba?os, CEO and Founder of Zauber, the company behind Flowics. “We have proven track record in Latin America and now our emerging collaborations in India will allow publishers, TV networks and brands to better engage with their audience in real-time.”

     

    Flowics has been already used by major companies in the US, LatAm and Spain like Coca Cola, Al Jazeera, Peugeot, ESPN Brazil, Ora.TV, Caracol.TV and RTVE, among others. Lately, Flowics and Twitter have already worked together in special projects for TV Networks and publishers in Brazil, like R7, Yahoo! and ESPN.

     

    In the US, Ora. TV with Larry King used Flowics in its coverage of the 2012 Presidential Debates to track and display Twitter buzz for the both the Presidential and Vice Presidential showdowns. During the debates, the TV show used Flowics visualization tools to showcase comments, Tweets and spikes in volume associated with particular comments made by the candidates. Flowics not only visually demonstrates social content, but allows the audience to take part in an interactive social experience.

     

    Recently, with the support of Twitter, Star India used Flowics, for its coverage of ‘Saath Hai Hum Uttarakhand’ – a fund raising event organized by Star TV on the Independence Day of India. Flowics has powered the visualisation of the Tweets for #AllForUttarakhand in real time.

  • Big Brother enters Vietnam

    Big Brother enters Vietnam

    MUMBAI: Endemol has sold Big Brother into Vietnam for the first time, with VTV commissioning 65 episodes to air later this year.

     

    The local version will run over nine weeks on VTV6. In total, more than 20 series of Big Brother will air this year in more than 70 countries, including the US, the UK, Spain, Israel, Latin America, CEE, Asia and Africa.

     

    Endemol managing director of Asian operations Fotini Paraskakis commented: “Big Brother continues to be an unstoppable blockbuster more than a decade since it first launched. Following the format’s proven success in other Asian territories we are proud to be bringing it to Vietnam for the very first time and we’re in no doubt that VTV6’s audience will love it.”

  • Netflix loads up on kids shows yet again with Scholastic deal

    Netflix loads up on kids shows yet again with Scholastic deal

    MUMBAI: Netflix has been positioning itself as an online babysitter of sorts with a slew of deals for children’s content, thus it has sanctioned even more episodes of the kids’ genre.

     

    The streaming-video service said it has expanded an agreement with Scholastic Media, an arm of publisher Scholastic, to offer more of its TV series and video content, such as the shows based on the tween babysitting series, The Magic School Bus and Goosebumps. Most of the new content is available to Netflix members in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and Latin America.

     

    Both Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service have been buying content for children. The idea is twofold: Go after a type of programming that – after sports – can be the most decisive sway factor when a consumer is choosing what entertainment to pay for. Then get children cozy with the format and style of internet-delivered content to create a new generation of subscribers.

     

    Netflix’s Scholastic deal marks the first time many of the episodes have been available in the streaming format, and Netflix has an exclusive hold on select programs like The Magic School Bus. However, most of the content is years old.

     

    “When we first added ‘The Magic School Bus’ and ‘Goosebumps’ for our members in the US and Canada earlier this summer we knew they would perform well, but after seeing just how popular they were we decided to expand our relationship with Scholastic and bring these great shows to more of our markets,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a release.

     

    Three of the first five programs Amazon will produce as part of its original content push are children’s programs, and last month the company ordered up kids’ content solely for its next round of five pilots.

     

    Netflix is also working to fill a kids’ content void. The site declined high-demand Nickelodeon content earlier this year because parent Viacom wanted to bundle it together with less popular programs in a hulking deal. Amazon later snatched up the forsaken Viacom content.

     

    The latest deal with Scholastic however doesn’t include video content related to Scholastic’s most blockbuster brand, the Harry Potter series.