ITV

Tag: Lodestar Media

  • Reel Pointer – predict TVRs for blockbusters on TV

    Reel Pointer – predict TVRs for blockbusters on TV

    TV Pulse 2005, the annual research initiative put together by the Joint Industry Body (JIB) and Tam Media, series continues with the paper – Reel Pointer – A Tool to predict ratings for Blockbuster movies on TV.

     

    This paper was contributed by Lodestar Media – Winner of the Best Paper award at Emmies – 2004.

     

    • Devdas acquired for Rs 12 crores, delivers only 3.7 TRPs
    • Humraaz delivers 12.0 TRPs, surpassing Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham‘s 8.1 TRPs
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    The challenge was to bridge the information gap in the current TV programming scenario where blockbuster movies are among the biggest viewership/revenue genres but data to evaluate and price them does not exist. The aim was to predict TRPs of blockbuster films on TV and set buying benchmarks.

     

    METHODOLOGY: REGRESSION MODELING

     

    TRPs of past blockbuster movies modelled against factors that would help predict future performance.

     

    Arriving at the factors:

     

    • Box-office Collections – a quantifiable measure of viewer appeal and a sum of all the qualitative factors like star cast, music score, storyline and director that affect a film.
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    • Recency – the interval between the time the movie was released to the time it was shown on TV. It was calculated as the number of days from release to telecast date.
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    • Repeats – A movie that had been repeated too often was likely to lose its appeal hence assumed inversely related to TV rating.
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    • Promos – Directly responsive to viewership, the number of promos had to be taken into account.
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    • Channel of telecast – The cable operator plays a role in deciding whether a C&S home can receive a TV channel or not. Connectivity, in turn, affects a film‘s viewership.
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    • Daypart – TRP was affected by the daypart or time of telecast (early prime, prime, late prime…)
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    • Day – Weekends were associated with blockbusters. A film telecast on a Saturday night was likely to get more viewer interest than one shown on a Tuesday afternoon. However Zee scheduled its blockbusters on Thursdays to capitalise on weaker competitive programming.
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    • Opposite viewing – The impact of competitive programming also had to be taken into account. A blockbuster movie scheduled on a channel at prime time may lose more viewers to programmes on other channels than a non prime-time film.

  • Lodestar Media bags Sapat Group’s media duties

    MUMBAI: Lodestar Media has won the Rs 50 million media duties of the Sapat Group of Companies. The company has diversified businesses in tea, pharmaceuticals, real estate and information technology.
     
     
    Citing the reason for awarding their media duties to Lodestar, Sapat Group director international operations Nikhil Joshi says, “We did an assessment and found that Lodestar had a better fit with us and our brand proposition and hence we decided to entrust them with our media business.”

    Joshi also informs that major expansion plans were underway at the company and to support that a new television centric campaign was being planned coupled with a few other activities.

     
     
    Speaking about the win, Lodestar and Interface Media’s national media director Nandini Dias says, “We were called to make a presentation to the company, after which we won the account. I believe we gave a sound presentation and am very happy to have won this account.”

     
     
    The new television campaign, which has been done by TBWA Anthem, will be rolled out soon, Joshi informs. “A large part of the creative effort was also contributed by Prahlad Kakkar, who has shot the ad and Sunil Alagh, who provided us with value adds for our brand proposition,” he says.

    The creative duties of Sapat, which are at present handled by TBWA are also under reviewal and the company will kickstart the process of finding a new creative partner once the campaign is underway.

  • Apurva Purohit joins Radio City as CEO 1 July

    Apurva Purohit joins Radio City as CEO 1 July

    MUMBAI: Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL) has officially announced the induction of Apurva Purohit, as its new chief executive officer, effective 1 July.

    Purohit who was COO Television Division, Times Entertainment, heading the group’s non-fiction lifestyle and entertainment channel Zoom, had put in her papers late last month.

    A statement issued by Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL) states that Purohit will spearhead the efforts to strengthen the Radio City brand play a pivotal role in developing the company’s strategy in the evolving FM Radio business in India.

    Purohit has spent time in some of the largest advertising agencies in India and was instrumental in setting up Lodestar Media.

    In recent years, Purohit has been actively involved in the management of Zee TV and in the challenges to start up Zoom TV. She is also the chairperson of Emvies and an office bearer of the Mumbai Ad Club.

    Commenting on her new assignment, Purohit said, “It is exciting to take a great radio brand like Radio City forward, and to shoulder the challenge of putting radio as a medium in a new position of eminence in the minds of the advertiser and the consumer.”

  • “Primetime viewing will not be affected by the World Cup” : Shashi Sinha Lodestar Media executive director

    “Primetime viewing will not be affected by the World Cup” : Shashi Sinha Lodestar Media executive director

    Lodestar Media executive director Shashi Sinha, an avid cricket fan, strongly believes that ‘media is a means to strategy!

    His viewpoint was justified when his agency bagged the coveted Media Agency of the Year award at the EMVIE Awards 2002.

     

    He also believes that hype and a ‘larger than life‘ image play an important role. Perhaps, this ‘drive‘ was responsible for the successful campaigns of Tata Indica, TELCO, Kinetic (creative only), Castrol, WIPRO and ITC Sunflower oil amongst others.

     

    Under his able guidance, Lodestar Media created a unique record when it got the mandate to export one of its media research tools, Mediagraphics (a precision targeting tool) and take its indigenously developed segmentation tool to its branches in other countries.

     

    Sinha spoke to indiantelevision.com immediately after participating in an Advertising Club organised panel discussion on marketing opportunities presented by the World Cup cricket 2003. Excerpts-

    Do you feel that the World Cup Cricket 2003 (WCC) is a great opportunity?

    Being an ardent cricket fan, I must admit that cricket is a passion and religion. It unifies diverse audiences in the four zones of the country. It also delivers audiences across various psychographic and demographic parameters. It also creates some kind of a unique bonding; between friends, family members, relatives and colleagues. No serial or soap has managed to do this so far.

     

    The fixtures of the forthcoming WCC in S.Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe have been fixed in such a way that the time of telecast coincides with primetime viewing in India.

    Will there be a shift from ‘soaps‘ to cricket during the WCC?

    I am sure that primetime viewing will not be affected. Unless, of course, there is a brilliant match that gives some kind of a high to the audiences and they continue watching the post-match highlights to relive the moments.

     

    The high-profile cricket matches have always delivered higher viewership ratings and more audiences. In fact, even during the recent Champions Trophy, one witnessed a similar trend as cricket matches dethroned the popular soaps. However, even at its peak, cricket programming just about manages TVRs of anything between 15 and 18.

     

    However, this trend also indicates that there is a substantial chunk of viewers who are still staying away. Some viewers still feel that cricket is given undue importance. The peak viewing time for the forthcoming WCC will be the last two-three hours of the match; perhaps 7 pm onwards. One hopes that some of the matches create some kind of a record.

     

    Traditionally, many channels including Star Plus have always launched new programmes in the beginning of the calendar year. I don‘t see a situation wherein the other channels have started panicking. Of course, some of the channels might be flexible in terms of payments being postponed to the next financial year starting April 2003.

    Between DD and MAX, what would you recommend to advertisers?

    The advertisers who have comparatively lower outlays but still wish to reach out to pan-India audiences should go in for DD. The premium brands will opt for MAX.

     

    But, even within the company brands there could be a difference of opinion. For instance, a low-priced paint brand could use DD whereas the premium paint brands could use MAX. DD will be important to the two-wheeler categories that have started shifting their focus to semi-urban and rural areas.

     

    However, there might be some cases where the brands might decide to stay off both the channels and concentrate on their routine exercises (Tata Indica for instance). I still have a feeling that the terrestrial channel will do well during the forthcoming WCC.

     

    But, the advertisers need to create an impact irrespective of the spends.
    “The concept of cricket is a sure-fire hit but the unrealistic premium charged by channels is not!”

    What do you feel about the sales packages conceived by the channels?

    The fact is that cricket as a concept is a sure-fire hit with advertisers and media planners. However, pricing has always been an issue. Media planners and buyers seldom agree to the unrealistic ‘premium‘ that is charged by the channels.

     

    I am sure that the aggressive efforts made by DD-Nimbus and MAX will ensure that new categories of products and services get into cricket advertising. I have a feeling that the total WCC spend across all media might be as high as Rs 4.5 billion.

     

    MAX is making efforts to ensure that the viewer interest is maintained even if India fails to reach the Super Sixes stage. But, I feel that viewers will be merely interested in keenly following the progress of the matches involving the Indian team. Finally, it is just those eight to ten days that will matter!

     

    The list could also include the new entrants (insurance, textiles, telecom clients like Reliance Infocomm) that could be planning a major blitz in the next quarter. However, I personally feel that everyone will just ‘wait and watch‘ till 15 January 2003!

    Do you feel that dismal performances of the Indian cricketers in New Zealand might scare the advertisers away?

    Well, Indians are renowned to ‘forgive and forget‘ their cricket icons. The draw during the forthcoming World Cup 2003 favours the Indian team. The team should glide into the Super Sixes stage based on its inherent strengths; unless the ‘glorious uncertainties of cricket‘ come into play!

     

    Take, for instance, the recent test and ODI matches in New Zealand; the fans (which includes people in the upper echelons of society) switched on their TV sets and followed the ‘painful‘ progress of the team.

     

    The fact is that the Indian icons have created a ‘persona‘ that would eventually reap rich benefits for them in the long run. I agree with Krishnamachari Srikkanth‘s views that everyone benefits from cricket and it is a ‘win-win‘ situation for all.