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Tag: Manorama

  • Kerala Floods: GEC viewership falls, news channels witness rise

    Kerala Floods: GEC viewership falls, news channels witness rise

    MUMBAI: The Kerala cable and broadcast industry is just about keeping its head above the water, quite literally! The industry has been crippled due to the recent floods. We wrote about how cable operators bore the brunt of the calamity yesterday. Needless to say, broadcasters were also not unaffected.

    Kerala Vision Digital TV general secretary Rajan KV said that there is no infrastructure loss for TV channels and 500-600 cable networks are still under water. “The viewership has seen 30-35 per cent downfall as many homes were not able to see a single channel both on DTH and cable networks,” he added.

    According to BARC data, the incessant rains that derailed Kerala kept viewers hooked to their television sets that were relying on the medium to keep track of the situation. With 214.1 million impressions, week 32 (4-10 August) saw the highest peak for Malayalam news genre in 2018. The genre saw a 98 per cent growth in the week compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks.

    In a letter dated 21 August 2018, Cable TV Operators Associations (COA) stated that the cable operators have been the worst affected because of their extensive presence in the flood-affected areas. The affected include human lives and damage to property across the state while power and cable lines have suffered extensive damage and distribution has been totally disrupted.

    Mathrubhumi head-distribution Thampi P Joseph said, “Cable TV was the most affected industry by this natural calamity. No monetary losses have been faced by the news broadcasters. In the past two weeks, the GEC rating has gone down and a tremendous growth has been seen for the news channel. We saw a good spike in viewership ever since the floods had started.”

    Kerala has a total TV population of close to 31.3 million, out of which, around 25.8 million people watched Malayalam news in week 32. This means that 8 out of 10 people in the state sampled news in this week. Out of the state’s total TV viewership, 17 per cent came from Malayalam news genre alone, with every viewer spending an average of 1 hour 3 minutes watching news.

    Manorama director news Johny Lukose also believes that there was no substantial loss for the news channels and no channel in the Kerala market faced any infrastructural damage. “The news channels cancelled all the advertisements from the ad inventory to cover the disaster. Two of our channels, Manorama News and Mazhavil Manorama, have lost Rs 10 crore,” he said.

    However, there is still some financial loss that has been felt. According to Insight Media City MD R Sreekandan Nair, the TV broadcasting industry across the state has been set back by more than Rs 50 crore. “We have stopped production of shows for our channels. Apart from the news channel, other players in the market are shifting or repeating the programs. Flower TV has lost almost Rs 10 crore in the disaster. News channels are not affected much because of less tariff, but the entertainment channels have faced huge losses because of the big productions,” Nair said.

    Friday (17 August 2018) alone accounted for 34 per cent of the total news viewership for the week at 72.8 million impressions.

    Asianet News stood at the top with 36 per cent of total news viewership.

    Mathrubhumi News output editor Abi T Abraham said, “By and large, the facilities for the coverage were going as planned. As far as Mathrubhumi is concerned we had about seven Digital Satellite News Gathering vans and 10-15 reporters on the field with live units, except in the case of remote areas where network and electricity were not available. All the channels also did well in terms of covering the disaster but did not face any major damage of technology.”

    It will be a challenge to restore conditions in the state and work to make up for the losses that companies have suffered.

  • Chennai Express: This train can be boarded just once

    Chennai Express: This train can be boarded just once

    MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan, most preferred in romantic films, of which he may have done only a few, is finding it hard to find a slot lately. He has tried his hand at multiple genres recently: Ra.One, a super hero film; Don 2, an action-for-action’s-sake film; Jab Tak Hai Jaan, where he plays a larger than life bomb expert. Somehow, he does not seem to have found the right fit. Chennai Express is the outcome of this confusing situation as the film can’t define its genre even after it has run through 143 minutes. Is it a comedy, a road movie, an action movie or a romance? And is it a Hindi or a Tamil movie?

    Shah Rukh Khan’s halwai grandfather has passed away and his last wish is that his grandson should immerse his ashes in the sea at Rameshwaram. However, Khan and his friends had plans to holiday in Goa. This assignment comes as a hurdle in their plans. However, Khan’s friends convince him that even if he immersed the ashes at Goa, they would finally end up reaching the sea at Rameshwaram! This is the first warning of what is to come. Since the grandmother plans to see off Khan at the station, he plans to take a south bound train, get off at the first station nearby and join his friends for a road trip to Goa.

    Khan spots Deepika Padukone running to catch the train which has started moving and helps her in. He also helps four mean and scary looking guys board the running train. It turns out that Deepika, who is running away from her father who is in a village near Chennai, catches a train going towards her father. The four goons Khan helped board the train are her father’s henchmen, chasing her to take her back to her village. Her father, who is the local don, plans to marry her off to a strongman from another village, Nikitin Dheer against her wishes. That would help him extend his power further.

    Producers: Gauri Khan, Karim Morani, Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapoor.

    Director: Rohit Shetty.
    Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Nikitin Dheer, Sathyaraj, Manorama, Kamini Kaushal, Lekh Tandon.

    Deepika blames Khan for her problem. He decides to help her but his attempts are thwarted by the foursome. They are a dangerous lot which they demonstrate first by throwing away Khan’s costly cell phone from the train and later by throwing out the TC. Deepika and Khan communicate through Hindi film songs as if they are singing a duet; the goons couldn’t care less since the things are very much under their control.

    Finally, they arrive at her village. But since it is not a scheduled stop, the goons pull the chain and out there, to welcome the boss’ daughter, is a crowd of hundreds. Khan could have continued with his journey but, for whatever reason, he also decides to tag along! Since Deepika does not want to marry Dheer, she introduces Khan as the guy she loves and plans to marry. The son-in-law to be is cheered by the villagers. But Dheer is not the kind to give in so easily. He challenges Khan to a fight the next morning. This is one giant problem for Khan for that is how Dheer compares to Khan in physique. The only way to survive is to escape.

    Khan and Deepika plan to escape before the duel starts, but Khan spoils the plan by getting drunk. Still, he steals a bike and manages to get away, only to crash near a police station. The Sikh cop, Mukesh Trivedi, hides him in a safe place which, when he wakes up, turns out to be a smugglers’ dhow heading towards Sri Lanka. Soon the dhow is raided and Khan taken back to the village he had run from.

    It is her wedding day when, once again, Khan and Deepika escape, this time to fall in love for real. Khan wants to take her honourably and comes back to her village, to the don, the mob and Dheer. In a sudden burst of enthusiasm he beats up all the goons, armed as well as unarmed and, finally, also takes on Dheer!

    Chennai Express is a poor story idea badly developed. The script has no substance and a lot of footage is filled with nothing happening or, in second half, by crowding the footage with three songs almost back-to-back. Except at two or three places, the comedy is pathetic and the jokes are all decades-old PJs. The music score is generally no help and the only well tuned song is Titli… In fact, some songs sound like they have been dubbed from Tamil songs.

    The Rohit Shetty touch is missing here; there is not much entertainment to be found, even of the mindless variety. Photography is good. Dialogue is uninspiring. A lot of Tamil is used in dialogue without sub titles which is very curious: there is not much to understand in this film but this shows a disregard for the audience. Editing is slack.

    Deepika shines and is the only worthy performer in the film. Khan, sad to say, resorts to buffoonery when not overacting; his fans expect better. Dheer is aptly sinister.

    Chennai Express may not generate good word of mouth but, thanks to the Eid weekend release at 3500 screens with multiplexes running 12 to 16 shows, it is sure to amass bumper weekend collections and help avoid a big setback.

  • Nilesh Thakkar moves on from GS TV to launch The Real Media People

    MUMBAI: Media veteran Nilesh Thakkar, whose latest stint was with Aas Paas TV (the television wing of Gujarati daily Gujarat Samachar), has turned entrepreneur with his media venture – The Real Media People (TRMP).

    The media agency will focus on providing media solutions to the real estate sector which is heavy on print and out of home media. It will also help players in the sector capitalise on the use of electronic media, which has not been used effectively by the builder community as yet.

    Thakkar, the founder CEO of TRMP, said, “At TRMP, we shall give 360 degree solutions to builders who are still heavy on print and will generate additional revenue for all regional and national news channels by way of spot/non FCT/advertiser paid feature. Real estate is huge sector for print and this sector requires a personalised touch. We shall not operate like an ad agency but will act as consultants in promoting the clients.”

    TRMP was inaugurated on the pious occasion of Vasant Panchami and will start full-fledged operations from 1 April. Thakkar will be joined by two more partners, whose identities will be revealed in due course of time. There are already some new channels that have tied up with TRMP.

    Thakkar further said, “I started working at a very early age, practically during my school days. I always thought I shall retire early and start something on my own by the time I enter the early forties.”

    Thakkar has 20 years of experience in the media business having spent seven in years in print with publications like Manorama, Abhiyaan and Chitralekha and 13 years with Zee, Star News, Star Ananda, Star Majha, Tv9 and Gujarat Samachar (GS Tv).

  • IRS Q3 2012: 3 of top 10 Hindi as well as English newspapers lose readership

    MUMBAI: Three of the top ten Hindi daily newspapers and an equal number out of the top ten English dailies saw a fall in readership in the third quarter of 2012. The Hindi newspapers which lost readership in the third quarter are Amar Ujala, Patrika and Nai Duniya), while the English dailies are The Telegraph, The Economic Times, and The New Indian Express.

    These are the findings of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Q3 2012, released by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research.

    Dainik Jagran continues to be the leader with all India readership (AIR) of 16.47 million in Q3 compared with 16.42 million in the preceding quarter. Dainik Bhaskar is in the second position with AIR of 14.5 million in the third quarter of calendar year 2012, up from 14.45 million in the preceding quarter.

    The newspaper with the third largest all India readership is Hindustan. Its AIR increased to 12.24 million in Q3 from 12.20 million in the preceding quarter.

    The pecking order of the publications has remained unchanged in the third quarter of 2012.

    Malayala Manorama was the fourth most read publication with AIR of 9.75 million in Q3, up from 9.71 million in the preceding quarter.

    Meanwhile, the AIR of Amar Ujala fell to 8.53 million in Q3 from 8.6 million in Q2 2012. The publication, however, remains the fifth most read.

    Amongst Hindi language publication, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan and Amar Ujala take the top four positions, respectively. They are followed by Rajasthan Patrika, AIR of which grew from 6.75 million in Q2 2012 to 6.8 million in Q3 2012.

    In case of the English dailies, the Times of India maintained its position at the top of the list with AIR of 7.65 million in Q3 as compared to 7.64 in Q2 2012. It is followed by Hindustan Times (AIR: 3.768 million) and the Hindu (AIR 2.258 million). The pecking order here too remains the same as last quarter‘s.

    The regional dailies saw some changes in the ranking order. Though Malayala Manorama continues to lead, Daily Thanthi with AIR of 7.41 million replaces Lokmat that witnessed AIR of 7.40 in the third quarter of 2012. Next in the ranking order is Mathrubhumi with AIR of 6.41 million. Seven out of the top ten Indian language dailies (Daily Thanthi, Lokmat, Mathrubhumi, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Gujarat Samachar, Dinakaran and Daily Sakal) lost readership.

  • Manorama News launch deferred to 17 August

    Manorama News launch deferred to 17 August

    MUMBAI: Print major Malayala Manorama’s television venture Manorama News is now looking for an August launch. According to channel sources, the news channel will be unveiled on 17 August. The channel was earlier targeting a mid-July launch.

    Malayala Manorama is launching Manorama News under the banner of its recently launched television initiative MM TV. The channel is headed by Anil George in the capacity of chief operating officer. Manorama News will be headquartered in Aroor, near Kochi, where the company has set up its news studio. Two smaller studios have been set up in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode as well.

    Manorama News will be locking horns with the existing Malayalam news channels Asianet News (Asianet), Indiavision and People TV (Kairali TV). The total market offers an advertising pie of Rs 2 billion and the news channels command approximately 25 per cent (on the upper side) of the total ad pie, according to industry estimates.