ITV

Tag: MTV

  • Viacom18’s Sudhanshu Vats: Indian media’s growth will be similar to China

    Viacom18’s Sudhanshu Vats: Indian media’s growth will be similar to China

    MACAU: Even as he said that the growth trajectory of the Indian media space will be similar to that of China, Mumbai-headquartered Viacom 18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats made it clear that both television and digital spaces were complementary to each other having a great future in India.

    “Indian media market’s evolution will be very similar to that of China. Where we (India) are today in 2017 is where China was in 2011,” Vats said on Wednesday during the opening keynote on the third and last day of the CASBAA Convention 2017 here in a conversation with media industry veteran Marcel Fenez of Fenez Media.

    “In India, the future of television is television and also digital. If you are a content provider or a story teller, you have an advantage,” Vats said, adding that he expected a significant growth surge on the AVoD and SVoD sides of the media business.

    Vats went on to highlight the reasons for pushing the company’s digital venture VOOT, stating that not only has the app downloads run into double digit millions, but that about 15-18 per cent of the content on the platform was exclusive even as the Viacom18 team learns from the digital evolutionary processes in the US and China markets. Launched in early 2016, VOOT engages kids as well as adults with 17,000 hours of network content.

    “We do a lot of content around digital, which is called VOOT exclusive. India has a big appetite for reality shows and there is a huge amount of curiosity about what happens behind the scenes,” Vats explained. Viacom18 hosts some of India’s biggest reality shows – ‘Fear Factor’ and `Bigg Boss’. He also thinks that India will skip credit cards to e-payment, which can help aim for VOOT SVoD with a paywall.

    According to Vats, a Unilever India veteran marketer-turned-media professional (he jokingly mentioned that in his previous company he was famously referred to as the `Laundry Man’ for driving Unilever’s home washing products in India), “Essentially we are storytellers. The big business we are in is content and we need a robust pipeline of content and creative talent. But the challenge is getting talent, and retaining them.”

    In this context, he explained later, Viacom18 has started a start-up initiative, encouraging young talent to express themselves in a creative manner as new disruptive ideas in Indian media will not come from within an organisation, but from outside.

    (Another reality show running on MTV India is Dropout, a nationwide hunt to find hidden creative talent in ‘dropouts’ to be groomed by industry leaders into entrepreneurs, to solve real-world business problems in a short span of time.)

    Terming Viacom18’s 10-year eventful existence as “fantastic” when it had grown 40x, Vats, whose many passions include running marathons world over, said the company’s journey had “now just begun” in India’s media landscape that has been changing dramatically over the years pushed by content, delivery mechanism and technological evolutions. (Incidentally, he completed his daily quota of an hour’s running before getting ready for the morning keynote.)

    As part of innovations being undertaken by Viacom18, Vats pointed out that the company plans to set up an engineering hub in India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore, to help various in-house products.

    “The big media companies are consolidating and coming together with telecom companies,” Vats said highlighting the disruptions and convergence happening in the Indian media landscape, “If you had asked me before, I wouldn’t have thought that would happen.”

    Batting on the front foot for a digital India, Vats said the country was an “exciting” market. “It’s at the cusp…ready to take off. If you have a five-year horizon, it (India) is where you should be,” he aptly summed.

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  • Deepak Dhar bids adieu to Endemol after a decade

    Deepak Dhar bids adieu to Endemol after a decade

    MUMBAI: After 11 years of being with Endemol Shine India, managing director and CEO Deepak Dhar has resigned from his position. 

    Dhar has contributed greatly and ruled the world of TRPs with some of the most talked about shows like Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi.

    A source close to the development has confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com 

    Dhar joined Endemol in 2006 as a creative director and later he was promoted as managing director in 2008. In April 2012, he was promoted as managing director and CEO of the production house.   

    Prior to joining Endemol, Dhar worked with Star Network as group head for five years. He also worked for three years with MTV as senior producer. 

  • Bigg Boss Season 11 garnered 70 mn views on Voot in 10 days

    Bigg Boss Season 11 garnered 70 mn views on Voot in 10 days

    MUMBAI: Colors ace Bigg Boss Season11 has garnered a big buzz on the internet. It has amassed around 70 million views in just the first 10 days of the show on Viacom18’s Voot. Voot carries every aspect of Bigg Boss including the full episodes, voting, MTV Bigg Boss Extra Dose and several exclusive show extension properties like Unseen Undekha, cutless and soon to be launched Bigg Buzz.

    About the overwhelming numbers, Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi said: “Bigg Boss from our network flagship channel Colors is the biggest digital entertainment content property in India by far and we can see the magnitude of it in the first 10 days itself on Voot. There is no other TV show that inspires so much fandom and the biggest fans of the show get everything they can think of now, including voting to save their contestants, on one digital platform and that is Voot. The episodes and the exclusively curated content around Bigg Boss on Voot has witnessed unparalleled digital viewership and has helped deepen the connect of these fans with the iconic show and that is why we see the average watch time per day per viewer for Bigg Boss on Voot is well over 45 minutes. With the momentum we have seen in the first ten days, we are now pushing to cross the magical 1 billion views mark for this season of Bigg Boss on Voot.”

    The exclusive segments, over and above the full episodes, curated for Bigg Boss on Voot include Unseen Undekha – A full dose of Bigg Boss for the true fans with exclusive and unseen content from the Bigg Boss house beyond what can be seen in the show episodes. From intimate conversations, impromptu dances and games organised by the housemates, to all the drama & fun that is an inherent part of BB, Unseen Undekha offer a daily, exclusive view into the saucy lives of the contestants as they go about surviving in the BB house.

    Cutless – A favorite with hardcore BB fans, Cutless offers a daily extensive, no holds barred access to watch complete unedited, uncut action and drama around eliminations, tasks, nominations and other game-changing events in the Bigg Boss house.

    Bigg Buzz –The fervor around the show gets bigger and better with Bigg Buzz, a fun weekend social media round-up show. Bigg Buzz will see a humorous take on all the madness of BB on the web, peppered with Live Video Chats, Twitter Interactions, Facebook Live etc. Upping the heat on the show will be other celebrity guests, the eliminated contestant of the week along with friends & family, ex-BB Stars and Social Media Influencers. Bigg Buzz is all set to up the engagement with the commoners truly making Bigg Boss11 – a show for the fans, of the fans and by the biggest fans of BB11.

  • MTV, HD+ to air ‘Bigg Boss Extra Dose’ for youth on weekdays from 9 Oct

    MTV, HD+ to air ‘Bigg Boss Extra Dose’ for youth on weekdays from 9 Oct

    MUMBAI: India’s favorite reality show Bigg Boss, now in its 11th season, is all set to make history from 9 October as it gets ready to be aired on Colors’ young padosi channel – MTV, the universe of the youth.

    While the common man and celebrities will fight all odds, and live together as neighbours under the bemused gaze of the host Salman Khan, the daily dose of entertainment is going to get better for the viewers as they will get an exclusive peek into the Bigg Boss house every weekday through ‘Bigg Boss Extra Dose’– twice a day on MTV.

    Viewers can watch exclusive content – sneak peek direct from the BB’s house that will be aired between 2 and 3 pm and late-night slot 11:30 pm – 1 am.

    Viacom18 head – youth, music and English entertainment Ferzad Palia said, “We understand the pulse of the youth and constant need for wanting something more.”

    With Khan in the avatar of neighborhood peacemaker, 18 handpicked contestants and never-seen-before twist of Gharwale and Padosi, this season of Bigg Boss has raised the curiosity level of viewers.

  • Viacom18’s Ranjit Pathak joins 93.5 Red FM

    Viacom18’s Ranjit Pathak joins 93.5 Red FM

    MUMBAI: Red FM has appointed Viacom18’s Ranjit Phatak as the national programming head.

    Phatak, who was leading the creative and strategic vision of MTV programming at Viacom, will now lead the programming for Red FM network based out of Mumbai. Phatak comes with an experience of more than 16 years in the programming industry. He has been the programming lead for some of the top shows like MTV Love School, MTV Bakra, Roadies season 7, Emotional Atyachaar, Big Switch among others.

    Commenting on this switch, Phatak said, “For me, this also acts as a platform of change, moving from a TV background to radio where I feel there is a huge potential for this media. As for contributing to Red FM’s programming, I plan to stick to the basics of Bajaate Raho and build from that.”

    With the new hire in the leadership team, Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan says, “Ranjit has had an illustrious career in the television industry. Having worked on brands like MTV & Bindaas his vast knowledge and experience about the variety of audience specifically the youth will act as a major catalyst in amplifying our Bajaate Raho proposition through interesting, innovating & youthful content on air.”

  • MTV & HP provide ‘Fame-istan’ to budding filmmakers

    MTV & HP provide ‘Fame-istan’ to budding filmmakers

    MUMBAI: Freedom of expression is considered to be a basic necessity for human beings to live a full life. It is a reflection of a healthy and democratic nation. More often than not cinema is considered as a classic means of expression of thoughts and freedom. MTV, the voice of the youth, along with HP Inc.has taken the onus to give a democratic makeover to the craft of filmmaking their latest venture, HP India MTV Fame-istan.

    The mass outreach of cinema is one of the major reasons that makes ‘Fame-istan’ the best platform for filmmakers to express themselves. Fame-istan will be enabling four aspiring filmmakers to live their dream of making a film and being mentored by top- guns in the Indian film industry. Each month a film mentor will introduce the director of the month. The director will then call out to actors and people who want to be a part of their short film.

    Staying true to its name, Fame-istan will not only help young filmmakers live their dream but also offer a chance to the cast and crew of the movie to make it big by providing them a platform to showcase their talent. After the selection of the cast and crew of the movie, the filmmakers will be mentored by ace directors from the film industry. Each short film will have to be completed within a duration of 1.5 months. Once the movie is shot, the mentor will give their verdict on the film. The first mentor who will be guiding young filmmakers and helping them hone their skill is ace director, Mohit Suri.

    On giving more power to young filmmakers, Viacom18 head – youth, music and English entertainment Ferzad Palia says: “At MTV we believe in inspiring and empowering youngsters. Fame- istan is a platform that will enable young movie makers kick-start their filmmaking career that too with the help of ace directors from the industry. Cinema is a powerful and inspiring platform and is by far the only democratic tool in the country that has a mass outreach. Indian cinema has grown in different directions of late and offers more diversity than ever and Fame- istan is a perfect platform for budding artists to showcase their talent through cinema.”

    HP Inc, India, head of country marketing Ayesha Durante said, “We are delighted to be creating this platform along with MTV. HP is furthering its proposition of ‘ReinventMyStory’ by providing the youth a launchpad to showcase their own capabilities, stand out early on in their lives and make their mark in this space, thereby reinventing the story of their lives.”

    The short films will be brought to life using HP Pavilion x360 and HP Spectre x360 and will be stitched together in an episode which will later be telecasted on MTV. The films will individually go live on MTV’s social platforms as well.

  • FremantleMedia appoints Aradhana Bhola as India MD

    FremantleMedia appoints Aradhana Bhola as India MD

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has announced the appointment of Aradhana Bhola to the role of the managing director at FremantleMedia India.

    Based in Mumbai, Aradhana will head up the company’s Indian business, reporting in to Ian Hogg, FremantleMedia’s Regional Chief Executive Officer, Australia & Asia Pacific. As Managing Director, Aradhana will be responsible for managing all development and production operations in India and leveraging relationships with broadcast and digital partners throughout the country. The appointment will be effective immediately.

    Announcing the appointment, Ian Hogg, said: “Aradhana is a class act, she’s creative, energetic and driven. Aradhana’s experience and understanding of the Indian market means she is the ideal candidate to build on the great successes FremantleMedia has already enjoyed in the region while unlocking the many exciting creative and commercial opportunities it presents.”

    On her appointment, Aradhana Bhola said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to spearhead the India operations at FremantleMedia. This challenge is very exciting, given the complexity and diversity of the Indian content market. In my new role, I hope to push the team’s creative and innovative vision to new heights.”

    Aradhana joined FremantleMedia India in 2012 as Creative Director and was promoted to Head of Content in 2015. During her time with the company she has overseen production on titles including India’s Got Talent (Colors), Indian Idol (Sony), Covershot (National Geographic Channel), Angels of Rock (MTV) and Amra Na Ora (Star Jalsha). Prior to joining the business, Aradhana was VP Programming at Star Plus and Head of Programming at Zoom.

    FremantleMedia India first opened its office in 2009 and has since ranked amongst the leaders in television content in the region. The company has produced tentpole programmes such as Indian Idol and India’s Got Talent, which continue to attract record audiences. The seventh season of Indian Idol premiered to over 9 million viewers, doubling Sony TV’s primetime average. The most recent series of India’s Got Talent peaked at 9.7 million viewers, delivered an audience 55% higher than Color’s primetime average and reached an impressive 230 million viewers across the season.

    In 2016, FremantleMedia India produced its first web series, Confessions – It’s Complicated, which launched exclusively on Facebook. The online series amassed an incredible 40 million hits across the series and 11.5 million views. There were also 70,000 innovative live audience interactions with the cast. A second season is now in development.

  • Dairy Milk & MTV host Friendship Adda, release TVC

    MUMBAI: Cadbury Dairy Milk would be celebrating Friendship Day at a unique Cadbury Friendship Adda on 4 August at Sophia College, Mumbai. In association with MTV, a number of engagement activities, musical performances by college bands etc are planned. 

    Popular Indie band The Raghu Dixit Project would be performing at the Adda. With the message of #RealDosti at the centre of the communication, Cadbury Dairy Milk will be taking the message of urging the youth to celebrate Friendship Day through digital innovations of contextual messaging on Youtube and having a Friendship Day filter on Facebook. The message would be amplified across youth touch-points, media elements and social platforms through Live sessions and engaging content. 

    Mondelez India director – marketing (chocolates) Prashant Peres said, “The friendship day is a collective and one of the more popular occasions amongst the youth in schools and colleges. We wanted to use this as an opportunity to remind the digital savvy youth that Friendship Day could be a great opportunity to meet their friends in the real world. The thought is to get the youth off social media, and get them to meet, greet and wish friends in person this friendship day.”

    The launch of the limited edition Cadbury Dairy Milk will be supported by a communication campaign that includes a new TVC, as well as outdoor, print and digital campaigns targeting the brands core target audience i.e. youth.  The new TVC conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai, begins with the scene of a college campus where two friends meet in the morning on friendship’s day. While one of the friends is busy responding to the friendship day messages on her phone, the other friend is immersed in relishing a Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate that she has been gifted. A moment of realisation dawns upon her as she then hands over a Cadbury Dairy Milk to her friend as a gift, urging her to get off that phone and make real connections this Friendship’s Day.

    Ogilvy & Mather ECD Neville Shah said “The world today is about digital connections. We’ve lost the pleasures of actual connections. Friendship day seemed like the right day to remind people that while the digital exists, it may be nice to meet your real friends in the real world. And placing Cadbury Dairy Milk at the heart of the story, implying that real friends celebrate together with a CDM.”

  • Discovery may emerge as sole Scripps bidder

    MUMBAI: Scripps is reportedly moving ahead on talks with Discovery, and Viacom is out of the bidding race. TV network owners are struggling owing to a decline in subscriptions for satellite and cable services as they lose viewers to social networks and online video services.

    Viacom, the owner of Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon, had earlier reportedly made an all-cash bid for Scripps, the value of which could be as much as $10.6 billion. Scripps was popular among pay-TV distributors that offer low-cost and smaller bundles of family-centric channels to budget-conscious subscribers.

    Discovery Communications, the owner of TLC and Animal Planet, is reportedly offering around $90 a share for Scripps Networks Interactive, eventually closing in on a potential cable TV merger which could be worth around $12 billion. The offer was good enough to reportedly pressure Viacom Inc. to leave its efforts to buy the owner of Food Network and HGTV. Discovery and Viacom declined comment.

    The companies are in the process of discussing unspecified issues and may not reach a definitive agreement until next week.

    Buying Scripps, with its popular programming on travel, food, and home repair, could help Discovery reduce costs, gain negotiating leverage with distributors and expand internationally as its U.S. TV businesses face pressure.

    While Discovery networks such as Investigation Discovery and TLC are no stranger to reality programming, the company’s main focus has been on shows centered on nature, science, and exploration. Its focus on non-fiction is seen as a smooth fit with Scripps, whose networks focus on travel, food, and home-improvement.

    The negotiation between Discovery and Scripps may result in a deal as early as next week, though the talks could still fail.

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    Discovery & Scripps reported to be discussing merger

     

  • MTV to air new reality show ‘Dropout Pvt Ltd’

    MUMBAI: MTV launched a new reality show MTV Dropout Pvt. Ltd, presented by Droom.in, powered by Micromax and Maruti Suzuki and grooming partner Gillette which will see the birth of the world’s first ever start-up formed on television.

    Created by Monozygotic and co-developed by MTV and Monozygotic, the show will premiere on 29 July at 7pm and next day onwards on Voot.

    Dropout Pvt. Ltd. is a show that will take viewers through the process of identifying and transforming ‘dropouts’ into the ideal start-up team and kick-starting their entrepreneurial journey.

    Expert businessmen who have excelled in their respective fields, Droom.in CEO and founder Sandeep Aggarwal, Mydala.com CEO and co-founder Anisha Singh, Games2Win CEO and co-founder Alok Kejriwal along with the show’s hosts and creators Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman will be a part of panels identifying and transforming ‘dropouts’ into the dream start-up team to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey.

    Speaking about the first season of Dropout Pvt. Ltd., Viacom18 youth, music and English entertainment head Ferzad Palia said, “India is brimming with young untapped energy keen on making ideas come to life and we at MTV, believe that as the largest platform for everything related to the youth, it is our responsibility to recognize, channelize and mobilize this energy by providing the youth with the right tools to make ideas happen. MTV aims at empowering these youngsters by providing them the biggest encouragement in the form of Dropout Pvt. Ltd. to kick start their entrepreneurial dreams. We at MTV realize that the youth today with their ‘go-getter’ attitude is willing to dream big to achieve their goals. We just want to give them the wings to fly.”

    Raghu Ram shared, “This exciting new show which revolves around the idea of entrepreneurship will be all about gutsy young minds keen on achieving their dreams. Rajiv and I saw a lot of potential in the idea of the show and we sat down with the MTV team to discuss and finalize the concept. The two of us together have conceptualized the show and will be producing and hosting the show as well. This is India’s first of its kind startup reality show aimed at the youth and we hope to boost the confidence of a lot of youngsters out there as we already have a long-standing connection with the youth of India.”

    “In a country like India where blazing one’s own trail is not encouraged too much; MTV is yet again taking a brave step by celebrating those youngsters who choose to go their own way by providing them with the correct platform to give life to their dreams. Through this show that has been conceptualized by Raghu and me, we aim to transform these young people into the ideal entrepreneurs and kick- start their start-up journey. When we were starting out, Raghu and I have had to go through a lot and hence understand the struggle and we both understand the youth very well due to the work we have done with them throughout our careers. It takes a lot to give up on everything and start something of your own and we are here to make this a lot easier for the youth out there,” said Rajiv Laxman.

    Speaking about the show, Aggarwal shared, “Dropout Pvt. Ltd. is a brilliant concept. This is an amazing platform for young minds who have a knack to start something of their own to be pitted against the biggest real-world business challenges, who must survive to form India’s dream startup team. Entrepreneurship is nothing without risk- taking and taking risks is scary whether you are going for a game of poker or quitting your college to pursue one of your promising business ideas. Entrepreneurship is a real test of once conviction, confidence and courage and the ones who take risks ultimately reach their destination. Dropout Pvt. Ltd. will be a great kick starter for all the risk- takers out there!”

    Singh also mentioned, “It feels exhilarating to be a part of the jury for Dropout Pvt. Ltd, especially after interacting with the kind of people that have walked in through the doors during the audition rounds. Each one had a phenomenal story or idea. It’s great that the Indian youth finally has a large platform to experiment with their ideas and launch their start-up dreams. We are looking for contestants who have the ‘self-starter’ attitude. Love that MTV recognizes that the youth today has bigger dreams and is willing to do what it takes to beat the odds. They are ready to change the status quo to make a difference. It’s time to become bigger than your dreams and MTV is giving you a chance to do it.”

    “It’s a different high being one’s own 8boss and a show like Dropout Pvt. Ltd. will help young minds kickstart their journey towards realizing their dream. Entrepreneurship is not only about being the best at what you do, it’s also about surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and can do a better job. MTV has given the biggest platform to young entrepreneurs to shed all their pretexts and learn how to build a company, not to sell but to keep,” said Kejriwal.