ITV

Tag: MTV

  • “We believe in tickling the viewer’s funny bone” : Viacom18 Media Sr VP & GM English entertainment Ferzad Palia

    “We believe in tickling the viewer’s funny bone” : Viacom18 Media Sr VP & GM English entertainment Ferzad Palia

    Between starting out with Vh1 in early 2005 and taking over its reins in 2010, he has played a large part in finding a place for it in a Bollywood dominated entertainment space. Most of its older cousins could not withstand the sledgehammer like onslaught of Bollywood. MTV and Channel [V] began as international music offerings then transformed into Bollywood music clones and finally morphed into youth oriented channels. But Vh1 has stood tall, boldly delivering International music and content, targeting the upscale youth, under Viacom18 Media Sr vice-president & general manager English entertainment Ferzad Palia’s stewardship.

    Palia loves the medium and has taken on another challenge: that of making Indian TV viewers tune into and laugh to Comedy Central which offers international comedy of every kind, whether stand up or the slapstick. Indian TV viewers have been relatively indifferent to jokes as they have only entertained a single comedy channel – that also in Hindi, Sab and part of the Sony stable. The task for Palia therefore is double hard, first to introduce them to laughter and then to make them to love it and guffaw to it too. But he is quite up to the task as he discloses to Indiantelevision.com’s Sidharth Iyer in this tete a tete.

    Excerpts:

    Despite stiff competition from the likes of Star World and Zee Café, you seem to be enjoying quite a presence in the English GEC space. Please tell us how?

    When we thought of launching the channel, we looked at the English general entertainment space and found there were mainly three peers who’ve been around for the last 12-15 years: Star World, Zee Café and Sony AXN. So it was quite a daunting task to even want to make an entry.

    It was really important at that point in time to have a clearly differentiated product unlike the rest, coupled with the insight that comedy is one of the best performing genres in the category and the fact that India needs some serious laughter. So Comedy Central was apt to compete in the English GEC space – a product the consumer knew is a one-stop shop for laughs.

    We did the right thing by identifying the gap and making the most of the opportunity by serving a differentiated product; creating a genre within a genre.

    The launch was crucial with the kind of buzz we created even before coming in. People came to know we were debuting in India; word-of-mouth did the trick for us clearly. Our test signal was a huge talking point among bloggers, and got social media in a tizzy.

    There has been no looking back since. We don’t see ourselves as just another TV channel but as one of Viacom 18’s brands, which the company is heavily invested in.
    We believe in striking the right chord with our audiences; tickling their funny bone so to say. We’ve done things differently, even marketing. For example, we did menu cards which had NOW on top and NEVER at the bottom. That won us accolades, and we were able to break the clutter very quickly, getting us the right kind of audience that has stuck with us since.

    Down the road, we’ve benefited considerably in getting on board over 150 advertisers across the spectrum. We’ve won loads of awards in India, Asia and more recently, at ProMax World, which is where the cr?me de la cr?me of the television industry converges every year. We’ve managed to bag 13 awards there. So everything’s fallen in place, and we couldn’t have asked for more in the 15-18 months of our existence. We continue to experiment with our local programming but are yet to find that one thing that we would be proud to put on the channel to be honest.

    We’re aware English comedy is very difficult. So, we’re still in the process of getting that right.

    About our on-ground activities, we do believe in the power of engaging directly with our audiences. So whatever you’ve seen in terms of such activities is really just the tip of the iceberg and there’s a lot more in store. So wait and watch…

    Over the past year, we’ve completely rebooted our digital presence, addressing each of our brands with consumer properties we’ve been building both online and in the form of applications.

    Similarly, the consumer property for Comedy Central has been under development for more than six months now and should be ready for launch by early October. It’s going to be very interesting with various elements to it we would be unveiling.

    It would be a good mix of the current bouquet of shows on air and since we’re more genre-driven than show-driven, we would have different strategies for different mediums. We would also be launching a Comedy Central app soon and so, these are interesting times…

    Are there any new age marketing gimmicks you’ve deployed?

    With each show we try to promote, we attempt to go that extra mile.

    For instance, the way we shot an Indian promo for our show Anger Management even though we had a big name in Charlie Sheen…

    We use different strategies for different shows: for some, we go with regular above-the-line media whereas for others, we go the full hog on digital to have a fairly digital kind of promotion.

    Going back to Anger Management, there was a lot of above-the-line media used, and you will soon get to see some more innovations on the show in the coming weeks.
    You will get to see some more path-breaking marketing once we start airing the third season of Suits.

    We have a newly incorporated digital team, which is dedicated to engaging our audiences on social media as we are extremely focused as a network.

    Our presence on digital is only swelling with 1.6 million likes on Facebook and just over 19,500 followers on our Twitter handle. We are making the right noises and reaping rewards on social media. 

    In sum, it’s dynamic stuff like creating special ice cream in collaboration with Baskin Robbins or tying up with small donuts chains. We believe when you’re catering to a select audience, you’ve got to give that something extra where marketing is concerned.

    We’re very savvy and adapt to changing trends and going forward, we plan to have newer innovations, like combining TV and digital to create further traction among our fan base.

    Speaking of licensing and merchandising tie-ups, we’ve come out with a line of South Park tee-shirts that are available for purchase online and have been hurriedly flying off the shelves. We’re already on this route and many such tie-ups are on the cards.

    What is your content strategy for Comedy Central? Do you plan on encouraging co-viewing?

    Like any other English entertainment channel, there are different shows that cater to the needs of different sets of audiences. For instance, a show like Mash, a yesteryear classic, will most likely be watched by the father of the household, possibly along with his wife and kid whereas Suits will be viewed by the youngsters above 25 years of age. There’s a bit of synergistic viewing there as well but we don’t define a strategy like we want the entire family to watch. Reason being we would become extremely limited in what we put out so we have different kinds of content for different sets of audiences across the country at different times of the day.

    But yes, we would like to believe that there’s a lot of family viewing happening for quite a few of our shows though the person influencing the family to watch together may be different in each case.


    Given the environment we are in, everyone wants a laugh and de-stress, so the idea is to not inculcate comedy as a habit but to look at it as a state of mind or as an escape route for some people. So basically you can’t create a habit such as comedy…

    What kind of advertisers do you have on board? Do you see any emerging spenders in this space?

    For a fairly young channel, we have advertisers from all major sectors including manufacturers (handsets, chewing gum and paint), banks, FMCGs and so on.

    So there is no one category driving our ad sales. The good part is we’re getting great traction among advertisers. I mean right from day one of our launch, we had Volkswagen on board, which not many channels can boast of on the first day.

    While we’re blessed with a varied set of advertisers from day one, we would still love to have many more spenders on board as it’s a tough market to operate in. Thankfully, things are looking up for us and being a differentiated product is an added bonus as people value us for it. We’re pleased to see the same treatment being meted out to VH1 which is again the only English music and entertainment channel in the country.

    How are you faring in terms of numbers?

    For English language channels, we feel the sample size is not adequate, so we don’t talk numbers. To check the affinity of the brand and to get an unbiased view on how the channel is faring – the buzz on social media should be taken into consideration, where everyone has a voice and everyone has an opinion. And you can see the results live in front of your eyes; you don’t have to wait for a period of one week or four weeks.

    We Indians don’t really know how to laugh. What are you doing to inculcate comedy as a habit with the Indian TV viewer? 

    Given the environment we are in, everyone wants a laugh and de-stress, so the idea is to not inculcate comedy as a habit but to look at it as a state of mind or as an escape route for some people. So basically you can’t create a habit such as comedy… We just expose them to things and they prefer to take a liking to it by creating a 24 hour platform to experience the best comedy from across the world.

    What are the offline activities that CC is currently carrying out? And what can we expect in the coming few months from CC?

    We are piloting a few things but it’s too early to talk about them but we won’t put out anything that isn’t the best quality as it will be residing in the same house as some of the best content in the world. So quality is the key and also the attempt is to create an ecosystem for indigenous English comedy which would be over the long term.

    We are also doing on-ground activities like Comedy Central Chuckle Fest – where we flew down some of the world’s best stand-up comedians. So we will engage with people and make them laugh at multiple touch points. And wait there’s more rather than just making them laugh we would like to put a smile on their faces.

    The new shows that are scheduled to air are Suits season 3 starting 7 October and we would be airing that as its going through a mid season break and telecast the first 10 episodes from October to December and the rest of the episodes running into January. We took this call as there is huge demand for it and people don’t want to wait for the season to end and 10 is a sizable number to play out at one go. And then we have Anger Management season 2 starring Charlie Sheen also airing in October. So the year will surely end well for us…

    What are your thoughts on the 10+2 ad cap? Does it encourage you to create more engaging content? Has digitisation helped?

    There are a few ways to look at this. One way being the likely impact of the 12 minute ruling on each individual business, but at the core of it is the fact that better channels will win. It’s that simple.

    And that is where I believe our strategy of being a differentiated player will pay off, while we are competing in the English entertainment space, we don’t see this having a great impact.

    In fact, we see it as a boon for our set of brands, because at the end of the day, we have invested in our brands for a reason and the time to reap the benefits of that will come in situations such as 10+2.

    From the consumer perspective, it’s a great thing, because they will be able to watch more content and less commercials. The good part is that we have always been cautious about this and maintained reasonable advertising stickiness in the one and a half years.

    Time will tell how it pans out for broadcasters, as some will benefit and some will be adversely affected. And I think it is also a great thing for the advertisers as their communication will get consumed in an uncluttered environment.
    So I think it’s a win-win situation for all.

    It’s been a good year for the broadcasting industry at large with digitisation coming into effect. As the consumer can experience a better quality of viewing and is not necessarily paying more, it may increase in the years to come, but currently, he/she is not paying more and getting a far better quality of service.

    The broadcaster too is benefitting financially if it wants to know its reach in terms of the households unlike in the analog era. You also have the option of watching only your favourite channels and getting them as a bunch together. Be it English entertainment, Hindi entertainment or News, unlike the analogue era where the more you paid, the higher frequency you were put onto.

  • MTV tells youth to play safe on the net

    MTV tells youth to play safe on the net

    MUMBAI: Six years ago, the sensational case of a sixteen-year-old who ended up being murdered by two teenagers he had befriended on the then popular website Orkut sent shock waves through the country.

    Today, instances of cyber crime have grown multi-fold, permeating our everyday lives; be it something as serious as child pornography or abuse or just someone having been taken for a ride on the internet.

    In a world where danger may be lurking just a click away, MTV, through its pro-social platform, MTV Act, has taken upon itself the task of teaching the youth how to protect themselves from being victims of cyber crime.

    MTV Act will be starting a new series called MTV Webbed, which attempts to explain how every Like, Share, Comment or Tweet can have a Domino effect. With fictional representations of real-life incidents that youngsters have encountered on the Web, the ten-part series, airing on Saturday, 14 September at 7:00 pm, targets the age group between 15 and 24 years.

    To be able to stay as true to what is happening online, MTV has associated with the NGO – Cyber Crime Awareness Society (CCAS), apart from some intensive research on the subject.

    Dos and donts while surfing

    * Don’t share your pictures and other personal details on social networking websites.
    * Don’t add strangers on social networking sites, and other android applications.
    * Use https only when you are net banking websites.
    * Don’t use pirated software and operating systems.
    * Use genuine anti-virus and operating systems.
    * Keep your anti-virus and windows updated.
    * Don’t give your laptops, mobiles phones, credit/debit cards to your friends.
    * Use WPA/PSK or higher encryptions for your WI-FI connections.
    * Don’t sign in into your net banking accounts while using public internet
    * Don’t give your credit card number(s) & CVV online unless the site is secured and reputable.
    * Don’t leave your credit card around that tempts children to use it.
    * Be careful while downloading any free software or screensaver etc.
    * Don’t reveal if you’re going out of town or details of your location
    * Choose strong passwords for your accounts to keep them safe. (Use special characters, etc)
    * Always type the website address yourself in the browser rather than clicking on a link provided in an email or   in a chat by your friend.
    * Keep a questioning attitude, if you receive any big amount of lottery through the internet even without   participating in it.
    * Use a variety of passwords, not the same for all of your accounts.
    * Disconnect from the internet when not in use, while using computers or mobiles.
    * Check your online account frequently and make sure all listed transactions are valid.
    * Always delete spam emails immediately and empty the trash box to prevent accidentally clicking on the same link.

    MTV Webbed will be hosted by celebrities such as Jay Bhanushali, Siddharth Shukla, Karan Vir Bohra, Ritwick Dhanjani, choreographer Salman Khan, Pratyusha Banerjee, Sana Syed, Priya Wal and singer Chang. The emphasis will be on how more often than not, youngsters let curiosity and natural instincts take precedence while surfing the net, only to regret their actions later.

    Says MTV India EVP and business head Aditya Swamy: “We have realised that today, the youth is online and they don’t realise that though internet has its advantages, every advantage comes with associated risks. So, we want to tell people how they can protect themselves from being victims.”

    What about the umpteen reality shows that already cater to this subject? “Cyber crime has become so prevalent today that it needs that much more of coverage and awareness to be created. Since we have a good digital presence and we want our TG to be there, it is also our responsibility to make sure they are safe,” replies Swamy.
    The promos, created by an in-house team with the tagline ‘Think before you click’, are already on air.

    There was also a debate on the topic on CNN IBN with Sagarika Ghose on 12 September.

    Also, MTV has tied-up with various colleges to create help lines that one can contact in times of distress.
    While MTV is gung-ho about the new series, media analysts too feel it might do well, what with parents watching it as well just to increase their awareness about what happens online.
     

  • Doordarshan, MTV to telecast Coke Studio Season 3

    Doordarshan, MTV to telecast Coke Studio Season 3

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan is to telecast eight episodes of Coke Studio Season 3 from this weekend on its national channel.

     

    The telecast of the first episode on Doordarshan will be on 18 August from 9.00 pm to 10.00 pm. Coke Studio is being shared by MTV, where it will be aired one day earlier from this evening.

     

    As a concept, Coke Studio is a confluence of diverse music genres, both vocal and instrumental, from traditional eastern to modern western and from regional to folk. It embodies a musical fusion of exciting elements and diverse influences. Bringing alive the magic of live recordings and performances.

     

    Coke Studio will focus on showcasing diversity and innovation through eight unique episodes, with different producers and incredible musicians.

     

    The season will among others feature Amit Trivedi, Clinton Cerejo, Hitesh Sonik and Papon, Ram Sampat, Salim- Sulaiman, Aman- Ayan and Devika, RDB, GV Prakash, Vijay Prakash, Maati Bani, and the legendary A R Rahman.

     

    Coke Studio promises to bring alive a magical experience for the music lovers by dwelling on “PURE” Innovation to offer a musical concoction.

     

    The new season was launched by Sukhwinder Singh, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Papon, Salim-Sulaiman, AR Rahman, Clinton Cerejo, Hishesh Soni, and Bollywood actors Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidhartha Malhotra.

     

    Rahman unveiled his Song “Zariya”, a Coke Studio anthem, which will be available on Coke Studio’s website. A song from this season, “Bismillah” also became available on the website on the occasion of Eid. The song has been composed by Salim-Sulaiman.

     

    “Jagaao Mere Des” by Rahman and written by Prasoon Joshi, went live on Independence Day.

  • Draftfcb Ulka appoints Menaka Menon as head strategic planning

    Draftfcb Ulka appoints Menaka Menon as head strategic planning

    MUMBAI: Menaka Menon joins Draftfcb Ulka as head strategic planning at its Bengaluru office. She has over 13 years experience in advertising and media. Her professional interests include new media, understanding youth consumer and their buying behaviour.

     

    Speaking on her appointment, vice president Dennis Koshy said, “Menaka brings valuable experience across categories to Draftfcb Ulka. Having started her career with us, she is familiar with the organisation and I am sure she will add significant value to our clients here.”

     

    An alumnus of MICA, Menaka started her career at the then FCB Ulka, as part of its Star One programme. She then moved to JWT where she spent over seven years, before moving on to assignments with Big 92.7 FM, UTV New Media and MTV.

     

    uring the course of her career, Menaka has worked on several big brands such as Amul, Knorr, Levi‘s, Kotak, Diageo and Star across Mumbai and Bangalore.

     

    On her second stint at Draftfcb Ulka, Menaka observed, “Draftfcb Ulka is known for the strategic contribution it provides to client businesses. I started my career here and I am really excited about the opportunity to come back. Bangalore office has a very good portfolio of clients and brands, and I look forward to partnering them.”

     

    Draftfcb Ulka COO Nitin Karkare felt that, “Bangalore is a critical operation for us with prestigious brands like Sunfeast, Minto, Candyman, Santoor, Chandrika in our portfolio. Menaka is part of our Star One program and we are delighted to have her back on board. I am sure she will add a lot of value to the business with her rich experience across categories”

  • Foxtel Debuts IPTV Service

    Foxtel Debuts IPTV Service

    MUMBAI: Foxtel has launched a new Internet TV service, Foxtel Play, which allows customers with a broadband connection to watch programming live or on a catch-up basis.

    The series is currently live, ahead of its official launch on 11 August. Foxtel Play is delivered over the Internet, initially eligible on Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox 360 and computers. Customers can watch a range of sports, drama, entertainment, documentary and movie channels live or on demand with no lock-in contract or installation costs. The packages feature more than 40 live channels, including Showcase, Fox8, History, National Geographic, FX, MTV and more. There are also hundreds of VOD titles.

    The Foxtel Go service will be available to Foxtel Play customers as part of their subscription. This will allow customers to access Foxtel Go on up to two registered devices, including iPads and select Samsung smartphones and tablets.

    Foxtel chief executive Richard Freudenstein said, “We‘re thrilled to offer Foxtel Play as a new way to introduce more people to our unparalleled programming. Our core set-top box subscribers are already experiencing great features, including Foxtel Go and On Demand. Now, Foxtel Play gives even more Australians who might not be able to access the core service the freedom and flexibility to enjoy Foxtel across multiple connected devices and at price points to suit different budgets and tastes.”

    Foxtel‘s executive director of product Jim Rudder added, “Foxtel Play broadens our internet TV service and gives customers a Foxtel internet TV offering across a host of devices. We‘ve also had fantastic feedback to Foxtel Go since its launch and have responded by upping the number and type of devices customers can use to access it.”

  • Sandeep Dahiya appointed as director and biz-head – brand extensions with The Times Group

    Sandeep Dahiya appointed as director and biz-head – brand extensions with The Times Group

    MUMBAI: Sandeep Dahiya who was sr VP and business head – consumer products at Vaicom 18 has moved on to The Times Group as director and biz-head – brand extensions where he would report to Bennet, Coleman and Co‘s COO Shrijeet Mishra.

    The Times Group, director and biz-head – brand Sandeep Dahiya

    At Viacom18 Sandeep spent eight years across various functions – communications, corporate affairs and consumer products. Over the last five years, he was heading the consumer products business for all Viacom18 brands namely – MTV, Vh1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Sonic and Nick-Junior and Colors as well as communications. At the consumer products end, Vaicom 18 ended the last financial year with a retail turnover of close to Rs 260-265 crore around MTV and Nickelodeon products, with a presence in over 50 categories and over 65 licensees.

    Dahiya stated, “The reason for shift was a greater challenge and an exciting opportunity. The Times Group has a portfolio of brands that resonate extremely well with their respective consumers. The idea is to extend some of these brands beyond their core businesses, thus driving more engagement and growth. It feels great. It is one of the only media companies that has stayed ahead of the industry growth curve, by virtue of sheer innovation, differentiated way of looking at the business and a great team.”

  • Mathrubhumi’s Kappa TV perks up Malayalam youth TV market

    Mathrubhumi’s Kappa TV perks up Malayalam youth TV market

    It‘s more than a cuppa coffee that most youth hold in their hands while they lounge about in Café Coffee Days or BruCafes. Kappa TV – the youth focused music channel promoted by the Kozhikode-based Mathrubhumi media group – has chosen to be different from others of its ilk – it has a programming mix in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil. And this, from a group which has its origins in Kerala where Malayalam and English are the main spoken languages. As compared to this, mainline youth channels MTV, UTV Bindass, Channel V, 9XM have been sticking to one lingo – Hinglish.

    Mathrubhumi media group‘s Kappa TV adds some zing to its content with a host of English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil programming

    Mathrubhumi TV CEO Mohan Nair says this is but natural and expected from south India‘s first youth centric channel. He explains: “In south India, young viewers are very much into popular cultures which are represented by Hollywood, Bollywood, Mollywood, and Kollywood. Tamil and Malayali youth also tune into English and Hindi songs from Sony Mix, MTV, UTV Bindaas and 9XM. Hence, we decided to have an amalgam of these languages along with Malayalam and Tamil in our programming mix whether it is in the form of music videos we play or the language that is spoken.”

    Estimates are that the Malayalam TV ad market is around Rs 675 crore; while the reach of all Malayalam channels put together is 8.1 million households.

    Music Mojo on Kappa TV is a Malayalam me-too of MTV Unplugged and Coke Studio

    As for the ad rates for Kappa TV, sources say, they hover around Rs 850-Rs 1000 per 10-second spot.

    On the content front, Nair reveals that the channel has six to seven hours of original non-fiction content in Malayalam and English on air daily, with shows being repeated twice. Kappa TV is primarily programmed in Malayalam with 60 per cent being back-to-back music videos rolling out in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and English, and 40 per cent being non-fiction shows.

    Among the music-based shows, the channel airs Music Mojo, a Malayalam me-too of MTV Unplugged and Coke Studio; Awesome Covers, a remix of songs of different languages; Mood Tapes, a show which captures the mood of the day and invites people across neighbourhoods to sing and compose songs; Bindaas Bollywood, which showcases Bollywood‘s best; and International Chart Busters.

    I Personally, which focuses on celebrity interviews is past of the channel‘s non-fiction portfolio

    Kappa TV‘s non-fiction portfolio includes: I Personally, which focuses on celebrity interviews; Film Lounge, a film review and recommendation show;Creative Chef and Simply Naadan – cookery shows, Street Magic, a magic show and Candid Camera which features celeb photo shoots and style tips from fashion experts. “We have chefs from hotel chain giants like Vivanta by Taj , Crowne Plaza,Holiday Innu and Le Meridien for our show Creative Chef,” informs Nair.

    A large number of celebrities from the south have already featured on I Personally. These include, Kavya Madhavan, Padmapriya, Rima Kallingal, Swathy Reddy, Mahesh Narayanan, Krish, Haricharan, Rashid Ali, Vijay Yesudas, Shyamaprasad, Kamal, Prathap Pothen , Sibi Malayil and also popular directors like Siddhique Prashant Pillai, Mohanlal and Mammootty.

    Creative Chef features some of the chefs from hotel chain giants like Vivanta by Taj, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Innu and Le Meridien

    The channel has also roped in celebrities to host its shows. The show Simply Naadan is hosted by Vishnu; Meghna Nair hosts Tales and Tunes and Sanjeev Nair anchors the show Filmography.

    Despite an array of shows in the kitty, Nair is quick to acknowledge that he needs more to push the bar as far as content is concerned. “We are mulling over experimenting with standup comedy shows, music video festivals, reality shows, short films and a series which would track the career of the top artistes or film personalities,” he notes.

    With a moving target such as the fickle youth whose attention span is hard to retain, Kappa TV has had to go the whole hog: continuous promotion, whether it is print or TV, or the outdoors or direct consumer engagement – both offline and online. It helps that it has very successful publications in-house for print communications and advertising in the shape of the Mathrubhumi newspaper – both in English and Malayalam.

    “We have allocated around 25-30 per cent of our budget each for print and television, 30 per cent for OOH mediums and the rest for digital,” says Nair.

    The channel‘s ad agency Maitri also helps out with its promotional activities and brand integrations. Promos and standups, posters and tent cards for shows likeMusic Mojo, Film Lounge and Ragaramiyer can be regularly spotted in railway stations, cinema halls, coffee shops, ice-cream parlours like Baskin Robbins. “We have also tied up with certain Kerala online portals like Metro Matinee for advertising about our channel,” informs Nair. And he also narrates with pride how Music Mojo‘s popularity has seen a spinoff being played out on Club FM – an in-house radio station.

    Mathrubhumi director – marketing & electronic media Shreyams Kumar says the
    channel has ignited the imagination 
    of the young crowd, within months
    of its launch

    “International brands like Lulu, Perfetti, Baskin Robbins and national brands like ITC and Kalyan Jewellers are our current advertisers,” says Nair. “We also have a host of local advertisers like Kalyan Silks,Bhima Jewellers and Pothys Silks under our roof. We are in final negotiation with a whole host of brands including Idea Cellular and Nestle for brand tieups,” affirms Nair.

    The channel is available in almost four million cable & satellite TV homes in Kerala, on DEN, Asianet, Siticable and on select cable TV networks in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. This apart, it is in the process of signing up with almost all the DTH providers nationally, which Nair expects will be done before Onam. It is also available internationally in north America and Europe on IPTV platforms, while it can be seen in the Gulf courtesy E-Vision.

    Kappa TV has also started pushing its content out digitally on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Video views on YouTube tot up to about 1.5 million, with some 9,550 odd Twitter followers. Facebook likes add up to some 15,000 plus.

    Definitely not something to crow about, but Nair says the digital push has been on for only four months and is helping build offline traction. “Viewers from India, United Arab Emirates, US, Saudi Arabia, UK, Qatar, Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Singapore, Oman, Bahrain, New Zealand, Germany, Malaysia and Ireland have been watching online versions of our music shows on YouTube. Videos of all our popular shows are updated daily on our YouTube channel”, he reveals.

    The digital initiative is handled by a four member team headed by Kappa TV director marketing and electronic media Shreyams Kumar.

    “Keralites and the wider Malayalee diaspora exposed to best in international entertainment was thirsting for an ethnic mélange. We at the Mathrubhumi sensed this opportunity, and this gave birth to Kappa, our specialty channel. With pulsating music, riotous humour, film review and intimate interviews, all tightly-edited, it has ignited the imagination of the young crowd, within months of launch”, says director – marketing & electronic media Shreyams Kumar.

    “This channel is a landmark achievement, since we have realised our long cherished goal of cross-media synergy. That this has occurred in our 90th anniversary year makes for reloaded pleasure.”

    The group already owns a news channel and a youth channel (both of which was launched in early 2013) under its umbrella. And it has two more licences approved by the ministry of information and broadcasting. One of these is for a general entertainment channel, which it has been planning to launch but has held back on it because of budgetary constraints. “But the desire to have at least one GEC is very much same like any other group,” discloses Nair.
    Mathrubhumi TV CEO Mohan Nair‘s Kappa TV is
    certainly serving some hot ‘cuppa‘ and has left the
    youth wanting for more

    To keep costs low, the group is using the same news channel infrastructure to roll out Kappa TV daily.

    Nair has the right pedigree to successfully steer the Mathrubhumi group‘s TV ambitions. For one, he has print media experience as bureau chief and senior editor of The Economic Times from 1988 to 1999. Then he has the requisite domestic and international TV experience, having worked for six years with Asianet Communications and with Maharaja TV in Sri Lanka before moving to Asianet Communications as COO for six years. He took up the challenge of steering a primarily print group into TV in 2010 and first off the blocks was the Mathrubhumi news channel, followed by Kappa TV.

    And his efforts have won some praise and even the attention of rivals.

    Leading Malayalam network Asianet has taken note of the success that Kappa TV has achieved. Plans are afoot to revamp one of its channels, Asianet Plus. “We are aware of the importance that a youth channel holds and that is why we are revamping Asianet plus for young viewers in the coming two months ,” affirms Asianet, business head, Anup Chandra Shekharan. Sources reveal that this revamp is going to see it emerge as an amalgam of Channel V and Life Ok

    The Sun TV group too has awakened to the potential. Music and movies channel Kiran TV has been converted into a movie channel called Kiran Movies. On the anvil, sources say, is another music channel which is quite likely to be under the Surya brand.

    Now what more could you ask for?

  • Splitsvilla 6 enagages its audience with new apps

    Splitsvilla 6 enagages its audience with new apps

    MUMBAI: Love just got difficult to get. With 16 youngsters fighting with each other to not only win a show, but to also (ostensibly) find love, Splitsvilla 6 has got all the right ingredients to make the perfect youth sizzler. The latest season promises to be ‘Hotter than Hell‘ with lots of scintillating moments and breathtaking participants which are definitely pleasing to the eyes. Not to miss, are the trademark back-stabbing, hating and fighting elements adding the required spice to the tale. Splitsvilla Seaason 6 promises to have higher doses of all these and much more to sustain and increase its cult following among the young and restless.

    The tagline very aptly says ‘Hotter than Hell‘ and to make the show as hot as hell, Viacom18 has launched an interesting campaign introducing newer elements, targeting both digital and Out of Home (OOH) media. The show has been created by an in-house creative team, headed by Bhavya Sharma.

    The network has roped in Fiama De Wills, Karbonn Mobiles, Zinga and Kama Sutra as sponsors for this season. Revealing further details, MTV business head Aditya Swamy says: “We have integrated our sponsors in the show. We are giving exclusive coverage to them by having exclusive Fiama and Karbonn tasks. We also have their logo presence during the show.”

    So what‘s new? The sexy siren Sherlyn Chopra will be the all new sizzling co-host. (We thought Nikhil Chinappa was sexy enough: editor chuckles). Also, the popular ‘Break up Diary‘ segment wherein the female contestants narrated their break-up stories to introduce themselves will now also feature the male contestants. Well, ofcourse, what is more interesting than a bunch of ‘hot‘, bare-chested men talk about how they faced and ‘survived‘ heartbreak, right?

    The channel tells us that extensive research has gone into this season to better understand the pulse of the young generation. The research team, headed by Sumeli Chatterjee tried to spot the current trend. “Changes in Splitsvilla 6 have been created based on the opinion from our research group, whom we refer to as trend spotters,” says Swamy.

    After research, it was time for the right kind of promotion and what better way than to target the buzzing college campuses. MTV reached out to around 200 college campuses across India, including Kolkata, Lucknow and Chandigarh, during its pre-launch. They also hired campus ambassadors for ‘word of mouth‘ marketing. “We have promoted the show in a big way, keeping 20-30 per cent of our total advertising budget only for social and digital platforms,” informs Bhattacharya.

    It‘s the digital front where Splitsvilla aims to create the maximum buzz. “MTV Splitsvilla is the ideal product to proliferate on digital media,” says a media observer. “It‘s for young people who zoom in like bees on outlets such as Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and it‘s about relationships. Hence, it‘s good its building up itself on digital media.”

    With a humongous 2.7 million likes and 1.5 million active fans on Facebook, more than 3500 avid Twitter followers, MTVSplitsvilla 6 has managed to carve a decent online following for itself.

    But, apart from the usually explored territories of Facebook and Twitter, Splitsvilla ventures into the space of mobile apps and also includes a fan mobilising concept.

    “We have learnt a lot from MTV Roadies and have applied those lessons to Splitsvilla 6,” says MTV digital head Eklavya Bhattacharya. “What we have done within the digital space has helped us gain a lot of recognition worldwide as one of the best initiatives.”

    What more?! Remember that sweet little angel of a daughter in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? Yes, she is Sana Saeed who was recently seen in Karan Johar‘s college flick Student of the year as a co- lead (read hot bimbo), Splitvilla 6 gets you a web show featuring ‘Sexy Sana‘ who will be analysing (read: Bitching) about all that the contestants did in the televised episode each weekend.

    Swamy adds: “Sexy Sana is an exclusively new property this season, which gives Sana‘s takes and reviews on extended videos, unedited parts and behind the scene clippings of the show.”

    Entering in the app world, the channels has added ‘I Dubba‘, which allows its 50 million viewers to not only tweet to the show on air, but also chat with fellow fans. Another interesting app is ‘Tickr 2 fame‘, which helps viewers to tweet and chat on Facebook, these conversations are shown on the show.

    The additions have helped Splitsvilla connect with its audience. “We have seen a 100 per cent rise in the response from the audience with the addition of new apps. On each show we get 300- 400 people chatting on I Dubba and 1,000 to 2,000 people tweeting on Tickr to Fame,” informs Bhattacharya.

    With five episodes already aired, let‘s wait and watch how impressive these new additions prove to be for brands Splitsvilla.

    Recap of previous seasons of Splitsvilla…

    Splitsvilla Battleground – has been the highlight of all seasons. Being one of the medium to get selected for the show, by performing a task given ‘on the spot‘, this section of Splitsvilla still engages maximum audiences.

    Audiosodes – an application though which one can listen to entire show in the voice of popular video jockey, J. Man.

    Hottie of the Day – get likes and comments on facebook.

    Urban Cupid – text articles about love relationship and break ups on facebook pages.

    Splitsvilla Prediction App – It is a proper live prediction and live betting engine for making virtual money. This is available on Vas platforms and these have been distributed to mobile
    operators across the country.

  • Amazon, Viacom announce multi-year video licensing agreement

    Amazon, Viacom announce multi-year video licensing agreement

    MUMBAI: Online retail major Amazon.com and US media conglomerate Viacom have announced an expanded multi-year, multi-national digital video licensing agreement to bring hundreds of TV shows and thousands of TV episodes from Viacom to Prime Instant Video.

    This deal includes a collection of TV shows that customers won‘t find on any other digital video subscription service. Prime members will now have unlimited instant streaming access to popular kids programming such as ‘Bubble Guppies‘, ‘The Backyardigans‘, ‘Team Umizoomi‘, ‘Blue‘s Clues‘ and ‘Victorious‘, along with shows from MTV and Comedy Central like ‘Awkward‘, ‘Tosh.0‘ and ‘Workaholics‘. Prime members will also have access to future episodes of ‘Dora the Explorer‘, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘, ‘Fairly Odd Parents‘ and ‘Fresh Beat Band‘. Lovefilm customers in the UK and Germany will get some of the same shows later this summer.

    Select shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. will be available in Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, a service built just for kids that gives them the freedom to explore books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows, while providing parents with the tools they need to manage their kids‘ screen time.

    Amazon VP of digital video and music Bill Carr said, “Kids‘ shows are one of the most watched TV genres on Prime Instant Video. And this expanded deal will now bring customers the largest subscription selection of Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. TV shows online, anywhere. With programs like ‘Dora the Explorer‘, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants‘, ‘Bubble Guppies‘ and ‘The Backyardigans‘ there are hundreds of great shows for kids and parents to choose from. In addition, we are bringing customers popular shows from MTV and Comedy Central like ‘Key and Peele‘, ‘Workaholics‘, ‘Awkward‘ and ‘Teen Mom 2‘, with the promise of more shows from these networks in the future.”

    Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, “We are thrilled to be extending and deepening our relationship with Amazon. This innovative agreement will provide Prime members with access to even more of our best programming from our major television brands, including many digital video subscription streaming exclusives. Amazon has created a unique, brand-friendly environment for streaming entertainment and consumer products and we are excited to work with Amazon to bring customers shows they love.”

    Prime Instant Video offers more than 41,000 movies and TV episodes for Prime members to stream on Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U, among other connected TVs and devices-all at no additional cost. Also as previously announced, later this month Prime Instant Video will become the exclusive home to PBS series ‘Downton Abbey‘ as well as the CBS summer series ‘Under the Dome‘, with each episode of the latter added just four days after initial broadcast.