ITV

Tag: Multi Screen Media

  • Uncertainty over KKR’s participation in IPL 2015

    Uncertainty over KKR’s participation in IPL 2015

    MUMBAI: Indian Premier League (IPL) defending champions and the Shah Rukh Khan owned franchise Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) participation in IPL 2015 is as yet uncertain.

     

    KKR has made its stand clear that if Sunil Narine, who is the trump card when it comes to their bowling attack, is restricted to bowl, the team will opt out of the cricketing extravaganza.

     

    It all started during the Champions League T20, where Narine was banned following a suspect bowling action. The spinner then went to the nets and rectified his action, which met the criteria. International Cricket Council (ICC) has cleared Narine’s action and allowed him to bowl in the Cricket World 2015. However, the West Indian voluntarily opted out of the World Cup as he was not prepared to bowl at a competitive level in his new action.

     

    The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the other hand refused to surrender to the threats of KKR and asked them to get Narine’s bowling action tested at Sri Ramachandra Medical College in Chennai. As per media reports, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalimiya said, “I have had a word with them (KKR). He will have to appear for the test again, does not matter once or twice.”

     

    Soon after Dalmiya’s words KKR arranged the bowler’s travel to Chennai. Narine reached Chennai on the morning of 2 April, 2015 and went through the tests in the presence of a top KKR official and other experts before leaving for Kolkata in the evening.

     

    “We can only say that he has undergone the tests. We cannot give any further details,” a The Times of India report quoted a KKR official as saying.

     

    The official broadcaster of IPL, Multi Screen Media (MSM) has already sold its ad inventory and is preparing aggressively for the eighth edition of the tournament. When asked about the impact of the KKR – BCCI spar, MSM president Rohit Gupta told Indiantelevision.com, “It is something between BCCI and KKR, and whatever happens will be decided by both of them.” 

     

    If BCCI restricts Narine and KKR opts out of IPL, it will affect the ratings of the tournament and advertisers reach will be curtailed by 14 matches, which KKR is supposed to play against all other franchises.

  • MSM launches new pay channel in Sony Kix

    MSM launches new pay channel in Sony Kix

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) has launched another sports channel called Sony Kix to complement its existing channel – Sony Six.

     

    Kix will be available on all the major cable and DTH platforms with a pricing of Rs 45 and Rs 18.90 in analog and digital respectively. 

     

    The channel will be headed by Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, he says, “With the number of sports we have in our catalogue, a new sports channel launch was just a matter of time. Recently we saw a number of FIFA matches taking place simultaneously and we were handicapped since we could not air all of them. Moreover, we also at times had to place important matches on our GECs and that creates a lot of confusion for consumers. As the name suggests, Kix will mainly focus on football and fight sports but whenever needed it will complement Six with other sports too.”

     

    Speaking about his vision for the channel, Sony CEO NP Singh says, “Sports has always been a core focus for us right from our early days. Our entertainment and movie channels such as SET, Max and Pix have also, over the years, broadcast some of the landmark sports events both in India and internationally. While the resounding success of Six in less than three years was a deciding factor to launch Kix, there was also this need to cater to the clear demand seen in the market for largely, alternative sports programming. Kix promises to be a great addition to our mix of channels and will go on to complement Six in more ways than one with exciting and iconic properties such as Pepsi IPL, UFC and NFL among many others.”

     

    The channel will be launched during MSM’s flagship asset Indian Premier League (IPL), which is set to kick off on 8 April, 2015. Kix will carry Tamil and Telegu feeds apart from English. The channel’s major geographic target will be South India for the time being.

     

    “When one campaign is already on, there is no point setting up another and hence we will not launch a promotional campaign for Kix till the IPL is over. Post IPL, we might give an aggressive push but for the time being, it’s a new sports channel from Sony and will be airing IPL in three different languages. The channel will be launched in standard definition and in near future there may be another HD feed too,” Krishnan informs.

     

    According to Krishnan, multilingual feed is emerging as a recent trend and every big event has been following the trend. “We started it with FIFA and Sony Aath airing the Bengali feed and now no big event is complete without the multilingual feed. In the future too, we will innovate and invade into new territory,” he adds.

     

    In his two year stint at Sony, Krishnan has helped expand Sony Six’s portfolio and acquired new assets of international importance. Kix will be the newest channel under his tutelage. “I am happy and satisfied. It has been very significant two years and we managed to grow bigger and bigger. Being a two years old sports channel, what we are doing and have done is commendable. The end goal is to make Sony the one ultimate destination of sports broadcasting for both viewers and advertisers. We have partnered and discovered new leagues like Champions Tennis League and World Kabaddi League and in future also we will evaluate and explore something new, which will be long term entertainment for viewers,” he concludes.

  • Spuul inks deal with MSM to stream shows from Sony and Sab

    Spuul inks deal with MSM to stream shows from Sony and Sab

    MUMBAI:  Online streaming service for Indian TV & film content, Spuul has inked a partnership with Multi Screen Media (MSM) to stream their TV shows from the Sony stable on the digital platform in India.

     

    Spuul users from India can now watch these shows on all second screen devices including mobile phones, tablets, web, smart TVs as well as stream to their TVs via Chromecast.

     

    In the current partnership, audiences from India will benefit from Spuul’s download feature, which will also allow them to download the TV shows on their devices apart from streaming. The shows from Sony Entertainment Television and SAB TV, which will be available on Spuul are Adalat, CID, Maharana Pratap, Chidiya Ghar, Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chasma and Hum Hai Na. These shows can be viewed for free on Spuul.

     

    Spuul CEO Subin Subaiah said, “India ranks fourth in world for content consumption. With 4G roll out, these numbers are expected to rise tremendously. Spuul data shows that about 80 per cent content is being consumed on mobile devices. Such partnerships reflect an increase in user figures and help us to provide content to our users on the go.”

     

    MSM EVP and head – digital business Uday Sodhi added, “We’re delighted to partner with Spuul to widen our reach. The second screen is quickly becoming the primary screen and it’s important for us to ensure that our content is available to all audiences across platforms and this association will certainly go a long way in making that happen.”

  • Sony Aath to broadcast Pepsi IPL 2015 in Bengali

    Sony Aath to broadcast Pepsi IPL 2015 in Bengali

    MUMBAI: After tasting success with airing FIFA World Cup 2014 in Bengali, Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) Bengali entertainment channel Sony Aath will offer Bengali language feed for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL).

     

    This will be the first ever broadcast of the Pepsi IPL on the channel and will also be the first such exercise by MSM to launch a Bengali feed of the tournament. Sony Aath will cover the opening ceremony and all 60 matches of the eight edition of Pepsi IPL.

     

    MSM senior vice president Tushar Shah, who also manages the operations of Sony Aath, said, “With an aim to provide the most premium content to our viewers in West Bengal, we are back yet again to enthrall them by offering a whole new experience of consuming the largest cricketing extravaganza in their favourite language. We believe this initiative will not only help further expand the popularity of the nation’s most beloved cricketing tournament but also augment a larger fan base for the channel.”

     

    MSM CEO N P Singh added, “West Bengal has always been one of the key markets for Pepsi IPL. We believe that by offering the world’s largest cricketing spectacle in one of the most popular and widely spoken languages in the country will help enthrall the viewers. It will create a holistic viewing experience unlike anything else seen before on the channel. Given the tournament’s aggressive growth and ability to connect with millions on a national scale, this year we are positioning the event as ‘India Ka Tyohaar,’ which establishes the event as an annual sporting and entertainment festival.”

     

    As a prelude to the event the channel will run the ‘India Ka Tyohaar’ marketing campaign till the tournament kick-starts on 8 April 2015.

     

    The tournament will feature a total of 60 matches, including the live telecast of the opening ceremony on 7 April, the home and away matches between the franchises, the qualifying playoffs and the finals. The knockout stage will be from 19 – 22 May and conclude with the final match on 24 May, 2015.

  • “Smart monetization can generate good revenue from badminton”: Prasana Krishnan

    “Smart monetization can generate good revenue from badminton”: Prasana Krishnan

    MUMBAI: Continuing the process of building a strong portfolio, Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) sports and entertainment channel Sony Six has acquired the rights of yet another event of international magnitude – the Yonex Sunrise Badminton Open.

     

    The second super series of 2015, the Indian open is one of the flagship badminton tournaments with a prize money of $250,000. Renowned shuttlers will fight their way in Siri Fort Sports Complex, New Delhi to win the title.

     

    India’s contingent is led by top seed and World number 2 Saina Nehwal. It is for the first time in the last four years that a non Chinese woman player sits in the pole position before the start of the tournament. The other X-factor in the tournament is Olympic Gold medalist and five time World Champion Chinese superstar Lin Dan, who will fight hard against Danish top seed Jan O Jorgensen and India’s second seed Kidambi Srikanth to win the tournament and earn a Rio Olympic berth.

     

    The tournament has potential of upsets and high expectations as both Srikanth and Jorgensen defeated Dan in the recent past. Moreover, World Champion Carolina Marin may face Saina Nehwal if both eves manage to qualify for the final. Such uncertainties are the main reason for Sony Six’s decision to showcase the tournament.

     

    Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan says, “We’ve been having this tournament since a good time and the main reason behind it is the fact that it is played in India. Whenever a sport is played in India, the fan connect is more and a badminton tournament involving Saina Nehwal, Lin Dan and others is certainly a big thing.”

     

    Unlike cricket, badminton has a very limited space to fit in an advertisement during the course of the game. The fastest racquet sport of the world sees a mere one minute gap after 11 points when the players change court and hence making money from the sport is immensely difficult for the broadcasters.

     

    “It depends on how you manage. While it’s true that badminton does not have equal room for monetisation as cricket but we also have to understand that the acquisition value is also comparatively low and hence if you smartly manage and monetize, you can generate good revenue from badminton and other non cricket sports too,” Krishnan opines.

     

    Speaking on advertisers’ reaction to the tournament, Krishnan asserts, “We have got a good response so far. Our associate and co-presenting sponsors have been locked and we have sold out our inventory.”

     

    Total Lubricants has been roped in as co-presenter whereas Yonex Sunrise is the associate sponsor on-air.

     

    The acquisition is backed by marketing initiatives to generate awareness. “We have put ads on various channels of our network in order to back the asset and I am happy with the progress so far,” he adds.

     

    Multi-lingual feed in sports is fast becoming a trend. Not long back the Syed Modi Badminton tournament was aired in both Hindi and English on Sony Six and Pal respectively. However, Krishnan said that there are no such plans for the 2015 Indian Open. “With Syed Modi we tried something, which we may execute again in the near future but Sony Pal will not be involved this time and the Indian Open super series will only be aired in Sony Six and we will stick to the world feed.”

     

    IPL is knocking at the door and once the million dollar league starts, there are high possibilities of other sport properties of Sony Six getting suppressed by the glitz and glamour of IPL. When queried about the same, Krishnan says, “Yes there will be a lot of changes in the scheduling as the entire prime time is devoted to the IPL but that necessarily does not mean that other properties will get suppressed. We will use IPL, which is the biggest platform for promotion in India, to promote our established assets like Fight Sports, NBA and others. IPL actually benefits getting more viewers and complements the other sports that we have.”

     

    2014 was a good year for Sony Six as it touched new heights in terms of garnering viewership. The year started with India playing New Zealand followed by IPL and the FIFA World Cup. Continuing the growth process, Sony Six started 2015 by hosting the Australian Open Grand Slam, which was followed by the Africa Cup of Nation football. “We are trying to grow bigger and whenever there is an opportunity to acquire broadcasting rights of an event of international importance, we will aggressively go for it,” Krishnan informs.

     

    Badminton is the largest played racquet sport in the world and India is emerging as a strong contender in international events. However, the sports’ brand value was always under question. Commenting on the same, GroupM national director – entertainment, sports & live events Vinit Karnik says, “Badminton is a very popular sport in India. It is the only sport that is equally played by men and women. Having said that, the sport doesn’t deliver compelling ratings for advertisers to leverage its popularity. Popularity is restricted to follow the top three players, watching top three marquee matches only. Ratings only improve when Saina Nehwal plays her semis and finals. This needs to change for advertisers to look at badminton as a lucrative platform to promote their brands. Badminton as a sport needs aggressive marketing and more Indian players need to perform and win international marquee tournaments.”

     

    Adding to that, Maxus ESP client leader Jigar Rambhia asserts, “Unfortunately badminton is not an advertiser friendly sport and therefore it fails to attract sponsors. Also, there aren’t many opportunities to advertise with very few breaks for advertising. However, of late, there have been some opportunities like branding on the net, court and perimeter boards etc. This might be able to get some sponsors, which in turn can bring in revenue to broadcasters. Since there aren’t many opportunities to advertisers during telecast, brands don’t look at badminton as a promotion platform. Though this might change, as Saina Nehwal is likely to be World No. 1 if she reaches the finals of the Indian Open. In case that happens, advertisers will definitely start looking at the sport more seriously.”

     

    It remains to be seen if the Indian contingent in the super series successfully manages to overcome obstacles and win the prestigious title. The entire badminton fraternity will closely observe Nehwal as the World Number 1 spot is up for grabs. The crowd at Siri Fort will be biggest boost for Nehwal, even as Marin tries every possible option to block her progress.

     

  • Sony Six acquires rights of Yonex Sunrise India Open 2015

    Sony Six acquires rights of Yonex Sunrise India Open 2015

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) sports and entertainment channel Sony Six has acquired the rights to the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2015.

    The championship will be aired from 24 – 29 March. The tournament will be held at the Siri Fort Indoor Sports Complex in New Delhi and will witness some of India’s finest players including Srikanth Kadambi – the reigning Swiss Open champion, the world number two Saina Nehwal, Padma Shri winner P V Sindhu and the Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap take part in the proceedings.

    Apart from the top crop of Indian talent, the tournament will also feature the best of international badminton talent including Jan O Jorgensen, Lin Dan and the All England Open Championships winner Carolina Marin. The Open is set to see a series of nail-biting matches between players, who will battle it out to win the illustrious title and a total prize money of $275,000. 

    With badminton increasingly gaining a strong foothold in India, the current season of the Super Series tournament should add to the ever-growing fan base in the country.

    Sony Six EVP and business head Prasana Krishnan said, “The India Open is undoubtedly the biggest major played in India every year and we are thrilled to come on board as the broadcasting partner for this marque tournament which attracts the best of Indian and international talent year on year. The viewer base for badminton in India has got stronger with every tournament in which our players feature. We expect the viewership to only grow manifold for this tournament considering its iconic status and the conducive telecast hours.”

    The tournament currently boasts of the BWF Super Series status, which was given to it in 2011. Super Series is a series of 12 prestigious tournaments played around the world, which also includes the highly coveted All England Open.

    Sony Six, as a part of its agreement with the Badminton Association of India (BAI), holds the rights to telecast the tournaments, which are played in the country. Earlier this year, the channel also broadcast one of the premier Indian badminton tournaments in the Syed Modi International Grand Prix along with its sister channel, Sony Pal.

    The schedule for the Yonex Sunrise India Open is as follows:

  • IPL 2015: 65 percent ad inventory of Sony already sold

    IPL 2015: 65 percent ad inventory of Sony already sold

    MUMBAI: Even as the cricket World Cup fever is on, Multi Screen Media (MSM) is gearing up for the next big cricket tourney – the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 and advertisers are flocking to it nineteen to the dozen.

     

    The tournament starts right after the World Cup. Speaking on advertisers reaction so far, Multi Screen Media president Rohit Gupta says, “We have got amazing responses so far and the way it’s shaping up, we may have to extend our ad inventory. We already have our two presenting sponsors in Vodafone and Amazon. It must be noted that Amazon has upgraded itself as a presenting sponsor and it’s an encouraging example. The seven associates are Hero Moto Corp, Cardekho.com, Intex, Vimal Pan Masala, Pay TM, Pepsi and we have one more advertiser who has confirmed its participation. Hero Moto Corp, Cardekho.com and Vimal Pan Masala are first timers and it proves the growing interest of the tournament.”

     

    Sony Max and Six have already launched India Ka Tyohaar campaign for IPL’s 2015 edition. The campaign, which has been orchestrated by DDB Mudra, speaks about unity and celebration, and portrays IPL as a festival that is followed by one and all irrespective of caste, communities and creed.

     

    Way before the campaign launch, Gupta had told Indiantelevision.com that ad rate for the 2015 edition will be hiked by 15 per cent and MSM has successfully managed to achieve the figures.

     

    “As decided, we have hiked our ad rate by 15 per cent and the hike was not on the basis of arrogance or overconfidence, it’s because we had a seven per cent increase in viewership. We have already sold 65 per cent of our ad inventory and we are in last stage talks with many companies. IPL is a tournament that consistently delivers in terms of meeting viewership expectations and advertisers are presented a platform for the entire tournament. IPL is not a tournament where fans have to wait for a week’s time to have a good match. Moreover all the IPL matches are played in prime time and each and every match has equal interest. The growth of viewership is constant in each and every match unlike World Cup where non India matches failed to garner viewers so far. Overall IPL is an insured platform for advertisers where whatever may happen viewership never declines.”

     

    Talking about the campaign, Sony Max senior EVP and business head Neeraj Vyas says, “IPL is beyond any barrier; it’s a huge event that connects everyone. A family that has members of different generations sit together to enjoy the cricketing extravaganza, which has nail biting finishes and entertainment to satisfy everyone’s need. We are our biggest competitor and the only challenge for us is to do better than what we have done in our previous editions. We did aisa mauka aur kahan milega in 2012, which we followed up with Jumping Japang and Come on bulava aaya hai in the following years. But this year we are going to be better than any other year.”

     

    MSM is known for aggressive marketing of IPL, which is their biggest asset and this year is no different. “We have spent 15 per cent more than previous year for the India ka tyohaar campaign,” informs Vyas.

     

    DDB Mudra chairman and chief creative officer Sonal Dabral is satisfied with the progress and the feedback received so far. “India ka tyohaar is something that everyone has been missing. Festivals in India are based on religion and region. IPL is one such festival where everyone participates in the celebration,” Dabral tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

     

    When queried about the other campaigns that are already buzzing, Dabral says, “There will always be a flurry of creative campaigns and it’s not about what others are doing. You have to understand the brand and then come up with a creative concept. Mauka is a good and creative campaign but India Ka Tyohaar is different and it will emerge as the testimony of all campaigns.”

     

    Sony will launch an interactive digital campaign to connect with youth on various social media platforms. The broadcaster is going to feature the 2015 edition of IPL in different languages and there will be a regional awareness initiative to promote the multilingual strategy.

     

    The anthem of the campaign has been composed by musical duo of Salim – Sulaiman, who hope to get everyone to dance to the anthem of Pepsi IPL 2015. “With Pepsi IPL that reflects the fervour of the nation and an idea as powerful as ‘India Ka Tyohaar’, we tried to create a song, which is very Indian in its spirit but yet has the sound of ‘The Now’. Once we had the lyrics we composed the tune and created a rhythm around it which is the beat of our folk music and festivals all across India. The song is infectious! We hope the audiences will celebrate the music and this festive spirit of the Pepsi IPL across the globe,” the duo said.

     

    When asked if composing music for a tournament of such high magnitude is different and difficult from feature films and music albums, Salim Merchant told Indiantelevision.com, “After composing Chak De nothing seems to be difficult anymore but it is indeed different. The tournament will be watched in each and every household and the audience is across age groups. While we ensured that the song pumps up, we also took care that the unifying factor, which is the USP of the campaign, is kept alive.”

     

    Stretching across a four-week period till the launch of the tournament, the Pepsi IPL 2015 campaign will have a complete 360 degree rollout across mass media. The communication will be seen by viewers across mediums like television, print, radio, digital, outdoor, on-ground, mobile and BTL.

  • Sony goes full-throttle with new IPL campaign for 2015

    Sony goes full-throttle with new IPL campaign for 2015

    MUMBAI: Even as the country enjoys the ICC Cricket World Cup and its vibrant Mauka campaign, Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) IPL right holder Sony Max has launched its campaign for the flagship tournament. It’s indeed a daring attempt to launch a cricket oriented campaign when every cricket fan in India is either speaking about World Cup or Mauka.

    India ka Tyohaar, which implies to festival of India, is Sony’s campaign for IPL 2015. The campaign reverberates around the concept of how IPL is a festival of unity. DDB Mudra orchestrated the campaign and a series of videos were released on both television and social media platforms. It must be noted that last year the campaign was conducted by Havas Media and was called Come on bulava aaya hai.

    Among the videos launched so far, Firework has garnered maximum views on YouTube. The humorous video starts with a look alike of Shah Rukh Khan asking price of a cracker and he sees Salman Khan’s look alike and goes and hugs him. Basically IPL is portrayed as festival of unity, which successfully merges many distances and dilutes animosity.

    In a span of six days the video managed 60,922 views, which is commendable compared to their last year's videos on YouTube.

    The video is likely to get more popularity as the tournament comes closer. The parody was trending on social media for a brief time after its release.

    The second video that the channel launched was titled Office. The video starts with an office boy choreographing dance moves to celebrate various glorious moments and the executives follow him. At the time of penning the article, the video has managed 26,448 views.

    The third video is called Auto, which shows how India prepares for a festival and people easily agree to compromise. The video is targeted to the crazy youth who unitedly plan for a match and watch it together. The video has garnered 36,209 views so far.

    Last year’s campaign Come on bulava aaya hai had four videos shared on the social media platforms of which the Ghost video garnered maximum views with 382,457 hits. The video starts with a priest trying his level best to free a conjured body but the spirit refuses to leave the victim. When the priest is about to give up the IPL siren blows and the spirit comes out to say mera bulava aagaya.

    In another video the creative agency targeted the Bengal audience where they show a Bengali wife running away from the wedding ceremony to catch IPL action. This video managed to garner one third of the previous one with only 119,577 in more than a year time.

    Humor was very much evident in last year’s campaign too. In one of the video they show a mother is about to expire and wants to share something very important with her son. The paranoid son waits eagerly for his mother’s disclosure and when she starts talking, the siren blows and the son runs away leaving his mother on death bed to catch IPL action. The video has got 93,475 views in more than a year's time.

    Considering the circumstances and timeline, the progress made by the campaign so far should be an encouragement to the organizing committee. 

    When queried about the campaign sources in MSM revealed that a few more teasers will be released in the coming days. “The released videos have done well so far and we will have a few more videos hitting public forum in the coming days,” said the source.

  • “The programming strategy of Sony Pal is very hypothetical currently”: Anooj Kapoor

    “The programming strategy of Sony Pal is very hypothetical currently”: Anooj Kapoor

    MUMBAI: In early January this year, Indiantelevision.com broke the news about the almost six month old baby from the Multi Screen Media (MSM) stable, Sony Pal looking for a revamp. Reason: failure of few of its shows to connect with the hearts of its target audience. 

     

    Launched on 1 September, 2014, the channel targeted women in the age group of 15-34 years in SEC BCDE. 

     

    The channel, from December 2014, had slashed 1.5 hours of content from 3.5 hours and showcased only two hours of original content till February 2015 until they decided to clamp down on fresh content and continue to air repeats.

     

    Sony Pal and Sab SVP and business head Anooj Kapoor had earlier stated, “We are soon going to come back in the same slots, which have been shut down with new programmes in terms of dailies and with consumer feedback on-board. Hopefully, this time around we will go to the next level. We are going to come back with exact consumer expectations as they have articulated after viewing the channel.”

     

    Now until the time that the channel is back with a fresh line-up of shows, MSM has come up with a strategy to put Pal on Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air (FTA) digital platform DD Freedish. 

     

    Moreover, it has added shows of its two other GECs – Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and Sab on Pal to attract audiences from the Freedish market.

     

    However the channel will continue to remain a pay channel on all other platforms. Kapoor reiterates that Pal will continue to be a pay channel and it has not compromised on the pricing of the channel on other platforms. 

     

    So how will getting on Freedish help Sony Pal? According to Kapoor, the idea on Pal is to get a certain threshold level ingredients and get in fresh and original programming again. 

     

    He goes on to say that in the repeat format today, Star Utsav from the Star India stable, gets 67 per cent of its ratings from Freedish. “Our understanding was that if we want to reach anywhere near to those figures, we had to get onboard Freedish,” he said.

     

    It can be recalled that one of the reasons for the failure that Kapoor had stated was of distribution. The channel was not optimally present everywhere at the time of launch. That affected the initial sampling. The fact that, in the digital space, the channel was about 15 LCNs (local channel numbers) away from the leading Hindi GECs made it worse. For the audiences to locate, sample and actually break a habit of viewing other shows was a task.

     

    When questioned about the progress on that front, Kapoor explained, “Whatever the learnings have been, we will plug it in when we bring in fresh programming. And if the channel has already hit a certain threshold, then the investment will also be poured in as that is also required to plug in the distribution gaps.”

     

    When asked about the revamp stage, Kapoor defines its programming strategy currently to be very hypothetical. “We don’t know how much time it will take for us to reach the threshold level. But once we reach there, we will start our original programming.”

     

  • Sony’s Uday Sodhi upbeat about VoD platform Liv Sports

    Sony’s Uday Sodhi upbeat about VoD platform Liv Sports

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) sports Video On Demand (VOD) platform Liv Sports is set to take audiences to a whole new frontier. Liv Sports is a VOD service that offers sports content from Sony Entertainment Network.

     

    India now has 300 million internet users, up from 200 million a year ago, with a little more than 50 per cent having access to mobile Internet, which makes India a big market for online content consumption.

     

    With the on-going Cricket World Cup, various VOD platforms are coming up with innovative shows to build interest. Speaking about Liv Sports’ plan for the World Cup, Sony Entertainment Network executive vice-president and head digital Uday Sodhi tells Indiantelevision.com, “We are in the process of packaging and will release them in phases. Our exclusive package will include articles from journalists, news coverage, and result analysis through innovative graphics and text.”

     

    Commenting on the catalog of Liv Sports Sodhi says, “We have streamed Australian Open live and reached more than a million viewers. We are also streaming Indian School and College Basketball League, which is not aired on television. Moreover, we also streamed Syed Modi International Badminton Grand Prix. We are moving ahead and will invade into new territory whenever we get an opportunity.”

     

    Responding to the marketing strategy to popularise the portal, Sodhi asserts, “As of now there is no such campaign coming out, we are promoting the portal on our network. But soon when there is an opportunity we will opt for aggressive advertising.”

     

    Though digital platform is growing with time there is no clear revenue model for the portals. When quizzed about the revenue model of the digital platform, Sodhi says, “Advertisers are showing significant interest on the digital platform, and the fact that it is the fastest growing media, I think good content will rope in big endorsements. There will be creative banners, pre-rolls, exit rolls and also in the middle of the event there may be banners. There is always a room from creative innovations to grab attention.”

     

    “Television is a medium to consume content at home and that will continue to grow. We are seeing modern infrastructure like 4k and HD on TV. Digital platform is for consumption of content on the go and that will grow independently. Both may be a medium of communication but individually different in their mode of operation,” says Sodhi, when asked about digital media’s impact on television.

     

    “We are a six to eight months old venture and we aspire to be the digital destination of quality sports. With digital platforms we can reach to new audiences and that is a good sign. Bandwidth will increase and more and more people will use internet on their mobile, which increases our possibility of growing bigger. And the main factor is time spent in front of screen. We don’t expect people to sit and watch TV full time so more screens are essential and digital is one of them,” he concludes.