ITV

Tag: Neeraj roy

  • Hungama partners Kyoorius Designyatra 2015 to raise charity for ‘Laadli’

    Hungama partners Kyoorius Designyatra 2015 to raise charity for ‘Laadli’

    MUMBAI: Hungama has partnered with Kyoorius Designyatra 2015 (KDY) to be held in Goa, to raise awareness for a social cause while adding a musical note to the 10th anniversary of KDY.

     

    Hungama and Kyoorius Designyatra 2015 will create one of the biggest live-request playlists to raise the funds via a Twitter activity. By tweeting #HungamaKDY2015 and the name of the song, it will be played at the event. While the activity will contribute Rs 100 per song streamed at the event, it will also allow participants to actively contribute in the process to raise donations.

     

    With a theme like ‘What pumps your heart’ Kyoorius Designyatra’s 10th anniversary edition aims to engage participants and guests alike during the event with a live music request Twitter activity in association with Hungama. The activity will be a means to raise funds for ‘Laadli,’ a campaign that highlights the falling sex ratio of the country and their endeavours to correct the issue by making available relevant data, audits of documents received from Sonography clinics among other activities; of which the end goal is to stabilise the sex ratio difference.

     

    Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD & CEO Neeraj Roy said, “It gives us immense pleasure to partner with Kyoorius Deisgnyatra 2015 to help raise charity and awareness for the social cause campaign ‘Laadli’. The campaign that aims to control female feticide has helped shed much light on the topic. With this association we are proud to leverage our platforms for this noble cause.”

     

    Kyoorius founder CEO Rajesh Kejriwal added, “We are happy to have Hungama partnering with us at Kyoorius Designyatra 2015. Music is an essential part of the conference experience, it’s one of the things that gets delegates really ‘pumped’, so I’m sure Hungama’s Digital Jukebox will be a huge hit. And it’s for a great cause, which makes it all the more impactful.”

  • Chef Sanjeev Kapoor talks food with fans on Twitter with #SanjeevKapoorsRecipes

    Chef Sanjeev Kapoor talks food with fans on Twitter with #SanjeevKapoorsRecipes

    MUMBAI: On 8 July, 2015, between 11 am and 12 noon, celebrated chef Sanjeev Kapoor will reach out to fans on Twitter, powered by Hungama, India’s largest digital service. The celebrity chef will chat with fans while using #SanjeevKapoorsRecipes. With this, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor becomes the first Indian chef to do a Twitter activity to answer all his fans’ questions on food, cooking, tricks to preserve various ingredients and insight into recipes of various cuisines and regions. 

     

    Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has over 100,000 followers on Twitter from across the globe, he will not only chat about food but also his official recipes app called SANJEEV KAPOOR’s RECIPES available on Android, iOS and Windows. With this activity, the Master Chef judge aims to help his fans to resolve any issues they may have with cooking.

     

    The Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes App offers a wide range of features developed by Hungama Digital Media Entertainmen. Users can access detailed recipes with pictures, there are special, personal notes by Sanjeev Kapoor along with some awesome features like ‘In Your Fridge’ which offers a brilliant solution to everyday dilemma of what to cook? All you need to do is enter ingredients in your fridge and see the magical search results. There’s another feature called ‘Shopping List’ that helps keep a check on marking the missing items in your kitchen as you read a recipe on the app; pull out the list when one is at the supermarket or mail it to yourself. The app can also help locate the nearest Sanjeev Kapoor restaurant with the ‘Restaurant Locator’ feature.

     

    Sanjeev Kapoor said, “I have always believed that food brings us close, helps build communities and strengthen families. A discussion about food is as exciting and enjoyable as having food. Let’s catch up and talk about something that we all love – FOOD. I am looking forward to interacting with foodies from across the world.”

     

    Speaking on the occasion Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, said, “We are happy to associate with renowned chef Sanjeev Kapoor and his endeavors to promote the Sanjeev Kapoor Recipes app. His chat over Twitter with fans will circulate around the recipes he has created and re-created over the span of his entire career. We hope that with this activity Sanjeev Kapoor’s fans from across the globe will get a chance to interact with him.”

  • Saavn raises $100 mn; to move into video

    Saavn raises $100 mn; to move into video

    MUMBAI: Move over hotstar.com. Competition is coming your way. Earlier, this year, the Neeraj Roy led music streamer Hungama.com raised around $100 million to expand its service into video delivery to its subscribers. Then Hooq.com announced its foray into the over the top (OTT) market. Now it’s the turn of New York headquartered Saavn to announce that it is going to move into delivering video content to its subscribers. The company late last night confirmed that it had managed to raise $100 million in a Series C round led by Tiger Global.

     

    Among investors who also took part in the round figure: existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments, Steadview Capital, Liberty Media, and Mousse Partners, and new ones such as Qulvest, hedge funds from Hong Kong and a number of strategic individuals. Avendus Capital in Mumbai and LionTree Advisors advised on the deal. The $100 million fund raise values Saavn.com which started in 2007 at $300-400 million.

     

    Saavn CEO Rishi Malhotra revealed that the service is adding a million monthly average users (MAU), with a total of around 14 million MAU currently and hopes to cross 20 million MAUs by end this year.

     

    The company is banking on the mobile users to take up its music and video streaming service in a bigger way.  Malhotra told techcrunch.com that almost 90 per cent of its subscribers are on mobile and have been averse to paying and hence Saavn has been focusing on an ad-supported model for its music streaming service so far.

     

    A part of the $100 million it raised will be used to scale up its music streaming service which has a catalogue of 2 million plus songs, mostly from Bollywood. It wants to expand its sales force.

     

    “The real purpose of this raise is to continue developing our product, acquiring a larger user base, and investing in the right components that make a healthy media company,” Malhotra told techcrunch.

     

    “We want to become an entertainment ecosystem for mobile,” he continued. “That means new audio products and also video, absolutely. The exciting thing about the [Indian] market that we can be part Spotify, part Pandora, and part Netflix.”

     

    The company has signed on Bollywood heart throb Ranbir Kapoor to promote Saavn in prime time commercials on mainline Hindi general entertainment channels in India.

     

  • Hungama crosses 50 mn MAUs, targets 100 mn by March 2016

    Hungama crosses 50 mn MAUs, targets 100 mn by March 2016

    MUMBAI: Hungama.com has become the first company to cross 50 million monthly active users (MAUs) in a year’s time. What’s more, the company is targeting 100 million monthly active users by March 2016.

     

    With 50 million MAUs, Hungama is now amongst the top five music and video streaming services globally, including platforms like Pandora and Spotify. 

     

    Over the past 12 months, Hungama has introduced several first features as well as key catalog additions and has managed to get over 250 million patrons access their site, which led to a growth of over 200 per cent in monthly registered users.

     

    Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD and CEO Neeraj Roy said, “We are glad to be the music and video service of choice for over 50 million South Asians across the world. The milestone is the result of initiatives that we at Hungama began undertaking about 15 months ago. Over the next year, we plan to continue to build on this momentum to grow into newer markets and explore more avenues to distribute digital music and video. Hungama is on track to reach 100 million monthly active users by March 2016.”

     

    Their approach to semi urban and rural India has also been instrumental in making the service popular. Understanding the cultural diversity of the country, especially in second and third tier cities the company launched the first music led mobile app globally to be available in more than five languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi and English.

     

    Hungama’s patent pending gamification layer has become popular with consumers who are now rewarded for multiple actions daily and can redeem their points for a range of products and services.

     

    Hungama has also partnered with several studios and labels to offer music and video exclusively including tracks from popular artists like Yo Yo Honey Singh, Atif Aslam, etc. as well as music from latest Bollywood movies like Roy, Kuch Kuch Locha Hai, Gabbar and Mr.X along with regional films. 

  • Hungama Digital Media launches Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipes app

    Hungama Digital Media launches Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipes app

    MUMBAI: Culinary perfection now in your hands. Sanjeev Kapoor, the pioneer of Indian cooking shows launches an app containing his special recipes along with delectable delights. The app named ‘Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes’, features cuisines from India and the world. With a bundle of exciting recipes, cuisines & categories to awaken your inner chef, the ‘Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes’ app is sure to make everyone a hit in the kitchen. It is a complete cookery manual that goes everywhere with you to help you in the kitchen. Includes exciting features like ‘Shopping List’, ‘In Your Fridge’, ‘My Khana’, ‘Recipe Box’ and many more.

     

    The app offers a wide range of features developed by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. With the ‘Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes’ app, users can access detailed recipes with pictures, special notes by Sanjeev Kapoor himself and some innovative new features. Users can also learn more about Sanjeev Kapoor in the ‘About Chef’ section of the app; they can locate the nearest Sanjeev Kapoor restaurant with the ‘Restaurant Locator’ feature. The ‘How to Use’ and ‘FAQs’ sections contain a plethora of information and tips regarding the exciting features of the app.

     

    Adding to the list of existing features, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment has included some industry-first special features called ‘In Your Fridge’ and ‘My Khana’. When you have only a few cooking ingredients to choose from, the ‘In Your Fridge’ feature allows users to select a category, add a list of ingredients they possess and look for recipes only as per the ingredients and category selected. The ingredient-based search is an innovation like no other. ‘My Khana’ allows users to submit recipes to the app and follow each other once they sign up. The app carries a gamification feature; users receive points on the recipes submitted. Users can view the top scores on the ‘Leaderboard’.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the app “If you ask me what’s happening in my world today, I would say it’s my new mobile app. Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes. With this app cooking becomes easy and fun. The app has everything from recipes for every day dining or festive dining or just cooking up a meal with whatever’s available in your fridge! Cherry on the cake, you can win points and thus exciting gifts by logging in. Now you and I come even more closer, with our common love, cooking!” said Sanjeev Kapoor

     

    Commenting on the features of the app, Neeraj Roy, MD and CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said, “We are delighted to partner with Indian culinary guru Sanjeev Kapoor to launch the ‘Sanjeev Kapoor’s Recipes’ app, which will assist users access scores of recipes with detailed descriptions and pictures. With the app we hope that we can make routine cooking a more fun and enjoyable experience for our consumers. The app will be available across Android, iOS and Windows platforms.”

  • JWT names Carlton D’Silva as Hungama Digital Services CEO

    JWT names Carlton D’Silva as Hungama Digital Services CEO

    MUMBAI: J. Walter Thompson South Asia (JWT) has named Carlton D’Silva as Hungama Digital Services (HDS) chief executive officer (CEO) effective immediately. D’Silva will be reporting into JWT South Asia CEO Tarun Rai, while continuing to lead HDS’ creative leadership as its chief creative officer.

     

    In his new role, D’Silva will be responsible for leading the growth at HDS and further enhancing its creative output. He will partner Rai to seamlessly integrate and deliver on JWT South Asia’s creative vision to offer the best value proposition to its clients. He will have complete oversight of all six offices of HDS, including Hungama Promo Marketing.

     

    Rai said, “Carlton is a dynamic, creative leader with strategic capabilities, which makes him an ideal choice to head HDS. He is young, ambitious and has the drive to take HDS to the next level.”

     

    “We are delighted to elevate Carlton as the CEO of HDS. Apart from being one of the most experienced digital advertising professionals in India, Carlton has demonstrated tremendous leadership qualities in leading a team of top performers who have won accolades for their clients and given them innovative and sustainable solutions with impactful and engaging consumer interactions. In his new role, Carlton will prepare our clients from leveraging creative digital activations and transform their communities to transactions. I wish him all the very best, always,” said HDS director on-board Neeraj Roy.

     

    D’Silva added, “Hungama Digital Services has evolved over the years and I have been privileged to be a part of this journey. We are at a sweet spot when it comes to Digital Marketing. HDS has proved that we have always stayed ahead of the curve when it comes to new ways of communication and I do believe we will keep surprising everyone through innovations and ideas. I hope to make good on the learnings over the years, take HDS to greater heights and set the benchmark in digital communication through technology and collaboration.”

     

    D’Silva joined HDS in its early days in 1999 and was instrumental in creating the brand it is today. With an agile and dynamic team of visualizers, designers, and copy writers, he has been responsible for creating award winning ideas for brands across digital media in the form of social media activations, games, mobile apps, digital innovations and other forms of digital promotions for domestic and international clients.

  • Hungama launches Saregama Classic Catalogue

    Hungama launches Saregama Classic Catalogue

    MUMBAI: This summer, Hungama, India’s largest music service, invites its listeners to take a walk down memory lane as it teams up with Saregama, India’s oldest and largest music company, for a musical match made in heaven. Adding to its already impressive tracks, Hungama will now boast of a comprehensive collection of evergreen classics such as  O Mere Dil Ke Chain, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye to name a few that have been an unforgettable part of Indian cinematic history. Additionally, Saregama’s rich musical heritage will also enable Hungama subscribers to access an eclectic mix of devotional music and regional hits.

     

    Retro music will be forever digitized and etched into the memories of Hungama subscribers as #HungamaGoesRetro and the catalog hits the service with over 100 playlists and over 25 artist radio stations dedicated to eras, musicians, composers and artists. With #SaReHungama listeners will be hit by a wave of nostalgia as they reminisce the melodious era of music. Along with these, over 7 Live radio stations that are being dedicated to genres and composers; Bollywood Classics, Love Classics, Retro Upbeat to 70’s Black & White Classics,  RD Burman and Kishore Kumar, will be launched.

     

    With this addition, Hungama will introduce ‘Timeless Tuesdays’, where listeners will experience the #HungamaGoesRetro vibe. From Kishore Kumar’s peppy numbers to Mohammed Rafi’s heart-breaking romantic classics, this April on Hungama, users can relive the golden era of Bollywood music. With this latest addition subscribers can listen to timeless hits from movies like Waqt, Kabhie Kabhie, Karz, Anand, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, China Town, Mughal-E-Azam, Khamoshi, Saath Saath, Howrah Bridge, Aradhana, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and many more.

     

    Speaking on this occasion Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said, “We are thrilled to associate with a seasoned music company like Saregama and bring their priceless collection of songs for our subscribers. Music transcends barriers of time and space, and Saregama’s classic collection is an example of just that. Their Bollywood, regional and evergreen classics continue to be relevant and much loved among listeners of all age brackets. We have ardently worked on providing engaging content for our consumers, with the addition of this collection we aim to create value and acknowledge India’s rich music heritage.”

     

    Vikram Mehra, Managing Director, Saregama India Ltd. added, “We are delighted to partner with Hungama as part of our endeavour to take the evergreen music to masses in high quality.”

  • Industry gears up for 3rd IAA Leadership awards

    Industry gears up for 3rd IAA Leadership awards

    MUMBAI: The International Advertising Association’s (IAA) India chapter will be holding the third edition of the IAA Leadership awards. The awards celebrate and recognize various individuals from across the fields of marketing, advertising and media, bringing them to one common platform.

     

    The awards will be held on 18 April, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai.

     

    For the third year running, the IAA India chapter will honour women and men in the marketing, advertising and media community for their outstanding performance, innovation and creativity in delivering path breaking marketing initiatives. Twelve categories have been hand-picked based on exhaustive quantitative and qualitative parameters.

     

    This year, shortlisted individuals will undergo even sharper scrutiny by a jury comprising industry stalwarts namely Sunil Alagh (SKA Advisors), Sangeeta Pendurkar (Kelloggs), Kaushik Roy (Reliance), Neeraj Roy (Hungama), CVL Srinivas (GroupM), Gayatri Yadav (Star India), Ramesh Narayan, Raj Nayak (Colors), and Srinivasan K Swamy (IAA India Chapter president). The overall process is validated by Ernst & Young.

     

    Swamy said, “The high admiration that the IAA Leadership Awards has earned from the community in the past two years fuels our enthusiasm to return with our third edition with a bang. We are gearing up to applaud the efforts of those marketers and professionals whose hard work has borne fruition in the past year.”

     

    To add authenticity to the awards and maintain transparency in judging the campaigns, IAA has further streamlined the process, to determine the winners. For shortlisting the nominees, IAA along with its knowledge partner analysed the media spends and market presence of brands between 1 January and 31 December, 2014.

     

    The shortlisted nominees across categories were examined closely by the expert panel of jury members who looked at market share data, growth and other qualitative aspects to pick the winners in each category.

  • IAA invites entries for 5th Olive Crown Awards

    IAA invites entries for 5th Olive Crown Awards

    MUMBAI: The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has announced its call for entries for Olive Crown Awards.

    In its fifth year, the Olive Crown Awards are Asia’s first and only awards that recognise excellence in communicating sustainability. Run along with the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA), these awards have been attracting entries from India and Asia. Run as a cause, there is no entry fee charged.

    IAA Asia Pacific development VP and IAA India chapter president Srinivasan K Swamy said, “These awards have grown from strength to strength. This is our way of showing that we as professionals in the communications industry are not just custodians of the brands we work for, but are also custodians of Brand Earth. We are very happy with the warm response we have received from all sections of our industry.”

    IAA vice president and Olive Crown Awards Committee chairman Neeraj Roy added, “I feel the Olive Crowns have pulled the green message back on top of the strategic agenda. More corporates and Agencies are realizing how important it is to do their bit for the environment as evidenced by the increasing interest and stature of these awards.”

    Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) chairman Pradeep Guha said, “I am pleased that IAA and AFAA are partners in the Olive Crown initiative. This remains the first and only such effort in Asia and needs to be encouraged at every level. I am also glad the Corporate Social Crusader Award, which was launched last year and received such a great response from corporates has been continued this year.”

     

  • Srinivasan Swamy re-elected president of IAA in India

    Srinivasan Swamy re-elected president of IAA in India

    MUMBAI: At the Annual General Body Meeting of the India Chapter of International Advertising Association (IAA) held in Mumbai, RK Swamy Hansa Group chairman Srinivasan Swamy was unanimously elected its president for the third consecutive term.

     

    He already serves on the IAA Global Board as IAA Asia Pacific development vice president.

     

    Neeraj Roy of Hungama, Monica Tata of HBO and Jaideep Gandhi of Jaya Advertising were also re-elected vice president, honorary secretary and treasurer, respectively, for 2014-15.

     

    The other members elected into the managing committee were: Abhishek Karnani of The Free Press Journal, Vishakha Singh of Aurora Comms, Manish Advani of Mahindra SSG, Janak Sarda of Deshdoot, CVL Srinivas of Group M, Avinash Pandey of ABP News, MV Shreyams Kumar of Mathrubhumi, Partho Dasgupta of BARC, Bhaskar Das of Zee Media and Rajesh Kejriwal of Kyoorius.

     

    In addition, the following would serve in the committee as invited members for the year 2014-15: Pradeep Guha, Pheroza Bilimoria, Sam Balsara, Kaushik Roy, Raj Nayak, Ramesh Narayan, M G Parameswaran, Neville Taraporewalla, Gayatri Yadav, Anita Nayyar, Pradeep Dwivedi, Anand Sankeshwar, Sunil Lulla and Punitha Arumugam. “A few more have been invited and their names will be announced after they accept our invitation”, said Swamy.

     

    In his outgoing president’s address, Swamy said that the year that went by was an active one, where 32 events were organised by IAA India. Some of these included two IAA Debates, four IAA Conversations, five IAA Mentorship Webinars, six Knowledge Seminars, three IAA Young Turks Forum events and other marquee events like the IAA Olive Crown Awards and the IAA Leadership Awards. There were a few other special ones like the IAA Retrospect & Prospects events in Gurgaon and Mumbai and the IAA Mentorship Programme. The year was off to a terrific start on 30 September 2013 with the IAA Platinum Jubilee Global Marketing Summit where the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi delivering his valedictory address on his vision of Brand India.

     

    IAA India will be celebrating its Silver Jubilee year in 2014-15. “We have identified at least 20 different platforms to peg our events for the coming year. We have a very good committee and I wouldn’t be surprised if we have more than 52 events during the year”, said Swamy.

     

    IAA Asia Pacific area director Praddep Guha, “IAA India is already seen as the most active industry body in India as well as in the IAA world. With the plans that are made for 2014-15, I have no doubt that this will be the best year ever and would set a new benchmark”.

     

    Not wanting to elaborate as yet, Swamy said, “IAA will continue with some its past branded events and add a few special ones for the year that would make the IAA India Silver Jubilee a memorable one”.