ITV

Tag: Nikhil Gandhi

  • Disney takes the family route with new offerings

    Disney takes the family route with new offerings

    MUMBAI: A new year brings with it a lot of new resolutions and expectations, and to fulfill the audiences ‘entertainment ‘ wishes are the 800 plus channels which every year create new properties to keep the EQ high.

     

    Disney channel, with an aim to up its ante in the genre, is launching five new properties in the end of January 2015 to not only reach out to its 4 to 14 year olds TG but the family as a whole.

     

    The new three-hour live-action weekend programming strategy, which has been worked upon for almost 12 months, is the foundation of the channel’s next 10 year plan. “We stared off as kids only channel 10 years back and after winning the loyalty of our TG, we think it is the right time to move on and carter to the whole family,” says Disney India Medianetworks content and communications VP Vijay Subramaniam while adding, “This has set the stage for 10 years of Disney in the country.”

     

    With shows like Maan Na Maan Mein Tera Mehman, Kabhi Aise Geet Gaya Karo, Goldie Ahuja Matric Pass, Laage Raho Chachu and Zindagi Khatti Mithi, the channel wants to make weekends a family time. “Shanivar aur Ravivar, Parivar Ke Saath is out motto and we will work towards it as Disney brings out the ethos of family,” says Subramaniam.

     

    The five shows with varied timings of 44 minutes, 22 minutes or even shorter, saw the channel getting an overwhelming response from the producers like Cinevistas, The Troublemakers and many others as they approached them. The channel also feels that the new propositions will get the advertisers excited. Says Disney India Medianetworks VP and revenue head Nikhil Gandhi, “For the Rs 350 crore business with seven channels in the genre, apart from a few regional ones, the growth has remained between 5 to 10 per cent. So, this is an opportunity for us to upscale our brand and these shows will help us compete with the GECs.”

     

    The programmes, focusing on the Hindi speaking markets (HSM) won’t be dubbed into regional languages unlike the others and aims to be at par with advertising rates charged for the shows of GECs. “Before we launch the series, advertisers should be on board as we have started talking to them. And we hope to see a 100 to 200 per cent hike in ad rates,” says Gandhi optimistically.

     

    As co-viewing has increased, there has been a significant increase in number of non-conventional advertisers like water purifiers, printers, cooking oils etc that have been reaching out to these audiences and want to continue doing so.

     

    The channel has already undergone a revamp, and if these programmes fulfill its Return on Investment (RoI) expectations then the number of such shows will be multiplied. The weekend programming FPC will also include Disney classics and animated movies. There are no immediate plans to change the weekday schedule. However, these shows will be repeated post 7 pm on weekdays.

     

    The three brand stories, conceptualised by Taproot, have already hit the small screen. The network will utilise all these avenues to strengthen the new positioning and programming strategy. “The brand stories are already running with ‘PK’, so we are going to use all our channels and other mediums for promotions,” says Gandhi.

     

    Stating the example of how the channel launched the video of Mickey on this birthday online before television, digital is an important platform for it. Without divulging more details the spokespersons from the channel agree on the fact that marketing will be engagement based. However, on-ground activities or collations with schools are not on the blueprint.

  • HP partners with Bindass for ‘Bend The Rules’ campaign

    HP partners with Bindass for ‘Bend The Rules’ campaign

    MUMBAI: Bindass, over the years has understood the pulse of India’s youth and has become their friend and companion while entertaining them with content that is both purposive and engaging.

     

    The channel in association with Hewlett Packard (HP) launched a new campaign – ‘Bend the Rules’ featuring brand ambassador, Deepika Padukone. The campaign celebrates how millennials in India ‘Bend the Rules’ by taking the unconventional road to success.

     

    Millennials strive for success at an early age using the power of technology. HP is inviting them to share their stories by uploading a video on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube using the hash-tag #BendTheRules, of how they have bent the rules to achieve success.

     

    A winning entry from India will get a chance to share his/her inspiring story with a larger audience through a short film which will be aired on Bindass and its YouTube channel.

     

    Talking about this association with HP, Disney India VP revenue, media networks Nikhil Gandhi says that the channel wanted to try a different approach in order to deepen the engagement level with the youth. The campaign connects with the ideas and philosophies of Young India. It celebrates the young generation’s ability to ‘Bend the Rules’ and achieve success by taking the road less travelled.

     

    Padukone, the brand ambassador for HP India is associated with this campaign. As someone who decided to pursue acting and leave behind a promising badminton career, she is familiar with treading the unconventional path to success.

     

    Also featuring in the campaign is the HP Pavilion x360, a value-packed convertible PC, which easily converts from notebook, to stand, to tent, to tablet mode. With optimised touch-screen performance and beats audio, the device is ideal for the productivity and entertainment needs of consumers.

     

    Backed by in depth research, Bindass has executed successful shows and campaigns which not only engage young India but also enable purposive action. “We are using this understanding to create the right approach to strengthen our partnership with HP and deliver Bindass ‘Bend The Rules’ to strengthen their engagement with the youth,” says Gandhi.

     

    What made HP associate with bindass for the campaign? According to HP India head of marketing, printing and personal systems Lloyd Mathias, HP’s focus was to reach out to the Indian youth. “#BendtheRules is in the DNA of young India and we wanted to amplify the HP brand philosophy with a partner that understands youth. Brand Bindass is positioned as the enabler of purposive action and that holds really well with brand HP. We wanted to leverage Bindass’s reach on TV and digital to speak to the Indian youth and hence the association,” he says.

     

    Mathias believes that by partnering with Bindass, it will help HP become more relevant to its audience and build a community around shared interests and passions. The bend the rules philosophy of HP will get validation and engagement through this association within its shared TG.

     

    The initiative is spread across multiple platforms including television, print, digital, out of home, webisodes and Vine videos. Additionally, an extensive social media campaign covering Twitter and Facebook is also in place which rests on both Bindass and HP’s social media platforms.

  • Bindass to ‘Play’ on youth demand

    Bindass to ‘Play’ on youth demand

    MUMBAI: “We want to build on our strengths,” is what Disney India MD Siddharth Roy Kapur believes in and is the reason for the soon-to-launch music channel, Bindass Play, from the network.

     

    Disney India will replace UTV Stars with the new channel which will go on air from 1 October as it wants to build on the youth-targetted brand. “Currently, Bindass is at a very good place and the viewers are aware of our values. Hence, we want to expand on it with the new music channel,” says Kapur.

     

    Early this early Bindass had launched a new brand film – ‘B for Change – to reflect the sentiments of today’s youth who want to explore but at the same time don’t hesitate in going forward to bring about a change.

     

    “Bindass has always spoken the language of youth and it is the only homegrown youth entertainment channel in the genre to have won the loyalty of youngsters in the country. Music is very close to this section of the audience,” says Media Networks content and communication VP and head Vijay Subramaniam.

     

    He adds, “Hence, the unique thing about the channel would be that it will be inspirational and will celebrate the journey of adulthood as a friend and empower the youth.”

     

    But does this mean, Bindass will now only focus on storytelling? ‘No’, comes the response from Subramaniam. The youth entertainment channel will continue to showcase music but only for five hours (7 am to 12 pm) and on relationship based programmes rather than the edgy content like Dadagiri it focused on, earlier.

     

    The latest entrant in the Rs 900 crore business caters to the age group of 14-34 with the tagline ‘Saath hai toh baat hai’. The 13 shows are mood mapped with high energy song in the morning to slow tempo in the night, and with many of them like Tia’s Request, Tweet Meri Beat, Ishq Messenger among others allowing the viewer to choose his/her playlist through social media.

     

    Digital medium plays an important role for the brand and hence, it has tried to capture the youth through it. “As and when newer opportunities come from the medium we will try to engage with them as well,” says Subramaniam.

     

    The network is already in talks with four major brands for the channel. “Advertisers are happy and will want to associate with the channel as it is extension of the brand Bindass,” says Media Networks revenue vice president and head Nikhil Gandhi and will sell the ad slots at “healthy” rates.

     

    However, media planners consider it as ‘just another channel in the genre’ as there are too many players in the genre. “Rs 500 for a 10 second ad should be the rate for the channel,” says a media planner.

     

    UTV Stars was launched in 2011 and showcased popular Bollywood content including music and feature-based programming and since it was not able to catch viewers’ attention, the network now is playing safe by launching a channel focusing on the music genre, point outs another media analyst.

     

    Nonetheless, the channel is very upbeat about its new offering and believes that it will be able to strengthen its position in the category.  An in house team worked on the look for the channel and Subramaniam believes that it will be the ‘sexiest looking channel’ on television.

  • UTV Movies International now in Canada

    UTV Movies International now in Canada

    MUMBAI: To take the entertainment quotient a notch higher, Disney India has taken its 24 hour Hindi movie channel – UTV Movies International to Canada. The channel that was launched on 17 July in Canada aims at drawing the audiences together to share their universal passion for Bollywood.

     

    While UTV Movies International was launched first on Bell Fibe, it is also available across key platforms in Canada. And now, to take a step further to ensure better reach, the channel will be distributed through Asian Television Network (ATN).

     

    According to Disney India VP – revenues, media networks Nikhil Gandhi, Canada is a very important market for the network as it has a large South Asian diaspora who are looking for fresh and distinctive Hindi movie content. He said, “UTV Movies has been consistently engaging with audiences in India and internationally. With the UTV Movies International channel launch in Canada, we are further expanding our footprint in the international markets and are extremely excited to work with Canada’s largest television broadcaster – Asian Television Network.”

     

    “We are very pleased to be associated with UTV Movies International,” said ATN president and CEO Dr Shan Chandrasekar.  “Bollywood is one of the most loved genres in the country and the audiences here have a special connect with Hindi films. ATN has been responsible in bringing a range of specialty channels to the diverse audiences in Canada and UTV Movies International is a great addition to our network.” he added.

     

    Over the past five years, UTV Movies International has addressed the viewer’s approach of looking to television for uninhibited entertainment, instantly gratifying them with a direct experience of the spirit of Bollywood.

     

    The channel, currently present in 26 countries, has been engaging with audiences in key regions such as USA, Middle East and Africa along with countries such as Nepal, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. UTV Movies International also has a presence in the United Kingdom under the name of UMP Movies.

  • UTV Stars to don new look

    UTV Stars to don new look

    MUMBAI: UTV Stars is all set for a makeover. Come October and the music and feature based programming channel, will don a new look. Disney India, riding on the success of its youth entertainment channel-bindass, is all set to unveil a refreshed channel offering with a new brand proposition complemented with fresh packaging, new content and a new brand name, that will further fortify the bindass brand.

     

    The channel will continue in its present avatar till September 2014. The change is in keeping with Disney India’s long-term strategy of building a set of formidable brands in India.

     

     “Disney India is committed to serving audiences with differentiated multi-brand offerings in the television space. To that end, we are refreshing our product offerings in the youth genre, using brand bindass to create a new proposition for UTV Stars that is complementary to the bindass brand, and centered around themes and passions that drive Young India,” said Disney India vice president – content & communication, media networks Vijay Subramaniam.

     

    “In one of the most dynamic media industries in the world, it has been our constant endeavor to continually refresh our offerings to stay ahead of the curve and serve our audiences and stake holders with quality content that raises the bar on engagement and relevance,” added Disney India vice president – revenue, media networks Nikhil Gandhi.

     

    ‘bindass’ is one of the first homegrown youth entertainment channel in India that has gone from strength to strength in the past few years. The channel has delivered genre defining shows and campaigns that have mirrored the realities, dreams and aspirations of the Indian youth to garner a cult following. The channel’s most recent initiative, ‘b for change’ and new shows such as Yeh Hai Ashiqui, Halla Bol and Change Ayega, Hum Layenge as well as old favorites in their new avatars such as Emotional Atyachaar have successfully reiterated bindass’ philosophy of ‘Enabler of Purposive Action’ to its viewers.

  • Disney junior reaches out to 26.5 million households across the nation

    Disney junior reaches out to 26.5 million households across the nation

    MUMBAI: Disney Junior, the globally acclaimed entertainment destination designed especially for the youngest members of the family, their parents and caregivers, will now be available on two of India’s leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms – Tata Sky and Airtel digital TV. The channel which showcases both classic and new Disney characters, will now reach out to all the subscribers of Tata Sky and Airtel digital TV with the same magical storytelling with a heart that generations of Disney fans have come to know and love.

     

    “Disney Junior is an engaging, learning-focused and unique Disney destination with elements that encourage early childhood development, wrapped in strong emotionally connected storytelling. Over the past year, we have been committed to bringing wonderful stories through shows such as ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’, ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’, along with recent additions such as “Sofia The First” and “Henry Hugglemonster”. These shows have not only been the hallmark of the Disney experience but have also served as a learning and development tool for our young viewers. We are very happy to bring Disney Junior to the Tata Sky and Airtel digital TV viewers”, said Nikhil Gandhi, Vice President and Head of Ad Sales, Media Networks, Disney India

     

    Disney Junior fulfills the parents’ expectations, blending unparalleled storytelling and beloved characters with learning components that encourage social and emotional development as well as cognitive skills. It’s globally acclaimed stories help develop skills such as early math and language as well as healthy eating and lifestyles along with building emotional connections with the iconic as well as new characters which form the most ‘fun’ aspect of growing up. The original series include ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates’, ‘Doc McStuffins’, ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’, ‘A Poem Is…’, ‘Handy Manny,’ ‘Little Einsteins’, “Special Agent Oso” and more.

     

    The channel recently announced the availability of Disney Junior’s most popular iOS apps, “Jake’s Never Land Pirate School,” developed internationally on Android devices in Google Play and for Kindle tablets in the Amazon Appstore. Using “Jake’s Never Land Pirate School” App, kids can become completely immersed in Never Land, completing pirate-themed challenges such as Sailing, Pirate Band, Map & Spyglasses and Pixie Dust. The app also enables fans to capture or import a photo to create a personalized pirate face, and the Pirate School Captain’s Log tracks class levels completed and Badges of Honor earned so that kids can earn their official Pirate Certificate. The “Jake’s Never Land Pirate School” App is $2.99.  

     

    Disney Junior continues to be available across other leading DTH and digital players in India.

     

  • bindass bets on social media for marketing ‘Video Wars’ show

    MUMBAI: As the launch for its first daily format show Video Wars draws closer, Disney’s youth entertainment channel bindass is going full throttle to create a buzz around the show. This time though, the channel is leaning heavier on the social media and on ground engagement initiatives rather than the tried and tested ATL routes of television, print, radio and outdoor.

    Video Wars is a reality show that involves five contestants cataloguing a day in their life in the form of a video diary, which will then be aired for the viewers to see. Based on the content shot by the contestant, the viewers get to vote for their favourite and the least popular contestant will be eliminated at the end of the week. A fresh contestant will take his place the next week.

    Says Disney UTV executive director youth channels media networks Nikhil Gandhi, “Video Wars is a show that is in line with our ‘Rest Less. Do More.’ positioning as it empowers the youth with a camera and go out there and get famous. Since the show deals primarily with user generated content (UGC), we decided to focus on media like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The aim is to engage with the youth wherever they are. We all know how active the youth are on social media.”

    bindass will launch the Facebook Stamp Campaign from 19 November along with a YouTube in search video campaign which will go live in the second week of the show.

    Apart from the digital space, bindass is targeting on ground engagement opportunities to interact with the youth. “The idea is to take the youth play beyond television. We want to be where the youth of today is – from college campus to concerts to cafeterias,” says Gandhi.

    Recently, the channel collaborated with the Enrique concert in Delhi and Pune where people wearing video ‘heads’ were deployed in order to create visibility for Video Wars. During the NH7 Weekender, bindass set up Video Wars booths where ‘Weekenders’ could shoot themselves and audition to appear on the show.

  • ‘BCCI rights great opportunity to build Star’s sports biz’ : Star India CEO Uday Shankar

    ‘BCCI rights great opportunity to build Star’s sports biz’ : Star India CEO Uday Shankar

    Just over a year old, UTV Stars is banking on revenue growth from advertising, syndication and distribution to achieve operational break even this fiscal.

     

    The launch of UTV Stars last August has expanded the Bollywood lifestyle TV genre, created by Zoom and E24. The core target audience of the channel is upscale youth in the age group of 15-24 years.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Javed Farooqui, UTV Stars business head Nikhil Gandhi talks about the channel‘s progress, its differentiated content and the challenges in the space.

     

    Excerpts:
     

    Does UTV Stars get a competitive advantage by being the child of Disney-UTV?
    We definitely have an edge as we have got a thriving motion pictures business. This allows us to do that much more compared to our competitors. Our access to the big Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor or a Hrithik Roshan is much easier. If you see the kind of news content that we create, we are credible.

     
    Since UTV Stars‘ sister arm also produces movies, doesn‘t that also present a conflict of interest while covering Bollywood news?
    Once you have established yourself as a credible player in the space, I don‘t think any star or film producer would think that there is a conflict of interest. They, in fact, would want to promote their films that much more. Moreover, our editor is Manish Dubey who was with Aaj Tak and has credible bondage with the movie stars. Also, our correspondents as well as special features editors have professional relationships with all the big superstars.

     
    Isn‘t differentiation very thin in this kind of genre?
    When we started, we positioned UTV Stars as the official channel of Bollywood. We were also known as being the intimate insider to Bollywood. We got all the big stars to endorse and that reflected in our launch campaign. We did a big chat show with Priety Zinta. We also did a show called ‘Live My Life‘ which is coming up for its second season after the channel‘s first anniversary on 19 August. Our channel is also available in High Definition, taking the viewing experience to a whole new level.

     
    How is your content mix different from other rival channels?
    On a daily basis, we have three and half hours of original content while the others offer three hours. So we have half-an-hour of additional content. This is largely because we have original long format shows, giving our channel a differentiated value. You won‘t see big ticket reality shows on other channels.

     

    We run Bollywood music and movies but news and shows form a large portion of our prime time content. We play music in non-prime time because the TG loves it and because Bollywood music lends itself well with the channel. 

     

    ‘On a daily basis, we have three and half hours of original content while the rival channels offer three hours. So we are half-an-hour of additional content‘
     

    How would you define your target group?
    We are in the youth space but have a definite skew towards Bollywood. In terms of demographics, our core target group is 15-24 SEC AB. Bollywood stars influence the youth of India a great deal. In that sense, the kind of content that we have created caters to the Indian youth. So even though Bollywood content cuts across age groups, we are going to focus on youth particularly after the kind of success that we have seen online.

     
    Could you elaborate on the online growth?
    We have almost half a million fans on Facebook. We are also the largest content provider for Bollywood content on YouTube and have already got 30 million views. We power the UTV group content engine on YouTube per se including UTV Motion Pictures. We have got 10,000 hours of content that we had shot last year. All this gives us a cutting edge.

     
    What is the break even period that you have set for yourself?
    We are looking at an operational break-even next year (FY‘ 13). With the kind of control that we have on our costs and if the markets start improving, we should be able to reach that milestone.
     

    What impact did ad slowdown have on your revenues?
    We experienced a bit of a volume loss but our big shows also get a premium. The advertising community is also appreciating the kind of content that we have been able to create and they are now talking to us for annual deals going forward.

      
    Who are your big advertisers?
    We have all the top advertisers that occupy the youth space. Like in FMCG, we have Hindustan Unilever, P&G and L‘Oreal. We run about 10 minutes of commercial in one hour of programming, which can go up to 12 minutes. 

     
    What are the major revenue streams for UTV Stars?
    Currently, ad revenues contribute 60-75 per cent of our overall revenues. But we would like to bring this down to 50-55 per cent and with digitisation we are hopeful that this shift will happen. We are also looking at syndication opportunities overseas as well as in India. We are already syndicating in-flight entertainment across big airlines. Our business model includes distribution, syndication, video on demand, ad revenue and on-ground events.

     
    You have been quite aggressive with on-ground properties?
    So far as ground connect goes, we have been able to rope in partners who are in the lifestyle and Bollywood space. So we had partnered People magazine to do the ‘People Best Dressed‘ show; we had also partnered Cosmopolitan to do ‘Free Fearless Awards‘. Besides, we also did ‘F1 After Parties‘ with Arjun Rampal.

     

    However, the biggest property we did was ‘Walk of the Stars‘ at Bandra Bandstand (Mumbai) where we had the biggest stars giving their hand impressions. It‘s like the Hollywood Walk of the Fame. We got the Walk of the Stars branded as UTV Walk of the Stars as a permanent structure and it has also got statues and benches of legendary stars from Raj Kapoor to Shammi Kapoor and now Rajesh Khanna. We are taking it to Delhi next year and it‘s going to be available at Kingdom of Dreams. We tied up with IIFA Awards this year and took this property to Singapore. 

     
    What big shows are on the anvil?
    There is ‘Nirma Lifestyle‘ season 2 that is coming up in the quarter beginning October. We have another show called ‘Gods of Style‘ coming up where we are going to showcase top 10 style icons in Bollywood. We have four more shows in the pipeline about which I can‘t reveal much at this stage.