ITV

Tag: Olympics

  • Catch ’em young: Ministry hunts for sports talent

    Catch ’em young: Ministry hunts for sports talent

    NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry is to set up a Talent Search Portal shortly to give a fair opportunity to talented children from every nook and corner of the country to pursue their dreams of achieving excellence in sports. Jolted by the poor performance of India at the Rio Olympics, the ministry had already begun a process to examine India’s performance.

    The plan is to target talented children of eight years and above.
    Efforts will be made to involve National Sports Federations, corporate houses and other stake-holders in the programme.

    Sports Minister Vijay Goel said in a statement that details of the performance and potential of a child including video and photographs could be uploaded on the portal by children, their parents, relatives, teachers and others on the portal. A format will be available on the portal to capture the key details of the child.

    After due scrutiny, children with potential will be given an opportunity to appear for a battery of tests which could be conducted at the nearest Sports Authority of India Centre and others. Those who pass will be admitted to the training centres of SAI.

    The ministry will also persuade the state governments and others to admit some of such children in their centres. Such talented children who are not able to leave their current places of residence for any reason may be offered a scholarship to help them pursue excellence in sports.

    The portal will allow talented children to stake their claim for support including admission to sports training centres from the comforts of their homes and will simplify procedures. It will be particularly beneficial to the disadvantaged sections of the society.

  • SonyLIV encourages the Rio Indian contingent with #WohHaareNahin

    SonyLIV encourages the Rio Indian contingent with #WohHaareNahin

    NEW DELHI: Success is a sheer refusal to accept failure, a dogged determination to break free from the shackles of one’s circumstances and a willingness to rise above oneself in pursuit of one’s dreams.

    SonyLIV, the complete digital entertainment platform with content for audiences across genres, has highlighted through a video showng how Indian athletes had to overcome several odds in order to win a place at the Games, and is a fitting tribute to the effort of the country’s Rio Olympics contingent.

    Titled #WohHaareNahin, the short 90-second AV opens with a clock showing 05:30 AM. Glimpses of tickets, a passport and an Olympics pass are shown in subsequent shots.

    An athlete, presumably recently-returned from the Olympics, can be seen getting dressed in her India practice kit. A contemplative musical arrangement can be heard in the background, as the narrator explains why winning a medal should not be assumed to be the only criterion for victory. The video goes on to subtly explain how Indian athletes had to overcome hardships such as injuries, criticism, apathy towards their chosen sport, a distinct lack of training facilities, and a dearth of sponsors and adequate monetary recompense to earn the privilege of representing their country at the grandest sporting arena, the Olympic Games. It ends with a shot of the athlete jogging away into the distance, refusing to give into disappointment and continuing her daily warm-up.

    Currently live on SonyLIV’s web and a mobile platforms, the AV encourages viewers to tweet their support to the athletes with the hashtag #WohHaareNahin, appreciating their efforts and their representation of India at the Games.

    Link: http://www.sonyliv.com/details /promos/5095102376001/Woh-Haar e-Nahin—Tribute-to-Indian-Co ntingent-at-Rio

  • SonyLIV encourages the Rio Indian contingent with #WohHaareNahin

    SonyLIV encourages the Rio Indian contingent with #WohHaareNahin

    NEW DELHI: Success is a sheer refusal to accept failure, a dogged determination to break free from the shackles of one’s circumstances and a willingness to rise above oneself in pursuit of one’s dreams.

    SonyLIV, the complete digital entertainment platform with content for audiences across genres, has highlighted through a video showng how Indian athletes had to overcome several odds in order to win a place at the Games, and is a fitting tribute to the effort of the country’s Rio Olympics contingent.

    Titled #WohHaareNahin, the short 90-second AV opens with a clock showing 05:30 AM. Glimpses of tickets, a passport and an Olympics pass are shown in subsequent shots.

    An athlete, presumably recently-returned from the Olympics, can be seen getting dressed in her India practice kit. A contemplative musical arrangement can be heard in the background, as the narrator explains why winning a medal should not be assumed to be the only criterion for victory. The video goes on to subtly explain how Indian athletes had to overcome hardships such as injuries, criticism, apathy towards their chosen sport, a distinct lack of training facilities, and a dearth of sponsors and adequate monetary recompense to earn the privilege of representing their country at the grandest sporting arena, the Olympic Games. It ends with a shot of the athlete jogging away into the distance, refusing to give into disappointment and continuing her daily warm-up.

    Currently live on SonyLIV’s web and a mobile platforms, the AV encourages viewers to tweet their support to the athletes with the hashtag #WohHaareNahin, appreciating their efforts and their representation of India at the Games.

    Link: http://www.sonyliv.com/details /promos/5095102376001/Woh-Haar e-Nahin—Tribute-to-Indian-Co ntingent-at-Rio

  • Youth-targeted Olympic Channel launches 21 August

    Youth-targeted Olympic Channel launches 21 August

    MUMBAI: A new channel will launch just as dusk settles on the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games on 21 August. Called the Olympic Channel, it will be available for worldwide audiences as an OTT offering via mobile apps for Android and IoS devices and online at olympicchannel.com. And it is being flagged of by the International Olympic Committee to offer fans a-round-the year Olympic experience.

    A budget of $450 million to finance it for the first seven years will allow it to roll out a mix of live sports, documentaries, archive footage, news and highlights. It hopes to break even in about 10 years. Its base is Madrid, home to The Olympic Broadcasting Service, the arm of the IOC, which looks after the production of all things related to the premier once-in-four year event. And the channel head, it’s the CEO of the OBS,Yiannis Exarchos.

    With the slogan “Where the Games never end,” Exarchos says it will deliver “the power of sport and the Olympic movement” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And its ultimate goal is to bring the younger generation closer to sport, closer to an active lifestyle.

    It will of course not telecast any of the Olympics live – as the IOC makes a large chunk of its revenues from licensing the live coverage of the Olympics to broadcasters worldwide. NBC has given it a cheque of $7.75 billion for US broadcast rights from 2022 to 2032.

    But it will have access to the rich footage of Olympics competition over the decades dating back to almost a century, most of it not seen by the current generation. The OBS has digitized about 42,000 hours of the content which was stored at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzelrand, which is being repurposed, Exarchos has been telling media, in refreshing ways, “sometimes even in a funny or bonkers way.”

    600 pieces of original programming, including 100 hours of high end documentaries, are also going to be on offer, featuring inspirational, dramatic or emotional stories of some of the biggest athletes in the world presented in a manner that can be enjoyed by younger people.

    Japanese tyre company Bridgestone – which is a Olympic Top partner – has already come on board the OTT channel as a founding partner for four years. It will be the presenting partner of the eight episode documentary series Against All Odds, that follows eight athletes. Each half-hour episode will focus on one athlete, offering a first-person account of a key turning point, and how personal will and determination helped them to overcome adversity and reach their goals.

    This apart, The Olympic Channel will also be showing about 11 sports events live between September and December including triathlon, canoeing, rowing and an Olympic ice hockey qualifying tournament. Formal agreements have been signed by it with 27 of the 35 summer and winter Olympics sports federations.

    It has hired production companies in 17 countries around the world to produce content to allow for local stories to be told too, despite it being a global channel.

    Olympic Channel executives are quite clear that the news on the channel will also be a draw as it going to be prepared by totally independent team of journalists who will make their own choices.

    “We want to make the Olympic Channel the one place to go for all things Olympic,” Exarchos told media last week.
    It’s over to the viewers to take a call on that.

  • Youth-targeted Olympic Channel launches 21 August

    Youth-targeted Olympic Channel launches 21 August

    MUMBAI: A new channel will launch just as dusk settles on the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games on 21 August. Called the Olympic Channel, it will be available for worldwide audiences as an OTT offering via mobile apps for Android and IoS devices and online at olympicchannel.com. And it is being flagged of by the International Olympic Committee to offer fans a-round-the year Olympic experience.

    A budget of $450 million to finance it for the first seven years will allow it to roll out a mix of live sports, documentaries, archive footage, news and highlights. It hopes to break even in about 10 years. Its base is Madrid, home to The Olympic Broadcasting Service, the arm of the IOC, which looks after the production of all things related to the premier once-in-four year event. And the channel head, it’s the CEO of the OBS,Yiannis Exarchos.

    With the slogan “Where the Games never end,” Exarchos says it will deliver “the power of sport and the Olympic movement” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And its ultimate goal is to bring the younger generation closer to sport, closer to an active lifestyle.

    It will of course not telecast any of the Olympics live – as the IOC makes a large chunk of its revenues from licensing the live coverage of the Olympics to broadcasters worldwide. NBC has given it a cheque of $7.75 billion for US broadcast rights from 2022 to 2032.

    But it will have access to the rich footage of Olympics competition over the decades dating back to almost a century, most of it not seen by the current generation. The OBS has digitized about 42,000 hours of the content which was stored at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzelrand, which is being repurposed, Exarchos has been telling media, in refreshing ways, “sometimes even in a funny or bonkers way.”

    600 pieces of original programming, including 100 hours of high end documentaries, are also going to be on offer, featuring inspirational, dramatic or emotional stories of some of the biggest athletes in the world presented in a manner that can be enjoyed by younger people.

    Japanese tyre company Bridgestone – which is a Olympic Top partner – has already come on board the OTT channel as a founding partner for four years. It will be the presenting partner of the eight episode documentary series Against All Odds, that follows eight athletes. Each half-hour episode will focus on one athlete, offering a first-person account of a key turning point, and how personal will and determination helped them to overcome adversity and reach their goals.

    This apart, The Olympic Channel will also be showing about 11 sports events live between September and December including triathlon, canoeing, rowing and an Olympic ice hockey qualifying tournament. Formal agreements have been signed by it with 27 of the 35 summer and winter Olympics sports federations.

    It has hired production companies in 17 countries around the world to produce content to allow for local stories to be told too, despite it being a global channel.

    Olympic Channel executives are quite clear that the news on the channel will also be a draw as it going to be prepared by totally independent team of journalists who will make their own choices.

    “We want to make the Olympic Channel the one place to go for all things Olympic,” Exarchos told media last week.
    It’s over to the viewers to take a call on that.

  • Kashish International Queer Film Festival scores its highest, here’s how!

    Kashish International Queer Film Festival scores its highest, here’s how!

    MUMBAI: Society’s acceptance is expanding to acceptance of new ideas, cultures and beliefs. The twenty first century is about moving forward with acceptance to new change, and as media is a mirror for and of society, everything is reflected on movie screen. With article 377 and awareness and acceptance for LGBTQ community at large today, films have also expanded their base to cover this topic.

    National Award Winner Sridhar Rangayan has rolled out the seventh annual edition of Kashish International Queer Film festival in Mumbai. The festival will launch between 25 May 25 and 29 May at three different venues: Liberty Theatre, Alliance Francaise de Bombay and Max Muller Bhavan. The theme of the festival remains ‘Seven Shades of Love’.

    This is one of the most significant festivals screening films themed around the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. Kashish International Queer Film Festival has been promoting such films even at international platforms and has been celebrating LGBT cinema in Mumbai via the festival.

    This year the festival will screen the highest number of films – 182 from 53 countries. In the 2015 edition of the festival, the number was 180 films from 44 countries.  There are 27 Indian films in Tamil, Kannada, Telegu and Hindi, to be screened in the festival. The festival has films ranging between a time duration of 12 minutes to 112 minutes. Feature films, documentaries and short films are on the list. About 50 films concern women and transgender.

    Festival director Sridhar Rangayan said, “We are delighted that the quality of filmmaking around LGBTQ issues in India has gathered quite a lot of momentum in recent years. This year we received more than 60 Indian film submissions, out of which we are screening 27 films, which have been shortlisted both for their narrative strength as well as their technical finesse. Four of them are co-productions and two of them are national award winners. So it is a good time for Indian LGBTQ cinema”

    The festival will open with the UK/USA feature film Carol, directed by Todd Haynes. Carol is a love story of the 1950s in New York between two young women. The cast includes Cate Blanchett and Roony Mara. The movie will be screened at Liberty Cinema on May 25.

    This year, the highlight films are Aligarh directed by Hansal Mehta, I am Not HE SHE directed by B.S. Lingadevaru, who also has another film in the festival  – The Threshold. Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh is also been looked forward to. Other awaited screenings are- Reaching for the Moon directed by Bruno Barreto, Oriented directed by Jake Witzenfeld and Tab Hunter Confidential directed by Jeffrey Schwarz.

    The festival finale will be the screening of the US award winning film Those people directed by Joey Kuhn. The film is story of young gay artist and his struggles.  

    Kashish International Queer Film Festival is associated with Wishberry as title sponsor. Other supporters are IBM as associate sponsor. Godrej, Whistling Woods and Canada are supporting sponsors. There are other festival sponsors like Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares, Wadia Movietime, Wendell Rodricks, Lotus Unusual and Accord Equips as award partners amongst others.

    The festival also has a film competition for young film makers, wherein 41 films will be competing this year. The films will be judged on the quality of filmmaking, narration and uplifting of LGBTQ community. Explaining, director of programming Kashish International Queer Film Festival Saagar Gupta said “Films in the competition are shortlisted on the basis of novelty of ideas or engaging storytelling or technical brilliance or all of these. Special attention is given to those dealing with issues faced by LGBTQ youth in a positive, uplifting manner; or act as a catalyst for a discussion; and also reiterate this year’s theme – 7 Shades Of Love”.

    The categories of awards include Best Narrative Feature, for which four films will be competing. The winner will be awarded with a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 30,000, sponsored by Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares. Actor Prepares is also sponsoring another category i.e. Best Performance in the Lead Role with a cash prize of Rs 20,000.

    Other categories include Best Documentary Feature; three films will be competing for this award. The International Narrative Short category has 23 competitors. Both carry a trophy and a gift hamper as awards. Six films will compete for Best Documentary Short. This category will award winners with a trophy and a HD Shooting Kit comprising of camera, mike and light; sponsored by Accord Equips. Best Indian Narrative Short is also sponsored by Actor Prepares, where two films will be competing. The winner will receive a trophy and a cash price of Rs 20,000.

    The Final Award is the Riyad Wadia Award for best emerging Indian Film Makers. The award carries a cash price of Rs 15000 and is sponsored by Wadia Movietime and a HD shooting kit sponsored by Accord Equips.  There are five films competing for the award.

    These films will be judged by National Award winner Rajeshwari Sachdev, TV actor Manav Gill, director Paravathi Balagopalan, theatre director Kaizaad Kotwal, international festival director Andrea Kuhn and Kashish International Queer Film Festival Sridhar Rangayan.  

    “The quality of the films in the competition this year is a testimony to the diversity of narrative styles as well as technical and aesthetic brilliance of filmmaking. They are not just LGBTQ films, but films that have a new storytelling edge to them. Every year Kashish tries to raise the bar, and this year the films in competition in seven categories are definitely world-class.” added Rangayan.

    Kashish, each year, focuses on one country with the title country in focus. Brazil is the chosen country for this year’s edition. The management explained the reason for choosing Brazil as a country of focus was because of its legalization of same sex marriages. Brazil will also be hosting Olympics this year. 11 films from Brazil will be screened in the festival.

    The opening night of the festival will be launched by chief guest and British actor Sir Ian Mckellen and Sonam Kapoor as Guest of Honor at the Liberty Cinema, Mumbai. Other dignitaries likely to attend the event include Kiran Rao, Kunal Kapoor, Sona Mohapatra, Nisa Godrej, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Manav Gohil along with Sridhar Rangayan.

     

  • Kashish International Queer Film Festival scores its highest, here’s how!

    Kashish International Queer Film Festival scores its highest, here’s how!

    MUMBAI: Society’s acceptance is expanding to acceptance of new ideas, cultures and beliefs. The twenty first century is about moving forward with acceptance to new change, and as media is a mirror for and of society, everything is reflected on movie screen. With article 377 and awareness and acceptance for LGBTQ community at large today, films have also expanded their base to cover this topic.

    National Award Winner Sridhar Rangayan has rolled out the seventh annual edition of Kashish International Queer Film festival in Mumbai. The festival will launch between 25 May 25 and 29 May at three different venues: Liberty Theatre, Alliance Francaise de Bombay and Max Muller Bhavan. The theme of the festival remains ‘Seven Shades of Love’.

    This is one of the most significant festivals screening films themed around the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. Kashish International Queer Film Festival has been promoting such films even at international platforms and has been celebrating LGBT cinema in Mumbai via the festival.

    This year the festival will screen the highest number of films – 182 from 53 countries. In the 2015 edition of the festival, the number was 180 films from 44 countries.  There are 27 Indian films in Tamil, Kannada, Telegu and Hindi, to be screened in the festival. The festival has films ranging between a time duration of 12 minutes to 112 minutes. Feature films, documentaries and short films are on the list. About 50 films concern women and transgender.

    Festival director Sridhar Rangayan said, “We are delighted that the quality of filmmaking around LGBTQ issues in India has gathered quite a lot of momentum in recent years. This year we received more than 60 Indian film submissions, out of which we are screening 27 films, which have been shortlisted both for their narrative strength as well as their technical finesse. Four of them are co-productions and two of them are national award winners. So it is a good time for Indian LGBTQ cinema”

    The festival will open with the UK/USA feature film Carol, directed by Todd Haynes. Carol is a love story of the 1950s in New York between two young women. The cast includes Cate Blanchett and Roony Mara. The movie will be screened at Liberty Cinema on May 25.

    This year, the highlight films are Aligarh directed by Hansal Mehta, I am Not HE SHE directed by B.S. Lingadevaru, who also has another film in the festival  – The Threshold. Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh is also been looked forward to. Other awaited screenings are- Reaching for the Moon directed by Bruno Barreto, Oriented directed by Jake Witzenfeld and Tab Hunter Confidential directed by Jeffrey Schwarz.

    The festival finale will be the screening of the US award winning film Those people directed by Joey Kuhn. The film is story of young gay artist and his struggles.  

    Kashish International Queer Film Festival is associated with Wishberry as title sponsor. Other supporters are IBM as associate sponsor. Godrej, Whistling Woods and Canada are supporting sponsors. There are other festival sponsors like Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares, Wadia Movietime, Wendell Rodricks, Lotus Unusual and Accord Equips as award partners amongst others.

    The festival also has a film competition for young film makers, wherein 41 films will be competing this year. The films will be judged on the quality of filmmaking, narration and uplifting of LGBTQ community. Explaining, director of programming Kashish International Queer Film Festival Saagar Gupta said “Films in the competition are shortlisted on the basis of novelty of ideas or engaging storytelling or technical brilliance or all of these. Special attention is given to those dealing with issues faced by LGBTQ youth in a positive, uplifting manner; or act as a catalyst for a discussion; and also reiterate this year’s theme – 7 Shades Of Love”.

    The categories of awards include Best Narrative Feature, for which four films will be competing. The winner will be awarded with a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 30,000, sponsored by Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares. Actor Prepares is also sponsoring another category i.e. Best Performance in the Lead Role with a cash prize of Rs 20,000.

    Other categories include Best Documentary Feature; three films will be competing for this award. The International Narrative Short category has 23 competitors. Both carry a trophy and a gift hamper as awards. Six films will compete for Best Documentary Short. This category will award winners with a trophy and a HD Shooting Kit comprising of camera, mike and light; sponsored by Accord Equips. Best Indian Narrative Short is also sponsored by Actor Prepares, where two films will be competing. The winner will receive a trophy and a cash price of Rs 20,000.

    The Final Award is the Riyad Wadia Award for best emerging Indian Film Makers. The award carries a cash price of Rs 15000 and is sponsored by Wadia Movietime and a HD shooting kit sponsored by Accord Equips.  There are five films competing for the award.

    These films will be judged by National Award winner Rajeshwari Sachdev, TV actor Manav Gill, director Paravathi Balagopalan, theatre director Kaizaad Kotwal, international festival director Andrea Kuhn and Kashish International Queer Film Festival Sridhar Rangayan.  

    “The quality of the films in the competition this year is a testimony to the diversity of narrative styles as well as technical and aesthetic brilliance of filmmaking. They are not just LGBTQ films, but films that have a new storytelling edge to them. Every year Kashish tries to raise the bar, and this year the films in competition in seven categories are definitely world-class.” added Rangayan.

    Kashish, each year, focuses on one country with the title country in focus. Brazil is the chosen country for this year’s edition. The management explained the reason for choosing Brazil as a country of focus was because of its legalization of same sex marriages. Brazil will also be hosting Olympics this year. 11 films from Brazil will be screened in the festival.

    The opening night of the festival will be launched by chief guest and British actor Sir Ian Mckellen and Sonam Kapoor as Guest of Honor at the Liberty Cinema, Mumbai. Other dignitaries likely to attend the event include Kiran Rao, Kunal Kapoor, Sona Mohapatra, Nisa Godrej, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Manav Gohil along with Sridhar Rangayan.

     

  • Legendari Group ropes in Leander Paes as Global Brand Ambassador

    Legendari Group ropes in Leander Paes as Global Brand Ambassador

    MUMBAI: 17-time Grand Slam champion, tennis superstar and India’s Padma Bhushan awardee, Leander Paes has been appointed as the Global Brand Ambassador of the LegendariGoup for a period of three years (2016-2018). 

    Legendari Group’s association with Paes will commence from 2016’s first tournament on the ATP World Tour, the Chennai Open. The move is made more significant with 2016 being an Olympic year. The Legendari Group will support Paes in every step towards achieving Olympic glory as he prepares to participate in the prestigious quadrennial event for a 7th consecutive time, a record for an Indian sportsperson and in tennis internationally, and an achievement held by very few world athletes. 

    In his role as Global Brand Ambassador, Leander will be part of #TeamLEGENDARIAthlete. The Legendari Group aims to utilize the power of brand Leander asa springboard to promote tennis and other growing sports across India and Asia. 

    Founded in 2015, the Legendari Group is based in Singapore with offices in Dubai and Tokyo. It made its foray on the world map with ownership of the Japan franchise, the Legendari Japan Warriors, in the recently concluded International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) 2015. Leander was an integral player of the team that played across five venues – Japan, Philippines, India, Dubai and Singapore, along with other team-mates that included tennis superstar Maria Sharapova, Kei Nishikori, Marat Safin, Mirjana Lucic, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Kurumi Nara. 

    Unveiling his tennis jersey that will now don the Legendari Group logo, Leander Paes said, “I am thrilled to growmy partnership with the Legendari Group and work closely with them as a Global Brand Ambassador. Having been associated with the Group as part of the LegendariJapan Warriors, I am excited to associate with them to promote sports, especially tennis. It is an honour to be the first #LegendariAthlete, and I look forward to utilizing my abilities to drive the growth of sports as a way of life.”

    Legendari Group was founded by sports entrepreneur and enthusiast, Shanthan Reddy. Reddy completed his MBA in Sports Administration from Switzerland, and went on to gain immense experience in the industry working across multiple countries in Asia, Europe and America. Having worked with national and international sports federations, Reddy’s astute business sense and passion for sports, especially tennis, cricket and hockey led him to start this new business. 

    Presenting Leander the new jersey, Executive Chairman & Managing Director, Shanthan Reddy said, “Leander has inspired many generations of tennis players and sportsmen in our country, and across the world with his game. We are absolutely delighted with this opportunity, and wish him success at Rio 2016 and through the year. Sports knows no boundaries and is gender agnostic. We at the Legendari Group are committed to sports, and will continue to identify and add similar such sports initiatives to our portfolio with an aim to emerge as a global leader.”

    The Legendari Group will have Navneet Sharma at the helm of affairs. With more than 23 years in the sports, media and leisure industries, Navneet comes with rich, varied strategic and operational experience and deep-rooted relationships in the global sports and media industries. 

    Speaking at the press conference, Group Chief Executive Officer, Navneet Sharma said, “Leander is a towering sports personality in the field of tennis in India and globally. With 17 Grand Slam titles to his name, he continues to be one of the fittest players on the Tour. His indefatigable spirit is infectious, and we are delightedthat he will partnering with the Legendari Group in its global initiatives.”

    The Legendari Group has interests in tennis, cricket, hockey, football among other sports. Its vision is to create a value-based sports culture and community eco-system that will promote sports with investments in talent and facilities development. Its key areas of focus will be sports management and marketing, media rights managements, athlete management, sports entertainment and event production.

  • Rentrak acquires social media tracker SponsorHub

    Rentrak acquires social media tracker SponsorHub

    MUMBAI: Rentrak has acquired SponsorHub, the Big Data platform for the sports and entertainment industry, offering proprietary social media measurement for sports, political and advertising brands.

     

    SponsorHub offers the most trusted industry benchmarking for top brands in the sports technology and entertainment space. Its tools measure and track brand engagement in sports and branded entertainment initiatives, ranging from the Olympics and World Cup, to TV and movies.

     

    Rentrak’s acquisition of SponsorHub advances its mission of providing unprecedented audience measurement and targeting to enable marketers to reach the right audience at the right time. Through its acquisition of SponsorHub, Rentrak will offer products that measure the effect of social media on television, dynamic ad insertion, online video advertising, movies and branded content integration.

     

    “TV continues to be more social and our industry-leading analytics greatly complement Rentrak’s services. The combination of Rentrak’s current products with SponsorHub’s social media SaaS platform will provide the most precise set of tools to measure the effect of social media. We’re looking forward to the new products that will be developed through this acquisition,” said SponsorHub CEO Robert Johnston.

     

    “We are excited to add social media measurement to our TV Everywhere products, as it will give additional transparency and purchasing flexibility for brands and agencies through SponsorHub’s social media products,” added Rentrak vice chairman & CEO Bill Livek.

  • Internet advertising to overtake television in 2018: Zenithoptimedia

    Internet advertising to overtake television in 2018: Zenithoptimedia

    MUMBAI: Even as desktop internet advertising continues to grow, it is slated to lose market share for the first time this year, dropping from 19.8 per cent of global adspend in 2014 to 19.4 per cent according to ZenithOptimedia’s new Advertising Expenditure Forecasts.

    By 2017, ZenithOptimedia forecasts desktop internet to account for 19.1 per cent of global adspend. Meanwhile, mobile internet advertising’s share of the global ad market will rise from 5.7 per cent in 2014 to 15 per cent in 2017. Overall, internet advertising will account for 34 per cent of global adspend in 2017, slightly behind television’s 35.9 per cent.

    The market share gap between the two media will narrow from 13.3 percentage points in 2014 to 1.9 in 2017. At this rate of growth, internet advertising will overtake television in 2018.

    On the other hand, print adspend continues to decline across most of the world, as it has done since 2008. The report predicts that newspaper adspend will shrink by an average of 4.9 per cent a year through to 2017, while magazine advertising will shrink by 3.2 per cent a year. Their combined share of global adspend has fallen from 39.4 per cent in 2007 to 19.6 per cent this year, and we expect it to fall further to 16.7 per cent by 2017.

     

    Mobile advertising to overtake newspapers in 2016: 

     

    Mobile internet advertising will overtake newspaper advertising next year, accounting for 12.4 per cent of global adspend while newspapers account for 11.9 per cent, according to ZenithOptimedia.

    Mobile internet will be the third-largest advertising medium, behind television and desktop internet. Mobile advertising will grow 38 per cent in 2016 to $71billion, while newspaper advertising will shrink four per cent to $68 billion.

    Mobile advertising remains the driving force behind the growth of the entire advertising market, contributing 83 per cent of all new ad dollars between 2014 and 2017.

     

    Global adspend to grow 4.0 per cent in 2015

     

    ZenithOptimedia forecasts that global adspend will grow four per cent to reach $554 billion in 2015, and will accelerate to five per cent growth in 2016, boosted by the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the US Presidential elections. Adspend will then slow down slightly in the absence of these events, growing 4.4 per cent in 2017.

     

    Mature Markets to lead adspend growth for the first time in nine years

     

    ZenithOptimedia has reduced its forecasts for adspend growth in 2015 since its June forecast by 0.2 percentage points. There has been broad-based deceleration across the world as marketers have moderated their expectations of global economic growth. With Brazil and Russia in recession, and China slowing down, the world can no longer rely on emerging markets to set the pace of growth. The agency expects ‘Mature Markets’ (defined as North America, Western Europe and Japan) to contribute more to global adspend growth this year than ‘Rising Markets’ (everywhere else), for the first time since 2006. The agency says that this is a temporary aberration, however – Rising Markets will become the leading contributors to ad market growth again in 2016, and will increase their market share from 37.4 per cent in 2015 to 38.8 per cent in 2017.

     

    China slows but is still growing twice as fast as the world as a whole

     

    China’s ad market has not been substantially affected by the turmoil in its stock market, but the slowing economy and concerns about the potential for future growth have caused advertisers to moderate their spending slightly. The report forecasts adspend growth in China to fall from 10.5 per cent in 2014 to 7.8 per cent in 2015 – a rate of growth that’s still twice as fast as the global ad market’s, and which places China as the 13th – fastest growing ad market of the 81 that the agency covers.

     

    Low oil prices weigh on big producers

     

    While beneficial for the global economy – and the ad market – as a whole, low oil prices are depressing activity in the big oil producers. The report forecasts double-digit declines in adspend this year in Azerbaijan, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, and declines of seven – eight per cent in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In Russia, the problem of low oil prices has been exacerbated by international sanctions, leading to an estimated 14.1 per cent drop in adspend this year.

    “Mobile technology is rapidly transforming the way consumers across the world live their lives, and is disrupting business models across all industries. We are now witnessing the fastest transition of ad budgets in history as marketers and agencies scramble to catch up with consumers’ embrace of the mobile way of life,” said ZenithOptimedia worldwide CEO Steve King.