ITV

Tag: &Pictures

  • &pictures beats Movies OK on the digital platform

    &pictures beats Movies OK on the digital platform

    MUMBAI: The promise of &pictures being India’s first interactive Hindi movie channel is strengthened with the unique strategy adopted for the premiere of Chennai Express. The Chennai Express mania refuses to die garnering a staggering 5949 TVTs and propelled the channel to zoom ahead of competition. The Week 47 data issued by TAM reveals the following key highlights:-

    &pictures zooms past competition with 112609 GVTs on CS4+, HSM levels

    Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM

    On the digital platform, &pictures has beaten Movies OK garnering 80129 GVTs

    Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM

    Chennai Express garners higher Time Spent than that of Boss on Colors


    Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM

    &pictures garners highest Time Spent in the Hindi Movie genre.

    Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM

    Chennai Express on &pictures also zips past popular primetime GEC shows like Big Boss, Nach Baliye, CID, KBC, Crime patrol Comedy Nights with Kapil


    Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM

    The channel had lined up an extensive and innovative marketing campaign including TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, OOH and Cable for this big ticket premiere that aired on November 23rd. Putting across a differentiated digital strategy helped the channel touch the pulse of the youth through Facebook, Twitter and the blogging community.

    The initiative of sending a reminder calls in Shah Rukh Khan’s Voice received a record breaking 153357 unique callers. Selecting four IndiBloggers to relive the journey that SRK and Deepika Padukone had done in the film is clearly a case of achieving success through customer-driven marketing innovation. The bloggers recreated the entire Chennai Express journey which engaged the audiences online. The same was supported by @AndPicturesIN to drive more conversations around the movie premiere. The activation which began on 18th November had four IndiBloggers (Karishma Rawat, Nandini Deka, Arvind Passey & Ramit Narang) travel via Chennai Express train from Mumbai to Rameshwaram. It proved to be an effective medium of getting the audience engaged with the blogging community who kept throwing them challenges enroute their journey. The link www.indiblogger.in/chennaiexpress had live updates from the 4 bloggers and they created record breaking conversations on twitter & Facebook.

    Talking about the marketing strategy, Akash Chawla, ZEEL, National Channels, Marketing Head, said, “The rise of social media and the increasingly connected customer makes us continuously think out of the box to engage them in newer and interesting ways. By allowing our viewers to experience a film in person before they see it in their own homes, we ensured that &pictures is synonymous with quality and a channel that puts their viewers first. This innovation in the online space has reaped us the benefit across platforms. It has helped us to overcome existing and emerging challenges and set benchmarks which we look to break again in the near future.”

    He adds, “Remarkably, the campaign saw an additional 500 tweets with #chennaiexpressandyou even after the film had premiered. The campaign successfully reached out to a whopping 1.4 unique Twitter users and received over 14 million impressions on Twitter. The impressions via IndiBlogger network was a staggering record 1 Million + and including the impressions generated by four bloggers traveling it comes to a whopping 6.6 million. Owing to the phenomenal response received by this activation, #chennaiexpressandyou was the most talked about topic on Twitter so much that we broke Twitter.”

    &pictures marketing strategy for the premiere of Chennai Express was a unique blend of traditional and digital mediums with innovation and differentiation.

  • ‘Chennai Express’ halts on &pictures

    ‘Chennai Express’ halts on &pictures

    MUMBAI: Did you get a reminder call from Shah Rukh Khan to watch Chennai Express on &pictures? Following the success on Zee TV which garnered 19,541 TVTs, Shah Rukh Khan and Rohit Shetty’s gigantic blockbuster, Chennai Express will now halt on &pictures on 23 November at 8:00 pm.

    The new Hindi movie channel is pulling all stops to make this premiere an even a bigger success than Zee TV. The channel has devised an interesting digital mechanism to promote the premiere of this blockbuster film.

    “It is the first of its kind initiative on Hindi movie genre space,” asserts Zeel marketing head (national channels) Akash Chawla. “It is a challenge now for &pictures. When there is a platform as big as Zee TV and when there is a movie as big as Chennai Express and the ratings are as big as what they had come when it was last aired, it makes it that very important for the newly launched &pictures. The challenge for us it to come up with a strategy that is new and different from what was used the last time it was telecast on Zee TV.”

    “But in terms of the way in which we are building Chennai Express on the channel is aggressive and different. While we are very aggressive on the traditional medium, a lot of hoardings are up in Bombay and for print we are digging deep into the markets also. The brand &pictures is very different as compared to Zee TV so the tonality of the promotion is extremely different as compared to what you saw on Zee. A complete blend of mass media and digital in a big way.”

    The brand &pictures is very different as compared to Zee TV, says Akash Chawla

    So what are the innovations? Breaking new ground, a unique IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) model has been created. Through this, viewers can just give a missed call on this toll free number 18001035515 and get a reminder about the movie on their phones in Shah Rukh Khan’s own voice. It works like an alarm clock wherein one can set a reminder about the telecast of the movie and receive a call on the D-Day. The channel is promoting this number on-air as well as on social media.

    Interestingly, Brandlogist, a digital creative agency based in Delhi has been roped in for these innovations.

    There’s more good news for all movie bloggers and travel freaks! Tapping again into the digital media, the channel is sending four lucky bloggers on the actual Chennai Express train. The group of bloggers will take the train from Mumbai and will go to Chennai and while they travel, they will tweet and write on various forums with regards to their actual travel experience happening on the Chennai Express with the &pictures hashtag. This is another novel way that the movie is going to be promoted via blogging community. Actual experiences and pictures will also be uploaded real-time.

    With the help of the blogging community associated with Indi Bloggers, these bloggers from Mumbai and Delhi will get to win this experience on the Chennai Express train.  A page on Indi Blogger will track the entire journey from start to finish in real time. There will also be a live feed of their tweets, blogs and pictures on social media.

    Over and above the digital initiatives, an aggressive marketing strategy has been initiated on other mediums including TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, OOH and Cable.

    At present, the new channel has its official Twitter page with twitter handle @AndPicturesIN and boasts of more than 4,300 followers. The page is buzzing with tweets and re-tweets related to Chennai Express with hashtags #chennaiexpressandyou. It has also launched its official Facebook page which has more than 57,000 likes.

  • Laugh a lot and Win a lot on Laughternoons with &pictures

    Laugh a lot and Win a lot on Laughternoons with &pictures

    MUMBAI: With the festival of lights around the corner, &pictures is all set to brighten up viewers lives with a laughter and a chance to win big prizes during the week of Diwali. Since it is festive season, families can fill their afternoons with the comedy movie festival aptly titled – Laughternoons! The festival will air between 1st to 7th November at 12 noon and feature some of Bollywood’s most popular films like Andaz Apna Apna, Kambakht Ishq, Double Dhamaal, Desi Boyz and many more.

    Viewers will be able to take part in a contest that will run during the film and SMS the number of smileys that are flashed on their screens by typing AND <space> number of smileys and send it to 57575. The top 200 correct entries will each win either one gold or one  silver coin while one lucky winner will win a bumper prize of Rs. 1lakh!  
    The movies to be aired as a part of the Laughternoon festival are as follows: 

    1st Nov- Andaz Apna Apna
    2nd Nov- Kambakht Ishq
    3rd Nov-  Double Dhamaal
    4th Nov- Desi Boyz
    5th Nov- Hungama
    6th Nov- Deewane Huye Paagal
    7th Nov- All The Best 

    So what are you waiting for? Afternoons this Diwali have just gotten bigger and better! Watch Laughternoons at 12 noon on &pictures from 1st to 7th November with your family and stand to win exciting prizes! You certainly don’t need another reason to Laugh Out Loud!

  • Zee to launch one more GEC?

    Zee to launch one more GEC?

    MUMBAI: Indiantelevision.com has learnt that there is more in the offering from the Zee Network. Zee, which is known for its pioneering initiatives in the broadcasting space, soon plans to add one more general entertainment channel (GEC) to its kitty.

    According to highly placed sources in the industry, the network is preparing to launch the channel under the ‘&’ franchise. “The network is planning to launch yet another GEC which will have all original shows. In the coming six to eight months, viewers will have a clear picture,” reveals the source.

    The network launched their first interactive movie channel titled, ‘&pictures’ on 18 August. And within a few weeks, on 1 September, the network launched another channel – a GEC christened ‘Zee Anmol’ that airs re-runs of the best of Zee TV shows like Dance India Dance, Pavitra Rishta, Kasam Se among others.

    At the recently held Mipcom event at Cannes, the network announced that it has acquired 20 programs from Geo TV, a Pakistan based television channel.

     

    And if the source is to be believed, all the shows may be aired on this soon to be launched new GEC. “Right now, they are masking it all by saying it is for Zee Anmol but eventually it will be aired on the ‘&’ franchise sister GEC,” remarks the source.

    When we contacted the channel officials, they refused to comment. But with the recent developments, it seems something interesting is brewing up at the network.

  • Zee to launch one more GEC?

    Zee to launch one more GEC?

    MUMBAI: Indiantelevision.com has learnt that there is more in the offering from the Zee Network. Zee, which is known for its pioneering initiatives in the broadcasting space, soon plans to add one more general entertainment channel (GEC) to its kitty.

     

    According to highly placed sources in the industry, the network is preparing to launch the channel under the ‘&’ franchise. “The network is planning to launch yet another GEC which will have all original shows. In the coming six to eight months, viewers will have a clear picture,” reveals the source.

     

    The network launched their first interactive movie channel titled, ‘&pictures’ on 18 August. And within a few weeks, on 1 September, the network launched another channel – a GEC christened ‘Zee Anmol’ that airs re-runs of the best of Zee TV shows like Dance India Dance, Pavitra Rishta, Kasam Se among others.

     

    At the recently held Mipcom event at Cannes, the network announced that it has acquired 20 programs from Geo TV, a Pakistan based television channel.

     

    And if the source is to be believed, all the shows may be aired on this soon to be launched new GEC. “Right now, they are masking it all by saying it is for Zee Anmol but eventually it will be aired on the ‘&’ franchise sister GEC,” remarks the source.

     

    When we contacted the channel officials, they refused to comment. But with the recent developments, it seems something interesting is brewing up at the network.
    Keep watching this space for more!

  • Oops! &pictures forgets Ghanchakkar or does it?

    Oops! &pictures forgets Ghanchakkar or does it?

    MUMBAI: Right from the very first phase of the channel’s launch, &pictures has pulled out all stops and taken the offbeat and innovative communication route while interacting with its target audience.

     

    For the upcoming movie premiere of Ghanchakkar at 9:00 pm on the channel’s primetime property, ‘Saturday First Show’; the channel plans on taking the storyline of the film to promote the World Television Premiere of Ghanchakkar.

     

    While initial plans and promotions a few weeks back had Ghanchakkar slated to air on 5 October, &pictures now plans to air the film on 12 October instead. In keeping with the essence of Emraan Hashmi’s character who forgets everything, the pitch being used for the world premiere of Ghanchakkar too, is that “We forgot that we were to air the film on 5 October!”

     

    Promos for the premiere of the film went on air on Saturday, 5 October, and feature a montage of Emraan Hashmi’s character from the film Sanjay Atre spouting his now familiar line “Mujhe kuch yaad nahi aa raha hai.”

     

     “As a channel that engages with new India, we always seek to take the unconventional route which appeals to and grabs the attention of our audience,” says Zeel marketing head – national channels Akash Chawla.

     

     “The initial censor certification for the film during its theatrical release was ‘U/A’. However keeping in mind the fact that TV audiences watch films in their homes, we have further edited the film to make it suitable for viewers of all ages,” says Zeel cluster programming head (Hindi movie channels) Ruchir Tiwari, about the special considerations that have been taken into consideration while premiering the film.

  • Paramount Pictures goes in for a leaner structure

    Paramount Pictures goes in for a leaner structure

    MUMBAI: A part of the Viacom conglomerate, Paramount Pictures has decided to trim down its staff by 110 people. Just a memo was issued to people who have been sent back home.

    The reductions will be in the Finace, HR, IT, International home media distribution, legal and marketing departments. In a letter to its sacked employees the company CEO Frederick Huntsberry said that the layoffs were needed to manage business ‘with greater speed and flexibility as well as capitalise on opportunities in the global entertainment market’.

    The company has plans to re-enter into TV. Their performances on the big screen have just been average.

    Positions have been shed in their head office in LA as well as many international offices. Previously in 2011, the company laid off 120 people.

  • An epic wait for Epic

    An epic wait for Epic

    MUMBAI: What do &Pictures, Star World Premier HD and Romedy Now have in common? The three channels have had a smooth run-up to their recent launch.

    However, starting a new channel isn’t an easy task. One has to get approvals from various ministries which can be labeled as the biggest hurdle (at least in some cases), apart from want of money and resources, in premiering a new channel.

    A classic case of such a channel which is yet to see the light of day despite everything being ready is Mahesh Samat’s Epic Television, a venture invested in by Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra.  

    Epic, which will air content based on the country’s history, folklore, and mythology, albeit in a contemporary format, was slated for a mid-August launch. However, it’s end-September and there’s still no sign of the channel going live.

    Apparently, production of the shows is already on floors and various agencies too have been decided, but there’s no clarity even about when the channel will go on test signals. This, despite the hope that Epic would cash in on rising demand for specialty channels, given the increasing speed of digitisation.

    So what’s keeping it from going on air? Among the series of approvals to be procured before a new channel can be launched: first comes the foreign ministry, next the home ministry, and most importantly, the I&B ministry. Only when all of them have looked into the nitty-gritties and given their clearance can the newbie go live. Again, clearances may take as little as three months, or as long as three years. In the meanwhile, if a file gets stuck with a ministry for more than six months, it has to go for re-approval.

    While we may keep wondering as to which phase of this bureaucratic process, the Epic file is stuck in, according to sources, the channel isn’t alone in its predicament. Nearly 45 to 50 files are stuck with various ministries owing to a variety of issues.

    With elections round the corner, one wonders whether these would stand a fighting chance versus the many issues the ruling party may want to deal with first, even if just to guard their turf.

    So, we will have to continue playing the waiting game…

  • Grazing Goat Pictures looks at digital pastures

    Grazing Goat Pictures looks at digital pastures

    MUMBAI: To keep up with the age of contemporary advances, Akshay Kumar and Ashvini Yardi’s production banner Grazing Goat Pictures recently launched ‘Grazing Goat Digital’. The first venture to emerge is the YouTube channel ‘FOMO Fashion On My Own’, India’s first Hindi fashion channel which lets trend-conscious women transform into a glamorous avatar without having to step into a salon.

    The fashion channel will cater to women aged between 15 and 34 and will provide them with the latest trends, tips and tricks of the fashion trade. The channel broadcasts step-by-step tutorials on such subjects as hair styling tips, make up tutorials, getting the look of your favourite celebs and more. The channel will be broadcasting videos in Hindi and English, and will upload new episodes every Monday.

    Commenting on the launch of their new digital channel, Grazing Goat Pictures co-founder Ashvini Yardi said, “Grazing Goat Digital is proud to present FOMO Fashion On My Own, India’s first Hindi fashion channel in association with YouTube, targeted at women not only in metros but even in smaller towns who have the fashion sense but not the required facilities at their disposal. FOMO will be catered in Hindi to reach a wider audience and will also available in English. It’s not very cost effective for women to visit a salon each time they desire a particular look hence they can watch it anywhere at any time and still manage to look a million bucks!”

  • Smartube Entertainment launches trendspotters.tv

    MUMBAI: Now track trends across all genres online with www.trendspotters.tv. This online channel launched by Smartube Entertainment comprehends trends from fashion and lifestyle to business, politics, sports, music, gadgets and much more.

     

    The inauguration took place at APREE 2013 at Riviera De Goa, a three day event which kick-started today and will be on till 25 August. APREE is an annual interactive knowledge exchange platform that brings advertising, PR, entertainment and event management companies together on one platform for social and business networking.

     

    www.trendspotters.tv founder Kunal Kishore Sinha elaborated, “APREE has achieved immense credibility over the past few years and is a buzzing congregation of industry experts, marketing geniuses and thought leaders. We could not have asked for a better platform than this to unveil the first look of trendspotters.tv. APREE has always given special emphasis to emerging social media and we are confident of trendspotters.tv becoming a significant part of this social media gamut. ”

    The website is a medium for bringing the next generation trends and talents to light, especially for the upwardly mobile audience. It brings out a cluster of micro trends every day for the new age audience who take inspiration from out-of-the-ordinary discoveries.

     

    Expressing excitement on the launch he said, “We are glad to launch India’s first digital TV which promises to be an exciting platform for next generation consumers. In the initial phase, we have launched trends for music, fashion and entertainment, and going ahead, we will be extending content pertaining to sports, advertising and consumer technology.”