ITV

Tag: Rajasthan

  • Can Sonys new offering Live it up?

    Can Sonys new offering Live it up?

    MUMBAI: Every Thursday is a reality check for the channels and its shows. And more so when it gets a new show onboard. The success of any marketing campaign is reflected in the ratings and so when Sony Entertainment Television launched its new soap Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara, it built a big marketing campaign to create the right buzz to get good viewership numbers.

     

    Sony which is the highest gainer this week, as it added 48,804 TVTs (Television Viewership in thousands) taking its cumulative to 349,377 GVTs (Gross Viewership in thousands) (300,573 last week), launched Jee Le Zara, on 15 August in the 9:30 pm slot.

     

    The show which entered into a very competitive time slot with Star Plus’s Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Zee TV’s Qubool Hai ruling the ratings chart in this time slot, has received 2,620 TVTs in its launch week and all this after some good marketing campaigns.

     

    “Every time slot today is competitive, we need to get audiences and so created a huge marketing campaign to inform people of the new show,” says SET senior VP & head-marketing Gaurav Seth. From a ‘Van Flag Off’ by Sangeeta Ghosh, the protagonist of the show to running of Twitter contests, the channel went a whole hog to hit the right cord with its audiences.

     

    The promotional activity started with the three promos shot for television. “Similarly, we had radio spots, which spoke on Sangeeta’s character in the show. We also launched a big multi-media print campaign on the day of launch of the soap which sustained till the first week of it going on air,” informs Seth.

     

    To sustain pressure and ensure that the promos went viral, the channel launched several social media activities and outdoor innovations. “One of this was when on 13 and 14 August we had a Jee Le Zara bus ferrying women from one part of the city to the other. The idea was to inform people of Sangeeta’s return on TV and also to promote the idea of Jee Le Zara,” he comments.

     

    The channel which launched the #Jee le zara moment contest on Twitter received over 7700 tweets with nearly 5.37 million people joining the conversation. “We were trending on Twitter on the launch day,” he informs.  The channel also ran promos of the show in major cinema chains nationwide for one week during the screening of Chennai Express.

     

    With Sony targeting not only the metros, but also UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat, with a 360 degree marketing campaign, we wonder if the numbers are enough when compared to the 7,435 TVTs of Qubool Hai and 7,284 TVTs of  Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. The show will need some catching up to do in the coming weeks.

  • Over 29,500 DTH sets provided free by the government in 16 states

    Over 29,500 DTH sets provided free by the government in 16 states

    NEW DELHI: A total of 29,782 direct-to-home boxes are set to receive Doordarshan’s free-to-air DD Direct Plus, including 20,397 in hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh, which have been provided by the government to 16 states where terrestrial signals are not easily available.

    These include 2,277 in Rajasthan and 1,942 in Madhya Pradesh, according to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

    Doordarshan provides free-to-air with a bouquet of 59 TV channels (19 Doordarshan channels and 40 other TV channels). DTH signals can be received by using a set top box and small sized dish receiver units.

    As these signals can be received anywhere in the country except Andaman and Nicobar Islands, DTH service in C-band with bouquet of 10 channels is in operation in the Islands.

    The DTH sets have been provided in various states for uncovered areas as part of DTH Scheme and Special NE package (Phase-I).

    Prasar Bharati has informed that 21 channels of All India Radio are available through the platform throughout the country.

    S.No.
    Name of the State
    No. of DTH sets provided
    1.
    Arunachal Pradesh
    108
    2
    Assam
    332
    3
    Chhattisgarh
    528
    4
    Gujarat
    1253
    5
    Himachal Pradesh
    20397
    6
    Jammu & Kashmir
    500
    7
    Karnataka
    1500
    8
    Madhya Pradesh
    1942
    9
    Manipur
    108
    10
    Meghalaya
    107
    11
    Mizoram
    106
    12
    Nagaland
    108
    13
    Rajasthan
    2277
    14
    Sikkim
    108
    15
    Tripura
    108
    16
    Uttarakhand
    300

  • Daikin India gets into CSR with ‘Cool a school’

    Daikin India gets into CSR with ‘Cool a school’

    MUMBAI: The world is going digital and so are various brands. Daikin India has started its first CSR activity in the last 13 years through its online campaign ‘cool a school‘.

    Daikin, a subsidiary of Daikin Industries Japan has been operating in India since 2000 and its manufacturing plant is located in Neemrana, Rajasthan, one of the hottest places across northern India and also the first place where the brand has started its CSR activity.

    Through this video, Daikin is trying to connect with the society and also providing a cool environment to the schools across the hottest rural parts of India. Where children travel long distances by foot to get to school in the blistering heat and due to this most of them stop attending the school.

    The video ‘Cool A School‘ is available on the online video streaming platform YouTube, where the company has asked users to come and watch the video and with every millions views on the video, the brand will reach out to another school . The brand has partnered with the local government school at Neemrana to appoint few class rooms with Daikin‘s air-conditioners. The video on YouTube has already garnered more than 10 lakhs views and the brand is moving to adopt another school.

    Speaking on the initiative, Daikin Air-conditioning India MD Kanwal Jeet Jawa said, “At Daikin India, we do look beyond business and intend to give back to the society our bit. We believe that today‘s children are going to be the future architects of the society, and to ensure a bright future of them and the society as a whole we must address the issues at the root itself. Through this ‘Cool-a-School‘ campaign wherein we seek to bring efficient air-cooling solutions to the children, our endeavour also remains to spread awareness about other Do-It-Yourself solutions which one can undertake to keep his/her surroundings cooler. We would feel glad if our sustainable initiatives brings cheer to the children of the school, and helps them become more responsible citizens of the country tomorrow.”

    AdHog Interactives co-founder Kshitij Rihal said “It was an exciting experience as we got to make real change through our work and initiatives. We spent a lot of time with the children and teachers, went to their homes, and worked on getting a deeper understanding of their problems. We got great insight into their lives, and are now working on providing sustainable solutions for them.”

    An official from Daikin confirmed, “The one million views approach is aimed at garnering interest from our consumers. The idea was jointly cracked by Daikin India & our online agency – Adhog Interactive.”

    “This was not done to promote sales in the first place but as an effort to build brand equity”, added the official.

  • Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    Digitisation penetration reaches 90 per cent, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: Three weeks after the switch-off of analogue signals in a majority of the 38 cities covered under Phase II, the level of digitisation has touched ninety per cent, according to information& broadcasting ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma.

    The I&B ministry secretary told Indiantelevision.com that a total of fifteen cities have crossed 100 per cent digitisation, while one more city has crossed 98 per cent digitisation mark. Another three cities have crossed a level of 90 per cent, he added.

    He also asserted that there is no shortage of set top boxes (STBs) in the Phase II cities.

    The government, he said, was still in the process of collating all the figures from the nodal officers and would bring a detailed report after its review.

    He also clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the government had said that it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming in on the achievement so far.

    The ministry had announced earlier this month that analogue signals has been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Meanwhile stays continued to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The Karnataka and Gujarat high courts had last week quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to hear tomorrow a special leave petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation seeking to quash all pending cases in various high courts and also ensure there is no postponement of the date of digitization.

  • RBNL expands reach in HSM with new carriage deals

    RBNL expands reach in HSM with new carriage deals

    MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has expanded the reach of its multi-lingual international men‘s entertainment channel Big CBS Prime beyond the eight metros to 1 million+ towns across Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM).

    RBNL has inked deals with leading distribution platforms to extend its reach to 30 million households across the markets of Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and top 8 metros.

    BIG CBS Networks Business Head Anand Chakravarthy said, “With the launch of the Hindi language feed, BIG CBS PRIME now expands into 1mn+ HSMs in the country, expanding its audience base. The channel has seen very encouraging results over the last few weeks, since launch of the language feed in metros, and we expect to get an even better response in HSM‘s. We are sure that the channel will build a strong viewer base ensuring better ROI for marketers and advertisers.”

    The channel which is already available on all leading DTH platforms and national MSO‘s in metros has now inked deals with all the regional MSO‘s as well, making Big CBS Prime available to a larger cross-section of male audiences, showcasing the best international content in a dual feed.

  • 88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    88 per cent digitisation achieved in Phase II, says Varma

    NEW DELHI: The level of digitisation has reached around 88 per cent in the 38 cities covered in fourteen states and one union territory for Phase II of Digital Addressable System (DAS), a top Information & Broadcasting ministry official tells Indiantelevision.com.

    This includes seeding of set top boxes (STBs) done by direct-to-home (DTH) operators.

    I&B ministry secretary Uday Kumar Varma reveals that fifteen to sixteen cities have achieved total digitisation.

    However, he cautions that the government was still in the process of collating all the figures and would bring a detailed report after its review. The Secretary said he is personally in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    He clarified that while announcing the switch-off of analogue on 31 March, the Government said it would watch the situation for around two weeks and was now reviewing the reports coming being receiving on the achievement so far.

    The Ministry had announced last week that analogue signals had been completely switched-off in the five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

    Stay continues to be in force in the cities of Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam. The metropolis of Chennai which was part of Phase I also has a stay order in force.

    The Karnataka and Gujarat High Courts had yesterday quashed petitions seeking extension of DAS thereby paving way for the analogue signals to be switched-off.

  • DAS Phase II: Analogue signals switched-off in 5 states

    DAS Phase II: Analogue signals switched-off in 5 states

    NEW DELHI: Analogue signals have been completely switched-off in five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, according to information provided by nodal officers to the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry.

    The ministry said it is in constant touch with the Nodal Officers and MSOs to ensure that the cities in remaining states also speed up the process of digitisation.

    However, analogue signal continues un-interrupted in the eight cities of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat that are covered under DAS Phase II as the respective High Courts have passed orders against switching off analogue signals.

    In addition, stay continues in Chennai which was part of the DAS Phase I covering four metros which also included Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

    Sharing the latest figures about DAS implementation in 38 cities covered under Phase II, the ministry claims that over 85 per cent digitisation have been achieved so far.

    Out of the 38 cities, fifteen cities have achieved nearly 100 per cent digitisation, 24 cities in all have achieved more than 75 per cent digitisation, and 34 cities have achieved more than 50 per cent digitisation.

    The review by I&B ministry also reveals that as against a target of 16 million STBs, 13.6 million have already been installed by the MSOs and DTH operators.

    Of these, the total number of installed Cable TV STBs is 9.15 million while DTH operators have installed a total of 4.45 million STBs. In the last one month alone about four million STBs have been installed in the Phase II cities.

    The I&B ministry has meanwhile cautioned multi-system operators (MSOs) to implement digitisation in a ‘sensitive manner‘ so as to avoid causing inconvenience to consumers.

    The ministry stated that the objective of the entire exercise is to implement the process in a seamless, sustained yet sensitive manner that causes least amount of disruption to the consumer.

    Wherever necessary the process has been implemented in a circumspect way so as to ensure that consumers can get access to STBs, I&B ministry said.

    Separately, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also been convening the meeting of broadcasters, MSOs and cable operators to sort out issues pertaining to agreements and service conditions.

    The ministry said that digitisation would usher in a new era in broadcasting sector reforms by bringing more transparency in the subscriber base and would lead to several benefits for stakeholders including government.

    It would bring in enhanced revenue by way of improved tax recovery for government, enhanced TV viewing experience due to digital picture quality and multiple choices of channels to subscribers and improved subscription revenue for broadcasters and cable industry.

    The ministry has also assured cable operators that digital addressable system (DAS) will provide them an opportunity to provide competitive services to their subscribers and help them retain their business in the wake of competition from DTH and other platforms.

  • Paras Dairy assigns creative duties to Rediffusion Y&R

    Paras Dairy assigns creative duties to Rediffusion Y&R

    MUMBAI: Popular dairy brand Paras Dairy has assigned Rediffusion-Y&R to handle its creative duties while its media duties will be handled by The Media Edge (TME), a sister agency of Rediffusion.


    Rediffusion won the account in a multi-pitch process in which agencies like Grey and Crayons among others participated. Earlier, Percept/H used to handle the business of the dairy. Though the contract is for a year, it is renewable every year.


    The size of the account, however, could not be obtained at the time of filing this report.
     
    Confirming the development to indiantelevision.com, Paras Diary brand manger Sumit Mohan said, “We have assigned the creative and media duties to Rediffusion-Y&R and TME respectively based on their credentials of handling large businesses, as well as the strategic and creative prowess shown by their team.”


    Paras Dairy has created a network of 5,000 villages as collection centres for milk across western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat and currently sells over 2,50,000 litres of milk per day in Delhi.

  • NewsX lines up shows to cover Assembly polls

    NewsX lines up shows to cover Assembly polls

    NEW DELHI: NewsX has lined up a slew of programmes for the up-coming state Assembly elections.

    The programmng line-up includes coverage of daily happenings across various states and constituencies in ‘Poll Pulse’ everyday between 8.30 – 9 pm. Every Saturday at 9 pm the channel will show Be a Party to the Great Debate, featuring eminent local speakers, anchored by Shireen.

    The Contender will give a sneak peak to the Chief Ministerial candidates and their performance and perception, followed by a discussion with the panelists on their strengths, weaknesses and prospects on every Sunday between at 9.30 pm.

    Says INX News newsroom head Arup Ghosh, “The election series is all about unleashing stark realities, highlighting subjects that matter and showcasing people who will decide the country’s future. Be it the capital’s sealing drive and its aftermath, the politics of Jammu and Kashmir, Gujjar-protest for reservations in Rajasthan, impetus of naxalites in Chattisgarh and acute power shortage in Madhya Pradesh or national fiscal set back; the coverage will map it all. We want to enable our viewers to make an informed choice.”

    The 50-day programme schedule, will comprise daily, weekly and fortnightly shows leading to the grand finale delving on the results. The series will conclude with the Jammu & Kashmir poll results on 28 December.

  • ‘Course correction will happen from a commercial, team management, and player angle’ : Hiren Pandit – GroupM ESP managing partner

    ‘Course correction will happen from a commercial, team management, and player angle’ : Hiren Pandit – GroupM ESP managing partner

    For franchisees the inaugural edition of the IPL has been a learning experience. The Hyderabad franchise is no different. While Deccan Chargers finished at the bottom of the table, the franchisee is confident that the investment will pay of in the long term. At the same time, the event was more difficult logistically and also physically than anybody imagined.

     

    GroupM ESP acts as a consultant for the Deccan Chronicle, which owns the Deccan chargers. Ashwin Pinto caught up with GroupM ESP managing partner Hiren Pandit to find out his views on the event

     

    Excerpts:

    How has the IPL experience been for Deccan Chargers?
    It has been a big learning curve. At the same time companies that did not get in will be furious at having missed out. The franchisees have all seen the potential of this event. We now know that this can be built up over the years. The IPL will be of the biggest benefit for those who want long-term gains.

    Overall what have the learnings been?
    There have been many. Sponsorship needs to be approached in a more effective manner. We were not able to do this earlier due to time constraints. Most of these deals have been for one year and so plans can be revised depending on what the team’s standing is. It is still early days. The way television has taken to it has been big. Next year, sponsorship rates will go through the roof.

     

    I believe that the IPL is looking for $ 7 to 8 million for ground co-sponsorship rights. Pepsi will go in for associate sponsorship as they want to block out Coca Cola. Each franchise and sponsor has had more than his fair share of learnings that will have to be put in place.

     

    A lot of course correction will happen. This will be from a commercial angle, team management angle, player angle.

     

    For the next three weeks people will lie low and detox from the IPL frenzy. Then they will start addressing issues. There will be a session with the IPL governing body to do a Swot analysis. Teams will look at their overall structure and check to see if all is right or if it needs to be re-looked at. Some problems may be common.

    What were the logistical challenges?
    The travel schedule was awful. I had no idea about the days. There was no concept of weekdays and weekends. It was just one haze of cricket matches and cities.

     

    Hats off to the players for performing. We played a match against Chandigarh. The next day we reached Hyderabad at 9:30 at night. The next day there was a match. Where is the time for player recovery? Players luggage also became an issue. It has to be at the airport. These logistics were more complex than had been first imagined.

     

    Then there is media pressure. Several people want to interview a certain set of players at any given point of time. This needs to be scheduled better.
    ‘The trading window will be key but the guidelines are not clear‘

    For Hyderabad what have the learnings been?
    There have been many. Right from stadium management, which we managed well. The ticketing part was an experience. We were not sure initially as to whether we would have 46,000 seats or 38,000. The stadium was under construction. We had to keep in mind media sessions.

    Not just us, but everybody will handle this differently next time. We sold out tickets for many matches but we have to still understand the pattern in which ticket sales happen. With sponsors there was confusion due to outfits not being ready on time. For the first week we struggled to get a comprehensive photo of the team. Clothes designs and delivery were a challenge. It took us 15 days to do this. If we had time this would have been planned better.

    Is it fair to say that the ones who did well did not have big stars?
    I don’t think so. The ones who did well played as team. They looked up to one individual. Rajasthan looked up to Shane Warne. The passion with which they played as a unit was terrific. Dhoni inspired Chennai. If a team came together it struck.

    Did attitude play a role?
    Yes! There were some players who acted as though the IPL was a holiday. So the franchise had a problem. Some players who were in a high profile position prior to the event were stripped clean. The trading window will be key but the guidelines are not clear. Franchisees can get rid of some players and acquire others. The support staff structure will also be looked at in terms of coaches, physios etc.

    Why did Hyderabad not fare better?
    We had a weak bowling attack. We went on past performance. Some players let us down here. This put additional pressure on the batsmen to add 20 more runs. A team like Rajasthan had the perfect batting and bowling balance. With Delhi we always felt that if the top three batsmen failed we were in with a chance. However they constantly fired until the semi final. Sehwag and Gambhir got out cheaply and they collapsed against Rajasthan.