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Tag: Ravi Kiran

  • Ravi Kiran kicks off new startup with 3 partners

    Ravi Kiran kicks off new startup with 3 partners

    MUMBAI: Four former corporate leaders – Ravi Kiran (Starcom MediaVest Group former CEO-South East & South Asia), Suhail Kazmi (Yes Bank former President – retail banking and wealth management), Sanjay Barkataki (Publicis Groupe Media former India CFO) and Subodh Srivastav (Idea Cellular and MTS former COO) – today announced a new startup focused on businesses in tier -II and tier – III towns.

    All four opted out of their respective corporate leadership positions between February and December 2010 and founded the venture in July 2011.

    The growth advisory company, named Friends of Ambition, will work closely with ambitious enterprises and guide them to achieve their growth goals over a three to five year period, the company said in a statement. The company reckons an addressable market of 51,000 firms in sixty-two identified towns.
     
    “It is our belief that businesses in Middle India have a real opportunity to drive the next few decades of dramatic growth in economic value and societal impact. We are strongly inspired by their aspirations, which have risen manifold over the years. At the same time, we have observed a palpable feeling of helplessness and growing frustration,” Kiran said.

    Kazmi added, “The frustration arises mostly out of a real access gap that exists today between Middle India and Metro India, which forces most business owners to scale down their ambitions. They feel an acute deficit in access to talent, managerial and functional expertise and private capital, which is available more easily to enterprises in the big cities.”

    The company said that this “Access Gap”, the company will attempt to bridge, in its endeavor to nurture and fuel the dreams of ambitious enterprises. Besides providing a very active, hands-on advisory service and helping implement decisions and strategy, the company will also provide its clients with a growth ecosystem, built on a powerful network of partners under the umbrella of ‘Allies of Ambitionsm‘. The Allies Of Ambition network will consist of several firms across nine chosen functional domains – from legal, technology, human resource, tax consulting & audit and talent recruitment to marketing research, digital marketing, advertising and financial capital.
     
    Srivastav added, “Our allies are an integral part of our value delivery model. We believe their expertise, combined with our guidance, and real world experience in scaling businesses, will work powerfully for our clients. This is classic gestalt effect – the whole being bigger than the sum of parts.”

    Friends of Ambition said in the statement that the company believes that the traditional tag of SME that is put on an ambitious business is inappropriate and probably anachronistic.

    Barkataki said, “We reject the tag of SME. That phrase, no matter how popular and easy-on-tongue, insults ambition, rather than respecting it. We describe our client segment as REMI – Rising Enterprises of Middle India, a phrase we find significantly more aspirational and dignified.”

    Friends of Ambition is currently engaged with three clients and eleven alliance partners.
     

  • News channels see digital platforms driving subscription income

    NEW DELHI: News Channels have seen exponential growth over the last few years and can still “find the pot of gold,” but from a long term perspective, will have to focus on higher subscription revenues, speakers at The Indian News Television Summit 2007 said here today.

    Audience share has increased from less than one per cent in 2000 to seven – eight per cent as the genre has exploded with over 40 channels beaming news content. “The genre has taken away viewers from the general entertainment channels and brought in new advertisers. News channels have the people to take this pot of gold forward,” Tam India CEO LV Krishnan said.
    The pace of growth is set to accelerate as over 40 applications are waiting for clearance from the information and broadcasting ministry. NDTV, in fact, is expecting a 20 per cent year-on-year growth.

    “New sources of revenue are still to be tapped like content syndication, overseas expansion and internet presence. Besides, there is scope for local news channels with sectors like retail seeing rapid growth,” said NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak.

    Agreed Starcom Mediavest Group CEO South Asia Ravi Kiran, “We will see dramatic changes in the way news is going to be consumed over the next three -five years. Media organizations will need to gather, aggregate and distribute news.”

    The session on “Searching for revenues: Advertising and Distribution, Finding the pot of gold” was moderated by Indiantelevision.com editorial director Thomas Abraham.

    The digital era will throw open more revenue opportunities for news channels. “There will be subscription opportunities. News and sports, for instance, will drive Mobile TV. In the digital era, however, brands will be important,” said SET Discovery president Anuj Gandhi.

    Al Jazeera Network director – global distribution Phil Lawrie said that it would be interesting to see how business models are going to evolve in India in a digital environment.

    However, Hinduja TMT president – corporate services Ashok Mansukhani wasn’t too bullish on the potential to accommodate so many news channels. “The Cas (conditional access system) data shows that consumers are not willing to pay for news channels. And on analogue cable TV, there is a distribution cost. It remains to be seen how this battle for the marketplace is going to shape up,” he said.

  • International Emmys judging: BAG Films’ ‘Siddhant’ through to Finals

    International Emmys judging: BAG Films’ ‘Siddhant’ through to Finals

    MUMBAI: The Indian entertainment industry is looking at a brighter tomorrow as BAG Films’ Siddhant has qualified in the drama category for the final of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ 34th International Emmy Awards.

    The semi final round was conducted in Mumbai today and saw a 19-member jury scan entries in four categories – comedy, non-scripted entertainment, drama series and children and young people (the latter two being new additions from last year’s judging).

    India is among a select few countries like Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Qatar and Greece to host the semi final rounds of this event. The jury comprised different representatives from the television fraternity in India including Abhimanyu Singh, Archana Puran Singh, Ashwini Yardi, Asit Modi, Ketki Dave, Mandira Bedi, Monisha Singh, Nachiket Pantvaidya, R D Tailang, Ravi Kiran, Ram Kapoor, Ravina Raj Kohli, Ritu Goel, Sanjeev Sharma, Shristi Arya, Siddharth Kak, Smriti Irani, Supriya Pathak and Suresh Bala.

    In essence there seemed to be a consensus among jury members that there was a dearth of Indian content due to sheer lack of awareness among producers and TV channels alike.

    International Emmy Awards Semi-Finals host Anil Wanvari with International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences director, Emmy judging, Sandy Clark.
    Speaking to Indiantelevison.com, Walt Disney Television International (India) executive director production and programming Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “Asian content was quite good as there seems to be a trend in programming particularly around the theme of magic and fantasy. However, Indian content was highly under represented.”

    Having been on the jury last year as well, Contiloe Films Pvt Ltd CEO Abhimanyu Singh was of the opinion, “Indian entries are at par with the rest. However, there is a greater need to drive the Emmy’s forward through better marketing of the brand, to encourage greater participation.”

    In response to the jury’s plea for greater awareness in terms of the procedure to enter the competition, the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences director, Emmy judging, Sandy Clark told this website, “There is a misconception that the Emmy’s is only open to US programming. However, there are no restrictions and thus broadcasters, directors, distributors and producers can all enter. We spread awareness through our website, via email and through events like Mipcom and MipTV to encourage entries from across the globe.”

    Hopefully this year’s win, combined with word-of-mouth will provide an impetus to more Indian producers and TV channels to make a bigger entry next year. Speaking about B.A.G. Films’ achievement, Indiantelevision.com CEO and International Emmy Semi Final host Anil Wanvari said, “Siddhant making it to the final speaks volumes for Indian content and this will hopefully facilitate greater participation next year.”

    The entries in the remaining categories shortlisted for the final round are as follows:

    Comedy – War of the In Laws, TV Broadcasters Ltd, Hong Kong, China

    Non-Scripted Entertainment – 1. Wisholang (My Wish) – Papawad (Forgiveness), GM Networks, Philippines
    2. Viking Family Special, Fuji Network Corp, Japan

    Children and Young People – 1. My Perfect Partner, Media Corp, Singapore

    2. Advengers, TV Asahi Corp, Japan

    Drama – 1. Home Affairs, Penguin Films, South Africa
    2. Siddhant B.A.G Films, India