ITV

Tag: Rishtey

  • After FreeDish, Rishtey rides onto Dish TV

    After FreeDish, Rishtey rides onto Dish TV

    MUMBAI: It debuted in India on 1 December on the pubcaster DD’s free DTH service FreeDish. Now Viacom 18’s second GEC channel Rishtey has got carriage on India’s oldest DTH platform Dish TV.

    Rishtey is currently running its test feed on Dish TV at LC number 1000 as well as on Freedish, India’s only FTA DTH broadcaster. Deals with other cable and DTH players are in progress to get the channel’s distribution intact before launch. Sources say that it would have paid anywhere between Rs 4 to Rs 6 crore get carriage on the pubcaster’s DTH service.

    IndiaCast – which is distributing the channel in India – sources indicate that test feeds will soon commence on Airtel Digital TV and Videocon d2H as well.

    The FTA channel that launched September last year in the UK, broadcasts reruns from Colors and original programming from channels in Pakistan such as Maat (currently on) and Humsafar (completed).

    Recently, Rishtey UK doubled its ad rates on completion of its successful run in year one during the course of which it beat even Colors there. Primetime commercials are being sold there for as high as ?600 for a mainstream advertiser and ?100 for an ethnic one.

  • Colors sister channel Rishtey hikes ad rates

    Colors sister channel Rishtey hikes ad rates

    MUMBAI: Just over a year old and Rishtey – Viacom18’s free-to-air (FTA) channel in the UK – has taken the bold step of hiking its ad rates. Since Diwali, the channel that airs re-runs of Colors’ shows, a Pakistani series called Humsafar and some amount of original programming, has upped ad rates to double what they were at the beginning of the year, courtesy high demand and increased ratings.

     

    According to BARB ratings, Rishtey, which turned one this September, stood fifth in the Asian channels’ chart with 696000 while Colors came a close sixth with 624000.

     

    Indiacast business head (UK and Europe) Govind Shahi, says, “In the last 12 months, Rishtey has been constantly growing in term of eyeballs and is currently in demand by all brands that want to be seen by an ethnic audience. We are facing a situation where the demand is far outpacing the supply. Given the performance of the channel, which has more than doubled in terms of ratings and the demand supply chain, we thought it was the right time to go for a price hike.”

     

    While this is Rishtey’s first ad rate hike, the new rates will be applicable only to new customers with existing contracts remaining unaffected.

     

    Shahi is confident of the channel remaining on the upper side of the highest ad revenues for the year and says: “We are by far the number one South Asian FTA channel in the UK. Even at an overall level (FTA +Pay), we will end the year among the top two in terms of ad revenues. In fact, just in the last week, it has challenged the market leader in prime time slots a couple of times, which is a testimony of the success.”

     

    When it comes to the shows, Rishtey claims Parichay and Laagi Tujhse Lagan have been high performers in the past two weeks.

     

    According to industry sources, a prime time 30 second slot on Rishtey could go up to ?600 (Rs 61,105) for a mainstream advertiser depending on the ratings, while it could go up to ?100 (Rs 10,165) for an ethnic advertiser. As it is, a 30 second slot on the Bigg Boss finale is seeing heights of ?250 (Rs 25,460) from ethnic advertisers.

     

    With mainstream advertisers including Diagio, Cadbury, BT, Boots and Asda and ethnic ones such as Tilda Rice, Southall Travel, East End foods, Lycamobile, DBS Law and Westmill foods, Shahi exults: “We have the entire gamut- from FMCG to supermarkets to finance/banks to charities.”

  • Colors goes FTA in the UK; gears up for battle

    Colors goes FTA in the UK; gears up for battle

    MUMBAI: The battle to capture the eyeballs of the UK-based Indian TV channel viewer is about to get fiercer. The Viacom18 group’s flagship brand Colors has announced that it is going free to air in the UK from 2 September. Following this, all of Sky Digital and Virgin Media’s cable TV viewers will be able to receive the channel as a free service.

     

    Says Colors CEO Raj Nayak: “We are elated to offer two of our leading brands, Colors and Rishtey, to our viewers in the UK. With this move, we will be reaching out to a much wider audience base giving them an enriching viewing experience of our top class fiction and non-fiction programming”.

     

    Colors became a part of Multiscreen Media’s ViewAsia bouquet (available on Sky as an Asian pack for pound sterling 17.99) in 2010 and was a pay channel there. Over the past year, ViewAsia tenants such as Sab TV, Sahara one and Aaj Tak opted to go free, leaving Colors to give company to Sony Max, B4U Movies, Sony TV Asia and ARY digital on ViewAsia. Now Colors too has headed for the exit, leaving question marks over ViewAsia’s pricing structure.

     

    Points out IndiaCast group CEO Anuj Gandhi: “The UK continues to be one of our most important markets – where in the past we have challenged the status quo with the launch and success of Rishtey and now with Colors going free to air, we are making our next big move towards leadership.”

     

    Over the past three years, the Network18 group and Viacom18 have launched Colors, Rishtey and News 18 – the first international news channel covering India- in the UK with the Viacom-Network18 joint venture Indiacast. The network says, Colors is available in close to 75 countries and its content is distributed in over 100 countries.

     

    ” Over the last 12 months, we have had phenomenal success with Rishtey that has made us the strongest challenger in the market. With Colors going free to air, we will neutralize the undue distribution advantage that some of the other south Asian channels have enjoyed in the market, making it a level playing field and we are confident of being the leading south Asian network in the UK in the near future,” says Indiacast COO Gaurav Gandhi.

     

    Adds IndiaCast UK’s business head Govind Shahi: “As a growing network, we are thrilled to independently deliver a broader spectrum of high quality entertainment to the consumer – with path breaking dramas, round-the-clock news, movie premieres and all-time favourite international formats like Bigg Boss, India’s Got Talent and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Now with our channels reaching DTH homes in the UK, we are going to be the most potent and effective platform for the advertisers targeting South Asian homes.”

     

    Once it goes free to air, Colors will become a BARB rated channel in the UK. The latest BARB ratings for the week ended 11 August, show Star Plus is the leader in the UK market with 1.16 million viewers, UMP Movies is second with 994,000 viewers, Rishtey, third with 888,000 viewers, Zing – a part of the Zee Network – is at fourth with its best ever ratings of 621,000 viewers. At fifth place is Star Gold with 580,000 viewers. Sony SAB TV follows with 573,000 viewers. At seventh spot is Star Life Ok with 440,000 viewers.

     

    Cumulatively, the Star Network channels account for 2 plus million viewers in the UK – a stranglehold that the Netowrk18 group will be hard-pressed to try and break. But knowing the IndiaCast, Network18 and Viacom18, teams, well, they love a good joust. Get ready for a good fight!