ITV

Tag: Sanjay Reddy

  • Yupp TV gets into bed with Silly Monks

    Yupp TV gets into bed with Silly Monks

    MUMBAI: A new courtship has just been concluded. YuppTV Bazaar, India’s leading online marketplace for high quality premium video content, has entered into a strategic alliance with Silly Monks. As a creative agency, Silly Monks has established a strong foot holding in the content production domain with its premium regional content.

    Following the partnership, users of YuppTV Bazaar will now be able to easily access new and refreshing Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam content. Under the arrangement between the two, the duo is set to make movie trailers, music videos, interviews and events in the Tollywood, Mollywoood and Kollywood film industry available at YuppTV Bazaar.

    Users will now be able to access South Indian entertainment and celebrity gossip on the go and also follow the popular and first ever Telugu web series, Mudda Pappu Avakai.

    Says Yupp TV Founder & CEO Uday Reddy: “We are excited to be partnering with Silly Monks and further extending our assortment of curated content on YuppTV Bazaar. We are affirmative that users will enjoy the new addition in our bouquet of entertaining content.”

    Echoing the same thought Silly Monks Entertainment founder & managing director Sanjay Reddy adds: “We are proud to be associated with YuppTV Bazaar and present our content on the platform. Owing to the massive reach of YuppTV, we hope to reach out to and entertain hither to unexplored users. We expect tremendous advantages for both the companies resulting out of this synergy.”

  • Yupp TV gets into bed with Silly Monks

    Yupp TV gets into bed with Silly Monks

    MUMBAI: A new courtship has just been concluded. YuppTV Bazaar, India’s leading online marketplace for high quality premium video content, has entered into a strategic alliance with Silly Monks. As a creative agency, Silly Monks has established a strong foot holding in the content production domain with its premium regional content.

    Following the partnership, users of YuppTV Bazaar will now be able to easily access new and refreshing Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam content. Under the arrangement between the two, the duo is set to make movie trailers, music videos, interviews and events in the Tollywood, Mollywoood and Kollywood film industry available at YuppTV Bazaar.

    Users will now be able to access South Indian entertainment and celebrity gossip on the go and also follow the popular and first ever Telugu web series, Mudda Pappu Avakai.

    Says Yupp TV Founder & CEO Uday Reddy: “We are excited to be partnering with Silly Monks and further extending our assortment of curated content on YuppTV Bazaar. We are affirmative that users will enjoy the new addition in our bouquet of entertaining content.”

    Echoing the same thought Silly Monks Entertainment founder & managing director Sanjay Reddy adds: “We are proud to be associated with YuppTV Bazaar and present our content on the platform. Owing to the massive reach of YuppTV, we hope to reach out to and entertain hither to unexplored users. We expect tremendous advantages for both the companies resulting out of this synergy.”

  • SillyMonks raises 3Cr from HNI; Plans to launch 6 web series properties

    SillyMonks raises 3Cr from HNI; Plans to launch 6 web series properties

    MUMBAI:  Hyderabad based digital and entertainment start-up SillyMonks – the youngest & the fastest growing YouTube Multi Channel Network Partner announced today they have raised 3Cr from HNI Sreenivasa Reddy Musani, CMD EKTHA Group. The deal, marked as the largest HNI investment in this space in South of India will help SillyMonks augment their market leadership and to introduce new digital media properties.

    Sreenivasa Musani is an entrepreneur with 18 years in Internet & E-commerce related businesses specializing mostly in disruptive technologies. His passion is to invest and be part of technologies that make a difference in the way people interact and conduct business online.

    “SillyMonks has shown tremendous potential in its growth and is well placed to be part of new digital revolution in India in the coming years, says Sreenivasa Musani. We are excited to be part of SillyMonks and the fast growing digital transformation space in India”.

    The deal, which marks the largest HNI investment in this space in South of India will help SillyMonks augment their market leadership and to introduce new digital media properties.

    Revealing the details Sanjay Reddy, Founder and Managing Director of SillyMonks said“The funds raised will further secure and maximise ROI for our clients, by delivering new digitally immersive online experiences to a highly connected customer base and help create innovative original content.”

    In the immediate short term SillyMonks plans to launch six web series properties on their YouTube channel “SILLY TUBE” encouraged by the stupendous success of first Telugu web series MuddapappuAvakaiproduced by Pink Elephant Pictures under SillyMonks Network.

    A start-up venture founded by Media & Entertainment Specialist Sanjay Reddy and Anil Pallala inSeptember 2013, SillyMonks is keen to expand its domination in content aggregation, customization, and deployment of contentsin audio and video format for mobile carriers, devices, and music stores both in India and in world markets. 

    Outlining its services and brand strengths in the market Sanjay said “We have a multitude of popular digital media properties like MonkStar and over 650+ YouTube Channels with original content.We are looking at adding compelling content and options to brands and agencies eager to connect with the critical and growing digital demographics, in the online &television market space with a profitable combination of technology and content.”

    The digital media product consumption in this segment is currently pegged at INR 8000 crores ($ 1.2 Billion) and expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.5% to reach a mind boggling number of INR 25,500 Crores ($ 3.9Billion) by 2020in India. Our main focus is to eye a significant pie of this cake. 

    In June 2014, SillyMonkshad raiseda nominal fund froman Angel Investor KorrapatiRanganatha Sai of Vaaraahi ChalanaChitram, a well-known producer and known for many movie hits like Rajamouli’sEega (Makhi)& Legend.

    Explaining about the market and competition Sanjay says”We are transformers so competition is not a challenge for us”.We are astrong player in the film marketing to music band production to promotion of different brands in the online market helping various stakeholders, ranging from SME to big film production houses – to musicians to content creators, to grow their digital footprint.

    SillyMonks clocked revenues of INR 4.75Cr in 2015-16 and in the current year the company anticipates 50% growth.

    About SillyMonks: 
    SillyMonks have strong footprints in producing content for digital & TV and Film production.It also owns a Music Company which is in original music space called Monkstar Music that provides a platform for independent artists. SillyMonks is present in South India, Mumbai and Los Angeles. 

    SillyMonksMulti Channel Network (MCN) delivers approximately 100 Million + views in a month and addresses a social audience of 16+ million followers across various social media platforms. Revenues for SillyMonks come from its clients through YouTube advantage share, Retainership engagement including digital marketing & Mobile & Web designs. The company has witnessed a strong acceleration in its business since inception. 

    Besides being Google & Yahoo Partners in India, The startup has also Co-produced the Telugu movie named ‘OohaluGusagusalade’ ‘DikkuluChoodakuRamayya’  ‘Tungabhadra’ ‘Raja CheyyiVesthe” along with Angel Investor.

    Fast Facts about SillyMonks Founders 
    Headquartered in Hyderabad SillyMonks(www.sillymonks.com) is engaged in the business of Digital Marcom, Publishing, Cinema, Television, Music and Events. The company also has presence in  Hong Kong, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Bangalore with foot print in Los Angeles. 

    Sanjay Reddy, Co-Founder & MD
    Sanjay holds 25 years of vast experience in television and print media – Walt Disney, ESPN Star Sports, Times of India, Sony TV, Zee Network, & Sun Network – He is also a producer of a Hindi film ‘Dhoop’,launched Gul Panag in Bollywood& acted in ten telugu films. He is also a member of many elite core committees. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Reddy)

    Anil Pallala, Co-Founder & COO
    Anil holds an extensive experience of 15 years in audio industry worked with companies like Super Good Films& BIG 92.7 FM &Digital Marketing as his career graph depicts many roles. He also co-founded Whacked OutMedia which is a MCN with You Tube.

  • SillyMonks raises 3Cr from HNI; Plans to launch 6 web series properties

    SillyMonks raises 3Cr from HNI; Plans to launch 6 web series properties

    MUMBAI:  Hyderabad based digital and entertainment start-up SillyMonks – the youngest & the fastest growing YouTube Multi Channel Network Partner announced today they have raised 3Cr from HNI Sreenivasa Reddy Musani, CMD EKTHA Group. The deal, marked as the largest HNI investment in this space in South of India will help SillyMonks augment their market leadership and to introduce new digital media properties.

    Sreenivasa Musani is an entrepreneur with 18 years in Internet & E-commerce related businesses specializing mostly in disruptive technologies. His passion is to invest and be part of technologies that make a difference in the way people interact and conduct business online.

    “SillyMonks has shown tremendous potential in its growth and is well placed to be part of new digital revolution in India in the coming years, says Sreenivasa Musani. We are excited to be part of SillyMonks and the fast growing digital transformation space in India”.

    The deal, which marks the largest HNI investment in this space in South of India will help SillyMonks augment their market leadership and to introduce new digital media properties.

    Revealing the details Sanjay Reddy, Founder and Managing Director of SillyMonks said“The funds raised will further secure and maximise ROI for our clients, by delivering new digitally immersive online experiences to a highly connected customer base and help create innovative original content.”

    In the immediate short term SillyMonks plans to launch six web series properties on their YouTube channel “SILLY TUBE” encouraged by the stupendous success of first Telugu web series MuddapappuAvakaiproduced by Pink Elephant Pictures under SillyMonks Network.

    A start-up venture founded by Media & Entertainment Specialist Sanjay Reddy and Anil Pallala inSeptember 2013, SillyMonks is keen to expand its domination in content aggregation, customization, and deployment of contentsin audio and video format for mobile carriers, devices, and music stores both in India and in world markets. 

    Outlining its services and brand strengths in the market Sanjay said “We have a multitude of popular digital media properties like MonkStar and over 650+ YouTube Channels with original content.We are looking at adding compelling content and options to brands and agencies eager to connect with the critical and growing digital demographics, in the online &television market space with a profitable combination of technology and content.”

    The digital media product consumption in this segment is currently pegged at INR 8000 crores ($ 1.2 Billion) and expected to grow at a CAGR of 33.5% to reach a mind boggling number of INR 25,500 Crores ($ 3.9Billion) by 2020in India. Our main focus is to eye a significant pie of this cake. 

    In June 2014, SillyMonkshad raiseda nominal fund froman Angel Investor KorrapatiRanganatha Sai of Vaaraahi ChalanaChitram, a well-known producer and known for many movie hits like Rajamouli’sEega (Makhi)& Legend.

    Explaining about the market and competition Sanjay says”We are transformers so competition is not a challenge for us”.We are astrong player in the film marketing to music band production to promotion of different brands in the online market helping various stakeholders, ranging from SME to big film production houses – to musicians to content creators, to grow their digital footprint.

    SillyMonks clocked revenues of INR 4.75Cr in 2015-16 and in the current year the company anticipates 50% growth.

    About SillyMonks: 
    SillyMonks have strong footprints in producing content for digital & TV and Film production.It also owns a Music Company which is in original music space called Monkstar Music that provides a platform for independent artists. SillyMonks is present in South India, Mumbai and Los Angeles. 

    SillyMonksMulti Channel Network (MCN) delivers approximately 100 Million + views in a month and addresses a social audience of 16+ million followers across various social media platforms. Revenues for SillyMonks come from its clients through YouTube advantage share, Retainership engagement including digital marketing & Mobile & Web designs. The company has witnessed a strong acceleration in its business since inception. 

    Besides being Google & Yahoo Partners in India, The startup has also Co-produced the Telugu movie named ‘OohaluGusagusalade’ ‘DikkuluChoodakuRamayya’  ‘Tungabhadra’ ‘Raja CheyyiVesthe” along with Angel Investor.

    Fast Facts about SillyMonks Founders 
    Headquartered in Hyderabad SillyMonks(www.sillymonks.com) is engaged in the business of Digital Marcom, Publishing, Cinema, Television, Music and Events. The company also has presence in  Hong Kong, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Bangalore with foot print in Los Angeles. 

    Sanjay Reddy, Co-Founder & MD
    Sanjay holds 25 years of vast experience in television and print media – Walt Disney, ESPN Star Sports, Times of India, Sony TV, Zee Network, & Sun Network – He is also a producer of a Hindi film ‘Dhoop’,launched Gul Panag in Bollywood& acted in ten telugu films. He is also a member of many elite core committees. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Reddy)

    Anil Pallala, Co-Founder & COO
    Anil holds an extensive experience of 15 years in audio industry worked with companies like Super Good Films& BIG 92.7 FM &Digital Marketing as his career graph depicts many roles. He also co-founded Whacked OutMedia which is a MCN with You Tube.

  • CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan talks business before Budget 2014

    CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan talks business before Budget 2014

    MUMBAI: She is the most familiar face of Indian business news channel, providing investors and corporate India with insights about the dynamics of Indian economy and financial markets.  

     

    CNBC-TV18 managing editor Shereen Bhan, who anchors and produces several shows such as Young Turks, India Business Hour and Power Turks, is neck deep in work with the rail budget already announced and one day to go for the much awaited maiden budget to be presented by the new Narendra Modi led BJP government at the helm.

     

    While most channels are looking at concentrating on one aspect, Bhan says that their perspective will be a 360 degree angle one. “The key question we will be asking is if the budget will be able to deliver. There will be a sharp focus on market reactions, the stance taken by other countries giving India a thumbs up and about investment in domestic capital. We will analyse the long term and short term ideas the government has as well as the reforms that will be taken up to revive the economy. We will also look at how the fiscal deficit can be improved by the new government. While the analysis will primarily be on the domestic economy, we will also look at the budget from a political angle and try to draw political reactions.”

     

    The guest line-up includes India’s corporate giants like HDFC Bank chairman Deepak Parekh, HSBC India country head Naina Lal Kidwai, Godrej chairman Adi Godrej, Kotak Mahindra vice chairman Uday Kotak, GVK vice chairman Sanjay Reddy, TPG Growth India chairman Manish Chokhani and Helios Capital founder and fund manager Samir Arora. Foreign investors and rating agencies will also give their take on the budget.

     

    To get a political perspective political parties like BJP, Congress, TMC, CPI (M) and leaders such as Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sitaram Yechury will be on air.

     

    Bhan, who will be on air right from morning 8 am till late night, will be tracking foreign direct investment in the news sector and reforms in the capital markets and infrastructure sector.

  • BIAL, Karnataka Tourism and Thomas Cook India to launch Brand ‘Kaapi Trail’

    BENGALURU: Taking a cue from the success of Scotland‘s ‘Scotch Trail‘, GVK‘s Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) in partnership with the Ministry of Karnataka and tour operator Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., announced the launch of ‘Kaapi Trail‘ (‘Kaapi‘ is the colloquial term for coffee) to attract tourism into South India and more specifically the places between Chikmaglur and Coorg in Karnataka.

    The Kaapi Trail is a voyage of discovery of South India via the ‘Journey of the Coffee bean‘. Three travel packages for the tourist covering Leisure, Heritage and Adventure Trails have been created.

    Thomas Cook India managing director Madhavan Menon said, “Kaapi Trail is different from ‘Incredible India.‘ South India has much to offer today‘s traveller who is hungry for unique and meaningful experiences. Thomas Cook will endeavour to implement ‘Kaapi Trail‘ in the travel brochure of every tour operator in the world.” he added.

    “We believe that Kaapi Trail will help increase the popularity of the region as a much sought after travel destination. It is an attempt to put the coffee growing regions of South India on the global map, exposing travelers from across the world, to the taste, culture, heritage and overall rich experience associate with coffee,” said Karnataka State Tourism additional chief secretary Arvind Jadhav.

    “We have so much to showcase to the world and make them aware of an entire new side of the region. It has been our intention to play a significant role in the economic development of the state by becoming a gateway to the South of India,” said BAIL managing director Sanjay Reddy.

  • Soirees from south

    Soirees from south

     

    The show about a married woman who wanted to give her salary to her mother‘s family glued people on to their television sets in the South. The script for the soap could have been regressive, but the appeal was pan India. The same story was retold in Kannada, Bengali and Hindi. The serial in question, Tamil hit soap Kolangal. Following suit was Thirumathi Selvam, another Tamil soap which mutated into Hindi as Pavithra Rishta.

    If fiction had a story to tell, non-fiction did not take away the fun, too. The KBC Tamil equivalent with Tamil film actor Suriya is in the making along with Kannada and Malayalam. Popular format shows in Hindi too have found regional audiences shows like Deal or No Deal and Million Dollar Drop. The north-south integration has come full circle, at least on Telly. Today, just like the upper part of India, the lower half also had a compelling narrative of successes on the television.

    You cannot look the other way when regional GECs in South, over the years, have emerged as key focus areas for most of the players. This is largely attributable to the connect with Non-Hindi speaking market audiences.

    The South constitutes approximately 35 per cent of all pay TV subscribers, 36 per cent of all DTH subscribers and 34 per cent of all cable TV subscribers nationally. Availability of vernacular content is the most critical factor. In fact, viewers in the South are spoiled for choice with the plethora of content.

    All figures in Millions
    Total HH*
    TV HH
    TV HH %
    C&S HH
    C&S Penetration
    Tamil Nadu
    17
    15.3
    90%
    15
    99%
    Andhra Pradesh
    20
    13.5
    67%
    13
    97%
    Karnataka
    12
    8.5
    69%
    8
    94%
    Kerala
    6
    4.7
    75%
    4
    93%
    South India
    56
    42
    75%
    41
    97%
    All India
    231
    141
    61%
    116
    82%

    Source: Deloitte analysis and industry estimates

    The above table clearly shows TV and Cable & Satellite (C&S) penetration in south is well above the national average.

    Furthermore, the number of operational regional GECs is four times those of the national GECs. If one were to decode economics as to what makes the proposition attractive, one would learn that regional channels are attractive for advertisers due to lower cost of connect with the right audience. For the broadcasters, the attraction is due to lower cost of content and distribution costs, coupled with increasing advertiser‘s interest.

    The penetration and potential has helped niche genres emerge in south too. GECs clearly dominate the viewership in there and will continue to reign at the top while news, movies and music remain the other popular genres.

    An interesting trend in the regional television space is the emergence of niche genres such as kids, youth and comedy that have a dedicated audience and provide targeted advertising platforms for brands.

    Box Populi

    For over four decades politics and cinema had a cozy alliance in the south of India, but suddenly the more influential spouse had to give way to a more alluring mistress – television. Or how could someone explain the equation? Consider the case in point: 14 news channels and counting in Andhra Pradesh; Tamil Nadu also saw an influx of new channels with Puthiya Thalaimurai TV now considered numero uno in Tamil Nadu. Sun TV, which till now ruled the roost in Tamil News, now has competition with the DMK run Kalaignar TV, Jayalaitha run Jaya TV, and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), a constituent of UPA, owned Makkal TV.

    Down south in Kerala, news channels are translating to good business with Jai Hind TV, Kairali TV and the recently launched Manorama TV slugging it out with the already popular Asianet News.

    In Karnataka, 2011 was a year that saw launch of many news channels – Janashri TV, Samaya 24/7, Kasthuri Newz 24 and Publice TV to name a few.

    India has one of the highest number of news channels in the world with almost 150 channels in the genre. The South too recently saw a spurt of mushrooming news channels. The major attraction for players in this space stems from factors like political ambition and driving public opinion besides profitability. While English news channels command the highest advertising rates due to their connect with the male urban audiences, it is the regional news channels that garner major share of total advertising pie.

    TAM data suggests the viewership share of regional news channels has grown by 15-20 per cent in South India in 2011.

    Revenue share in South Markets

    Currently, Tamil Nadu is the largest market for advertisement in the South with revenues close to Rs 11.5 billion followed by Andhra Pradesh with revenues of Rs 8.2 billion. Karnataka and Kerala generate advertisement revenue to the tune of Rs 5.8 billion each.

    In 2011, of the total ad revenues in South India, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had a share of 37 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, while Karnataka and Kerala follow with a share of about 19 per cent each.

    Content Revenue

    With fierce competition, every channel tries to maximise the topline. There are two key ways TV broadcasters earn revenue from content; subscription fees and pay per view fees. Additionally, the internet and the digital mode have gained much credence in the past 2 years or so. With the content costs from networks going up, the challenge is to maximise the yield when viewers can get content through many new media channels reducing the value for the networks. Two major markets that show promising trends are Tamil Nadu followed by Andhra Pradesh.

    Source: Deloitte analysis and industry estimates

    Way forward

    Television industry in South is on a transformation path. Multiple channels in each genre competing with each other for TRP, increasing pay TV penetration, expanding yet fragmented local as well as overseas viewership of South Indian channels, demand for more specific content – clearly set the stage for the next level of growth and transition for players across the television value chain. Content creators and broadcasters need to be cognisant of the ever increasing demand for differentiated content. While on one hand new digital content distribution platforms are emerging, on the other hand new formats of entertainment – computers, mobiles and other handheld devices – are gaining importance. Monetisation of content through these new opportunities in existing platforms and new media platforms are going to be key focus areas for the content owners.

  • Ad Club Hyderabad elects Sanjay Reddy as secretary, Sahgal as prez

    Ad Club Hyderabad elects Sanjay Reddy as secretary, Sahgal as prez

    BANGALORE: Ad Club, Hyderabad has elected a new committee that includes Gemini TV business head Sanjay Reddy as secretary and PK Sahgal (Branch Manager, Lintas) as president.


    The other new members include: Ranga Reddy, (Regional General Manager – The Hindu) as vice president and Nitin Muley (General Manager – OTS) as Treasurer.


    Sahgal replaces the outgoing president Ratnakar Rao of Breeze Advertising.


    The 31-year-old club saw a renaissance of sorts last year with more corporate entities joining it. The Club now has close to 50 corporate members.


    The other committee members include Kulwinder Singh (Postnoon afternoon daily CEO); Lenny Emanuel (Ace lensman of Premier Studios); Ramu Srinivasan (Wide Reach Advertising MD); and K Ramana Kumar (Saakshi Newspaper DGM).

  • Telugu television rewrites script in 2010 – Sun TV Network SVP, business head- Telugu cluster Sanjay Reddy

    Telugu television rewrites script in 2010 – Sun TV Network SVP, business head- Telugu cluster Sanjay Reddy

    It could be over two decades now that cable TV brought changes to our living room. Looking back in the year 2010 in Andhra Pradesh Television, the changes have been more real and how. One can clearly attribute the C&S penetration to have fuelled a number of changes in the overall consumption pattern of television. The C&S market saw a steady growth in the past one year. Out of the total of 19.9 million households, C&S households stood at 11.3 million and with a 95 per cent penetration.  

      TV viewing Individuals(Millions) CS individuals (Millions)
      2009 2010 2009 2010
    Hyderabad 6.6 6.9 6.4 6.7
    Rest of AP 9.3 9.9 8.9 9.5

    Echoing the pan India trend, the DTH market in Andhra Pradesh has also seen a slow penetration. But as per the trends, the growth in the past year has been encouraging.

      2009 (Mn) 2010(Mn)
    Hyderabad 0.3 0.5
    Rest of AP 0.2 0.5

    Until 2008, there were only a few Telugu news channels in the state such as TV9, ETV2, NTV and TV5, alongside the entertainment ones, like Doordarshan’s Saptagiri, ETV, Gemini TV, Teja TV, Maa TV and Zee Telugu. In 2009, the simultaneous holding of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections marked a surge in news channels as film star Chiranjeevi announced his entry into active politics. These included Sakshi TV, HMTV, HYTV, Maha TV, Studio-N, Zee 24 Gantalu and ABN Andhra Jyothy.

    With the launch of Raj TV, the state now has 15 news channels compared with nine general entertainment channels. This year also saw the opening of two other news channels – Janta TV & Channel 4. It’s intriguing to see this rush to start news channels in an already cluttered space. It can be seen that there was neither clear economics nor appealing newsworthiness in the launch.

    The GEC space also saw a shakeout with Asianet Sitara near close down after the initial euphoria. MAA TV’s ambitious launch of news channel also was ephemeral. The start of 2010 also was abuzz with recession and in the guise channels slashed salaries of middle and top executives, while revenue showing northward trend had it’s effect on the talent movement.

    Matter-of-Fiction

    The best kept secret in television is out. The year 2010 saw many a script rewritten in Telugu television – be it fiction, reality, or movies. The race for number one slot in GEC heated up. Gemini TV remained the undisputed leader followed by ETV, and then MAA TV and ZEE TV taking the place in rounds over the past 52 weeks. What’s to be taken note here is Gemini Movies, the only 24 hour Telugu movie channel, cemented its position as a clear number 2 in the channel rating list.

    Telugu audience has seen a transformation in terms of when faced with a choice between convention and crudity on television, but for a change in the year 2010 the audiences opted for family fun. It‘s not only because 90 per cent of AP’s TV households have one TV and TV-watching is still a collective experience. When faced with the option of watching a story and watching an done to death dance/item number, the audience choice was clear: they would rather be engaged than amused. So it comes as no surprise that fiction ruled the roost with serials like Mogilirekulu of Gemini consistently delivering numbers, proving to be APs no 1 fiction at 8:30 p.m.

    Aata of Zee TV showed crudity, and this came under scanner with women activists crying hoarse because of the content and young dancing with almost little or no drape and suggestive moves, thus showing what the audience prefer. And the second half started to witness a decline in the viewership in the same genre.

      Serials Reality/ Non
      Oct-Dec(09) Oct-Dec(10) Oct-Dec(09) Oct-Dec(10)
    Gemini TV 295 380 70 58
    Maa Telugu 52 25 120 80
    Zee Telugu 45 100 150 54
    Eenadu TV 140 175 85 70

    From a audience perspective, AP market became a copycat market as the non-fiction/reality show of the north were audaciously duplicated with shows like Genius on MAA TV being a pale copy of multitude of reality shows from UTV & MTV, Adrustham on MAA was a near copy of Deal No Deal, a format owned by Endemol which was later pulled off air after being served a notice from Copyright holder Endemol.
    The second half also saw a resurgence of a new format in the name of family show & game show. ETV launched “Genes” and Zee TV “Bathuku Jatka Bandi” with Sumalatha. The chat show format got a much needed impetus with Jayaprada joining the bandwagon with “Jayapradam” on MAA TV.

    Fiction gained the foothold through the year with socially relevant topic and better technical value in production. “Sundarakanda” on Gemini TV is a case in point where daughter married to NRI and the subsequent fallout in the marriage came to the fore; hence a case where media is called upon increasingly to educate, not merely excite.

    From a content perspective also, it was the younger clique on television while keeping in sync with the social moorings

    Year 2010 also saw Tollywood stars going beyond shaking their legs on TV reality shows to promote their films. To create a win-win situation for both channels and production houses, there is an exploration of synergies between movies and popular soaps/shows. Some of the prominent faces on television in the year 2010 were Nagababu in “Aparanji”, Vani Vishwnath in “Samudram” on Gemini TV, Jagapathy Babu in “Raju Rani Jagapahty” on ETV, Jayapradha in “Jayapradham” on MAA TV, Saikumar on WOW on ETV. This for sure is bridging the gap between television and Tollywood.

    Marketing & Advertising

    The relationship between sales growth, ad spend-sales ratio and market share is complex. Having said that, television is still the lord of the world and a powerful medium. In Andhra Pradesh, TV and print spends in the year 2010 have been huge.

    Year 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011
    Revenue in Crores in TV 340 460 528 601 725

    Before I sum up let us take a look at how TV network shares moved in the last one year.

    Network wise GRP Trends, CS 4+ All SEC

      2009(Oct-Dec) 2010(Oct-Dec) Change in %
    Sun Network 1144 1388 21.3
    Etv Network 456 420 -7.90
    Maa Network 447 384 -14.1
    Zee Network 410 380 -7.32

    Network wise Absolute Channel share %, CS 4+ All SEC

      2009(Oct-Dec) 2010(Oct-Dec) 2010(Jan-Dec)
    Sun Network 27.2 32.1 18
    Etv Network 10.6 9.7 -8.50
    Maa Network 10.9 8.9 -18.35
    Zee Network 9.8 8.8 -10.20
  • Century Communication buys out ex-UTV Mishra’s 30% stake in Pearl Media

    Century Communication buys out ex-UTV Mishra’s 30% stake in Pearl Media

    MUMBAI: Delhi-based Century Communication Limited (CCL) has bought out ex-UTV Anil Mishra’s 30 per cent stake in Pearl Media for an undisclosed amount.

    Pearl Media will now become a division of the company. “Earlier Pearl Media was functioning as a subsidiary of CCL. We have bought out Mishra’s stake,” CCL chairman PK Tewari tells Indiantelevision.com. CCL will consolidate its air-time sales, TV software, outdoor media and radio ad sales businesses under the umbrella of Pearl Media.

    CCL had joined hands with Mishra in 2004 after he quit UTV as COO of air-time sales and syndication. Pearl Media was formed to start the ad sales business with particular focus on Sun TV’s group of channels. Pearl Media since then has grown to a turnover of Rs 700 million, handling 15 shows on Sun Network and two on Doordarshan.

    “I have sold my stake and parted ways with CCL,” says Mishra who functioned as CEO of Pearl Media.

    A new team is now being put in place with Sanjay Reddy roped in from Walt Disney to head Pearl Media.

    CCL, which posted a turnover of Rs 1.5 billion for the fiscal 2005-06, has recently ventured into the FM sector and has bagged nine radio licenses in various cities across India. The company is targeting Rs 2 billion this fiscal. Apart from ad sales business through Pearl Media, CCL is into post production under the brand name of Pixion.