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Tag: Star India

  • Channel V launches ‘Only On V’, ties up with Sanam

    MUMBAI: In a step to further strengthen its position as a music channel, Star India’s Channel V has launched Only On V. The platform plans to offer differentiated content akin to the tastes of the new generation which enjoys both Indian and international music.

    Through Only on V, the channel aims to bring to its viewer’s exclusive music videos from Indian and International artists, international music festivals and concerts.

    “When we launched last year we promised to give a unique music television experience to the new generation, Only on V is our effort to do something new in the category by bringing fresh content to the mass medium of television. We will continue to curate more exclusive music content for growing viewers,” a Star India spokesperson said.

    Sanam will be the first big offering under the umbrella of Only on V which is launching on 1 April. The property also marks the band’s original compositions debut on television. Commented the band, “This is the first time that our original compositions will be aired on television. Channel V is known to be disruptive when it comes to its programming, and the viewing experience is completely surreal. We are looking forward to reach out to the TV audience and bring to them our original music.”

    Television’s outreach is extensive and Channel V aims to tap into this wide audience by bringing to them quality music content making the viewing experience more enjoyable.

  • Star India producer: Incredible to know about art and evolution of storytelling

    MUMBAI: “It was insightful to know about the conscious and subconscious mind, and it was incredible to know about the art and evolution of storytelling,” said Star India senior producer Avni Bhatija. She was among a gathering of creative heads at Qench Studioz at Lower Parel, Mumbai, recently.

    On 23 March, creativity abounded at Qench with a gathering of several notables of the advertising fraternity. It was a first-of-its-kind initiative to bring people from this industry together in one room, to create an idea sharing a collaborative learning platform – a platform where one can showcase one’s work and meet people from the industry, not for business, but to share creativity and knowledge in a convivial atmosphere.

    Ogilvy ECD South Asia Sumanto Chattopadhyay, a firm believer in collaborative learning, was the star speaker and his thought on the psychology of the brain that mostly thinks in stories was an eye opener for many. This initiative is the brainchild of Avadhut Hembade, an award-winning photographer, a 25 year veteran of the industry and the CMD of Qench Studioz.

    Avadhut believes that in the daily routine and grind of our jobs, we lose out on sharing ideas and discovering the treasure-trove of hidden personal talent in the advertising fraternity. He has now created a space for these creative souls, to share not only their talent in advertising but also as artists, writers, poets, photographers, actors, dancers or musicians. The intention is to share work, learn from others, inspire and be inspired to produce brilliant pieces of creativity.

    Chattopadhyay is a gem in the advertising industry and an inspiration to many. He is accustomed to wearing several hats and is an actor, writer and photographer. He also holds the prestigious title of ECD at Ogilvy & Mather, the renowned ad agency. A firm believer in collaborative learning, his main thrust was on the psychology of the brain. He stated, “The brain cannot not think of a story,” sums it all up. In his talk, he goes on to explain with examples, how the advertising industry too could make use of this fact in its creative output.

    The first event received an overwhelming response and was attended by several top leaders of various media agencies as well as the eminent Sandeep Kulkarni, of Shwaas and Dombivili Fast fame. One of the attendees, Sushant Gaikwad of Paarami Digital, said, “Such initiatives will help drive the creativity of the industry to higher levels and everybody using the learnings of Sumanto will surely contribute great work to the industry.”

    Other participants included Star India associate VP Santosh Patil, Leo Burnett ECD Sachin Kamble, DDB Mudra ECD Ashish Phatak, and Lowe Lintas creative director Purwa Sali.

    Abhijit Karandikar, Kunal Sawant, Rajeshwari Rao, Sushil Chintak, Durga Bangade and Minal Phatak, senior creative directors of Ogilvy & Mather, applauded the initiative.

  • TRAI extends tariff regulations execution date, Madras High court arguments to continue

    NEW DELHI: Following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s request that its tariff regulations which were slated to come into effect on 2 April were being deferred to 2 May 2017, Star India and Vijay TV decided not to press for their pleas  in view of the ongoing case in Madras hIgh Court.

    The  regulator In a letter submitted to the court its counsel Richard Wilson and signed by by TRAI Secretary Sudhir Gupta, stated that this was being done in view of certain ambiguities raised by some stakehlolders.

    The Court was told that a formal notice about this would be released in due course.
    The broadcasters had filed the application on the plea of the deadline set by TRAI.

     Meanwhile, the Court fixed the matter for further hearing on 3 April even as TRAI counsel commenced his arguments following the conclusion of the arguments by the broadcasters over two days commencing last Friday.

    After TRAI counsel concludes his arguments next week, the Court will hear counsel of All India Digital Cable Federation which been impleaded in the matter.

    Earlier on 3 March, the regulator had issued the three regulations after getting a directive from the Supreme Court on its appeal against a stay granted by the Madras High Court. While granting the appeal, the apex Court also asked the High Court to conclude hearing in sixty days.
    The petition had been filed by Star India and Vijay TV under the Copyright Act on the ground that TRAI could not give any directives that will affect the content since that did not fall in its purview.

    Apart from the Tariff order which had originally been issued on 10 October last year, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations which had been issued on 14 October last year, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year.

    The orders can be seen at:

    http://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Tariff_Order_English_3%20March_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/QOS_Regulation_03_03_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Interconnection_Regulation_03_mar_2917.pdf

    Follwing these regulations, the broadcasters had filed an amended petition and TRAI had also replied to the same last week.

    Concluding his arguments for the broadcasters, senior counsel P Chidambaram argued that TRAI’s action of fixing tariff for TV content was in violation of the Copyright Act. He also submitted that TRAI did not have the jurisdiction to fix tariff since the exploitation of IPR was part of the Copyright Act.

    Also read:

    Star-Vijay Copyright case hearing next week, TRAI to file counter

  • FICCI Frames 2017: Birth of other mediums cannot kill traditional TV

    MUMBAI: The fast changing scenario and the content ecosystem have gone through a significant change over the years and are keeping all the production houses and the broadcasters on their toes.

    The ‘Grammar of the new TV content’ on the second day of FICCI FRAMES 2017 was discussed as experts from the industry sharing vital pointers in regards to the future of the television content and how this is expected to evolve with many changes coming its way, on a regular basis.

    Moderated by Star India president and content studio head Gaurav Banerjee, the session saw Balaji Telefilms creative director and joint managing director Ekta Kapoor, Keshet International Asia head Gary Pundey, Trailer Park senior producer Robin Humbert, BBC Worldwide Asia Content VP Ryan Shiotani, Discovery Networks International South Asia head and GM Karan Bajaj, and GoNews founder and editor-in-chief Pankaj Pachauri expressing their views..

    Answering a question on TV content, Shiotani said: “As a business we focus on high quality content across the genres. We focus primarily on three areas, one is the distribution of the content around the world, running of branded BBC channels and the third thing is the production around the world. For us, it is very clear to focus on high quality storytelling and production value. The emotional connection with the audiences is something we will continue to do in India and other markets around the world.”

    Sharing her experience, the czarina of the Indian TV ecosystem Ekta Kapoor said: “Television is India’s biggest, most prominent and aggressive medium of entertainment. Women’s Day was celebrated by television. But technology cannot marginalize such a large medium and such a large voice. It challenges, actually give birth to fresher and more interesting content.”

    Bajaj added: “In countries like the US, the UK and all developed broadcast markets, the smart TV penetration has shot through the roof. From 10 to 12 per cent smart TV penetration has reached 50 to 60 per cent in the last six months.”

    Voicing a different viewpoint, Pachauri said: “We are talking about essentially television and digital. We have not touched yet how to change the grammar of the content. India and Bharat are going to come together because of digitization. As far as digital content and its grammar is concerned, we have to change are attitude towards television and no one is trying to change that. We started India’s first digital news television on phone because there are more phones in India then television. Within five years, TV as as we know it would just die. We need new grammar for this new television.”

    Taking the cue, Banerjee claimed that radio was supposed to die in the 1950s, the film industry was over in the 70s, and Doordarshan was expected to be over in the 80s. “We keep foretelling these deaths but the reality is, it is not going to happen. Even in America where a lot of these changes have happened, TV is still incredibly big. The big advantage television has is its reach. Even people watching on digital will watch on television as well.”

    But Pachauri said in India, from 2011 to 2016, the total reach of news television has gone down by 15 per cent according to Nielsen data. “I am not saying that the news will die, or serials or TV will die. There is a new player in the market and we have all to align with that,” he added.

    Talking about the content Balaji produced, Kapoor said: “A lot of questions are raised by India and answered by Bharat. Unfortunately we have to be aware of the problems. If there wouldn’t be any identification to these stories, they won’t be told.”

    She said, “There are three mediums which actually cater to the same people in three different ways. We all have the family phase, the outside world phase, and the individual phase (‘us’ phase). TV is the family phase where the whole family watches the same content. Film is the communal viewing, a screen with 300 people viewing, and digital is content that you want to consume alone. Clearly, for me it is the stories that matter and I cannot say this through other two mediums.”

    Bajaj added: “Discovery is going through intense localization drive, and in the last ten years we have produced 5 to 10 hours of local content, and this year in September we will be moving to 300 hours local content. The learning for us is also this- that it is not the numbers of local hours but that the storytelling in India is different. We are used to very larger than life and entertaining stories so for 200 to 300 hours of local content, we have to shift from the documentary maker to the storytellers and its an interesting journey for us.”

  • FICCI-KPMG report: Rural India fuels digital consumption; FTA channels gain prominence

    MUMBAI: The ‘Bharat’ story strengthened with expansion of rural measurement in TV and 4G data price wars deepened digital consumption, which were spurred further by mobile Internet and smartphone penetration. While print and films segments were supported by growing demand from the regional markets, demonization affected advertising revenues even as consolidation in the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry gained momentum.

    These were amongst some of the key highlights of year 2016 as enumerated in the FICCI-KPMG Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2017 unveiled yesterday at FICCI Frames 2017.

    Amongst the other highlights were roll out of 4G services, government and private initiatives around public Wi-Fi, greater emphasis on broadband rollout by MSOs and wide ranging impact of government policies and initiatives that had inflicted some short-to-medium term damage (demonization and confusion over GST implementation) on the industry as growth in annual advertising spends got slashed by about 1.5-2.5 per cent. However the report said that the industry is expected to be a net beneficiary of GST, primarily due to availability of input credits across the board and subsuming of entertainment tax within the GST.

    According to the report, the Indian media and entertainment industry in 2016 was able to sustain a healthy growth on the back of strong economic fundamentals and steady growth in domestic consumption, coupled with growing contribution of rural markets across key segments.  These factors aided the industry to grow at 9.1 per cent on the back of advertising growth of 11.2 per cent, despite demonetization shaving off 150 to 250 basis points in terms of growth across all sub-segments at the end of the year.

    The big story in 2016 has been the evolution of FTA channels after expansion by BARC India of rural measurement in the television segment, coupled with the impact of the 4G rollout and the resulting price wars. Both these factors have resulted in media consumption penetrating deeper into India, resulting in a realignment of strategy by media companies and advertisers alike.

    Compared to 2016, the industry is projected to grow at a faster pace of 14 per cent over the period of 2017-21 with advertising revenues expected to increase at a CAGR of 15.3 per cent. The year 2017 is likely to witness a marginally slower rate of 13.1 per cent as the economy recovers from the lingering effects of demonetization and initial uncertainties arising from GST implementation.

    Commenting on the industry’s performance and way forward, FICCI M&E Committee chairman and chairman & CEO of Star India Uday Shankar said, “The industry has gulped down the bitter pill of demonetization trusting its long-term benefits and yet is set to bounce back to a steady growth, thanks to strong fundamentals.”

    He added that building solid infrastructure and continued government support will help the industry reach the “tremendous potential” it holds for employment and creating socio-economic value for the country, while a commitment towards a “quick transition to digitization” will ensure growth for all stakeholders.

    Girish Menon, director, media and entertainment, KPMG India, stated that 2016 was a “mixed bag” for the industry with digital media making its way to the centre stage rapidly from being just an additional medium. While it is compelling existing players to rethink their business models, he added, “The long-term factors driving the future growth are expected to remain positive with growing rural demand, increasing digital access and consumption and the expected culmination of the digitisation process of television distribution over the next two to three years.”

    Some of the key highlights of the FICCI-KPMG report are as follows:

    Television

    The TV industry clocked a slower growth in 2016 at 8.5 per cent, attributed to tepid growth of 7 per cent in subscription revenues and a lower than estimated 11 per cent growth in advertising revenues.

    A key theme in 2016 was the emergence of FTA channels as a key focus area following the expansion in rural measurement by BARC India and the resultant increased interest by both broadcasters and advertisers. Additionally, strong performance of sports properties and increased spending for the launch of 4G by telecom operators helped alleviate some of the pressure. The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.7 per cent over the next five years with advertising and subscription revenues projected to grow at 14.4 per cent and 14.8 per cent, respectively.

    The projections remain robust due to strong economic fundamentals, rising domestic consumption and growing contribution of rural markets, coupled with the delayed but eventual completion of digitization rollout.

    Digital advertising

    Continuing to ride on a high growth trajectory with a 28 per cent growth in 2016, digital advertising has captured 15 per cent share in the overall advertising revenues, with a minor hiccup due to demonetization. 4G rollouts and the resultant data price wars are providing further impetus to the growth as digital consumption and habits are becoming more mainstream. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 31 per cent to reach INR 294.5 billion by 2021, contributing 27.3 per cent to the total advertising revenues. Advancement in infrastructure, evolving audience measurement technology, leading to better content and lowering data costs, will drive user habits towards greater digital consumption, driving tremendous growth for the industry.

    Animation and Visual Effects (VFX)

    The industry grew at 16.4 per cent, driven majorly by a 31 per cent growth in VFX due to increase in outsourcing work, growing use of VFX in domestic film productions and increase in demand for domestic animated content on television. The industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17.2 per cent over 2017–21.

    Out of Home (OOH)

    The industry registered a slowdown in growth rate at 7 per cent majorly due to adverse impact of demonetization. OOH is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.8 per cent primarily driven by development of regional airports, privatisation of railway stations, growth in smart cities, setting up of business and industrial centers and growing focus on digital OOH.

    Radio

    Radio recorded a 14.6 per cent growth led by volume enhancements in smaller cities, partial roll out of batch 1 stations and a marginal increase in effective advertising rates. However, weak uptake in batch 2 auctions of FM radio Phase 3 and delays in the rollout of majority of batch 1 stations, coupled with adverse impact of demonetization, dampened the overall sentiment. Nevertheless, it is expected to be the fastest growing amongst the traditional mediums at a CAGR of 16.1 per cent, arising from operationalisation of new stations in both existing and new cities, introduction of new genres and radio transitioning into a reach medium.

    Print

    The revenue growth rates of print continued to witness a slowdown at 7 per cent in 2016, as English newspapers remained under pressure. Regional language papers demonstrated strong growth, but were adversely affected by demonetization given their high dependence on local advertisers. Print is expected to grow at 7.3 per cent, largely driven by continued growth in readership in Indian languages markets and advertisers’ confidence in the medium, especially in the tier II and tier-III cities. Rise in digital content consumption poses a long-term risk to the industry.

    Films

    Films grew at a crawling pace of 3 per cent in 2016. The segment was impacted by decline in core revenue streams of domestic theatricals and satellite rights, augmented by poor box-office performance of Bollywood and Tamil films. Expansion of overseas markets, increase of depth in regional content and rise in acquisitions of digital content by over-the-top platforms are expected to be the future growth drivers that would help the segment bounce back at a forecasted CAGR of 7.7 per cent. However, factors such as dwindling screen count and inconsistent content quality could prove to be limiting factors.

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    FICCI-KPMG report projects TV sector to reach Rs 1166 bn by 2021

  • Star India exVP Vivek Bhutyani launches ‘Lattu Kids’, partners Thought Cloud to co-produce ‘Trigo’

    MUMBAI: India has many successful animation IPs but most of them haven’t travelled to international markets. The country is known for its animation services but there’s no big success story of India in the animation industry. Keeping that in mind, there’s a new studio in town which is set to fill this gap and have a development in the international markets.

    This studio is formed by none other than the ex-Star India vice-president and head of content syndication, Vivek Bhutyani. He had mentioned in November that he planned to venture into the OTT sector and seems like his vision is still in place. For the past few months, the man has been in the process of launching India’s first learning and development focused content streaming platform for kids – Lattu Kids.

    Lattu Kids is a fully integrated kid’s entertainment firm which is based out of Singapore and India. It aims to produce and showcase the best International content in India and Southeast Asia. Lattu Kids, founder and CEO, Vivek Bhutyani says, “I have been passionate about kids’ content as I have a five-year-old son and while watching the various content available for kids these days, it made me realise that there’s hardly any content which impart values to kids. Seeing this gap, I decided to venture into the kids segment as this space has a lot of things which can be explored.”

    Read the full story here:

  • Large Networks lead regional channels, programme ratings in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017

    BENGALURU: The Indian regional television space in this paper has been classified under 11 Indian languages covering the following languages/markets in alphabetical order:

    (1)    Assamese language – Assam / North East / Sikkim/(U+R)
    (2)    Bangla language –WB(U+R)
    (3)    Bhojpuri language – Bihar/Jharkhand (U+R)
    (4)    Gujarati language – Gujarat / Daman and Diu / Dadra & Nagar Haveli (U+R)
    (5)    Kannada language – Karnataka (U+R)
    (6)    Malayalam language – Kerala (U+R)
    (7)    Marathi language – Maharashtra/ Goa (U+R )
    (8)    Oriya language – Odisha (U+R)
    (9)    Punjabi language – Punjab / Haryana / Chandigarh / Himachal Pradesh / Jammu &Kashmir (U+R)
    (10)    Tamil language – Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (U+R)
    (11)    Telugu language Andhra Pradesh/ Telangana (U+R).

    Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India data has been referred to NCCS All: 2+ Individuals in the case of channels and programs in the respective markets.

    This paper must be read with a caveat: It deals only with the players present in BARC’s top 5 lists of channels per week and programmes per week for each language. The sums/percentages of other genres/players’/channels of other players as well other channels of players in this paper ratings or Impressions (000s) Sums other than those indicated in BARC’s top 5 lists of channels and programmes have not been considered/mentioned in this paper during the period under consideration and those numbers could be more/higher. Further, Combined Total Impressions mentioned in this paper means the sum of all the Impressions (000s) Sums for all the weeks under consideration of a network and/or channel and/or programme/s.

    Regional Channels ruled by bigger networks

    Statistical Analysis of BARC data for the first eight weeks of 2017 (Saturday, 30 December 2016 to Friday 24 February 2017, the period under consideration in this paper) show that 67 channels from 27 networks/groups/channels were present in the top 5 lists for channels during the period under consideration in this paper. The larger groups or networks channels were generally the most watched during the period under consideration.

    Eight Sun Network channels across four markets (or languages) with a frequency of 59 and Combined Weekly Impressions (CWI) of 1,85,46,618 (000s) Sums topped the regional space in terms of impressions. The Sun Network channels that appeared in the top five channels lists during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

    The Sun Network was followed by Star India’s eight channels across 6 markets (or languages) that had a frequency of 60 and CWI of 1,22,72,247 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Bangla, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu channels were among the top five channels lists in terms of impressions.

    Subhash Chandra’s Zeel Network’s nine channelsacross 6 markets (or languages) with a frequency of 63 and CWI of 1,15,85,581(000s) Sums came in at third place.Zeel channels topped the top 5 channels list in the Bangla, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu space.

    Seven Network 18 channels across six languages came in fourth place with a frequency of 55 and CWI of 67,45,047 (000s) Sums. Network 18 channels were present in the top 5 channels list during the period under consideration in the Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya and Telugu languages space.

    There were exceptions of course.  Especially in Eastern part of the country in the Assamese space – none of the major channels or their programmes found a place in the top 5 channels or programmes lists during the first eight weeks of 2017. While the Sun Networks dominance across channels and programmes was huge, it was limited to the Southern regional channels. The other biggies channels and programmes- be they Zeel or Star India or Network 18 found places in their respective genre list in three regions – West, East and South. In the north zone, ETV Bihar-Jharkand was the only representative of the big four networks mentioned above.Music, films and news programmes and consequently news channels also found a place in the top five programmes list during the period under consideration in this paper in some of the markets.

    Regional Programmes

    Programmes of twenty-five channels from 12 networks/groups/channels found a place in the top 5 programmes in a week list of 11 markets during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    In terms of frequency, the Zeel Network was far ahead of the pack with 99 times of a maximum possible of 440 that its programmes in five languages (or markets – Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya and Bangla) finding a place in the top five programmes list during the weeks under consideration. In the Marathi space, all the five places in the top five programmes list were topped by Zee Marathi during all the weeks under consideration in this paper.Zeel’s Oriya channel had a frequency of 35 spots in the top 5 spots per week of the possible 40 spots during the first 8 weeks of 2017 in the Odisha market.

    However, in terms of impressions, both the Sun Network (3 markets, frequency 43, CWI of 5,21,763 (000s) Sums) and the Star Network (4 markets, Frequency 95, CWI of 4,52,433 (000s) Sums) programmes were ahead of the Zeel Network programmes 2,82,808 (000s) Sums.

    Programmes of three Network 18 channels from three languages/markets (Kannada, Telugu and Gujarati) found places in the top five channels list during the first eight weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 72 and CWI of 2,10,252 (000s) Sums.

    Network 18 was followed by programmes from the pubcasterDoordarshan’s (DD) two channels in two languages – Punjabi and Gujarati with a frequency of 46 and CWI of 40,340 (000s) Sums. While the popularity of DD’s programmes placed it at fifth position in terms of Combined Programme ratings, the CWI of its two channels could place it only at tenth place in terms the top five channels.

    Unlike the South, where most of the top 5 programmes found a place on a consistent basis with ranks relatively unchanged, the other three zones and their respective market/language programmes had very few programmes that were constantly in the top lists. There were exceptions of course – such as some programmes from Zee Marathi, or some from Star Jalsha (Bangla)..

    Let us look at the picture from the west, north, east and south zones’ perspective.

    Top West Regional Networks in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were Zeel and Network 18

    The author has relegated two markets or languages to the West Regional television channels space (zone) – Gujarat, Daman, Dui and Dadra &Nagarhaveli with Gujarati as the language, and Maharashtra and Goa with Marathi as the language in this report.

    In the west regional markets, Zeelwith three channels lead in Marathi was the most watched network with a combined frequency of 17 and CWI of 24,57,030 (000s) Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Network 18 with three channels – two in Gujarati and one in Marathi was the second most watched networkwith frequency of 24 and CWI of 7,23,361 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Marathi channel Star Pravahmade it the third most watched network with a frequency of 7 and a CWI of 3,33,994 (000s) Sums. Two ABP Group channels – one each in Gujarati and Marathi made the group the fourth most watched network in west India with frequency of 13 and CWI of 2,50,600 (000s) Sums. The other four most watched networks in this zone were Enterr 10 Group (Frequency 3, CWI 1,02,132 (000s) Sums, Marathi);TV9 Network (Frequency 8, CWI 63,872 (000s) Sums, Gujarati); Sandesh (Frequency 7, CWI 35,556 (000s) Sums, Gujarati) and Doordarshan’s DD Girnar (Frequency 1, CWI 6,332 (000s) Sums, Gujarati)

    In the Gujarati space, five networks had 6 channels among the top channels per week lists during the first eight weeks of 2017. Two of the Network 18 group’s channels – Colors Gujarati (Frequency 8, CWI 88,934 (000s) Sums) and ETV News Gujarati (Frequency 8, CWI 37,340 (000s) Sums gave the network CWI of 1,26,274 (000s) Sums, making it the most watched Network in the market during the period under consideration. Colors Gujarati was the most watched channel during this period followed 24 hours Gujarati news channel TV9 Gujarati. The ABP Group’s ABP Asmita came in next followed by Network 18 associated channel ETV News Gujarati. PrasarBharati’sDoordarshanGirnar or DD Girnar was next. Please refer to the figure below.

    public://111111111111111111.jpg

    Seven channels from 5 networks or groups made it to the top five Marathi channels lists in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Three of Zeel’s channels – Zee Marathi (Frequency 8, CWI 18,70.387 (000s) Sums), Zee Talkies (Frequency 8, CWI 5,16,454 (000s) Sums) and Zee 24 Taas (Frequency 1,  CWI 70,189 (000s) Sums) made it the top network during the period under consideration.

    Network 18’s Colors Marathi was second with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 5,97,087 (000s) Sums). Star India’ Star Pravah was third with a frequency of 7 and CWI of 3,33,994 (000s) Sums). Please refer to the chart above for more details of Marathi networks/channels.

    Top West Regional TV Programmes in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017

    One channel/network’s each programmes dominated the Gujarati and the Marathi languages regional television space. In the case of Gujarati, Network 18, Colors Gujarati programmes, shows and film offerings had a combined weekly frequency of 34 from a possible 40 listings during the first 8 weeks of 2017 with CWI were 4,343 (000s) Sums. The other 6 spots were shared by Doordarshan’s DD Girnars’ programmes/shows with CWI of 529 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the figure below.

    public://2222222222222222222.jpg

    In the case of the Marathi regional television space, it was all Zeel’s Zee Marathi programmes that grabbed the highest eyeballs during the first eight weeks of 2017.Zeel Marathi programmes had combined weekly frequency of 40 of of 40 appearances in BARC’s top 5 Marathi programmes of week list during the first 8 weeks of 2017. Please refer to the figure above for details.

    Top North Regional TV networks in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were PTC and Doordarshan

    The author has relegated two languages to the North regional zone – Bhojpuri and Punjabi, despite the main market defined by BARC for the Bhojpuri language lying geographically in the East Indian of states of Bihar and Jharkhand.

    The north zone had eleven channels from 10 groups that were present in the top five channels per week list in their respective genres or languages. In terms of CWI, the PTC Network with 2 channels in Punjabi was the most watched network with a combined frequency of 9 and CWI of 4,95,995(000s) Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Doordarshan’s DD Punjabi with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 4,05,568(000s) Sumsduring the period under consideration was the second most watched network in the zone. The Charhdikala Group’s Punjabi channel Chardikla Time TV with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 2,37,178(000s) Sumscame next. Bhojpuri channel and Big Network’s Big Gangawith a frequency of 8 and CWI of 2,07,252(000s) Sumswas the fourth most watched channel/network in the northern zone during the period under consideration. The other network’s or groups or channels were MH 1Media’s channel MH One Music (Frequency 8, CWI 1,94,823(000s) Sums, Punjabi ); 9x Media Group’s 9X Tashan (Frequency    7, CWI 1,25,514(000s) Sums, Punjabi); CCTV Media Group channel (Bhojpuri Cinema, Frequency 8, CWI 1,19,325(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri); SAB Group’s Dabangg (Frequency 8, CWI 74,878(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri); Enterr 10 Group’s Dangal TV    Frequency 8, CWI 70,181(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri); Network 18’s ETV Bihar Jharkhand (Frequency 8, CWI 14,387(000s) Sums, Bhojpuri)

    Five channels from five networks were among the top 5 lists during all the eight weeks of 2017 in the Bhojpuri space. All had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels list per week during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Reliance Broadcast Network’s (Big Network) Big Ganga had CWI of 2,07,252 (000s) Sums. CCTV Media Group’s Bhojopuri Cinema was next with CWI of 1,19,325 (000s) Sums. The SAB group’s only channel in the top 5 lists in the regional space – Dabangg was next with CWI of 74,878 (000s) Impressions, followed by the Enterr 10 Group’s Dangal TV with CWI of 70,181 (000s) Sums. Network 18’s ETV Bihar-Jharkhand was fifth with CWI of 14,387 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the chart below.

    public://333333333333333333333333.jpg

    Six channels from 5 Networks found a place in the top 5 Punjabi channels weekly list at least for 1 week during the first 8 weeks of 2017. PTC Network’s PTC Punjabi was the most watched channel during the first seven weeks of 2017. In week 8, it gave way to Doordarshan’sDD Punjabi to move to second place. The PTC Network had CWI of 4,95,995 (000s) Sums, and a frequency of 9. PTC Punjabi had CWI of 4,75,274 (000s) Sums. PTC Network’s Punjabi Music channel – PTC Chak de found a place in the top 5 list of Punjabi channels once in week 1 of 2017 at rank 5. The channel had CWI of 20,721 (000s) Sums.

    The pubcasterDoordarshan’s DD Punjabi was the second most watched Punjabi television channel during the first 8 weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 4,05,568 (000s) Sums. The Charhdikala Group’s Chardikala Time TV was the third most watched TV Punjabi channel during the first 8 weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and CWI of2,37,178 (000s) Sums. Music channels MH One Music from the MH1 Media Group and 9X Tashan from the 9X Media Group were at fourth and fifth spots respectively. Please refer to the chart above.

    Top North Regional TV Programmes in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017

    In the Bhojpuri market, Big Network’s Big Ganga’s programmes were the most watched during the first eight weeks of 2017.The channel’s programmes had a Combined frequency of 24 with CWI of 6,165 (000s) Sums. Four of the Enterr 10 Group’s Dangal TV programmes with Combined frequency of 14 and CWI of 2,668 (000s) Sums. SAB TV’s Dabangg’s two film telecast’s brought the group to the third place with a Combined Frequency of 2 and CWI of 399 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the chart below.

    public://4444444444444444444444.jpg

    All the 40 possible top spots were taken by DD Punjabi’s programmes and shows during the first 8 weeks of 2017.Please refer to the chart above.

    Top East Regional TV networks in Weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were Star India and Zeel

    The author has designated Assamese, Bangla and Oriya language channels as those that comprise the East Regional television zone in India.

    20 channels from 12 Networks (4 from each language) found place at least once in the top 5 channel lists during the first eight weeks of 2017 in the East Zone. The most watched network in the east zone during the period was Star India with two Bengali channels – Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies with combined frequency of 16 and CWI of 25,27,422 (000s) Sums. Zeel with three channels – two in Bangla and one in Oriya was the second most watched network during the period with a combined frequency of 22 and CWI of 20,81,386 (000s) Sums. Four channels from Odisha Television Group in the Oriya language space with a combined frequency of 5,62,073 (000s) Sums made it the third most watched network during the period under consideration in the eastern zone. Bangla channel AakashAath was the fourth most watched channel with frequency of 8 and CWI of 2,61,406 (000s) Sums. Pride East Entertainments was fifth most watched network with three Assamese channels gave it a combined frequency of 20 and CWI of 2,06,338 (000s) Sums during the first 8 weeks of 2017.

    The other six networks/groups/ channels in the zone were Network 18’s Colors Oriya (Frequency 8, CWI 1,01,446 (000s) Sums Oriya);ABP Group’sABP Ananda (Frequency 2, CWI 57,696 (000s), Sums, Bangla); Prameya News7’schannel News7 (Frequency 6, CWI 51,164    (000s) Sums, Oriya);Brahmaputra Tele Productions (2 channels, Frequency 8, CWI  30,723; Assamese); Pratidin Group’s Pratidin Time (Frequency 7, CWI 37,755 (000s) Sums, Assamese);A M Television’s Prag News (Frequency 7, CWI 36978 (000s) Sums).

    In the case of Assamese language, 7 channels from 4 networks found a place at least once in the top 5 channel lists during the first eight weeks of 2017. Three of Pride East Entertainments Group’s channels made it the most watched network based on a combined frequency or 20 and CWI of 2,06,338 (000s) Sums. Though the Pratidin Group’s Pratidin Time and Prag News had frequencies of 7 each, two of Brahmaputra Tele Productions channels – DY 365 and Jonack with combined frequency of 6 and CWI of 39,237 (000s) Sums made the network the second most watched one during the period under consideration. Please refer to the figure below:

    public://55555555555555555555555555555.jpg

    In the Bangla space, 6 channels from 4 networks made it to the top 5 channels per week list for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Two of Star India’s channels – Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies each with a frequency of 8 pivoted the group to having the most watched Bangla channels during the weeks under consideration. The CWI of the Star Network were 25,27,422 (000s) Impressions.

    Star India was followed by another national level network – the Subhash Chandra led Zeel with two channels – Zee Bangla and Zee Bangla Movies with a combined frequency of 14,36,237 (000s) Sums. AakashAath and APB Ananda followed with CWI of 2,61,406 (000s) Sums and 57,696 (000s) respectively. Please refer to the figure above for further details.

    Zeel’sSarthak TV led the Oriya language space with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 6,45,149 (000s) Sums. Next was Odisha Television Network’s that had four channels – Tarang TV, Odisha TV, Alankar and Prarthana that had combined frequency of 26 and 5,62,073 (000s) Sums.  Please refer to the chart above for further details.

    public://666666666666666666666666.jpg

    Pride East Entertainment’s Rang programmes were among the most watched Assamese TV programmes and shows during the first eight weeks of 2017 with a combined frequency of 38 and CWI of 5,051 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the figure above for more details. In the case of Bangla programmes, Star India’s found themselves in the most watched programmes list 35 times out of the possible 40 times in the top five Bengali programmes during the first 8 weeks of 2017. Five of Zeel’s Zee Bangla programmes were also present in the list. Please refer to the figure above.

    In the case of Oriya television,Zeel’sSarthak TV’s programmes had a frequency of 35 out of the possible 40 in the top 5 programmes per week lists of 2017. Two of Odisha Television’s Tarang TV programmes also found themselves in the list with a frequency of 5. Please refer to the figure above for details.

    Sun Network, Star India rule channels and programmes ratings in South India

    The data and basic analysis of the channels from the four Southern sisters languages (five states now) – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam by this author has already been published earlier on www.indiantelevision.com. Excerpts and updates of that article are here below.

    The Sun Network’s channels were among the most watched channels across the four South Indian languages for the first eight weeks of 2017.

    Statistical analysis of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data for Top 5 Channels shows that 8 Networks/affiliates/ channels represented by their respective channels across the four South Indian languages shared the top five positions per week for the first eight weeks of 2017. The four languages are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Channels such as ETV have been included in the Network 18 network by the author.

    In order of frequency of presence of their respective channels in the top 5 lists and the total weekly impressions across all the eight weeks of the four main networks were:

    (1)    The Sun Network (frequency 59, CWI 1,89,24,315 (000s) Sums). The Sun Network’s television channels in all the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    (2)    Star India (frequency 37, CWI 94,10,831 (000s) Sums). Star India’s television channels in all the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    (3)    Zeel (Frequency 24, CWI 70,47,165 (000s) Sums). Zeel’s television channels in three of the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Its channels were absent from the lists for the Kerala market

    (4)    Network 18 (frequency 16, CWI 59,16,540 (000s) Sums). Network 18’s television channels in two of the four Southern markets found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. Its channels were absent from the lists for the Kerala market.

    The other networks whose channels found a place in the top 5 lists for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 were MalayalaManorama (Kerala market); Flowers TV (Kerala market); Polimer (TN/ Puducherry market); Jaya TV (TN/ Puducherry market).

    The Sun Network’s and Star India’s channels were present in all of the Top 5 channels list across the four languages for all the first 8 weeks of 2017.

    Top 5 programmes during Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs)

    Only the programmes by channels of the top four networks were in the top 5 programmes list across all the four languages/markets. BARC data that has been referred to in this paper is for weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 (U+R) : NCCS All : Prime Time (1800 – 2330 hrs) : 2+ Individuals for the following markets: Karnataka; Kerala; Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry; and AP/ Telangana.

    While the frequency of presence in the top 5 lists of programmes was highest in the case of Star India channels (frequency 60, CWI 3,31,289 (000s) Sums), the Sun Network channels (frequency 43, CWI 5,21,763 (000s) Sums) programmes garnered much higher viewership.

    The Sun Network channels found a place in the top 5 programmes lists in three languages – Tamil (Frequency 40, CWI 502758 (000s) Sums Telugu (Frequency 2, CWI 14036 (000s) Sums and Kannada (Frequency 1, CWI 4969 (000s) Sums) during the period under consideration in this paper.

    Star India channels programmes also found a place in the top 5  programmes lists for three languages – Malayalam (Frequency 40, CWI 2,09,083 (000s) Sums); Telugu (Frequency 18, CWI 1,14,637 (000s) Sums and the Kannada market (frequency 2, CWI 7,569 (000s) Sums).

    Network 18 channels programmes found a place in the top 5 lists in 2 languages – Kannada (Frequency 28, CWI 1,43,113 (000s) Sums) and Telugu (Frequency 10, CWI 62,796 (000s) Sums).

    Zeel channels programmes also found a place in the top 5 lists in 2 languages Telugu (Frequency 10, CWI 63,147 (000s) Sums) and Kannada (Frequency 9, CWI 38135 (000s) Sums).

    Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (Tamil) market top channels

    The Sun Network’s Sun TV is numerouno in this market, as well as across all television genres and markets in India, period!

    The Tamil market had four channels from three networks in the first four positions for all the first eight weeks of 2017. The Sun Network’s Sun TV and KTV, Zeel’s Zee Tamil and Star India’s Star Vijay.

    In the Tamil market, Sun TV found the first place eight times out of eight with CWI of 85,46,618 (000s) Sums. During the eight weeks under consideration in this paper, its KTV channel was number 2 most watched channel for 7 weeks with CWI of 20,47,381 (000s) Sums. In week 3, the number three Tamil player – Zee Tamil had second place.

    Zee Tamil was the third most watched channel in the Tamil space for seven of the eight weeks with CWI of 18,56,448 (000s)Sums, except as mentioned above – it was at number two position in week 3 of 2017.

    Star Vijay was the fourth most watched channel in the Tamil language TV space with CWI of 16,47,623 (000s)Sums during all the first 8 weeks of 2017.

    Polimer’sPolimer TV was the fifth most watched Tamil language TV space with a frequency of 4 and CWI of 3,25,149 (000s)Sums, while its Polimer News was the seventh most watched Tamil language TV space with a frequency of 2 and CWI of 1,92,213 (000s) Sums in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    The sixth most watched Tamil channel during weeks 1 to 8 was Jaya TV with a frequency of 2 and Combined Total Impressions of 2,40,799 (000s) Sums.

    Tamil Nadu/ Puducherry (Tamil) market top programmes

    Eight of the Sun TV’s programmes and two film telecasts grabbed all the five top spots during all the first eight weeks of 2017. The eight top programs in the Tamil TV space that had a combined frequency of 37 out of a possible 40 have been listed below:

    public://77777777777777777777_0.jpg

    The other three slots were taken by three films broadcast by Sun TV on Sunday in weeks 1, 3 and 5 of 2017. DeivaMagal had the highest primetime viewership during all the first eight weeks of 2017.

    AP/ Telangana (Telugu)market top channels

    The Telugu market also was dominated by the Sun Network’s channels. The two channels of the network had a frequency of 8 each in the top 5 channels list for the Telugu market and the Sun Network had CWI of 52,80,885 (000s) Sums. Its Gemini TV was the most watched channel during all the weeks under consideration in this paper.

    Gemini TV had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels list with CW
    I of 40,16,489 (000s) Sums. Zee Telugu was the second most watched channel during these first eight weeks of 2017 with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 3384804 (000s) Sums.

    Network 18’s ETV Telugu was the third most watched channel in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017, also with a frequency of 8 in the top 5 channels lists for the Telugu market and CWI of 33,65,528 (000s) Sums. Star India’s Maa TV/Star Maa was the fourth most watched channel in the AP/ Telangana market with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 32,75,864 (000s) Impressions.

    The fifth most watched Telugu channel during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 was the Sun Network’s Gemini Movies with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 13,12,922 (000s) Sums.
    AP/ Telangana (Telugu)market top programmes

    KumkumaPuvvu, (means Saffron) the Telugu edition of the 785 episode Malayalam soap opera Kumkumapoovu on Star India’s Maa TV/ Star Maa was the most watched primetime programme during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017. The programme had a frequency of 8 in the top 5 programmes list during the period under consideration in the paper with CWI of 52,561 (000s) Sums. Though KumkumaPuvvuwas ranked first in terms of Weekly Impressions only during weeks 1, 2, 5 and 8 of 2017, the sum of its weekly impressions for weeks 1 to 8 was more than any other programme in this space.

    Of the possible 40 slots in five weeks, 37 were shared by Television Programmes, while the remaining three slots were shared by movies – one aired by the Star Network and two aired by Gemini TV.

    Please refer to the figure below for the top nine Telugu programs during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    public://88888888888888888888888.jpg

    Zee Telugu’s story of two strong willed women – MuddaMandaram was the second most watched Telugu programme in the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 51,560 (000s) Sums and a frequency of 8 in the top 5 Telugu programmes.

    Karnataka (Kannada) market top channels

    Five Kannada channels were in the top 5 Kannada channels list during the first 8 weeks of 2017. The channels ranks remained unchanged during all the first eight weeks of 2017. The frequency of each channel was 8. Network 18’s Colors Kannada was ranked number one with CWI of 25,51,012 (000s) Sums, followed by Zeel’s Zee Kannada with 18,05,913 (000s) Sums.

    Star India’s Star Suvarna with 15,30,643 (000s) Sums was the third most watched Kannada channel in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    Two of the Sun Network’s channels – Udaya Movies and Udaya TV were ranked fourth and fifth with CWI of 12,05,222 (000s) Sums and 9,36,342 (000s) Sums respectively. If one were to combine the viewership of these two channels, then the Sun Network would be the second most watched Kannada television network during the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 21, 41,564 (000s) Sums.
    Karnataka (Kannada) market top programmes

    Colors Kannada’s daily soap PuttaGowriMaduve that chronicles the journey of child bride from the brink of childhood to womanhood was the most watched Kannada programme during the first 8 weeks of 2017. The programme was ranked first during all the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 53,098 (000s) Sums.

    Also from the Colors Kannada stable, Lakshmi Baaramma was the second most watch Kannada programme in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017 with CWI and a frequency of 8 in the top 5 Kannada programmes list. Please refer to the figure below for the top Kannada Programs in weeks 1 to 8.

    public://999999999999999999999.jpg

    Of the possible 40 top 5 program lists during weeks 1 to 8 of 2017, 38 were shared by television programmes, while two were shared by films.

    Kerala (Malayalam) market top channels

    Star India’s Asianet ruled the Malayalam television space during the first eight weeks of 2017. The channel was ranked first in terms of Weekly Impressions during all the eight weeks. It has CWI of 26,25,543 (000s) Sums. MalayalaManorama’s GEC MazhavilManorama also found itself in the top 5 channels list eight times with CWI of 6,81,232 (000s) Sums.

    The Sun Networks Malayalam channel Surya TV also had a frequency of 8 and was the third most watched Malayalam channel with CWI of 6,60,045 (000s) Sums. Flowers TV came in fourth with frequency of 8 and CWI of 5,77,569 (000s) Sums.

    Star India’s Asianet Movies was fifth with a frequency of 5 and CWI of 3,31,158 (000s) Sums. The Sun Network’s second Malayalam channel – Kiran TV found itself in the top 5 channels list thrice during the first eight weeks of 2015 with CWI of 1,99,296 (000s) Sums.

    Kerala (Malayalam) market top programmes

    In the case of top 5 programmes for a week, it was Aisanet programmes that were amongst the top 5 ranks during all the first 8 weeks of2017. Parasparam, the daily family soap that completed 1070 episodes in end January 2017 was the most watched Malayalam programme during the first eight weeks of the year with a frequency of 8 and CWI of 50,100 (000s) Sums. Parasparamwas the most watched programme for three of the eight weeks of 2016 and the second most watched program for five of the eight weeks of the year.

    Chandanamazha, a series about the trials and tribulations of two sisters who marry into the same family was the second most watched Malayalam programme during the first eight weeks of 2017 with CWI of 49,972 (000s) Sums. Please refer to the figure below for the list of the Top Malayalam programs in weeks 1 to 8 of 2017.

    public://100010001000.jpg

    Of the forty possible slots among the top five primetime programmes per week during the eight weeks under consideration in this paper, four were one off awards, while 36 spots were held by the channels regular programmes.

  • Star India shows now travel to West Asia, tripling ratings

    MUMBAI: Indian television shows and serials are becoming popular in several parts of the globe. Other than the Indian sub-continent, the US and the UK, West Asia too is gradually wanting to watch engaging and entertaining Indian content.

    One of the serials debuting in Armenia is — Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon. This “What Do You Call This Love” is Star India’s original drama which has debuted on television in Armenia.

    The intense love-hate relationship and the romantic drama between Arnav and Khushi, who have separate and independent ideologies that do not match. The ratings for the television slot of this show on Armenia TV has tripled, and gone beyond as well.

    Star India will be heading to MIPTV with a few chosen titles that includes Dil Bole Oberoi (translated as — My heart goes out to Oberoi ) and Ishqbaaz (which could be called as ‘The love pundit’) produced by the creators of Iss Pyaar.

    Star India’s president of international business Gurjeev Kapoor has said that irrespective of geographies and culture, powerful stories would make a lasting impression on the audience. It had been crucial idea in making Star India’s content a winner which traveled to over 100 countries in the world. He said they were elated with the success of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon in Armenia.

    Intellecta CEO Christina Vlahova and Star India’s long-standing partner in Russia, the CIS and Europe said that television slot ratings tripled or quadrupled wherever the series went. She said she worked on the introduction of the Indian drama series in the last six years and witnessed a number of successful territory launches. She said they could say for sure that “Iss Pyaar…” was one of the most successful series to start with in a new international territory.

    Pan Armenian group – international relations officer Liana Muradyan said that Armenia TV left no stone unturned to offer the best content to its viewers, be it in-house production or a foreign one — “Iss Pyaar…” was one of them. Being one of the topmost Indian TV series showing gratitude and revenge, love and hate, respect and disrespect, Muradyan added, that the Armenian viewers loved it from the first episode.

    The show focused on morals and high values of the characters along with love-hate relationship, also depicting traditions and rich culture of India, she said.

  • Digital measurement: Star leads the way, partners Zapr

    MUMBAI: Even as India’s only television rating body BARC India plans to get into digital measurement arena, Star India has made a major splash and taken a strategic minority stake in Zapr Media Labs, one of the largest media intelligence repositories and cross-device targeting platform which enables brands and media-owners to identify their offline media audience and re-target them on mobile and web.

    BARC India’s intent, through its planned foray into digital measurement, is to measure total unduplicated audience across all devices and platforms, measuring combined program impressions or advertisements regardless of where and how content/ad is being consumed, through a Single Source Panel. BARC had planned to provide a TV+ Digital viewership measurement service across the globe covering over 50 per cent of media spends between TV and digital. BARC was said to be in talks with an Israeli media technology company to customise for it tools for measurement, which is likely to be rolled out in phases from sometime in 2017 or early 2018.

    However, in what seems to be a march ahead of BARC India, Hotstar, one of India’s leading OTT platforms, and Zapr today announced a strategic partnership to drive the next wave of mobile audience analytics in India. The partnership is accompanied by a minority investment into Zapr from Star.

    For Hotstar, the partnership signals a clear intent to evolve from a media startup to a full-fledged technology and analytics company that shapes the next wave of mobile usage and advertising in India. With more than 60 million users in the month of January and a sharp uptick in user growth in the last few months, the platform already boasts of some of the highest daily engagement amongst its followers.

    In what is certain to be an exciting development for advertisers and agencies, the two companies will work together to create a deep understanding of mobile audiences that can be leveraged by brands to create personalized communication and offers. The two will collaborate to create deep audience segmentation and razor sharp targeting as a trail-blazing move for the mobile advertising ecosystem

    Zapr Media co-founder and CEO Sandipan Mondal informed www.indiantelevision.com, “Our partnership with Hotstar and Star reinforces the great response we’ve received from our industry partners, and we look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with the media and advertising industry.”

    Mondal added, “At Zapr Media Labs, we’re focused on building one of the world’s largest media consumption repositories and audience targeting platforms. Over the past few years, we’ve been working very closely with our partners across brands, agencies and broadcasters on deeper audience segmentation, sharper targeting and richer insights.”

    While access to the Internet has been exploding in India in the last few years, especially on the mobile screen, mobile marketing has been constrained till date by the lack of availability of platforms that marry deep user engagement and audience segmentation. While many brands have deployed significant amounts of money on mobile in the last few years, especially through banner and in stream display ads, marketers have been frustrated by the lack of brand building vehicles online that allow them to leverage deep audience analytics. In what is clearly a trail blazing move for digital marketing, the partnership could herald the emergence of more robust audience analytics and better accountability for results in the mobile marketing world.

    Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan said, “In the transition from the broadcast world to the digital world, advertisers got a data bonanza but in the process had to give up the ability to engage consumers who are actually paying attention to what they are saying. Hotstar has the opportunity to build the world’s first platform on digital where consumers are engaged and immersed while at the same time delivering deep audience understanding that allows brands to talk to individuals rather than segments. We believe that we have a shot at creating the world’s premier truly personalised advertising service, which benefits both brands and consumers.”

    Mondal added, “We look forward to accelerating the pace of our research & development, growing our product portfolio and building a deeper and long lasting relationship with the larger media and advertising industry.”

    Zapr’s proprietary technology platform analyzes television viewership across 600+ channels in India providing targeted digital analytics and insight into offline consumption behaviour. Zapr has built an analytics platform that combines this proprietary understanding with enriched data that allows advertisers to use it for sharper audience targeting and analysis.

    The announcement is a big step in the direction of becoming the premier personalised advertising service.

  • TRAI justifies tariff, QoS, interconnect orders, declines comment on jurisdiction

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today justified the issuance of the regulations relating to tariff, interconnect and quality of service regulations relating to digital addressable system on the ground that this will bring transparency in the system.

    In a hurriedly-called press meet, principal advisor Sunil Gupta said the aim was to bring in a fair and equitable share of revenue to all stakeholders.

    However, the regulator refused to comment on whether it had the jurisdiction to issue any or all the orders as the matter was sub-judice in the Madras High Court.

    The Supreme Court, while allowing an appeal by TRAI on 3 March and vacating the stay order, had said that the Madras High Court could continue hearing the case. However, it said the case in the High Court would continue and would have to be completed within sixty days.

    Both channels were also given leave to amend their petitions in the event of TRAI issuing any orders.

    The petition had been filed by Star India and Vijay TV under the Copyright Act on the ground that TRAI could not give any directives that will affect the content since that did not fall in its purview.

    Apart from the Tariff order which had been issued on 10 October last year, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations which had been issued on 14 October last year, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year.

    A cursory glance shows that the regulator has stuck to its draft with some incidental changes.

    The orders can be seen at:
    http://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Tariff_Order_English_3%20March_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/QOS_Regulation_03_03_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Interconnection_Regulation_03_mar_2917.pdf

    Also read:

    TRAI tariff & quality of services regulations

    TRAI issues comprehensive interconnect draft guidelines

    Offer Premium channels as a la carte, don’t bundle: TRAI