ITV

Tag: Star TV network

  • 9X Media appoints Rajitta Hemwaani as SVP

    9X Media appoints Rajitta Hemwaani as SVP

    MUMBAI: Rajitta Hemwaani has joined as senior vice president 9X Media and will head SonicX, a new business division initiated to tap the business potential and talent of independent music content.

    Hemwaani would be reporting to 9X Media managing director Pradeep Guha.

    Prior to joining 9X Media, Hemwaani was with a digital radio platform Audioboom UK as the India head. With a career spanning over 20 years, Hemwaani has worked with Star TV Network for two years from 2013 to 2015 as VP content and was also associated with Universal Music Group from 2008-11.

    “9X Media has always nurtured and encouraged talent by providing them appropriate platforms through the Network’s properties of music channels and content portals. As the Company gears up to discover, nurture and proliferate independent music content and talent, Rajitta’s rich and diverse experience will be of immense value,” said Guha.

    Also read

    9X Media appoints Rajitta Hemwaani as Sr. Vice President for SonicX

    9X Media sale: Pradeep Guha & Rajat Sharma rubbish reports
     

  • India’s OTT paid video subscribers pegged at 1.3 million: Frost and Sullivan

    India’s OTT paid video subscribers pegged at 1.3 million: Frost and Sullivan

    MUMBAI: OTT (over-the-top) was the buzzword in the Indian media and entertainment sector in 2015 with multiple players firming up their game plan to tap into the lucrative and booming digital space. With the emergence of numerous OTT service providers in the past two years coupled with the entry of Netflix in India, the space is poised to grow at a fast pace in the years ahead.

    According to Frost and Sullivan’s market insight on the OTT video market in India, there are about 66 million unique connected video viewers in India every month, and about 1.3 million OTT paid video subscribers. Growth in the space can be attributed to increase in smart-phones penetration as well as the improvement in Internet speed in India.

    Despite facing several challenges today, the OTT market growth will be fuelled by various disruptive innovations in technology and business models over the next five years, as per Frost and Sullivan. 

    “With an increase in the use of smart devices in India, content owners and aggregators are using non-TV platforms to improve reach and generate revenues through subscription and advertisement. However, it’s hard to woo the Indian consumer. Success in OTT video distribution will depend on the ability to offer variety of content, new content, at a reasonable price and impeccable user experience,” said Frost and Sullivan research director Vidya Subramanian Nath. 

    While today a few broadcasters such as the Star TV Network and Zee Entertainment are driving services as well as viewership for OTT video with Hotstar and DittoTV respectively, over the next five years, there will be more broadcasters as well as cable and DTH operators expanding their OTT services. However, inadequate bandwidth speeds and the incumbency of YouTube in the market have challenged market participants.

    “India may have over 225 million Internet users, but for consuming video, one needs high-speed broadband access and only about 35 per cent of these users have access to it, informed Nath. “OTT video subscription numbers fluctuate dramatically every month. We find that advertising video on demand (AVOD) is the most preferred mode of OTT video delivery in India currently,” she said.

    Among content types, there is an increasing demand for short duration video content. This is primarily attributable to the average low Internet speeds and changing preferences of many Indian viewers. It is common to find online viewership peak during major sports events like the IPL, elections, or breaking news.

    Platforms such as YouTube offer opportunities for independent content creators who can publish their videos online without the hassles of negotiation with large networks. Now, with the entry of Netflix in India, independent professional content production will continue to grow. Broadcasters who have their own content or video platforms with a variety of publishers are driving the market. While Viacom18 is all set to launch its service called VOOT next month, Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms is also burning the midnight oil to launch its OTT platform – ALT Digital by June this year. Balaji Telefilms CEO Sameer Nair has huge expectations from the platform and expects ALT Digital to have a whopping four million paid subscribers globally by 2020. 

    With substantial investment being pumped in by companies like by Star India (Hotstar), Sony Pictures Networks India (Sony Liv), Zee Enterprises (dittoTV), Eros International (ErosNow) and Singtel, Sony & Warner (HOOQ) amongst others, the competition in the OTT space is set to intensify with the key differentiators being user experience and variety of content offering.

  • India’s OTT paid video subscribers pegged at 1.3 million: Frost and Sullivan

    India’s OTT paid video subscribers pegged at 1.3 million: Frost and Sullivan

    MUMBAI: OTT (over-the-top) was the buzzword in the Indian media and entertainment sector in 2015 with multiple players firming up their game plan to tap into the lucrative and booming digital space. With the emergence of numerous OTT service providers in the past two years coupled with the entry of Netflix in India, the space is poised to grow at a fast pace in the years ahead.

    According to Frost and Sullivan’s market insight on the OTT video market in India, there are about 66 million unique connected video viewers in India every month, and about 1.3 million OTT paid video subscribers. Growth in the space can be attributed to increase in smart-phones penetration as well as the improvement in Internet speed in India.

    Despite facing several challenges today, the OTT market growth will be fuelled by various disruptive innovations in technology and business models over the next five years, as per Frost and Sullivan. 

    “With an increase in the use of smart devices in India, content owners and aggregators are using non-TV platforms to improve reach and generate revenues through subscription and advertisement. However, it’s hard to woo the Indian consumer. Success in OTT video distribution will depend on the ability to offer variety of content, new content, at a reasonable price and impeccable user experience,” said Frost and Sullivan research director Vidya Subramanian Nath. 

    While today a few broadcasters such as the Star TV Network and Zee Entertainment are driving services as well as viewership for OTT video with Hotstar and DittoTV respectively, over the next five years, there will be more broadcasters as well as cable and DTH operators expanding their OTT services. However, inadequate bandwidth speeds and the incumbency of YouTube in the market have challenged market participants.

    “India may have over 225 million Internet users, but for consuming video, one needs high-speed broadband access and only about 35 per cent of these users have access to it, informed Nath. “OTT video subscription numbers fluctuate dramatically every month. We find that advertising video on demand (AVOD) is the most preferred mode of OTT video delivery in India currently,” she said.

    Among content types, there is an increasing demand for short duration video content. This is primarily attributable to the average low Internet speeds and changing preferences of many Indian viewers. It is common to find online viewership peak during major sports events like the IPL, elections, or breaking news.

    Platforms such as YouTube offer opportunities for independent content creators who can publish their videos online without the hassles of negotiation with large networks. Now, with the entry of Netflix in India, independent professional content production will continue to grow. Broadcasters who have their own content or video platforms with a variety of publishers are driving the market. While Viacom18 is all set to launch its service called VOOT next month, Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms is also burning the midnight oil to launch its OTT platform – ALT Digital by June this year. Balaji Telefilms CEO Sameer Nair has huge expectations from the platform and expects ALT Digital to have a whopping four million paid subscribers globally by 2020. 

    With substantial investment being pumped in by companies like by Star India (Hotstar), Sony Pictures Networks India (Sony Liv), Zee Enterprises (dittoTV), Eros International (ErosNow) and Singtel, Sony & Warner (HOOQ) amongst others, the competition in the OTT space is set to intensify with the key differentiators being user experience and variety of content offering.

  • Prime Focus to showcase its Clear and digital content services technology at Nab show

    Prime Focus to showcase its Clear and digital content services technology at Nab show

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus said it will showcase some of its newest Cloud technologies, made in India for the world, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2013.

    At the annual industry event, scheduled to be held in Las Vegas in April this year, Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, will highlight how the organisation is bringing the best of its Clear Hybrid Cloud technology platform and Digital Content Services to address a new enterprise digitisation opportunity – multi-platform content production (TV, feature film and digital media).

    Created at the company’s R&D centre in Bangalore, PFT’s new solution aims to bring the production process on to a single digital platform, transforming the very manner in which producers interact with their content, partners and vendors.

    “As the technology evolves and businesses transition to the ‘new normal’, PFT continues to invest heavily in its R&D to provide solutions to its customers that put them ahead of the technology evolution curve,” says Prime Focus Technologies Founder, President and CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan.

    He further adds “Currently, Clear is managing more than 250,000 hours of content for the broadcast industry. Our 200+ R&D employees have now brought alive the latest innovation from the PFT stable –a fully integrated content, workflow and project management solution that addresses the customer’s production process, enabled by our Hybrid Cloud technology platform. It will allow content producers to leverage digital technologies, and gain control over the production process, thereby leading to a considerable reduction in cost, and greater efficiencies.”

    India is the hub for Prime Focus’ innovation and product development. Set up in 2008, the company’s R&D centre develops the Clear Hybrid Cloud enabled enterprise digitisation platform. PFT’s focus areas include multi-platform content operations, enterprise digitisation, mobility, contextual advertising, cloud editing and content analytics.

    PFT aspires to be the unified content hub for media firms leveraging its global technology infrastructure. Since its launch major functionalities and features like cloud editing, iPad access, HTML5 player, and B2B sales and fulfillment portal have been added to the current solution at the same time developing new solutions ground-up for clients. The current investment in R&D by Prime Focus is $6 mn, and is expected to increase year-on-year over the next few years as the business scales up further.

    For content producers, the content has become digital, but the supply chain is still offline, posing challenges to unlocking inherent efficiencies. Prime Focus Technologies’ platform Clear and digital content services help broadcasters, studios, advertisers, sports bodies, news agencies, government or service providers, drive creative enablement, and enhance ecosystem efficiency.

    Prime Focus Technologies works with major content owners such as News Corporation owned Star TV network, Eros International, Sony Music, Viacom 18, MSM, BCCI, Indian Premier League, Hindustan Unilever Limited, The Associated Press, A+E Networks, Netflix, Schawk!, and WPP.

  • Rediffusion-Y&R gets Rajesh Matthew to head Bengaluru

    MUMBAI: Rediffusion Y&R Bengaluru has got a new head in Rajesh P Mathew.

    Mathew comes in from Dentsu Communications where he was senior vice president in Mumbai. He will report to Rediffusion Y&R COO Amitava Sinha.

    Mathew has more than 17 years of experience in advertising, having worked in markets across Bengaluru, Chennai and Kerala at Ogilvy, Contract, Lowe, Saatchi & Saatchi as well as Concept, Dubai. In the course of his career, he has gained exposure to account management, direct marketing, and general management as office head at Contract, Chennai, and then as vice president and business head at Ogilvy, Mumbai.

    He has serviced brands across categories including Mitsubishi Motors, Star TV network, Sun DTH-HD, NIIT, Infosys, St-Gobain, Muthoot, Cuticura, and Citibank.

    Sinha said, “We are happy to have someone of Rajesh’s stature and experience to lead our Bangalore operations. Apart from being a trusted advisor to our existing clients, Rajesh’s mandate will be to make Rediffusion Bangalore a destination agency for both clients and talent by fostering a culture of continued excellence. We believe Bangalore is a market with significant potential and we are going to be looking to grow aggressively here.”

    Mathew said, “I have always had immense respect for Rediffusion as an institution that has built several iconic brands over the years and has done many memorable campaigns. I therefore consider it a privilege to be heading Rediffusion Bangalore. At a personal level, I am also excited about working in the south again as this is the market that I have grown up in and know well. My focus will be on pushing great work and building a great team, and the rest should then take care of itself.”

  • Rajesh Mathew joins Dentsu Communications as SVP

    MUMBAI: Continuing with the series of senior-level appointments the Dentsu India Group has appointed Rajesh Mathew as senior vice president, Dentsu Communications Mumbai.

    Mathew has an experience spanning over 17 years in advertising and his previous stint was as managing partner at Doosra Brand Communications, Mumbai (Part of the Aegis Media Worldwide network, since December 2011).

    Dentsu Communications CEO Arijit Ray said, “Rajesh‘s induction into Team Dentsu Communications is part of our on-going impetus on strengthening and consolidating the talent profile. I am sure Rajesh‘s diverse experience across brands over so many years across markets, will help enhance our value proposition amongst our key business portfolios.”

    Mathew said, “I look forward to the exciting challenge and opportunities at Dentsu Communications; given the ambitious growth plans that are set, I couldn‘t ask for a better timing than this, to come on board!”

    Mathew started his career in 1995 and since then has been actively involved in building brands and strategic business consulting. His first job was with MAA Bozell in Bangalore and later he went on to work with some of the multinational network advertising like Saatchi & Saatchi Direct (Bangalore), Ogilvy & Mather (Bangalore), Lowe Lintas Worldwide (Chennai – as brand services director), Rediffusion DYR and Wunderman (Chennai – as GM for both the Agencies), Contract Advertising (Chennai – as senior vice president and manager) and Ogilvy & Mather (Mumbai – as vice president and business head).

    Mathew has worked on a wide spectrum of Clients like – Star TV Network, Mitsubishi Motors (Lancer, Cedia, Pajero, Outlander, Montero) NIIT, SunDTH – HD, Muthoot Fincorp Ltd, Odyssey India, Editions – Pens of the world, Saint-Gobain Glass, Avestha Good Earth Foods , United India Insurance, Grundfos, Hindustan Unilever (Deluxe Green Label Coffee), Hewlett Packard, Wipro, Infosys , Texas Instruments, Mico-Bosch, BankMuscat, Oman Tourism, Oman Oil, The Intercontinental Hotels, Cuticura (talc and deo), Airtel, Citibank, The British Council, Tilaknagar Industries and Timeout Magazine.