ITV

Tag: Star TV

  • Discovery appoints Atsushi Saito as Eurosport VP – ad sales

    Discovery appoints Atsushi Saito as Eurosport VP – ad sales

    MUMBAI: Discovery Communications has appointed Atsushi Saito as vice president ad sales for Eurosport

    The announcement was made by Advertiser Partnerships senior vice president and managing director Jonathan Davies, to whom Saito will report.

    In his new capacity, Saito is tasked to maximise Eurosport’s ad sales efforts in Asia Pacific by providing innovative and bespoke solutions for clients and developing meaningful partnerships.

    Last week Discovery Communications announced its first Olympic Games sub-licensing deal with the BBC, to make Eurosport the exclusive home of the Olympic Games on pay-TV in the UK between 2018 and 2020. The news follows an agreement announced by Discovery Communications and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last June, which includes exclusive multimedia rights for 50 countries and territories in Europe for the 2018 through the 2024 Olympic Games. With three of these Games to be hosted in Asia, Saito’s proximity to the action will offer a significant market advantage as Discovery look to establish long term partnerships with clients.

    Saito started his media sales career over 16 years ago with Star TV, a subsidiary of News Corp and was last with Turner Japan where he served as CNN Global Advertising Sales director. Under his leadership, Saito quadrupled CNN’s ad sales revenue.

    Davies said, “It is Discovery’s ambition to make the Olympic Games available to more people across Europe than ever before, through leveraging our portfolio of pay-TV, free-to-air and digital services. This combined with our other strategic investments in sports rights provide brands and advertisers a unique opportunity to target their customers through great sporting moments all day, and every day.”

    “Advertisers and brands are evolving into content producers, thinking beyond the ad break to embed themselves in popular culture. With this shift, a top priority for our sales organisation is to provide unique, creative and strategic solutions with the highest level of service. Atsushi’s rich experience, excellent connections and digital acumen will propel Eurosport’s ad sales growth in Asia Pacific,” Davies added.

  • Hathway re-appoints Jagdish Kumar G Pillai as MD & CEO

    Hathway re-appoints Jagdish Kumar G Pillai as MD & CEO

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom’s board of directors have re-appointed Jagdish Kumar G Pillai as the managing director and CEO of the company for a period of two years with effect from 21 December, 2015.

     

    Since 21 December, 2012, Pillai served as CEO, MD and executive director of Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited.

     

    With more than 27 years of experience, Pillai has worked with bluechip companies like ITC Ltd, Star TV and Reliance Industries.

     

    Prior to joining Hathway, he was part of the Reliance Jio project team as president – media & entertainment at Reliance Industries Ltd.

  • ‘The next billion YouTube users are going to come from India:’ Ajay Vidyasagar

    ‘The next billion YouTube users are going to come from India:’ Ajay Vidyasagar

    MUMBAI: Even as Google CEO Sundar Pichai prepares for his India trip with a mandate to outline the company’s vision for the new smartphone users in the country later this month, YouTube has trained its eyes on India in a big way. With a global community of over one billion people that gives anyone the power to create something that everyone can watch, YouTube APAC director of partnerships Ajay Vidyasagar is of the opinion that the next billion users of a platform like YouTube are going to come from a market like India.

    Citing Pichai’s example, Vidyasagar adds, “Senior leaders at Google are very excited about India. India is one of our most valuable opportunities in the world. YouTube is already a mainstream platform in the country. The next billion users of a platform like YouTube are going to come from a market like India.”

    As a definitive step towards its vision for YouTube’s growth in India for churning out original local content, the company has launched YouTube Space Mumbai – the destination for web content creators and aspiring YouTube stars. YouTube Space Mumbai is India’s first and the world’s 8th YouTube Space.

    When asked what influenced the company’s decision to set up YouTube Space in India, Vidyasagar points out a few important stats. “While the year on year growth for YouTube globally is 60 per cent, in India the growth in watch-time has been a whopping 80 per cent. Needless to say India is a very important growing market for us. YouTube Space Mumbai is just one of the many initiatives the company has in store for the country.”

    Not just as a country of viewers, but as content creators too India has seen a steep rise. “There has been a growth of 90 per cent year on year, when it comes to uploading videos to YouTube in India. So getting Spaces to further empower the creators in the country was the obvious next step,” Vidyasagar informs.

    Moreover, YouTube users in India have also made an exponential shift on mobile devices to watch videos. “This year we saw 55 per cent of the total viewership on YouTube in India coming from mobile devices alone. It’s the first quarter when mobile device viewership eclipsed desktops.”

    When asked what this means in a country where mobile marketing is just setting up a roadmap unlike a developed market like China, and how it can impact a YouTube content creator’s revenue, Vidyasagar says, “Our way of looking at mobile or desktop viewership is fundamentally ‘bought and sold’ on a promise of a video view, which is pretty much the same thing on any device. Therefore monetisation isn’t a challenge, even if the device changes. We actually have figures to show now that monetisation is pretty much the same in all devices.”

    Further explaining the monetisation process in YouTube and how the platform gives advertisers a plethora of choices, Vidyasagar shares, “Our advertising team sells reserve advertisements and auction advertisement inventory. The skippable ads that you see are part of a suite that we offer in auction advertising. What ad will be placed on the channel is not decided by the creator but by the buyer of the advertising space. As an advertiser you can choose to buy from the reserve, which means to buy an ad in a specific channel at certain time in a certain volume. And you pay for specific price. But in an auction, you actually bid for an ad to be placed on the platform. So it is not creator led but advertiser led; we give the advertisers a lot of choice in the process.”

    A veteran in broadcast media from his earlier stints at Star TV and Sun TV, Vidyasagar shares how differently a VOD platform such as YouTube functions.

    “When I came to Google, I really thought YouTube is going to be a lot similar to television and very quickly I realised how wrong I was. In a lot of ways, television is a one way communication. You expect the audience to come at a certain hour to a certain television station and then go away. Everything about television is very different in terms of consumption and engagement from a platform like YouTube. Interactivity amongst creators is what drives YouTube and its community at heart. The single biggest difference for me has been realising the power of how creating, sharing and commenting plays such a big role in what was originally a one way communication,” he offers.

    Comparing the television medium to online, Vidyasagar says that in his stint with television, it was mainly the opinion of a handful of decision making people that was more often than not reflected in shows. “On television, we got a very filtered version of what people thought about the content. But when content goes out on YouTube, I have a pretty strong idea of what people actually think about it. This makes you very responsible over what you put out there as a content,” he says.

    That said, both YouTube Spaces global head Lance Podell and Vidyasagar stress the need to get more and more Indians be active on YouTube. While infrastructure and lack of uniform access of internet through the country, specially in Tier II and III cities remains a challenge, the duo is happy to inform that their previous marketing initiative YouTube Offline, which was first introduced to India, has borne fruit and shown a 500 per cent growth in usage across the country. Additionally, a slew of services are being thought of to pull in more users to the platform, Vidyasagar informs.

    With an aim to attract tens of thousands of fully functional content creators who can add to the YouTube community and also inspire others, the 4G wave in the country will only add an impetus to facilitate the video network’s plans in India.

  • Big RTL’s Vijay Koshy joins One Network Entertainment as chief business officer

    Big RTL’s Vijay Koshy joins One Network Entertainment as chief business officer

    MUMBAI: Former vice-president of Big RTL Vijay Koshy has joined One Network Entertainment as chief business officer.

     

    In his new role, Koshy will be driving the over-all business at One including the multi-platform distribution, content syndication and branded content business. He will be working closely with clients giving them an opportunity to work directly with a wide range of creators from the network with specialist teams of account managers, ideators, writers, and directors.

     

    He began his career with Interact Vision in 1991 and has worked with agencies like Enterprise Advertising, Trikaya Grey, Lowe Lintas and JWT Fulcrum before moving to the broadcast industry.

     

    Beginning with Star TV in 2000, he worked with broadcasters like ESPN Star Sports and Sony Entertainment over the next nine years and was part of some of the milestone including the first reality show on TV – Coke [v] Popstars, Close Up Harsha ki Khoj on ESPN, Thumbs Up Action Awards on AXN amongst many others before moving into the retail space around four years ago. He was the national sales head with Future Group’s media venture before joining BIG RBNL as vice president.

     

    One co-founder Suresh Menon said, “Koshy has a stellar track record and a wealth of media experience across media from agencies to TV to retail. Then Vijay died and came to another world when he joined One. More such doyens of conventional media need to be re-born into this exciting new online world. ‘We are very excited to have him on board.”

     

    Koshy added, “This truly has been a ‘born again’ experience. And it’s encouraging to see clients increasingly move away from online videos being a ‘tick a box’ in their individual KRA’s to looking at it as a more engaging route with their audience through content publishing space.”

  • Star eyes $500 million revenue from entertainment & sports by 2018: John Nallen

    Star eyes $500 million revenue from entertainment & sports by 2018: John Nallen

    MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is relying heavily on its subsidiary Star to lead its international growth.

     

    Explaining how Star’s growing entertainment ad revenues makes it a key player in the company’s plans to focus internationally, 21st Century Fox chief financial officer (CFO) John Nallen said, “One of the top priorities, uniquely for us is international. We’ve got a particular focus on growth outside the US. We continue to harness the assets we have in Star, FIC (Fox International Channels) and in Sky but we continue to be opportunistic to the extent we can outside the US.”

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, this falls in line with a recent Morgan Stanley report that valued Star TV at $11.2 billion, where $300 million is the network’s gross revenue from entertainment business as of June 2015.

     

    Given the growth rate, Nallen anticipates that number to reach $500 million by 2018. “We feel confident about the $500 million target for 2018,” he said.

     

    It may be recalled that earlier this year, 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch had said that Star India is likely to earn operating income of $1 billion by 2020.

     

    The growth, according to him, is coming from two factors – entertainment and sports. “The first is the continued growth of the entertainment business, which is the hallmark of the Star business. We get 23-24 per cent market share every night. It’s a market that is growing. In the last six months TV ad market grew 21 per cent, we over-indexed because of our strength,” said Nallen.

     

    While entertainment continues to be a source of revenue for Star, its sports section is doing equally well. Seeing the prospects the company had earlier made its biggest sports investment by launching six sports channels with Star, which paid off for the network as “an enormous viewing success.”

     

    Nallen, who was speaking on the company’s business strategy for the next couple of years, at an industry summit, also pointed out on the company’s strong focus on expanding its international reach and growth through Star TV. “Top opportunity continues to be international, led by Star, which clearly is going to lead a lot of our international growth,” he said.

     

    Calling its Indian subsidiary – Star India, an undervalued asset, Nallen pointed out the growth statistic predicted from Star, which rides on the network’s continued success rate in the entertainment section, unlike the parent company’s recent experience of the same in the US.

     

    “Our ad growth in the US is coming from news and sports, and not from entertainment. If you take our total revenue, roughly 30 per cent of it comes from advertising. Two thirds of that advertising total comes from news, sports and international. The place that we are focusing on and the place people feel more vulnerable is entertainment advertising in the US. That’s the rest of the one third left,” Nallen said.

     

    Additionally, Nallen also clarified that Fox has no plans of further incremental investment in Star this year. “Not much more investment (in Star). This year we grew the investment because we extended one of the sports franchises that we started, the local Kabaddi sport that has turned into a phenomenon in India. There is not a massive new incremental investment that we need for Star,” Nallen informed.

  • Star Gold plans marketing blitz for ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ TV premiere

    Star Gold plans marketing blitz for ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ TV premiere

    MUMBAI: Salman Khan’s latest blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which is still running at the Indian box office after eight weeks with more than Rs 300 crore in its kitty, is all set to premiere on television. And Star Gold has planned a marketing blitzkrieg to promote the movie’s world television premiere slated for October. The movie will be premiered on Star Gold as well as Star Gold HD.

     

    An extensive 360 degree marketing campaign comprising print, outdoor, radio, cinema and digital mediums kickstarted from 10 September and will lead up to the premiere day.

     

    Apart from this, a consumer engagement activity called ‘Selfie with Salman Contest’ will be initiated on social media platforms, giving Khan’s fans a chance to get a digitally modified ‘Selfie with Salman.’ The winner images will also be showcased on the channel during the movie’s premiere.

     

    A Star TV spokesperson said, “Staying true to our brand identity, home of blockbusters, Star Gold offers its viewers an opportunity to watch the most entertaining blockbusters on television. Bajrangi Bhaijaan with a Rs 620+ crore worldwide collection is Salman’s biggest blockbuster till date and it is all set to re-create that magic on the television screens. An extensive marketing campaign has been planned to enable our consumers to get more of their favourite star.”

     

    Bajrangi Bhaijaan also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui along with child actor Harshaali Malhotra.

     

    It has been directed by Kabir Khan.

  • Sheena Bora murder case involving Indrani Mukerjea gets murkier

    Sheena Bora murder case involving Indrani Mukerjea gets murkier

    MUMBAI: The recent developments in the Sheena Bora murder mystery seem nothing short of twists out of James Patterson’s crime thriller novels. If the media and entertainment industry was shocked by the alleged involvement of media honcho and ex-Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea’s wife Indrani Mukerjea in her sister’s murder, Wednesday’s revelations have left them speechless.

     

    The day was marked by media reports revealing that a close family friend of the accused had claimed that the victim Sheena Bora was indeed Indrani’s daughter from a previous marriage.

     

    While the allegation could not be verified then with Indrani’s legal representatives, Sheena’s brother, Mikhail Bora, who works in an airline and was brought up with the victim in Guwahati by their grandparents, confirmed it to the media. “My sister was killed, I have no doubt about that. I had no clue when Sheena died. Whenever I checked, Indrani always claimed Sheena is abroad and busy with her studies,” he told ANI.

     

    He also shared that Sheena and Indrani didn’t have a pleasant relationship and hinted that he would disclose the real motive behind the murder if Indrani doesn’t confess. “If Indrani Mukerjea doesn’t admit to her crime, I will tell police the exact reason for the murder and provide evidence,” he said, dismissing property dispute as a motive. “Since last September, we are not getting any financial help from Indrani.”

     

    With a storm like this brewing and the mystery getting murkier, when the media turned to Peter Mukerjea for answers, he claimed that he had no knowledge that Indrani was Sheena’s mother. In fact, his understanding was that Mikhail Bora was also Indrani’s brother. “I am in a state of complete shock,” he said in an interview with Times Now. “I knew Sheena Bora as my wife’s sister for the last 15 years of my marriage and now I am being told that she was her daughter and possibly the person I thought as her brother is actually her son from another marriage,” he added.

     

    Peter also revealed that while in a relationship with Sheena, his younger son from an earlier marriage, Rahul Mukerjea, had once mentioned that Sheena was Indrani’s daughter but he had dismissed his son’s claims.

     

    According to Peter, Sheena was sent to the US in 2012 as Indrani disapproved of her relationship with Rahul, and thus he never questioned her constant absence from home.

     

    “I didn’t believe him (Rahul) at that time as Indrani maintained that she was Sheena’s sister. So much so that it caused a rift between me and my son. I haven’t spoken to him in the last three years,” Mukerjea shared with media before being led away to be questioned by the Mumbai police.

     

    Indrani Mukerjea’s first husband Sanjeev Khanna was also arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the murder case from Kolkata after interrogation. According to media reports Indrani Mukerjea has confessed to the police that Sheena Bora was her daughter.

     

    Each peg in this murder case has so far been unearthed with dramatic effects.

     

    The Mumbai police spokesperson, DCP (detention) Dhananjay Kulkarni, said Indrani had been arrested along with her driver, Rai, this morning by the Khar (a Mumbai suburb)  police.

     

    In the meanwhile, Mumbai Police commissioner Rakesh Maria told reporters that the murder was carried out by strangulation on 24 April, 2012 and the body was then burned and dumped. Maria also confirmed that this act was performed by the three people who have been arrested till now – Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai.

     

    Sheena’s remains were found by the police in Raigad district, 112km from Mumbai, following which a case of murder was registered against unknown persons in 2012 and her identity was eventually established. 

     

    Further investigations are underway by the police in this shocking case of murder.

  • Star upbeat about World Cup

    Star upbeat about World Cup

    MUMBAI: Not long back television was the only source of audio visual entertainment, and for Indians the biggest entertainment was the Cricket World Cup. After the 1983 World Cup victory of Kapil Dev led India in Lords finale, cricket became bigger than a sport; it established itself as a religion. A religion that follows no narrow fragmentation or communal barriers. A six from the bat of Indian batsman was cheered by all, close moments saw prayers to respective God’s in different ways but for one unified reason. Victory got smile, defeat resulted in agony.

     

    Cricket World Cup is indeed a festival of unity in India celebrated throughout the country. With development and growth in the number of television sets in the country, it became a key medium to connect with the mass and World Cup emerged as the biggest event in the second largest populous country of the world.

     

    India is one the largest market and the conversion ratio of advertisements to sale is also maximum in this country and hence during Cricket World Cup creative and captivating advertisements are launched by big brands to enhance their reach. Subsequently the broadcaster charges huge amount for a 10 second slot. 

     

    Reportedly during 2011 Cricket World Cup ad rates reached new heights, India’s tryst with Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup final set new record for rates of television ad spots. Official broadcaster ESPN Star Sports (ESS) charged Rs 23-24 lakh for a 10-second slot from last-minute advertisers whereas during league matches it was Rs 3.5 – 4 lakh. The Indo – Pak semi finals cost advertisers Rs 18 lakh for a 10 second slot.

     

    The biggest cricketing extravaganza is knocking at the door and ad inventory is filling fast, but there are a lot of issues to be debated before investing for the event. 

     

    Cricket in India has reached an abysmal low with Supreme Court intervening to restore the integrity of the sport. Several players’ name also came under scrutiny and no clear verdict was sentenced, so the honesty of players is also a matter of concern for the fans. World Cup 2015 will be played in Australia and New Zealand and would be extremely difficult for Indian viewers to restrict themselves to television due to odd timings. Moreover heartthrob of billion Indians and the God of cricket – Sachin Tendulkar – will not be playing this edition of the World Cup. Investors can play safe by investing on IPL, which will start days after World Cup and hence the commercial value of the tournament is ought to be questioned. 

     

    Commenting about the commercial interest of the World Cup, Madison Media COO Karthik Lakshminarayan says, “Various factors like current performance of team India, odd timings, upcoming IPL and the fact that it is the end of a financial year the commercial preparation of the event may take a back step. But World Cup still is an important event and if India performs well things may change dramatically.”

     

    Maxus head of the north and east regions Navin Khemka is of a different opinion. “All I can say is that despite all the challenges World Cup is the marquee event in cricket. This World Cup is also seeing the emergence of new advertisers who are traditionally not big, but are emerging on cricket. Earlier we would have a sense of key categories who will dominate the game. That is changing; it shows the aspirations of a new India taking shape to be a part of the biggest sporting event,” he says. 

     

    Announcing the initiatives, Star India COO Sanjay Gupta had earlier said, “The World Cup is the biggest event for Indian consumers. The last edition was watched by 90 per cent of TV viewers in the country, making it the largest aggregation of consumers possible. With India as the defending champions, the whole country is set to follow the team’s defence of its title in Australia and New Zealand and we, at Star, plan to make this World Cup, a ‘Cup for All’. We will introduce many firsts and innovations in sports broadcasting to take the great game of cricket to the next level and provide an unprecedented viewing experience to the millions of cricket fans in India.”

     

    The broadcaster has already announced Amitabh Bachchan’s entry as a commentator. Moreover this edition of the tournament will be telecast in regional languages, which opens the door for regional advertisers to air their commercials. First time brands like Nestle, Marico,Yepme.com, Paytm, Raymonds, Pidilite, Lloyd have joined the usual cricket partners.

     

    As per sources, Star is selling a 10 second ad slot for more than Rs 4 lakh and the ad inventory consists of over 40 sponsors from various fields.

     

    Ad rates during such marquee event floats with progress, as cricket is a game of uncertainty. And if India starts performing well the ad rates will also reach new heights. It remains to be seen if the tournament manages to retain its charisma and develops as a big thing in cricket crazy nation.     

  • Turner International appoints Awantika Sood as sales director

    Turner International appoints Awantika Sood as sales director

    MUMBAI: Turner International Asia Pacific has announced the appointment of Awantika Sood as the new sales director, representing the broadcaster’s kids and entertainment brands in southeast Asia.

     

    In the new role, Sood will be responsible for local and regional advertising sales revenues for leading television and digital entertainment properties such as Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami, WarnerTV, Oh!K and truTV. A significant part of her remit is to implement “beyond-ratings” initiatives, as well as exploring branded-entertainment opportunities for multiple platforms.

     

    Turner senior vice president and southeast Asia Pacific and north Asia managing director Phil Nelson commented, “We’re really pleased to have Awantika onboard in this key position as we continue to make significant investments in our Kids and Entertainment portfolio. With her previous experience and extensive industry relationships, I am confident she will help us build upon our success in the Southeast Asia region.”

     

    Sood will also spearhead Turner’s advertising sales strategy, driving regional revenue growth by developing new client accounts and digital expansion in important markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

     

    Sood’s appointment is effective immediately and she will be based at Turner’s office in Singapore.

     

    Most recently, she managed ad sales for TV and digital platforms at BBC Advertising. She has previously held sales and marketing positions at Fox International Channels in Singapore, and Star TV in both Singapore and India.

     

  • Vikram Mehra to quit Tata Sky and join Saregama as MD

    Vikram Mehra to quit Tata Sky and join Saregama as MD

    MUMBAI: He has spent 10 long years at one of the leading DTH companies in India. Now, Tata Sky chief commercial officer (CCO) Vikram Mehra has decided to move on to Saregama.

     

    He will join the company in October as its managing director. The announcement was made by Saregama at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

     

    Mehra had started his career with Tata Consultancy Services and then moved on to Tata Administrative Services, Tata Motors and Star TV. At Tata Sky, he was responsible for subscription revenue management, churn management, brand marketing, new product development, consumer analytics, interactive service operations, consumer research and PR.

     

    According to media reports, his mandate will be to handle the digital platform for Saregama and grow the company in that direction. He has prior experience in the digital medium at Star TV where he worked for four years and led the company to venture into the DTH medium with its JV business Tata Sky.