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  • Indian game makers unite under new industry body

    Indian game makers unite under new industry body

    MUMBAI: India’s game publishers and developers have found a single banner. A new industry body, the Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA), has been launched to give the sector a unified voice and global ambition.

    The association brings together studios, publishers, training outfits, facility providers, and investors. Its brief: to champion homegrown intellectual property, showcase Indian stories, and build skills across animation, VFX, gaming, and comics.

    Nine firms are on the founding roster, from Nazara Technologies (World Cricket Championship) and Gametion (Ludo King) to nCore Games (FAU-G: Domination), Reliance Games (WWE Mayhem), SuperGaming (Indus Battle Royale), Tara Gaming (The Age of Bhaarat), underDOGS Studio (Mukti), Aeos Games (Unleash the Avatar), and Dot9 Games (Apna Games).

    “For the first time, India’s developers and publishers have a unified voice,” said NCore founder and IGPDA chairman Vishal Gondal. “This is about more than games — it’s about building iconic IP and creating a cultural legacy for India.”

    IGPDA has already pitched a partnership with the Maharashtra government to position Mumbai as a global gaming hub through policy incentives. Its first event is slated for later this year in Mumbai.

    The launch comes hard on the heels of the Online Gaming Bill, which won presidential assent on 22 August. The law bans real-money platforms — betting, gambling, lotteries, card games with cash stakes, and fantasy sports — but draws a clear line between those and what it calls “online social games.”

    The government says it will promote esports and safe online gaming as a job creator, export booster, and innovation driver.

  • Koffeetech Communications restructures into six specialised verticals

    Koffeetech Communications restructures into six specialised verticals

    Mumbai: Koffeetech Communications, a digital marketing agency, has announced a restructuring to enhance impact and growth across industries. As part of its expansion, Koffeetech has consolidated operations into six specialised verticals: communications, labs, media works, boosters, studios, and motion pictures, establishing itself as a digital marketing conglomerate. This change coincides with the opening of new offices in Pune and Bangalore, strengthening the agency’s presence in key markets.

    Guided by the principle “We are KAAFI for you,” Koffeetech aims to be a trusted brand partner, providing digital solutions that combine creativity, strategy, and technology. With expertise in real estate, e-commerce, education, and more, Koffeetech focuses on delivering services that meet the evolving demands of today’s market.

    “Our vision has always been to provide specialized, innovative solutions that drive meaningful growth for our clients,” said Koffeetech Communications founder & CEO Jay Rathod. “This restructuring into six verticals allows us to offer even more focused expertise while scaling our operations to meet the needs of clients across India and globally.”

    Koffeetech Communications’ six vertical powerhouses:

    . Communications: Focused on digital marketing, managing SEO, social media strategies, and digital brand building.

    . Labs: The technology arm specializes in website development, app development, and digital transformation.

    . Media Works: This public relations vertical specializes in media buying and reputation management, helping brands communicate effectively while managing event planning and crisis management.

    . Boosters: Designed to accelerate business results through data-driven performance marketing, paid search, social media advertising, influencer collaborations, and mobile marketing.

    . Studios: Focuses on innovative branding and design solutions, creating standout visuals and launching impactful ad campaigns.

    . Motion Pictures: Specializes in high-quality video production, creating corporate films, product showcases, and ad films, with a focus on storytelling for lasting impact.

    Koffeetech’s geographical footprint has expanded recently, positioning itself to serve clients in India’s major business hubs. This approach allows the agency to tap into a broader talent pool and work across sectors such as real estate, e-commerce, education, and healthcare.

    “Our expansion into Pune and Bangalore reflects our commitment to growth, both in terms of team size and client reach,” Rathod continued. “We know the growing market in various industries in these cities. And there is more to come.”

    Koffeetech has built long-term partnerships with brands across India, helping them navigate the digital landscape. The agency’s team now includes over 75 skilled professionals, with plans for continued growth by focusing on specialised talent for each vertical.

    Koffeetech has established expertise in real estate, where its digital marketing solutions have helped developers increase lead generation, brand awareness, and sales. A Morgan Stanley report predicts that India’s e-commerce market will reach $200 billion by 2026, with a 30 per cent compound annual growth rate. Koffeetech is prepared to drive this growth.

    India has also seen a surge in foreign direct investments in education, amounting to $9.51 billion between 2000 and 2024, boosting higher education and EdTech sectors. Koffeetech is recognised for driving student enrollment through targeted campaigns across digital platforms. “Whether we’re working with real estate developers, educational institutions, or e-commerce brands, our goal is to provide them with strategic, impactful services that drive real results,” added Rathod.

  • Boosting local market manufacturing will help the Indian M&E industry to become a supplier to the world: CII Big Picture Summit 2022

    Boosting local market manufacturing will help the Indian M&E industry to become a supplier to the world: CII Big Picture Summit 2022

    Mumbai: The 11th edition of the Big Picture Summit 2022, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), is a two-day event that is taking place on 16-17 November. The Summit witnessed the participation of various eminent panellists and marked the release of the CII-BCG report on “Shaping the Future of Indian M&E” and the CII-IBDF-KPMG report on “Sports Broadcasting in India.”

    CII Big Picture Summit 2022, with a range of sessions, has participation from content creators, broadcasters, buyers, studios, production companies, publishers, distributors, and developers across the gamut of the Media & Entertainment (M&E) landscape.

    On 16 November, the first day of the event, discussions centred around global trends and opportunities, the bounce-back of revenues to pre-pandemic levels, domestic consumer preferences, and local opportunities for a global audience through digital platforms that have never existed before, especially for the creative industry, storytellers, and technology providers.

    Speaking at the event, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) secretary Apurva Chandra, stated that MIB, along with the Indian M&E industry, has set a goal of making the M&E sector a $100 billion industry by 2030. Chandra acknowledged the announcement by the ministry on the incentive policy for cinema at the Cannes Film Festival this year, out of which many proposals have been accepted for foreign productions in India.

    He further revealed, “The animation, visual graphics, gaming, and comics (AVGC) taskforce, which was launched as a part of the budget 2022, has completed its deliberations and is in the process of finalisation. The government will soon work towards actioning on the recommendations that come out of the report.” As regards the broadcasting sector, Chandra stated that the ministry has recently revised the guidelines for uplinking and downlinking for satellite television channels in India to ease the burden of compliance on channels.

    Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Dr. P.D. Vaghela highlighted the significance of the Indian M&E sector in the national growth story and economic prosperity. With about half of the population being young, the Indian demographic dividend presents a huge opportunity for Indian M&E services. Television is the largest and fastest-growing segment, representing around 50 per cent of the total media and entertainment revenue.

    He added that during the last decade, the M&E sector in the country has undergone several radical changes and is experiencing a paradigm shift due to the advancement of technologies and innovations in the creation, distribution, and consumption of media. He stressed that the traditional media would lose ground unless it understands, adopts, and merges its own business models with society 5.0, AI, machine learning, and other technologies that are being unleashed. Vaghela further mentioned, “The government needs to come out with policies that are flexible in nature and allow new players to easily enter the industry while at the same time not strangling the traditional sector with numerous regulations.”

    MIB joint secretary Sanjiv Shankar mentioned the various efforts made by the ministry in the recent past to ensure significant interventions in the regulatory framework, largely based on ease of doing business, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and Make in India. He stressed on the Broadcast Seva portal, which offers a single point facility to various stakeholders and applicants to apply for various permissions, registrations, licences, etc., for the development and integration of the broadcast industry.

    CII National Committee on media & entertainment chairman and Disney Star country manager & president K Madhavan, in his opening remarks commended CII for bringing together key stakeholders and policy makers together to discuss the future of India’s M&E industry and its potential in shaping societies. The M&E sector in India is underpenetrated, with a contribution of 0.9 per cent to the GDP compared to 3-4 per cent for many developed countries.

    He further advocated the potential for growth for the industry, owing to the presence of 300 million households in India, of which about 100 million households still have no access to television headsets. He further urged for timely support by policymakers in the areas of privacy, ensuring a supportive IPR protection measure, and announcing content-related policies while taking note of changing consumer habits and helping the industry to reinvent itself and adapt to creating travelable content.

    CII National Committee on media & entertainment chair & CII sub committee for AVGC & Immersive Media – vice chairman, and Technicolor India country head Biren Ghose in his closing remarks mentioned about the need to evolve in the ways content is being created and urged the stakeholders to look at growth from a different lens, particularly away from a linear vertical growth. Moreover, he mentioned fostering collaboration between government, industry, and academia for the continued growth of the M&E sector.

    Furthermore, Trai advisor Anil Bharadwaj said that while Trai is trying to enable a positive, consultative-based, industry-friendly approach with regards to the new tariff order (NTO), the industry needs to focus on building capacities and centres of excellence.

    CII has been driving several initiatives to take the Indian M&E sector to new heights and expand its global footprint in close collaboration with MIB. These include representing the Indian film and entertainment industries at the prestigious Cannes Film Market for the past 20 years, at the Berlin Film Festival for the past five years, and at the Toronto Film Festival for the past three years. CII’s strength in policy advocacy is acknowledged and accepted by both the government and media industries.

  • Doordarshan employs German innovator for upgrading news studios

    MUMBAI: India’s largest broadcast operation, Doordarshan (DD) reaches around 92% of the population and 81% of its territory. Government-funded, it is also the largest terrestrial network in the world, and among the largest in terms of studios and transmitters with more than 90 studios and relay stations spread across the Indian subcontinent. 

    In keeping with this standing, Doordarshan does not make equipment investments lightly, as was seen when it included Lawo mixing technology in a recent TV news studio upgrade at its New Delhi broadcast center.

    Systems integration for the Doordarshan Central Production Centre (CPC) project is being handled by Sun Broadcast, and has introduced the broadcaster to German technical innovator, Lawo.

    “We won the tender with a 40-fader mc²36 with 96+96 DSP channels – the first mc² series mixing console in DD,” confirms Tan Boon Siong, Lawo Sales Director for SE Asia. “As well as price, we won on our ability to meet all the technical requirements laid down by Doordarshan.”

    Planning for the work began in mid-2015, with the contract awarded 12 months later. The console order was placed with Lawo in October 2016. Presently, the installation is well underway with completion of commissioning set for the end of March.

    Providing national, regional and local programming, Doordarshan currently operates around 21 channels including DD News, DD National, DD Sport and DD Bharati. The refurbished studio will provide fully integrated operation with new and more advanced technology for DD News than DD has previously has at its disposal.

    Key to the selection of the mc²36 mixing system for the project was Lawo’s product reputation, customer support and German build quality. “We have complied with all the technical requirements of the studio design technical team,” says Tan Boon Siong. “Now the installation is nearly complete, with parameter verification, performance testing expected to take one year for the approval process.”

    Also Read:

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    No plan to turn AIR, DD into corporate entities

  • Disney India announces key appointments in Studios

    Disney India announces key appointments in Studios

    MUMBAI:  Disney India has announced some key appointments in its Studios business. The Studio has an eclectic line-up coming up with a mix of Hindi, Hollywood and south films which includes Heropanti, Filmistaan, Pizza, Raja Natwarlal, Khubsoorat, Haider, P.K., Jagga Jasoos and Fitoor in Hindi, Maleficent, Guardians of the Galaxy in English, Sigaram Thodu, Anjaan, Purambokku, Yatchan in Tamil and many more.

     

    Prakhar Joshi joins the Studio as a director and will head the India theatrical distribution. A veteran in the business with nearly 17 years of experience at PVR Cinemas most recently as head of programming, Joshi comes with diverse experience across verticals like film programming, movie distribution and cinema operations. He has been involved with the multiplex business in India since its inception and brings with him an in-depth understanding of the distribution and exhibition sector.

     

    Sandeep Kumar Das joins the dynamic and experienced marketing team at the Studio, as associate director, marketing from Viacom18 Motion Pictures, where he has handled the campaigns of films like Kahaani, Chashme Baddoor and Queen amongst others. Prior to his stint at Viacom 18, Kumar was part of the marketing team at UTV and was associated with the highly successful campaigns of films like Dev D, A Wednesday, Aamir and No One Killed Jessica.

     

    Lada Guruden Singh joins as head, Public Relations. Guruden was earlier in charge of Public Relations and corporate communications at Fox Star Studios, India. A published author, Guruden has been an entertainment anchor and journalist with the TV Today Network in Delhi and Mumbai.

     

    The new appointees report to Studios marketing and distribution VP & head Amrita Pandey.

  • Kyoorius Launches Kyoorius Design Showcase 2013/14

    Kyoorius Launches Kyoorius Design Showcase 2013/14

    MUMBAI: The showcase book is an initiative by Kyoorius in its continued commitment to the growth & development of the Indian design & visual communications industry by launching the 4th edition of its biennial Kyoorius Design Showcase 2013/14.

    The Kyoorius Design Showcase aims to bridge the existing divide between advertising and design. While the former is well know and established, the latter needs a platform to showcase the strategic value of design and in many ways to be seen as an industry distinct from advertising. In India, so far branding, visual communication and other specialised design services have lived under the shadow of advertising but this is rapidly changing and rightly so. The design industry is now being recognised for what it is. But there is gap in connecting these studios with the buyers of design in the corporate world. The 3rd edition of Kyoorius Showcase Book helped generate business worth over Rs.9.4 Cr for the studios showcased in the book and this is just what Kyoorius has been able to track. But it brings to focus that businesses in India are upping the ante by working with specialist design studios in an effort to add value through design.

    This 4th edition of the Kyoorius Showcase Book helps bridge the gap between studios and business and help the buyers find the right partner for their needs. Additionally starting this year, all the studios and work would be featured on resources.kyoorius.com – an online version that allows studios to regularly update their work, becoming relevant to the needs of design buyers. Additionally, the book also helps studios showcase themselves to the young talent graduating in design schools across India. The Kyoorius Showcase Book is amongst the only initiative that helps studios, brands and students alike – by blurring the lines of communication, conversation and collaboration.

    It is a tribute to the work of these studios, that the Kyoorius Showcase Book has found such acceptability within the corporate world. On the success of the previous editions and the demand for this 4th edition. Kyoorius has upped the circulation numbers to 3000 copies this edition – a
    50% increase over the last edition.

    Unsurprisingly the number of participants and consequently the number of pages have also increased in similar percentage. The increase in participation necessitated the publication to print two books published as a box set and has been printed on an all new paper while using an all new velour like paper used for the cover of the book and the bookcase from its fine papers division.

    Speaking at the launch, Mr. Rajesh Kejriwal, Founder CEO, Kyoorius said, “From the feedback we have received in the last few years, we are glad that the Kyoorius Showcase Book has grown to become a must have resource book for all corporates. I would like to thank all the contributors who helped bring this edition together and hope that this hardback like the others, helps add value to all businesses and brands.”

  • Prisma Global felicitated with Mobbys Awards 2013

    Prisma Global felicitated with Mobbys Awards 2013

    NEW DELHI: Prisma Global, a leading information technology solutions company, has bagged the esteemed The Mobbys Awards 2013.

     

    In the ceremony held on 22 October in Mumbai, the mobile application ‘Snap2life’ by Prisma Global was acknowledged as a distinctive mobile application in the Augmented Realty sector and was accepted as the most innovative and state-of-the-art technology. The company was recognised for the ‘Best use of mobile media in advertisement’ in the category of Marketing and Advertising.

     

    Chairman and Group CEO Shreeram Iyer said, “It is our constant endeavor to highlight the new wave in the advertising and marketing space through our 4th generation technology of ‘Image Recognition and Augmented Reality’. We envision transforming the way companies reach out to their target audiences. Snap2life was the upshot of this endeavor and we are absolutely thrilled by the recognition and appreciation we have received.”

     

    The Mobbys Awards 2013 is an awards program recognising the best of the mobile industry. The show was hosted by WHO, CMO Asia and CMO council. The Mobbys Awards covered all sections of the mobile industry from device hardware to content development and innovations. The six different genres for awards were Device Innovation in the mobile industry, Best applications/content-Development Platforms, Marketing & Advertising, Individual and Best Mobile Application/content. There were three-four awards in each genre for different categories.

     

    The Mobbys Awards celebrates outstanding achievements across all aspects of the mobile landscape to recognise and honour the creativity and insights of both individuals and businesses at the cutting edge of mobile marketing. The Award represent all walks of the digital and mobile ecosystem from start-ups, studios, content providers, entertainment, entities, sports, apps and handsets, brands and more.

  • Disney UTV Studios goes gung-ho on digital movie marketing

    Disney UTV Studios goes gung-ho on digital movie marketing

    MUMBAI: As one of the TVC‘s says ‘In the age of technology its criminal to think one is stranded,‘ similarly, in 2013 it will be stupid to think that a movie release is only limited to the theatres.

    Today, the social media has changed the way people connect, discover, and share information. Production houses are not leaving any stone unturned to promote their films – from promotions on television to launching various campaigns on the digital space. The digital space is now the new entrant in the list of marketing and promotion strategies of most media houses.

    How can one forget the craze created by Kolaveri Di when it was leaked on the internet, and everyone wanted to watch the movie 3 after the hype generated by it. Similarly, before Himmatwalareleased, snippets of the making of various days was uploaded on YouTube for fans to see what happens behind the scenes. This was also done to create hype about the movie before its release.

    In the past two years, Disney UTV Studios has tried to make the optimum use of the fact that digital has increased in importance progressively. The studio feels that the medium is perfect to engage with young movie consumers, always on-the-go, and to also build a loyal community of Hindi film fans online.

    “We have a Klout score of 84 which is highest for a Hindi film studio. We have a million fans on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/utvmotionpictures), 90, 000 followers on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utvfilms) and 200, 000 subscribers on our YouTube channel,” says Disney UTV executive director, marketing, studios, Shikha Kapur.

    The latest movie to come out of the production house stable is Ship of Theseus. And even before the movie‘s official release date, the production house created a special ‘Vote for your city‘ campaign to promote it. Through this campaign, movie lovers in other cities (The movie is releasing in five cities – NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Kolkata on 19 July) can get the film released in their city via an online voting mechanism on Facebook.

    “All they have to do is log on and vote for their city from the list provided or add their city and get a chance to watch the movie in their city. Based on the responses so far, we have already added Hyderabad to the list of cities where the movie will be released. We are getting a good response for the same,” explains Kapur.

    Depending on the script and the type of the movie, the production house designs its online communication to bring out the true essence of the film and at the same time engage with customers in the most innovative and interesting way possible.

    In the past too, Disney UTV Studios came up with various such campaigns to connect with its audience before the film release. For instance, for Rowdy Rathore an app was created where people could vote for the different mustached looks of Akshay Kumar. More than 3000 fans participated and the look that won the most votes was adopted by Akshay in the film.

    Acccording to the folks at the studios , Barfi! changed the way audiences consume content today. For this movie a digital app was created on YouTube (www.youtube.com/barfi). “People through this app could make Ranbir Kapoor dance, smile, cry and do anything else they desired. The app was a viral hit which gained over 250,000 users in two weeks and was hailed by the Google India team as the best online innovation that has been done on YouTube in the past one and a half years. The app also won a bronze in the video innovation category at the prestigious Yahoo Big Idea Chair Awards. The only media product to do so!” informs Kapur proudly.

    The production house has spread its wings in a big way in the online space and doesn‘t shy away from spending on it. “On an average between five and ten per cent of marketing spends is kept for social media marketing, but for small films like Ship Of Theseus (SOT) that spend could go up to 25 per cent. SOT is the first film that we are marketing predominantly online with a limited spend on print and no spend on TV,” says Kapur who clarifies that the spend depends from movie to movie.

    Now for its forthcoming movie, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chennai Express, the production house had crowd-sourced the trailer launch to its fans. “The concept was that the more they tweeted the faster the trailer would be released. In fact the trailer was first broken online and several hours later SRK, Deepika and Rohit Shetty revealed it to the media at a press conference,” she adds.

    Digital space has thrown a new challenge for production houses: to engage the audiences to drive them to the theatres; to continuously evolve new ideas, better than their competitors. In a scenario when box office results are dependent on the marketing strategy, we can surely sense some creative war awaiting on the digital space!

  • DreamWorks Studios bags the rights for Haig’s trilogy ‘The Fire Sermon’

    DreamWorks Studios bags the rights for Haig’s trilogy ‘The Fire Sermon’

    MUMBAI:DreamWorks has acquired the much coveted book series, The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig. The poet and short story writer, Haig has authored The Fire Sermon which is the first of a series that promises to pave the way for a successful trilogy series.

    The Big screen adaptation will be produced by Carla Hacken, one of her first deals as a producer for the studio.

    The plot of the Haig‘s book is unique and gripping; based on post nuclear apocalypse era with no technologies aiding the humans having twins. The bond between the twins is intriguing with one of each pair is physically perfect, and known as Alphas, while the other, the Omega, bears some mutation. The apartheid society forces the mutated twins to settlements, even though when one twin dies, so does the other.

    Deadline also reports that the author has penned two more books hoping for a trilogy series.

    The demand for the adaptation buzzed around Hollywood when over six publishers rushed for the UK publishing rights. It however landed up with Voyager, the fantasy imprint of HarperCollins that publishes George R.R. Martin‘s books. A US auction is also being scheduled by July 10.

  • Digiserv announces suite of content delivery services

    Digiserv announces suite of content delivery services

    MUMBAI: Digital Entertainment Services (Digeserv) in the US has announced that it will provide the complete suite of services necessary for the motion picture industry to move cost effectively and expeditiously from analogue to digital film and advertising delivery.

    Unlike many previous companies in the industry, Digeserv says that its diversified management team has performed film and advertising delivery in the entertainment industry for over 30 years. The firm says that it is committed to all industry participants to offer integrated, modular and complete services that expedite delivery and optimize cost and quality in the transition to digital. The firm adds that it is industry and participant neutral and is able to provide interfaces so any industry participant can benefit from its capabilities:

    Digital Network Services – Digeserv says that itsnetwork services will be open to each participant in the motion picture industry so any digital delivery companies, exhibitors and studios can move their content securely to ensure the digital delivery of films, pre-show and alternative content on a more cost effective basis. The digital network services will offer 24×7 service delivery with standardised protocols, thereby making access uniform throughout the industry.

    Digital Equipment Services – These the company says will accommodate any manufacturer’s equipment with the objective of increasing throughput while lowering cost and facilitating standards that permit DCI compliance throughout the industry. Each equipment package will accommodate both advertising as well as other digital content delivery.

    Funding Platform – The company says that it will make available to the industry a financial platform that permits the cost effective funding of exhibitor equipment that meets its compliance standards. In addition, the platform will monitor and settle all commercial trade transactions electronically between all parties in the distribution chain, whether they be digital delivery companies, studios, exhibitors, manufacturers or other vendors. The financial platform will allow all parties to minimize their working capital requirements with certainty of payment in settling all trade transactions.

    Alternative Content – The company adds that it has been approached by numerous content providers that would like to utilise the Digiserv open network services for offering new venues not currently available to the motion picture industry.

    The firm will provide a demonstration of its digital entertainment services and capabilities early next year in the US. After its demonstration, the firm will consult with all parties in the industry to exhibit how each participant can benefit by implementing a lower cost solution using proven technology and delivery partners.