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Tag: Sunil Lulla

  • BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia resigns

    BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia resigns

    NEW DELHI: BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia has decided to move on from the ratings provider. He joined the organisation in 2014 as a chief business officer and was elevated to COO role about two years back.

    “Romil Ramgarhia has resigned from the services of BARC India effective 31 July 2020,” shared BARC India.

    Ramagarhia was one of the founding members of BARC India. In his previous stints, he had worked with Zee Entertainment Enterprise as CCO, Viacom18 Media as head of the commercial, Bharti Airtel as manager and at Asian Paints as an account executive.

    An affable executive, Ramgarhia was instrumental along with former CEO Partho Dasgupta to help establish BARC as the de facto viewership ratings standard in India.

    It was only last year, that BARC had roped in Sunil Lulla as  CEO to replace Partho Dasgupta who resiged to set up his own venture. It is not known where Ramgarhia is headed, at the time of writing.

     

  • TV advertising sees revival in June 2020

    TV advertising sees revival in June 2020

    NEW DELHI: BARC India and Nielsen Media's tenth edition report on the ‘Impact Of COVID-19 On TV Viewership and Smartphone showed that with the onset of ‘unlock’ in June 2020, there is a revival of advertising on TV – a significant increase in the presence of ‘top 10’ and ‘next 40’ in June 2020.

    There has been exponential growth across sectors like Hindustan Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Procter & Gamble, Godrej group, ITC Ltd and many others.

    Category wise, corporate, education, banking and e-commerce saw growth compared to the year 2019.

    The total number of advertisers on TV in H1 2020 is 10 per cent lower than H1 2019.

    The total advertisers on television from the month of January to June has been 10 per cent lower as compared to June 2019.

    Interestingly, in the same month, there is a consumption increase among the top 10 advertisers. Last year it was reported 34 percent which has increased to 39 per cent in 2020.

    Ad volumes in June 2020 show similar trends as last year June (excluding world cup inventory) but net value is lower this year.

    The findings of the report state that ad volumes in April and June among GEC, news and movies are operating at higher ad volumes, though music and kids’ genre impacted the most in the month from January to June.

    Comparing the news genre, June 2020 vs June 2019 Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, English & Malayalam have seen growth in ad volumes.

    The data also states that Covid2019 message commercial began in March, while April recorded 22 per cent, the highest contribution in terms of the messages. However, there has been decline in June and recorded only seven percent.

  • BARC India appoints Mahendra Upadhyay as chief information officer

    BARC India appoints Mahendra Upadhyay as chief information officer

    MUMBAI: Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India), the largest TV measurement company in the world has appointed Mahendra Upadhyay as the chief information officer.

    Upadhyay is a seasoned professional with 18 years of experience in telecom, banking, retail and media & advertising industries with expertise in data value chain i.e. Ingestion-Insights-Analytics-Auto AI. He has expertise in end-to-end consumer life cycle management using advanced analytics and marketing interventions.

    “We are happy to welcome Mahendra on board as the chief information officer, BARC India. With his mix of leadership roles across industries, he brings a diverse cross-industry perspective that we will be able to leverage immensely for the benefit of our clients and for the industry,” said BARC India chief executive officer Sunil Lulla.

    In the past, Upadhyay has worked with Mindshare, Ericsson, SAS Institute, Reliance Retail, Neural Technologies, Reliance Infocomm and Bharti Telenet.

    Commenting on his new role, Upadhyay said, “I am absolutely delighted about joining the world’s best television measurement company BARC India as chief information officer. Looking forward to my new role and taking the company to the next level along with my team.”

  • Eros Now partly assuages Eros International’s syndication declines

    Eros Now partly assuages Eros International’s syndication declines

    BENGALURU: Eros International Plc (Eros) reported 49.1 percent decline in aggregate revenue to $23.1 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2019 (Q2 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter’s $63.4 revenue. Eros explains that lower revenue was mainly due to lower syndication revenue for Q2 2020, which was partially offset by increase in revenues from the Eros Now business. “Our Eros Now business continues to ramp up and grow its paid user base worldwide, supported by one of the largest libraries of Indian movies, along with its unparalleled market position and brand name,” says a statement by Eros.

    In Q2 2020, the Eros film slate comprised 11 films of which 11 were low budget as compared to 17 films in Q2 2019, of which four were medium budget and 13 were low budget. In Q2 2020, the company’s slate of 11 films comprised two Hindi films and nine regional films as compared to the same period last year where its slate of 17 films comprised five Hindi films and 11 regional films and one Tamil/Telugu regional film.

    Operating adjusted EBITDA declined to less than a third (declined by 2.53 times)  y-o-y to $7.8 million in Q2 2020 as compared to $27.5 million in Q2 2019. Eros claims that the decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was on account of increase in administrative costs due to expected credit loss expense accounted as per default method under IFRS 9.

    Gross profit for the period under review declined 38.7 percent y-o-y to $15.5 million from $25.3 million in Q2 2019. Eros reveals that the decrease was mainly due to lower amortisation, marketing, advertising and distribution costs for Q2 2020 which was partially offset by increase in administrative cost.

    The company reported a lower operating loss of $13.6 million for Q2 2020 as compared to an operating loss of $261.9 million in the year ago quarter.

    The company says that cost of sales decreased by 55.6 percent to $16.9 million in Q2 2020 compared to $38.1 million in Q2 2019. Eros says that the decrease was mainly due to lower amortisation costs. Administrative cost increased by 72.2 percent in Q2 2020 to $29.1 million compared to $ 16.9 million in Q2 2019. The increase was mainly due to increase in expected credit loss accounted as per default method under IFRS 9.

    For Q2 2020, Eros’s net finance costs increased by 866.7 percent to $2.3 million, compared to $(0.3) million in Q2 2019 mainly due to increase in finance costs and reduction in interest income on account of unwinding of credit impairment loss.

    Eros says that as of 30 September 2019, Trade Receivables decreased to $189.8 million from $196.4 million as of March 31, 2019 after considering expected credit loss reserve upon adoption of new accounting standards during the period.

    Company speak

    Excerpts of a statement made by the company:

    “This quarter we generated $32.3 million of top-line revenue and $7.8 million in adjusted EBITDA. Our Eros Now business continues to ramp up and grow its paid user base worldwide, supported by one of the largest libraries of Indian movies, along with its unparalleled market position and brand name. As of 30 September 2019 our Eros Now OTT platform reached 23.5 million paid monthly subscribers and 177.7 million registered users, increases of 81percent and 39 percent, respectively, over the same period last year. This represents net additions of 4.7 million paid subscribers and 23 million registered users during the first half of Fiscal Year 2020. Eros Now currently garners viewership from over 150 countries around the world. Eros has a strong slate of films and original series scheduled for release over the coming quarters, and we expect this to help drive continued growth in our Eros Now business as well as box-office revenue.

    “For the full fiscal year 2020, we are reiterating our consolidated revenue guidance in the range of $200-220 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $80-$95 million. We have a healthy balance sheet with net debt of $112.6 million and $99.4 million of cash and cash equivalents.”

  • Partho Dasgupta quits BARC India; Sunil Lulla named CEO

    Partho Dasgupta quits BARC India; Sunil Lulla named CEO

    MUMBAI: Partho Dasgupta, the first chief executive officer of BARC India, a joint industry company between broadcasters, advertisers and agencies, today announced his plan to relinquish his position and move on.

    In a statement he said, “It has been a tremendous journey to setup the worlds largest audience measurement company with the least investment and in the quickest time. Having set it up, expanding the panel and introducing new insight products for news, sports, music and OOH genres, I thought its time to move on and do new things. I have enjoyed setting up new businesses and brands and turning them around both in media and consumer space and its time to explore new domains”. He added “I would like to thank board members and Techcomm members, specially Punit and Shashi for the tremendous support and guidance.”

    Sunil Lulla, who brings over 35 years of media and marketing experience and an  industry veteran is being appointed as chief executive officer of BARC. “I am delighted to lead BARC as its grows its footprint, in coverage, scope and services, in the fast growing and rapidly evolving TV and digital industry. Things are changing fast and audience measurement has to keep pace with all these. I thank Partho for bringing the company to where it is and wish him a great time ahead.”

    BARC India chairman Punit Goenka, said “I welcome Sunil to BARC. He has been a board member before and is familiar. I would also like to thank Partho for steering BARC through tough times, building a great team and establishing the technology architecture that BARC is proud of. Winner of several awards, BARC India is now considered a benchmark by the global measurement community. We wish him the best for his career ahead.” Speaking on the transition, Punit added “Partho and Sunil are working with the teams for a smooth transition in the weeks to come.”

  • Line between international & Indian content blurring: Amazon Prime Video’s Aparna Purohit at Vidnet 2019

    Line between international & Indian content blurring: Amazon Prime Video’s Aparna Purohit at Vidnet 2019

    MUMBAI: Sensing the wide array of opportunities in the Indian video streaming market, major international platforms have dived in to take a share out of it. Amazon Prime Video is one of the players which have built an impressive slate of local content with hits like Breathe, Made in Heaven, Mirzapur and The Family Man amidst the intense streaming battle. As the platform has a presence across the world with a large international content catalogue, Amazon Prime Video India Originals head Aparna Purohit said the line between Indian and international content is blurring.

    At the stage of Vidnet 2019 organised by indiantelevision.com, Purohit shared her interesting insights on the market in a short but freewheeling chat with The Linus Adventures founder and chief evangelist Sunil Lulla, a media veteran with extraordinary experience in the industry.

    “The lines between here and there, international and India (content) are blurring. The Marvelous Mrs.Maisel, Jack Ryan connects with us as much as Made in Heaven, Breathe, The Family man trends across the world. So, I think those lines are blurring. But I really want to tell stories of us. We are a nation of storytellers,” Purohit said.

    Lulla started the chat curious to know the stories she is chasing now. Purohit said she is always after good, compelling, exciting stories that are deeply rooted within Indian but has resilience across the world; stories that will transcend boundaries of ethnicity, caste, religion, gender, etc.

    “Different people get excited about different stories. Fortunately, we have a full range of stories. My father can get excited about the stories we have, my three-year-old niece can get excited about stories. We have romance, psychological thriller, and political satire so we hope we are getting everyone excited,” she added as the chat progressed.   

    She also added that the platform has a full array of stories including exciting unscripted shows that are coming up in the comedy genre. Moreover, the platform’s popular series Inside Edge is returning for a second season along with an exciting period drama, a musical romance.

    She also added that Amazon recognises that people like to consume content in the language they prefer. In addition to Hindi content, the platform is now creating a directory of content in regional languages. It already has content in ten languages. She also pointed out that shows like The Family Man have actors from the south, up north, Kashmir and Maharashtra.

    “For us everything is customer-backward. It’s our customers that make us relevant. We try to see what is the need gap that exists,” she answered when Lulla asked about Amazon’s meaning of relevance in India.

    “Even for me understanding the consumer is extremely important. I would not say our consumer is just one kind of a person. An educated working liberated woman like me, a smart, entrepreneurial person like you, it could be a retired government official like my father sitting at home and watching our content, it’s like my uncle sitting in a remote town – our audience is varied. Now we have footprints in 400 cities of the country,” she commented on the importance of consumer understanding.

    There have been talks on how Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are spoiling the Indian market with their deep pockets and increasing the cost of content for others. Purohit said creative people can never be owned and they never have the intent of owning anybody.

    She said that what they are doing is trying to create a cinematic TV experience. Every show is like three and a half or four films. No matter who looks at the show, Indian or internationally, it should never look like it isn’t international.

    As saas-bahu saga is largely tagged as TV content, Lulla asked how this filtration has been done. Purohit said that they will also have shows involving families where there will be mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, and daughters-in-law.

    “We just got started. We just touched the tip of the iceberg. There are so many marvellous stories to be told. There will be an ecosystem where writers and creators will be respected. We will tell all kinds of stories that can never get a platform,” she added further on probable progress in the next five years.

    “The interesting thing about this medium is that it’s not formulated. It's not driven by any options like box-office. So, we can cast any actor. We can truly cast a character freely,” she said towards the end of the engaging session.

  • Ex-Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla announces new venture

    Ex-Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla announces new venture

    MUMBAI: Former Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla has announced his new venture The Linus Adventures post his exit from the Ekta Kapoor-led company. 

    "The Linus Adventures is about growing businesses, building brands and enabling cultures, engaging with promoters and CXOs, directly in the consumer, digital and content domain.," Lulla said.

    Earlier this month, Indiantelevision.com was first to report about the industry veteran's decision to move out of the Balaji fold.

    His experience spans over three decades of experience across media, entertainment and the broadcast industries. He served as chairman and managing director at advertising agency Grey Group India. He also led the roll-out of MTV in India and launched the television network for Bennett Coleman & Co, The Times Television Network.

    Moreover, Lulla has been one of the early internet explorers with indya.com in 2000. He also played key role on many boards and forums of the broadcast industry helping to shape policies, set industry standards and best practices.

  • Eros International reports lower numbers for Q1 2019

    Eros International reports lower numbers for Q1 2019

    BENGALURU: Indian film and media company Eros International Media Ltd (Eros) reported a 15.9 percent decline in consolidated net sales/income from operations (Op Rev) for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q1 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter Q1 2019 (y-o-y). Eros reported consolidated Op Rev of Rs 183.52 crore and Rs 217.93 for Q1 2020 and Q1 2019 respectively. The company’s consolidated simple operating EBITDA fell 64.7 percent to Rs 32.91 crore (17.9 percent of Op Rev) in Q1 2020 from Rs 93.33 crore (42.8 percent of Op Rev) in Q1 2019. Consolidated Profit after tax (PAT) during the quarter under review declined 54.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 27.05 crore from Rs 59.95 crore. Total comprehensive income or TCI declined 77.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 22.3 crore from Rs 100.91 crore in Q1 2019.

    Eros consolidated Total Expenditure in Q1 2020 increased 16.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 170.99 crore from Rs 146.45 crore. Consolidated Films rights costs including amortisation costs declined 25.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 66.93 crore in Q1 2020 from Rs 90.15 crore. Consolidated Employee Benefits Expense in Q1 2020 declined 19.8 percent y-o-y to Rs 10.86 crore from Rs 13.54 crore. Consolidated net finance costs declined 9.3 percent y-o-y to Rs 17.68 crore from Rs 19.50 crore. Consolidated Other expenses for the period under review more than tripled (increased 264.5 percent) y-o-y to Rs 69.81 crore from Rs 19.15 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    It must be noted that this report is purely a numbers report based only on the company’s consolidated financial results.

    The last traded price of Eros International Media Ltd on the NSE was Rs 9.50 per equity share of face value of Rs 10 each on 12 August 2019. The 52 week high/low prices were Rs 133.50/Rs 9.50.

  • Balaji Telefilms commissioned programs, ALT Balaji numbers up in Q1 2019

    Balaji Telefilms commissioned programs, ALT Balaji numbers up in Q1 2019

    BENGALURU: The Jitendra Kapoor-Shobha Kapoor-Ektaa Kapoor-led Balaji Telefilms Ltd reported 33.1 percent y-o-y growth in revenue from its Commissioned Programmes (CP) segment for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q1 2020, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter. The company also reported more than doubling (up 113.1 percent) of revenue from its Digital segment (ALT Balaji) in the quarter under review as compared to Q1 2019. Revenue for Balaji Telefilms CP segment for Q1 2020 and Q1 2019 was Rs 93.17 crore and Rs 70.01 crore respectively. Revenue from ALT Balaji was Rs 12.33 crore and Rs 5.78 crore for Q1 2020 and Q2 2019 respectively. The company reported less than one-fortieth operating revenue (down 97.5 percent) for Q1 2020 at Rs 1.67 crore as compared to Rs 68.04 crore from its films segment

    Overall, on a consolidated basis, Balaji Telefilms reported 26.7 percent y-o-y decline in operating revenue for Q1 2020 at Rs 90.52 crore from Rs 123.44 crore. The company explained that there were no film releases during Q1 2020, as compared to 1 film that was released in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated EBITDA for Q1 2020 was an operating loss of Rs 33.24 crore as compared to an operating loss of 27.98 crore in Q1 2019. The company reported a consolidated loss of Rs 41.54 crore for the quarter under review as compared to a consolidated loss of Rs 27.03 crore in Q1 2019.

    The company reported an operating profit (result) of Rs 9.67 crore for Q1 2020 as compared to a loss of Rs 2.12 crore in Q1 2019 from its CP segment. Commissioned programming hours in Q1 2020 increased 15 percent y-o-y to 195.5 from 170.5 in Q1 2019. Revenue from commission programmes increased 21 percent y-o-y to Rs 69.6 crore in Q1 2020 from Rs 57.3 crore in Q1 2019. Net realisation per hour increased 5 percent in Q1 2020 to Rs 0.36 crore from Rs 0.35 crore in Q1 2019.  

    For ALT Balaji, the company reported a higher operating loss (result) of Rs 36.83 crore for Q1 2020 as compared to a loss of Rs 28.76 crore for Q1 2019.  The company reported 25.3 million subscribers at the end of Q1 2020 as compared to 3.4 million subscribers at the end of Q1 2019. As on 8 August 2020, Balaji Telefilms claims that it had 27.3 million subscribers. (100 lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore)

    For its Films segment, Balaji Telefilms reported an operating loss (result) of Rs 0.10 crore for the quarter under review as compared to an operating profit of Rs 8.91 crore in Q1 2019.

    On a standalone basis, Balaji Telefilms operating revenue in Q1 2020 declined 38 percent to Rs 82.85 crore from Rs 133.65 crore in Q1 2019. EBITDA for Q1 2010 was Rs 10.56 crore as compared to an operating loss of Rs 0.88 crore for Q1 2019. The company reported standalone profit after tax of Rs 2.53 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 1.20 crore for Q1 2019.

    Balaji Telefilms managing director Shobha Kapoor said, “Operationally this was a good quarter with strong performance across all business and the two deals in our movie and digital business dramatically improves our financial profile going forward and will allow us to pursue our growth ambitions. I also take this opportunity to thank Sunil Lulla our Group CEO who has decided to pursue other opportunities after a brief period with us. Sunil leaves Balaji Telefilms in a very strong position for future growth and the rest of the leadership team will continue to drive the business forward.”

  • Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla steps down

    Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla steps down

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla has stepped down from his post last week. Industry sources confirmed the development to Indiantelevision.com. Lulla was appointed as group CEO last year. Indiantelevision.com reached out to Balaji but they didn’t respond till the time of publication. 

    His experience spans over three decades of experience across media, entertainment and the broadcast industries. He served as chairman and managing director at advertising agency Grey Group India. He also led the rollout of MTV in India and launched the television network for Bennett Coleman & Co, The Times Television Network.

    Moreover, Lulla has been one of the early internet explorers with indya.com in 2000. He also played key role on many boards and forums of the broadcast industry helping to shape policies, set industry standards and best practices.