ITV

Tag: Terence Yau

  • Hallmark to go in for overhaul from 1 January

    Hallmark to go in for overhaul from 1 January

    MUMBAI: Rescheduled ad breaks. Revamped logo. Catchier promos and fresh programming.

    That seems to be Hallmark India’s strategy to woo the slippery viewer. Latest in the line of niche channels that are opting for a revamped look, Hallmark has decided to go in for a new image come 1 January.

    The channel has also decided to reschedule its ad breaks to avoid channel surfing on the part of the viewer.

    Cutting Edge Media’s Rohinton Maloo who handles ad sales for the channel says the Hallmark logo would be more contemporary and avante garde. That as well as the catchy promos have been designed by Hallmark’s Denver production team keeping the upmarket urbane youth in mind, says Maloo.

    “In addition, there have been two changes made on the advertising front. Firstly, we decided that for a night film there will be no more than two breaks. Also, throughout the day each hour will have just three minutes of ad time. On the programming front, we will air the night films at 10:30 pm. Through feedback, we learnt that viewers are unable to watch us earlier as they tune into Hindi soaps. Also, every Sunday night will see a new film premiering on the channel. So viewers can expect 52 new films on Sunday nights alone.”

    Elaborating further on the programme strategy, Hallmark Asia managing director Terence Yau says, ” Going along with the change, Monday/Tuesday movies are destined to showcase Halllmark original mini-series (Jack & the Beanstalk, Jason & the Argonaunt, Merlin etc) and Thursday is scheduled for the First Day Feathered theatrical release. The All-day movie packaged over the weekend gives parents an alternative who seek the pleasure of watching television together with their children, a place where hardly anyone else can offer. Viewers can also expect a lot more forthcoming enjoyment with the lineup of a variety of drama series (Early Edition Season 3, The Guardian II, Adoption, Family Law) that caters to different needs of the viewers. “

    As far as channel performance for the year is concerned Yau said, ” Based on the rating research findings from A.C. Nielsen, our most watched programmes in India are the kids block programmes that include Sesame Street and Clifford, and sci-fi series that consists of Early Edition and Star Trek Voyager. The best rating among them all is Clifford ,” he says.

  • Mum’s the word at Hallmark’s second annual event

    Mum’s the word at Hallmark’s second annual event

     Hallmark tried a different tack for promoting its Mother’s Day specials this year.

    At a bash last weekend, they roped in Aditi Gowitrikar, Fleur Xavier, Shaina Chudasama, even Jackie Shroff and John Abraham to talk about the mother who had always been there for them.

    The event at downtown Mikanos began with a showreel, specially shot for the evening, featuring Kajol, Pooja Bedi, Esha Deol and Abhishek Bachchan along with Shobhaa De’s children speaking about their star moms, clippings of which the channel will use in its promotions.

    Also honoured were Vandana Gupta as the Hallmark Channel Woman of the Year- a cancer survivor herself, who set up ‘V care’, a voluntary organisation that helps cancer patients, and ‘W! Womanpower’ editor Priti Kumar who was joined by Suhag Khemlani, a young window cleaner who runs a company worth Rs 25 million and Isabelle Courier Guillard, an Air France Pilot.

    While Crown Media chief executive, Asia, Terence Yau terms Hallmark as a family channel about relationships and touching stories, Asia marketing director Laxmi Hariharan said that the Channel is privileged to celeberate women icons who have become part of the Indian tradition by having their very own children thank them for the diference they have made to their lives.

    The celebrations will continue with a week of Mother’s Day movies that are being telecast on Hallmark from 12 May to 19 May.

  • Hallmark claims higher TV penetration in Asia Pacific

    Hallmark claims higher TV penetration in Asia Pacific

    MUMBAI: When English movie channel Hallmark launched in Asia, not many industry watchers were confident that it would last out the long haul. The Asian viewer had enough of local fare to watch, apart from the mega blockbuster Hollywood movies on leading movie channels Star Movies and HBO. The viewer would not really get swayed by the ‘made for television’ movies on Hallmark, went the view.

    But a global relaunch last year, better programme packaging, better on-air branding has seen Hallmark gradually making a mark. The Crown Media-owned channel has become an option that viewers are increasingly beginning to snack on.

    In a press release, Hallmark claims that the relaunch has also worked in increasing its penetration by 50 per cent in the Asia Pacific region. The channel claims to be available in 18 million homes, up from 12 million last year.

    Crown Media International managing director & chief executive (Asia) Terence Yau says this figure includes viewers from “India to Japan, and from China to Australia and New Zealand — who are currently able to watch the service on seven different feeds and branded blocks.”

    Yau adds that during the course of the year, the channel worked hard at transforming its scope and feel. It identified viewer segments like children and the mature adult and went after them with innovative programming blocks. All this meant that the whole family could stay glued to the channel during primetime.

    Besides subscribers, the Channel is working hard at building on its advertising database through a strong combo of on-air and on-ground packages. To this end, it has taken advantage of its Hallmark Cards chain of retail stores. This is something other C&S channels find hard to match.

    40 per cent of the channel’s product is exclusive and the programming is an interesting mix of family flicks and mini series. People looking to add spice to their lives tuned into the imaginative science fiction themed series Sliders. The dramatic series Touched by an Angel and Brooklyn South kept the thinking viewer engrossed, while kids had their share of Sesame Street, Clifford, and Calliou.

    Hallmark recently bought the seventh season of Touched by an Angel from CBS, a total of 27 new episodes. The channel has also held promotional events in a bid to imprint its unique identity on the viewers’ psyche. In February, Bai Ling and Russell Wong who starred in The Monkey King visited Asia for the film’s premiere. Hallmark also connected with the crucial women’s segment in May by keeping aside a week where films appealing to women were shown. The channel claims that this had an impact in India, Singapore, Philippines and Malalysia.

    Hallmark is also forging stronger relationships with cable operators. It invited some of them to South Australia to see how the mini-series McLeod’s Daughters was being made. The series is expected to debut on the channel in March 2002.

  • Hallmark in tie-up for workshops in 600 schools

    Hallmark in tie-up for workshops in 600 schools

    The Hallmark Channel, using the platform of the popular programmes like Sesame Street, Scholastic Clifford and Caillou on its Kids Block, has teamed up with well-known publishing house Scholastic India Ltd to organise in-school educational workshops for children in over 600 schools in India.

     

    Branded “Hallmark Kids @ School”, this activity, which recently kicked off in Mumbai, will over the next six months cover schools in the five key metro cities and 15 mini metro cities in India, according to a company release.

     

    Commenting on the launch of these new initiatives, Terence Yau, VP and Managing Director Asia Pacific said: “These shows promise to take kids across the country on fantastic, magical new adventures every day of the week. Viewer feedback reaffirmed our belief that Hallmark is best suited in providing programming for kids and is viewed as a natural extension to our core brand values – the values of Life, Love and Learning.”

     

    The Kids Block is a morning and afternoon block of children’s programming and has recently launched a dual English and Hindi feed. The Kids Block airs 7 – 8 am in the mornings and 4 – 6 pm in the evenings on the Hallmark Channel. Sesame Street, the world’s number 1 rated programme for kids, airs daily at 7 am, weekdays at 4pm and weekends at 11 pm; Scholastic Clifford airs every weekday at 5 pm while Caillou airs every day at 5:30 pm, the release states.