ITV

Tag: Times Network

  • Times Network announces Movies Now 2 launch

    Times Network announces Movies Now 2 launch

    MUMBAI: The Times of India has been hogging the media headlines over the past couple of days. Yesterday, courtesy its joint venture with Vice Media. Today, it announced that it is launching its fourth English movie channel christened Movies Now 2. The differentiator: Movies Now 2  will show films and content which will be targeted at the Indian youth. Viewers can expect a clutch of  new age/offbeat edgy indie and mainline movies to air  on the channel.  

    The Times Network has labelled Movies Now 2 as a channel with  a ‘rebellious’ personality, meaning it will be home to Hollywood’s wild content. .

     

    Click here to know more:

    Hollywood’s wildchild Movies Now 2 HD to launch by July end

     

     

  • Times Network announces Movies Now 2 launch

    Times Network announces Movies Now 2 launch

    MUMBAI: The Times of India has been hogging the media headlines over the past couple of days. Yesterday, courtesy its joint venture with Vice Media. Today, it announced that it is launching its fourth English movie channel christened Movies Now 2. The differentiator: Movies Now 2  will show films and content which will be targeted at the Indian youth. Viewers can expect a clutch of  new age/offbeat edgy indie and mainline movies to air  on the channel.  

    The Times Network has labelled Movies Now 2 as a channel with  a ‘rebellious’ personality, meaning it will be home to Hollywood’s wild content. .

     

    Click here to know more:

    Hollywood’s wildchild Movies Now 2 HD to launch by July end

     

     

  • ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    MUMBAI: After securing a solid positioning as a popular news destination, Times Network, heralded by its flagship channels Times Now and ET Now, is set to strengthen its brand presence amongst clients, advertisers and other businesses through a business-to-business (B2B) approach.

    We saw a fine example of its B2B marketing at Goafest 2016, where, through a quirky campaign targeted at the advertising industry, Times Network emphasised the growth of consumers of English content in India.

    A similar targeted messaging is brought forth in a latest campaign titled ‘Dealing Room Heroes’ that ET Now has initiated.  Starting June 9, ET Now has started visiting the participating well known stock brokerage houses and interacting with their leadership teams to explore what they consider the biggest achievements of the organization in the FY 2015-16, and felicitate key performers from the Dealing Room of each organisation.

    “Now that we have established our leadership position in various markets, we needed to go beyond being leaders in numbers and on air, and focus on making our brand more accessible and relevant to our consumers. As a business news channel we have three forms of consumers — the viewers, the advertisers and media agencies and the stock traders. To reach out to the stock brokers and traders who form an integral part of our consumer base, we have launched this new campaign. It allows us to partner with individual broking firms and celebrate the number crunching and data analysis that goes down in the Dealing Room of a brokerage firm,” revealed Times Network Head of Marketing – Times Now, ET Now, Magicbricks Now & Zoom Shantanu Gangane.

    So far ET Now has partnered with nine brokerage houses including IIFL, Kotak Securities, Motilal Oswal, MK Global, etc., with its first destination for the campaign being Mumbai. Those honoured through this campaign will also find a place on air on ET Now in the form of a two to three minute vignette that will showcase how the person went about dealing. This will run in the channel in high frequency across day parts with special focus on prime time and market hour.  Running for three weeks in each market the campaign may prolong depending on the feedback from each region. When asked, Gangane clarified that the partnerships with the brokerage firms on this campaign weren’t on a commercial level. As per the network, this is a first of a kind initiative by a business channel globally.

    When it came to addressing the viewers through a B2C messaging, in February, ET Now did an engaging activation with its viewers titled ‘Kem Chho Gujarat’ an investor welfare initiative by ET Now.  With this initiative the channel took experts from the financial fraternity and its anchors on ground to address some of the queries in the state in the sector. “It was a complete on ground, on air and online initiative, where consumers got to meet the experts and the anchors face to face,” Gangane shared. 

    In a similar fashion Magicbricks Now had also initiated the ‘Urban Debate’ where real estate issues of a given area were taken up and addressed through an on ground event that was telecast. 

    Since both Urban Debate and Kem Chho Gujrat were consumer initiatives, the channel used a lot of tools to promote audience participation and registration for event, be it in the form of digital promotions, print ads or promos that run within the network where it can target the relevant audience. The strategy differs a bit when it comes to Dealing Room Heroes, for which the channel focusses on print ads, magazines that are popular within the brokerage industry, for example Dalal Street Journal, and optimise the marketing on the channel itself.

    Gangane acknowledged the need to think differently when conceptualizing a campaign targeted towards masses and specifically towards businesses or brands. The medium of communication is very important when planning campaign in B2B versus B2C, Gangane said, “When going B2B you cannot carpet bomb, like you intend a marketing blitzkrieg. B2B relies a lot on you optimizing reach and frequency. In B2B communication one needs to be direct, contextual to the target brand or business. That’s where the media mix becomes important. As far as the communication is concerned, it needs to be more relatable rather than eye catching and attention seeking.”

    Given the different planning of media mixes for each approach, the budgeting changes as well. One might think that a high decibel mass campaign was more expensive, but Gangage revealed that getting the right audience could be an expensive affair as well. “If you are going for quality and sharp focus, you may sometimes end up paying more.”

    While Gangage did not divulge the network’s split of marketing budgets in B2B and B2C campaigns, he explained the mindset behind the allotments. “It is very specific to the objective, honestly. For example for a brand building campaign for the entire Times Network, the budget allotted for B2B would be 80 per cent approximately. But if we are launching a show on a particular channel, spend will be more on the B2C side.”

    Speaking from a network standpoint, Gangane highlighted that none of the brands were dormant when it came to visibility amongst consumers, be it Times Now, Zoom or Movies Now and Romedy Now. “Each of the brands are buzzing in their own way. Having said that, Times Network as a whole did initiate a larger brand communication earlier this year, which will see some more work on audience metrics in the upcoming months,” Gangane added in parting.
     

  • ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    MUMBAI: After securing a solid positioning as a popular news destination, Times Network, heralded by its flagship channels Times Now and ET Now, is set to strengthen its brand presence amongst clients, advertisers and other businesses through a business-to-business (B2B) approach.

    We saw a fine example of its B2B marketing at Goafest 2016, where, through a quirky campaign targeted at the advertising industry, Times Network emphasised the growth of consumers of English content in India.

    A similar targeted messaging is brought forth in a latest campaign titled ‘Dealing Room Heroes’ that ET Now has initiated.  Starting June 9, ET Now has started visiting the participating well known stock brokerage houses and interacting with their leadership teams to explore what they consider the biggest achievements of the organization in the FY 2015-16, and felicitate key performers from the Dealing Room of each organisation.

    “Now that we have established our leadership position in various markets, we needed to go beyond being leaders in numbers and on air, and focus on making our brand more accessible and relevant to our consumers. As a business news channel we have three forms of consumers — the viewers, the advertisers and media agencies and the stock traders. To reach out to the stock brokers and traders who form an integral part of our consumer base, we have launched this new campaign. It allows us to partner with individual broking firms and celebrate the number crunching and data analysis that goes down in the Dealing Room of a brokerage firm,” revealed Times Network Head of Marketing – Times Now, ET Now, Magicbricks Now & Zoom Shantanu Gangane.

    So far ET Now has partnered with nine brokerage houses including IIFL, Kotak Securities, Motilal Oswal, MK Global, etc., with its first destination for the campaign being Mumbai. Those honoured through this campaign will also find a place on air on ET Now in the form of a two to three minute vignette that will showcase how the person went about dealing. This will run in the channel in high frequency across day parts with special focus on prime time and market hour.  Running for three weeks in each market the campaign may prolong depending on the feedback from each region. When asked, Gangane clarified that the partnerships with the brokerage firms on this campaign weren’t on a commercial level. As per the network, this is a first of a kind initiative by a business channel globally.

    When it came to addressing the viewers through a B2C messaging, in February, ET Now did an engaging activation with its viewers titled ‘Kem Chho Gujarat’ an investor welfare initiative by ET Now.  With this initiative the channel took experts from the financial fraternity and its anchors on ground to address some of the queries in the state in the sector. “It was a complete on ground, on air and online initiative, where consumers got to meet the experts and the anchors face to face,” Gangane shared. 

    In a similar fashion Magicbricks Now had also initiated the ‘Urban Debate’ where real estate issues of a given area were taken up and addressed through an on ground event that was telecast. 

    Since both Urban Debate and Kem Chho Gujrat were consumer initiatives, the channel used a lot of tools to promote audience participation and registration for event, be it in the form of digital promotions, print ads or promos that run within the network where it can target the relevant audience. The strategy differs a bit when it comes to Dealing Room Heroes, for which the channel focusses on print ads, magazines that are popular within the brokerage industry, for example Dalal Street Journal, and optimise the marketing on the channel itself.

    Gangane acknowledged the need to think differently when conceptualizing a campaign targeted towards masses and specifically towards businesses or brands. The medium of communication is very important when planning campaign in B2B versus B2C, Gangane said, “When going B2B you cannot carpet bomb, like you intend a marketing blitzkrieg. B2B relies a lot on you optimizing reach and frequency. In B2B communication one needs to be direct, contextual to the target brand or business. That’s where the media mix becomes important. As far as the communication is concerned, it needs to be more relatable rather than eye catching and attention seeking.”

    Given the different planning of media mixes for each approach, the budgeting changes as well. One might think that a high decibel mass campaign was more expensive, but Gangage revealed that getting the right audience could be an expensive affair as well. “If you are going for quality and sharp focus, you may sometimes end up paying more.”

    While Gangage did not divulge the network’s split of marketing budgets in B2B and B2C campaigns, he explained the mindset behind the allotments. “It is very specific to the objective, honestly. For example for a brand building campaign for the entire Times Network, the budget allotted for B2B would be 80 per cent approximately. But if we are launching a show on a particular channel, spend will be more on the B2C side.”

    Speaking from a network standpoint, Gangane highlighted that none of the brands were dormant when it came to visibility amongst consumers, be it Times Now, Zoom or Movies Now and Romedy Now. “Each of the brands are buzzing in their own way. Having said that, Times Network as a whole did initiate a larger brand communication earlier this year, which will see some more work on audience metrics in the upcoming months,” Gangane added in parting.
     

  • Season 4 of ‘Runway to Success’ from Lufthansa and Times Network takes off

    Season 4 of ‘Runway to Success’ from Lufthansa and Times Network takes off

    MUMBAI:  50,000 contestants are vying for top honours in Season 4 of India’s biggest SME stage, Lufthansa Runway to Success. The 10-episode television series, produced in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and India’s premier business broadcast channel ET Now, begins 4 June 2016.

    Lufthansa Runway to Success has grown exponentially over the past three years to be amongst India’s most popular platform for start-ups & SMEs. Preceding the competitive leg each year, are free mentorship camps held across the country where over 50 mentors invest time in guiding young entrepreneurs. Additionally, this season saw for the first time ‘The Start-up Expo’, co-created by Lufthansa, and recognised as India’s largest ecosystem for start-ups. The unique event brought together 10,000 participants and led to 50,000 applicants for the TV series, a 100 per cent increase over last season.

    From the vast array of contenders, the 21 most innovative ventures will be shortlisted by TiE business experts to compete in the series. The Grand Prize winner will fly away with a seat at the prestigious Design Thinking Boot Camp at Stanford University sponsored by Kalaari Capital, a Business Class ticket to any destination in the US and coveted mentorship from TiE.

    In partnering the success of Indian business, the Runway to Success platform reflects Lufthansa’s Nonstop You philosophy which pledges a relentless focus on its customers and people in the community. It also reinforces the airline’s commitment to be ‘More Indian than you think.’

    “It has been an absolute privilege for Lufthansa to be an enabler in India’s entrepreneurial revolution. The overwhelming response to the Runway to Success platform has led to its progressive expansion over the past three years into what is today a nationwide campaign. It is also an affirmation of the fact that as an airline, Lufthansa truly has an Indian heart within a German soul,” said Wolfgang Will, Director, South Asia, Lufthansa German Airlines.

    “At a time when young entrepreneurs are the driving force of the Indian economy, Runway to Success is recognized as a crucial growth catalyst for Start-ups and SMEs,” said TiE Delhi-NCR executive director Geetika Dayal. “The unprecedented success of this platform, built through a unique partnership with TiE, reflects Lufthansa’s strong commitment to enabling the success of entrepreneurs in India.”

    The Runway to Success TV series will feature leading icons such as C P Gurnani, CEO and Managing Director, Tech Mahindra; Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber, and Chairman & Managing Director, Kent RO Systems; Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubliant FoodWorks; Alok Kejriwal CEO and co-founder, Games2win; Dilip Chhabria, founder DC Designs; celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor; and Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation. These pioneers will inspire, motivate, mentor and select the best among 3 shortlisted entrepreneurs in each episode, who will each win a Business Class ticket to the US, and then go on to compete in the semi-finals and finale for the Grand Prize. A parallel “Viewer’s Choice” award will also be decided via social media, through online voting based on elevator pitch videos by the contestants.

    This year, the Runway to Success TV series was preceded by mentorship camps in 10 cities, including Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune and Chennai amongst others. This was followed by the first-ever ‘Start-up Expo’ organized in Gurgaon end-April. The Expo attracted more than 30 investors, 100 partners, 200 start-up exhibitors, 500 mentors, and 10,000 participants. The one-day event facilitated over 700 business meetings, a start-up job fair, and day-long interactive workshops drawing over 3000 participants. It was attended by an array of government dignitaries and business icons including Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO Niti Ayog & architect of the Government of India’s Start up initiative; Mr. Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP); Mr. Saurabh Srivastava Chairman Emeritus TiE, Delhi and NCR; Mr. Deep Kalra; founder, Makemytrip.com; Mr. Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Vice Chairman naukri.com amongst others.

    Times Network CEO & MD M K Anand said, “Lufthansa Runway to Success is an experience which will inspire you ahead on the journey of entrepreneurship like never before with live access to illustrious minds, exciting discussions, and a grand celebration of the spirit of entrepreneurship. Lufthansa Runway To Success, now in its fourth season, is an excellent showcase of the ideas, efforts and achievements of SMEs, which deserve the biggest news audiences. As India’s most influential television network with the biggest English and Business news channels, we are pleased that our channel ET Now, India’s foremost business news channel, will provide it the right communication platform it deserves.”

    Note to Editor:

    Lufthansa Runway to Success season 4, India’s biggest SME stage will feature India’s 21 most innovative ventures who inspired, guided and mentored by 7 pioneers. Please find below a brief profile of the participants as well as pioneers. 

  • Season 4 of ‘Runway to Success’ from Lufthansa and Times Network takes off

    Season 4 of ‘Runway to Success’ from Lufthansa and Times Network takes off

    MUMBAI:  50,000 contestants are vying for top honours in Season 4 of India’s biggest SME stage, Lufthansa Runway to Success. The 10-episode television series, produced in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) and India’s premier business broadcast channel ET Now, begins 4 June 2016.

    Lufthansa Runway to Success has grown exponentially over the past three years to be amongst India’s most popular platform for start-ups & SMEs. Preceding the competitive leg each year, are free mentorship camps held across the country where over 50 mentors invest time in guiding young entrepreneurs. Additionally, this season saw for the first time ‘The Start-up Expo’, co-created by Lufthansa, and recognised as India’s largest ecosystem for start-ups. The unique event brought together 10,000 participants and led to 50,000 applicants for the TV series, a 100 per cent increase over last season.

    From the vast array of contenders, the 21 most innovative ventures will be shortlisted by TiE business experts to compete in the series. The Grand Prize winner will fly away with a seat at the prestigious Design Thinking Boot Camp at Stanford University sponsored by Kalaari Capital, a Business Class ticket to any destination in the US and coveted mentorship from TiE.

    In partnering the success of Indian business, the Runway to Success platform reflects Lufthansa’s Nonstop You philosophy which pledges a relentless focus on its customers and people in the community. It also reinforces the airline’s commitment to be ‘More Indian than you think.’

    “It has been an absolute privilege for Lufthansa to be an enabler in India’s entrepreneurial revolution. The overwhelming response to the Runway to Success platform has led to its progressive expansion over the past three years into what is today a nationwide campaign. It is also an affirmation of the fact that as an airline, Lufthansa truly has an Indian heart within a German soul,” said Wolfgang Will, Director, South Asia, Lufthansa German Airlines.

    “At a time when young entrepreneurs are the driving force of the Indian economy, Runway to Success is recognized as a crucial growth catalyst for Start-ups and SMEs,” said TiE Delhi-NCR executive director Geetika Dayal. “The unprecedented success of this platform, built through a unique partnership with TiE, reflects Lufthansa’s strong commitment to enabling the success of entrepreneurs in India.”

    The Runway to Success TV series will feature leading icons such as C P Gurnani, CEO and Managing Director, Tech Mahindra; Dr. Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber, and Chairman & Managing Director, Kent RO Systems; Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubliant FoodWorks; Alok Kejriwal CEO and co-founder, Games2win; Dilip Chhabria, founder DC Designs; celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor; and Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation. These pioneers will inspire, motivate, mentor and select the best among 3 shortlisted entrepreneurs in each episode, who will each win a Business Class ticket to the US, and then go on to compete in the semi-finals and finale for the Grand Prize. A parallel “Viewer’s Choice” award will also be decided via social media, through online voting based on elevator pitch videos by the contestants.

    This year, the Runway to Success TV series was preceded by mentorship camps in 10 cities, including Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune and Chennai amongst others. This was followed by the first-ever ‘Start-up Expo’ organized in Gurgaon end-April. The Expo attracted more than 30 investors, 100 partners, 200 start-up exhibitors, 500 mentors, and 10,000 participants. The one-day event facilitated over 700 business meetings, a start-up job fair, and day-long interactive workshops drawing over 3000 participants. It was attended by an array of government dignitaries and business icons including Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO Niti Ayog & architect of the Government of India’s Start up initiative; Mr. Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP); Mr. Saurabh Srivastava Chairman Emeritus TiE, Delhi and NCR; Mr. Deep Kalra; founder, Makemytrip.com; Mr. Sanjeev Bhikchandani, Vice Chairman naukri.com amongst others.

    Times Network CEO & MD M K Anand said, “Lufthansa Runway to Success is an experience which will inspire you ahead on the journey of entrepreneurship like never before with live access to illustrious minds, exciting discussions, and a grand celebration of the spirit of entrepreneurship. Lufthansa Runway To Success, now in its fourth season, is an excellent showcase of the ideas, efforts and achievements of SMEs, which deserve the biggest news audiences. As India’s most influential television network with the biggest English and Business news channels, we are pleased that our channel ET Now, India’s foremost business news channel, will provide it the right communication platform it deserves.”

    Note to Editor:

    Lufthansa Runway to Success season 4, India’s biggest SME stage will feature India’s 21 most innovative ventures who inspired, guided and mentored by 7 pioneers. Please find below a brief profile of the participants as well as pioneers. 

  • Times Network launches campaign to promote its HD feed

    Times Network launches campaign to promote its HD feed

    MUMBAI: Speaking of the digital era, the number of LCD television sets sold each year has only been growing. For 2015, an Ernst & Young study had projected that 12 million television LCD and LED sets would be sold in India, reinforcing the point on the CRT to LCD/LED conversion. But this same conversion is not reflected when it comes to consumers going from SD to HD feed, especially in the case of English Entertainment television channels. The issue, Times  Network English Entertainment Cluster senior VP and head Vivek Srivastava feels, is not in affordability but in awareness.

    “HD channels’ have shown 93 per cent increase in viewership over the last year and doubled their advertisement revenues. But the one thing that remains a hiccup in the segment is the adoption rate of HD feed. It is estimated that 12 million HD enabled TV sets are sold every year but there are only 6 million HD subscribers. That means there are another 6 million who have the equipment but not the content pipeline.  There is immense growth potential. So both for us, we as a network and for the industry, there is a need to educate consumers on the perks of HD quality video. This campaign will benefit not only our own English cluster, but the entire industry,” explains Srivastava.

    Times Network has initiated steps to educate its consumers with a 360  degree ad campaign that the network will launch starting today – 2 May. Given the fact that its core English Entertainment channels are mostly in HD, it makes sense for Times Network to propagate the cause for HD conversion in the country.  The campaign aims to push the HD subscription for its three HD English entertainment channels — MN +, Movies Now and Romedy Now HD. “Across the globe the main drivers for HD viewership have been sports and movies. In India, while the sports genre has seen that positive change, movie entertainment channels are lagging behind. Being a major player in the English entertainment space with a huge movie library, it was in our interest to push this cause,” says Srivastava.

    Created and conceptualised in-house in three months, a TVC that is a fun-take on how Hollywood is viewed in India, features actor Purab Kohli enjoying a home theatre experience at home in all its glory. The punch line  — ‘Raise your standards to High Definition’ — comes when the audience is made aware that all this luxury comes to a nought if the picture quality is not in high definition, thereby urging movie lovers to go HD. The campaign intends to play with the urban movie buffs minds that swear by their Hollywood movies and prefer a quality experience even at home.

    “For the last three or four years, most of the HD TV commercials have spoken about the best quality and sound making one believe that all one needs to do to experience that is to buy the TV. But in reality that’s just the first step; and getting the content pipeline by switching to HD feed is what completes the process,” said Srivastava as he reveals the idea behind the ad.

    The campaign will be heavily promoted across networks, with heavy emphasis on television and a strong digital backing. The campaign will also see some presence on print. “With reach being the primary objective, we are trying to expand the number of eyeballs as much as possible, especially amongst the television audience. The campaign kicks off on our network and will be gradually carried across all channels on other networks as well. We will not necessarily promote it on English entertainment channels alone. Out of the 650 million (65 crore) television watchers, around 30 percent watch English content, so obviously there is an increased need to reach out to a cross section of audiences to propagate the message better. We will have a presence on Hindi GECs, movie channels, news channels. Even music channels are a part of our media plan mix.” The ‘across channels’ promotion will be carried in parts, while the campaign will be kept alive within the network.

    While Srivastava agrees that the Times Network channels primary viewership comes from the metros, this particular campaign is targeted pan India. “The metros have some awareness about the HD feed, but it is the tier II and tier III cities that we really need to touch base with,” he further reveals.

    Given the ‘all in’ nature of the campaign, Srivastava also reveals that the network is spending slightly higher than the marketing budget for a regular mainline premiere on Movies Now.

     

  • Times Network launches campaign to promote its HD feed

    Times Network launches campaign to promote its HD feed

    MUMBAI: Speaking of the digital era, the number of LCD television sets sold each year has only been growing. For 2015, an Ernst & Young study had projected that 12 million television LCD and LED sets would be sold in India, reinforcing the point on the CRT to LCD/LED conversion. But this same conversion is not reflected when it comes to consumers going from SD to HD feed, especially in the case of English Entertainment television channels. The issue, Times  Network English Entertainment Cluster senior VP and head Vivek Srivastava feels, is not in affordability but in awareness.

    “HD channels’ have shown 93 per cent increase in viewership over the last year and doubled their advertisement revenues. But the one thing that remains a hiccup in the segment is the adoption rate of HD feed. It is estimated that 12 million HD enabled TV sets are sold every year but there are only 6 million HD subscribers. That means there are another 6 million who have the equipment but not the content pipeline.  There is immense growth potential. So both for us, we as a network and for the industry, there is a need to educate consumers on the perks of HD quality video. This campaign will benefit not only our own English cluster, but the entire industry,” explains Srivastava.

    Times Network has initiated steps to educate its consumers with a 360  degree ad campaign that the network will launch starting today – 2 May. Given the fact that its core English Entertainment channels are mostly in HD, it makes sense for Times Network to propagate the cause for HD conversion in the country.  The campaign aims to push the HD subscription for its three HD English entertainment channels — MN +, Movies Now and Romedy Now HD. “Across the globe the main drivers for HD viewership have been sports and movies. In India, while the sports genre has seen that positive change, movie entertainment channels are lagging behind. Being a major player in the English entertainment space with a huge movie library, it was in our interest to push this cause,” says Srivastava.

    Created and conceptualised in-house in three months, a TVC that is a fun-take on how Hollywood is viewed in India, features actor Purab Kohli enjoying a home theatre experience at home in all its glory. The punch line  — ‘Raise your standards to High Definition’ — comes when the audience is made aware that all this luxury comes to a nought if the picture quality is not in high definition, thereby urging movie lovers to go HD. The campaign intends to play with the urban movie buffs minds that swear by their Hollywood movies and prefer a quality experience even at home.

    “For the last three or four years, most of the HD TV commercials have spoken about the best quality and sound making one believe that all one needs to do to experience that is to buy the TV. But in reality that’s just the first step; and getting the content pipeline by switching to HD feed is what completes the process,” said Srivastava as he reveals the idea behind the ad.

    The campaign will be heavily promoted across networks, with heavy emphasis on television and a strong digital backing. The campaign will also see some presence on print. “With reach being the primary objective, we are trying to expand the number of eyeballs as much as possible, especially amongst the television audience. The campaign kicks off on our network and will be gradually carried across all channels on other networks as well. We will not necessarily promote it on English entertainment channels alone. Out of the 650 million (65 crore) television watchers, around 30 percent watch English content, so obviously there is an increased need to reach out to a cross section of audiences to propagate the message better. We will have a presence on Hindi GECs, movie channels, news channels. Even music channels are a part of our media plan mix.” The ‘across channels’ promotion will be carried in parts, while the campaign will be kept alive within the network.

    While Srivastava agrees that the Times Network channels primary viewership comes from the metros, this particular campaign is targeted pan India. “The metros have some awareness about the HD feed, but it is the tier II and tier III cities that we really need to touch base with,” he further reveals.

    Given the ‘all in’ nature of the campaign, Srivastava also reveals that the network is spending slightly higher than the marketing budget for a regular mainline premiere on Movies Now.

     

  • APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    BALI: The stage is set for a crackling APOS 2016 in Bali. The annual do organized by Vivek Couto’s Media Partners Asia got off to a flying start this evening with the opening and welcome reception hosted by Disney.

    It was held on the lawns of the Ayana Resort in the Jimbaran district of Bali. The mood was perfect: the skies perfectly clear and the breeze gentle, unlike one of the years earlier when rain disrupted the proceedings. The beer, fruit juices and cocktails flowed freely as Asia Pacific’s TV and digital industry professionals hobnobbed with each other.

    The attendance was stellar: distribution executives, owners & promoters, CEOs, APAC heads,  from the broadcast, cable, satellite sides of the business were all there. HBO Asia head Jonathan Spinks, the new Netflix vice president business development Asia Tony Zameczkwoski, Vice’s iconoclast co-founder & CEO Shane Smith, Walt Disney Co SEVP and chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer, Fox Networks Group Asia President Zubin Gandevia, SES Asia senior VP commercial Deepak Mathur, TV5 Asia director Alexandre Muller,  were among the familiar faces from the APAC region. and elsewhere.

    Among the Indian big names who showed up included: Zee Entertainment international head Amit Goenka was seen with his international team of Rajeev Kheror and Mukund Cairae. Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain, COO Himanshu Patil were seen chatting with partners. Indiacast’s Anuj Gandhi was seen hobnobbing with executives from the region. Times Network was represented by international business head Naveen Chandra. For some the festivities continued late into the night as they headed to various restaurants and warungs  across Bali for some of the delicious Balinese food.

    APOS 2016 is markedly different this time because of the focus on different countries. Australia, China, India, Korea and Japan have special sessions that will look at unraveling the opportunity in each of these markets.  

    Global media leaders have sessions on their own. Whether it is Shine Endemol’s Sophie Turner Laing, or Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Kevin Mayer or A&E Networks EVP & CFO David Granville-Smith or Kudelski Group chairman & CEO Andre Kudelski or Viacom International Media Networks President & CEO Bob Bakish, or Emerald Media CEO Paul Aiello – they have all turned up to attend, hear, network and speak. One noteworthy absence is Dreamworks’ Jeffery Katzenberg who has not been able to make it for personal reasons.

    Of course, as most of MPA’s gigs are vaunt to be, APOS 2016 has oodles of investment banks, private equity firm executives all lined up to give their perspective on video distribution opportunities in the Asia Pacific market and in which territories and businesses they are willing to invest in. Among the notable names here: Evolution Media Capital’s founder & co managing partner Rick Hess, CAA head of global client strategy Brian Weinstein, CMC Capital Partners chairman & founding partner Li Ruigang and MD Alex Chen, Providence Equity Partners Head of Asia Bis Subramanian, and senior advisor Tony Ball, Jungle Ventures managing partner David Gowdey, Paul Aiello, iflix group advisor David Goldstein, and Raine Ventures managing partner Godron Rubenstein.

    Several operational heads from the US, Europe and Asia who have their teeth in the business are also speaking. Among these: Discovery Networks Asia Pacific president & CEO Arthur Bastings, PCCW Media group MD Janice Lee, A+E Networks president international & digital media Sean Cohan, Optus CEO Allen Lew, Cartoon Network president & general manager Christina Miller, Taiwan Broadband executive vice-chairman Thomas EE, CJ E&M media content business president DJ Lee,

    Additionally,  the two days of the conference are peppered with digital video discussions considering that OTT and digital VOD services are exploding in the region, including in India.

    The India session looks appealing especially considering the rollout of digitization in India cable and satellite TV. Star India managing director Sanjay Gupta, Reliance Industries’ independent director o the board Adil Zainulbhai, Tata Sky MD Harit Nagpal and Viacom18 Media Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats slated to give their perspectives.

    Indiantelevision.com will be reporting from Bali to give you updates that are relevant to the Indian distribution ecosystem – right from cable TV to DTH to OTT platforms to content creation. So stay tuned

  • APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    APOS 2016: Decoding APAC’s digital video and TV future

    BALI: The stage is set for a crackling APOS 2016 in Bali. The annual do organized by Vivek Couto’s Media Partners Asia got off to a flying start this evening with the opening and welcome reception hosted by Disney.

    It was held on the lawns of the Ayana Resort in the Jimbaran district of Bali. The mood was perfect: the skies perfectly clear and the breeze gentle, unlike one of the years earlier when rain disrupted the proceedings. The beer, fruit juices and cocktails flowed freely as Asia Pacific’s TV and digital industry professionals hobnobbed with each other.

    The attendance was stellar: distribution executives, owners & promoters, CEOs, APAC heads,  from the broadcast, cable, satellite sides of the business were all there. HBO Asia head Jonathan Spinks, the new Netflix vice president business development Asia Tony Zameczkwoski, Vice’s iconoclast co-founder & CEO Shane Smith, Walt Disney Co SEVP and chief strategy officer Kevin Mayer, Fox Networks Group Asia President Zubin Gandevia, SES Asia senior VP commercial Deepak Mathur, TV5 Asia director Alexandre Muller,  were among the familiar faces from the APAC region. and elsewhere.

    Among the Indian big names who showed up included: Zee Entertainment international head Amit Goenka was seen with his international team of Rajeev Kheror and Mukund Cairae. Videocon d2h deputy CEO Rohit Jain, COO Himanshu Patil were seen chatting with partners. Indiacast’s Anuj Gandhi was seen hobnobbing with executives from the region. Times Network was represented by international business head Naveen Chandra. For some the festivities continued late into the night as they headed to various restaurants and warungs  across Bali for some of the delicious Balinese food.

    APOS 2016 is markedly different this time because of the focus on different countries. Australia, China, India, Korea and Japan have special sessions that will look at unraveling the opportunity in each of these markets.  

    Global media leaders have sessions on their own. Whether it is Shine Endemol’s Sophie Turner Laing, or Netflix’s Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Kevin Mayer or A&E Networks EVP & CFO David Granville-Smith or Kudelski Group chairman & CEO Andre Kudelski or Viacom International Media Networks President & CEO Bob Bakish, or Emerald Media CEO Paul Aiello – they have all turned up to attend, hear, network and speak. One noteworthy absence is Dreamworks’ Jeffery Katzenberg who has not been able to make it for personal reasons.

    Of course, as most of MPA’s gigs are vaunt to be, APOS 2016 has oodles of investment banks, private equity firm executives all lined up to give their perspective on video distribution opportunities in the Asia Pacific market and in which territories and businesses they are willing to invest in. Among the notable names here: Evolution Media Capital’s founder & co managing partner Rick Hess, CAA head of global client strategy Brian Weinstein, CMC Capital Partners chairman & founding partner Li Ruigang and MD Alex Chen, Providence Equity Partners Head of Asia Bis Subramanian, and senior advisor Tony Ball, Jungle Ventures managing partner David Gowdey, Paul Aiello, iflix group advisor David Goldstein, and Raine Ventures managing partner Godron Rubenstein.

    Several operational heads from the US, Europe and Asia who have their teeth in the business are also speaking. Among these: Discovery Networks Asia Pacific president & CEO Arthur Bastings, PCCW Media group MD Janice Lee, A+E Networks president international & digital media Sean Cohan, Optus CEO Allen Lew, Cartoon Network president & general manager Christina Miller, Taiwan Broadband executive vice-chairman Thomas EE, CJ E&M media content business president DJ Lee,

    Additionally,  the two days of the conference are peppered with digital video discussions considering that OTT and digital VOD services are exploding in the region, including in India.

    The India session looks appealing especially considering the rollout of digitization in India cable and satellite TV. Star India managing director Sanjay Gupta, Reliance Industries’ independent director o the board Adil Zainulbhai, Tata Sky MD Harit Nagpal and Viacom18 Media Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats slated to give their perspectives.

    Indiantelevision.com will be reporting from Bali to give you updates that are relevant to the Indian distribution ecosystem – right from cable TV to DTH to OTT platforms to content creation. So stay tuned