ITV

Tag: Times Television Network

  • Pai charts a Prime course with content strategy role at Amazon

    Pai charts a Prime course with content strategy role at Amazon

    MUMBAI: From broadcast boardrooms to the streaming screen, Saurabh Pai is now scripting his next chapter at Amazon. The media and strategy specialist has taken on a new role in content strategy at Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, marking a pivotal move in his two-decade-long career in content, analytics, and business planning.

    Known for bringing a data-driven approach to programming decisions, Pai’s new position comes after a nearly three-year stint at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., where he served as director of network strategy. There, he played a key role in streamlining content planning across the network’s bouquet of channels, using tools like Looker and deep market insights to sharpen audience segmentation and performance forecasting.

    Before Zee, Pai spent close to seven years at Times Television Network, where he wore multiple hats across content and product management. From crafting viewer-first propositions to budgeting and performance tracking, he emerged as a critical thinker with a flair for aligning content with consumer intent.

    His career also includes a previous stint at Zee as Research Head for niche channels and product lead for Zee Studio, where his early work shaped how the network approached English-language content in India.

    At Prime Video, Pai will help steer content decisions in one of the world’s most dynamic and competitive streaming markets. With streaming giants increasingly leaning on insight-led content curation, his hybrid background in content, data and distribution is expected to play a key role in shaping Amazon’s next wave of originals and acquisitions in India.

    One thing’s clear: with this move, Pai isn’t just tuning in, he’s ready to help write the next big streaming script.

  • Times Television Network elevates Nivedita Oak to DGM

    Times Television Network elevates Nivedita Oak to DGM

    MUMBAI: Times Television Network (TTN) has elevated Nivedita Oak to deputy general manager – influence. Earlier, Oak was the regional head for Zoom, FCT and branded content. She has been working with the Times Network for the last 11 years.

    Oak started her career at Glitterati in 2005. Before joining TTN, she worked with ABP News as an account director.

    Oak has also worked with TTN as an associate account director – branded content avenues (Times Now, ET Now) for close to two years.

    She holds a B.Com degree from Mumbai University.

  • Times’ Vineet Sodhani joins Spatial Access as CEO

    Times’ Vineet Sodhani joins Spatial Access as CEO

    MUMBAI: Spatial Access, a media audit company, has a new leader at the helm; Vineet Sodhani has taken over as the CEO.

    Spatial Access co-founder and chairperson Meenakshi Menon is excited about the transformation that is under way. She says: “As media moves into a new era of complexity, Spatial Access, under the new leadership, will simplify it for its clients with custom solutions, many of which will be first time in the industry. With Vineet (Sodhani)’s strong background in research and strategy, we will provide valuable insights, a lot of it in the public domain, so that the industry gets more value.”

    Sodhani has two decades’ experience in media strategy, sales and marketing in India and the US. In the past, he has worked for Times Television Network, Starcom Mediavest Group, Hansa Research Group, AC Nielsen and ORG-MARG. In 2012, he co-authored Guide to Indian Markets and is presently working on his second book.

    Sodhani says: “Spatial Access has that rare combination of a great customer and knowledge base. This strength will be used to drive value for every rupee spent on advertising, be it ATL, BTL or digital. We will raise some critical questions, for example, transparency, ROI and wastage.”

  • Arnab quits Times Now; Twitter gets noisy

    Arnab quits Times Now; Twitter gets noisy

    MUMBAI: When a man at the top of his game moves on, he is probably got a bigger game in mind. Love him or hate him, but, you cannot ignore him. He has transformed the way news is gathered, broadcast and consumed on Indian television.

    Known for standing with his viewers, replacing discussions with his monologue brand of nationalism, Arnab Goswami, India’s preacher-in-chief, has bid adieu to Times Television Network. He was the editor-in-chief of Times Now and ET Now. The channel’s flagship primetime show at 9pm – The Newshour, was Goswami’s last as its anchor on Tuesday..

    Goswami reportedly announced his resignation at an editorial meet on Tuesday morning.

    With speculation rife everywhere about his next movement, some hint at his new independent media venture while some state that he is going to be the face of some other channel.

    One thing is clear, from Wednesday, family dinner debates will be incomplete without him. The ‘loud’ news space, a niche which he championed, will be left with a void and the nation wants to know why…He made sure that even those who dislike his debates made themselves, secretly at times, available in front of their living room TV sets to enjoy the high-decibel show.

    From what made him take this impending jump from the newsroom to what is next on the cards is still not clear. Although, right after this news broke, it took less than a minute for the Twitterati to erupt with reactions, both positive and negative. From observing a one-minute noise as a tribute to the anchor, to observing the 9-10 pm as the “Earth Day” post his resignation, following which, Twitter went berserk.

  • Arnab quits Times Now; Twitter gets noisy

    Arnab quits Times Now; Twitter gets noisy

    MUMBAI: When a man at the top of his game moves on, he is probably got a bigger game in mind. Love him or hate him, but, you cannot ignore him. He has transformed the way news is gathered, broadcast and consumed on Indian television.

    Known for standing with his viewers, replacing discussions with his monologue brand of nationalism, Arnab Goswami, India’s preacher-in-chief, has bid adieu to Times Television Network. He was the editor-in-chief of Times Now and ET Now. The channel’s flagship primetime show at 9pm – The Newshour, was Goswami’s last as its anchor on Tuesday..

    Goswami reportedly announced his resignation at an editorial meet on Tuesday morning.

    With speculation rife everywhere about his next movement, some hint at his new independent media venture while some state that he is going to be the face of some other channel.

    One thing is clear, from Wednesday, family dinner debates will be incomplete without him. The ‘loud’ news space, a niche which he championed, will be left with a void and the nation wants to know why…He made sure that even those who dislike his debates made themselves, secretly at times, available in front of their living room TV sets to enjoy the high-decibel show.

    From what made him take this impending jump from the newsroom to what is next on the cards is still not clear. Although, right after this news broke, it took less than a minute for the Twitterati to erupt with reactions, both positive and negative. From observing a one-minute noise as a tribute to the anchor, to observing the 9-10 pm as the “Earth Day” post his resignation, following which, Twitter went berserk.

  • Arnab Goswami quits as editor-in-chief of Times Television Network

    Arnab Goswami quits as editor-in-chief of Times Television Network

    MUMBAI: He transformed prime time news as India’s most vocal news journalist and anchor. So, when the news emerged that Arnab Goswami had resigned from his post as the editor-in-chief of the Times Television Network, shock waves went through the news television industry.

    Sources within the news network revealed that this morning’s editorial meeting turned out to be the occasion when Arnab announced his resignation. He had returned from a trip to the Maldives. The meeting – which had both the Delhi and Mumbai bureaus participating – went on for 45 minutes. Says a reporter who was present at the meeting: “We though it was an ordinary edit meeting. And then he dropped this bombshell.”

    Arnab went on to say that his game is really beginning now. Said he; “I have emotionally built this company. I am going to jump into a new pond. I have not heard back from the owners after I informed them about my departure..I don’t expect them to get back either. Integrity of news will keep me going and not the money. Content will be king. I will be back.”

    He is apparently slated to turn entrepreneur – something which has been talked about for at least a couple of years now, but which he has constantly denied.

    No confirmation was forthcoming from either the Times Now management or Arnab at the time of writing.

    Arnab, through his unique style of journalism, where he played judge, jury and executioner on issues and people, had during his tenure at Times Now managed to capture the imagination of the English-speaking classes. At one stage, he was known by his unique line: “The nation wants to know.”

    His shows The News Hour Debate and Frankly Speaking with Arnab Goswami were amongst the highest watched on English news television. 1 November is likely to be the last time when viewers will watch him hosting his News Hour debate.

  • Arnab Goswami quits as editor-in-chief of Times Television Network

    Arnab Goswami quits as editor-in-chief of Times Television Network

    MUMBAI: He transformed prime time news as India’s most vocal news journalist and anchor. So, when the news emerged that Arnab Goswami had resigned from his post as the editor-in-chief of the Times Television Network, shock waves went through the news television industry.

    Sources within the news network revealed that this morning’s editorial meeting turned out to be the occasion when Arnab announced his resignation. He had returned from a trip to the Maldives. The meeting – which had both the Delhi and Mumbai bureaus participating – went on for 45 minutes. Says a reporter who was present at the meeting: “We though it was an ordinary edit meeting. And then he dropped this bombshell.”

    Arnab went on to say that his game is really beginning now. Said he; “I have emotionally built this company. I am going to jump into a new pond. I have not heard back from the owners after I informed them about my departure..I don’t expect them to get back either. Integrity of news will keep me going and not the money. Content will be king. I will be back.”

    He is apparently slated to turn entrepreneur – something which has been talked about for at least a couple of years now, but which he has constantly denied.

    No confirmation was forthcoming from either the Times Now management or Arnab at the time of writing.

    Arnab, through his unique style of journalism, where he played judge, jury and executioner on issues and people, had during his tenure at Times Now managed to capture the imagination of the English-speaking classes. At one stage, he was known by his unique line: “The nation wants to know.”

    His shows The News Hour Debate and Frankly Speaking with Arnab Goswami were amongst the highest watched on English news television. 1 November is likely to be the last time when viewers will watch him hosting his News Hour debate.

  • Zoom ‘Turns On’ its OOH blitzkrieg

    Zoom ‘Turns On’ its OOH blitzkrieg

    MUMBAI: Close on the heels of its new brand overhaul and sizzling fresh content line-up, Zoom recently adopted a high visibility 360 marketing campaign that uses rich mix of media targeting key demographics in focus markets. As part of its marketing initiative, it has wrapped up an entire gleaming, sleek air-conditioned train – both, exterior and interior -on the ultra-modern Mumbai metro line with the channel’s uber-cool logo, ad creatives and colours. In addition to the Metro train-wrapping in Mumbai, Zoom also put up over 200 hoardings across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore at prominent, high traffic zones and has activated a print campaign across 37 cities.

     

    Each day, the Zoom Metro train does 38 runs between Versova and Ghatkopar, taking the brand across 12 stations. The two-week long campaign, is reaching lakhs of people in the city. The number of footfalls in a Mumbai metro is estimated around 4 lakh people.

     

    Shantanu Gangane, Head of Marketing – Times Now, ET Now & Zoom at Times Television Network said, “Bollywood is a big driver of our content mix. Zoom is recognized for providing an authentic, credible connect with Bollywood. Bollywood always towers over popular imagination; it has epic scale, and is truly larger than life. And our OOH campaign too promises to be unique and showcase innovation, our idea was to make Zoom’s marketing communication

    visually striking keeping in line with the complete brand overhaul and a change in the look and feel of the brand. We saw the sleek and ultra-modern Mumbai Metro train service as a great brand fit for the content and personality of Zoom, which delivers the most premium audiences to brands and advertisers.  So it is be-fitting that our brand Zoom literally rides a metro train.”

     

    Five creatives for the visually striking OOH campaign were conceptualized and designed keeping in mind Zoom’s brand keywords, youth-focus and trendy content line-up by Famous Innovations. They feature the channel’s brand ambassador – one of India’s best female actors and recipient of two National Film Awards, a diva with stunning good looks, an enviable style sense, an unique personality and reigning ‘Queen’ of Bollywood – Kangana Ranaut! The campaigns capture a different essence of Kangana and a unique brand dimension.

     

    During the re-launch of the brand, the week saw never seen before innovations in trade media helping Zoom capture a high share of voice using high impact innovations in both offline and online media. Zoom designed a song and a music video which was shot by legendary international director, Harvey Brown, who specialized in larger than life musicals to amplify its

    brand messaging. A fantastic song was recorded, composed by Sachin- Jigar, the flavor of the season and sung by Anuskha Manchanda. The video, titled Hotel Zoom was unveiled on the launch day across platforms and to drive engagement on social media. The song is being promoted heavily on television, radio, social media and is also live on all pan-India telecom

    operators by way of Caller Ring Back Tones (CRBTs).

     

    Additionally, digital media saw countdowns, live tweets, a live telecast of the launch event via Periscope, content promotions across all platforms leading to Zoom announcement trending nationally on Twitter. The hash tag for the campaign #TurnOnZoom received over 250 million impressions on Social media while more than 40,000 tweets were generated within a short-span of three weeks. There were around 6 million interactions on social media during this period. The channel, in order to engage with the internet-savvy generation, also ran a contest wherein the users were requested to sing and record Zoom Anthem on Dubsmash and post the video on Twitter, to win iPhone6.

     

    As for radio, Zoom tied up with radio stations in 13 cities. These radio channels played Zoom Anthem regularly for the mentioned period.

     

    Zoom also conducted extensive branding in top media agencies to create buzz among the media buyers and also arranged to send surprise doughnuts on a Monday morning to sweeten their day.

  • Canada’s ATN bags telecast rights for India – Bangladesh cricket series

    Canada’s ATN bags telecast rights for India – Bangladesh cricket series

    MUMBAI: Canada’s South Asian broadcaster Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) has acquired the exclusive broadcast rights for India vs Bangladesh Bilateral Cricket series, which is being held in Bangladesh.

     

    India’s tour of Bangladesh, which starts today (10 June, 2015) features one Test match and three One Day Internationals (ODI). The last Test between both countries was played in 2010.

     

    The series will air live on CBN & ATN Cricket Plus.

     

    ATN serves Canada’s diverse cultural communities with 54 specialty television channels. ATN has programming alliances with broadcasters like Doordarshan, Star Network, Sony Entertainment Television, Viacom, Times Television Network, B4U Network, NDTV and Disney amongst others.

  • Boom time for HD channels in India

    Boom time for HD channels in India

    The High Definition (HD) TV channels landscape is rapidly expanding in India. Amongst the various genres available today, the English general entertainment and movie channels genre is still a fragmented space and networks in their quest to stand apart from the nearest ranking rival, rely excessively upon content, marketing and a host of options among others.

     

    While not much is achieved in the process, the game of throne continues as networks try to outdo one another. A potent yet common weapon that networks are now heavily relying on is by launching HD channels.

     

    What is augmenting well for these networks is the demand by consumers for content that is best experienced in high definition. Since almost all the content in the English category is produced internationally, it makes sense in delivering it to consumers in HD only so that production values receive their due credit and viewers experience it at its best. This hunger for HD has very well transcended into networks now launching or sensing business opportunities by launching new HD channels. In some cases, an HD feed has been introduced to complement the existing Standard Definition (SD) feed. Digitisation will only ensure that the consumption of high definition shoots up further.

     

    Networks and their HD channels

     

    Star India will soon be launching two new HD English general entertainment channels (GECs). Its soon to be launched channel, Star Movies HD Select for a span of one year (365 days) has a content library of 365 movies – one for each day. About 50 per cent of the content comprises award winning Oscars and Golden Globes titles. To name a few, the channel has The Fault In Our Stars, Birdman and The Theory of Everything in its kitty.

     

    Star will also launch another new channel Star FX HD to compliment the SD feed of FX. The content of FX currently comprises Madmen, Seinfeld and the animated series Family Guy. Other HD channels from the network include Star World Premiere HD, Star World HD and Star Movies HD in addition to eight other HD channels in various genres like sports and Hindi movie and GEC.

     

    Multi Screen Media (MSM) is not far behind. With channels such as Pix, Pix HD and AXN, it is a strong player in the English movie and GEC space. On 6 April this year, the network sensed an opportunity by launching AXN HD to go along with the SD feed. For the man behind the launch, Pix and AXN EVP and business head Saurabh Yagnik the onset of digitisation and a strong audience base spending more time on special interest channels, made sense for the launch of the new feed. “While the shows will be same on the two channels, we will be tweaking some of the content for the HD feed. We could also have certain exclusive content for the HD feed in the future,” Yagnik had earlier told Indiantelevision.com. MSM also has two HD channels in the Hindi GEC and sports category.

     

    On the other hand, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Zeel) is also looking at strengthening its HD portfolio. The network will soon launch a new HD channel in the English GEC space called Zee Cafe HD to compliment its SD feed. Besides this, Zeel has five other HD channels in its channel portfolio. The content on Zee Café currently comprises shows such as Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives and Secrets and Lies amongst others.

     

    Times Network, which operates channels like Movies Now and Romedy Now is another mighty contender. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com earlier, Times Network senior vice president and English entertainment cluster head Vivek Srivastava had said that its new channel, Movies Now+ was the HD version of the SD feed but it did have some differentiating content from the SD feed. It simulcast movies on both feeds such as The Wolf Of Wall Street, which is going to be showcased on 26 April 2015.

     

    The increasing growth of premium ad free channels such as HBO Hits and HBO Defined too have resulted in aiding subscription revenues for the English entertainment genre. Strong and popular content such as Game of Thrones today is synonymous with the HBO network.

     

    Growth of HD Channels in India

     

    From the meagre three HD pay TV channels in 2010, the number has shot up to 34 in 2014, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) 2013-2014 annual report. The number jumped to 22, 31 and 33 for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. With impending launches of English movie and GEC channels this year, this number is only going to be on the rise going forward.

     

    The DTH factor

     

    Value Added Services (VAS) and HD channel penetration are strong revenue generators for Direct to Home (DTH) operators. Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera was quoted in the FICCI-KPMG report for 2015 as saying, “The boom in the panel TV industry has been a key growth in HD channel viewership. The viewers are ready to pay a premium price for HD channels. With the right pricing and packaging for these channels, HD channels can achieve faster penetration.” 

     

    As per the report, there are four million HD subscribers, which account for 10 per cent of all DTH subscribers, whereas 15 to 20 per cent of incremental subscribers in 2014 were HD subscribers. “HD adoption continues to drive ARPU growth for DTH players with the average ARPU of HD subscriber at 1.5 to 2X the ARPU of a non HD subscriber,” states the report.

     

    Conclusion

     

    Premium HD channels recorded a ten-fold top line growth with DTH accounting for over 95 per cent of the premium channel subscriber base according to the 2015 FICCI KPMG report. The success of HD viewing thus, is not just a mighty boon in for broadcasters alone, (where the Ad Ex share for the space in 2014 was at 4.6 per cent) but also for DTH operators. 

     

    As panel TV sales figures were expected to touch approximately eight million units in 2014, of which 55 per cent was expected to have been HD panel TVs, the rise is only going to be vertical in the coming years. With the share of HD and 4K TV sales expected to contribute to over 80 per cent by 2019, broadcasters’ key agenda will definitely be upping their HD channels offering. Moreover, the fact that DTH operators are more than happy to increase their HD bouquet, the growth story for HD viewing and consumption in India has only just begun.