ITV

Tag: Twitter

  • TO THE NEW in association with IBN LIVE launches ‘Social Tracker 2014’

    TO THE NEW in association with IBN LIVE launches ‘Social Tracker 2014’

    MUMBAI: With the increasingly integral role that social media is playing in political campaigning for the upcoming General Elections 2014, TO THE NEW, a social and mobile first digital services provider, in association with IBN Live has launched a real-time tracker that evaluates digital conversations. The ‘Social Tracker 2014’, is a dashboard collecting data based on research by ThoughtBuzz, the social media analytics’ arm of TO THE NEW that analyzes real-time conversations and emerging trends on social media.

     

    The dashboard will track the top political personalities and political parties who are actively being discussed across social platforms, both of which will be updated on a daily as well as a weekly basis. Additionally, it will also track the sentiment around the top personalities and political parties highlighting the most positively and negatively discussed personalities and parties and share word clouds that will highlight the key sentiments that are dominating the digital platform. The dashboard will also showcase top cities from where conversations are originating.

     

    The dashboard aims to analyze digital conversation from across various social platforms such as Twitter, blogs, news sites and forums and can be viewed on the IBN Live Website starting from Monday, March 24, 2014. Audiences will receive daily updates and insights on the buzz around political campaigning in the run up to the General Elections 2014.

     

    Commenting on the tracker Irfan Khan, Marketing Head, TO THE NEW said, “Young Indians are inherently social and mobile first. As they are going to play a major role in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Social Tracker 2014 will provide real-time glimpse into the opinions, concerns and sentiments of these voters.”

     

    “There are truths in social media which conventional journalism cannot unearth. It’s very exciting to find hidden insights and report them to our readers” added Arunava Sinha, Head – IBNLive.com, Network 18 Group.

     

    You can take a look at the Social Tracker 2014 dashboard here.

  • Remember your first tweet?

    Remember your first tweet?

    MUMBAI: After tweeting hundreds of time, do you sometimes wonder what your first tweet was? Well, just use the newly launched tool by Twitter as it celebrates its eighth birthday.

     

    Ideas, anecdotes, opinions, experiences and achievements, among other things have been expressed in 140 characters since 2006, the year the now-much talked about social networking site was first introduced.

     

    While in these eight years, many have posted thousands of posts on Twitter to share joy, sadness, crib or even socialise. But there was no way one could find out their first tweet, except for scrolling down the long list to see it.

     

    So, to make life easier, Twitter is now taking people on a nostalgic ride.

     

    And as many people are busy finding out their own first tweets, we bring to you a list of the first tweets by the media biggies.

     

    @rupertmurdoch: Have just. Read The Rational Optimist. Great book.

     

    @ManishTewari Good Morning world on Dec 7 th 2012
     

    @SrBachchan: @juniorbachchan hey baby !! I made it on twitter !!! Yeeaaaaaahhhh !! … sorry..just got carried away ..safe onward flight and love

     

    @sachin_rt: Finally the original SRT is on twitter n the first thing I’d like to do is wish my colleagues the best in the windies,

     

    @iamsrk: hi everyone. being extremely shy i never thought i would be here. but my friend @kjohar25 insisted that i should learn to share my life.

     

    @punit_goenka: #MaryKom is the perfect example of what ZEE has always stood for – empowering people! May she bring home the gold medal!

     

    @cvlsrinivas: ’tis bird has flown..

     

    @haritnagpal: Finally on Twitter too!

     

    @SunilLulla: Hectic Parleying Before The Weekend That My Daughter Moves Cities

     

    @rajcheerfull:  Fireworks must be banned and If it cant be done then it should only be allowed in public places like playgrounds, beach, parks etc.

     

    @jawharsircar: RBI monitoring situation: Subbarao http://bit.ly/KhG0QO

     

    @BeingSalmanKhan: Arbaaz ne kaha ke tweet kar toh banta hai boss

     

    @NSaina: Entering the world of Twitter for the first time! Looking forward to great interactions with Fans!!! So here goes my first tweet! 🙂

     

    @ShereenYT: Young Turks Awarded For Consistent Coverage Of Innovation& Social Entrepreneurship At The unconvention Summit In Chennai

     

    @itsmeanuj: nothing is happening…dont know if i am waiting for something to happen…

     

    @parthodasgupta: off to delhi tom

     

    @Rajesh_sethi Indian Govt’s fiscal deficit may be harder to reign in than popularly envisaged. How will Govt reduce expenditure & still be populist ? #in

     

    @vikramchandra checking mail

     

    @ramankalra1 DND limiting Sabeer Bhatia’s next big idea of free global txtng…#TRAI listening? …#Infocom2011

     

    @AjitkThakur: Back on twitter after months. Under pressure from team to do some Life OK tweets! For now just saying life is OK @LifeOKTV

     

    @LloydMathias: hanging loose

     

    @nairsameer: Japs outsourcing to India…with Japan’s aging populace producing few new engineers, there is a real business opportunity here.

     

    @FRIEDFOODBRAIN:  Spilled ink on my pants. No really, it’s ink. The kind that helps a pen make squiggly lines that the learned called writing. Yup that ink.

     

    @ bhogleharsha: @Nagaraju_Dovari i do too and you do too.and cricketers and authors and singers are no different from you and me

     

    @Lk_Gupta: Ganpati statues on trucks n guys dancg arnd thm wth branches brokn fm trees. Wot?!

     

    @Sanjay_Tripathy: Going to watch the movie ‘Seven Pounds’

     

    @shaileshkapoor: Checking Twitter out!

     

    @kvpops: This is my new account. Henceforth i shall tweet from this id

  • AXN eyeing July premiere for Steven Spielberg’s Extant

    AXN eyeing July premiere for Steven Spielberg’s Extant

    MUMBAI: Launched in 1998 as the first 24×7 cable and satellite television channel in Asia dedicated to action and adventure programming, AXN continues to stand by its promise of delivering intelligent, edgy and high-energy content for an unparalleled entertainment experience

     

    With programming encompassing the latest in action blockbusters, international hit series, reality and lifestyle sports programs and AXN originals, the channel enjoys a high viewership not just in metros but also tier II and tier III cities across the country.

     

    AXN business head Sunil Punjabi spoke to Aashay Dalvi of indiantelevision.com about the channel’s programming line-up this year, its digital strategy and so on. Excerpts…

     

    Q: How has the audience response been ever since the CBS acquisition deal?

     

    At a macro level, the audience response has been very good. Take for instance, the two shows with which we launched the CBS catalogue i.e. Elementary and Beauty & the Beast. We have seen a fairly growing traction for Elementary while Beauty & the Beast has its own loyal audience. The first season of both the shows premiered sometime ago, with Indian audiences being exposed to Elementary for the first time. Initially, there were comparisons between BBC’s Sherlock and Elementary and people were vehemently opposed to having a female Dr Watson; something we expected.

     

    The difference between the two is that Elementary has more investigation while Sherlock has more drama. This has led to a lot of people slowly getting accustomed to Elementary. So after the initial backlash, we have now seen tremendous growth in audiences, which has been very encouraging for us. We have season 2 airing right now and season 3 will air in September, very close to the US telecast.

     

    The other good news is Hawaii Five-O will have a special episode featuring Mallika Sherawat, and you will soon see it in India. Blue Bloods, the fourth series that we’d taken up is also expected to do well since it is a very strong series. In the US, the show has done phenomenally well. We have also acquired Sex & the City, which we plan to air soon at 11pm. We’re giving it some rest now but once it begins, episodes will air back to back.

     

    Q: Currently, you are airing Beauty & the Beast and Elementary five days a week. Will you be moving to airing them weekly to be closer to the US telecast?

     

    We had two options, the first of which was to run the series close to the US telecast, but for viewers who are not familiar with the older season, that tactic wouldn’t have worked. So, we decided to go with option 2 entailing stripping the first two seasons and allowing viewers to binge-watch them one after the other. This would build enough anticipation by September when season three premieres.

     

    Q: There has been no official statement from either CBS or The CW on subsequent seasons of Elementary and Beauty & the Beast. Can your earlier statement regarding the airing of season three of both series be considered official?

     

    As far as we know, both Elementary and Beauty & the Beast have been renewed for sure. However, from the public’s perspective, you will have to wait and hear from CBS and The CW since I cannot speak for them.

     

    Q: Programming-wise, what are your plans for the new fiscal year?

     

    The acquired properties we would like to talk about are some of the big ones like 24: Live Another Day. On Thursday, Variety Magazine reported that the second most expensive ad in the US is benchmarked on 24, with half a million dollars for just a 30-second slot. The entire prospect of 24 has blown out of proportion and this season is set in the UK. Content wise, it is shaping up really well. We believe that it is going to be one very large tent-pole property for us.

     

    After 24, the second large tent-pole property for us is Top Gear, with the new season returning in the month of July, which is where we have seen some tremendous amount of traction. We just had season 21 premiere in January and presently, only the core Top Gear audience is watching it though we want to get a much larger audience. Anybody who currently owns a car should be watching Top Gear, which is a fairly large population of the country by itself.

     

    Also in July, we are trying to get another big property, Extant, produced by Steven Spielberg, which marks the TV debut of Halle Berry. We have the second season of The Hero and we plan to air all episodes of 24: Live Another Day at a stretch. While getting so much new content, the old content tends to get lost. So, while I want new content, the problem lies in scheduling and timing.

     

    Q: AXN programming was earlier known for its male skew but over the past few years, it has been increasingly targeting the female audience. Was that deliberate?

     

    There are two main changes that we’ve seen; one, there has been a systematic change in female consumption, and two, the female audience too wants the thrill factor while watching TV. Shows like Orphan Black, with a female protagonist, have helped us get more female viewership.

     

    But whether we have become a female-skewed channel, we will never be that; we will remain a predominantly male-skewed channel. But, we have seen a lot women come and consume our content. The male vs. female audience ratio earlier was 70:30, but is now 60:40.

     

    Q: Which programmes get more advertisers? Are there any emerging large spenders?

     

    Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and telecom services form a significant share of the advertising spends. One very large advertiser that we’ve constantly been adding is automobiles, having already increased its share because of Top Gear. We believe it will be much bigger, going forward and it won’t be just auto but also auto accessories.

     

    Q: What’s in it for these advertisers?

     

    As an advertiser, the two main things you look for are a premium audience and a large brand fix, and we offer both.

     

    Q: How do you plan to engage digital media to increase viewership of your channel?

     

    We’ve now reached a stable point in the digital media initiative that we started a year and a half back. We had a couple of things to consider; the first being a consumer survey of social media and the second, connect, which has almost become equivalent to word-of-mouth. There is pre-launch and post-launch chatter that takes place. That is where we have been pushing ourselves on the digital front; what are people saying before the show is launched, and what are they saying after seeing the show. Engagement at the pre- and post- level helps us get loyalty for the channel.

     

    Q: Which platforms is AXN making its presence felt in terms of social media? Do you plan to add more social platforms?

     

    Facebook and Twitter have been our primary digital platforms. We have received more traction on Twitter than on Facebook. We have got a good response to a lot of good shows on Twitter in the last four to five months. We have trended many a times on Twitter; not just on the days of our premieres but even regular days.

     

    As for the second part of your question, we don’t want to be jumping too many trains. We started with Facebook and Twitter a year and a half ago and we want that to mature before getting onto a new train. The amount of people engaging with us on these platforms is growing almost daily. We want to grow our hold on Facebook and Twitter for the next six to eight months, and we hope other things will follow.

     

    Q: Do you have specific digital marketing strategies to bring out that extra special something?

     

    We have MSE, which handles social media for us. Gone are the days where you used to pay for posts. Now, people are getting more agnostic towards such posts. So, last year, we had a Supernatural Thrillathon and a six city on-ground activation along with it. We did that again at the time of Sherlock to know what people thought of the content. We have seen the community of Supernatural grow nearly 50 per cent in the last year. We are not driving it; we have been only the facilitator in the process. So, the viewers are driving it themselves…

  • Suits Season 2 FB App: Are You a Real Suitor?

    Suits Season 2 FB App: Are You a Real Suitor?

    Brand and communication objectives:

    Promoting television shows – be it reality or drama or even comedy for that matter – is really serious business. Especially in a cluttered television space that is vying for audiences glued to their favourite programs. Viacom18 owned Comedy Central India, the Indian version of Comedy Central devoted to catering to our constant need to laugh, launched a social media game for the second season of its legal comedy drama series ‘Suits’.

    The objectives were twofold:

    1. To capitalize on the show’s wide appeal and provide a refresher to audiences before the second season
    2. To drive eyeballs to the latest episodes of the show

    Target Audience: Information on Demographics and Psychographics of intended target audience

    Comedy Central reaches an affluent, internet savvy audience. The average viewer is a working professional whose television viewing time is fairly limited.

    Campaign Details:

    How we achieved our outcome, including creative & media communication strategies and execution.

    Comedy Central created conversations around Suits through a “Suits challenge”. It tested die-hard fans of the show to find out if they have what it takes to be a real Suitor. It used an innovative approach of creating a treasure hunt across the web. Fans needed to hunt for clues across social media – spanning Comedy Central’s gamut of properties – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. Fans needed to watch a video on YouTube to complete a quote, find a hint on Pinterest image board or tweet with a hashtag #IfIWereJessica to @comedycentralin. In true Comedy Central spirit fans also needed to research funny laws and odd facts to complete the game.

    The game consisted of six levels and with six questions around the six key characters thereby increasing familiarity and recall. Participation was further incentivized with exclusive custom made Suits merchandise.

    The game was marketed through a mix of television and on-line promotions. And the fans loved it. Over 50,000 participants signed up to test their “Suits Quotient” giving us 308,000 page views and 199,160 unique views. A fairly healthy bounce rate of 30% proved that audiences were engaging with the content.

    Results:

    Comedy Central used a unique technology of weaving different social media platforms into a single game creating a truly platform agnostic experience. The application was integrated with Facebook and Twitter allowing fans to sign in and post and tweet without leaving the gaming interface.

    Another tricky element from a technology point of view was creating the mechanics of a Treasure Hunt. Fans could only move forward if each question was answered correctly. While they could keep trying again and again they were only eligible to win if they got all the questions right in their first try. This means that the backend needed to differentiate between users with single tries and users with multiple tries and throw up a unique “result page” for each category. This fed back into the campaign strategy of separating the true Suits fans from the others, while still keeping all participants engaged up to the end.

    The final question – did this campaign succeed in driving audiences to Suits Season 2? The answer is a resounding yes. Social media conversations around the show increased and the show hashtag  #SuitsS2onCC trended in India. 

  • MTV allows youth to connect with #RockTheVote on Twitter

    MTV allows youth to connect with #RockTheVote on Twitter

    MUMBAI: With the entire nation under the election fever, MTV has announced a strategic use of the Twitter platform as part of the Hero MTV Rock The Vote initiative to enhance the interactivity and reach of the campaign across youth. A first-of-its kind interactive experience to tap the digital universe, the leading youth brand MTV has launched “Follow the Hashtag” which will allow users of all kinds of devices to listen and engage with the #RockTheVote conversation on Twitter.

    This will be the first time this kind of call-to-action innovation will be visible to the audiences globally. Through this feature, the mobile user does not need to be online while listening in to the conversations on #RockTheVote on Twitter. The user can dial 011-30494949 and follow the discussions on #RockTheVote, even while offline. Key tweets and interactions from @MTVIndia on #RockTheVote will be delivered on their phone via an SMS enabled by ZipDial, another strategic technology partner. This underscores MTV’s commitment to encourage every youngster to participate in the campaign and vote in the upcoming elections; and does not limit to their access to internet or expensive phones.

    Speaking about the exciting innovation, Sumeli Chatterjee, Head – Marketing & Insights, MTV India said, “MTV Rock the Vote initiative is an interactive campaign that is designed to fuel conversations around elections. And Twitter is one of the leading real-time, interactive information networks in the world. The ‘Follow the Hashtag’ feature will ensure we reach out beyond just the smart phone users…thus allowing the large user base of regular (feature) phones to interact with the Rock The Vote campaign. Starting with crowd-sourced videos from colleges, web series on Funny FAQs on voting, selfies of youth ‘inked’ during election, live tweeting the college concerts, interactive television programming, comic strips and satires…the tongue in cheek messaging of Hero MTV Rock The Vote is naturally integrated with Twitter conversations. This feature phone service will ensure the conversation reaches far and wide across the online and offline youth universe, and hopefully mobilize the eligible new voters to step out and vote.”

    Commenting on this innovation, Rishi Jaitly, India Market Director, Twitter said, “Twitter is the world’s leading mobile, real-time information network where users follow, share and experience content that is live, public and conversational. In India, Twitter has brought our users closer to the issues and moments that matter to them, while also enabling them to express their views and participate in real-time. We applaud MTV India for innovating on our platform on the occasion of Rock The Vote and for using Twitter’s unique mobile service to engage its viewers.”

    MTV has launched ‘Hero MTV Rock The Vote’ as a non partisan initiative to drive awareness and education of the young generation to vote in upcoming general elections. The campaign objective is to drive conversations around voting and is built on the philosophy that ‘you cannot complain, if you do not vote’. Therefore, it has a huge skew towards the social media and mobile interactions. MTV is also planning to launch hashtag wars on youth issues / voting along with live debates with political spokespersons & election experts leveraging the Twitter platform. Giving this social campaign a humorous skew, the channel has also launched a series of witty videos to capture people’s funny reactions on voting. The web series, ‘Voting FAQs’, captures funny reactions of people to some fun questions asked around the elections. The questions are bold, tricky and most of the times, confusing, thus testing the opponents’ general knowledge while giving you a dose of laughter.

    Discuss with MTV about power to vote using #RockTheVote on Twitter or dial 011-30494949 from your mobile to listen in. This election step out and vote!

     

  • Jim Beam Partners with Mila Kunis for Global Marketing Campaign

    Jim Beam Partners with Mila Kunis for Global Marketing Campaign

    MUMBAI: Jim Beam, the world’s #1 Bourbon, and award-nominated actress Mila Kunis are teaming up to “make history” in 2014 and beyond. Kunis joins the Jim Beam family as a global partner and spokesperson, and will play a leading role in Jim Beam’s new Make History™ multi-media brand campaign that will reach more than 100 markets worldwide. Make History™ is the first-ever global marketing campaign for the iconic American brand, which traces its history to 1795. The television campaign featuring Kunis will premiere in the next few months in the brand’s largest markets, including the U.S., Australia and Germany.   
     

    “Jim Beam has been making history by producing the world’s finest bourbon through seven generations of family distillers, and this partnership truly signifies a new era for the brand – an era in which we push boundaries even further, attracting new fans across the globe and continuing the great growth we’ve enjoyed on the brand,” said Kevin George, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Beam Inc. [NYSE:BEAM]. “Mila’s love of bourbon, her appreciation for the authenticity of our brand, her warm personality and her global relevance to our Make History™ campaign makes her the perfect partner. Anyone would want to share a Jim Beam with Mila. We love that about her, and couldn’t be happier to have her join the Jim Beam family.”

     

    The Make History™ campaign will premiere three new television commercials featuring Kunis in the U.S. in mid-February and will roll out in markets worldwide over the next few months. Kunis will also be featured in retail materials and content on Jim Beam’s website, www.jimbeam.com, Facebook (www.facebook.com/JimBeamUS) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/jimbeamofficial).

     

    “As a fan of bourbon and a huge proponent of making history, I am thrilled to be the newest member of the Jim Beam family,” said Kunis, who has spent time in Clermont, Ky., with Jim Beam’s seventh generation Master Distiller, Fred Noe, immersing herself in the heritage, traditions and craftsmanship of “America’s Native Spirit.”

     

    Jim Beam’s TV advertising campaign was created by FutureWorks, a partnership between three independent agencies who lead Jim Beam creative efforts in key markets: StrawberryFrog (New York), The Works (Sydney) and Jung von Matt (Hamburg). In the U.S., the ads will appear across multiple media properties, including Turner Sports/BleacherReport, NBA telecasts, FXX, Spike, History Channel, AMC, Food Network and ESPN networks, as well as in media properties across the globe.
     

    The U.S. campaign will feature Jim Beam’s full portfolio of brands, including Jim Beam® White, Jim Beam Black®, Devil’s Cut®, Jim Beam® Honey, Jim Beam® Maple, Jacob’s Ghost® Aged White Whiskey, Jim Beam® Signature Craft and Red Stag by Jim Beam®. To view a video of Kunis’ visit to the Jim Beam Distillery, visit: http://youtu.be/MC_35SsHANM. And for more information on the world’s #1 bourbon, please visit www.jimbeam.com, www.facebook.com/JimBeamUS or http://twitter.com/jimbeamofficial.

  • NBCUniversal News Group announces strategic collaboration and investment in NowThis News

    NBCUniversal News Group announces strategic collaboration and investment in NowThis News

    NBCUniversal News Group announces strategic collaboration and investment in NowThis News

     

    NEW YORK: The NBCUniversal News Group, one of the most influential and respected news portfolios in the world, and NowThis News, the first exclusively short-form video news network built specifically for mobile and social, have agreed that the News Group will take a minority stake in NowThis News and the two companies will co-produce original short-form news videos to be distributed across mobile and social platforms. Content will be produced by co-located NowThis News and NBCUniversal News Group teams based out of NowThis News’s New York City studio.

     

    NowThis News is a news organization that specializes in creating unique, short-form video for audiences across social platforms that include, but aren’t limited to, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, YouTube and Snapchat. Videos are combined into NowThis News’s Android and Apple apps and a mobile website, allowing viewers to seamlessly watch updates delivered to their pockets, wherever they are.

     

    As more people consume news and information on mobile and social media, this collaboration will capitalize on the News Group’s world-class news operations and NowThis News’s approach to original, short-form storytelling to reach the next generation of users.

     

    “We know that news consumption among younger audiences continues to grow, but in order to reach that audience, we need to continue to create video for the platforms they use most. NowThis News does exactly that — delivering relevant news stories for the mobile and social platforms that resonate with this audience,” said Patricia Fili-Krushel, Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group. “We’re excited to incorporate this relationship into our overall strategy – to innovate inside and outside the company – positioning the News Group for future success.”

     

    Kenneth Lerer, NowThis News’s Co-Founder and Manager Director of Lerer Ventures, said, “By working together, the NBCUniversal News Group and NowThis News can learn from each other and build a great digital news experience that’s a win-win for the new news consumer who wants all video, all the time, built for social and mobile. This partnership allows us to showcase our shared vision of combining the world’s strongest news brands with NowThis News to super serve consumers.”

     

    NBCUniversal News Group and NowThis News will collaborate to create original, short-form videos that fit where the audience lives. The teams will co-produce content for TODAY, MSNBC, NBC News and CNBC such as:

     

    Mashups: Covering daily political, pop culture, or business news
    Explainers: Breaking down business, political or financial news

     

    “Our partnership with NowThis News is another example of our commitment to emerging platforms so that our advertising partners can increase their audience reach,” said Linda Yaccarino, President, Advertising Sales, NBCUniversal. “With this collaboration we have the ability to innovate and harness the power of compelling video and create campaigns that resonate more strongly with consumers.”

     

    The partnership represents the latest in a series of moves that the NBCUniversal News Group, whose digital assets include NBCNews.com, msnbc.com, TODAY.com, and CNBC.com has made in the digital space. Together these assets reach more than 70M unique users. Recently, the News Group also announced an investment and content partnership with Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg’s new venture, Revere Digital, launched a new msnbc.com, created new original video units for NBC News and CNBC and acquired live stream video platform, Stringwire.

     

    NBCUniversal News Group

     

    The NBCUniversal News Group is one of the most influential and respected portfolios of on-air and digital news properties in the world, reaching over 147 million people each month.

     

    The Group includes NBC News, a broadcast leader of global news and information for over 75 years and home to such respected programs as “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Today,” “Meet the Press,” and “Dateline;” MSNBC, the premiere destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful political commentary and informed perspectives reaching more than 96 million households worldwide; CNBC, the recognized world leader in business news reaching approximately 395 million homes worldwide as well as The Weather Channel and digital platforms including the NBC News Digital Group, msnbc.com, CNBC.com. The NBCUniversal News Group also extends on its nationwide network of owned and affiliate stations, NBC News and CNBC Radio; as well as MSNBC on Sirius XM radio.

     

    NowThis News

     

    NowThis News is a Lerer Ventures startup and portfolio company that has produced over 10,000 original 6, 15, and 30 second news videos for rapidly growing social and mobile audiences. The company was founded by Huffington Post co-founder and former Chairman Kenneth Lerer, and former Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau. From studios in New York, Washington DC, NowThis News produces over 50 daily video updates for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine, YouTube, All of the NowThis News platforms can be found here: http://www.nowthisnews.com/whatsup

     

    Lerer Ventures

     

    Lerer Ventures is a New York-based, seed stage venture capital fund led by Managing Directors Kenneth Lerer, Eric Hippeau, Ben Lerer and Jordan Cooper. LV invests in founders in the earliest stages of a startup’s life, seeking out entrepreneurs with product vision, consumer insight, focused execution and unwavering ambition. Its portfolio includes Buzzfeed, Warby Parker, Thrillist, Percolate, Fullscreen, Food52, Songza, RebelMouse and Refinery29.

  • Raheel Khursheed joins Twitter India

    Raheel Khursheed joins Twitter India

    MUMBAI: Although Twitter India started its operations two years ago, it has always kept a low profile in the country. Subtly it keeps adding people to its organisation that is currently headed by Rishi Jaitley who is the director of the social media here. The recent appointment is former Times Now and CNN-IBN senior correspondent Raheel Khursheed as head of news, politics and government.

     

    According to a MediaNama report he will provide front-line technical support to journalists, politicians and governmental agencies. Twitter sources confirmed that he had joined the company but could not reveal any more details.

     

    Both Jaitley and Khursheed have mentioned his appointment on their Twitter pages. Prior to this Khursheed was with change.org where he was heading the communication strategy around campaigns in India and building its brand.

     

    The article also states that his role would be to work on expanding Twitter’s relation with journalists, government officials and politicians to increase their usage of the popular social media website.

     

    Twitter India has also hired Arvinder Gujral to head its mobile business development for India and south East Asia, Aneesh Madani to handle sports partnerships and Pratiksha Rao as associate partnerships manager.

  • Happy New Year’s poster out, trends on Twitter

    Happy New Year’s poster out, trends on Twitter

    MUMBAI: The year ended with a promise of a Happy New Year ahead. And literally so, the first poster of Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt Ltd’s next film directed by Farah Khan, Happy New Year (HNY) launched on 2 January. The poster was first sent to all fans and fan clubs on the social media sites as a gratification for their support. Interestingly, the hashtag #HNYposter started trending on Twitter soon after the poster was released.

     

    The film stars Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood and Vivaan Shah in lead roles. The film that will release during Diwali is under-production and has an interesting genre that of a Musical Heist.

     

    Farah said in a release, “My dream project Happy New Year takes another step towards realisation with the first poster being launched today. I believe in cinema that entertains and with a dream cast like this we hope it will be the most entertaining film of the year. Shah Rukh and I have had a dream partnership always and with this our third collaboration we hope it will be a very Happy New Year indeed!”

     

    The film has taken a step ahead in promoting the film by tying up with Digigraph that is a preferred technology/App partner of Twitter based in Los Angeles. Digigraph, on special request from Twitter India agreed to undertake this first of its kind initiative for any film ever across the globe. Any Twitter user who is a fan of the movie or the cast as well as the director has received a personalised poster signed by the artist of their choice addressed specifically to the fan in his name in the artist’s own handwriting as well as language delivered to each fan on his/her twitter handle.

     

    Digigraph.me co-founder & COO Tom Smart said, “We are humbled and honoured to help renowned Indian film studio, Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt. Ltd. in building awareness for the release of the poster of their new film, HNY fans from around the world will now be able to personally take part in the moment by requesting, claiming and sharing personalised, and collectable digital photos, digitally autographed by the stars in the movie and delivered instantly into Twitter newsfeeds and other social media networks.”