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Tag: Viacom18 Media

  • Viacom18 & govt announce anti-piracy partnership

    Viacom18 & govt announce anti-piracy partnership

    NEW DELHI: In a step highlighting seriousness of stakeholders, Viacom18 has forged a partnership with the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management or CIPAM, a professional body under the Commerce Ministry, to launch an anti-piracy awareness campaign laying stress on the importance of IPRs.

    “A possible solution to the problem of piracy lies in creating awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) among the masses. It is pertinent that one of the main objectives enshrined in the national IPR policy is creating awareness about IPRs to build a healthy IP ecosystem in the country,” Commerce Ministry’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) joint secretary Rajiv Aggarwal said.

    Aggarwal, speaking on the partnership that was announced during an ongoing three-day national workshop on enforcement of IPRs, lauded the industry’s contribution in taking a lead to rally around the cause of IPR protection.

    According to Viacom 18 Media group general counsel and company secretary Sujeet Jain, “When it comes to consumption and circulation of pirated content, there is limited knowledge about its economic and social impact. Through this partnership with CIPAM, we hope to raise awareness amongst youth and children about the perils of piracy and the need for the protection of IPRs.”

    Content piracy, especially online, is a menace that has started to cause serious dent to revenues of content owners and also the Indian government in terms of taxes. And, it is high time that the industry and the government collaborated on a war-footing to create awareness about IPRs and anti-piracy measures being undertaken.

    As part of the association with CIPAM, Viacom18 has created a behavior change awareness videos, involving popular animated characters of its flagship kids’ channel Nickelodeon and Sonic (Motu-Patlu and Shiva, respectively), spreading the message that content piracy was equivalent to stealing.

    The campaign will see CIPAM and Viacom18 airing these videos across schools, colleges and various educational institutions, in addition to the network’s kids channels.

    Because IPRs are increasingly becoming crucial drivers of social and economic growth in the 21st century DIPP has organized a meet here, which was inaugurated by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the presence of Minister of Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju. Sessions on various aspects of IPR, its protection, existing laws and anti-piracy measures are scheduled to be discussed by industry and government representatives.

    Singh said that counterfeiting and piracy activities give rise to serious organized crimes and police officials should be equipped with proper knowledge and training so as to curb and restrain IPR breaches.  

    The workshop is designed to help police officials and prosecutors to understand their role in effective enforcement of IPRs. It will also provide an opportunity to the officials to share their experiences, exchange best practices and coordinate effectively with each other.

    Sitharaman, while emphasizing that people need to understand  ways to create and protect their intellectual property for a secure future, said the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in collaboration with CIPAM, was setting up two technology and innovation support centres  in Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

    Meanwhile, a statement from Viacom18 added that it was not the first time that Viacom18 was championing the cause of IPR protection. Earlier this year, along with the Bombay High Court, the media group conducted a crack-down on counterfeit merchandise of their licensed character Dora the Explorer.

    This initiative was primarily targeted to protect children from hazards of using inferior quality products under the impression of them being original Viacom18 merchandise. The company, which also owns film production unit Viacom18 Motion Pictures, had previously led a campaign against film piracy too.

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  • Shantanu Gangane leaves Times for Vuclip; will report to Vishal Maheshwari

    Shantanu Gangane leaves Times for Vuclip; will report to Vishal Maheshwari

    MUMBAI: Times Network’s Shantanu Gangane has resigned as the head of marketing and joined Vuclip as the head of marketing, Viu India.. Gangane served his last day on 13 January in Times Network where he was heading the marketing of Times Now, ET Now and Zoom.

    A source close to the development confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com that Gangane has joined Vuclip from 16 January. He will report to Vuclip India country head Vishal Maheshwari.

    Gangane served as the head of marketing at Times Television Network for two and a half years from August 2014. He was the associate business head of Movies Now of the same group between April 2013 and June 2014 after being the head – marketing since September 2010.

    Prior to that, he was the senior manager – marketing – MTV at Viacom18 Media. Between September 2007 and August 2010, he was the senior brand manager at Radio City India before which he was the manager marketing at Nickelodeon for close to two years till August 2007.

    Starting his career with FCB Ulka as the client servicing manager in June 2003, Gangane had joined Viacom18 in March 2005 where he served for 10 months before making the next switch.

  • Shantanu Gangane leaves Times for Vuclip; will report to Vishal Maheshwari

    Shantanu Gangane leaves Times for Vuclip; will report to Vishal Maheshwari

    MUMBAI: Times Network’s Shantanu Gangane has resigned as the head of marketing and joined Vuclip as the head of marketing, Viu India.. Gangane served his last day on 13 January in Times Network where he was heading the marketing of Times Now, ET Now and Zoom.

    A source close to the development confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com that Gangane has joined Vuclip from 16 January. He will report to Vuclip India country head Vishal Maheshwari.

    Gangane served as the head of marketing at Times Television Network for two and a half years from August 2014. He was the associate business head of Movies Now of the same group between April 2013 and June 2014 after being the head – marketing since September 2010.

    Prior to that, he was the senior manager – marketing – MTV at Viacom18 Media. Between September 2007 and August 2010, he was the senior brand manager at Radio City India before which he was the manager marketing at Nickelodeon for close to two years till August 2007.

    Starting his career with FCB Ulka as the client servicing manager in June 2003, Gangane had joined Viacom18 in March 2005 where he served for 10 months before making the next switch.

  • Nickelodeon mobilises Gen-Next with Big Green Help 2015

    Nickelodeon mobilises Gen-Next with Big Green Help 2015

    MUMBAI: Kids inspire, influence and hold the baton to the future of society. It is this kid power that Nickelodeon has sought to unleash with the Big Green Help 2015. Answering the nation’s clarion call for Swach Bharat and taking it a step further, the pro-socio environment initiative will empower and encourage kids to save the planet and its resources.

     

    The Big Green Help will provide information and tools to kids to understand various environmental issues like conserving energy, preserving nature and fighting pollution hazards, amongst many others. Nick will make this serious topic very relevant and kid friendly with the adorable Nicktoons spreading the key message of saving the planet.

     

    Viacom18 Media EVP and business head – kids cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria said, “Nickelodeon continuously engages with kids on issues that affect their lives and encourages them to take action. With The Big Green Help, we aim to provide them with the necessary knowledge so they can become part of the environmental solution and ensure a brighter future for themselves.”

     

    Post its success in the last couple of years, the Big Green Help initiative by Nickelodeon has now made its way into the digital space through an exclusive microsite (nickindia.com/BGH). The microsite will allow kids to learn more about the environmental issues and be the “Agents of Change” to make the world a healthier place.

     

    The on-air campaign further resonates this message and showcases kids taking the higher ground and encouraging adults to walk the right path.

     

    Nickelodeon has also launched a new chapter in their environmentally friendly challenge by opening up an online game – The Big Green Game with a goal of kindling real-world action for environmental change. The popular Motu – Patlu Nicktoons characters will be featured wherein they will be on a mission to clean Furfuri Nagar and make it garbage free. The online kid’s game seeks to use social media as a tool to help educate today’s children about global environmental concerns.

     

    Launched with the goal of spurring a kid-led movement, the channel also encourages kids to pledge to be green ‘Refuse, Reduce , Reuse , Recycle’ and take actionable stops in the real world through projects in their communities and schools.

  • The Content Hub: Thinking digital

    The Content Hub: Thinking digital

    MUMBAI: Digital has become the core of any strategy today. And highlighting the same were the digital content creators at indiantelevision.com’s ‘The Content Hub,’ where the makers shared their valuable insights on the success stories and how they manage making money in this competitive market.

     

    Sharing their views were Viral Fever and TVF Media Labs founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar, Rajshri Entertainment MD and CEO Rajjat Barjatya, Viacom18 Media – MTV and MTV Indies EVP and business head Aditya Swami, Qyuki Digital Media co-founder and MD Samir Bangara, Zenga Group MD and CTO Shabir Momin, YouTube head of content operations India Satya Raghavan and Multi Screen Media EVP and head – digital business Uday Sodhi.

     

    Moderated by CNBC-TV18 editor, storyboard Anant Rangaswami, the discussion began with Rangaswami raising the point of how each digital creator makes money differently in the business.

     

    According to Sodhi, while ‘digital only’ may not be the viable way of going about it right now, for popular sports it will turn around. “Look at television or any other entertainment, sports is a critical part where money goes from advertisers and from an eyeballs perspective. Why the same pattern is not followed on digital? It will happen, but how it grows and how much money it takes, only time will tell,” opined Sodhi.  

     

    Rangaswami believes it is an interesting curve and content can make money on digital. Agreeing to him, Kumar shared that in the financial year 2012-13, also the first year of TVF online network, its total turnover was equal to one day of shooting cost of an MTV promo and this financial year its total turnover is the cost of one promo of MTV. “The growth has been really phenomenal. Once upon a time, we were doing 10-15 thousand views on YouTube and the brands feature were also very less. That time there was this whole idea that a brand or a client could own a piece of content after giving you money. But cut to now, we have shows on MTV or our channel or AIB and you can see a lot of brands being open to that.”

     

    For Kumar, it is a pretty much age old television model where for example Cadbury takes a lot of money for KBC, because it is watched by a lot of people.

     

    According to Bangara, the big opportunity is the content marketing opportunity. “If advertisers and brands let creators do what they need to without putting restrictions, then it will work much better. Because audiences online are very different than audiences consuming content on the traditional platforms.”

     

    The traditional media players believe that production value equals quality. “In the online space, production value is not directly proportionate to popularity. The concept drives engagement and therefore you don’t need expensive budgets to ride your films on digital platforms,” said Bangara.

     

    Rangaswami further delved to find out whether is it easier to sell branded content on digital than on television? Contradicting his statement, Swamy feels that the future of TV is TV and from a reach and growth perspective, there is huge growth and spread still on television. “On branded content, the way we make this work is that it is the combination of bringing the screens together.  If you go to see TV and digital separately, the challenge will be much harder. But a lot of branded content that we do, we bundle the whole thing. For example, take the premium content like ‘Coke Studio’ series that we produce, we produce it as a broadcaster, give it legs on television and it kind of survives on beyond TV as well.”

     

    Going forward, Rangaswami highlighted the different needs of monetisation of content. Barjatya revealed that Rajshri has 20,000 hours of content that it has aggregated with Mukta Arts. “That brings in the revenue. But we also do a lot of experimentations. We have a channel in the entertainment space, bollywood news space, hollywood news space, television space, channels in kids, food and devotional space. These I think will grow going forward.”

     

    But, according to Barjatya, money still needs to keep coming in and that can come only through blockbuster movies, which the company has acquired over the last couple of years.

     

    According to Raghavan brands are experimenting, content creators are experimenting and the entire ecosystem is experimenting. He pointed out that the difference the industry is noticing in the last few years is that advertisers are ready to put their money on content because they believe that the creator of the content or the participant will be able to create the content and distribute it as well. “Till now what was happening was that they wanted to own the delivery itself which is why a lot of brands created good stuff but later fell off the clip. Now, they are trusting a lot on the creators. That’s where the point of money floating to content creators and to networks is multiplying.”

     

    Further adding to this, Momin felt that success on the digital platforms is not counted only by achieving the million views mark. “People get onto the digital platforms for multiple reasons. A movie production house comes to the digital platform not to make money or for ad sales but they are now looking at increasing their eyeballs reach.” He believes that there are other serious players who are trying to make this as a profession. “Branded content is becoming content and that will always be there because they are the ones who are pumping in a lot of their money but if you look at the industry overall , it is the rate of creating content which is growing,” said Momin. 

  • Nickelodeon and Sonic drive away the Back to School Blues

    Nickelodeon and Sonic drive away the Back to School Blues

    MUMBAI: Dealing with back-to-school blues with your kids? Nickelodeon is around to ease the stress. The kids’ franchise, comprising of Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr. and Teen Nick, will make school time happy time by bringing kids favourite Nickelodeon toons straight into the classrooms. Nickelodeon is geared up to take interactivity and engagement to a whole new level with their latest back-to-school programme starting August. The kids cluster intends to engage 600 schools across 19 cities over the next 6-8 weeks.

     

    Nickelodeon, the store-house of comedy where “Funny Rules”, will introduce ‘Nickelodeon Class Mein Blast Co-Presented by Ranbaxy Chericof’. This new campaign will get its three musketeers; Motu Patlu, Pakdam Pakdai and Ninja Hattori out of television and into 400 schools across 11 cities to ensure that kids in schools are welcomed back with a bang! Nickelodeon will host fun activities inculcating values around friendship and team-building, characteristics that are synonymous with the Nicktoons. The channel takes the campaign on-air by inviting kids to watch the channel from 6 PM to 7:30 PM, answer simple questions and win exciting Nick goodies. The channel is also airing fresh episodes of the three light hearted comedy shows to entertain kids when they get back home from school.

     

    Sonic, the destination for real action and adventure, is pumping in the adrenalin with its school campaign ‘Sonic Be the Ranger’. Power Rangers will be travelling across 200 schools in 8 cities engaging kids through activities that truly bring out the real ranger in kids. With the aim of inculcating bravery and courage in kids, Sonic has appointed a fitness instructor for each of the classroom sessions to teach school children some cool moves around self-defence. To take this engagement on-air, the channel is inviting kids to come and watch ‘Power Rangers’ from 1 pm to 2 pm every day, answer simple questions and win prizes. Sonic has also introduced fresh content including the new series ‘Extreme Football’. The show follows the adventures of five teams of teenagers who compete every weekend in an extreme football tournament.

     

    Speaking about the campaigns, Viacom18 Media EVP and business head, kids cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria said, “The Nickelodeon franchise believes in the Touch, Play and Feel mantra and keeping this at the core of all that we do, we have taken the adorable Nickelodeon and Sonic characters out of the television sets and brought them into the real, day to day environment of the kids. With this large experiential campaign we are sure to bring more laughter and fun to school time.”

     

    The six week long school activity on Nickelodeon and Sonic will traverse over 19 cities covering Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Allahabad, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Meerut, Pune and Nasik. Nickelodeon Class Mein Blast has been co-presented by Ranbaxy Chericof with associate sponsors Hajmola Chuzkara, Dabur Red Toothpaste and Act II and Sonic Be the Ranger campaign has associate sponsors Dabur Red Toothpaste and Act II.

     

    Nickelodeon has fresh interactivity for its digital audience as well and will celebrate Friendship Day on www.nickindia.com and on social media through https://www.facebook.com/nickindia by exciting kids to create an online “Buddy Book” with pictures of their friends.

     

    In addition, Sonic is introducing the ‘Which Turtle Are You?’ activity on www.sonicgang.com and on its social page https://www.facebook.com/sonicgang. Fans will be able to participate in contests and win cool exciting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles goodies.

  • Kids of Today and Tomorrow

    Kids of Today and Tomorrow

    If you tell your kid that ‘A is for Apple’…your kid will inform you about how Steve Jobs created Apple and how Newton saw the apple falling to the earth…

     

    Kids, today, are not the same as kids 10 years back! They are tech savvy, have a strong point of view about what they consume and are extremely perceptive about the cultures they absorb. To understand the psyche of kids and to keep pace with them, Viacom and Nickelodeon conducts numerous studies internationally and regionally. Through the research study “Kids of Today and Tomorrow” (2012) and years of experience in entertaining kids, Nickelodeon dives deep into the kids’ minds.

     

    Following are some of the key insights, the network has found out over the years.

     

    Key driver of success is happiness

     

    The key indicator of success for today’s kid is being happy. They are an optimistic bunch with a very positive outlook towards life. Humor plays an important role and it brings fun and relaxation which kids use to navigate their lives. Being funny is considered a great badge of honor. As entertainers, we should bear in mind that humor is important but should be smart and not cynical, a playful approach would be in line with the fun and happiness they seek in life. The brand philosophy of Nickelodeon is “Funny Rules” and this is kept at the core of all that is created and conceptualised on the brand.

     

    Keep it Simple Silly!

     

    This generation can separate the make-believe from what’s real. They can see through fakery and hate it when you try too hard. Kids respond best to authentic brand messages: be honest – they recognise when someone is trying to spin them a line! They’re more interested in real value than superficial trends. They respond best to direct and simple communication and connect immediately with stories told simply with characters that are honest and straightforward.

     

    Outward looking and connected

     

    Being connected is as much a part of everyday life as eating and sleeping. The advances in digital media have played a large part in broadening horizons and helping kids to be more outward looking. They interact with various screens from a very young age and as a consequence of this, broadcasters are bringing entertainment to them on multiple screens and in many different formats. The flip side to this, however, is that they have limitless cyber connections some of whom they have never even met but few close friends in real life. When it comes to the people who inspire them or the people they trust most, it’s all about close family and friends.

     

    Proud to be Indian

     

    The kids of today are increasingly expressing a great sense of love for their country. Their sense of national pride is growing stronger and they believe it’s important to maintain their country’s traditions. However, this doesn’t mean they want to close themselves off from the world or take a narrow view. Hence, it’s important for brands to localize in order to keep the Indian sensibilities intact at the same time be globally appealing to them.  

     

    More We than Me

     

    Today’s kids believe it’s important to help people in the community, protect the earth and the spirit is truly ‘We’ more than ‘Me’. They have the desire and sensitivity to be a bigger and more responsible part of the world they belong to. As a responsible brand, Nickelodeon internationally has created ‘The Big Help’, an ongoing grassroots pro-socio campaign that empowers kids to give back to their communities and planet in many interesting ways.

     

    We have only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cracking their code and our journey will have to keep pace with their constant evolution.

     

    Kids are the real change agents of today. They are wired and versatile, resilient and life ready. They have the potential to change the world for the better and they firmly believe they can make a difference. We believe that too!

     

    (These are purely personal views of Viacom18 Media EVP and business head kids cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views.)

  • Vizeum bags media duties of Integrated Network Solutions

    Vizeum bags media duties of Integrated Network Solutions

    MUMBAI: Vizeum India has been appointed as the media AoR for Integrated Network Solutions (INS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom18 Media. INS is instrumental in creating high impact and unique experiences via multifaceted marketing platforms. Vizeum has been in the news since last two weeks for its win on Jet Airways and Allied Blenders and Distillers business.
     

    The account will be handled out of the agency’s Mumbai office under the leadership of Vizeum Mumbai senior vice president Samarjit Rajkumar.

     

    Commenting on the announcement, INS Viacom18 senior vice president and business head Jaideep Singh said, “As we enter into the second year of our journey, the tasks ahead to communicate the promise and message of our experiential properties to our consumers and trade is a challenging one. Vizeum is a well-recommended agency within our group considering their work for the other brands of our Network. Therefore, partnering with them was not a decision that needed too much deliberation. We wish Vizeum all the best as we embark on an exciting journey with together.”

     

    On winning the account Vizeum managing director, India sub-continent S. Yesudas, said “We have been investing all our energies and resources behind making our clients as our true ambassadors with tangible contributions to their business issues. And we are extremely delighted that it is paying back in terms of our existing clients referring us to others. We sincerely thank the INS management for their faith in us. This further strengthens our partnership with Viacom 18 Media group. We currently handle MTV Group, ETV Group, Nickelodeon and Sonic.”