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Tag: Viacom18

  • BARC Wk 22: Sun TV back on top across genres

    BARC Wk 22: Sun TV back on top across genres

    BENGALURU: The Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV was back at the pole position in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly list of top 10 channels across genre – All India (U+R): 2+ individuals for week 22 of 2018 Saturday, 26 May 2018 to Friday, 1 June 2018 (week under review).

    The Tamil GEC was followed at second place by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel)’s free to air (FTA) Hindi GEC Zee Anmol.

    Three channels each from the Star India network and Zeel, two channels from the Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) and one channel each from the Sun TV Network and Viacom18 made up BARC’s weekly list of top 10 channels across genre in week 22 of 2018.

    From the genres perspective, six were Hindi GECs, two were Hindi Movies and there was one channel each from the Tamil and the Telugu genres, respectively, in BARC’s weekly across genres list for week 22 of 2018.

    Sun TV moved up one rank in week 22 of 2018 to first place with 856.341 million weekly impressions as compared to second rank and 842.114 million weekly impressions in the previous week. Sun TV also headed BARC’s weekly list of top five Tamil channels in the Puducherry and Tamil Nadu markets. The first four programmes in BARC’s weekly list of top five Tamil programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in the same markets were aired on Sun TV.

    Zee Anmol slipped a rank to second place in week 22 of 2018 with 824.581 million weekly impressions as compared to 893.536 million weekly impressions in week 21. Zee Anmol was also ranked first in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in the combined urban and rural Hindi speaking or HSM (U+R) and individual rural Hindi speaking or HSM (R) markets during the week under review.

    Two programmes, the Balaji Telefilms-produced soap Kumkum Bhagya and Mahek that were aired on Zee Anmol were among BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (U+R) and HSM (R).

    Moving up a rank after the exit of the IPL 11-airing Star India’s Star Sports 1 Hindi was Viacom18’s FTA Hindi GEC Rishtey. Rishtey garnered 669.004 million weekly impressions in week 22 as compared to 691.066 million weekly impressions in week 21 of 2018. Rishtey was also ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and (HSM (R).

    Buoyed by the strong performance of the concluding part of the Hindi version of SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus Bahubali: The conclusion or BB2 in all the three markets — HSM (U+R), HSM (R) and HSM (U) — SPN’s Hindi Movies channel Sony Max jumped up four ranks to fourth place in week 22 of 2018.

    Sony Max garnered 664.599 million weekly impressions in the week under review as compared to 541.020 million weekly impression and eighth rank in week 21 of 2018. Sony Max topped BARC’s weekly list of top five Hindi Movies channels in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U) and was ranked fifth in HSM (R).  BB2 was ranked first in BARC’s list of top 5 Hindi Movies programmes in all the three markets. Another Hindi feature film (HFF) Hichki, which aired on Sony Max, was also among the top 5 Hindi Movies programmes during primetime in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U) markets.

    Zeel’s flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV retained its previous week’s rank, fifth, in week 22 of 2018 with higher ratings. The channel scored 624.069 million weekly impressions in week 22 as compared to 612.352 million weekly impressions in week 21 of 2018. Zee TV, ranked third in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R), was ranked first in HSM (U) and sixth in HSM (R). Three prgrammes from the channel, Kumkum Bhagya, its spinoff Kundali Bhagya and Mahek, were among the five most watched programmes during primetime in HSM (U+R), while the former two were among the five most watched programmes during primetime in HSM (U) and HSM (R).

    SPN’s women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal also retained its previous week’s rank, sixth, with 581.109 million weekly impressions in week 22 as compared to 605.098 million weekly impressions in week 21 of 2018.

    Sony Pal was ranked fourth in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 Hindi GECs in HSM (U+R) and third in HSM (R). The sitcom Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah that was aired on Sony Pal was among the top five programmes during primetime in HSM (R) in BARC’s list of the top 5 Hindi GEC programmes during primetime based on average rating across all airings (original and repeat) in the week in HSM (R).

    Ranks seventh, eighth and ninth in week 22 of 2018 were held by three Star India channels. The FTA Hindi GEC Star Bharat retained its previous week’s seventh rank in week 22 of 2018 with 540.519 million weekly impressions as compared to 568.156 million weekly impressions in week 21. Star Bharat was ranked fifth in BARC’s list of top 10 Hindi GECs in all the three markets – HSM (U+R), HSM (U) and HSM (R).

    At eighth rank in week 22 of 2018 was Star India’s Telugu GEC Star Maa with 539.206 million weekly impressions as compared to the ninth rank and 509.836 million weekly impressions in week 21. Star Maa topped BARC’s weekly list of the top 5 Telugu channels in the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana markets. Three of the top five Telugu programmes during primetime in these markets were aired on Star Maa.

    Re-entering the list in week 22 of 2018 was another FTA Hindi GEC channel Star Utsav with 501.065 million weekly impressions. Star Utsav was ranked sixth in BARC’s weekly list of top10 Hindi GECs’ in HSM (U+R) and ranked fifth in HSM (R).

    Zeel’s Hindi Movies channel Zee Cinema entered BARC’s across genres list for the first time in calendar year 2018 in week 22. The channel was also ranked second in BARC’s weekly list of top 5 Hindi Movies channels in HSM (U+R) and HSM (U). The world television premier of the Akshay Kumar-starrer HFF PadMan, which was among the top five Hindi Movies programmes during primetime in the HSM (U+R) and HSM (R) and the Rajshree Productions’ hit Hum SaathSaath Hain from the year 1999 in HSM (U) were also responsible for the channel’s entry into the top 10 channels list

  • Nick to target 500 hrs of original content in next 12 months

    Nick to target 500 hrs of original content in next 12 months

    MUMBAI: Viacom18’s kids cluster, Nickelodeon, is all set to launch its fifth original show named Magictoon and Prince of Magic ‘Rudra – Boom Chik Boom’, a magic comedy series. The show is produced by green gold animation and will be aired on Rishtey and Voot as well. This half an hour, break free show will telecast from 11 June 2018 between Monday to Friday at 7.25 pm.

    The repeat telecast of the show, written by Niraj Vikram, will be aired during two slots – 10 am and 7 pm every Monday to Friday. Gulzaar has once again penned lyrics for the title track, which is sung by Arhaan Hussain to the high-octane music created by Simaap Sen.

    Viacom18 kids cluster senior VP and GM Nina Jaipuria said that the show will be available on Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language feeds. “We could also think of other languages such as Kannada and Bengali audio feeds,” she said.

    Delving more into the clusters’ pockets, the network has also plans to roll out movies for Shiva and Gattu Battu and has also started creating games for Rudra. Pointing out that that locally made shows like Pakdam Pakdai contribute 30 per cent to the viewership, Jaipuria added, “Going forward, in the next 12 months we target to offer 500 hours of local content.”    

    Speaking about the syndication plans, the cluster has rolled up its sleeves to syndicate local IP shows such as Shiva, Motu Patlu and Gattu Battu to countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal and Mauritius.

    The channel stands just next to genre leader Disney, which has 30 per cent market share, while Nick has 28 per cent share, followed by Turner with 20 per cent, others with 12 per cent and Sun Net with 10 per cent, the company said.

    Jaipuria said, “I had promised to overtake Turner at some point. With Turner at 20 per cent and Nick at 28 per cent (market share), we now have our eyes on making sure that we overtake Disney. We hope that we try and succeed in the next summer.”

    However, she added that being number one is not enough and the company’s decisions have to make business sense at the end of the day.

    What about ad sales? Patting her team on the back, Jaipuria said, “Despite all the (after effects of) GST and currency demonetization, we had an exciting sales team which pulled out a top line growth of 15 per cent out of nowhere.

    Apart from ad sales growth, subscription revenue and the ancillary revenue streams too had increased contributing to the top line, Jaipuria said, adding, “Over three years, we had 9x growth in our profitability. We have increased our ad rates and today we are dropping (ad) spots on air as we don’t have enough inventories to play out.”

    According to Jaipuria, in an effort to increase monetization of content, which was earlier one per cent and increased to three per cent, Nick is trying to go “beyond the 30 second vanilla spot that is typically what advertisers put on air.” In terms of revenues, 90 per cent of it comes from ad sales and subscriptions.

    Considering Nick’s impressive growth in terms of viewership and revenues, the year 2019 is likely to have a plethora of new plans for its young audiences.

    Also Read :

    Nick’s school programme curates memorable experiences for kids, says Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Colors-Nick and KidZania to blend entertainment with reality

    ITV Network readies Punjabi music channel

    Enterr10 to launch two Bengali channels

    Industry optimistic about RPD technology for viewership

  • MTV Beats brings FOUR HOURS of uninterrupted music with Ad Free Mornings

    MTV Beats brings FOUR HOURS of uninterrupted music with Ad Free Mornings

    MUMBAI: Mornings are the time when everyone looks to pump up and rejuvenate themselves for the day ahead and nothing helps unwind like good music. MTV Beats, India’s 24X7 Hindi music channel extends happy hours for music by introducing Ad-Free Mornings from 7.30 AM – 11.30 AM. For the first time ever on Indian television, the newly launched segment guarantees uninterrupted entertainment for FOUR HOURS to its viewers. The brand through its series of eight quirky videos showcases TVCs that gets washed out before it ends to highlight ‘Ad-Free’ content advocating a seamless viewing experience.

    Taking the uninterrupted affair, a notch higher, MTV Beats will also play favorite tracks of the renowned Indian musicians. The channel has always kept its viewing experience at forefront by constantly evolving their packaging, format and engaging with its audiences. People like to tune in for a dose of fresh music while working out, rushing to work and doing their morning chores.

    Bringing its quirky appeal to their audience, the brand has opted for Ad- Free Mornings to keep energy levels elevated and add a dash of exhilaration to dull mornings.

    Speaking about the latest development, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd, Head Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Ferzad Palia commented, “We understand that our viewers look to music on MTV Beats to set their mood in the morning. So, we have decided to give our viewers an uninterrupted viewing experience through Ad – Free Mornings. We have created a series of quirky TVCs to highlight our new offering and propagate the philosophy of Ad- Free Mornings. It is important to introduce fresher content and experiences for our audiences in order to keep them engaged with the brand.”

    The campaign ads will be played across network channels i.e. Vh1, COLORS INFINITY, Comedy Central, Rishtey, Rishtey Cineplex, COLORS, COLORS Marathi in addition to MTV Beats.

    Links below:

  • Colors makes push into Bangla, Kannada with new shows

    Colors makes push into Bangla, Kannada with new shows

    MUMBAI: The Mukesh Ambani majority owned Viacom18 is firing ahead on two regional markets: Kannada and Bangla. Its flanking Kannada GEC Colors Super is all charged up to roll out eight show come 11 June, while Colors Bangla is unveiling a new season of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire format – Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti.

    The reason: the channel’s management is hoping to build up on the momentum the two have been gathering. While Colors Super has grown by 280 per cent in terms of reach and viewership in just the past year, Colors Bangla has seen its viewership double while its reach has gone up from 28 per cent to 40 per cent and its share has leapfrogged to eight per cent. So much so that it ranks third in the regional pecking order after Colors Kannada and Colors Marathi for Viacom18.

    “We are the one who understood the Kannada viewers wonderfully and understood what they wanted and we ran out of slots for our ideas. Because our existing shows are doing so good in a way and we have a couple of other plans so we needed another platform to execute them,” says Viacom 18 regional entertainment head Ravish Kumar. “The top shows were rating ninth, tenth and eleventh and there is lot of length left in the story, so I had no choice other than launching another channel. You must have seen the same network having several channels of kids, music, GEC but you have not seen a network having two channels of the same genre in the regional space.”

    The Colors Super offering appears to be a bit of a smorgasbord, spanning genres: socio mytho, family drama, romance, sitcom (which was an ETV Kannada property called Papa Pandu), a legal-based show with CLF for weekdays and two singing reality shows on weekends. These shows will be followed by Bigg Boss Kannada which will launch in September – October. A point to note is that Bigg Boss Kannada, helped polevault Colors Super to the No 2 spot in the non-fiction genre.

    A specially created promo ‘June Tingalu Super Tingalu’ has been hitting the channel for the past few days.

    Adds Ravish: “We built up a certain viewership base and we wanted to grow that even further and each one of these shows has helped us to do that. We could have continued with the current line-up. But since we at Colors feel that June is a month of change, we thought of coming up with new shows  which I hope people will like more.”

    With two years being crossed for Colors Super, the channel felt the need for more powerful narration and even giving a break to newcomers. “We liked their talent and decided to give them a break. I hope they will do a good job,” says Kumar. Among the old ones are Majaa Bharat and Majaa Talkies with the latter being produced by Kannada superstar Srujan Lokesh. The packaging has been entirely done by Colors in-house team.

    The Bengali version of KBC is produced by BIG Synergy with the usual fanfare of a quiz show. The Bangla version will premiere on 16 July 2018, every Monday to Friday at 9 pm. Taking the reigns as the host will be Bengali cinema stalwart Prosenjit Chatterjee.

    According to Kumar, the regional entertainment market is extremely dynamic in nature and the viewer appetite for quality content is fast increasing. He feels that Chatterjee is the host with the right mix of intellectual appeal and grandeur.

    Indiantelevision.com’s Poulami Sengupta spoke to Ravish Kumar on the sidelines of the show launch about the network’s plans to expand the Bangla and Kannada markets. Excerpts from the interview

    How has Colors’ distribution been in the Bengal market?

    I think our distribution is good. We are at par with other channels. What we really need to overdrive is the sense of excitement from the brands. This is what we are trying to do with KBC. Over time everyone starts to get very comfortable with their choices- the moment something comes it needs to be different from what is already there in the market. We come from a legacy of ETV, we work hard to modernise it across all our markets to make it contemporary and in line with the footprint of Colors.

    Who were the sponsors on board?

    The sponsors are yet to be decided. The show is still about 45 days away. So while a lot of conversations are going on, we would be finalising the sponsors in the next 15 to 20 days.

    Is the format going to change this time for KBC Bangla?

    KBC is the property of Big Synergy. So I think the format will follow the course. The difference comes in when you have different hosts, participants, questions and the emotions behind that.

    We will continue to look at the market where we were not present and we will continue to grow in a more meaningful way in the market where we are already present.

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    Viacom18 head of regional entertainment Ravish Kumar

    Why Prosenjit Chatterjee as a host?

    So, when we thought of a host we thought of someone who would embody excellence, who people could look up to but at the same time not being intimidated by him. Chatterjee is a fabulous host- he is highly regarded in this market. He remakes himself with every grooming and so have a huge number of fans across Bengal.

    What are the marketing strategies?

    For all the big ticket shows we have the 360 degree campaign. So we are promoting through print ads, billboards, radio, cross channel promos and also the ground activations. In our case, since we have the call for the entries, so we have already started with the marketing. We will have a nice lead up to the show breaking. We have got about 45 days and we will ensure that all touch points of the consumers get powered. So it’s a massive campaign on the backend. Additionally, we also have the calls for entries happening, which, itself is a marketing campaign.

    How has KBC’s response been from all the Bengali speaking people across India?

    We have got a lot of response from Bengalis across India. But the counting is still on as the phone lines are open till today 7.30 pm. So, only after this, we will get the final answer. The promo will go live tonight at 8 pm and now it’s open for entries. We are already getting 14,000 to 15,000 entries a day. The promo will only be available on Colors Bangla but the news is going to cut across through all mediums.

    The Bengali GEC market is worth more than Rs 800 crore. I am very fond of this market. I think the talent in this market is incredible. This market has evolved a lot. There was a time when this market didn’t have much to offer and that changed when more broadcasters came and with them came a variety of genres. The shows are getting bigger and better and the kind of stories and concepts that are coming these days are incredible. This market is absolutely second to none and there are shows from this market that have been remade in Hindi and other languages.

    What are your plans for regional expansion?

    Right now we have two things in our mind. One is we wanted to expand our footprint market where we were very strong, so in Kannada we launched Colors Super. Then we wanted to do something for that market where we have not set our footprint, so we launched Colors Tamil. On the ongoing process, we continue to follow both these strategies- we will continue to look at the market where we were not present and we will continue to grow in a more meaningful way in the market where we are already present.

    What is Colors Bangla’s programming strategy for the upcoming festive season?

    So we include festive season as a part of our programming line-up. We will have some specials, we will also have events, and we will also have a lot of ground activation. In West Bengal, throughout the year many festivals are celebrated. In Bengali, there is a famous proverb ‘baro mashe tero parbon’ which means thirteen festivals in twelve months. And we all know that Durga Puja is the most significant of all celebrations in Bengal. Then they have the Poush Mela in December. We will cater to that in our own way- we will have special episodes where that particular festival will get reflected. We also do lots of events and we are planning to do this year as well.

    How are you planning to give a tough competition to your competitor channels in the Bengali market?

    We have already started giving them a tough competition to them by launching more and more non-fiction shows. If you look at Zee, they tend to follow a certain pattern in terms of non –fiction and they never change their formats and Star Jalsha has stopped doing non-fiction altogether. So I think non-fiction is a genre which a whole family can watch and one should keep on introducing new formats of non-fiction shows.

    Who is the target audience for Ke Hobe Banglar Kotipoti?

    Our audience is, of course, the families and it’s a format where everyone can sit together and watch or play along as well.

  • ‘Bigg Boss’ holds appeal across languages: Viacom18’s Ravish Kumar

    ‘Bigg Boss’ holds appeal across languages: Viacom18’s Ravish Kumar

    MUMBAI: Viacom18’s punt on Bigg Boss, the biggest reality show in the country, has paid off in a big way over the last ten years with an astronomical number of viewers on TV as well as the company’s digital platform Voot. After entertaining the Hindi masses, Colors launched the show in Kannada, Bengali and Marathi in order to garner regional audiences.

    “We were the first to pioneer Bigg Boss in Kannada and that expanded the franchise beyond. At that time, it was huge because we didn’t know how it would work and it was a big chunk of the budget for a market that has always shown an appetite for reality shows,” Viacom18 head of regional entertainment Ravish Kumar told Indiantelevision.com.

    While Bigg Boss Hindi usually has an hour-long episode, some of the regional slots stretch as much as an hour and a half. “The beauty of the show is, no matter what language you do it in, the moment you put new people in the house, it becomes an entirely new show,” he said.

    Colors, according to Kumar, shares a great overall working relationship with Endemol, the producer of the show, although, at times, there are creative differences. The duo has utilised its respective experience in markets effectively. “They were good in listening to us especially in the regional space, where their expertise was low and together we have built that. They, on the other hand, have a lot of learning from the other markets internationally,” he added.

    With over 331 million viewers hooked on to the show across India, the first ever edition of Bigg Boss in Marathi premiered with a grand launch event on 15 April at 7 pm. The show, anchored by actor-director-producer Mahesh Manjrekar has Dabur Red Paste as presenting sponsor.

    Prior to joining Viacom18 in 2011, Kumar was the executive VP and business head – regional channels at Star TV and a global category director at Reckitt Benckiser. He brings more than 23 years of experience in building brands, driving innovation, creating high-performance teams and delivering superlative business results across leading Fortune 500 companies in the US, the UK and India.

    In the latest episode of Indiantelevision.com’s Executive Dossier, Viacom18 head of regional entertainment Ravish Kumar spoke about the show’s success in Kannada, his experience of working with Endemol Shine and plans for other languages.

    Also Read :

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  • We are becoming more platform and screen agnostic: Sudhanshu Vats

    We are becoming more platform and screen agnostic: Sudhanshu Vats

    He heads the youngest Indian network engaged in general entertainment television. Sudhanshu Vats, group CEO, has, over the past six years, steered Viacom18 India into launching a clutch of new channels catering to the different regions of India as well as niche segments. He has built a rock-solid leadership team to run the services, which have been growing at a rapid clip.

    Vats, a former long-serving Hindustan Lever (Unilever India) executive, has also seen the company transition from being a joint venture with global media major Viacom to one which is now majority owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

    A thought leader in the industry, he is constantly propagating the message that India is rich with media and entertainment potential at both domestic and international confabs. Vats was at the Media Partners Asia-run APOS in Bali late last month. On stage having a conversation with Vivek Couto, Vats spoke freely on a range of topics right from Viacom18, the Reliance ownership, Voot and the pay TV ecosystem in India. Excerpts from the interview.

    Your views on the pay TV ecosystem in India?

    At one level, the pay TV ecosystem is not developing as well as it should. Partly, all of us, as part of the ecosystem, are to blame. There is lack of addressability. There is lack of customer centricity and customer service attitude with the distribution partners. India being a poor country there will also be a pressure on free to air up to a particular stage.

    My view of the country is that it will be a hybrid ecosystem of both pay and free to air. And, in my opinion, both can exist. But for pay to exist, pay will have to earn its right. And as content players, we are concerned because it’s not going the way we would like it to.

    Free to air is growing and will grow and we need to find models, largely advertising-led models, to make that happen–that piece is okay. But the pay subscription growths are not commensurate–the addressability is not there. Recognition of change of viewership; change of pattern is not there today.

    And I think no better than us, we have leading channels in almost all genres; but our ability to get subscription income is very little. Because it is all dependent on this. Pick up a genre and we have a leading channel. We are not recognising the changes; we are not addressing the customer and not being customer specific.

    How is the Indian television ecosystem faring overall?

    There were two events in India in the last couple of years—GST and demonetisation. They affected ad sales in my opinion. But the good news is that in the last two or three months, it is coming back. We are clearly seeing certain sectors performing very well—FMCG is back and very strongly. Automobile is back in a reasonably big way. Consolidation in telecom will lead to more telecom spends. Handsets are there, they have always been there. Rural economy is also doing quite well. We are seeing a surge in the regional rural pieces quite a lot within our portfolio.

    If you look at Viacom18 per se – I think we have had a pretty good year in FY18, which we closed. We delivered 20 per cent top line growth led by our performance in films as well with Toilet ek Prem Katha. But even in ad sales, we have delivered a mid-teen growth for the year.

    And interestingly this has come at a time when our leading channel Colors was slightly muted because of the impact properties on Colors that came in. It’s the portfolio, which we built that has helped us—its regional, it’s FTA, it’s niche. I personally feel, moving forward, the ad sales will rebound to the levels that India has been used to seeing.

    The ad market will go to mid-teens and some of the better companies may look at doing even high teens.

    How has the change of majority ownership impacted the organisation you head?

    The advantage for us with the consolidation with Reliance is two-fold. Ambition and the things we can do is one big thing today. The second big thing is the resources that can come in which could be of a different level. Because, as a joint venture, we were balancing some of those pieces. Now perhaps we can take concurrent bets as we go forward. So that’s fantastic news for Viacom18. We need to continue to motor on what we have built as a culture that is critical for us. So, if we retain that culture and we bring in that ambition and resources, it’s good news.

    Your digital piece, Voot, how is that faring?

    Voot has been primarily advertising led. The good news here is that we have been growing quite rapidly. We exited March of 2018 at 3X the number we were at March of 2017 on almost all parameters.  So, today, according to App Annie, we are number two in everything which you see after Hotstar. We are number two in downloads; we are number two in active users. We are actually number one sometimes in time spent. We are between one and two in time spent. We have about 35-40 million monthly actives and close to about 45 minutes of watch time.

    The Voot service is doing very well. Interestingly, there is a lot of work which we are doing which is tailored for it. If you look at our content: the breakup of our viewership – if I were to give you an order of magnitude – would be about 60 odd per cent of what you have on television – that’s catchup maybe 60 to 65 per cent. About 20-odd per cent or sometimes 20-22 or 25 per cent is what we call Voot exclusives or content around content. So it is content which is running on television, that is the theme is running on TV – especially non-fiction – and there is a lot of content which is not on television which is shown here. That’s gaining a lot of traction. And finally there are originals and kids. That stacks up the full piece.

    What plans do you have for Voot?

    Our thinking moving forward is that this is just the beginning. It’s an AVOD piece, again advertising is coming in reasonably well from a very small base – we are doubling every year. But what we also do is we’ve built in a freemium layer, for people who are at the higher end where we offer them an ad free environment, maybe additional services—that is the thinking that is there.

    The second thinking that is there is that we are going to do something for Voot Kids. That’s a space we are very bullish on. We want to go well beyond video, we want to well beyond watch, we will go into spaces of watch, learn, play and all that. We are looking at the edutainment piece. You will come into it for entertainment, but you will have light gaming, some number of e-books, some amount of learning or options available to you particularly at the pre-school stage. We are not getting into pedagogy or hard-core education. That’s not the space we want to be in.

    We are looking four to five million daily active users currently. The kind of data you are seeing now is pretty rich. And we are just about beginning to learn to mine that data.
    On the original front, it has been part of our journey. This year you will see us going into overdrive or at least accelerate our originals. You will see a lot more of them in Hindi, you will see them in regional. And as we speak, there is work happening on many of them. We may use some of them to go behind our freemium service as well.

    You seem to have changed your mind on sports as a piece of content? Will Viacom18 drive deeper into sports?

    We have dabbled a bit in sports. We piloted a few things. We actually did the Nidahas Trophy on our channel. We are looking to see if there is a way of putting sports together that may not have cricket. Cricket, as you may know, is with Uday now. We are continuously looking at areas that might be of interest to us.

     

  • Film business boosts TV18 revenue

    Film business boosts TV18 revenue

    BENGALURU: Indian news, entertainment and film company TV18 Broadcast Ltd (TV18) reported triple the revenue from its film business for the year ended 31 March 2018 (FY 2017-18, the year under review) as compared with the previous fiscal. Consequently, the company’s consolidated operating revenue increased by 70 per cent in FY 2017-18 as against FY 2016-017. TV18’s operating revenue, including GST for the year under review, was Rs 1,665 crore vis-a-vis Rs 979 crore. It may be noted that GST was not applicable in FY 2016-17. Revenue for the film business for the year under review was Rs 450 crore as compared with Rs 150 crore in the previous year. The numbers have been rounded off to the nearest Rs crore.

    The company has turned the corner only recently. Profit after tax increased by 33 per cent to Rs 8 crore in FY 2017-18 in comparison with Rs 6 crore in the year before. The company reported total comprehensive income of Rs 9 crore for FY 2017-18 as against loss of Rs 2 crore in the previous year. Operating profit increased by 87.1 per cent to Rs 58 crore during the year under review as compared with Rs 31 crore in FY 2016-17.

    Network18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai said, “We continue to invest into filling whitespaces, and creating the most compelling bouquet for the Indian consumer. This complements the strong performance of our flagships.”

    Based on its current structure of ownership, TV18 has restated its consolidated numbers. Consolidated restated revenue increased by 16 per cent in FY 2017-18 to Rs 4,813 crore from Rs 4,142 crore. Consolidated operating EBIDTA in FY 2017-18 increased by 41 per cent to Rs 240 crore from Rs 170 crore in FY 2016-17.

    Majority of TV18’s income comes from its entertainment business, which comprises Viacom18 and Indiacast. The company says in its earnings press release that entertainment income grew by 10 per cent in FY 2017-18 to Rs 3,781 crore from Rs 3,160 crore. Operating EBIDTA of the entertainment business increased by 43 per cent in FY 2017-18 to Rs 198 crore from Rs 139 crore in FY 2016-17.

    TV18’s standalone business comprises business and general news. Standalone income increased by 10 per cent during FY 2017-18 to Rs 735 crore from Rs 667 crore. Standalone operating EBIDTA declined by 29 per cent in FY 2017-18 to Rs 157 crore from Rs 122 crore in the previous year.

    Regional news (ex-IBN Lokmat) and infotainment revenue decreased by 8 per cent to Rs 297 crore in FY 2017-18 from Rs 316 crore in FY 2016-17. Regional News (ex-IBN Lokmat) and infotainment operating EBIDTA loss was higher at Rs 115 crore in FY 2017-18 as against loss of Rs 91 crore in the previous year.

    Restated fourth quarter numbers

    The company said in its earnings press release that restated consolidated operating revenue grew by 41 per cent in the quarter ended 31 March 2018 (Q4 2017-18, the quarter under review) to Rs 1,540 crore from Rs 1,092 crore. Consolidated operating EBIDTA grew by 41 per cent to Rs 61 crore from Rs 44 crore.

    Entertainment income grew by 51 per cent in Q4 2017-18 to Rs 1,228 crore from Rs 812 crore. Operating EBIDTA of the entertainment business more than doubled (increased by 120 per cent) in Q4 2017-18 to Rs 38 crore from Rs 17 crore in Q4 2016-17.

    TV18’s standalone business consists of business and general news. Standalone income increased by 12 per cent during the quarter under review to Rs 228 crore from Rs 203 crore. Standalone operating EBIDTA declined to 20 per cent in Q4 2017-18 to Rs 50 crore from Rs 63 crore in the corresponding previous year’s quarter.

    Regional news (ex-IBN Lokmat) and infotaiment revenue grew by 8 per cent to Rs 84 crore in Q4 2017-18 from Rs 77 crore in Q4 2016-17. Regional news (ex-IBN Lokmat) and infotainment operating EBIDTA loss was lower at Rs 26 crore in Q4 2017-18 as against loss of Rs 36 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Network18 Media and Investments Ltd results

    TV18 is a subsidiary of Network18 Media and Investments Ltd (Network 18). TV18 has taken operational control and has increased its stake in Viacom18 to 51 per cent by acquiring 1 per cent from its joint venture partner Viacom Inc. Besides TV18, Network18’s digital and print business adds to its numbers.

    Network18 reported 16 per cent growth in its consolidated operating revenue to Rs 5,027 crore in FY 2017-18 from Rs 4,333 crore in FY 2016-17. Consolidated operating EBIDTA increased by 42 per cent to Rs 187 crore in FY 2017-18 from Rs 132 crore in FY 2016-17.

    TV18 numbers have been mentioned above. Network18’s digital and print business operating revenue increased by 12 per cent to Rs 213 crore from Rs 191 crore. Digital and print business operating EBIDTA rose by 193 per cent to Rs 31 crore from Rs 10 crore.

    Zainulbhai said about Network18, “We are continuing our investments in digital and regional content and seeing growth in most segments of our business.”

    Also Read:

    TV18 to increase Viacom18 stake to 51%

    TV18 completes acquisition of Viacom shares

  • Viacom18 Consumer Products launches exciting back-to-school range

    Viacom18 Consumer Products launches exciting back-to-school range

    MUMBAI: Nickelodeon is all set to drive away the back-to-school blues as Viacom18 Consumer Products returns with their new range of exciting kids’ products. The range of products for school-going kids features famous Nicktoons – Dora the Explorer, Motu Patlu, Superkid Shiva and Peppa Pig. For those with a passion for sports can also opt to choose from an exciting new range of back-to-school products from FC Barcelona.

    Kids can eagerly look forward to a new term at school and to make this fun, Viacom18 Consumer Products is all set to kick start its new campaign #SchoolKiMasti under the brand Nickelodeon. The brand is geared up to take interactivity and engagement with their audience to a whole new level with their latest back-to-school product range. As a part of this campaign, Nickelodeon is all set to make school time “masti time” by bringing their favorite Nicktoons straight out of the television and Voot Kids app, making them a part of their daily lives by becoming their best friend and companion on multiple occasions.

    The campaign is about how school is the reason behind this ‘masti’ season for kids all over the nation. The entertaining duo Motu Patlu and Dora the Explorer will be seen on school bags, pencil boxes, lunch boxes & water bottles, are available at kids’ favourite stores: Hamleys, Toys R Us, Big Bazaar, and Tupperware & Amazon. The campaign showcases the variation of the new range of back-to-school products and at the same time represents multiple styles for kids according to their preferences. The new collection includes fresh designs that reflect the passion and love for Nicktoons amongst children. From the colorful and vibrant Motu Patlu bags to impressive lunch boxes & water bottles by Dora to fun and stylish merchandise from FC Barcelona for pre-teens there is something for everyone.

    Speaking about the launch for the upcoming season, Viacom18 Consumer Products and Integrated Network Solutions, Head, Saugato Bhowmik said, “It’s our constant endeavour at Viacom18 Consumer Products to understand the pulse of our young audiences. Given that the Nicktoons are extremely popular amongst children, our Back to School range helps in bringing alive the world of their favourite TV characters. Apart from our flagship brand: Dora the Explorer, Peppa Pig and FCB we have experienced remarkable success with huge offtakes of our back to school range and toys range”.

    He further added, “We have also added a wide array of products in the Motu Patlu back-to-school range. We are hoping the kids will love our products as much as we love bringing the same to them”.

    With a focus of making going to school even more fun, the Viacom18 Consumer Products back to school range of products are now available for consumers across key retail stores and e-commerce websites.

  • Viacom18 and Film Heritage foundation host power packed evening with Christopher Nolan and Tacita Dean

    Viacom18 and Film Heritage foundation host power packed evening with Christopher Nolan and Tacita Dean

    MUMBAI: A one of a kind crowd gathered at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace yesterday to celebrate, encourage and save the art of film-making on celluloid. Acclaimed Director Christopher Nolan and award-winning visual artist Tacita Dean are in the city for the 4th edition of Reframing the Future of Film. Hosted by India’s youngest full-play media network Viacom18, in association with the Film Heritage Foundation, in attendance for the dinner were a motley of top business leaders, film-makers and media industry personalities such as Kamal Haasan, A.R. Rahman, Huma Qureshi, Anurag Kashyap, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Rajkumar Hirani, Santosh Sivan, Shyam Benegal, Ashish Bhasin, Vikram Sakhuja, and Prasoon Joshi amongst others in attendance. 

    Speaking at this exclusive dinner party, host for the evening Viacom18, Group CEO, Sudhanshu Vats said: “Films in India have traditionally been shot on celluloid, an art that is fast being replaced by digital filming. Christopher Nolan is one of the world’s most eminent film-makers who still shoots on film and is a strong proponent of saving celluloid filming. As supporters of film preservation and restoration initiatives in the Indian subcontinent for 4 years now, we understand the importance of saving cinema in every medium, be it digital or analogue i.e. celluloid. Having Christopher and Tacita in the city is a great opportunity for raising awareness and I would urge corporations, media, partners and the entertainment industry of the country to support this cause.”

    Christopher Nolan and Tacita Dean have been raising awareness amongst the international film fraternity towards the cause of saving celluloid. After three editions in London, Los Angeles and Mexico, this time they’re in India, the second largest film making nation in the world. Film Heritage Foundation, which works towards the saving and restoring the film heritage of India and neighbouring countries has partnered with Nolan and Dean to raise awareness in India about film being a working medium, with unique intrinsic qualities that artists and filmmakers need.

    Speaking about his visit to India Christopher Nolan said: “It’s been wonderful meeting so many of you. Here’s to learning more from you guys, to looking forward to events over the next couple of days, and learning more about the amazing film culture that exists in India.”

    Film Heritage Foundation, Founder Director, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur said, “Partnering with stalwarts of film-making such as Christopher Nolan and Tacita Dean bring about awareness and attention that is most lacking in the cause of film preservation and restoration. Most of our cinematic heritage is in celluloid and therefore, its preservation will help not only save films but also film-making on film.”

    ‘Reframing the Future of Film’ – a conversation between renowned visual artist Tacita Dean, celebrated filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Interstellar) and award-winning filmmaker and archivist, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur will be held at NCPA theatre Mumbai on 1st April 2018.

  • Aditi Bhatnagar to join Network18 as EVP special projects

    Aditi Bhatnagar to join Network18 as EVP special projects

    MUMBAI:  In a restructuring mode, Reliance Industries-controlled Network18 has not only been shuffling senior executives vesting in them newer responsibilities, but also bringing in professionals from outside. The latest is Aditi Singh Bhatnagar who is joining the group as EVP of special projects.

    Bhatnagar was previously COO-cum-head of special projects and events at NDTV.

    Earlier, Network18 announced the elevation of Avinash Kaul as the chief operating officer of the group with continued and additional responsibility as managing director at A+E Network at TV18 Broadcast, a subsidiary that runs and manages the TV channels of Network18.

    According to company sources, even as more restructuring in Network18 is gradually affected after the controlling stake in Viacom18, Bhatnagar will report to the group’s president for marketing and special projects Priyanka Kaul.

    Having spent about two decades at NDTV, Bhatnagar, an alumnus of Delhi’s prestigious SRCC, has held leadership positions in her previous company driving business and strategies in areas such as content development, revenue and business development, production and sales.

    Network18 Media and Investments Ltd is a media and entertainment company with interests in television, internet, filmed entertainment, digital business, magazines, mobile content and allied businesses. The company manages various digital businesses, including portals such as moneycontrol.com, ibnlive.com, burrp.com, in.com and firstpost.com. It also operates digital commerce properties like HomeShop18 and bookmyshow.com. In addition, Network18 is a leading player in the publishing space having under its wings titles such as Forbes India, Overdrive, Better Interiors and Better Photography. Network18 has also allied investments in Colosceum, Toppers, 24X7 Learning, Yatra and Ubona.

    Through its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Limited, the group operates news channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC Bajar, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-News18, IBN7, ETV channels and IBN-Lokmat (a Marathi regional news channel in partnership with the Lokmat group).

    TV18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels like Colors, Colors HD, Colors Infinity, Rishtey, MTV India, MTV Indies, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr, Teen Nick and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group’s filmed entertainment business. TV18 operates a factual entertainment channel History TV18 and FYI TV18 through a joint venture with A+E Networks.

    Also Read :

    Network18 appoints Avinash Kaul as COO

    Turner appoints IndiaCast as exclusive distribution agent

    TV18 to increase Viacom18 stake to 51%