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Tag: Viacom18

  • Mullen Lintas delivers a ‘baap’ for MTV Beats

    MUMBAI: From the stable of Viacom18, MTV Beats has had a great start to its journey in India. With its unique positioning and differentiated content offering that is targeted primarily towards the youth, the channel has created quite a niche in the Indian Bollywood music space.

    To further popularise the product offering to the Indian masses, the channel has announced the launch of its inaugural brand campaign. Conceptualised and executed by Mullen Lintas Mumbai, the campaign highlights the unique bond that audiences share with music; which is almost like a marriage between two soul mates. That is the core objective with which MTV Beats wants to associate itself with the young viewers of India and be seen as an able partner providing them the best in Hindi music.

    Giving a deeper insight into the marketing campaign of Viacom18  MTV Beats youth and english entertainment head Ferzad Palia said, “Music is an important medium to reach out to young people today, and nobody does music better than MTV. So now that MTV Beats is here, we are heralding it as the birth of the ‘BAAP’ of music because after all, MTV is the big daddy of music. In true MTV style, the marketing campaign for MTV Beats is quirky, unabashed and irreverent yet it clearly communicates the brand’s positioning of being the ultimate destination for Hindi music any time of the day or week. I’d like to thank Mullen Lintas for the creative thought they’ve put into this. The tagline – ‘Blood mein hai beat’ draws heavily from India’s obsession with Bollywood music and reinforces the belief that music is a part of every Indian’s very DNA.”

    With a tongue-in-cheek referral, the video film tracks the journey of one such ardent lover of music who is literally impregnated with seeds of Bollywood hits. The film is centered around the core idea of a love child being born out of one night of passion between the protagonist who gets turned on by the music being played on TV. The film goes on to explore light-hearted circumstances that get created due to the outcome and how she uses her pregnancy to entertain people. So much so that she turns out to be the life of any event where music is a core ingredient. The day finally arrives and the protagonist becomes proud mother to a wonderful child that’s musically-inclined, and is the source of inspiration to everyone around. This feeling is summed up by the core campaign tagline: Blood mein hain Beat. 

    Mullen Lintas EVP Ayyappan Raj said, “It’s one of the most fun campaigns that Mullen Lintas Mumbai has worked on in the recent past. When an iconic brand like MTV is launching a Bollywood music channel there is a strong desire to create something big and different. With that in mind, we wanted to make a statement about the launch of Beats and in the quintessential brand tonality. We are very happy with the way the campaign has come together. Also we are quite happy about the fact that we have ‘delivered’ another successful brand launch for the Viacom18 group.” 

    Highlighting the creative thinking that was arrived for the campaign, Mullen Lintas EC Garima Khandelwal said: “MTV Beats, the offspring. MTV, the parent. A future and a legacy. Bollywood and music ka baap is born. The campaign is aimed to present this storyline, this bloodline. And therefore, to present MTV Beats as the lovechild of MTV and a fan of MTV seemed actually too legit! Enjoy!”

    The film has gone live on popular channels and will span other popular offline and online mediums too. While the TVC takes viewers through the story of the birth, the Print and Outdoor initiatives will bring alive the baby through various avatars.

    See the promo here

  • FICCI Frames ’17: Maharashtra to form IP crime unit to fight online piracy

    MUMBAI: Well, well. The Indian media industry and the government are finally getting serious about content piracy. After Telangana Intellectual Property Crime Unit (TIPCU), Copyright Force and the government-mandated Copyright Board, Maharashtra state is all set to get Maharashtra Intellectual Property Crime Unit, which may be called MIPCU.

    Announcing the go-ahead for MIPCU, a body that would be a joint endeavor of the entertainment industry and the state government, Inspector General of Maharashtra Police (Cyber) Brijesh Singh (in the picture) said, however, the initiative would have to be backed by the industry players too in terms of resources to effectively fight cyber crime and online piracy.

    “I would want it to be set up under a public-private partnership model and want the industry to come forward and help me achieve this. I want the industry to come and tell me that this is what we need and we will then help them. There is a commitment from our side,” Singh said while delivering an address at FICCI Frames 2017 session themed `Decoding the Pirate Economy in Interconnected World: From Noise to Action.’

    Though Singh, who was also slightly skeptical of the losses in terms of revenue that were often quoted by the entertainment industry, said that if the industry was serious, so were the law enforcement agencies. Pointing out that it’s often seen that the film industry’s piracy concerns were “limited” to the first seven days of a film’s release, he added, “I think this issue needs us to be more serious. I want the industry to come to us to build this sustainable and long-term partnership.”

    Motion Pictures Association of America’s Indian unit (MPA) and the Film and Television Producers Guild of India have joined hands to fight the menace of online piracy. After discussing the idea of MIPCU with the chief minister of Maharashtra and MPA last month, the state government formally okayed formation of a unit to fight cyber crimes, especially online piracy. Offline offences regarding this issue will be dealt by the regular police units.
    The budget of this new proposed unit will depend on what kind of technology it plans to offer for a solution. The entire idea is to co-create a global facility, Singh later elaborated and added that the unit’s launch was dependent on the industry’s long-term commitment in terms of negotiating that space.

    Commenting on the proposal to form MIPCU, Viacom18 group general counsel Sujeet Jain said the entertainment and TV industry would back any such move as long as results were delivered irrespective of structures and modalities.
    Incidentally, some months back, as reported by indisntelevision.com, MPA, broadcasters and FICCI had joined hands to announce formation of Copyright Force to set agendas for effective safeguarding of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy and engage with the government.

    To give an international perspective, TIPCU, Copyright Force and the proposed MIPCU have been seemingly inspired by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the UK , which is a specialist national police unit dedicated to protecting the UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content from intellectual property crime.

    PIPCU is operationally independent and launched in September 2013 with £2.56million funding from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the UK government until June 2015. It was announced in October 2014 that PIPCU will receive a further £3 million from the IPO to fund the unit up to 2017. The unit is dedicated to tackling serious and organised intellectual property crime (counterfeit and piracy) affecting physical and digital goods (with the exception of pharmaceutical goods) with a focus on offences committed using an online platform.

    Also Read:

    Online pirates beware, Copyright Force on way

    Internet included in broadcasting for purpose of Copyright

    Telangana leads fight against online piracy in partnership with film industry

    FICCI keen on IPR awareness & enforcement to encourage innovation

    Internet included in broadcasting for purpose of Copyright

     

  • Tug of war between AVoD & SVoD, who will win?

    MUMBAI: Content is the king and distribution is the queen. The year 2016 saw this phrase being used several times by the Over-the-top (OTT) players. But, does the struggle end there? Not really.

    While content remains to be crucial, changing consumption patterns is inevitable. Having the right content mix is still a challenge for the players in the digital eco-system.

    Discussing the importance of content and what can work well at the CASBAA OTT Roundtable Summit 2017 were Zee Entertainment Z5 India Business head of digital Archana Anand and Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi, moderated by TriLegal partner Nikhil Narendran, the session kick-started with the two leading players discussing their evolution.

    While Anand spoke about the ‘BeesKaTV’ app in detail, Gandhi mentioned how the year 2016 saw OTT players burning cash to acquire consumers while it was a fabulous year for them.

    “There is a a lot of demand for content consumption on mobile devices. As an advertising-led video-on-demand (VOD) service, we want to play on our strengths. Acquiring users comes with a heavy cost. There is a streaming cost, technology cost, content cost, etc. A platform has to bare the cost of a stream per user. Voot rides on four pillars – fandom around our reality and drama content available on our TV channel, Kids, Original play, and various languages content. We have built ourselves around content, and are still learning. The market can have 5-6 players with different strategies and we are enjoying a nice slice of the market,” said Gandhi.

    Today, OTT is not just limited to mobile, and the fact that linear TV is not going away yet cannot be denied. How do the consumers consume content is important for which discovery is essential. “Content is crucial and discovery continues to be important. It is beneficial to throw recommendations around one type of content. Curation of original content requires humongous marketing strategy. In the recent Oscars, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video grabbed several awards. What better way to applaud the OTT industry than this,” added Anand.

    It is given that, more than discovery or being a device-agnostic platform, there is a mindset shift required. Making people pay for content remains to be one of the many challenges for the SVOD players. With the data prices coming down, more and more people are going to consume digital video. Though, there is a segment of people who are not part of the data bandwagon, but they have consumed content. So, does it lead to the exit of linear TV in India? Perhaps, not.

    “The next 24 months are going to be crucial for the digital space. TV is here to stay for a long time. There are some segments that will grow faster than the rest. Ad-supported OTT platform complements TV perfectly. We create fandom around our popular TV shows on Voot which gets us more eyeballs and, at the same time, boosts our TV business. There is a lot of headroom for television,” said Gandhi.

    Anand resonated with Gandhi’s point of view on whether digital can replace TV framework.

    But, who will determine the right pricing for each of these platforms? Are the advertisers ready to buy slots? For advertisers to hop on board, the platform first needs to monetise its content, grab maximum number of eyeballs, and then measure it. “The choice is with the players whether they want to play by volume or margin. Indians are ready to pay for transactions than subscriptions. The transactional business will get its value, but the subscription business will take its time. Newer and better models will emerge in the market. The volumes are growing large, but the challenge is — pricing. The advertisers require volume for which more watch-time is a given,” added Gandhi.

    Contradicting that, Anand said, “The real challenge is: value for money. Even the advertisers are invisible in videos. Selling inventories to other broadcasters or platforms becomes difficult.”

    It remains to be seen who’s content will work in the long run, and which model proves to be successful for the players in the digital space.

  • Viacom18 cracks down on counterfeit merchandise

    Viacom18 cracks down on counterfeit merchandise

    MUMBAI: In its bid to counter the growing menace of counterfeit merchandise, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. had undertaken an investigation that led to a raid in Mumbai’s market Abdul Rehman Street.

    Viacom18 Media is one of India's fastest growing entertainment networks and a house of iconic brands that offers multi-platform and multicultural brand experiences. A JV of Viacom Inc. and the Network18 Group, Viacom18 defines entertainment in India by touching the lives of people through its properties.

    Viacom raided two stores — Shubham Return Gifts and Eliperi Stationery, which were found to be selling counterfeit Dora the Explorer products.  

    The stores were raided by a team comprising court receivers of the Bombay High Court and representatives of Viacom18. The owners of the stores will be summoned to court to identify the source and locations of the manufacturers of these seized goods.

    "We see this as an essential step towards ensuring that our characters are not represented on inferior, unlicensed products – which may pose health and safety risks. We are extremely grateful for the cooperation of the judiciary and the police who have executed the appropriate legal action to protect our intellectual property and to prevent inferior, and potentially dangerous products from being sold to unsuspecting consumers. " said a spokesperson on behalf of Viacom18.

    Viacom18 owns iconic brands such as Colors, Roadies and Supersonic and characters such as Keymon Ache, Shiva, characters of Pakdam Pakdai and is also the exclusive licensee for iconic characters and brands such as Peppa Pig, Motu Patlu, Spongebob Square Pants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninja Hattori, Peanuts and Shaun the Sheep amongst many more.

    Also Read :-

    Nick Jr to premiere 'Peppa Pig' show in India  

    'Motu Patlu- King of Kings' is Viacom18’s calculated risk

    Viacom18 to launch exclusive Jungle Book Merchandise in India

    BE Viacom18 gets John Abraham to promote Arunachal tourism

  • Vh1 to air Grammys, Beyoncé leads: pub screenings in 12 cities

    MUMBAI: This February, Vh1, India’s leading international music channel, continues the award fever in India with a month long celebration of the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, on air and on ground. The biggest names in the industry will unite to recognize and celebrate the best of 2016 at Staples Center, Los Angeles on 13 February 7:30am onwards with a primetime repeat at 9pm. The viewers will get to watch the most anticipated performances and inspiring victory speeches exclusively on Vh1, India’s preferred destination for International music & pop culture.

    This year, Beyoncé leads the pack with nine nominations, making it a total of 62 Grammy nominations across her career in the music industry, and with 20 wins already in her pocket! Drake, Rihanna, and Kanye West follow soon after, with eight nominations each, trailed by Chance the Rapper with seven and Adele and Twenty One Pilots with five nods each. This year also marks Demi Lovato’s debut in the race to win the coveted award with her first-ever Grammy nomination.

    The awards, this year, will be compered by James Corden, host of the Late Late Show, following the legacy of his predecessors, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, and the likes.

    In addition to the exclusive telecast, you can also catch the Grammys across 12 cities at Vh1 screenings at popular pubs, bars and restaurants along with special screenings at JCB and Golds Gym.

    Even the millennials are in for a treat as Vh1 is organizing special Grammy breakfast parties just for them. The celebrations don’t end there, as Vh1 and NEXA Music Lounge have given one of Vh1’s many viewers a chance to attend the ceremony live in Los Angeles through the Nexa Music Lounge presents Vh1 Grammy’s Super Access.

    Commenting on the telecast of the Annual Grammy Awards, Viacom18 programming head – English entertainment Hashim D’souza shared, “We are excited and proud to be the Nation’s premier destination for international Pop culture, and with the Annual Grammy Awards we aim to reiterate our stand as India’s go-to destination for international music and entertainment. Along with bringing quality international content to India, we are also excited to provide a money can’t buy experience by sending one lucky winner to attend the Grammys like a VIP. This year our awards season kicked off with a phenomenal response to the Golden Globe Awards and with 2017 Grammys we hope to take it up a notch by integrating live viewer reactions on-air.”

    The annual Grammy Awards are a part of an extravagant award show line-up that airs exclusively on Vh1 which includes the Annual Billboard Music Awards, the American Music Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, Video Music Awards and Europe Music Awards. This stellar line-up follows the successful live telecast of the Global Citizen Festival in Mumbai last year, reiterating Vh1’s unchallenged leadership and innovation benchmark in the country.

  • Media and entertainment industry hails Union Budget 2017

    Media and entertainment industry hails Union Budget 2017

    MUMBAI: On 1 February, the finance minister Arun Jaitley made significant announcements during the presentation of the Union Budget 2017. Although, there was no specific mention of measures for the media and entertainment industry, certain steps which have been taken to boost the economy have been appreciated by the industry, but it also disappointed some.

    The budget 2017 mainly focused on boosting the infrastructure and lifting rural income besides bringing in reforms in the financial sector such as the abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) so as to facilitate a new policy for foreign direct investment (FDI). The budget also focused on digitisation — allocating Rs 10, 000 crore to boost the rural fibre optics network, which came as a great news for many in the media and broadcast industry.

    Indiantelevision.com reached out to several industry stalwarts to find out how they interpreted the Union Budget 2017. Here’s what they had to say:

    Viacom18 group CEO and CII Media and Entertainment Committee chairman Sudhanshu Vats said, “Much had been speculated about the economic slowdown post demonetisation. With this budget, the government has taken important steps to boost the economy in a structured manner, building on the promise of transparent growth. Steps to liberalise the FDI regime further coupled with the abolishing of FIPB and tax reforms for MSMEs are bound to have impact in the foreseeable future. This budget has seen some positive solutions to tackle poverty in our country including one of the highest allocation of funds to MNREGA and rationalisation of rate for the lower personal tax slabs. I am particularly enthused by the strong reforms push for digitization and look forward to digital transactions increasing in the country. This also augurs well for digital consumption of video content. The move to cap political donations in cash at Rs 2000 and all-cash transactions at Rs 300,000 are also much-needed, bold steps that are in line with the government’s commitment to uprooting corruption. With Swaach Bharat being close to our hearts, the budget has built further on this theme in a welcome move. I’ve said this before and will say it again: as the M&E sector we have a lot to gain from buoyance in the economy at the aggregate level and I believe this Budget has delivered on that front.”

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) MD and CEO Punit Goenka stated, “Budget 2017 speaks a lot about the government’s positive and committed approach towards creating a stronger and balanced economy. Being directionally right and focused on spending in growth-centric areas, it clearly reassures the fact that remonetisation is in.”

    Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand said, “After the recent massive policy implementation of demonetisation, my expectation was of some radical reforms. I was a bit disappointed on that count. However, enhanced provision for MNREGA and allocations for rural, agriculture and allied sector and a clear push for the affordable housing sectors is the silver lining. Agriculture and real estate are the most important employment generating sectors in India. This should improve the rural situation which is still recovering from demonetisation. Hopefully, that will have a ripple effect on spending and the larger economy.”

    Says ABP COO Avinash Pandey, “The Union Budget 2017 was disappointing as far as the expected incentive for the broadcast business is concerned. Service tax remains the same. Most importantly, there is no parity with the print sector. The ‘wow’ factor was missing (in the budget) as far as the business is concerned. Disposable income is going to increase, and hence the quantum of spending. Economy may revive after the implementation of the budget.”

    Network 18 president revenue and Forbes India CEO Joy Chakraborthy is hopeful, saying, “We are seeing it as a positive budget. The budget is going to help consumption. Significant measures to improve electrification is eventually going to help the television industry. The general sentiment is that it is, overall a positive budget. Once people start spending money, consumption will be there and subsequently advertising too will follow.”

    Says, BBC Worldwide – ‎BBC Worldwide India South East Asia and South Asia SVP and GM Myleeta Aga, “Overall a positive popular budget with personal income tax changes in line with the government’s declared intention to collect more taxes from the rich and reduce the tax burden on the middle income group.”

    She added, “I was particularly encouraged to hear that the GST roll out will not be delayed. Operationally, for the production business, this will complicate working across states but this disruption should be temporary. Continued emphasis on the digital economy and increasing digital transactions will boost growth of e-commerce.”

    SAB group CEO Manav Dhanda said, “Overall, there has been positives for the media and entertainment sector post the Union Budget. As digitization is the next big thing now, the end of March 2018 will see a great growth for digital video consumption across OTT. The youth can now have great opportunities laid for them by initiating the skill India mission that aims to start 100 India International centres. Also, since digitization is on a high, setting up high speed internet in 1.50 Lakh Gram Panchayat is a good move and will give a boost to internet penetration in India. There is no increase service tax by the government and is a positive outcome particularly for the M&E sector, a stable and positive fiscal situation is good for the economy which will also give an impetus to our advertising sales projections. Increased public spending through various schemes and focus on infrastructure investments should further help to accelerate economic growth. The economy seems to have being slowing down since demonetisation, impacting almost all sectors and one hopes this budget to act as a catalyst to propel the growth in the media sector as well.”

    KPMG India partner tax Naveen Aggarwal said, “The Budget was based on broad themes of curbing black money, boosting individual spending, ensuring transparency and providing much needed impetus to agricultural and rural sector, infrastructure and digital economy.”

    He added, “While the announcement to abolish FIPB in light of successful e-governance was surprising, further liberalisation in FDI policy will be keenly watched in context of M&E industry. Lastly, the FM provided much needed assurance on roll-out of GST as per schedule, confirming GST council finalising majority of its recommendations.”

    He further added, “Similar to last two years, the Budget did not bring much respite or specific announcements benefiting M&E industry. While the expectation of overall reduction in corporate tax rate and abolition of MAT was given a miss, the proposal to reduce corporate tax rate for MSMEs to 25% (having turnover up to Rs 50 crore) and increasing the MAT credit entitlement (from 10 to 15 years) is a welcome move and will benefit medium scale service companies in M&E sector.”

  • Media and entertainment industry hails Union Budget 2017

    Media and entertainment industry hails Union Budget 2017

    MUMBAI: On 1 February, the finance minister Arun Jaitley made significant announcements during the presentation of the Union Budget 2017. Although, there was no specific mention of measures for the media and entertainment industry, certain steps which have been taken to boost the economy have been appreciated by the industry, but it also disappointed some.

    The budget 2017 mainly focused on boosting the infrastructure and lifting rural income besides bringing in reforms in the financial sector such as the abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) so as to facilitate a new policy for foreign direct investment (FDI). The budget also focused on digitisation — allocating Rs 10, 000 crore to boost the rural fibre optics network, which came as a great news for many in the media and broadcast industry.

    Indiantelevision.com reached out to several industry stalwarts to find out how they interpreted the Union Budget 2017. Here’s what they had to say:

    Viacom18 group CEO and CII Media and Entertainment Committee chairman Sudhanshu Vats said, “Much had been speculated about the economic slowdown post demonetisation. With this budget, the government has taken important steps to boost the economy in a structured manner, building on the promise of transparent growth. Steps to liberalise the FDI regime further coupled with the abolishing of FIPB and tax reforms for MSMEs are bound to have impact in the foreseeable future. This budget has seen some positive solutions to tackle poverty in our country including one of the highest allocation of funds to MNREGA and rationalisation of rate for the lower personal tax slabs. I am particularly enthused by the strong reforms push for digitization and look forward to digital transactions increasing in the country. This also augurs well for digital consumption of video content. The move to cap political donations in cash at Rs 2000 and all-cash transactions at Rs 300,000 are also much-needed, bold steps that are in line with the government’s commitment to uprooting corruption. With Swaach Bharat being close to our hearts, the budget has built further on this theme in a welcome move. I’ve said this before and will say it again: as the M&E sector we have a lot to gain from buoyance in the economy at the aggregate level and I believe this Budget has delivered on that front.”

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) MD and CEO Punit Goenka stated, “Budget 2017 speaks a lot about the government’s positive and committed approach towards creating a stronger and balanced economy. Being directionally right and focused on spending in growth-centric areas, it clearly reassures the fact that remonetisation is in.”

    Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand said, “After the recent massive policy implementation of demonetisation, my expectation was of some radical reforms. I was a bit disappointed on that count. However, enhanced provision for MNREGA and allocations for rural, agriculture and allied sector and a clear push for the affordable housing sectors is the silver lining. Agriculture and real estate are the most important employment generating sectors in India. This should improve the rural situation which is still recovering from demonetisation. Hopefully, that will have a ripple effect on spending and the larger economy.”

    Says ABP COO Avinash Pandey, “The Union Budget 2017 was disappointing as far as the expected incentive for the broadcast business is concerned. Service tax remains the same. Most importantly, there is no parity with the print sector. The ‘wow’ factor was missing (in the budget) as far as the business is concerned. Disposable income is going to increase, and hence the quantum of spending. Economy may revive after the implementation of the budget.”

    Network 18 president revenue and Forbes India CEO Joy Chakraborthy is hopeful, saying, “We are seeing it as a positive budget. The budget is going to help consumption. Significant measures to improve electrification is eventually going to help the television industry. The general sentiment is that it is, overall a positive budget. Once people start spending money, consumption will be there and subsequently advertising too will follow.”

    Says, BBC Worldwide – ‎BBC Worldwide India South East Asia and South Asia SVP and GM Myleeta Aga, “Overall a positive popular budget with personal income tax changes in line with the government’s declared intention to collect more taxes from the rich and reduce the tax burden on the middle income group.”

    She added, “I was particularly encouraged to hear that the GST roll out will not be delayed. Operationally, for the production business, this will complicate working across states but this disruption should be temporary. Continued emphasis on the digital economy and increasing digital transactions will boost growth of e-commerce.”

    SAB group CEO Manav Dhanda said, “Overall, there has been positives for the media and entertainment sector post the Union Budget. As digitization is the next big thing now, the end of March 2018 will see a great growth for digital video consumption across OTT. The youth can now have great opportunities laid for them by initiating the skill India mission that aims to start 100 India International centres. Also, since digitization is on a high, setting up high speed internet in 1.50 Lakh Gram Panchayat is a good move and will give a boost to internet penetration in India. There is no increase service tax by the government and is a positive outcome particularly for the M&E sector, a stable and positive fiscal situation is good for the economy which will also give an impetus to our advertising sales projections. Increased public spending through various schemes and focus on infrastructure investments should further help to accelerate economic growth. The economy seems to have being slowing down since demonetisation, impacting almost all sectors and one hopes this budget to act as a catalyst to propel the growth in the media sector as well.”

    KPMG India partner tax Naveen Aggarwal said, “The Budget was based on broad themes of curbing black money, boosting individual spending, ensuring transparency and providing much needed impetus to agricultural and rural sector, infrastructure and digital economy.”

    He added, “While the announcement to abolish FIPB in light of successful e-governance was surprising, further liberalisation in FDI policy will be keenly watched in context of M&E industry. Lastly, the FM provided much needed assurance on roll-out of GST as per schedule, confirming GST council finalising majority of its recommendations.”

    He further added, “Similar to last two years, the Budget did not bring much respite or specific announcements benefiting M&E industry. While the expectation of overall reduction in corporate tax rate and abolition of MAT was given a miss, the proposal to reduce corporate tax rate for MSMEs to 25% (having turnover up to Rs 50 crore) and increasing the MAT credit entitlement (from 10 to 15 years) is a welcome move and will benefit medium scale service companies in M&E sector.”

  • VH1 Supersonic ’17 to hit big, 20 sponsors on board, more IPs in pipeline

    VH1 Supersonic ’17 to hit big, 20 sponsors on board, more IPs in pipeline

    MUMBAI: “At this moment and time, our mandate is very clear – to build the live industry in India, for which you need to have real ticketed events.”

    Standing true to his words, Viacom18′ Integrated Network Solution (INS) and consumer products business head Saugato Bhowmik is focused on building the industry in the live entertainment business for Viacom 18 through ticketed events. Of the five IPs under Live Viacom18 banner, the gigantic music event VH1 Supersonic is all set to take Pune by storm by taking the viewers to a fantasy world. Transforming into a multi-genre international music festival with this edition after a successful run in the past three years, the mega event claims to have doubled its sponsorship value since it’s launch.

    With Gionee as the title sponsor, the festival is powered by Budweiser and has locked deals with as many as 18 other sponsors from various sectors such as — Fastrack, Mexitos, Ajio.com, Reliance Digital, Bisleri, Spraymint, Dot Shot, etc, several hopping on board for the first time. If media punters in the events space are to be believed, the three-day festival has managed to get approximately Rs. 12-15 crore from their sponsorship deals.

    “VH1 Supersonic has nearly doubled its sponsorship value since the previous editions by partnering with brands from diverse sectors on the back of tremendous success in the past editions and a transformed genre line-up. We have got the highest number of partners for this edition. Apart from the several partners that we have already on board,  more sponsors are always welcome,” said Bhowmik.  

    The network has signed a long-term partnership with all the brands on board. According to Bhowmik, only in the long run can a true brand’s value be maximised and leveraged for the people to associate the festival with the partners’ brand value and vice-versa.

    In its fourth year, the music festival has adopted a unique approach to promote its brands across platforms. Going beyond the conventional route of sponsorship, the festival is in the process of creating customised branded content for its sponsors.

    After movies for two of it’s main sponsors, Gionee and Budweiser, webcasts as well as web-series are in the making. A six-part web series on music hosted by Nikhil Chinappa titled Gionee VJ Hunt and another six-part web series bringing the lives of Supersonic fans on the screens is also in the pipeline. All this,  plus some highlights from the festival, will be aired across the network’ bouquet of channels mainly VH1 and it’s OTT platform, Voot.

    The brands associated with the music festival would be able to successfully reach out to 90 million viewers through  the campaigns running in their TV channels and Voot, claimed Bhowmik.

    As far as the promotions are concerned, the network is heavily marketing the festival across print and its TV channels. Apart from this, they are heavily leveraging social media platforms. They have also set up over 100 OOH sites across India.

    With the venue moving to Pune from Goa, the festival and its philosophy remains unaltered. “The change in the venue was part of the journey and a transformation for the brands itself. Our philosophy is to provide transformational experience and we, at this venue, can develop a lot of experiences that we have always promised the audience. We want more and more people to experience us at an affordable rate. Our prime audience is the youth and the young professionals. A large part of them is right in the heart of the youth capital ie Pune. It was a very easy decision to make. The vision of the brand was well communicated and everyone was excited about the multi genre festival,” added Bhowmik.

    The promising artist lineup for this year comprises over 50 artistes with three headlining acts. After sending fans into a frenzy with Eric Prydz and going in for an encore with Macklemore, Vh1 Supersonic recently unveiled Zedd as its third headliner.

    In addition to the immaculate lineup, the music festival has unique on ground experiences. The audience can also enjoy a gamut of experiential activities and can lose themselves in numerous hangout zones, filled with fun and adventurous activities, enjoy in a curated beer garden, weave through engaging art installations, shop at flea markets, etc.

    Apart from the wide expanse of three stages- main strange, spectrum stage and Gionee bass stage, the festival has taken on several social initiatives such as women safety, zero drug policy, fire safety, health and sanitation, ets so as to send a resounding message to the young audience.  Pune police would be providing security to the event besides private agencies. The venue has been converted into WiFi cloud zone for the audience.

    Going ahead, Live Viacom18 plans to scale up its IPs to lot more. The network has already mapped clear consumer segments and will fill in the gaps in its portfolio. “IP interactions and crafting is a very difficult taste and has to be done in a detailed manner. We are crafting those ideas at the moment. There is no lifeline to the launches as it requires a lot of preparatory work and will take sometime.  Without worrying about the timeline, Viacom18 assures to launch many more IPs in the future,” concluded Bhowmik.

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    After Eric Prydz, Macklemore, Gionee Vh1 Supersonic now ropes in Zedd

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  • VH1 Supersonic ’17 to hit big, 20 sponsors on board, more IPs in pipeline

    VH1 Supersonic ’17 to hit big, 20 sponsors on board, more IPs in pipeline

    MUMBAI: “At this moment and time, our mandate is very clear – to build the live industry in India, for which you need to have real ticketed events.”

    Standing true to his words, Viacom18′ Integrated Network Solution (INS) and consumer products business head Saugato Bhowmik is focused on building the industry in the live entertainment business for Viacom 18 through ticketed events. Of the five IPs under Live Viacom18 banner, the gigantic music event VH1 Supersonic is all set to take Pune by storm by taking the viewers to a fantasy world. Transforming into a multi-genre international music festival with this edition after a successful run in the past three years, the mega event claims to have doubled its sponsorship value since it’s launch.

    With Gionee as the title sponsor, the festival is powered by Budweiser and has locked deals with as many as 18 other sponsors from various sectors such as — Fastrack, Mexitos, Ajio.com, Reliance Digital, Bisleri, Spraymint, Dot Shot, etc, several hopping on board for the first time. If media punters in the events space are to be believed, the three-day festival has managed to get approximately Rs. 12-15 crore from their sponsorship deals.

    “VH1 Supersonic has nearly doubled its sponsorship value since the previous editions by partnering with brands from diverse sectors on the back of tremendous success in the past editions and a transformed genre line-up. We have got the highest number of partners for this edition. Apart from the several partners that we have already on board,  more sponsors are always welcome,” said Bhowmik.  

    The network has signed a long-term partnership with all the brands on board. According to Bhowmik, only in the long run can a true brand’s value be maximised and leveraged for the people to associate the festival with the partners’ brand value and vice-versa.

    In its fourth year, the music festival has adopted a unique approach to promote its brands across platforms. Going beyond the conventional route of sponsorship, the festival is in the process of creating customised branded content for its sponsors.

    After movies for two of it’s main sponsors, Gionee and Budweiser, webcasts as well as web-series are in the making. A six-part web series on music hosted by Nikhil Chinappa titled Gionee VJ Hunt and another six-part web series bringing the lives of Supersonic fans on the screens is also in the pipeline. All this,  plus some highlights from the festival, will be aired across the network’ bouquet of channels mainly VH1 and it’s OTT platform, Voot.

    The brands associated with the music festival would be able to successfully reach out to 90 million viewers through  the campaigns running in their TV channels and Voot, claimed Bhowmik.

    As far as the promotions are concerned, the network is heavily marketing the festival across print and its TV channels. Apart from this, they are heavily leveraging social media platforms. They have also set up over 100 OOH sites across India.

    With the venue moving to Pune from Goa, the festival and its philosophy remains unaltered. “The change in the venue was part of the journey and a transformation for the brands itself. Our philosophy is to provide transformational experience and we, at this venue, can develop a lot of experiences that we have always promised the audience. We want more and more people to experience us at an affordable rate. Our prime audience is the youth and the young professionals. A large part of them is right in the heart of the youth capital ie Pune. It was a very easy decision to make. The vision of the brand was well communicated and everyone was excited about the multi genre festival,” added Bhowmik.

    The promising artist lineup for this year comprises over 50 artistes with three headlining acts. After sending fans into a frenzy with Eric Prydz and going in for an encore with Macklemore, Vh1 Supersonic recently unveiled Zedd as its third headliner.

    In addition to the immaculate lineup, the music festival has unique on ground experiences. The audience can also enjoy a gamut of experiential activities and can lose themselves in numerous hangout zones, filled with fun and adventurous activities, enjoy in a curated beer garden, weave through engaging art installations, shop at flea markets, etc.

    Apart from the wide expanse of three stages- main strange, spectrum stage and Gionee bass stage, the festival has taken on several social initiatives such as women safety, zero drug policy, fire safety, health and sanitation, ets so as to send a resounding message to the young audience.  Pune police would be providing security to the event besides private agencies. The venue has been converted into WiFi cloud zone for the audience.

    Going ahead, Live Viacom18 plans to scale up its IPs to lot more. The network has already mapped clear consumer segments and will fill in the gaps in its portfolio. “IP interactions and crafting is a very difficult taste and has to be done in a detailed manner. We are crafting those ideas at the moment. There is no lifeline to the launches as it requires a lot of preparatory work and will take sometime.  Without worrying about the timeline, Viacom18 assures to launch many more IPs in the future,” concluded Bhowmik.

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  • Prasoon Joshi & Raj Nayak to chair PromaxBDA Awards 2017 in India

    Prasoon Joshi & Raj Nayak to chair PromaxBDA Awards 2017 in India

    MUMBAI: PromaxBDA, the association that represents more than 10,000 companies and promotion & marketing professionals at every major media organization, has announced the jury for the 14th edition of its annual awards and conference, PromaxBDA India 2017. Industry veterans McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific chairman Prasoon Joshi and Viacom18 Hindi Mass Entertainment CEO Raj Nayak, will chair the PromaxBDA Awards and conference respectively in its 2017 edition.

    Indian Television industry’s biggest event of the year, PromaxBDA Conference – India, will host a line-up of the who’s who of the space among speakers, jury and partners. An exclusive and one-of-its kind Television and broadcast industry event, PromaxBDA Awards 2017 in India felicitates industry professionals across segments via award categories. While the awards will honor members of the industry, the conference aims to highlight topics, future plans, trends observed, etc.

    Speaking about his role at the PromaxBDA Awards 2017, Joshi said, “I look forward to chairing the 14th edition of the PromaxBDAAwards. The platform recognizes creative talents in the television and broadcast industry and has been aspirational for enterprising individuals. It would be interesting to study and award work that showcases insightful cross-pollination of ideas. And focus the limelight on forward thinking individuals, those of who have shown tremendous potential to truly disrupt the space.”

    Nayak added, “Viacom18, air the PromaxBDA Conference in India once again as we step into its 14th edition. This year, we hope to elicit the same excitement as we present prolific speakers who will speak about the future of the television industry. Our endeavor, with this edition, is to initiate discussions on the changes we have seen and will soon witness, as well as how these affect the space and the people as a whole. “

    PromaxBDA India country head and director for strategic partnerships Rajika Mittra said, “We look forward to hosting yet another successful conference in India. PromaxBDA, as an entity, aims to be facilitators by which the platform can inspire emerging television and broadcast industry professionals, while making the industry as a whole future-ready. With a successful run of 13 editions, we hope that we can encourage the next generation of creative thinkers to disrupt all barriers in the space to emerge as revolutionaries in the field.”

    PromaxBDA Conference India 2017 will see a host of prominent speakers and jury members felicitating television industry’s rising stars. Some of the categories for the PromaxBDA Awards in India include, Something for Nothing, The Big Small Idea – Best Use of Digital, Best Drama Campaign and Best Holiday/Seasonal Promo to name a few.