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Tag: Vikram Sakhuja

  • IPL 5 ratings soften, 16 matches notch up 3.65 TVR

    IPL 5 ratings soften, 16 matches notch up 3.65 TVR

    MUMBAI: The ratings for the fifth season of the Indian Premier League have failed to improve after a softer opening, while it has started eating into the Hindi general entertainment genre.

    The first 16 matches of the IPL have registered an average TVR of 3.65 compared to a 4 TVR in the last season of the tourney.

    As per data from TAM Sports, the cumulative reach of the matches (C&S, 4+, All India) have dropped to 123 million viewers, from 127 million last time.

    The first seven matches of the current IPL season had delivered an average rating of 3.76 TVR which was lower than the 4.63 TVR that it had notched up last year.

    Multi Screen Media (MSM) president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta declined to comment on whether the channel would manage to achieve growth this year. In the fourth edition of the IPL, MSM had posted an advertising revenue of Rs 9 billion.
    For the record, the broadcaster has only six sponsors on board with Vodafone and Idea 3G smart phone as co-presenting sponsors and Cadbury‘s Dairy Milk, Havells, Pepsi and Tata Photon as associate sponsors.

    GroupM CEO South Asia Vikram Sakhuja says that re-calibration of rates is needed. “The IPL is still a very good property and it is maturing. The first week‘s data was around 10-11 per cent less than last year. The second week‘s ratings are almost similar to what was managed last year.

    Overall, so far the ratings are six to seven per cent lower. I think that the event could manage a similar performance to last year with a possible positive or negative difference of four to five per cent. Even with properties like ‘KBC‘ you see a bit of a drop from one season to the next. What you hope for is that the ratings at least hold steady.”

    He notes that one good thing about this edition of the IPL is that there have been more close encounters compared to last year. “Both of yesterday‘s matches went down to the wire. That should help viewership.”

    More micro-marketing efforts are needed at this stage of the event. “This means building anticipation for daily clashes and better marketing of day to day matches is needed. This effort needs to come from everybody including the broadcaster and franchises,” Sakhuja says.

    Commune Sports and Entertainment MD Jamie Stewart continues to stay bullish on the IPL. “Although the ratings have dropped, I think the IPL is still a valuable property. Even at the current level, the rating is decent.”

    Stewart believes the franchises should not have upset the applecart by revamping their teams as that leads to dilution in fan loyalty. “I think the change in teams last year was complete madness as many of the franchises had to start building their fan base right from the scratch,” he adds.

    Also Read:

    IPL knocks out 51 Hindi GEC GRPs

    Weak IPL5 ratings cause for concern

  • GroupM elevates top HR executives

    GroupM elevates top HR executives

    MUMBAI: GroupM has appointed Sonali Vaidya as HR head for India, while Gaurav Hirey, who held the post earlier, is being moved to Singapore to be a part of the GroupM Regional Talent Team.


    Hirey has also been named HR business partner for Maxus (Asia Pacific).


    Vaidya will be based in Mumbai and will report to GroupM CEO South Asia Vikram Sakhuja.


    Vaidya said, “Talent Management is new to this industry and is in its formative stages. There are huge opportunities for our businesses to realise the benefits of managing talent and hence I am looking forward
    to being a part of this journey and delivering delight to our employees and customers.”


    Hirey said, “Our success in Talent Management is clearly reflected in the level of satisfaction we are delivering to our clients and our employees who have made us the employer brand of choice. My new assignment gives me an opportunity to learn and share best practices from across the region and it is my belief that the talent function in this industry can make a significant impact on our business and hence our clients!”


    Sakhuja added, “Sonali brings a wealth of commercial people management experience to the role. Gaurav has done a fabulous job in the past three years to bring scale, structure and credibility to the GroupM talent agenda that has gone from setting HR systems, to stepping up employee engagement and communication, to scaling up recruitment and performance management. His efforts to make GroupM one of the best places to work in has been validated by the Employer Branding Awards.”


    Vaidya has over 14 years of experience in the human resources field across companies such as ABN AMRO Bank, GE consumer finance and ESPN Star Sports. Prior to this, she was with Alchemy Group, a financial services group, where she was group HR head. Her focus is on building an extremely intensive talent management programme to engage and grow GroupM’s talent internally.


    In his new role, Hirey will lead the HR activities for the APAC region including recruitment, talent management and development, corporate social responsibility and employee relations. He will also support GroupM talent projects in addition to this. He will report to GroupM Global talent head Angela Ryan and Maxus APAC CEO Neil Stewart.