ITV

Tag: Wavemaker

  • Kids content should not be excessively kiddy

    Kids content should not be excessively kiddy

    MUMBAI: Kids animation content should be more inclusive to make a bigger impact, insisted a panel, speaking on “Creating an Impact for Kids Audience”, at the recently concluded KAM Summit by AnimationXpress.com. The panellists noted that content created for kids should not be ‘so kiddy’ that it doesn’t appeal to the people they are watching it with.

    The panel aimed to highlight ground rules for creating marketing content targeted and kids and included Wavemaker managing partner Monaz Todywalla, Omnicom Media Group AVP-PhD media Asmita Reelkar, and GREY Group India head of strategy and national planning director Arun Raman. The session was moderated by Sony YAY! VP – marketing and OAP Sujoy RoyBardhan.

    Reelkar mentioned that parents play a key role in monitoring the content that kids are watching and are also making most of the purchasing choices for them, so it is pertinent that a brand can persuade the parents too.

    Citing some interesting examples, Raman said, “There are no massive kids’ brands in India. I can think of Gini & Jony, which is one of the largest brands in the space, but no one is buying from them. People buy from brands like H&M Kids and Zara Kids.”

    He pointed out that there has been a behavioural and cultural shift in the Indian audience. “There are many kid-centric brands like ‘Naughty Boy’ from Bata, which are not as popular now. They now have something called ‘Ambassador Collection’. I am hearing Britannia and Parle are putting ‘Chota Bheem’ on their packages but it doesn’t mean that they are creating separate kids brands. In fact, it is making a brand meant for adults relevant to kids.”

    The panellists also pointed out that kids today are smarter and know facts. They can read through if a brand is trying to lie to them and that’s why it is important for brands to maintain highest standards of advocacy while creating communications for them.

    Another important point shared was that the brands should now be focussing on multi-screen advertising as the kids of today are digital natives.

    Todywalla said, “More and more creators, marketers, and brand custodians are realising that it has become a multi-touch world. But brands are still relying mostly on TV to interact with kids. Maybe they do some sprinkling of digital or a few events. But the landscape is changing dramatically. Kids are probably bypassing the whole TV phase and going directly to digital. Brands are agencies are still grappling with that area.”

    They unanimously agreed on the point that content is going to play a key role in taking brands through this phase of change.

  • Paytm Wins BCCI Title Sponsorship Second Time in A Row, with able facilitation by Wavemaker & ESP Properties

    Paytm Wins BCCI Title Sponsorship Second Time in A Row, with able facilitation by Wavemaker & ESP Properties

    Mumbai: Wavemaker and ESP Properties, GroupM’s sports and entertainment marketing agency, has collaborated and facilitated the renewal of the partnership between Paytm and BCCI for the title sponsorship rights for BCCI’s International and Domestic cricket matches at home from 1st September 2019 to 31st March 2023. Paytm first bagged the title sponsorship rights in 2015.

    Earlier this month BCCI invited online bids for the title sponsorship rights for the BCCI organised domestic and international cricket matches. BCCI confirmed that Paytm will be the title sponsor of all domestic series/events organised, managed and administered by BCCI and played in India, between 1st September 2019 and 31st March 2023.

    Jaskaran Singh Kapany, Head- Marketing, Paytm said, “We decided very early in our journey to partner with India Cricket. Over the last few years, our association with the sport has given us a huge platform to be visible in front of half a billion Indian cricket fans. This has helped the brand immensely at various levels to build long term salience & stature. Paytm is a brand for the masses and continuing as the Title Sponsor of Cricket in India will help us bolster Paytm’s leadership position in the minds of millions of consumers, on the back of the most popular sport in the country.”

    Kartik Sharma, CEO, Wavemaker – South Asia added, “Partnering with ESP properties to help Paytm win BCCI title sponsorship rights for the second time in a row is a huge feat for all of us. It is our constant endeavour to offer best platforms to all our partners and help them grow along the journey.”

    Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties, GroupM India said, “Paytm over the last four years has demonstrated its faith and commitment towards Indian Cricket. They understand & appreciate the potential of the game very well. Paytm & BCCI continuing their existing relationship will be huge win for both. The following that cricket gets in the sub-continent is at times more than any other sporting event across the planet and Paytm can continue to benefit from this.”

    “Earlier this year in ESP’s annual trends report we predicted that cricket would dominate the media and mind measure in 2019 and with such start to the new cricketing season we believe that this will only grow and improve over the next few months and years to come,” Vinit added.

  • Only 3% of brands in Tamil Nadu advertise on both TV and digital

    Only 3% of brands in Tamil Nadu advertise on both TV and digital

    MUMBAI: Marketers advocated for the need to create ads simultaneously for television as well as digital to penetrate deeper in regional markets like Tamil Nadu, at the recently concluded Tele-Wise Tamil 2019. The event was organised by Indiantelevision.com to acknowledge the vast pool of opportunities Tamil television has for brands and advertisers in Chennai on 6 August.

    On the panel were Lodestar UM EVP Laya Menon, Matrimony.com AGM marketing communications Akhil Jain, Paytm Travel GM brand marketing Bhushan Walzade, TAM Media Research VP Tam Axis Vinita Shah, TVS Auto Assist India head marketing Mahima Singh, and Wavemaker general manager Rajendra J Prasad. It was moderated by Bodhitree Multimedia co-founder & Director Mautik Tolia.

    Speaking on the panel, discussing the might of the Tamil market for national and regional advertisers, Menon said, “Hetero-TV consumption is a trend not just in Tamil Nadu but also other South Indian markets. Thus, to optimise the reach of any campaign, we have seen while the reach tends to start with TV, the digital medium adds anywhere between 7-10 per cent to it. And this is just the AV medium I am talking about. To top that, we have other layers like social media platforms. The fact is that the market is now screen-agnostic. TV sells the opportunity and the added advantage comes from online content that has to be fairly customised for the market on a language-basis, which adds a significant amount of measurable reach.”

    Jain, who admitted spending around 80 per cent of his ad spends on TV, shared the example of his own brand as he elaborated more on the concept. He said that he has seen campaigns that run both on TV and digital performing better than the ones that ran just on the latter.

    He said, “I believe that there is a huge synergy between digital and television. As you know, ours is a digital-first platform. With our marketing communications, we ask people to download our app. Now, there is this two-screen theory, which says that even while people are watching TV, they have their phones with them. So, whenever our ad pops up on TV, and the person is using the phone, we serve them the communication on digital medium too, for example, on Facebook.”

    Jain added that it increases the rate of conversion for their app, adding more users. He mentioned that he has observed a positive blip in the number of registrations on the app when the ad is running simultaneously on both platforms.

    Walzade shared similar thoughts as he noted, “I think that the digital medium is growing very fast now. It makes it very important for us to 360-degree campaigns. At Paytm, especially with our travel business, we don’t only put TVCs on national and regional TV, but are also going big on social media.”

    Speaking about the Tamil Nadu market, Walzade added that the state is in top 3 when it comes to internet penetration and the literacy rate is also quite high there. The acceptance of new technologies there is leading to the thriving of e-commerce industry and it really helps us in investing in media and reaching to consumers.

    However, Shah noted that despite there being a great understanding of the need to advertise on multiple platforms only 2.5-3 per cent of advertisers in Tamil Nadu advertise on both TV and digital. She urged the community to recognise this big gap in the synergy between TV and digital and try to fill it.

    Another insight that came out through the session was the importance of creating content in simple and relatable language for the regional audience. The speakers insisted that national advertisers create simultaneous campaigns for the regional markets to assure better results for their campaigns.

    Singh said, “One’s approach should be really regional when it comes to connecting with the regional audience. National advertisers should look at creating content that is more local and is closer to the audience.”

    She also emphasised the need to understand the audience’s AV-viewing patterns and recognise at what time they are accessing content on what platform for better targeting. Prasad seconded her thoughts as he advocated for the creation of customised and bespoke brand codes for each region.

  • Tele-Wise Tamil’s inaugural edition advocates greater involvement of national advertisers in regional markets

    Tele-Wise Tamil’s inaugural edition advocates greater involvement of national advertisers in regional markets

    CHENNAI: Indiantelevision.com hosted the inaugural edition of Tele-Wise Tamil, yesterday in Chennai, with the aim of propelling the power of television in one of India’s biggest regional markets. The event offered a platform to stakeholders in the state’s TV industry to understand, analyse, and find potential solutions to issues faced by broadcasters and advertisers in the state.

    The day-long conference was opened by Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari with a welcome speech. Addressing the gathering inclusive of some of the top names from the media and advertising industry from the regional as well as the Tamil market, Wanvari noted that Tamil Nadu is a very vibrant market with a lot of local talent. “They are diverse and open to looking outward,” he said.

    The proceedings of the day began with a presentation by BARC India chief operating officer Romil Ramgarhia who presented a report on the TV-viewing pattern and trends in Tamil Nadu market, which is unique in its viewing pattern and demographics.

    Sharing some interesting numbers around the TV viewership in the state, Ramgarhia noted that 75 per cent of people watch television daily in Tamil Nadu, dominated by 53 per cent women. He added that roughly 15 per cent of all advertisers in India are currently advertising in Tamil Nadu.

    The next item on the agenda was a fireside chat between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd EVP and cluster head—south businesses Siju Prabhakaran and Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.

    The duo discussed the role Tamil Nadu TV market can play for advertisers. Highlighting the sheer opportunity that Tamil Nadu TV space is for advertisers, Prabhakaran said, "Tamil Nadu is the only market that has a high point in every quarter—be it Tamil New Year, or Diwali, or Pongal. National advertisers haven't been able to understand this phenomenon."

    Prabhakaran also emphasised on the need of good young writers to join the TV industry. He said "There is a need for young writers and technicians to come to TV. This is the issue throughout the country that they get enamoured by films and OTT. The onus is on broadcasters to make TV a more attractive medium for them.”

    The chat was followed by the first panel discussion of the day themed ‘Gauging the Might of Market’ between TVS Auto Assist (India) Ltd head marketing Mahima Singh, Wavemaker general manager Rajendra J Prasad, TAM Media Research VP TAM Axis Vinita Shah, Lodestar UM EVP Laya Menon, Paytm Travel GM brand marketing Bhushan Walzade, and Matrimony.com AGM marketing communication India & International Akhil Jain. The panel was moderated by Bodhitree Multimedia Pvt Ltd co-founder and director Mautik Tolia.

    The panel discussed some important topics including the potency of the Tamil Nadu advertising market, and how to get the attention of the screen-agnostic market. The panel unanimously agreed that there is a pertinent requirement for advertisers to create content in the regional language to connect with the people in the state as Tamil Nadu has a lot of potential.

    Elaborating more on the importance of content in regional languages, Menon quipped that national advertisers are very well aware of the fact that to maintain a relationship with the audience they have to go vernacular. “Gone are the days when it was a revelation for national advertisers that they need to bond with these audience using their languages. They now understand that the audience here is culturally-bonded.”

    Walzade added that it is critical for any business to connect with the tier 2 and tier 3 towns as they can contribute massively to the brand growth. He noted that along with language, brands can also work on introducing regional faces as brand ambassadors.

    Speaking about the growth potential that the Tamil Nadu market has, Prasad said, “We rank second in terms of the GDP in India despite being the 6th largest when it comes to population. It proves that Tamil Nadu has a lot of growth potential for not only regional but also national advertisers.”

    Shah noted that in the past five years, Tamil Nadu market has seen an exponential growth brought in by the growing number of GECs and by the top 10 advertisers in the country. However, there is a big gap that needs to be fixed between the viewership and advertising revenue that can be generated.

    Discussing the ways to attract the attention of a screen-agnostic audience to TV, Singh shared that marketers face a lot of challenge to achieve this. She said that the right strategy can be to communicate in a simpler format and in languages that audiences can connect to.

    Jain vouched for the need to maintain a balanced TV plus digital approach to target the consumers. Citing his own example, Jain mentioned that the digital-only approach has once failed for Matrimony.com and he thus maintains the mixed-media approach of marketing despite being a digital-first brand.

    Shah added that only 2.3-3 per cent of advertisers are doing TV and digital advertising, both, and asked the house to put some more thought in the matter for the industry to grow further. 
    After the session, Lowe Lintas regional creative officer Kapil Mishra took center-stage to discuss how marketers can harness the power of TV.

    He said that people should start looking at TV as a software and not the hardware which is a box or flat screen on the wall. “Technology has separated the software of TV from its hardware, changing the whole culture around it and liberating TV as a medium.”

    Bringing his own answer to the looming question of which half of the advertiser’s money gets wasted, Mishra noted that the investments in TV ads don’t get desired return when brands try to be rational and try to say a lot about themselves. “The audience doesn’t want to hear that. They want entertainment. Power of TV lies in emotions.”

    Following Mishra, an elaborate panel took center stage to discuss the ‘Changing Face of Tamil TV’. On the dais were Colors Tamil business head Anup Chandrasekharan, Sun Life content acquisition and Sun TV Network Ltd Kids Entertainment Kavitha Jaubin, Trend Loud CEO Chidambaram Natesan, Star Network deputy business head for Vijay TV Balachandran Ratnavel, Bodhitree Multimedia Pvt Ltd co-founder and director Mautik Tolia, and Polimer TV strategic advisor and consultant Suresh Iyer. The session was moderated by Horse Pictures partner and YuppTV former head Vijay Adhiraj.

    The panel discussed the need for engaging content in regional languages and the challenge that the industry faces in order to attract the younger audience.

    Natesan said that TV-viewing has been under immense change in the past 4-5 years. “Audiences are now very clear what they want to watch. There are no group viewings and more personalised experiences.”

    Speaking on how to keep this changing audience hooked, Ratnavel shared, “If you know who your target audience is and you are sharp in identifying them, you have to stay constantly in touch with them. When you meet your consumers regularly, you know the right filters you need to put on your content.”

    Adding to this, Chandrasekharan said that the content that Tamil TV is offering is evolving with time. “The content Sun TV was offering was largely family dramas, Vijay TV was into romance. ZEE brought that romance in the family. Now that family has expanded within the outer circles as well. In coming times, the content will be more to do with things around family, like complexities in the society.”

    Iyer focused on advertising more. He said, “The content should drive the TG first. Then, at the end of the day, you will survive if you aggregate all the numbers and then give it to relevant advertisers. Platform can be anything.”

    Tolia added that industry will also have to be cognizant of the fact that it is going to get really tough to gain the attention of the younger audience and should work in getting them to watch their content.

    The next event was a fireside chat between Vikatan Group MD B Srinivasan and Anil Wanvari.

    Srinivasan mentioned that he would rather like to get commissioned on OTT space than TV. He also announced that he will soon be launching the first digital daily soap on YouTube. "We will be launching the first digital daily soap soon. It will be 120 episodes and will be aired on YouTube from Monday to Friday. We are hoping the advertisers come on board. If the first 120 episodes are successful, we are also planning to come up with the second season,” he said.

    Havas Group India CEO and media veteran & expert, Anita Nayyar was the next speaker on stage who in detail discussed with the room the concept of ‘Digi-Wise’ through an interesting presentation. She shared that in order to understand TV growth, one should not ignore the role of digital in it.

    Next was a presentation by Kalimark Group joint managing director J Ramesh who shared a brief history of the brand with the room. 
    The next panel discussion happened between SRM University head of marketing and media Chaitanya Gurijala, Challenge advertising founder and CEO R Sakthivel, Kalimark Group JMD J Ramesh, Viveks VP marketing BS Vishal, and Jaya TV Network business head Viswanathan Devraj, on the topic of ‘Retail Therapy’. The session was moderated by WIN News ED, Cornerstone founder president and Puthiya Thalaimurai Group former CEO RBU Shyam Kumar.

    The panel discussed how broadcasters can get retail advertisers on their platform and how the former can leverage the power of the latter.

    While Gurijala mentioned that he has got his main focus on print advertising, J Ramesh noted that around 75 per cent of his ad share goes to television.

    Sakthivel shared that for Tamil TV, almost 20 per cent of ad revenues come from movies, with producers spending as much as Rs 1.75 crore for a two-week campaign.

    BS Vishal added another interesting dimension to the discussion as he noted that the brand shops are struggling to survive in the online as well as the offline world and it is quite difficult for them to get younger consumers to their doors.

    Devaraj shared that as a broadcaster, he is depending on digital to drive retail advertisers to television.

    The panel also discussed the viability of subtitling Tamil content in various languages to get more people to watch their offerings.

    The day was concluded by a presentation by News18 Network CEO-languages Karan Abhishek Singh who spoke on the relevance of news genre in the Tamil Nadu market. He said that news as a genre has grown fastest in the past one year on the growth of regional news.

    The conference concluded as an insightful event that shed some light on the evolving television industry of Tamil Nadu and also presented solutions to some of the problems that it is facing on its way to becoming the dominant force within the country. 
     

  • Wavemaker appoints Ajay Gupte as COO, south asia

    Wavemaker appoints Ajay Gupte as COO, south asia

    MUMBAI: Wavemaker, the global media, content, and technology agency, today announced the appointment of Ajay Gupte as the Chief Operating Officer for Wavemaker, South Asia.

    Ajay joins from Wavemaker Indonesia where he was Managing Director of the agency. Ajay has successfully led the MEC-Maxus merger in Indonesia. Under his stewardship, Wavemaker Indonesia won several blue-chip clients and many global and local accolades for the agency. 

    Ajay has rich experience of over 23 years in media, sales and marketing spanning across markets like India, Africa and Indonesia. Prior to joining Wavemaker Indonesia, he has spent over 15 years in India with Maxus (now part of Wavemaker) handling clients like Nokia and Hero MotoCorp to name a few. Earlier to Wavemaker, Ajay has had extensive cross-functional stints with TVS Motor Company.  

    In his new role, Ajay will be located at Wavemaker Delhi office and will report into Kartik Sharma, CEO – Wavemaker, South Asia.

    Commenting on the appointment, Kartik Sharma, CEO – Wavemaker, South Asia said, “It is an absolute pleasure to have Ajay back in India. Under his leadership as MD of Indonesia since 2011, Wavemaker (erstwhile MEC) has grown exponentially and is now ranked as top 3 agency in the country. I am confident with his strong experience of agency and client domain, Ajay will be will be able to grow Wavemaker further as an agency of the future.” 

    Commenting on his new role, Ajay said, “I am very excited to be back in India. The media scene in India is vibrant and offers unlimited opportunity for marketeers. With our future-focused offering around Media, Content, and Technology, Wavemaker is uniquely positioned to deliver maximum impact for our clients. I am delighted that the next lap of my journey continues with Wavemaker where I can contribute to delivering this promise.”

  • Sun TV appoints Suriyanarayanan Ramsai as national sales head–Malayalam cluster channels

    Sun TV appoints Suriyanarayanan Ramsai as national sales head–Malayalam cluster channels

    MUMBAI: Sun TV Network has appointed Suriyanarayanan Ramsai as national sales head for Malayalam cluster channels.

    Prior to this, he was with Wavemaker as general manager for almost two years. He started his career in 1999 as regional manager-North at Dinamalar.

    After his eight years of stint with the company, he joined Lintas Media Group as associate vice president. Ramsai has experience in marketing and advertising and he is specialised in the areas of media planning, marketing management, negotiation, advertising, integrated marketing and strategic planning. 

  • Indian online gaming revenue to touch Rs 119 bn by 2023

    Indian online gaming revenue to touch Rs 119 bn by 2023

    MUMBAI: The rapid growth in digital infrastructure has led to a supercharged growth of online gaming from Rs 20 billion in FY14 to Rs 44 billion in FY18. The industry is expected to grow by 22 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) by FY23 and reach Rs 119 billion, as per a KPMG Report.

    The Indian Federation of Sports Gaming (IFSG), and KPMG India launched a report on the ‘The Evolving Landscape of Sports Gaming in India’ at its second event – GamePlan 2019. The report provides an overview of the online gaming industry with a focus on fantasy sports and eSports.

    GamePlan 2019 had a session on ‘Future of online sports entertainment in India’ and the panellists were Google India country director sales Vikas Agnihotri, KPMG India partner and head-media and entertainment Girish Menon, Dream11 CEO and co-founder Harsh Jain, Wavemaker CEO south Asia Karthik Sharma and moderated by sports industry expert Gaurav Kapoor.

    Experts believed that the level of engagement is very high when it comes to sports gaming in India. “We have seen 250 million people interact with sports last year and it is expected to reach 350 million this year. During the IPL, the search rates go up by 80 per cent as compared to the previous quarter,” Agnihotri said.

    KPMG conducted a survey on 336 fantasy sports users to understand their preferences and playing patterns. For around 50 per cent of the respondents, the ‘ability to manage teams virtually’, ‘remain connected with the sport’ and ‘utilisation of sports knowledge’ was important motivators for engagement. Out of those 336 users, 71 per cent of the respondents played fantasy cricket followed by 54 per cent playing football. The non-cricket sports leagues in India are also witnessing increasing traction.

    Commenting on the occasion, IFSG president John Loffhagen said, “With the rapidly growing digital infrastructure and emergence of new sports leagues, the Indian online sports gaming industry is witnessing a boom which shows no sign of slowing down. Exponential growth provides users with easy access to a vast variety of sports gaming apps, formats and genres. This could lead to potential confusion and misjudgement among players in choosing the right platform to engage with their favourite sport.

    Due to the growth of digital infrastructure and the emergence of new sports leagues, fantasy sports is witnessing increasing traction in India. The number of fantasy sports operators spiked from 10 in 2016 to 70 in 2018.

    Talking about the engagement of users on Dream11, Jain said, “We had around 95 per cent of our users playing fantasy cricket three years ago and it has come down to 85 per cent. Indian diaspora wants to consume more sports apart from just cricket. Cricket is still growing but other sports are also witnessing exponential growth.”

    “One of the things all of us have to be aware of is that there is still a huge potential keeping the business model, strategy and the approach in mind. When it comes to sports gaming on monetisation, one of the advantages is the ability to build an ecosystem. Typically any online gaming product is largely free or pay and freemium sometimes. The ability to create an ecosystem is because of the high level of user engagement that exists. Those engagements are at a fairly high level of loyalty to their specific club or sport,” Menon said.

    Jain believes that in the next three years cricket engagement will go down to 65 per cent and the remaining part will be from the non-cricketing sports. “The whole industry is waiting for Google to open Google ads for fantasy sports,” he added.

    Online gaming in India is seeing increased traction due to the growth of digital infrastructure, with fantasy sports emerging as an important segment in this space. “With the number of fantasy sports operators growing rapidly and the number of users on fantasy sports platforms expected to cross 100 million by 2020, this segment has the potential to spawn a whole ecosystem around it, and could help deepen user engagement with their favourite sports,” Menon concluded.

  • Wavemaker’s Anil Kumar joins Spatial Access

    Wavemaker’s Anil Kumar joins Spatial Access

    MUMBAI: Anil Kumar from Wavemaker has joined Spatial Access, India’s first and largest media audit and advisory company, as its head of strategy. Kumar comes with over two decades of experience having worked in multiple markets and agencies, recently with Wavemaker, Mumbai.

    “Anil’s one point agenda will be to bring more transparency and better ROI for our client’s media spends,” said Spatial Access CEO Vineet Sodhani. “His deep and wide experience in media agencies and media houses will help us drive our transparency agenda. He will also enhance client deliveries by giving strategic inputs on their media spends with the objective of improving their ROI.”

    Prior to joining Spatial Access, Kumar was working with Wavemaker where he worked on multiple clients like Tata Sky, Kotak, Zydus and DPA among others. And earlier to that, he was with MediaCom, Starcom, Mudra Max, BCCL and Lodestar.

    On his appointment, he said, “I am excited to join Spatial Access to be able to offer more transparency and better value for our clients’ investments.”

    Spatial Access is India’s largest marketing and media audit and advisory company that helps advertisers increase their ROI on marcom expenditure. It uses proprietary tools and processes to analyse a marketer’s spends in traditional as well as digital media, print production, BTL, Ad Films, agency partnerships etc. and give them specific recommendations on how to improve both efficiency and impact. Spatial Access works with clients whose spends range from a few million to few billion – Indian start-ups and conglomerates as well as global MNCs.

  • Kumar Deb Sinha joins The StoryLab as country head

    Kumar Deb Sinha joins The StoryLab as country head

    MUMBAI: The StoryLab, the specialist content agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has roped in Kumar Deb Sinha as the new country head for its India operations.

    Based out of Mumbai, Sinha will report to Kartik Iyer, president Media Brands and Amplifi – Dentsu Aegis Network India and the executive sponsor for TSL in India.

    Prior to this, Sinha was the national director for content at Wavemaker India, a GroupM Company.

    Armed with more than 15 years of content creation experience, Sinha chiefly specialises in the conceptualisation, designing and production of content across screens. He has produced more than 2000 hours of original content for television and digital including scripted and unscripted formats.

    Commenting on Sinha’s appointment, Iyer says, “We are very happy to have Kumar Deb Sinha on board. The StoryLab aims to be a significant player in the burgeoning content ecosystem of India with a clear positioning. And we are confident that Kumar, with his experience and expertise, will help us take this ambition forward.”

    Sinha mentions that currently there is a huge demand for premium content in India from all key stakeholders – audience, platform and advertiser. Video consumption on personal devices is growing exponentially changing audience preference towards premium entertainment with limited commercial messaging. Both traditional broadcasters as well as OTT players are investing in quality content to differentiate and satiate their audience need. “Advertisers are partnering with premium & successful content formats to connect with this ad-averse audience. Frankly there can be no better time to be a content creator in India for premium and differentiated content and The StoryLab is here to exploit that potential as an innovative investor, distributor and producer,” he adds.

    It is pertinent to note here that TSL expanded its footprint into India in 2015 with a slew of product offerings around content partnership, curation, original content and content investment. With operations in 16 countries, TSL works with publishers & platforms to innovate their supply chain of storytelling and with brands to help them invest in the most engaging and effective content solutions.