ITV

Tag: year

  • Gustavo Cisneros named Mipcom 2005 Personality of the year

    MUMBAI: Cisneros Group of Companies chairman and CEO Gustavo Cisneros has been named as the Mipcom 2005 Personality of the Year by Reed Midem.

    Cisneros will receive the award during a gala dinner for industry executives on 19 October at the 21st edition of Mipcom (17 – 21 October, Palais des Festivals, Cannes).

    “We are delighted to honor the man who has built the Cisneros Group of Companies into the media giant it is today, not only in Latin America but also in the US and Europe. For over 30 years, Gustavo Cisneros has been at the forefront of Latin America’s economic progress and social development. His efforts and the outstanding success of the Cisneros Group, which he oversees, have helped to increase Latin America’s profile on the global stage, cultivate new industries, and increase access to information,” says Reed Midem CEO Paul Zilk.

    Cisneros said, “I am thrilled to be honored by Mipcom. It is especially gratifying to be recognised for contributions to international television. Crossing borders – not only between nations, but also between cultures and media – is a key element of both my business and philanthropic activities. Moreover I am honored to be in the company of others who have received the Personality of the Year Award, all of whom have made groundbreaking contributions to our field. Of course, credit for the accomplishments that have led to this award is not mine alone. My talented colleagues – all hardworking, intelligent professionals – and, above all else, my wife, Patty, are essential ingredients of my business and philanthropic successes.”

    The Cisneros Group of Companies is one of the largest privately held media, entertainment, technology, telecommunications, and consumer-products organisations in the world. Today, the Cisneros Group of Companies owns or holds interests in 75 companies with operations in more than 80 countries. With annual revenues exceeding $3.5 billion, the Group’s business sectors range from broadcast television networks, pay television and interactive services, telecommunications and to beverage businesses and supermarket chains. Through its diverse industries, the Cisneros Group of Companies delivers leading brands and high quality services to 550 million Spanish and Portuguese-speaking consumers in the Americas and Europe.

    The Group’s holdings include interests in Venevision (the leading broadcast television channel in Venezuela), Venevision International (a Spanish-language entertainment company specializing in TV programming), Univision Communications, Inc. (the leading provider of Spanish-language content to the US Hispanic audience), Movida Communications (the mobile virtual operator for the US Hispanic market), Claxson Interactive Group Inc. (an integrated Ibero-American media and entertainment company), and DirecTV Latin America.

    In addition to his responsibilities related to the Cisneros Group, Cisneros is a charter member of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force. As an ambassador for the media world and the entertainment and communications industries, he regularly participates in a wide range of events and speaks at universities and other venues. These have included the World Economic Forum, World Management Council, Columbia University, and Rockefeller University, among others.

    The Mipcom Personality of the Year Award was created in 1989 to pay tribute to exceptional careers in and contributions to the international television industry. Previous recipients of the Award include Canal+ founder André Rousselet, CNN founder Ted Turner, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, MTV Networks chairman and CEO Tom Freston, News Corporation president and COO and The Fox Group chairman and CEO Peter Chernin, and RTL group CEO Gerhard Zeiler.

  • Online advertising in the US will reach $11 billion this year

    MUMBAI: The internet in the US is increasingly becoming a useful platform for marketers to reach consumers. eMarketer reports that while paid search advertising will grow 22.5 per cent in 2005, spending on non-search advertising, including rich media, online display ads and sponsorships, will rise by 20 per cent.
     
     
    In total, online advertising will reach $11.3 billion in 2005. Ford’s Lincoln Mercury division is putting 25 per cent of its 2005 marketing budget online, and Vonage spends over 50 per cent of its marketing dollars on the Internet. In order to help companies understand better how they can leverage the online medium as an advertising and marketing tool Strategic Research Institute and eMarketer will conduct the eMarketing 2005 forum in Orlando, Florida on 19 and 20 May 2005.

    At the forum companies representing a wide variety of categories will seek to advance their online marketing strategies. They include GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota Motor Sales, Hewlett Packard and AOL Media Works. The forum will uncover the latest trends and techniques in online marketing strategies.

     
     
    In the sesion titled The Big Picture eMarketer CEO Geoffrey Ramsey will cut through the hype, misinformation and contradictory research data to provide a big picture view of where online marketing is today, and where it’s going in the near future. Drawing upon aggregated data from dozens of leading research firms, and pulling no punches, Geoffrey will walk attendees the stats and trends you need to know, including online demographics and usage patterns, Internet shopping and buying, the growing adoption of broadband and wireless technologies and the Internet’s unique and increasingly powerful role in the marketing mix.

    Hewlett-Packard VP Interactive Communications – Global Brand Advertising Mary Bermel will deliver another keynote address. When the consumer is in charge how do marketers seize new opportunities in online marketing. New technologies clearly pose increased challenges to marketers. The “digital revolution” demands increased creativity in connecting with customers. Bermel will dwell on how brands are discovering new tools and strategies to come closer to their customers.

    The Internet has heightened choices for the customer and has empowered them with lots of new choices. The challnge for marketers is keeping up with the new demands on product choices, retail options, marketing and media preferences and brand-building.

     
     
    Another session will predict online ad spending growth, overall and by the specific ad format. It will look at the strategies and techniques that successful advertisers using to fully exploit the interactive channel as well as the mistakes they are avoiding.

  • HKTB brands 2006 as ‘Discover Hong Kong’ year

    MUMBAI: The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) expects visitor arrivals to reach 27.14 million in 2006, mainly led by the launch of Disneyland and Hong Kong Wetland Park. At the same time, the total tourism expenditure will exceed the HK$100 billion mark to reach HK$114.7 billion
     
     
    Therefore HKTB haspledged that it will make good use of the additional tourism funding proposed by the Financial Secretary. Out of the HK$500 million additional funding, HK$470 million will be used by the HKTB to implement the 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year campaign. It will also look to further develop the family and business traveller segments, including young executives; and strengthen the promotion of the Quality Tourism Services (QTS) scheme.

    HKTB has stated that promotional activities for the Discover Hong Kong Year will start from the second half of the year. The HKTB has decided to stage this new international marketing campaign in 2006 because it represents a critical milestone in the history of Hong Kong’s tourism. With several new infrastructure projects, including Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong Wetland Park and Tung Chung Cable Car coming on stream, 2006 presents a great opportunity for Hong Kong to take centre stage in the international publicity arena. The HKTB will package these new attractions with Hong Kong’s existing unique products to present an array of diverse, multi-dimensional offerings that satisfy visitors from different markets and segments.

     
     
    The Discover Hong Kong Year campaign looks to capitalise on the strong interest in Asia and China in the global tourism market. In organising Discover Hong Kong Year, the HKTB’s major short-term objective is to drive incremental visitor arrivals and spending, making Hong Kong the hottest, “must-visit” destination on any Asia and China itinerary. As for the long term, the Board wants to reinforce Hong Kong’s leading position in the international travel market, making it a timeless, continuously rejuvenating destination.

     
     
    HKTB states that its 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year campaign is expected to bring 1.2 million visitors and 2 million visitor nights additional to the HKTB’s original growth forecast. It will also help generate an additional HK$10 billion tourism spending, meaning that for every dollar of the Government’s investment, the HKTB will achieve 20 in return.

  • Participation at Reed Midem up five per cent this year

    CANNES: The silence is deafening. Five days of hustle bustle schmoozing and listening to samplers, digital download debates, and new album releases, live music showcases and the future of music, and suddenly the Palais des Festivals is all quiet. Exhibitors are packing up their booths and getting ready to have a quiet evening or take the shuttles back to Nice airport to catch their much welcome flights back home.

    All round, the comments from participants, exhibitors and Reed Midem are that Midem was an okay market this year. Many deals were done, licensing, publishing, sub licensing, distribution, and what have you. According to Reed Midem officials numbers on almost every front – participation, exhibition, number of countries – were up five per cent.

    The single bright spot as far as India is concerned was the Times of India stand in row 16:01. At almost any time of the day, it was packed with distributors, licensors, publishers. Times Music boss Arun Arora, and manager Suresh, and a team of almost five other Times Music professionals were busy. Says Arora: “We have been coming here for almost seven years now. And Midem is a very useful market for us. It helps us build our brand internationally. We are growing gradually. Last year we paid almost 300,000 dollars in license fees to foreign labels.”

    The other bright spot was the presence of Saregama’s Atul Churamanai, Amarpal Singh and big boss Dilip Mehta’s presence on a panel discussion relating to digital downloads where he got the audience’s attention when he said that we should get swept away by digital downloads. A lot of effort is needed to make digital downloads of music a success.

    Music Today head Gurmeet Singh was pleased with the market. He said: “It’s been a very productive Midem for my firm.”

    The sore part was the absence of a large presence from India in a market where even Netherlands attracts around 140 music industry professionals, China about 40 participants, Australia about 40. Their rationale: propagate Indian culture globally.

    Clearly, the Indian music industry and the government have to put their heads together to see merit in this line of thought.

  • UTV looking at putting four lifestyle shows on air this year

    MUMBAI: One television genre that is catching on in the country is the lifestyle brand. Last year Discovery had launched the Discovery Travel and Living channel. Zoom also launched from the Times stable. Production house UTV is looking to take advantage of this trend.

    Speaking last evening to Indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of a shoot for BBC World’s Business Bites UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvalla said, “We are looking at putting on at least four lifestyle shows this year. We are doing a project for Sahara. Overall we do about 22 hours of programming a week. This is the second largest in terms of output that any Indian television producer does. In that mix non-fiction constitutes about four hours. We are also talking to Star regarding doing a lifestyle show.”

    Screwvalla added that it was important for UTV to break the mould as far as lifestyle programming is concerned. It is therefore looking to go beyond the page three phenomenon. “I however don’t believe that the lifestyle segment will mature in 2005. Maturing takes time. As a genre it is quite new. Even Hindi films are taking time to mature from just being about pure entertainment. The audience may not immediately take to lifestyle shows but it does not mean that you don’t do it. If you continuously produce a high level of output they will take to it over a period of time.”

    KEY USPs OF ‘BUSINESS BITES’ ARE RESEARCH, INFORMAL SETTING: SCREWVALA
    Talking about the BBC show, Screwvalla said that during conceptualisation the aim was to make the show very different from the other talk shows and business based shows on Indian television. “We wanted the talk to happen between two competitors in the same sector. This way we can discuss the challenges happening. We were also looking for a different setting.”

    “That is why we decided not to do it in a normal studio surrounding. We did not want a formal look. In an informal setting like a restaurant you are able to get a lot of issues out. The basic premise is that business when it is transacted over an informal occasion like lunch or dinner you tend to build bigger bridges and have a much more healthier relationship. The format has not been changed since we started out. We have gone industry by industry.”

    Screwvalla added that as it was a BBC show the production values by necessity have to be high. “We are careful about picking the restaurant. While we talk about five or six core issues spread over 16 or 17 questions there is a tremendous amount of research that goes into each episode. We have a research team.”

    “While I am generally aware about the sectors by and large what happens is that I have about 300 pages of research to just glance through. It gives me a very good idea about the industry. From there I narrow down my thoughts and discuss issues.”

    “The research done along with the informal setting are the two things that set the show apart from other talk shows and business programmes. Also when you watch the programme every week you get different perspectives. You get a layman’s view in a half an hour snapshot. Otherwise you would get a more high tech discussion. Our discussions are more broader.”

    UTV also has another show for the BBC called Back To The Floor. This sees a CEO going back to the basic level. “This is not a mock kid of thing. It is very participatory. The CEO gets to see what is right and what is wrong about basic systems and processes. We are also doing a show for National Georgraphic. This takes a look at stunt men. We also have two game shows on Hungama. One is a cricket show while the other is set on a giant wheel. These are the kinds of formats we are working on as far as non fiction is concerned.”

    Business Bites airs every Sunday at 11 am on BBC World with a repeat the same day at 10 pm.

  • Shilpa Shetty voted Indian Diva of the year on SaharaOne

    MUMBAI: On 31 December 2004, vivacious divas like Amrita Arora, Dia Mirza, Gauhar Khan, Meghna Naidu, Riya Sen, Mehek, Koena Mitra, Aarti Chhabria, Anusha, Ishaa Koppikar, Rakhi Sawant, Shefali Zariwala, Shophia Chaudhury, Yana Gupta, Priyanka Chopra and Shilpa Shetty danced to their favourite numbers on Indian Diva on SaharaOne.
     
     

    The show, which was aired at 8 pm also gave viewers a choice to select their favourite diva via SMS.

     

    Through the SMS votes received from millions of people across India, the gorgeous Shilpa Shetty was adjudged as the SaharaOne Indian Diva of the year.
     
     

    Not only this, Raghuram Ravuri from Karnataka, Dr Mukesh Chawla from Delhi, Arun Kumar Singh from Jamshedpur, Bhupinder Godara from Haryana and Sunita Sachan from Mumbai were the lucky one win an Onida Plasma Screen Television Set.

     

    SaharaOne sure ended 2004 with a bang!

  • Ask Jeeves goes banner free this year

    CALIFORNIA: Here is a piece of news that gives a new perspective to the business of advertising on the web. Ask Jeeves Web Properties, a division of Ask Jeeves has announced the removal of all banner advertisements from Ask Jeeves (Ask.com), the Web’s second most popular search engine. An official release informs that this move reflects the company’s continuing commitment to delivering a highly targeted environment for its clients and a user-friendly search experience for consumers. Ask Jeeves also recently eliminated interstitials, commonly known as pop-up advertisements, from its suite of advertising products.

    The company says that it is focussed on creating a more satisfying search experience for both users and advertisers. This year Ask Jeeves will focus on its core offerings including Branded Response and Premier Listings. These advertising units provide marketers a way to deliver their branding and text-based advertising to consumers within a relevant search environment. Branded Response helps marketers reach a highly targeted audience on Ask Jeeves’ results page while generating brand awareness through use of graphics and images. This unit is unique to Ask Jeeves and enjoys click-rates as high as 25 per cent. Premier Listings are keyword targeted, text-based advertising units that appear under the heading “featured sponsor” at the top of Ask Jeeves’ results page.

    The company maintains that search marketing remains a powerful way to brand products and services online. The key for search engine marketers is to employ tools that add context and depth to a consumer’s search.

    Ask Jeeves claims to be a leading provider of intuitive, intelligent question answering technologies and services. Ask Jeeves’ solutions enable companies to convert online shoppers to buyers, reduce support costs, understand customer preferences and improve customer retention. Ask Jeeves also syndicates its solutions to portals, infomediaries, and content and destination sites to help companies increase e-commerce and advertising revenue.

  • Star Movies finishes off the year with Will Smith

    Star Movies finishes off the year with Will Smith

    On New Years Eve Star Movies will show Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Gene Hackman. The film will be shown at 6:30pm with a repeat at 9:30pm. A top notch political thriller it tells the story of a corrupt government agent's efforts to eliminate an innocent man who unwittingly possesses information implicating the agent in the death of a US Congressman. 

    Smith is a successful labor lawyer based in Washington. He meets an old friend and his life is turned upside down. In a fit of panic his friend who is an environmental scientist gives him vital evidence. He had accidentally videotaped a Senator's murder. 

    Smith gets framed for the murder which has been committed by a treacherous NSA official. Smith teams up with hackman who plays a mysterious underground information broker and ex-intelligence operative known only as Brill. 

    The film explores the use of Spy satellites, aimed at us. The government can constantly monitor one's movements and so the concept of privacy has been invaded.