ITV

Tag: YouTube

  • ThoughtBuzz launches cross-platform to identify ‘influencers’

    ThoughtBuzz launches cross-platform to identify ‘influencers’

    MUMBAI: The digital platform has become much more than just an end medium to market a product, today. Brands are conserving with the consumers directly through the platform to build a better and stronger relationship between the two.

    However, though there are many tools in the market that offer social media management, none of them provide a dashboard where a user can view not just fan growth, engagement rates but also see content performance, influencers and do competitor benchmarking.

    Hence, keeping this insight in mind, ThoughtBuzz, the analytics arm of TO THE NEW, launched a unified social media management and analytics platform for brands and enterprises.

    The platform is aimed at helping businesses to monitor, engage and identify influencers across all major social media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The self-serve product compliments ThoughtBuzz’s enterprise grade OmnioG solution, which in addition also allows exhaustive external monitoring of brands and products on blogs, forums, news and review sites and completes its range of social intelligence solutions.

    Only a handful of tools provide image and video analytics, and since the new platform can analyse both, it differentiates from the rest. Key features of the new platform include influencer identification, cross platform analytics, competitor benchmarking, content performance, Instagram and Twitter analytics.

    “The new platform allows community and brand managers to understand what content works best for them. You can compare content performance across Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter simultaneously. This is a powerful feature for community managers to engage more with their audience,” said ThoughtBuzz CEO Anshul Jain.

    ThoughtBuzz COO Ashok Patro added, “As ThoughtBuzz is Asia’s only mobile first social analytics platform, we will be able to provide brands with the latest information and insights, empowering them to effectively manage their social media accounts and businesses in real-time.”

    A team of four worked on the product which promises to not invade consumers’ privacy. All the data that is crunched is public data; it doesn’t track any private data of any user on any platform. Secondly, all the analysis is concentrated on data from fan pages for Facebook specifically.

    The product can be used by simply logging on the digital agency’s website and selecting a plan – free as well as paid plans.

  • 95% of the world’s online public conversation about TV is on Twitter: Rishi Jaitly

    95% of the world’s online public conversation about TV is on Twitter: Rishi Jaitly

    MUMBAI: The new trend that is creating waves in India these days is the usage of social media while watching television and specifically writing about television content on the platforms. Speaking about this growing trend was Twitter India market director Rishi Jaitly at the TV.Nxt conference in Mumbai.

     

    Jaitly said that Twitter believes that it is a realisation of the dream of the inventor of the printing press, Johan Guttenberg and today it has become a platform that has truly frictionless content consumption capability and frictionless content expression and publishing. This has led to it producing nearly 500 million tweets a day with 76 per cent users from mobile phones.

     

    He stresses that Twitter encourages people to think of it not as a website but as a mobile microphone which has led to 40 per cent people only consuming content but 60 per cent users consuming as well as contributing. “When you go on YouTube or Wikipedia, you don’t feel ‘oh I must upload a video’ or ‘oh I must edit this page’ but on Twitter people feel this need to tweet, which is fantastic!” says Jaitly.

     

    Recently, Twitter launched its analytics for everyone to track. This, because it has become important to know not just the reach but the ‘live reach’ of tweets as well. Jaitly highlights that 75 per cent of impressions are created within an hour of publishing a tweet.

     

    Talking about the relationship between television and Twitter he shared some statistics that during the Indian Premiere League, 75 per cent of tweets had been sent during the match. In the UK, 40 per cent of Twitter traffic in the evening is about TV and globally 95 per cent of the world’s online public conversation about TV is happening on Twitter.

     

    Research agency Nielsen found that shows that rate high, drive conversation on Twitter but a third of the time, buzz on Twitter can drive ratings. Two years ago, Nielsen came to the social media company saying that advertisers wanted to know how alive its audience was. So, Twitter offered its data set to create Nielsen Twitter TV ratings for shows in real time, every night.

     

    An added bonus to advertisers is that when viewers are engaged on Twitter while watching content, they are less likely to tune away during ads and more likely to recall them. Jaitly points out that the non-fiction entertainment genre is most conducive to public buzz due to its high engagement tactics such as voting or reaction to eliminations, led by sports and news and increasingly by drama and fiction.

     

    Jaitly compares his platform to a sofa, where everyone is watching TV together including the talent, anchor, brand and friends. “This 3D holistic experience is where we think the world is moving and when you optimise on that experience, you optimise for the success of your business,” he says. However, success on Twitter is about personifying oneself by having executives, talent, mascot and machines on the platform. This is why businessman Anand Mahindra is so popular and so is Homer Simpson, the character from the popular series The Simpsons, who tweets during off season and extends the life of the show. Says he, “You win on Twitter when you bring a collection of voices together and when you get your viewer to tweet, you convert him into a marketer.”

     

    According to him, even brands today are engaged in telling stories. “We believe media is moving to where audiences crave content that is personal, mobile and interactive,” he says.

     

    In India, its top priority is to drive growth. This is supported by advertisers and brands who want to be a part of Twitter conversations through its product ‘promoted tweets’. But it ensures that it doesn’t interfere in a user’s newsfeed. Meanwhile, adapting to the multiple languages of the country, it allows tweets in all Indian languages including translation.

  • Google buys new startups-Emu and Directr

    Google buys new startups-Emu and Directr

    MUMBAI: Google recently acquired two start-up companies; a movie making app Directr and a messaging app Emu. The acquisitions were made to augment its messaging technology and its video advertising business.

     

     The move was confirmed by the Emu team on its website. The announcement said, “As of 25 August 2014, we’ll be shutting down the Emu app. It will no longer be available in the App Store and existing users won’t be able to send, receive or download messages.”

     

    Founded by a former employee of Apple and Google Gummi Hafsteinsson and Dave Feldman, who previously worked for Microsoft and Yahoo, Emu, the instant mobile messaging app also integrates Siri or Google Now-like virtual assistant.

     

     “We know it’s an inconvenience and we regret that,” Emu said on its website.

     

    The Emu messenger app made its debut on Android in October last year, while the Emu for iPhone app began in April this year.

     

    Google’s YouTube unit acquired a mobile-video app Directr- a two-year old company used by small businesses to create marketing promotional videos. According to an announcement by the company, the app will now be available free without the in-app fees, which was up to $500 for the premium offering.

     

    Corroborating the acquisition, the Directr team said “We are incredibly excited to take the next step on that journey and announce that we are joining the video ads team at YouTube. For now, everything you love about Directr is staying the same and we’ll continue to focus on helping businesses create great video quickly and easily. One immediate bonus: Directr will soon be all free, all the time.”

     

    Directr offers a mobile app for Apple iOS platform that makes it easy for small businesses to shoot, edit and upload short videos. It assists users with frame selection and building a storyboard, adding background music, and subtitles. The Directr iOS apps come in two variants; one for personal use and one for business.

     

    YouTube also declared the acquisition on Google+ saying, “Directr is joining the YouTube ads team, where they’ll help us make it easier for advertisers to create and upload awesome videos.”

  • MIPTV 2015 announces 2nd MIP DIGITAL FRONTS in APRIL 2015 in Cannes

    MIPTV 2015 announces 2nd MIP DIGITAL FRONTS in APRIL 2015 in Cannes

    MUMBAI: MIPTV 2015 today announces the second edition of MIP DIGITAL FRONTS, the annual international screenings and market for original online video with the confirmation of YouTube, for the second year running, as first Founding Partner. The MIP Digital Fronts will take place during MIPTV from 13-15 April 2015 in Cannes, France.

     

    “The inaugural MIP DIGITAL FRONTS in  2014 offered a unique global platform for YouTube creators, traditional TV producers and film studios to promote their web video talent” said Ben McOwen Wilson, Director YouTube EMEA. “Following the success of this year’s event, YouTube is delighted to be on board once again next year as a Founding Partner.”

     

    “MIPTV  has  been,  for  over  50  years,  the  global  destination  to  produce,  finance, distribute and acquire content from around the world,” said Reed MIDEM’s Laurine Garaude. “With MIP DIGITAL FRONTS, it  has become the  only international digital content showcase and marketplace to produce, finance, distribute and buy original online video.”

     

    Last April, the event saw online content presentations from YouTube, Maker Studios, Dailymotion, Vice and Chipotle and packed showcases from SmokeBomb Entertainment, Vuguru and What’s Trending. Check them out on MIPBlog.  Talent included Chester See, The Young Turks, Mr Stampy Cat, Finn & Jack Harries and many more. For 2015, Reed MIDEM will add a third day of screenings (from two days in 2014), and expects to double the number of content studios joining the-line up.

     

    The MIP DIGITAL FRONTS was created by Reed MIDEM following the success at MIPTV 2013 of YouTube’s original online content showcase. MIP DIGITAL FRONTS are the world’s  first  international  screenings  to  showcase  and  trade  original  online  video programming and web series, in front of MIPTV’s audience of over 11,000 international buyers, producers and distributors, digital strategists, agencies, brands, advertisers and media from the global TV and video entertainment ecosystem.

     

    As a Founding Partner, YouTube will present a showcase of channels and content partners

  • Celina Jaitly’s musical video for LGBT gets one million views

    Celina Jaitly’s musical video for LGBT gets one million views

    NEW DELHI: A Bollywood-style music video featuring United Nations Equality Champion Celina Jaitly which promotes equal rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community received more than a million views online.

     

    The two-and-a-half minute video, titled ‘welcome’ has become one of UN’s most watched videos. Jaitly was named UN Equality Champion by Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay last year for her support for LGBT rights.

     

    The video tells the story of a young man who brings his boyfriend home to meet his family for the first time. Charles Radcliff of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) tweeted that the video had become one of the “UN’s most watched ever”.

     

    Jaitly, who made her music debut in the video, also took to Twitter to express her gratitude for the response. “As my song/video for @UN @free_equal #thewelcome crosses one million views on @YouTube I feel so blessed in the holy month of Ramadan! Thank you all,” she said.

     

    Click here to watch the video

     

    The 32-year-old also expressed the hope that the video would spread the broader message of the need to change not just laws but also attitudes and to challenge stereotypes about the LGBT community in light of the threats and discrimination the community faced in India and across the world, the Press Trust of India reported.

     

    Jaitly, a mother of two-year old twins, has said that she has received threats for supporting gays and lesbians but will continue to work towards achieving equality for the community.

     

    Born to a Punjabi father and an Afghan mother, Jaitly was crowned Femina Miss India Universe in 2001. Her breakthrough film role was in the 2003 thriller Janasheen. She rose to fame in the late 2000s following roles in the films Silsiilay (2005), No Entry (2005), Tom, Dick, and Harry (2006) and Golmaal Returns (2008).

     

    She is married to Austrian businessman Peter Haag and the couple has two-year-old twin boys Winston and Viraaj. Jaitly divides her time Mumbai, Dubai and Singapore.

  • Despite assurances no sign of lifting the ban on YouTube in Pakistan

    Despite assurances no sign of lifting the ban on YouTube in Pakistan

    NEW DELHI: Even as the ban on YouTube in Pakistan is expected to continue with the government unrelenting, the Sindh High Court has issued notices to the information technology secretary, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman and other concerned authorities. The notices are on a petition challenging the ban on video-sharing website.

     

    The parties have been asked to file their replies by 12 August according to a Pakistani website.

     

    The move was followed by a petition backed by several petitioners stating that PTA had blocked over 1000 websites since September 2012 under the guise of ‘blasphemous content’.

     

    They submitted that a ban on the largest video portal on internet affecting badly the students, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, religious scholars and all those who used the video website for commercial and professional aim.

     

    It was stated in the petition that instead of blocking the specific URLs, PTA opted to block the whole platform depriving the citizens of their basic rights. The move isn’t unheard of because many Islamic countries have a system to block those blasphemous content or unwanted web pages on the internet.

     

    The petitioner further stated that PTA planning to block even more pages in the future which would cause even more trouble for the people and they pleaded the court to stop PTA from doing this. The court was also requested to declare the censorship on websites including YouTube a deliberate violation of the fundamental rights as protected in the Constitution of Pakistan.

     

    Earlier, the Lahore High Court had asked the Pakistan government to resolve the issue.  The Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and Information Technology Minister Anusha Rehman even assured the court that the ban would be lifted soon, but this has not happened. An assurance that new software for blocking offensive videos would be acquired has also not been fulfilled.

     

    This is despite the fact that several artists and media persons have been protesting against the ban for the past two years. 

  • The first look of Horrible Bosses 2 is now on YouTube

    The first look of Horrible Bosses 2 is now on YouTube

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Pictures has finally released the trailer of its forthcoming Hollywood comedy film –Horrible Bosses 2, on YouTube. The film which is directed by Sean Anders after the departure of the first film’s director Seth Gordon due to scheduling issues, features Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Kevin Spacey, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman and Charlie Day.

     

    According to international reports, the first installment of Horrible Bosses received largely positive reviews and made $210 million at the box office.

     

    Click here to watch the trailer…

  • Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Exotic’ feat Pitbull hits the 41 million mark

    Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Exotic’ feat Pitbull hits the 41 million mark

    NEW DELHI: Actor-singer Priyanka Chopra is on her way to creating history, as her second international single ‘Exotic’ feat Pitbull crossed the 40 million viewership mark on Youtube.

     

    One of the most celebrated personalities on the global platform and the first Indian recording artiste in the United States with major mainstream appeal, Chopra has much reason to celebrate as the single recently hit 41 million views on the Vevo Channel on Youtube, speaking volumes of her growing popularity internationally.

     

    Priyanka’s second record breaking single ‘Exotic’ which hit no 1 in India and featured on the Billboard’s top 20 list, was also featured throughout the 2013 Guinness International Champions Cup as the soccer tournament’s official theme song.

     

    The dance number was the first major crossover of the two biggest media industries in the world, Hollywood and Bollywood, representing a combined 4.5 billion fans around the world. Chopra even launched her signature milkshake “The Exotic” at the Millions of Milkshakes Stores in West Hollywood, joining the likes of David Beckham, Katie Perry and Leonardo Di Caprio.

     

    Reacting to the feat, Chopra said, “40 million views is an overwhelming number. Much love to my fans.”

  • MTV breaks taboos and makes every voice count with MTV Unmasked

    MTV breaks taboos and makes every voice count with MTV Unmasked

    MUMBAI: ‘Freedom of expression’ may be the most used and least valued phrase in these times. When the term ‘political correctness’ is thrown around with reckless abandon, MTV helps the youth by giving them a unique platform to make their voice heard with MTV Unmasked, a web exclusive series for the Gen Y. The leading youth entertainment brand has always believed in the power of the youth. Through MTV Unmasked, it aims to encourage the youth to believein their thoughts and be tolerant of varying opinions because every voice counts.

    Launched at a time when freedom of expression is imperative to the people, MTV Unmasked is a 16 part web exclusive series that reflects the opinions of four different and rebellious youngsters who discuss topics that are relevant and pressing for the youth of today, while wearing a mask. The youngsters discussissues that plague them but which are never spoken about openly. The masks givethem the freedom to be unhesitatingly share their opinions without fearing any societal backlash or criticism. Belonging to different professional and social backgrounds, each one of the youngsters gives their unique opinions about issues while withholding their identity.

    Speaking about the series, Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Head – MTV Digitalsays, “India is the biggest democracy in the world and by 2020 it will be the youngest as well. We are 500 crore voices, each one with a unique opinion about current issues. We at MTV believe that these voices have a right to be heard. Through MTV Unmasked, we wish to provide a platform for the youngsters where they can make their voice heard.While we don’t endorse the opinions but the fact remains that some of these issues need public opinion and open discussion.”

    A weekly series, each episode of MTV Unmasked touches upon a different topic relevant to the youth, many of which are considered taboo. The episodes are featured on mtvindia.com/unmasked and the videos are shared across MTV India’s social media assets like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

    The show is presented by MTV ACT, MTV’s own pro social platform for the youth. Join the debate by logging on to mtvindia.com/unmasked now.

  • Kapil Sharma creates a laugh riot on FB

    Kapil Sharma creates a laugh riot on FB

    MUMBAI: The hugely popular laugh riot has now gone beyond making a mark on television. We’re talking of Colors’ top-rated non-fiction show Comedy Nights with Kapil (CNWK) which on the eve of 22 May registered a record 10 million fans on facebook.

    Launched soon after CNWK’s on-air launch in July 2013, the show’s facebook page has seen phenomenal growth with over 80,000 fans getting added every 24 hours.

     In the words of Kapil Sharma, creator-producer-host of CNWK, his hobby of making people laugh has grown into flourishing content on TV and social media. “Though we keep hearing people saying how much they love our show but to see it in a number as big as 10 million sends out a loud message to us. In successful collaboration with the Colors team and with continued support from our fans, my little hobby of making people laugh has grown into a flourishing content on television, one that I will strive harder to better even further,” says an elated Sharma.

    The show has a strong male skew with 70 per cent of fans being men and 41 per cent of overall fans being men aged 18 to 24 years. Be it posters of Sharma or other characters like Palak and Didi or typical Sharma jokes or wisecracks by his wacky on-screen family, these get shared about 10,000 times and generate more than 1.5 lakh likes.

    Ask him about the show’s digital strategy and Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava says: “The strategy has largely evolved around engagement. We used jokes and contests for creating engagement with digital audiences. It’s a tough battle because the show comes twice a week and the page has to be decked up every day. So therefore, even if you have to update the page once a day, it must be relevant and engaging every day and make sense day after day.”

    Social media is handled by an in-house team of four members, he informs.

     Replying to a question about what has clicked with Facebook followers, Srivastava answers: “From a content stand point, we have really tried to explore relationships and get humor out of different situations. So whether it was a mother and son relationship, husband and wife relationship or servant and master relationship, we have taken humour to a completely new level.”

    To mark the occasion and ensure even greater participation, the channel had started a contest which starts with the question, ‘Want to be a part of the ’10 Million Likes’ celebration on Comedy Nights with Kapil?, egging on fans to mail their best photographs to colorstv.fans@gmail.com to see themselves on the cover picture of the CNWK facebook page.

    Colors had also created a countdown app which got activated the moment the facebook page hit 9900,000 fans. Upon crossing the 10 million mark, video messages by Kapil, Palak, Daadi, Sumona and Navjyot Singh Sidhu were posted to acknowledge the undying love of CNWK fans across the globe which made this achievement possible.

    “Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who ‘likes’ our page and shares our content with their friends. It’s a signal of approval from the viewers on social media all across the globe that we are creating a product which people love to watch not only on TV but also consume it on other digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and mobile apps,” says Sharma.

    While on other digital platforms, on YouTube, CNWK is the most popular show on Colors since it was first launched with a single episode of the show posted on YouTube receiving about 1.8 million views on an average. On Twitter, most key characters like Sharma, Kiku Sharda (Palak) and Sidhu have witnessed a phenomenal increase in number of followers since the launch of the show. CNWK itself has 1 lakh followers on Twitter. The CNWK mobile application witnesses an average of 1.5 lakh downloads every month, enabling consumption of not only full episodes but also episodic mini-clips.

    While 10 million fans implies that CNWK is popular not only across the Indian subcontinent but also around the world, what is next on the cards?

     “The special thing would be to keep the momentum on and obviously goals will differ. Today, we are at 10 million; hopefully, we will aim for 20 million. So it is not really about the number of fans but engagement. As long as engagement levels are high, we think we would have done the job. As long as we keep entertaining the viewers, these milestones will automatically come through,” concludes Srivastava.