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Tag: Zee

  • Zee’s digital plan: Apps for all

    Zee’s digital plan: Apps for all

    The title of Zee TV’s latest primetime offering – Connected Hum Tum – inadvertently spells out the predicament most general entertainment channels (GECs) find themselves in today.
    Indeed, be it a Sony Entertainment Television, Star Plus, Colors or Zee, given the increasingly competitive TVT scenario, every channel today faces the continual challenge of staying connected to stay in the minds of its audience.

    Zee TV has differentiated its digital presence based on the kind of shows on air. Right from religious, musical, self-help to horror programmes, says Akash Chawla

    So, how do channels go about cracking this rather tough nut? How do they perfect the science of understanding viewer habits amidst the growing clutter of GECs? Apparently, they’ve found the perfect solution in social media.

    True. From being just an informal platform for friends to chat and share pictures, social media has evolved into the most preferred medium to stay connected and TV channels are no exception to this norm.

    In fact, indiantelevision.com kick-started its digital series in a bid to understand the individual digital strategy of each television channel within our purview. After a close look at the digital strategies adopted by the likes of Sony Entertainment Television, Star Plus and Colors, we now take a sneak peek at the digital approach of Zee TV.

    With a slew of social media initiatives including mobile apps and missed call theory incorporated into its reality shows, Zee TV has tried to stay on top of its game as far as remaining connected with its audiences. Let’s take a look at what’s on offer…

    A finger in every digital pie

    Zee TV’s tryst with the digital space began in 2009 when it launched its official channel on YouTube.

    Today, the YouTube channel boasts 613,650 subscribers, with over 428 million views of the 30,950 videos, making it one of the most viewed channels on YouTube.

    Episodes of daily soaps like Qubool Hai, Pavitra Rishta, Jodha Akbar and Punarvivaah as well as reality shows like Connected Hum Tum and Dance India Dance Super Moms are regularly uploaded on the YouTube channel. These apart, “Episodes of previously aired popular soaps like Chhoti Bahu, Star Ya Rockstar, DID Li’l Masters 2 and Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli are also made available on it,” informs Zee marketing head, national channels, Akash Chawla.

    The mainstay platform of Zee has web exclusive content, photo galleries, polls, full schedule of the shows and much more

    Apparently, “Qubool Hai – the sweet, light-hearted love story of Asad and Zoya and their families leads the pack on the Zee YouTube channel,” reveals Chawla, adding, “We get an average of 1,60,000 views per episode of Qubool Hai uploaded on our YouTube channel.” Pavitra Rishta follows suit with an average of 50,000 views per episode

    Apart from the YouTube channel, Zee TV keeps its viewers updated about the cast of its shows, teasers of upcoming episodes, and show launches through its official Facebook page that boasts 422,915 likes and more than 23,500 fans in constant discussion.

    “Even our shows have a huge following with pps that engage the audience. Dance India Dance for instance has 503,700 likes with 13,000 plus active followers,” gushes Chawla, adding, “The last season of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa attracted 0.15 million likes, and the number of active users went up to 8,000 while the show was on-air.”

    Hum, tum aur social media

    Zee’s latest primetime offering Connected Hum Tum is the latest in its endeavours in the digital space.

    Even before the show premiered on television, Zee created original parallel online content to promote it.

    Short comic videos were created with the central theme of ‘Men Who Understand Women’ Society. They all had a crew turning up during scenarios where the man is clueless about what has upset his woman and provide him with remedial measures. Parodies of real-life situations, the videos all but left the audiences in splits.

    A month prior to the show launch, Zee created a wave of curiosity around it through daily teaser posts on Facebook and Twitter. These built intrigue around the show’s novel concept and the identity of its celebrity host.

    Ultimately, “When Abhay Deol was revealed as the host, the social media space kept buzzing with pictorial posts of the actor with his tongue-in-cheek commentary about women and how he just cannot understand them! The title song of the show – a fresh, catchy video featuring the actor, was launched on YouTube and all other video platforms alongside its on-air launch,” Chawla informs about Zee’s social media strategy during the launch of this show.

    He points out that on the anvil are live chats with Abhay on Twitter, Google hangouts with the participants and live tweeting during the telecast of an episode with an on-air twitter feed – all to drive increased viewer interactivity and participation.

    Zee TV has also created a YouTube gadget, which serves as the primary engagement platform for audiences to consume Connected Hum Tum online. It has episodes, uncut videos, a discussion forum on the themes of daily episodes, and video biographies of the six protagonists – all updated on a day-to-day basis.

    Going a step further, Zee TV has differentiated its digital presence based on the kind of shows on air. “Right from religious, musical, self-help to horror programmes, we have apps for all,” informs Chawla. “When Ramayan was first telecast on Zee, the channel launched a virtual Ram Mandir app on Facebook. This helped people to perform virtual aarti. We got an impressive 10,000 page views for this app, within the very first week,” he says.

    Similarly, when Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2012 was launched, Zee TV introduced the Call and Sing app, allowing fans to record their songs and post their recording either on their own walls or friends’ walls. “This was a way to engage people, as they could now showcase their singing prowess to their friends and Zee TV followers alike,” Chawla reveals.

    It doesn’t end there. Zee TV’s Twitter handle, @ZeeTV, has nearly 73,233 followers. Interactions are usually driven by the channel and picked up by followers. Fans who are interested in behind-the-scenes gossip are kept updated through live tweets.

    Exults Chawla: “Our comprehensive digital presence is further topped by the official website www.zeetv.com. This being our mainstay, we use all other platforms to drive traffic towards the website, which is complete with a picture gallery, video uploads, trends, show trivia, news and discussions and much more.”

    During the audition of Dance India Dance 3, Zee TV went to the extent of allowing online entries. “We recorded a whopping 50,000 participants registering for auditions with votes reaching a cumulative figure of 1.75 lakh,” says Chawla.
    Mobile’s the way to go

    With Ditto TV, users can watch movies, television shows, sports and latest news and updates, at their own convenience, even when away from home says Manoj Padmanabhan

    The launch of Ditto TV on 29 February 2012 marked the channel’s foray into the mobile space. Ditto TV was unveiled as an Over-The-Top TV (OTT) distribution platform offering live TV channels and videos-on-demand (VOD) to consumers on their mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainment boxes and connected TVs.

    About Ditto TV, Zee business head, new media, Manoj Padmanabhan, says: “With Ditto TV, users can watch movies, television shows, sports and latest news and updates, at their own convenience, even when away from home.”

    The platform has a Movies-on-Demand section with close to 500 Hindi, English and regional movies, and a vast library of videos-on-demand from popular TV shows such as Hum Paanch, Saath Saath, MTV Coke Studio, MTV Bakra and Comedy Nights with Kapil as well as online content. 

    “What’s exciting is that users can watch missed episodes of their favourite on-air shows from Zee TV, Colors and other regional channels on Ditto TV within a few hours of their telecast on television,” Padmanabhan informs.

    With a presence across mobile platforms such as Android, iOS, Symbian, Windows 8 and Blackberry, Ditto TV has 65,210 likes on Facebook and 1,420 active followers on its Twitter handle – @ditto_tv.

    Padmanabhan reveals that they recently launched an innovative teaser campaign on the Zee YouTube channel comprising interactive videos to give a fresh twist to the concept of ‘anytime viewing’. He is quick to point out that though currently, most of their traffic is from India with only 10 per cent of their base being international users they plan to expand their international presence this year.

    Zee’s YouTube page has all the popular shows and gets more than 40,000 average video views per episode

    Zee’s next big initiative in the mobile space came with the launch of the Dance India Dance (DID) mobile WAP site and mobile app, which coincided with the third season of the show. This made DID the first ever reality show on Indian television to be present as an application on all mobile and digital platforms.

    In March 2012, within three days of unveiling it, the app reported more than 10,000 downloads and rated 4.5 out of 5 on the Android app store – a very competitive score, considering the Android store is an open platform and the reviews therein are all user-generated.

    About the overwhelming response, Chawla says: “The interactions with popular judges and contestants of the show made the mobile application go viral in the digital space, setting new benchmarks with 2,12,852 WAP site page hits, 18 lakh page views and 14,642 comments in the ‘live comments’ section within months of its launch.”

    Not only did the DID 3 app become a major hit in India but also in 25 other countries including the US and the UK. “It reinforced the fact that mobile marketing is the best way to capture the youth and the tech-savvy generation of smart phone and feature phone users,” points out Chawla.
    Riding on the success of the DID 3 app and following the overwhelming response to the initial episodes of DID L’il Masters, the app was converted to its DID l’il Masters avatar in May 2012. This actually made users come back for more.

    Zee TV constantly updates its Facebook profile with pictures, polls and snippets

    “Features like live chats and personalised dance tutorials with masters and skippers were introduced along with regular updates. A built in missed call feature allowed users to vote for their favourite contestants,” says Chawla, adding, “There was an increase in the number of users with the official download count crossing three lakh downloads across all four platforms.”

    To top it all, the app won accolades from the marketing fraternity when it won a Gold and a Bronze at the Smarties 2012 and MMA Global for being the best mobile app and the missed call feature, respectively.

    “The missed call feature recorded a landslide 56.1 million votes just through DID Li’l Masters 2,” informs Chawla. Overall, Zee recorded a one million download mark among Hindi GECs for its non-fiction shows, demonstrating the success of its mobile app revolution.

    While it may be safe to say Zee has been pressing all the right buttons digitally speaking, let’s see what does the channel comes up with next considering creativity never ends in this space

  • Star and Zee the highest gainers in wk 31

    Star and Zee the highest gainers in wk 31

    MUMBAI: In week 31, Hindi GECs seem to be on the winning side of TAM TV ratings as most of them saw a rise in their TVTs. The TAM TV ratings are in thousands, colloquially referred to as TVT (Television viewership in thousands). The TVTs are in terms of gross numbers. The data collected is for viewers in the CS4+, HSM markets.

    Star Plus continues to climb in the ratings ladder, as it added 31,927 TVT taking its score to 505,925 TVT (473,998). Zee TV was the next highest gainer and holds on its number three position adding 26,264 TVT taking its tally to 367,073 TVT (340,809).

    Colors ranked number two this week, adding 762 TVT and stands strong at 456,365 TVT (455,603). Sab came back to its number four position when it notched up 20,797 TVT scoring 320,558 TVT (299,761) followed by Sony with 319,606 TVT (315,840), while Life OK notched up 240,191 TVT (239,981). Sahara One continues to remain in the bottom scoring 36,253 TVT (33,964).

    Let‘s take a closer look at how the shows fared this week. The numero uno Star Plus‘, Diya aur Baati Hum proved to be the star yet again, witnessing a growth and rated 10,332 TVT (9,133). Another prime time show, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai increased its reach taking its score to 6,749 TVT (6,114). Pyar Ka Dard Hai fared 6,090 TVT (5,939) and Saathiya registered 5,779 TVT (5,460). The reality show India‘s Dancing Superstars‘ grand finale rated 5,503 TVT on Saturday and 2,162 TVT (3,181) on Sunday.

    Colors‘ popular celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa seems to be on the losing side when it generated a 4,579 TVT (5,853) on Saturday and 3,705 TVT (4,690) on Sunday. Long running fiction series Balika Vadhu witnessed a drop and scored 7,308 TVT (8,018),Madhubala – Ek Ishq Ek Junoon rated 4,846 TVT (4,822) and Uttaran scored 4,611 TVT (4,126). The comedy show Comedy Nights with Kapil though lost a few points and generated 6,059 TVT (6,352) on Saturday and Sunday. The new entrant on the channel Mrs Pammi Pyarelal rated 1,690 TVT (1,796).

    Zee TV‘s reality dance show DID Super Moms with its outstanding performances, rated 4,934 TVT (4,979) on Saturday and 4,485 TVT (4,233) on a Sunday. Its fictional offering Qubool Haisaw a drop when it rated 7,213 TVT (7,380). Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Keregistered a slight fall taking its score to 4,462 TVT (4,472). The historical show Jodha Akbar observed a growth scoring 3,630 TVT (3,132).

    Fourth placed, Sab‘s top chart fiction show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah continues to be the channel leader with 8,161 TVT (7,724). Chidiya Ghar shed and scored 3,409 TVT (3,691).Wah Wah Kya Baat Hai saw an improvement in its score when it rated 1852 TVT (1465).Lapataganj saw a slight rise scoring 2502 TVT (2324). Other fictional shows witnessed marginal rise and fall as well.

    Fifth placed, Sony Entertainment Television‘s long running crime series CID rated 5122 TVT (5169) and Crime Petrol saw a huge hike when it rated 4331 TVT (3906). On the other hand,Comedy Circus ke Ajoobe Mahabali witnessed a marginal growth with 3008 TVT (2955). The channel‘s historical show Maharana Pratap managed to remain close to its last week‘s ratings, generating 3271 TVT (3302). Other fiction shows either held on to their viewership or dipped marginally during the week. Sony‘s Indian Idol Junior notched up 5348 TVT (4441) on Saturday but dipped taking its score to 3813 TVT (3850) on Sunday.

    Sixth placed, Life OK‘s top series Mahadev rated 3328 TVT (3074). Other shows seems to have lost its viewership, thus Do Dil Ek Jaan scored 1447 TVT (1700), Savdhan India rated 2466 TVT (2523), Police Dial 100 scored 558 TVT (667) and Shapath reported 2466 TVT (2684).

    In the movie channels genre: Zee Cinema saw a fall, reporting 214046 TVT (238378); Star Gold too saw a drop to 186424 TVT (203238) and Movies OK improved as it scored 123662 TVT (112714). On the other hand, Max reported a huge jump scoring 309861 TVT (215075) mainly thanks to the world television premiere of Aashiqui 2 on 28 July.

    Let‘s wait and watch, how the channels fare in the coming week…

  • Zeel’s Q1-2014 PAT up by 42.6 per cent (y-o-y)

    Zeel’s Q1-2014 PAT up by 42.6 per cent (y-o-y)

    BENGALURU: Content and broadcast player Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) unaudited results for Q1-2014 reported a growth of 42.6 per cent ( y-o-y) PAT, with a PAT margin of 23 per cent at Rs 223.9 crore as compared to the Rs 157 crore during the corresponding quarter of FY-2013. Consolidated operating revenues were up 15.5 per cent (y-o-y) at Rs 973.3 crore during Q1-2014 from the Rs 843 crore reported for Q1-2013.

    Let’s take a look at Zeel’s Q1-2014 performance

    Advertising revenues for Q1-2014 were higher at Rs 530.1 crore, recording an 18.5 per cent growth over Q1-2013’s Rs 447.2 crore.

    Zeel’s subscription revenues for Q1-2014 were also up by 16.5 per cent at Rs 421.1 crore as compared to the Rs 361.1 crore during corresponding period last year. Zeel’s domestic subscription revenues stood at Rs 316.8 crore (up 26.5 per cent as compared to Q1-2013); while its international subscription revenues were Rs 107.3 crore for Q1-2014 (down 5.6 per cent y-o-y as against Q1-2013.

    Other sales and services revenues were down 39.7 per cent for Q1-2014 at Rs 19.1 crore as compared to Rs 31.7 crore during Q1-2013.

    Zeel’s operating costs increased 9.6 per cent to Rs 410.8 crore for Q1-2014 from Rs 375.7 crore in Q1-2013. Its employee costs increased 7.7 per cent to Rs 95.6 crore from Rs 88.6 crore during Q1-2013. Selling and other expenses saw a 20.7 per cent jump to Rs 175.4 crore during Q1-2014 from Rs 145.3 crore reported in Q1-2013.

    Zeel offered and allotted 55,48,400 equity shares at a price of Rs 119.90 per share upon exercise of ESOP by its employees during Q1-2014. During the AGM held in July 2013, Zeel shareholders passed a special resolution approving enhancement of FII limits in the company beyond the current limit of 49 per cent to the maximum sectorial limit allowed under FDI applicable regulations.

    Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The economy during the quarter has continued to face challenges due sharp depreciation in rupee against major currencies leading to elevated current account deficit, balance of payment, inflation and adverse fiscal deficit. In spite of this lackluster growth television media industry has posted a comparatively robust growth on back of sustained advertisement spends by the consumer goods sector.”

    “Our performance during the quarter reflects the investments that Zee is making to grow its business and market share. This has been accompanied by a strong improvement in operating performance of the company during the quarter. In a highly competitive space, Zee continues to build its media assets and in the process continues to create value for the shareholders. We have a strong balance sheet and I am confident that we would take advantage of the growth opportunities ahead of us,” added Chandra.

    Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka said, “The subscription revenue during the quarter has shown robust increase and with digitization rollout, will improve medium term. Sports performance for the quarter has been good, but due to heavy sports calendar and rupee depreciation, the business is expected to be in losses for some time.”

    “The phased implementation of Trai regulation with respect to advertising inventory based on clock-hour has started and in expected to be fully in place by the end of second quarter, DAS in phase I and II also moved a step further with MSOs’ making substantial progress in capturing consumer data and taking first steps towards implementing packaging”, added Goenka.

    “While competitive intensity remains high in the Indian television industry, we continue to make efforts towards further enhancing our market share. Our content focused approach combined with better monetization of subscription revenues, will contribute to company delivering steady return in the years ahead”, added Goenka further.

  • BARC floats RFPs for new TV ratings system

    BARC floats RFPs for new TV ratings system

    MUMBAI: For long, there has been a hue and cry about the progress of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) and the development of an alternative TV ratings system. Things finally seem to be moving now. Earlier this month, BARC chairman Punit Goenka announced the hiring of industry veteran Partho Dasgupta as its CEO.

    Today, BARC has announced that it has issued the request for proposals (RFPs) asking global tech and research vendors to pitch in with their offers to revamp India‘s allegedly rickety existing TV rating system. This follows the overwhelming response it got for the request for information forms it had issued earlier.

    Says Zee MD & CEO and BARC chairman Punit Goenka, MD & CEO of ZEE: “We are happy with the interest shown by global vendors of technology and research in our project. The RFPs are going out to all of them. This will be followed by discussions and evaluation of these proposals.”

    Adds BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta: “This is our second step towards initiating a cutting edge measurement system which will see marriage of technology and research. The first step was the establishment survey which the TechCom (technical committee) led by Shashi Sinha and Paritosh Joshi has already initiated.”

  • Zee Learn promotes Navneet Anhal to CEO

    Zee Learn promotes Navneet Anhal to CEO

    MUMBAI: Navnnet Anhal former chief operating officer at Zee Learn has now taken the position of the chief executive officer.

    Anhal started off with Zee Learn in 2008 and has since earned made his way up the ranks showing dedication and commitment towards the organization. He was appointed as the COO in July 2012.

    Meanwhile, Pradeep Pillai has been appointed as the chief operating officer to step into Anhal’s shoes.

    Pillai was earlier the business head for K12 unit at Zee Learn which includes Kidzee preschools and Mount Litera Zee Schools.

    Anhal said, “At Zee Learn we are focused on improving Human Capital. We are optimistic about the future opportunities in the education sector in India and gearing up to meet expectations of all stakeholders associated with the sector.”

    Zee Learn HR head Aman Pal Singh said, “The demand for quality education is an important social reality today and Zee Learn is well poised to cater to this growing aspiration. We are confident that the new leadership team will drive the organisation to set new benchmarks in education in India.

     

  • Nilesh Thakkar moves on from GS TV to launch The Real Media People

    MUMBAI: Media veteran Nilesh Thakkar, whose latest stint was with Aas Paas TV (the television wing of Gujarati daily Gujarat Samachar), has turned entrepreneur with his media venture – The Real Media People (TRMP).

    The media agency will focus on providing media solutions to the real estate sector which is heavy on print and out of home media. It will also help players in the sector capitalise on the use of electronic media, which has not been used effectively by the builder community as yet.

    Thakkar, the founder CEO of TRMP, said, “At TRMP, we shall give 360 degree solutions to builders who are still heavy on print and will generate additional revenue for all regional and national news channels by way of spot/non FCT/advertiser paid feature. Real estate is huge sector for print and this sector requires a personalised touch. We shall not operate like an ad agency but will act as consultants in promoting the clients.”

    TRMP was inaugurated on the pious occasion of Vasant Panchami and will start full-fledged operations from 1 April. Thakkar will be joined by two more partners, whose identities will be revealed in due course of time. There are already some new channels that have tied up with TRMP.

    Thakkar further said, “I started working at a very early age, practically during my school days. I always thought I shall retire early and start something on my own by the time I enter the early forties.”

    Thakkar has 20 years of experience in the media business having spent seven in years in print with publications like Manorama, Abhiyaan and Chitralekha and 13 years with Zee, Star News, Star Ananda, Star Majha, Tv9 and Gujarat Samachar (GS Tv).

  • Zee appoints Scarecrow for its food channel Khana Khazana

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Limited has appointed Scarecrow Communications as the creative agency for Khana Khazana, its 24×7 food channel. The account will be handled out of Scarecrow‘s Mumbai office. The win came after a systematic pitch process, involving the top agencies in the country.

    The new creative campaign for Zee Khana Khazana is based on a powerful insight and will serve as a platform to showcase the exciting line up of new shows, thereby continuing the tradition of creating people-centric content by the Zee family which is appreciated across genres.

    Says Raghu Bhat- Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, “We are thrilled to partner Zee in this new journey of capturing Indian stomachs and eventually, their hearts.”

    Says Joy Sengupta, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, “Our association with the Zee group is not new. But it‘s highly satisfying to bag one more prestigious mandate from the pioneers of Indian TV entertainment space.”

    Says Manish Bhatt, Founder Director, Scarecrow Communications, “Zee is Indian by heart, Indian by nature and Indian by actions. We hope to use our instinct and knowledge of the Indian pulse to create a distinct positioning for Khana Khazana.”

    With fully functional offices in Mumbai and Delhi, Scarecrow Communications is India‘s one of the fastest growing advertising agencies with brands such as Danone Narang, Reliance Digital, Anchor Panasonic, Future Capital, Emami, Religare, Eristoff, Kohinoor McCormick, Viacom 18, Quikr, Rupa and DLF. Recently, Scarecrow started its full fledged design outfit, Scarecrow Designs.

    Zee Khana Khazana which pioneered the cookery show content in India is all set to build on its legacy with a slew of highly exciting and original new shows, targeting Sec A, B housewives across India.

  • BARC starts process for new TV viewership measurement architecture

    MUMBAI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) on Thursday called for information on state-of-the art television audience measurement from players across the globe, in a first step towards creating India‘s own architecture for computing television viewership ratings.

    The BARC has issued a global Request for Information (RFI) to seek understanding of the state-of-the art in the area of television audience measurement research in particular and audience measurement research in more general terms.

    In a statement, BARC says the RFI seeks ideas, templates, experiences, that will help BARC to blueprint the new television audience measurement system. It has sought responses to a list of questions which respondents may consider addressing as a part of their response to the RFI. The responses have to be submitted to BARC by 5 February.

    Punit Goenka, chairman BARC and MD & CEO, ZEE, said, “BARC is committed to building a Television Audience Measurement System that becomes ipso facto the Gold Standard in its class worldwide. Given that BARC addresses a population of over 1 billion, of which over 0.6 Billion have access to television in some form, I am confident that BARC will settle for nothing less than being the best.”

    BARC said respondents would also have to make a presentation, in addition to providing their credentials, information on TV measurement markets currently in their portfolio, their organisation structure, their focus towards India and finally their experience with TV audience measurement research.

    Shashi Sinha, Chairman, Technical Committee of BARC and CEO-Lodestar UM & CEO-IPG Mediabrands India said, “It is clear that legacy architecture of the (audience measurement) system, that has evolved incrementally, is now ready for seminal change. However, what is not clear is the contours of the new system, which BARC aims to define.”

    At various times, more than one vendor has attempted to provide audience measurement but from 2002, TAM Media Research, India — a joint venture of Nielsen and Kantar, has been the de facto provider of the measurement currency, being widely used by all stakeholder constituencies for all commercial and marketing decision-making.

    The BARC Technical Committee members comprising Shashi Sinha (representing Advertising Agencies Association of India), Paritosh Joshi, Principal, Provocateur Advisory (representing Indian Broadcasting Foundation) and Smita Bhosale, Head, CMI-Brand Building-South Asia, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (representing Indian Society of Advertisers) would evaluate the responses received.
    Respondents will receive the Request for Proposal (RFP) after BARC concludes its study of the responses received.

    Television audience measurement in India has been around for nearly three decades. Beginning with a simple diary based system in the early 1980s covering Doordarshan, then the state-owned monopoly broadcaster, it evolved parallel to the evolution of the Indian television market. By the mid-1990s, it was already covering satellite television and in the early part of this century, India was one of the earliest television markets to have a pure Peoplemeter based system.

    The challenges for an audience measurement system in an era of digital delivery of television channels brings in its wake a massive expansion in choice of content coupled with accelerating adoption of new technologies that are shifting consumption away from the fixed time chart (FTC); and shifting it to personal digital appliances are altogether different from the era when television meant living rooms, common choices and shared family experience. 

    BARC said it understands that a good system rests as much on a sound understanding of the footprint of the medium: the Establishment Study; as it does on continuous tracking of viewing behaviour: the Television Meter Panel.

    BARC is also aware of a number of technologies at varying stages of development that promise non-intrusive or minimally intrusive viewership measurement. BARC is also aware of developments in the area of integrated media consumption metrics, e.g. IPA‘s Touchpoints 4 exercise scheduled for next year.

    “All these are of interest to the architecture of the future system in India. BARC expects respondents to incorporate their own experiences in these areas as items of emphasis in the response to this RFI,” said BARC.

    The following are some of the areas BARC expects respondents to address:

    1. In-house knowledge and experience in the Television and more broadly, Media Audience Measurement space

    2. Global best practices in a number of areas including

    a. Vendor owned and managed vs. Joint Industry Body (JIB) or Joint Industry Committee (JIC) owned and managed – Advantages and Disadvantages 

    b. System architecture- Establishment, Metering, other services 

    c. One vendor or many vendors

    d. If multiple vendors, how scopes of work are clearly delineated

    e. If multiple vendors, how accountability is clearly defined

    3. Sampling design: How viewership volume, viewing intensity, audience economic attractiveness and other factors are accommodated 

    4. Measuring viewing across multiple screens

    5. Measuring viewing across individual, family and community settings

    6. Familiarity with Ascription, Data Fusion and Data Synthesis in multimedia measurement

    a. Need for fusing consumption data from multiple media

    b. How fused data are being introduced into commercial application

    7. Typical relative error levels in measurement systems operating in different geographies.

    a. Levels considered generally acceptable for a robust Peoplemeter system 

    b. Sampling designs that will ensure a systematically lower relative error

    8. Audit mechanisms typically put in place to ensure reportability of data

    9. Keeping Panels representative of a fast changing Universe while allowing for continuity of data reads without trend breaks.

  • ZEE launches mobile app for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa

    ZEE launches mobile app for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa

    MUMBAI: After the mega success of the Dance India Dance mobile wap & app that received over 7 lakh downloads and won a Gold at the ‘Smarties‘, Zee TV has announced the launch of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2012‘ mobile app.

    Now fans of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ can connect with their favourite show on their mobiles even beyond watching the show every weekend on Zee TV at 9 PM. Loaded with many interactive features, it makes the experience completely social. The app allows you to listen, share, and comment on everything related to the show. The app is fully integrated with Facebook and Twitter.

    Today, mobiles are an extension of everyone‘s lifestyles – we use our cellphones for almost everything, including capturing pictures and storing music. With this in mind, Zee TV‘s ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ wanted to provide a mobile experience that gave viewers different ways to enjoy their music. It is an innovation in the reality show genre on Indian television as it‘s a new way for audience‘s to engage with a quality app on a mobile device. Following a successful collaboration for the ‘Dance India Dance‘ app, Zee TV continues its partnership with Mobilox Innovations Pvt. Ltd to develop the ‘Hero Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ Mobile APP technology.

    Did we mention that it‘s free? To download the ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ App, one just needs to give a missed call at 18002661614. You will receive an SMS with a link in the message and on clicking the link, you can download the app absolutely free of cost. The ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ mobile App has been designed to take interactivity and viewer‘s feedback to the next level. Once you download the app, it will provide you with a gateway to information about every stage of the competition. The app has features that will engage with viewers in real time like‘Vote for your Favourite Contestants‘ with no extra charges, chat with mentors, get latest updates and also allows one to access all the Twitter messages and Facebook posts of all contestants and mentors on one page.

    There are ‘Competition Charts‘ to map the progress of a contestant and features like ‘Live Comments‘ will give you a platform to appreciate your favourite contestant or mentor while you watch them sing on television. The ‘Music Tutorials‘ tab in the app will allow viewers to take music lessons from mentors, anchor and contestants. It will also give them useful tips on live performance, music recordings and lots of trivia on music. It‘s a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn music from the stalwarts in the music industry, Shankar Mahadevan, Sajid-Wajid, Rahul Ram and Javed Ali. One can also access the best performances and images of the show using the‘Media Gallery‘ anytime, anywhere.

    "The DID App was just the start of our quest to be innovators in exploring the digital medium. It is gratifying to know that at a time when ‘on-demand‘ entertainment is the order of the day, we are able to provide our viewers with content that keeps them engrossed and engaged," said Akash Chawla, Head – Marketing, National Channels, ZEEL and adds, "Zee TV is committed to developing and delivering technology that supports our growth and distinguishes our brand for offering the very best viewer experience The launch of the new ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ Mobile App highlights our determination to invest in technologies that help us exceed our viewer‘ expectations and enable our brands to have their identity beyond the TV screen. We know that our viewers rely on their mobile devices now more than ever, and we are glad to provide them with this exciting new app in a way that is uniquely ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘."

    With the rapidly changing landscape and to further distinguish the ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ brand in India, the app is designed to meet the expectations of the demanding, active and inspired music fans in India. It will surely change the way that users interact with music. For maximum convenience, the ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ mobile app can be accessed anytime, anywhere – perfect for a long flight, journey to work or a train ride

  • Zee forms task force to tackle piracy in US

    Zee forms task force to tackle piracy in US

    MUMBAI: Asia TV USA, the exclusive distributor of Zee channels in the Americas, has initiated a technical task force, making sustained efforts to seek out those who are pirating programming and signals from the Zee suite of channels.

    Zee said it is taking all steps to prohibit piracy where streaming of content on services such as Live TV Box, Shava TV, Jadoo TV and Boom TV permit viewers to access Zee’s content illegally.

    Zee has been successful in shutting down Zee content on Live TV Box and Jadoo TV that was being streamed illegally.
    "We recognize that consumers are being led to believe that Zee content is legally available for free on these streaming boxes. However, Zee in the Americas is a premium subscription service that viewers pay a monthly fee to receive," a Zee spokesperson said.

    It also said that it will not hesitate to take action against illicit services such as those described above as well as South Asian retail stores that sell these boxes.