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Tag: ZeeQ

  • ZeeQ brings internationally – acclaimed animated shows to India

    ZeeQ brings internationally – acclaimed animated shows to India

    MUMBAI: ZeeQ, India’s first edutainment channel is all set to launch the animated series Dinosaur Train and Zou in India. The channel has acquired the Indian rights for these series which cater to the preschooler audiences.

     

    Dinosaur Train has been honored by the Parents’ Choice Silver Honor TV series award, which is a mark of acceptance by parents as a preferred choice for their toddlers’ TV viewing. The half-hour show features two animated episodes with a real paleontologist interacting with kids who love to explore the world around them. Dinosaur Train, the Emmy nominated series, starting today, will air every Monday to Thursday at 4:30 pm on ZeeQ.

     

    The second offering is Zou, a French hit animated preschool series, which follows the adventure of a lovable five-year-old Zebra. The show subtly touches every theme of early childhood and aims to inculcate family values in children. Zou has been broadcasted in more than 140 territories and in 24 different languages around the world. The series became a worldwide success within a year of its telecast in the UK. Starting 28 August, Zou will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 2:00 pm on ZeeQ.

     

    With the launch of Dinosaur Train and Zou, ZeeQ aims at strengthening its preschooler program portfolio. Some of the other well-known preschooler animated series that air on ZeeQ are from the CBeebies brand namely Teletubbies, Charlie and Lola and 3rd & Bird.

     

    Commenting on the development, ZeeQ business head Subhadarshi Tripathy says, “ZeeQ has been working towards bringing in content that is in the best interest of children and their parents. Both the series provide clean and safe content for preschool children. While Dinosaur Train helps in building scientific thinking through the content of the show, Zou aims to inculcate lessons about growing up and family values. Such educative series help in early childhood brain development and instill moral values at their tender age.”

     

    ZeeQ caters to the 0-14 year age segment. The channel currently airs a mix of live-action and animated shows. Some of its prominent shows include Teenovation, Science with BrainCafé, Word Match and M.I. Four – The Multiple Intelligence Quiz.

  • ZeeQ to presents second edition of the World Children Expo

    ZeeQ to presents second edition of the World Children Expo

    MUMBAI: The second edition of ‘World Children Expo 2013’ (WCE) will be held in Gurgaon. The three day event will start from 17 May and go on till 19 May. The expo is conceptualised by Creative Children Media Pvt and presented by ZeeQ.

    WCE 2013 is a platform showcasing children centric consumer brands catering to kids up to 15 years. The carnival gives an opportunity to the kids and their families to meet popular cartoon characters like Doraemon and Chhota Bheem. The ZeeQ kid zone will have games like Balloon Maths, Puzzle games, Larger than Life Scrabble, English Wordmatch and Multiple Intelligence quiz.

    WCE 2013 has been divided into three parts: WCE – The Business Conclave, Kidzooka – India's first ever recognition awards for children centric brands on 17 May at the Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon; WCE – The KiddZone – A carnival like expo area for kids to be held over the weekend of May 18-19 (10 am- 7 pm) at The Island, Ambience Mall, Gurgaon.

    Creative Children Media and World Children Expo founder Rahul Gupta said, "WCE is now being acknowledged nation-wide as India's biggest and most formidable kids’ expo catering to the ecosystem of children and children centric brands. It is gratifying to see that our exhibitor brands range from top corporates to upcoming start-ups. The philosophy of WCE is essentially to be a platform for start-ups to launch and the top brands to expand their offerings and interact with children through one singular event.”

    ZeeQ business head Subhadarshi Tripathy said, “We are very happy to associate with WCE. WCE is one of the largest engagement platforms for kids in India. Kids being ZeeQ’s focus as well, this is an ideal for us to connect and engage with children and their parents and communicate how learning can be fun.”'

    Interactive Entertainment Business Microsoft India business group head Anshu Mor added, “Microsoft is delighted to leverage the opportunity to showcase the upcoming technology it has to offer to children. Through the Interactive Entertainment Business which comprises the gaming console Xbox 360 with Kinect, Microsoft aims at establishing an environment of playful learning for children.”

    TNS Consult executive director Rima Gupta says, “India is one of the youngest countries and for us as marketers, understanding teenagers is very key. We are pleased to partner with WCE to develop and share a customized report on Indian teenager’s lives, hopes & attitudes. This will provide insights for both marketing and communicating with young ones.”

  • Focus creates online edutainment platform for kids

    Focus creates online edutainment platform for kids

    MUMBAI: While kids are increasingly spending time online there aren‘t many platforms that offer content tailor made for them. It is to fill in this need gap that advertising and digital media agency Focus Circle Group is looking to fill.

    Focus has launched Worldoo (worldoo.com), a unique platform that offers a blend of entertainment and education from the most popular content from a kid‘s world of interest, through an interactive experience.

    Worldoo, according to Focus, is an ‘Ever-evolving Online Ecosystem‘ for kids in the 6-12 age bracket. The aim of Worldoo is to offer kids an interactive experience.

    Worldoo has around 16 content partners including ZeeQ, Cartoon Network, Shemaroo, Sony Pictures and National Geographic. Kids can consume the content from their world of interests and earn virtual currency (Stars) by doing so. Stars are earned depending on the amount of content they consume.

    Focus Circle Group MD Monish Ghatalia reveals that the site took two and a half years to create. The company has invested Rs 90 million and is hoping to achieve a break-even in three years.

    “Our promise is to deliver something new, always. So far 600 kids have registered. We have invested Rs. 90 million and expect to breakeven within three years. We have a revenue sharing arrangement deal with our content partners for ads. Worldoo is an audience focused engagement platform for brands on the internet. With conventional activation mediums, it is challenging for brands to reach out to a large chunk of target audiences at a single point, and even more difficult to sustain the engagement,” he explains.

    Ghatalia adds, “We are confident that Worldoo will provide an edge for brands, to engage with the right target audience. It offers the right platform for brands to achieve much more than just impressions and clicks. Worldoo creates engaging experiences for kids as it offers activities, interaction and content, all in one place. Our aim in doing content deals was to have content that imparts both excitement and education, all in a single platform.”

    There are seven content sources (landmarks) in the site including Game Den that has games segmented by genre. Companies like ZeeQ and Cartoon Network have their own landmark within Worldoo.

    Ghatalia adds that the second phase for the company starts in a few months time. That is when it will look to be available on digital devices like the mobile as well. It will also have regional content. By the end of the year it could have 50 content partners. “We are looking to create content on our end as well. There will be comics, stories, games. The vision for us is long term and we want to touch upon diverse aspects that concern kids.”

    Turner International India VP ad sales South Asia Juhi Ravindranath commenting on the content partnership with Worldoo said, “At Turner, our aim has always been to push the boundaries and deliver innovative and entertaining content/experience across various platforms. Worldoo is a unique idea and we are happy to partner with Focus in a bid to create the right brand experience for consumers.”

    ZeeQ programming head Aparna Bhosle noted that technology is central to consumption of content. “content consumption is becoming increasingly multi-platform. TV, internet and the mobile phone should together allow greater opportunities to watch your favourite show at any time in any place and on any device. It is keeping this in mind that ZeeQ are excited about partnering with an innovative concept like Worldoo. It is a mechanism through which our shows can be sampled via the internet.”

    Shedding light on the ad strategy Worldoo head experience and brand Harsh Wardhan Dave said, “Advertising for kids online has always been restricted to banners, contest pages, micro sites. There is no innovation in this space in terms of customer engagement. The launch of Worldoo is a very proud moment for us, as we fill this gap for brands to think out of the box and create a real life engagement with kids through our digital platform. With all of this we are about digital engagement and not just digital marketing.”

    He adds that since Worldoo has a blend of social and engagement, brands can live with kids in Worldoo. Kids can follow brands, make friends with them, get tips from brands etc. Also creatively, they can seamlessly become a part of a user‘s journey as the brand can be present while kids spend their time in their world. For example a breakfast brand can place a bowl of cereals in a Kids Home at Worldoo or a car brand can be driving through the roads of Worldoo and more such tailor made innovations.”

    He added that the aim of Worldoo is to reassure parents who are unsure of what their kids are looking at online. “The pre-launch research conducted by IMRB gave us immense confidence that what we are creating is the need of the hour. Kids research told us liked the website as they get so many things in it. They are excited about the various types of games that are there. According to mothers the site has everything that a child needs and so there is no need for their children to go anywhere else. Mothers also feel that it the site is good as only kids will be there.

    “So children will interact with other children of their age. Mothers also feel that the point system will give children some business sense, about how to earn for themselves and then spend wisely. 1/3rd of mothers feel that the site is for 13-15 year olds. More than 80 per cent of mothers surveyed feel that Worldoo is an edutainment site. Our research also showed that Google is favourite site for kids followed by Cartoon Network, Facebook, Yahoo and National Geographic”.

    What is interesting about this survey is that two iconic kids brands Disney and Nickelodeon both ranked below National Geographic.

    The content that Worldoo offers includes:
    – Games from miniclip, the gamebox, zapak.
    – Cartoons from Cartoon Network and Chota Bheem
    – Animals and Environment and Conservation from National Geographic and JeffCorwinConnect.
    – Movies and Trailers from Warner Bros., Shemaroo, Sony Pictures, Reliance Big Flix.
    – Edutainment from ZeeQ,
    – Books and Comics include Amar Chitra Katha, Crosswords, Landmark, Dreamland, Britanica Books, Robinage, Champak.
    – International destination includes Sentosa.

  • ZeeQ comes on Ditto TV platform to offer content online

    ZeeQ comes on Ditto TV platform to offer content online

    NEW DELHI: ZeeQ has tied up with OTT service provider Ditto TV to offer content on demand to online viewers.

    The tie up will enable young viewers to enjoy ZeeQ’s content on internet enabled devices on the go. The addition of ZeeQ to Ditto TV’s bouquet will bolster Ditto’s range of infotainment channels and the first channel, especially for students.

    ZeeQ business head Subhadarshi Tripathy said, “At ZeeQ we aim to prepare students for the 21st century. Technology is driving how students learn today and as India’s pioneer edutainment channel, this collaboration helps us to be accessible on yet another platform where our audience is connected.”

    Through Ditto TV, now ZeeQ is available on leading application stores viz. Google Play (Android), iTunes and BlackBerry Application World. For Windows and MAC PCs, Ditto TV is available for direct download from www.dittotv.com. For Windows 8, the same can be downloaded from Microsoft Store.

    Ditto TV is the latest offering from Zee New Media, the digital arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. So far, Ditto TV has partnered for content with Zee, Viacom18, Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and TV Today Network.

    With access to the largest collection of premium content, spread across leading content genres like GEC, Sports, Lifestyle, Regional and News, along with rich on-demand video capabilities, Ditto TV offers a unique and compelling experience, delivering a seamless video viewing experience on a range of Internet-enabled devices. Along with India, Ditto TV is available in over 251 countries and prominently in the global markets of US, UK, UAE, New Zealand and Australia. Ditto TV currently hosts a total of 57 channels.

  • ‘We are looking at a break-even in five years’ : ZeeQ Business Head Subhadarshi Tripathy

    ‘We are looking at a break-even in five years’ : ZeeQ Business Head Subhadarshi Tripathy

     The year 2012 saw the entry of Indian media conglomerate Zeel in the kids TV broadcasting with the launch of ZeeQ. The channel with bi-lingual content in English and Hindi has been positioned as India‘s first edutainment channel.

    The pay-driven channel priced at Rs 82 has been launched with the intention of filling in the gap in the market. Its USP is the content that it believes will help in developing life skills amongst 4-14 kids at the same time fulfilling their entertainment needs through a mix of animation and live action content.

    Subhadarshi Tripathy, the Business Head of ZeeQ, is driving Zeel‘s efforts as it seeks to establish foothold in a genre dominated by foreign networks like Disney, Nickelodeon and Turner. Tripathy is responsible for developing brand strategy, programming and content acquisition strategy.

    In a conversation with Indiantelevision.com‘s Javed Farooqui, Tripathy shares his views about the opportunities in the kid‘s genre, ZeeQ‘s content strategy and how it plans to drive the pay-TV business in a market where business model is still loaded heavily in favour of ad sales.

    Excerpts:

    Q. Why couldn‘t ZeeQ fully be owned and managed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel)? Who has the management of the channel?

    The channel is owned by Zeel because it is the home for all the entertainment broadcast business of Zee. The operations of the channel are managed by Zee Learn as this company specifically runs the education business of children. We have an in-house ad sales team while distribution is being managed by Media Pro. So in that sense ZeeQ is a completely different set-up.

    Q. Since multinational companies dominate the kids broadcasting business, what has been the initial feedback you have got about the channel since its launch?

    The content strategy has been designed in such a way that we get more and more participative content. We believe that people who participate are eventually going to subscribe to the channel.

     

    The content strategy has been designed in such a way that we get more and more participative content. We are already getting good response since the letters that we have received have been very engaging and have gone to the extent of even suggesting us to tweak particular elements of some shows. Teenovation, for example, is a show which has got fantastic response.

     

    But since this is a ‘free view period‘ (till March), we wouldn‘t know how many people would subscribe to us. ZeeQ is a pay channel. We are not chasing TAM ratings because how many people subscribe to the channel will define how many people like it.

    Q. Has the distribution of the channel been settled on the digital platforms?

    We are currently available on Dish TV and Videocon d2h. Tata Sky should happen soon. We are also on digital cable TV.

     

    We have planned out our distribution strategy. As there are 38 cities that are coming up for digitisation in the second phase (by 31 March according to government mandate), we have selected 20 cities out of them where we run our schools. We see synergy develop between our schools and our television business. So we do this filtering process. We are on about 16 digital headends.

    Q. What are your immediate priorities for the channel?

    Our priority is to impress the parents. So the programme mix is designed in such a way that they like the channel because they are the ones who will decide whether or not to subscribe the channel. Once they decide, our task is to continuously keep them engaged so that they don‘t keep going back to the Japanese animation that is currently being aired.
    ‘The channel is priced at Rs 82 on a la carte and I don‘t think it will be a deterrent. If you want a safe environment, if you want content that is developed and tested by childhood experts, you will be willing to pay a price‘

    Q. Tell us about your content offering?

    The core of the channel is that we provide content which is right for children and which does not provide any incidental learning which will spoil the child. There are academicians in the panel who decide what content goes on the channel.

    Q. How do you decide on the content?

    Content is broadly divided into categories. For the 4-8-year-olds, we have animated content and for those who are in the 4-9 age group, we have live-action content purely based on the research that we did with IMRB and Taalim. The live-action content is something that we produce over here while animated content is something that we have so far acquired globally.

     

    The international edutainment content is very engaging while the Indian academic content is very instructional. The content that we take pains to produce is the live action content. After the concept comes in, the panel of academicians and programme team look into it before it goes into production. The animated content also goes through the academicians; the filtering is done on the basis of knowledge, life skills and core values. So if the content does not have knowledge, life skills and core values, it becomes kid‘s general entertainment stuff which we are interested in.

    Q. Since you have clear distinction for the content that you will offer to the two age-groups, how do you decide on the scheduling?

    The scheduling is designed around their school timings and what time they watch what. However India being that vast, school timings are also that different. If you look at preschoolers, there are two times that they tend to watching TV. One is when parents are getting the kids ready and they have to feed them to get them to school; they just plunk the kid in front of the TV and the TV works as a nanny. Second is when the kids come back and have to eat again. These are the times when most channels across the globe use them as prime-time.

     

    The 9-14-year-olds are people who are more of weekend viewers; and during weekday‘s it‘s mostly post school and early evenings till about 7 pm.

    Q. Will your content offering undergo change after the freeview period?

    Not much. Because when the freeview period ends, what I am telling viewers is that they will be getting the same experience and they better pay for it. So I cannot change the mix drastically there. We are, however, going to keep a very close watch on the geographical skew like who all are watching me, subscribing to the channel, and what they are wanting. So our strategy is going to be based on that.

    Q. But kids at the end of the day also want to be entertained?

    The fun part is that you have to make it knowledgeable content where they learn something but are also kept engaged. So for a kid, ‘Sid the Science Kid‘ is as engaging as any other animated content. But what goes subtly into it is pure educational or ‘life skill‘ kind of content. They are very smartly made programs where kids actually respond to the questions and do it.

    Q. Do you think the pay model will work?

    Firstly, I think parents wouldn‘t mind paying for a channel that will help in the holistic development of their child and which is not like a coaching class. Secondly, I am not an ad-free channel, so I will have some money coming from there as well. We are an a la carte channel and carriage is not something that will be an issue for us.

    Q. Will you be selective in picking up ads?

    We will have ads but the ones which we think are right for the child. The ads will go through a nutritionist if it‘s in the food category. If it is something else, it will go through a child expert. Ad will form a small component of the total revenues. I would rather need subscriber funded programmes wherein they come in as partners and do brand integration. In a fitness programme, I wouldn‘t mind if a Nike comes and works with me. The biggest thing I can give brands is touch points in 330 cities through brick and mortar structures – which no other channel can give.

    Q. Don’t you think the pricing of the channel will be a deterrent?

    The channel is priced at Rs 82 on a la carte and I don‘t think it will be a deterrent. If you want a safe environment, if you want content that is developed and tested by childhood experts, you will be willing to pay a price. ZeeQ is a premium content provider in this space (edutainment); it will deliver what it promises – and we have been doing it for 17-18 years on-ground (through our schools).

    Q. How much will the channel invest?

    We will be investing Rs 1 billion over a period of three to three and a half years. We are looking at a break-even in five years.

    Q. Digital consumption among kids is increasing. What is the plan there?

    For the online medium, we have a completely different vertical. ZeeQ for us is not a broadcast channel only; it was conceived as a content platform for a holistic development of the child. We have big online plans and are going to come up with an app and games as well. So we are trying complete 360 degree touch points for content which will be on television.

  • ZeeQ kicks off on-ground initiative ZeeQ on-Wheels

    MUMBAI: ZeeQ, Zeel‘s edutainment channel, has flagged off its on-ground initiative ZeeQ on-Wheels in Mumbai. The ZeeQ van will visit 20 cities across the country with the aim of connecting directly with kids.

    The ZeeQ van will ply on the roads of Mumbai and then will cover the rest of the Western Zone. Apart from Mumbai, it will also visit Pune, Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bhopal and Nagpur in Western Zone.

    In North the ZeeQ on-wheels is set to tour New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Amritsar. In Southern region the touch points will be Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, whereas in East, ZeeQ on-Wheels will mingle with children in Kolkata.

    “ZeeQ‘s main aim behind this journey is to interact with children and their parents to communicate how learning can be fun,” said ZeeQ Business Head Subhadarshi Tripathy at the launch.

    ZeeQ on-Wheels is a knowledge treasure for children, providing opportunities of playing games like Balloon Maths, Bottle Cap Memory, Larger than Life Scrabble, English Wordmatch and M.I. Four Quiz.

    Along with games, ZeeQ on-Wheels will also screen ZeeQ programmes like Amar Chitra Katha Heroes, Sid the Science Kid, Teenovation, Word Match, Science with Brain café and Cyber chase for children and parents on the van.

    On the whole activity, ZeeQ Programming Head Aparna Bhosle, is confident that firsthand engagement with children will enrich the experiences of ZeeQ‘s Programming team. She said, “As a broadcaster, through our shows, we are committed to give life experience to children and this initiative, ZeeQ on-Wheels is the extension of our very same commitment.”

    From marketing perspective, ZeeQ on-Wheels will ensure sampling of ZeeQ‘s shows in its target market. Anuj Katiyar, ZeeQ‘s Head, Marketing and Research, informed that the activities on ZeeQ on-Wheels are interactive in nature and are formulated considering the four key subjects like English, mathematics, science, and general knowledge.

  • Recapping 2012

    Recapping 2012

    The year 2012 was an action-packed one for the television broadcasting industry. India began its historic journey with digitisation and the first phase kicked off in November. NDTV filed a landmark case in New York against TAM Media Research and its holding companies Nielsen, Kantar Media and Cavendish Square Holding BV. Broadcasters united to put pressure for creation of a new Broadcasters Audience Research Council (Barc).

    The year also witnessed a slew of deals and marked the entry of two big industrial houses into television broadcasting — Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) by helping Raghav Bahl‘s Network18 group to snap up ETV and the Aditya Birla Group by acquiring a 27.5 per cent stake in Aroon Purie‘s Living Media, which runs TV Today Network.

    Sahara made an entry into cable TV distribution and acquired Digicable. Network18 Group formed a distribution company, IndiaCast, which will also house the syndication business and exploit content across all media platforms.

    It was the year in which Zee Network completed 20 years, after having pioneered private television broadcasting in India. The year saw a Hindi general entertainment channel Imagine, which was acquired by Turner from NDTV, being zapped, when it slipped below the second-rung Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs).

    The sports genre saw the exit of The Walt Disney Company with News Corp acquiring its 50 per cent interest in their joint venture ESPN Star Sports for $335 million. Sony, which has the rights for the Indian Premier League, launched its first sports television channel. After having agreed to buy Walt Disney‘s interest in ESPN Star Sports, Star India pipped Multi Screen Media (MSM) to bag BCCI media rights till 2008 for a whopping Rs 38.51 billion.

    There was a lot of action during the year in the kids TV genre. Though BBC‘s advertisement free Cbeebies channel exited India citing prohibitive carriage fees, a few kids‘ channels got added to the bouquet. Discovery Kids, Disney Junior, ZeeQ and Nick Jr were launched during the year, which coincided with the beginning of the compulsory shift to digital delivery of television channels in the country.

    Channel launches:

    • Star launches its second Hindi movie channel Movies OK under ‘Ok‘ brand
    • Star launches Bengali movie channel Star Jalsha Movies
    • Star-owned Asianet Communications launches Asianet Movies, the first satellite movie channel in Malayalam
    • Zeel launches Bengali movie channel Zee Bangla Cinema
    • After a football and cricket dedicated channel, Zeel launches its third specialised offering Ten Golf
    • Zeel enters kids genre with ZeeQ, an edutainment channel targeted at 4-14 kids
    • Viacom18 launches its third kids channel with preschool channel Nick Jr
    • Disney launches a full-fledged pre-school offering with Disney Junior
    • Discovery enters kids segment in India with Discovery Kids
    • MSM‘s much awaited sports channel Sony Six makes a debut during IPL
    • HBO partners Eros to announce launch of two ad free channels HBO Defined and HBO Hits
    • Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) and European entertainment network RTL Group joint-venture launch their first channel Big RTL Thrill
    • Big CBS, the joint venture between RBNL and CBS Corp, forays into regional TV space with the launch of its fourth channel, Spark Punjabi
    • Leading Gujarati dailies Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar enter television market with the launch of their news channels, GS TV News and Sandesh TV
    • 9X Media launches its international music channel 9XO
    • Softline Creations enters TV broadcasting with Cinema TV
    • Delhi-based production house AAP Media launches Bhojpuri entertainment channel Anjan TV

    Deals:

    • Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) marks his entry into media and entertainment space by investing in Network18
    • Media & Investments and TV18 Broadcast through an Independent Media Trust
    • News Corp and The Walt Disney Company end their Asian sports JV ESPN Star Sports with the former taking complete ownership of the sports broadcasting company for $335 million
    • Aditya Birla Group acquires 27.5 per cent stake in Aroon Purie-controlled Living Media, which runs TV Today Network
    • Sahara acquires 90 per cent stake in Digicable for $52 million
    • Sony Pictures Television, the parent company of Multi Screen Media (MSM), makes its regional foray as it agrees to acquire 30 per cent stake in Maa Network
    • Ajay Bijli-promoted PVR buys out promoter stake in Cinemax for Rs 3.95 billion to become biggest multiplex operator in the country
    • Karthikeya Sharma-promoted ITV Media snaps up News X from Indi Media, a joint venture between NaiDunia promoter and CEO
    • Vinay Chhajlani and former Business World editor Jehangir S Pocha
    • After a decade long rocky relationship, the Indian shareholders of MSM exit the television company with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) acquiring 32 per cent stake in MSM for $271 million
    • The Walt Disney Company buys out Ronnie Srewvala‘s stake in UTV Group for Rs 8.05 billion
    • CA Media picks up 49 per cent stake in Endemol India
    • Cisco becomes largest video and content security solutions provider in India with its $5 billion global acquisition of NDS

    Exits:

    • News Corp exits cable business in India as it divests 17.3 per cent stake in Hathway Cable for Rs 3.58 bn
    • Walt Disney‘s ESPN exits sports broadcasting in Asia following stake sale in ESS
    • News Corp exits news business in India and is in process of selling its 26 per cent stake in Media Content and Communications
    • Services (MCCS), the company that runs Star News (ABP News), Star Majha (ABP Majha) and Star Jalsha (ABP Majha), to JV partner ABP Group
    • Turner ends its expensive date with Hindi GEC space, shutters Imagine TV citing unviability
    • ABP Group exits Bengali GEC space by shutting Sananda TV more than a year after its launch
    • NDTV ends ad sales partnership with News Corp‘s Star India; to handle ad sales on its own

    Government

    • Information and Broadcasting ministry extends the digitisation deadline for the first phase of digitisation in four metros to 31 October
    • Ahead of digitisation, government raises foreign direct investment (FDI) ceiling to 74 per cent from 49 per cent in DTH and MSO biz; FDI limit in teleports and hubs set up for uplinking of television channels also raised to 74 per cent
    • Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari takes charge as the new Information and Broadcasting minister replacing Ambika Soni
    • Arasu fails to get DAS licence for Chennai despite repeated pleas to the government
    • MIB kicks-off the second phase of digitisation covering 38 cities and towns across 14 states
    • Rahul Khullar appointed as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for a three-year term
    • Former Supreme Court judge Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed as the new chairperson of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat)

    Some other milestones:

    • Star India bids a whopping Rs 38.51 billion to bag the BCCI media rights till 2018
    • Sun TV bags Hyderabad franchise for Rs 4.25 billion, bidding higher than PVP Ventures‘ Rs 3.45 billion
    • BCCI terminates Deccan Chargers franchise agreement followed by a protracted legal battle which ends with Supreme Court finally upholding Chargers termination
    • The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) form audience research joint body Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc)
    • New Delhi Television (NDTV) files a lawsuit against TAM and its holding companies in New York Supreme Court for manipulation of viewership data
    • Channel [V] stops airing Bollywood music from 1 July becomes a Youth GEC
    • TV18 and Viacom18 form distribution joint venture IndiaCast to distribute all channels and content of the two companies in India and abroad
    • Congress MP Naveen Jindal files FIR against Zee News for allegedly demanding Rs 1 billion in extortion to go slow on its coverage of Coal scam which leads to the arrest of Zee News and Zee Business editors Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia
    • Aamir Khan makes his TV debut with Satyamev Jayate, which creates massive buzz in the social media
    • After yearlong negotiations, Sun TV strikes a distribution deal with Tamil Nadu government-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation
    • Pepsi replaces DLF as the title sponsor of IPL, forks out Rs 3.95 billion to take the rights
    • Youth focussed channel Big CBS Spark transitions into a music channel
    • UTV bindass undergoes makeover, sheds UTV in its name and takes the positioning ‘Rest Less‘
    • MSM CEO Man Jit Singh is elected IBF president
    • History TV18 launches Urdu feed
    • Discovery Science goes regional with Hindi fee
  • Kids broadcasters gear up to play in India’s digital era

    Kids broadcasters gear up to play in India’s digital era

    Grappling with an under-indexed ad market and audience fragmentation due to entry of new players, kids TV broadcasters found hope in cable TV digitisation towards the end of 2012. Particularly encouraging was the launch of preschool channels, a segment that existed only as programming blocks and was looked upon as commercially unviable in India.

    Out of the four channel launches, two were in the preschool segment. The launch of Disney Junior and Nick Jr, in fact, marked the beginning of segmentation in the hyper-competitive kids TV genre.

    The other two launches were equally significant as it marked the entry of both Discovery and Zee. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) plans to invest Rs 1 billion in the edutainment channel, ZeeQ, over a period of five years.

    For Discovery Kids, ZeeQ and the other two new channels, subscription is going to be the main business model. The existing kids channels, in contrast, are heavily dependent on ad sales where subscription revenue is still very small and licensing and merchandising negligible.

    Of the four, three excluding Discovery Kids have been launched only for digital platforms. The launch of ZeeQ, which has been positioned as an edutainment channel, has completed Zeel’s bouquet that virtually covers every genre.

    Digitisation is expected to bring down carriage fees that has been a bane for a lot of broadcasters and bring in the much needed transparency of the subscriber base declared by the cable TV operators. Broadcasters expect their affiliate revenues to jump in the medium-to-long term.

    “Digitisation will allow us to try focussed segmentation which we could not have done in analogue cable TV environment. Today in digital, we can segment as much as we can. Carriage payouts will no longer be a deterrent and pay revenues can only grow. So we are all riding the wave of digital right now and hoping that while we cater to need gaps, we also make business sense,” Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria had told Indiantelevision.com in an earlier interview.

    Agrees Disney UTV executive director and Disney kid’s network business head Vijay Subramaniam, “The timing (of Disney Junior’s launch) was an important consideration as digitisation is a very effective way to bring such a high-quality channel to be made available in market to the consumers.”

    Subramaniam feels that with digitisation segmentation will only become clearer as it already existed in different forms. “If you look at the landscape segmentation already exists with digitisation it will become clearer and quality of reception will become a constant,” he explains.

    Despite the right noises made about digitisation and the possible benefits that it would bring for the industry, British pubcaster BBC surprisingly shut its kids channel Cbeebies.

    In an interview to Indiantelevision.com, BBC Worldwide Channels, Asia senior VP, GM, Mark Whitehead had cited “the uniquely challenging pay TV market in India and the delays to digitisation” as the prime reasons for shutting Cbeebies along with BBC Entertainment.

    Whitehead had also confessed that running an ad free channel like Cbeebies is unviable as advertising is currently a major source of revenue for pay TV channels in India.

    The difficulty faced by BBC in running an ad-free channel is not lost on Indian kids broadcasters. Though ad-free in the initial stage, both Disney Junior and Nick Jr. will have ads going forward. They will, however, be selective about the ads that they carry on their respective channels.

    “We may consider hybrid sponsorship model in stage two from 12-24 months from now,” avers Subramaniam.

    Even ZeeQ, which is a bi-lingual channel targeted at 4-14 kids, has a strict ad policy to avoid ads that promote unhealthy lifestyle.

    This will mean that broadcasters will not be at the mercy of ad revenue, which is currently the mainstay for most children channels. With the kind of pester power that these channels enjoy, the broadcasters sense an opportunity to exploit in a digital era when brand loyalty will come into play.

    Apart from the business model correction that is expected to happen with digitisation, the kids channels will also get enough headroom to experiment with content by trying their hands at new genres. Developing locally relevant content will be foremost on the minds of most broadcasters.

    Viewership and ad scenario

    While the genre grew at 4 per cent to reach 616 GRPs till week 40 of 2012, it still bettered the previous year’s performance of two per cent growth. In 2010, the genre grew at a whopping 13 per cent which remains the best year for kids broadcasters over a five-year period since 2008.

    The ad market for the genre is Rs 2.5 billion and has room for fast growth as the market is under-indexed. It is expected to grow at 10 per cent year-on-year as new advertisers make efforts to reach out to kids.

    “While the kids genre contributes 8 per cent viewership share of the CS4+, it accounts for a mere 2 per cent ad revenue share. Hence there is a huge potential for growth and this has to get corrected over a period of time through rate revisions and non FCT partnerships,” avers Jaipuria.

    Localisation push and movie airings

    Kids broadcasters continued their push towards localisation with Nick taking the rights of Reliance Animation’s animated show Shaktimaan while Pogo continued to build its favourite property Chhota Bheem.

    In continuation of its strategy to push local live action series, Disney aired new seasons of Best of Luck Nikki and The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir. The channel is betting big on live action notwithstanding the skepticism surrounding it.

    Discovery Kids launched its first local production, Mystery Hunters India, as part of its localisation strategy for the channel.

    ZeeQ, whose content is being looked after by Zee Learn, has several local shows under its belt including Teenovation, Wordmatch, and Brain Café. Additionally, it had also acquired the rights for 26 episodes of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) from Ideas Box Entertainment.

    The year saw the theatrical debut of Nick India’s local character Keymon with Keymon Ache & Nani in Space Adventure movie.

    Disney Channel premiered its first made-for-television live action film Luck Luck Ki Baat and is planning to air more such made-for-tv films in future.

    Pogo continued to treat its viewers with Chhota Bheem movies like Chhota Bheem aur Hanuman, Chhota Bheem: Dholakpur to Kathmandu, Chhota Bheem & the Curse of Damyaan, Chhota Bheem: Master of Shaolin and Chhota Bheem: Mayanagri.

    The channel also premiered its first live action movie Bhootraja Aur Ronnie followed by another one called ‘Chatpat Jhatpat’.

    “Earlier, kids used to consume five or six shows. Kids viewing habit has changed now as they are consuming one, two or three shows on a channel. Across channels you will find that two-three shows are driving viewership,” says Turner International India South Asia Director-Content Krishna Desai.

    According to Desai, kids also prefer humour content as opposed to action and adventure. “The thing with live action is that you are competing with 100 other channels which may not be targeted at kids but they still get watched. So if it’s a good live action show, they will watch it for a few times. But since they are kids channels, they thrive on repeats also,” Desai says.

  • Umesh Pradhan joins Zee Learn as CFO

    Umesh Pradhan joins Zee Learn as CFO

    MUMBAI: Zee Learn Limited (ZNL) has appointed Umesh Pradhan as the chief financial officer of the company with effect from 2 January.

     

    Pradhan replaces Arun Kabra who had quit the company on 5 December.

     

    As the CFO of ZNL, Pradhan will be responsible for all the companies and the trust associated with the education sector for the Essel Group.

     

    Zee Learn is also looking after content and channel management of the recently launched edutainment channel ZeeQ. The channel is housed under Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

  • ‘Segmentation in kids TV genre makes biz sense in digital era’ : Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    ‘Segmentation in kids TV genre makes biz sense in digital era’ : Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Kids channels, bogged down in an analogue cable TV environment, suddenly find space to grow. Segmented channels is the new mantra. After launching an action and adventure channel Sonic in 2011, Viacom18 has launched another dedicated offering in the form of Nick Junior, a preschool channel targeted at 2-6 years.

     

    Nickelodeon‘s move follows Disney‘s foray into the preschool space and Zee‘s entry into the kids broadcasting space with the launch of its edutainment channel ZeeQ. The common thread between the three channels is that they are pay-driven, unlike the earlier ad supported models.

     

    Nick Jr. makes its arrival at a time when India is moving towards mandatory digitisation of cable networks.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Javed Farooqui, Viacom18 EVP & business head – Kids Cluster Nina Elavia Jaipuria shares her enthusiasm about why she is bullish about the preschool segment and the impact that digitisation will have on the kids TV genre.

     

    Excerpts:

     

    Preschool blocks had existed on kids channels. Now we are seeing full-fledged channels being launched targeting preschoolers. How has the business climate changed?
    The biggest change is digitisation. We are seeing that happen now. The segmentation in the kids TV genre makes more business sense now because we will have transparency. Subscription revenues will also increase.

     

    Does digitisation make more sense for segmentation in the kids TV genre primarily because of carriage being corrected or you see a substantial gain in subscription revenue as well?
    It‘s both. It will allow us to try very focussed segmentation which we could have not done in analogue cable TV environment. Today in digital, we can segment as much as we can. Carriage payouts will no longer be a deterrent and pay revenues can only grow. So we are all riding the wave of digital right now and hoping that while we cater to need gaps, we also make business sense.

     

    That is not to say the launch of Nick Junior is a sudden development. Since I started working with Nickelodeon, I always wanted to bring Nick Jr. to India. But then it had to make business sense for everyone.

     

    Are we in a situation where full-run preschool programming on a channel is not yet commercially viable?
    I don‘t think so.

     

    Why then did BBC shut CBeebies in India despite knowing that digitisation of cable TV networks is happening?
    Actually, I am very suprised that it happened so abruptly. I am sure they have their reasons for moving out of the country.

     

    Why do you then have this dual slot (Nick Jr. and Teen Nick) on Nick Jr.?
    We could have gone either way — done a 24-hour channel or have the model of preschool content till 7 pm and teenage programming after that. We have the product and the content that is our own, so it‘s just a matter of dishing it out to them.

     

    But we seriously believe that towards the evening this channel will get switched off as most toddlers and their mothers are winding down for the day. So it‘s a good idea to use a frequency that is going to be switched off and wanting to keep them switched on. We are also assuming that in a one television household you always have younger siblings and older siblings and when the younger siblings go away, the older siblings take care of the remote.

     

     ‘We will see a lot of localised content as digitisation picks up. In all this, what will continue is animation. No matter how hard you try, live action can never help children to transport to their imaginary world. We will stick to animation‘

    How do you differentiate Teen Nick from Nickelodeon?
    Nick is hardcore animation and will run from 6 am to 7 pm. Teen Nick, on the other hand, is only live action and has all the sitcoms and dramas that are rocking internationally. Most of the kids in India are watching them on YouTube. So you will have Victorious and Unfabulous and those kind of shows which have made it really big in the West but haven‘t really got the chance to come to India. They are very teenager shows because they are based on college, music, internet, digital and a lot of comedy. So there are sitcoms and drama that are very different from Nick.

     

    Since Nick Jr. is targeting 2-6-year-olds, wouldn‘t the upper end of this age group want to watch television even after seven in the evening?
    We have seen that post 7 pm, kids are winding down; most of the remotes are also not in toddlers hands. Even at dinner time, it‘s not the toddler that has the remote. I don‘t think even the kids category has the remote post 7 because it‘s the GECs and News channels that take over. You have this trend in a single television household. That way the battle for remote will continue across every segment.

     

    What kind of research went into launching this channel?
    There was no rocket science really about the research. To me every parent would like to do what is best for their child and in today‘s competitive world you want your child to learn and develop fast. Therefore, parents are doing everything they possibly can to ensure that their kids are learning and developing and this (Nick Jr.) is filling that need gap to my mind. There certainly was a gap there and there was no offering. The research to that extent is that there is a need gap and parents are looking for this kind of learning and development. What happens in school is hardcore education. We are only complementing that with edutainment.

     

    What is researched is the content and we do this internationally. It‘s content that is made worldwide, so the curriculum is set in place. Every show, therefore, teaches a particular skill . So if you look at Team Umizoomi, it‘s really maths.

     

    And you must remember that we are getting our international content here. There is even research going on there before they produce any preschool content. We are very careful in keeping Nick Jr. a destination for safe viewing with no violent content.

     

    How important is the preschool segment within the kids genre?
    It‘s very important from perspectives. One is it allows you to cater to the entire range of kids right from zero to teenage which is what we are now looking at. This was the missing gap that we had in Viacom18. But it‘s also important from the consumer products business point of view. We all are trying to create ancillary revenue streams for ourselves outside of ad sales and outside of subscription. Nick Jr. will play a very large role in driving this part of the business.

     

    Will it be an ad-free channel?
    Currently it is an ad-free channel, but I don‘t think we can continue to be ad-free. Despite everything being said about digitisation, the ratio of subscription-to-ad sales is still skewed. In the Western world, subscription contributes about 65 per cent of the revenues and in India we are not even half of that. However being a responsible broadcaster, we will be very selective of how much and what ads we put.

     

    How much is the subscription revenue for kids channels?
    It is under-indexed, I don‘t think it will even hit Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion).

     

    What kind of an upside do you see with digitisation?
    Nobody has any answer to this question.

     

    Why is Nick Jr. only in English?
    It is inherent in India for every parent to learn English. This is an aspirational channel which teaches your child English. If we do this in regional languages, it will defeat the very purpose of being aspirational. The shows are very easy to understand. So when Dora teaches to say A for Apple, that is what causes the child to learn.

     

    So is Dora the link between Nick and Nick Jr.?
    Dora has been on Nick and we will keep her there as well because that is the driver show. It also help us from the consumer products perspective.

     

    Will you have local productions for Nick Jr.?
    No, because we believe that for this kind of a product there is no boundary. In fact, even as kids grow older it doesn‘t matter to them whether it‘s a Japanese show or an American show. Therefore you will see a lot of animation featuring on normal kids category. There is no need to create so much desi content and the pipeline we are creating for Nick where we have Keymon Ache and Motu Patlu for this audience is done after a lot of research. It takes a lot of time to make a show.

     

    Disney also launched its preschool channel. What impact will competition have on the genre?
    It will only grow the category as there will be more choice. It‘s the best thing that can happen to the category. It will only grow the preschool category that was almost non-existent until all of us launched.

     

    How do you see segmentation within Nick?
    Nick is the mother brand and it delivers a very core need of a child, which is humour. Nick will continue in that space. While we talk about Nickelodeon audience being very universal, I think it‘s 4-14 years, so I never like to box it at any level. I think the core really lies at 6-12 if you really ask me and we will continue to cater to them in humour and comedy.

     

    Within comedy, you have action comedy, family comedy, silent comedy and slapstick comedy. The character either becomes a role model or a superhero and it‘s the character that takes over after a point. As you move along, you will see newer episodes of Ninja coming in and that‘s how we drive our viewership. You will see the mother brand engaging on the television platform and outside the platform. The Keymon game had 3 million downloads on Nokia Ovi, so we are dealing with what I call the ‘screenagers‘. It‘s all about staying ahead of the curve and engaging with kids across various screens.

     

    Will Nick have more localised content?
    I see more localisation happening on that front. But that is also a chicken and egg situation and we have to look at the investment-to-revenue ratio. We don‘t know when the subscription revenues will start getting corrected. After that happens, you will see more focus on local content. But having said that, we have two shows and we have a third in the pipeline; you will see a lot more progress on that front. In all this, what will continue is animation. No matter how hard you try, live action can never help children to transport to their imaginary world. We will stick to animation.

     

    Will we see more movies coming out?
    We had Keymon Ache & Nani in Space Adventure movie
    and you will see movies from Motu Patlu because Bollywood and Hollywood have become not just kids but also family entertainment. As we move from kids to family, you will see more extensions happening.

     

    But till now Nick has not been airing movies?
    Series is the bread and butter for us. Kids like to watch, as Farah (Khan) was saying, repetitive content. They want to watch more of the same, so that‘s what we give in the weekend as well. We don‘t miss not having movies on the channel.

     

    Has ad growth stayed flat for the kids genre this year?
    Ad revenue will grow anywhere between 10 to 14 per cent. If you look at the last five years, the CAGR is 14 per cent.

     

    Isn‘t the space tough as we have 12 channels fighting for Rs 2.5-3 billion ad revenue market?
    It is a hugely under-indexed market. From viewership perspective, we have eight per cent genre share while ad revenue share is just two per cent. Correction is bound to happen. A few years back, this revenue share was just one per cent. So we are growing, although we don‘t get what we deserve.

     

    Do you see room for local players entering this space?
    We saw UTV launch Hungama years ago. Zee has already made an entry. Let digitisation complete, then only there will be space. In the current scenario, it will be a tough proposition for local players.