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Tag: ZenithOptimedia

  • IPL hits Hindi GECs hard, knocks off 110 GRPs

    MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has come back to haunt the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) again as the cricketing extravaganza has shaved off 110 GRPs from the Hindi GECs in the week ended 6 April.

    The genre has seen a greater loss this year as compared to last year when it lost 51 GRPs in the opening week of the tournament.

    According to ZenithOptimedia managing partner Navin Khemka the IPL matches this year are more interesting and hence are attracting more viewers. “IPL this season has gained at the cost of Hindi GECs. This year has seen considerable increase in the viewership as the quality of the matches have improved.”

    When asked if Hindi GECs were not prepared for IPL, Khemka averred, “If the matches are more interesting and are doing well, I don‘t think Hindi GECs can do much to retain their audiences.”

    The week saw a shuffle in the ranking of top four Hindi general entertainment channels as Sony Entertainment Television (Set) went past Colors adding an extra eight GRPs to occupy the third spot on the Hindi GEC hierarchy.

    As per TAM data (HSM including 5 new LC1 markets, C&S, 4+) sourced from a channel, Star Plus continued to maintain its leadership position. The broadcast of Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg 2 on 31 March notched up 4.9 TVR. The channel lost seven GRPs to clock 284 GRPs.

    Star Plus had also launched a new dance reality show titled ‘Nach Baliye Shriman vs Shrimati‘, an extention of Nach Baliye, that debuted with 2.3 TVR on 6 April.

    Following Star Plus is Zee TV that lost 22 GRPs to register 185 GRPs. All the shows of the channel have seen loss in viewership.

    Meanwhile, despite the loss of 11 GRPs, Set managed to move a step ahead, displacing Colors at No. 3. Its crime-based properties Adaalat ( 1.2 TVR), CID ( 2.2 TVR) and Crime Patrol (2 TVR) continue to drive majority of the audience for the channel that closed the week with 164 GRPs (last week 175).

    Colors lost the most this week as it lived without a single 3+ TVR show. All the shows of the channels have seen drop in numbers. The channel had earned a few points last week as it had aired Femina Miss India 2013 on 24 March. For the week under review, Colors lost 35 GRPs to record 156 GRPs.

    Set‘s sister Hindi GEC Sab maintained its grip at the No. 5 spot despite losing more audience than Star Plus‘ second rung Hindi GEC Life OK. Sab lost 22 GRPs to end the week with 137 GRPs, while Life OK ended the week with 110 GRPs (last week 119).

    Sahara One with 18 GRPs (last week 22) stood at the bottom of the ladder.

  • Sony consolidates its media biz, IPG’s Initiative gains Rs 1.5 bn

    MUMBAI: Sony India has consolidated the media duties of all its businesses under IPG Mediabrands’ Initiative, giving the agency new businesses worth Rs 1.5 billion.

    Initiative has snatched Sony‘s mobile business media account away from OMD to take complete charge of the Japanese multinational‘s Rs 3 billion media spend in India. The IPG agency was already media
    servicing the other parts of Sony‘s businesses.

    IPG‘s new responsibilities would include handling both media and digital duties of the brand, one of the biggest advertising spenders in the category.

    “Sony Mobile spends around Rs 1.5 billion on media. So this is a good catch for Initiative,” says a source close to the development.

    The agency won the account following a closely fought pitch processover two months that saw all the big agencies in the fray, including Madison, Maxus, ZenithOptimedia, Carat and OMD.

    The contest went to the last and final round with Initiative edging out Madison to win the AoR.

    “It is a great new beginning for IPG Mediabrands India and we would like to thank Sony India for reposing their faith in the team,” says Shashi Sinha, the new CEO of IPG Mediabrands India.

    For Lodestar UM chief operating officer Anamika Mehta, the “massive win” is a “proud and happy moment” for her team. “This will be a game changer as we leverage IPG Mediabrands scale and market clout. We look forward to some path-breaking work with Sony in times ahead,” she says.

  • ZenithOptimedia to manage Siemens’ media account in India

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has won the mandate to handle Siemens‘ media account for India.

    The account size is pegged at Rs 150 to 200 million. The account will be handled by the agency‘s Mumbai office.

    Siemens had called for a multi-agency pitch before deciding on whom to give for managing its media duties.

    RK Swamy Media, the incumbent agency, will, however, continue to handle Siemens Infosystems.

    Recently, ZenithOptimedia retained the Nestle India business and won the strategy mandate for FMCG major Reckitt Benckiser India.

  • ZenithOptimedia retains Reckitt Benckiser’s media biz

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has retained the media account of multinational consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser.

    There was a full pitch on cost and strategy that the client had called for. According to the sources close to the pitch, the agency has won the account against MPG.

    The account size is estimated to be at around Rs 3 billion.

    ZenithOptimedia had recently retained the media duties of Nestle India too.

  • Publicis Groupe acquires a digital agency and a consulting firm in India

    MUMBAI: French global communications network, Publicis Groupe, has snapped up two Indian companies as part of its strategy to strengthen its digital offering and double the size of its India business by 2015.

    The first to be gobbled is iStrat, India‘s foremost integrated digital agency. The second purchase is MarketGate, a Mumbai-based strategic business and marketing consulting firm.

    “We look at talent and relevance while.making acquisitions and consulting is at the core of our business. So these two deals are in sync with our plans,” said Publicis Groupe COO and Publicis Worldwide Executive Chairman Jean-Yves Naouri.

    Naouri said that India‘s talent pool and market appetite make it a lucrative destination. “We agree that India is not where we would want it to be right now. But the country shows talent and appetite which makes it extremely positive,” he added.

    He also said that the acquisitions and consequent alignments of the acquired entites have been made keeping in mind the structure of the Publicis Groupe.

    While Indigo is aligned with Leo Burnett, Resultrix is with ZenithOptimedia. iStrat, on the other hand, will fall under Publicis Worldwide.

    iStrat will be rebranded Publicis iStrat and will operate as a unit within Publicis Modem, Publicis Worldwide‘s global digital network. Its founders, Navneet Singh Sahni (CEO) and Sonya Sahni (Head of Marketing), will continue to lead the agency.

    MarketGate will retain its name and will operate within Publicis Worldwide. It will also continue to be led by founders Shripad Nadkarni (CEO) and Sharda Agarwal (Executive Director). Both iStrat and MarketGate leadership will now report into Nakul Chopra, CEO South Asia for Publicis Worldwide.

    Publicis had earlier acquired full-service interactive and technology agency Indigo Consulting, which operates as a unit within the Leo Burnett Group, the creative arm of Publicis.

    iStrat was founded in 2003 and provides solutions across all forms of digital marketing. The agency services a broad range of prestigious clients, including Alpha G:Corp (real estate), the Confederation of Indian Industries, Dupont (luxury accessories), Hero Corp (motorcycles), Hindware (kitchen and sanitary appliances), Maruti Suzuki, the Nasscom software trade association, and Nestle.

    The agency, which is headquartered in Delhi and employs a team of 50, provides the full range of digital communications services including e-commerce store fronts, search engine optimization, social media, and rich media.

    MarketGate, which was founded in 2005, delivers services in business growth planning, marketing strategy, brand positioning, portfolio strategy, brand architecture development, and marketing skills development. The agency‘s seven consulting experts aim to rejuvenate brands and power their growth by deploying marketing processes throughout their clients‘ organisations.

    Its clientele includes Colgate, Dabur (foods/personal care), General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Godrej (personal care), HSBC, ICICI (financial services/banking), Madura Garments (fashion), Mahindra & Mahindra (automobile), MTR (foods), and Radio Mirchi.

    As a part of this acquisition, Publicis Groupe will also acquire MarketGate Dimensions, a subsidiary of MarketGate, providing research-based solutions to business, marketing and brand issues, with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Its client list includes Glenmark (personal care), Kellogg‘s, Maruti Suzuki, The Walt Disney Company and Viacom 18.

    “Building digital capabilities is a fundamental part of the Publicis strategy, and today‘s acquisition of iStrat and the strengthening of our digital arm in this promising market is a key step towards realising our growth goals. In addition, MarketGate is a fast-moving strategic outfit with strong skill-sets, an impressive range of clients and thorough knowledge of the Indian market and its consumers.” he continued.

    “We are excited to become a part of the Publicis Worldwide network, and we look forward to tapping into its global best practices,” added iStrat co-founders Navneet Singh Sahni and Sonya Sahni.

    “Today‘s deal will offer richer, more diversified possibilities to both our clients and our teams. Our experience in India‘s digital space, together with Publicis‘ considerable know-how in brand building, will create an incredibly powerful offering for both current and future clients.”

    “This is a very exciting move for all of us at MarketGate,” added Shripad Nadkarni and Sharda Agarwal. “Twinning the world-class expertise of Publicis Groupe with our extensive experience of marketing and consultancy across all sectors in India will make for a very powerful combination. We‘re passionate about our clients, and we know that they will benefit from this move.”

    India is currently the world‘s 16th largest advertising market, and although the country‘s economic growth has slowed somewhat in 2012, it remains over 5 per cent. ZenithOptimedia forecasts (December 2012) advertising expenditure to increase by 7.7 per cent in India in 2013.

    Publicis Groupe had recently made VivaKi a separate business unit and will be available to all Publicis Groupe agencies and the market.

    VivaKi was launched in 2008 to accelerate the digital transformation of Publicis Groupe and its agencies. It was created through the combined scale and leadership of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), ZenithOptimedia and later Razorfish.

    Fast-growing economies like Brazil, India, China and Russia are on the radar of all the global communications agencies. Publicis too is bullish about BRIC nations as these economies are called.

    The French communications group had also acquired Beijing-based digital marketing company, Longtuo, to gain clout in China‘s burgeoning e-Commerce market.

    It also bolstered Saatchi & Saatchi‘s digital offering in Asia Pacific by buying out local interactive agency Arachnid, which was later re-branded Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid.

  • ZenithOptimedia to continue to handle Nestle’s media biz

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has retained the media duties of Nestle India following a multi-agency pitch that took place a month ago.

    The size of the business is estimated to be around Rs 1.8 billion.

    The agency has been handling the media business of Nestle since 2005.

    Nestle India owns brands like Nescafe, Maggi, Milkybar, Kit Kat, Bar-One, Milkmaid and Nestea.

    In recent years the company has also introduced products of daily consumption and use such as Nestle Milk, Nestle Slim Milk, Nestle Dahi and Nestle Jeera Raita.

  • Draftfcb walks away with Jabong.com’s creative biz

    MUMBAI: Online retailer Jabong.com has awarded its creative mandate to IPG’s Draftfcb Ulka, following a multi-agency pitch that saw participation from five agencies.

    The media mandate of the e-commerce site was recently won by Publicis‘ ZenithOptimedia.

    Draftfcb Ulka will be handling the overall offline creative services for Jabong.com including brand planning and creative developments.

    Draftfcb’s approach to the brief ‘Harnessing the spirit of Shopaholism’ won it the account. The agency will have the tough task of coming out with clutter-breaking campaigns in a commoditised e-commerce space.

  • ZenithOptimedia predicts 4.6% ad growth to $525 bn in 2013

    MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe’s research agency ZenithOptimedia has said in its latest forecast that global ad expenditure will grow 4.6 per cent to touch $525 billion in 2013.

    Continuing the trend that started with the economic downturn in 2007, the growth next year also will be led by developing markets predicted to grow by 8 per cent on average in 2013. Central and Eastern Europe are expected to bounce back after a tough 2012 with 7.4 per cent growth in 2013 ($28.592 billion), while Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) will grow by 8.2 per cent ($148.423 billion) and Latin America by 10.1 per cent ($41.935 billion). North America which has had a particularly strong 2012 owing to record Olympic audiences and heavier than expected political advertising in the US is expected to grow at a solid 3.6 per cent in 2013 ($178.313 billion).

    The digital medium will continue its strong growth into 2013 and is expected to grow at 15.1 per cent as compared to traditional media which is set to grow at 2.3 per cent.

    The agency has also revised it for the remainder of 2012 slashing the growth further from 4.3 per cent (as predicted in June) to 3.8 per cent. The main reason attributed to this downgrade is advertisers in the eurozone cutting expenses in response to further economic weakness. ZenithOptimedia predicts that the eurozone spend will shrink 3.1 per cent over the course of this year as compared to the earlier 1.1 per cent decline forecast in June. Assuming the region remains intact, budgets are expected to resume slow 0.9 per cent growth in 2013, strengthening to 2.3 per cent in 2014.

    “Advertisers are broadly continuing to invest, despite the global economic concerns and issues. However, they are seeking to ensure that all expenditures are delivering strong return on investment. The US continues to deliver solid growth. This combined with the growth in developing markets and in digital media, has helped mitigate the drop in eurozone spending,” said ZenithOptimedia Group global chief executive officer Steve King.

  • Hindi GECs gain after losing for two weeks

    MUMBAI: The Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) gained 23 GRPs last week after losing viewers to live T20 World Cup cricket matches in which India played in two previous weeks.

    The India vs Pakistan clash did attract a lot of viewership but its impact was not felt as it was on a Sunday, which resulted in viewers not normally watching television on the weekend being glued to TV sets, and GECs too had strong content in programmes like the finale of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.

    As per TAM (HSM, 4+, C&S) data provided by GECs, the India vs Pakistan match fetched 6.4 TVRs in its first innings when India batted and 7.6 TVRs in its second innings during Pakistan‘s batting.

    The GECs had taken a hit in previous two weeks because of start of the T20 World Cup on 18 September (week 38 of TAM). The combined GRPs from Hindi GECs fell to 1271 from 1322 in week 38 as the T20 matches were telecast live during evening prime time. In week 39, when India played against Australia on 28 September (Friday), the genre further lost GRPs to register 1233 GRPs. However, GECs have seen an improvement in ratings in week 40 when the genre added 23 GRPs to clock 1256 GRPs.

    According to ZenithOptimedia managing partner Navin Khemka, The India vs Pakistan match was able to attract more viewers onto the television screen and people who wanted to watch GECs too saw their favourite programmes. “India vs Pakistan match was able to get light viewers onto the television screen on that day. It had driven up the overall viewership of that day, therefore people who wanted to watch GEC for a particular time period, be it because of the airing of Jhalak finale or Ishaqzaade, watched it.”

    “The impact of live cricket on GECs is more if the matches are played during weekdays. The India vs Pakistan match was played on the weekend against big properties like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa that aired its final episode,” Khemka added.

    Weekly GEC update:

    Star Plus continues to lead the GEC genre with 274 GRPs, having added five gross rating points (GRPs) during week 40. The channel has crossed the 270 GRP-mark after a gap of seven weeks. In fact, this is the highest recorded rating of any channel in the genre in six weeks.

    Star Plus has extended the telecast of two of its weekday shows, ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai‘ and ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum‘, which rated 4 TVR and 2.8 TVR respectively on Saturday (6 October). However, the average ratings of both the shows dropped; ‘Yeh Rishta…‘ rated 3 TVR (last week 3.4) while ‘Diya…‘ fetched 4.9 TVR (last week 6.7) in the week ended 6 October.

    Colors held on to its second position with its GRPs unchanged. The channel aired the finale of ‘Jhallak Dikhhla Jaa‘ which notched 3.5 TVR on 30 September. The finale episode helped the channel stabilise itself despite India and Pakistan playing against each other in the same time slot. However, the fiction shows of the channel have seen a drop in viewership. The channel ended the week with 233 GRPs.

    Zee TV closed the week with 231 GRPs (last week 217), just two GRPs away from Colors. The ratings of its singing reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘ fell from 2.5 TVR to 1.9 TVR, though its fiction shows have seen a rise in eyeballs.

    Sony Entertainment Television (Set) added three GRPs to end the week with 205 GRPs. It had premiered ‘Ishaqzaade‘ on 30 September, which rated 1.9 TVR in its 12 noon airing and 1.4 TVR in the 8.30 pm telecast. Set did not air its ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati-6‘ episode at 8.30 pm on 30 September. Daily soaps of the channel lost numbers but its crime-based shows – CID (3 TVR) and Crime Patrol (2.7 TVR) and KBC (3.4 TVR) saw an increase in viewership.

    Meanwhile, Sab added six GRPs to end the week with 128 GRPs. Life OK with 121 GRPs (last week 124) follows. Sahara One with 33 GRPs (last week 34) remains at the bottom.

  • ZenithOptimedia wins Jabong.com’s media biz

    MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia has won the media mandate of e-comerce portal Jabong.com.

    The account win is on the back of multi-agency pitch that saw participation of incumbent agency Mindshare, Madison Media, Lodestar UM and ZenithOptimedia.

    The business will be handled out of the agency‘s Delhi office.

    ZenithOptimedia managing partner Navin Khemka said, “Yes, we have won the account. We will be handling entire media planning and buying portfolio of Jabong including lots of consumer insight and research.”