Executive Dossier

We are just focused on creating an identity for ourselves in the space: Prasana Krishnan

Published

12 years ago

February 8, 2014

He is the man with a plan for Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) sports channel Sony Six, and he is ensuring the channel continues to remain at the top of the game in all aspects.

Ever since he moved to the MSM stable from Neo Sports in early September 2013, Sony Six business head, Prasana Krishnan, has not only endeavored to bring in a wide array of sports which have their own loyal fan base, he has left no stone unturned in acquiring some of the biggest international sports properties such as the European Qualifiers for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, The FIFA World Cups of 2014 and 2018, the Australian Open and Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) to name a few.

Krishnan further opens up on Sony Six’s journey thus far and its strategy to navigate the road ahead in a tete-a-tete with indiantelevision.com’s Sidharth Iyer. Excerpt:

Q. It’s been six months since you took charge of Sony Six. How has the journey been thus far?

It’s been a very exciting first six months. The channel is still in its nascent stage and we are trying to create an identity for ourselves to stand out from the competition. The idea is to identify niche areas we want to operate in and figure out how we are going to attain long term growth in this business.

Q. This is your second stint with a sports broadcaster after being with Neo Sports for over seven years. Is there any change in your role and responsibilities?

Well, it’s a given that different organisations face different types of challenges, depending on the situation. Like in 2006 when I was with Neo, the market was not this competitive and it was a very different landscape. The market has evolved with time and the competition is now extremely aggressive. With Sony being one of the largest broadcasters in the country, it’s a whole new ball game for me personally.

Q. Has sports broadcasting changed over the years?

There have been significant changes in the space over the last few years. Back in the day when I entered this industry, there was no Indian Premiere League (IPL) and no leagues existed; test and ODI cricket were still dominant forms in the sport. A format such as Twenty-20 was unheard of globally. Cable digitisation was many years away and direct-to-home (DTH) was still in an experimental stage.

So if we really turn back the clock, the last eight years have witnessed a dramatic transformation in the media landscape in terms of distribution, DTH, cable digitisation and regulatory changes. The entire sports landscape too has changed with T-20 becoming a predominant format and leagues emerging not only in cricket but in other forms of sport as well.

Q. What is Sony Six’s strategy to grow as a sports broadcaster, given the fact that it is a highly competitive business? Is Sony considering launching more sports channels to offer a wider choice to viewers?

We are still in the first year of operations; we’re just 18 months old and trying to get a foothold in the market. So, as far as the idea of new channels is concerned, it’s a bit too early to comment on the same. But Sony Six the brand is clearly focused on a select number of sports, which we believe have latent potential but are underserviced.

If you look at basketball, it is one of those sports with the largest infrastructure facilities; schools encourage it, participation on ground level is very high and yet its potential hasn’t been tapped.

So, along with NBA in India, we are much focused to try and grow that sport in the country and we already have encouraging numbers to support our drive. We’ve found the number of people who sampled basketball this season have grown seven to eight fold that of the previous season.

Fight sports is one more focus area which other broadcasters have shied away from. India is traditionally known for its fight sports such as boxing and wrestling and the country has continually shone in the same at the Asian Games as well as the Olympics. So, what we have done is focused on fight sports as a category and included a daily programming block called ‘Action Ka Blockbuster’. TNA has grown by over 170 per cent in the past month and half. TNA ratings have peaked at 384 TVTs which is its highest ever rating in the past one year; Kurt Angle’s episodes have always rated the best amongst all so far. We have a mixed bag of fight sports including wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts so the idea is if these sports interest you as a viewer, then Sony Six is the destination for you.

Additionally, we have some of the largest properties including the IPL, FIFA World Cups of 2014 and 2018, and the Australian Open beginning next year. So what we have done is assembled very high profile marquee properties and other sports where we see a lot of development potential. Our positioning is such that apart from IPL, we are the home of football in India, so anytime you see famous footballers, they are all on Sony Six. Plus we focus on national sides and not club football so every time there is a major event in this sport, you can view it exclusively on Sony Six.

Q. How would you describe competition from rival sports broadcasters?

It is an intensively competitive market but everyone has their own brand and identity, and the Indian market is big enough to accommodate multiple players, so it’s not necessary to take the competition head on in case of each and every property. Speaking of identity, Ten Sports has its own identity where it is focused more on international cricket while Star Sports is dominant in a variety of sports. We are just focused on creating an identity for ourselves in the space.

Q. Ten Sports acquires the rights for matches hosted by boards of other countries. Do you intend getting into that space? If so, what will be your strategy for entry?

We will look at it on a case-by-case basis instead of running in all directions to pin down whatever cricket telecast rights we can acquire. We have our core focus areas in place and we are positioning ourselves as the home of international football, along with basketball and fight sports. We have a good mix of quality content on offer. So, we just don’t want to go hammer and tongs in acquiring cricket properties just for the heck of it. However, when an opportunity presents itself, we will certainly take it up.

Q. What kind of numbers are you generating in terms of viewership and who are your viewers really?

Sports viewership sees a lot of fluctuating numbers primarily based on the event that is being telecast at that point in time. But what we have noticed is that our profile is younger than the competition and that’s our view, and we do believe that numbers are supporting that because of the nature of sports we have identified and picked.

The India vs New Zealand series has averaged 2.6 million TVTs with a peak TVT of 3.0 million TVTs for the third ODI. 49 million viewers have seen the ODI series on Six, this figure is far better than any other series in the recent past. With cricket, Six’s average TVTs have grown exponentially to a career high 459 average TVTs in Week 4 2013. It’s the first time Six became the no.1 sports channel in a non-IPL week. The channel’s share grew to 60 per cent from average seven per cent in the past four weeks.

Our reach and distribution has never been a cause for concern as we are part of a large network like Sony and are also ably distributed by The OneAlliance Group. The channel is pretty much available across the country to whoever needs it. But absolute numbers will always vary, because if you look at IPL, the numbers could well be in excess of 200 million viewers. So there really can’t be a fix on the viewers.

Q. How big is the advertising market for sports broadcasting? What is your share within the same? Which categories of advertisers spend the most on advertising on your channel? Are there any new emerging spenders?

The share of the advertising pie varies a lot depending upon the number of big events in a particular year, so if you get a year where you have the FIFA World Cup or Cricket World Cup, the amount of money pumped in at that point in time is significant.

We are definitely a major player in the sports market on account of IPL, but in absolute and not IPL-related areas, we are still in an early stage and yet to get to our first big event which will be the FIFA World Cup 2014.

So while we have made a string of acquisitions in the past few months, we are yet to prove our mettle with the first big event to be hosted and telecast exclusively on Sony Six. Advertising on sports channels is generally very male-skewed; apart from FMCGs, banking and financial services, telecom has always been prevalent, so also automobile and insurance.

Though there are subtle differences between advertiser profiles on GECs and sports channels, the big brands are always present across categories and it’s just a question of where they apportion a higher portion of their expenses.

Q. Sony spends thousands of crores on the broadcast of IPL on Max as well as Six, so what do you think of Star Sports jumping into the fray and bagging the online streaming rights for IPL by spending just a few hundred crores?

See the rights for IPL that Starsports.com has acquired are not for live streaming; they were with Indiatimes for the past three years, and YouTube was doing the telecast along with Indiatimes so the product itself is not new. Instead of YouTube, Starsports.com has now partnered Indiatimes. There is no fundamental shift at ground level, but because it is Starsports.com that has come into the fray, it is being looked at as a big development.

YouTube as a platform would have been even more formidable with its reach and availability, and an even bigger threat. Our focus is the television broadcast of IPL, and I believe we have been doing a good job of that year after year. From the viewers’ perspective, they will still be coming onto Set Max and Sony Six to catch all the live action and we really don’t see a problem in that sense.

What is the way forward for Sony Six?

The future is certainly quite bright. As I mentioned, we have our focus areas in place and we are going in a particular direction with a set plan. We are trying to carve out a niche identity, and we have a fairly robust and youthful audience in terms of viewership because of the kind of content we have on offer. The focus will now be on the execution and monetisation of plans already in place.

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Executive Dossier

Game on, fame on as Good Game hunts India’s first global gaming star

Published

3 weeks ago

January 27, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.

Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.

Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.

Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.

Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.

With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.

Digital

SpotDraft hires new CMO and CFO to fuel global push for its AI contract platform

Published

2 months ago

December 3, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

INDIA: SpotDraft has strengthened its senior ranks as it gears up for faster global expansion, naming Alon Waks as chief marketing officer and Amit Sharma as chief financial officer. The appointments follow the firm’s $54 million Series B round earlier this year and mark a push to scale across the Americas, EMEA and India.

The AI-powered contract-lifecycle-management platform has posted 100 per cent year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, counting Apollo.io, IPSY, Mixpanel, Oyster and Panasonic among its global clients. The firm processes more than one million contracts annually, with volumes up 173 per cent and nearly 50,000 monthly active users.

Waks, a veteran of Kustomer, Bizzabo, CreatorIQ, LivePerson and ZoomInfo, will steer global marketing and category positioning as legal teams adopt AI-driven tools. Sharma, who has led finance across scaling tech firms since 2016, will guide financial strategy, investor relations and market expansion.

Both hires aim to sharpen SpotDraft’s bid for a larger slice of the fast-growing legal-tech market, expected to exceed $63 billion by 2032. Co-founder and chief executive Shashank Bijapur said the company is focused on scaling go-to-market operations in the Americas, deepening leadership in EMEA, and accelerating AI capabilities for general counsels and legal-operations leaders.

Clients report shorter deal cycles and better alignment between legal and business teams. “What used to take weeks now happens in days,” said Abnormal Security senior legal operations manager Susan Koenig. DeepL head of legal operations André Barrow, said SpotDraft has helped reframe legal “from a cost centre to a generator of revenue”.

Executive Dossier

Outdoor Ads Get Smarter as LOC8 Shifts OOH from Visibility to Attention

Published

3 months ago

November 28, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Out-of-home ads were once the wallflowers of marketing seen by everyone, noticed by few. But in an age where attention has become the world’s most fought-over currency, even billboards are getting a brain upgrade. Enter LOC8, OSMO’s AI-powered attention engine, quietly reshaping the old OOH playbook by measuring not just who could have looked at an ad, but who actually did. The shift is subtle but seismic: impressions are out, impact is in and data, not gut instinct, is calling the shots.

In a landscape where marketers question every rupee spent outdoors, LOC8 is turning lampposts, flyovers and traffic islands into precision-mapped attention laboratories. By crunching dwell time, visibility zones, perceptual size and real-world obstructions, the platform is dragging OOH into a future where creativity meets computer vision and where the best ideas aren’t just eye-catching, but eye-measured. From automotive facelifts to FMCG novelty and real estate trust-building, the message is clear, outdoor has stopped shouting and started listening. Indian Television Dot Com explores more about it in an Interview interview with OSMO co-founder Nipun Arora.

On how OSMO is shifting outdoor advertising from a visibility-led medium to an attention-led one through LOC8.

Traditional OOH has long been measured by visibility and impressions i.e how many people could see an ad. OSMO, through its proprietary AI platform LOC8, is shifting that narrative more towards likelihood of being noticed. Using computer vision and machine learning, LOC8 analyzes real-world video data to measure visibility zones, obstructions, dwell time and perceptual size; bringing precision to how attention is quantified outdoors. It moves the focus from mere impressions to quality of impressions, making OOH a data-verified, attention-led medium comparable to digital in accountability.

On how marketers can use LOC8’s dwell-time, visibility and perception insights to craft more effective, emotionally resonant OOH campaigns.

LOC8 helps brands understand how people truly experience outdoor media how long they look, from what distance, and under what conditions. By quantifying dwell time, visibility duration, and perceptual size; marketers can plan campaigns that align with real human viewing behavior. This empowers creative and strategy teams to design emotionally resonant storytelling where messaging, visual hierarchy and placement are optimized for how people actually notice and process OOH creatives.

About what LOC8 has revealed through campaigns like Renault Triber and Namaste India on how categories such as auto, FMCG and real estate use attention metrics to drive outcomes.

Each category uses attention data differently but all share one common goal: to convert outdoor visibility into measurable engagement.

• Automotive | Renault Triber

For the new Renault Triber facelift, bold creative met data-led planning through LOC8. By analyzing on-ground video data, LOC8 measured real audience attention across placements factoring in visibility zones, obstructions, traffic speed and perceptual size. This enabled Renault to identify corridors that delivered maximum reach, saliency and engagement, optimizing media efficiency and ROI.

• FMCG | Namaste India

In OOH, innovation is the hook and assets are the bait. But bait often hides the hook. With Loc8’s attention metrics, we ensured the bait wasn’t a hurdle, rather it became the perfect stage for innovation to deliver its full impact! The insight proved that creative novelty, when validated by attention data, drives deeper engagement and measurable brand lift.

• Real Estate

For luxury and real estate campaigns targeting HNI/UHNI audiences, attention patterns differ especially between front and rear passengers, who are often the core audience segment for premium sites. LOC8’s ability to distinguish rear vs. front visibility plays a critical role here. It helps identify sites that offer longer viewing windows and stronger perceptual dominance from the rear seat where decision-makers are most likely seated making it a key differentiator for premium and trust-led categories. Together, these insights prove that auto optimizes for impact, FMCG for recall, and real estate for trust visibility showing how attention metrics adapt to category goals while ensuring measurable outcomes.

On how attention analytics will shape the future of brand storytelling and media planning as OOH becomes more digitised and data-driven.

As outdoor digitizes, attention analytics will inform not just where to advertise but how stories are told in public spaces. This evolution transforms OOH from a static broadcast channel into a dynamic attention ecosystem, where creativity is optimized through evidence-based insight.

On how LOC8’s data-led framework helps marketers quantify OOH impact and make outdoor a more accountable, ROI-driven medium.

LOC8 bridges the gap between intuition and evidence. By quantifying metrics like visibility duration, attention opportunity index, and visual saliency rank, it allows brands to benchmark site performance and justify investment. This data-led approach brings transparency, comparability and ROI measurement to a medium historically driven by perception.

On how OSMO ensures AI and computer vision enhance creativity rather than reduce it to numbers.

OSMO believes that technology should enhance creativity, not overshadow it. LOC8’s attention models reveal what naturally draws the human eye helping creative teams refine design cues, contrast, and visual hierarchy for greater impact. By merging art and science, LOC8 empowers creativity with intelligence.

About the creative best practices and design cues LOC8 has uncovered regarding what truly captures consumer attention outdoors.

LOC8’s visual cognition analysis has surfaced clear patterns across campaigns:

• High contrast and minimal messaging outperform cluttered designs.

• Motion cues draw significantly longer dwell times.

• The first two seconds are critical, creatives must establish focus instantly.

• Contextual alignment between the creative and its environment increases attention by over 30%.

These learnings offer a scientific foundation for creative effectiveness helping brands design OOH that’s visually magnetic and emotionally memorable.

On how attention metrics will integrate into omnichannel planning where OOH, digital and social work together for unified brand impact.

Attention can become the unifying KPI across OOH, digital and social to creates seamless storytelling continuity, where outdoor triggers digital engagement. The future of omnichannel planning lies in attention-led integration ensuring that campaigns don’t just reach audiences everywhere but truly capture and hold their focus.