Star India gets AdSharp; targets regional advertisers

MUMBAI: The Modi sarkar promised acche din aane wale hai. If one saw the full page advertisement by India's leading TV network Star India in The Economic Times on 3 July then it looks like good days could be coming the way of regional, small and medium advertisers which have been looking at advertising on the mainline GEC but have found the sticker price too high.

The who’s who of the advertising industry took notice of the path-breaking step initiated by Star network CEO Uday Shankar.

The network’s advertisement says, “Grow your business with the power of Star!" and invites marketers, planners and advertisers to attend  free  45-minute seminars through which they can get familiarised with the art of targeting their customers in a cost-effective manner to stay ahead of the competition.

The target advertiser is  those businesses which are still not advertising on television. Media observers believe that India is a land of opportunity and various small and medium sized businesses have an opportunity to grow by advertising their products on TV, but have been loath to do so because they don't have agencies, TVCs and also find the cost exorbitant. They cite the example of CavinKare's Chik shampoo which began as a small regional player, but went on to challenge even the MNCs successfully. 

The Star India seminars are likely to give more details for its, soon-to-be launched offering, AdSharp, which marks the network’s plunge into geo-targeted advertising in an organised manner. Through it, advertisers can target customers region specifically, as the ads will be local.

The network which has advertising revenues of around Rs 5,000 crore annually is hoping to increase those top line numbers by luring the small and medium advertiser.

The first of such seminars will start from Mumbai (15-19 July), followed by Pune (24-26 July), Delhi (5-9 August) and the last will be in Ahmedabad (21-23 August). Registration began almost a month back.

The invitees can choose from the seven sessions offered in each day-long seminar. The day will not be just about selling and buying of geo-targeted air time by its ad sales team; attending advertisers will also get a chance to get a TV commercial produced free for them by Star India on taking up a package.

HDFC Life senior executive vice president - head marketing, product, digital & e-commerce Sanjay Tripathy believes that Star India's first of its kind initiative is laudatory and "will help the network increase its client base."

Rivals also expressed appreciation.  Zee’s chief sales officer Ashish Sehgal believes that Star's seminar campaign  will educate advertisers who have been sitting on the periphery on how to market locally and eventually help expand the overall TV ad market.

 “We have been offering geo-targeted advertising for more than a year now with Amagi. We are part of almost every geo-targeted advertising plan that Amagi does for smaller regional advertisers, and this has worked well for us,” says Sehgal while highlighting that technology plays an important role here. "Broadcasters can choose to outsource geo-targeting to a third party or do it in-house; we have chosen the former so far."

Similarly, Amagi’s co-founder KA Srinivasan says that if the largest Indian broadcast network starts pushing geo-targeted advertising then it validates what he and some others have been doing for years now. “It is a good move for the industry and geo-targeting will only pick up in the coming years.”

Star’s Adsharp which was scheduled to launch by June end, will now be launched by next week or so. It has opted for Cisco as its technical partner for the geo-targeting service.

News Headline | FIFA World Cup draws female fans

MUMBAI: The 2014 FIFA World Cup has gripped the nation, and if one thought it was only a man’s game, the TAM TV ratings for FIFA World Cup on Sony Aath will prove them wrong.
 
As per the week 26 of TAM TV ratings, Sony Aath from the Multi Screen Media stable has seen a rise in the female viewership in the 15 plus age group. The channel saw a four per cent hike, from the 146 TVTs that ESPN Star Sports (the then official broadcaster of FIFA) received during the FIFA World Cup 2010 telecast to 152 TVTs it has got in the current season.   
 
In the first week of the telecast of FIFA World Cup, Sony Six had an all India reach of 12,469,000 while Sony Aath’s reach was 3,114,000. Combined, the two channels had a total reach of 14,792,000 in the CS 4+ years group.
 
In the West Bengal market, while Sony Six recorded a reach of 3,056,000, Sony Aath’s reach was 3,043,000. In the second week of FIFA World Cup, Sony Aath’s reach increased to 5,589,000 in the West Bengal market. Within Kolkata, the reach of Sony Aath was 2,561,000 for the first week while in the second week it rose to 4,427,000.
 
Amongst male in CS 15+ age group, Sony Aath recorded 173 TVTs in the West Bengal market in week one, which dropped to 154 TVTs in the second week. For Sony Six, the all India ratings in the same category was 613 TVTs in the first week, which saw a huge drop in the second week, as it recorded 453 TVTs.
 
As of the current ratings, Sony Six (all India) has recorded 483 TVTs and Sony Aath has garnered 161 TVTs, combined the two have scored 644 TVTs.  
 
Telecasting most of the matches at prime time has definitely paid off since the Germany versus Portugal match on 16 June telecasted at 9:30 pm
received 1,514 TVTs on Sony Six and 393 TVT’s on Sony Aath. Combined the two have garnered 1,907 TVTs. This is the highest rated match so far.

Nitesh Kripalani says farewell to SonyLIV

MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (Sony Entertainment Network) executive VP new media, business development and digital/syndication Nitesh Kripalani has apparently decided to call it a day at the network. He has reportedly put in his papers last week.

Industry sources confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com. However Kripalani refused to confirm or deny that he had resigned.
 
The 33 year old  was ranked amongst the top 40 under 40 executives in India by Business Today magazine as recently as March this year and he was extremely gung-ho about SonyLiv, which the magazine says contributed 5 per cent to MSM's topline.  And he was hopeful of taking that up to 15 per cent in the next three years.
 
His departure hence was sudden, and surprised many in the industry.
 
Kripalani joined MSM in 2009 and was directly recruited by the then CEO and now chairman Man Jit Singh. He spearheaded the broadcast network's programming syndication initiatives,contributed to some M&A initiatives, and investment decisions. But his biggest success was with SonyLiv digital platform which serves as a central digital point for all the network's content. Kripalani chose the advertising revenue generation route for SonyLiv which made the going that much more challenging.
 

400 private websites restrained from beaming FIFA

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court issued an injunction order restraining around 400 private websites from beaming the World Cup Football FIFA matches.
 
The vacation bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao gave a directive to the Department of Information Technology and Telecom to ensure implementation of the order of the court. He directed that his directive would be forwarded to the concerned ministry.
 
 The judge, who listed the matter to come up in the last week of July, gave the directive after hearing Saikrishna Rajagopal who was arguing on behalf of Multi Screen Media Entertainment (Sony) which holds the exclusive rights for beaming the matches in India.
 
 The sports arm of MSM, Sony Six, is the official broadcaster of the football extravaganza, while its digital platform LIVSports.in has the exclusive rights to live stream the event.
 
The network had moved the court after it found out that several unauthorized websites were streaming the World Cup matches.

Amitabh Bachchan's debut TV series 'Yudh' to go on air in July

Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is set to debut on a fiction TV show with "Yudh", seemed excited yet nervous about watching a "trial" of the show here Saturday.

"The hour arriveth...the labor and effort, of days to be seen today. The episodes of 'YUDH'! Scream your exuberance!!! No the 'YUDH' serial is not starting today, we the team are seeing the trial for the first time today. It shall air in July," he posted on his Twitter page.

The actor plays the role of Yudhishtir in the show, which will air on Sony Entertainment Television. Its promo has already garnered a fairly positive response, and all eyes are set on whether Big B's new venture on the telly will bring the same revolution that "Kaun Banega Crorepati" brought back in 2000.

A file photo of Amitabh Bachchan

News Headline | Sony Six set to redefine prime time viewing with 2014 FIFA World Cup

MUMBAI: Beginning 12 June, Sony Six, the official broadcast partner for 2014 FIFA World Cup, will redefine prime time viewing of Indian audiences. Being hosted in Brazil, the event is getting ready to capture the imagination of millions of sports enthusiast and hard-core football lovers. With an estimate of over 65 million viewers in the Indian sub-continent itself, the World Cup hopes to rival even the biggest of sporting events in India.
 
With the world talking of the big sporting event, Sony Six is all set to tap into the prime time slot featuring the live games from the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The channel will exclusively broadcast nearly 38 per cent of the total live games in the prime time slot of 9.30pm across the Indian subcontinent (24 games in the 9.30pm time slot out of the total 64 matches).
 
The telecast will begin at 8pm with one of a kind studio show, leading up to the match kick off at 9.30pm, where popular anchors and guests will provide the most interesting and unique insights about the players and the tournament.
 
 The 9:30pm slot will showcase some of the most exciting match-ups of the group stages including Germany vs Portugal. Viewers can also catch some of their favourite teams including Spain, England, Uruguay, Netherlands and few of the most exciting knock out stage games in the same slot.
 
Last time around, of the total viewer demography in India, the tournament had attracted 38 per cent viewership from the 15-34 year audience category presenting a unique opportunity for advertisers and marketers to invest in.
 
Commenting on the estimated viewership for this year tournament, Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “The projected reach during the tournament is incomparable, given its value as well as time convenience, the viewership numbers account for a wide geographic spread as well as a significant proportion of the world’s population.”
 
Alliance Advertising, the media buying agency of XOLO, the first official advertiser for 2014 FIFA World Cup on Sony Six, director Arshad Nizam said, “2014 FIFA World Cup is the most anticipated event this year and associating with an event of such magnitude gives XOLO a great opportunity to reach out to the key target audience who will be glued to Sony Six to catch the best footballing action. Considering majority of the matches are slotted for 9.30pm, which is prime time television viewing, gives advertisers a great platform to connect and engage with their audience.”
 
Not limiting the reach through in-home viewing, the channel feels there will be a continued increase in viewership through out-of-home set up’s including pubs, bars, restaurants, clubs, hotels and official FIFA Fan Fests etc. from metros as well as other emerging markets across the country.
 
Oxygen Entertainment & Media Solutions director Sajjad Meherally said, "2014 FIFA World Cup has created a huge stir across India with everyone cheering for their favourite team - planning parties and getting geared for the biggest sporting extravaganza. Clients are planning Brazilian themed viewing parties with international performances for their guests. We are getting a lot of inquiries from smaller towns like Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Indore, Nashik and Ludhiana too."
 
Besides India, the channel will also broadcast the tournament exclusively to audiences across Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives. 
 
The tournament will be in two stages; group stage will feature 32 nations and will be played from 12 June-26 June. The knockout stage will start from 28 June and conclude with the FIFA World Cup final match on 13 July.

News Headline | Discovery to launch three new channels

GOA: Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific has announced the launch of three new channels in India at the ongoing GoaFest. Widely recognised for enhancing the television viewing experience in India over the last two decades, Discovery will launch a refreshing new concept Hindi entertainment channel named ID - Investigation Discovery.

One of the pioneers in high definition genre in India, the company will also expand its HD offering with the launch of two differentiated gold standard channels - TLC HD World and Animal Planet HD World.

The company’s expanded portfolio of 11 differentiated channels reflects India’s potential and resonates the core promise of digitisation in India.
 
ID will be India’s first Hindi entertainment channel dedicated to offering compelling true stories of mystery, crime and suspense. The channel promises to ‘always reveal’ intriguing twists and turns that culminate into thrilling conclusions. Providing fascinating stories of human nature, the channel’s alluring series, in-depth specials and thought-provoking one-offs will challenge viewers’ perceptions and expand the Hindi entertainment genre.

Rahul Johri executive vice president and general manager – South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific and head of revenue, pan-regional ad sales and Southeast Asia said, “The launch of three new channels    ID, TLC HD World and Animal Planet HD World demonstrates Discovery’s commitment to entertain Indian viewers and offer high-quality and differentiated programming. ID is one of the great success stories in US cable and we are thrilled to present the impactful and entertaining investigative programming to viewers in India.” 
 
“Steering the premium audience in the country, TLC HD World promises to celebrate every moment of life by offering the finest experiences from across the world. With its dedicated 24-hour programming, the channel will indulge the audience through its captivating content on destinations, personalities and trends underscoring its ‘live more’ promise,” stated the release.
 
Offering the gold standard in high definition, Animal Planet HD World will bring alive the warm and intimate bond that exists between humans and animal kingdom. “Surprisingly Human, it will broadcast premiere content, scheduled as per Indian viewers’ preference with gripping on air packaging,” the release added.

Discussing the growth potential of high definition in India, Johri said, “The launch of the two new high definition channels TLC HD World and Animal Planet HD World has further extended Discovery’s leadership in the HD genre. Both the new networks, along with existing Discovery HD World, will enrich television viewing experience and satisfy the emerging demands of audience, advertisers and affiliates.”

 Discovery’s existing portfolio in India includes eight channels: Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Tamil, TLC, Discovery Kids, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and Discovery HD World.