• BARC week 32: Kashmir, Article 370 abrogation pushes English news ratings up

    BENGALURU: Abrogation of Article 370 and the presentation and passage of The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 in the parliament on 5 August and 6 August 2019 respectively was a big booster for news across all media. Reactions from within and without the country, the incessant debates and arguments for and against the act attracted eyeballs to news television channels. The English news genre on television was also a big beneficiary in terms of increase in viewership during the week (Week 32: Saturday, 3 August 2019 to Friday, 9 August 2019, week or period under consideration). Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly data for week 32 of top 5 English news channels showed that the combined viewership of the top channels increased by 1.074 million impressions or went up by 59.3 percent as compared to week 31 of 2019.

    The combined weekly impressions of the top 5 English news channels were 2.885 million and 1.811 million during weeks 32 and 31 respectively. The top 5 English channels in week 32 of 2019 were the same as in week 31 with a shuffling in ranks four and five. In terms of absolute weekly impressions, the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV was the biggest gainer in viewership, while pubcaster Doordarshan’s English news channels DD India gained the least among the top 5 English news channels in week 32 as compared to week 31. The India Today Group’s India Today Television gained the most in terms of percentage at 87.6 percent while DD India had the lowest gains of 32 percent in terms of growth of weekly viewership. India Today Television climbed up one rank to fourth place replacing Network18’s CNN News18 which descended to rank 5. Please refer to the figure below:

  • Discovery India and WWF India come together to build a sustainable future for Sundarbans

    Mumbai: Discovery India and WWF India have come together to protect the world’s only mangrove tiger habitat, in partnership with the Forest Directorate, Govt. of West Bengal and local communities in the Sundarbans. The initiative builds on WWF India’s work in the region to promote sustainable livelihoods, access to clean energy, and effective human-wildlife conflict management. By adopting an integrated approach, the project aims to assist the Forest Directorate for effectively managing populations of tiger, prey and their habitat in Sundarbans, and reduce human-tiger conflict. It will   work with Panchayats help build resilient communities in this ecologically fragile and climatically vulnerable region.

    The Sundarbans region is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which threatens the safety and livelihood of local communities. With a vision to create climate-smart villages in the Sundarbans, WWF India and Discovery India are working with government agencies, civil society partners and scientific institutions to build the capacity of village panchayats and local communities to incorporate climate resilience into development planning, thereby helping secure livelihoods, biodiversity and ecosystem services.

  • ZEE5 Global partners with EUROSTAR Group in Middle East to roll out offline subscriptions

    Dubai, UAE, 19 August 2019: In yet another key announcement for the Middle East region, Global digital entertainment platform ZEE5, today announced its partnership with UAE based digital retail giant, the EUROSTAR Group This strategic partnership will enable people across the GCC countries to access ZEE5’s huge library of 100,000 hours of entertainment content through subscription packs available at any of Eurostar and its partner outlets across GCC.

    Customers in UAE and other GCC markets can now buy any ZEE5 subscription pack by simply walking into their nearest EUROSTAR retail outlet and choosing between ZEE5’s daily, weekly, monthly and annual subscription packs, at 1.49 AED, 5.99 AED, 18.99 AED and 149.99 AED respectively without needing a credit card. Select outlets will also provide a full product demo for interested customers.

  • Broadband subscriber growth improved in Jun-19

    BENGALURU: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 30 June 2019 (Jun-19, month or period under review) reveals that broadband subscriber additions have improved. Jun-19 recorded the second-highest number of subscriber additions in a month in the calendar year (CY 19) until 30 June 2019 at 130.8 lakh. The highest number of subscriber additions in CY 2019 was in the month ended 31 January 2019 (Jan-19) at 214.l9 lakh. 130.7 lakh broadband subscribers were added in India in the month ended 31 March 2019 (Mar-19).

    The highest growth in broadband subscribers was wireless internet subscribers through Mobile – (Phones and Dongles) with 131.1 lakh subscriber additions during the period under review. Wired internet subscriber base in Jun-19 declined by 30,000, while subscribers of Fixed wireless- WiFi, Wi Max, Point to Point, Radio, Vsat remained static at 5.4 lakh.

  • ALTBalaji to pull out content from telecom platforms beginning October due to ZEE5 deal

    MUMBAI: The management of Balaji Telefilms has stated that its over the top (OTT) platform ALTBalaji’s content will be pulled out from telecom platforms from October 2019.

    Following the deal with ZEEL-owned ZEE5, the fresh content that will be created by ALTBalaji will be behind the paywall and will only be available on these platforms. All the content that is produced in H2 of FY20 will be on a co-created basis.

    The company’s plan is to move from a multi-platform environment to a single partner environment. The ZEE5 deal will more than compensate for the loss accruing from the loss of telco deals.

    The two OTT platforms have collaborated to co-create 60+ Original content series (in Hindi) which will be available exclusively to SVOD subscribers of both platforms.

    “Yes, there it is basically that it is a co-sharing model, share the content on ALT as well as on ZEE. Before the ZEE deal we used to share the content on about 6 to 7 partners we are whom were the big Telcos now all that will be taken away and everything will be behind the paywall for all production that will go on H2, second half of the year,” the company’s said during the Q1 earnings conference call.

    The exit from telecom platforms will not impact ALTBalaji’s revenue as the deal with ZEE5 will result in guaranteed revenue in-flow. ALTBalaji had ended FY19 with a revenue of Rs 41.6 crore as against Rs 6.8 crore in FY18. Of the Rs 41.6 crore, roughly Rs 25 crore came from partners including telcos.

    “Last year out of Rs. 40 Crores that we do, Rs. 25 Crores we did on the partners including Telcos and everybody else in 15 directly, but that is 25 and we will get a considerable chunk of money from Zee that will ensure that are losses go down considerably, so everything is going to always be behind the paywall remember both in the case of Zee and us so we are out of the free environment and our top line is likely to more than double from last year or just about double from last year that is the impact that this deal will have,” the management added.

  • ZEE5 Global partners with the EUROSTAR Group in the Middle East to roll out Offline Subscriptions

    International : In yet another key announcement for the Middle East region, Global digital entertainment platform ZEE5, today announced its partnership with UAE based digital retail giant, the EUROSTAR Group. This strategic partnership will enable people across the GCC countries to access ZEE5’s huge library of 100,000 hours of entertainment content through subscription packs available at any of Eurostar and its partner outlets across GCC.

    Customers in UAE and other GCC markets can now buy any ZEE5subscription pack by simply walking into their nearest EUROSTAR retail outlet and choosing between ZEE5’sdaily, weekly, monthly and annual subscription packs, at 1.49 AED, 5.99 AED, 18.99 AED and 149.99AED respectively without needing a credit card. Select outlets will also provide a full product demo for interested customers.

  • Aaj Tak crossing 20mn YT subscribers validates our future-forward strategies: Kalli Purie

    The Vice Chairperson of India Today Group says the biggest challenge in the news industry today is credibility tied in with the pace of internet


    At a time when all content players are trying the number crunching game, Aaj Tak has cracked the code to achieve maximum digital reach. Turns out that they are the first news channel to touch the 20 million subscriber mark on YouTube. Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today Group, talks to exchange4media on the network’s focus on digital medium and Aaj Tak’s journey to reaching 20 million YouTube subscribers.

    Excerpts

    Aaj Tak has crossed 20 million subscriber base on YouTube. It is a huge number for a new medium, how did you achieve this number?

    The 20 million mark on YouTube is the result of a long-term continued effort, and a validation of our future-forward strategies for Aaj Tak.

    Besides the impressive performance on YouTube, Aaj Tak is also the absolute leader on all social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Not just that, the leadership of India’s biggest news brand pervades across its avatars on desktop, mWeb and app as the clear No.1. It just goes to show that no matter what device or platform, when it comes to news, people trust Aaj Tak.

    What makes the journey exciting is the meteoric rise in the latest phase. It took Aaj Tak just 11 months after crossing the 10 million mark to whiz past double the count of 20 million.

  • TV18 will continue to invest across segments, improve profitability: Adil Zainulbhai

    MUMBAI: TV18 Broadcast chairman Adil Zainulbhai has said that the company will continue to invest across television and digital segments to ringfence growth. He also said that the company will work towards improving profitability amid changes in TV broadcasting and digital landscapes.

    “We remain committed to invest across segments and stitch partnerships across the media value-chain, so as to ringfence growth and leadership, derive synergies of scale and cost, and improve profitability in the medium-term,” TV18 chairman Adil Zainulbhai has been quoted as saying the company’s annual report for FY18-19.

    He also noted that FY19 has been a year of unprecedented change for the TV and digital media industry. Despite changes, TV18 and its group companies emerged stronger with a pipe-agnostic content strategy.

    “Amidst a new regulatory regime in broadcasting, rising competitive intensity in digital and an ad-environment that ebbed and flowed, we are happy to have emerged stronger and having reinforced our consumer connect. A strong and pipe-agnostic content strategy, innovations in programming formats, and a focus on building robust platforms have been the keys to our success. We have continued to enhance our reputation as the premier multi-platform destination for the objective, cutting-edge news, and entertainment that pushes the envelope,” Zainulbhai added.

    The TV18 chairman also said that the broadcaster reaches 80 crore Indians through its 55 domestic TV channels. This, 1 in 2 Indians are consumers of TV18’s broadcast content.

  • Big plans for Shorts TV’s distribution on Mobile Platforms: Carter Pilcher

    Shorts TV have announced the winners of its Best of India Short Film Festival 2019, Los Angeles. This is a platform for budding Indian filmmakers to make a mark on the world stage of mainstream cinema and get a direct entry and be considered for the dream award of every filmmaker, the Academy Awards which are popularly known as the Oscars.

    ShortsTV which is a Short Film service available only on DTH platform Tata Sky in India which is dedicated to short movies and is also available in approximately 70 million households across the US, Latin America and Europe.

    The winners of the festival are

    Half Full, featuring veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah and Vikrant Massey, and Counterfeit Kunkoo, written and directed by Reema Sengupta.

    Medianews4u caught up with Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive, ShortsTV to get his views on Shorts TV, their distribution strategy and a lot more.

    Read on.

    How has Shorts TV been doing in India?

    One of the most exciting things about launching ShortsTV in India last November, has been watching a month on month growth of our subscribers.

    Tata Sky tells us that we have been one of the fast growing services they have! India is a country that has embraced short films and the interest in the genre is growing rapidly so we’re thrilled to be giving viewers here the opportunity to see the best short films from India and around the world in one dedicated service.

  • dentsu X, Amnet launch India’s first Programmatic In-Read Audio campaign for AMFI

    Mumbai: dentsu X, the integrated media specialist from the house of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), has joined hands with the Group’s programmatic expert, Amnet, to launch India’s first ever In-Read Audio campaign for The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

    The campaign, titled #Mutualfundsahihai, has been executed in collaboration with Rappio, a digital audio advertising platform, to raise awareness on mutual fund investments in India. For the record, Rappio offers advertisers and brands a targeted advertising platform to reach mobile consumers through audio advertisements.

    Targeted at male and female users in the age group of 35 to 44, the campaign uses a programmatic platform to deliver an audio ad along with a display banner in a user-initiatedaudio content. Here, when users click on the button ‘read article’, the article starts reading itself as an audio ad that plays along with the banner. The banner is stationed at the center of the article, when heard.

    The campaign has already garnered 1.3 million impressions in its primary performance category – General News, Sports and Entertainment, with an 18% CTR (Click-through-Rate) and an LTR (Listen-through-Ratio) of 37%.

    “Listening to music is a very personal and immersive experience. An advertisement which violates that space, can have a jarring impact on the listener. On the other hand, while listening to audio podcasts / news, a user is more open to receiving other information, if they are targeted correctly. Programmatic audio on non-music platforms helped us do exactly that – reach the right audience in the right frame of mind. The results are encouraging and have strengthened our belief in programmatic audio. We look forward to leverage this further, comments  Punit Dharamsi, Vice President – Marketing & Investor Education, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).