EyeTalk Media Ventures is India's fastest growing and leading DOOH media company that provides digital infrastructure and content-driven consumer engagement platforms to key urban ecosystems. 

In a big move, Eyetalk Media Ventures has appointed Rahul Biswas as Group CMO. Biswas is one of the youngest media technologists in the advertising industry. He has 10 years + work experience in the OOH advertising Industry both in the client side & agency side. This will be his first stint in a media owning company. He has previously worked with Bates, Streettalk, Jio and was the west head - strategy in Kinetic in his last assignment.

MUMBAI: Arnab Goswami’s ARG Outlier Media Asianet has moved Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against multi system operator (MSO) Skynet Digital Services for allegedly displacing its channel Republic TV from the landing page.

The broadcaster submitted that in spite of a subsisting agreement and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) relevant directions permitting its channel on the landing LCN till 31st May, its channel was arbitrarily displaced and on occasions was replaced with another channel on the landing LCN.

This, it stated, is contrary to the order of TRAI dated 3th December 2018.

The MSO appeared on advance notice. Skynet’s counsel submitted that there was some disturbance to the placement of petitioner’s channel due to technical reasons but the MSO is obliged to continue the broadcaster’s channel on the landing LCN till law permits or till the agreement subsists.

MUMBAI: Having disrupted the Tamil Nadu market with its launch last year, Colors Tamil is planning to strengthen its footprint in the market that has strong players like Sun TV, Zee Tamil, and Star Vijay.

“We plan to strengthen our footprint in the Tamil Nadu market and become one of the top players with content that stands out and initiatives that are talked about,” said Colors Tamil business head Anup Chandrasekharan.

Asked about the one-year journey of the channel, Chandrasekharan said that the launch year of Colors Tamil has been challenging as well as encouraging.

In a challenging market dominated by Sun TV, Colors Tamil has managed to create a viewership base of 100 GRPs. However, the challenge for the channel is to increase its reach.

MUMBAI: The World’s biggest sporting event, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, is set to enthral audiences around the world as Star Sports, the official global broadcaster, launches the campaign to celebrate 45 days of cricket extravaganza starting May 30 across the Star Sports network and Hotstar.

To create buzz around the mega cricketing event, Star Sports unveiled the official world cup campaign - #CricketKaCrown; that portrays ICC CWC trophy as the ‘Crown of Cricket’, which every team going to England would have their eyes on. A total of 10 countries will participate and play each other in the round-robin format, having one dream in common, clinching one of the most coveted trophy of the sporting world. Capturing this sentiment as part of the campaign, the trophy is metamorphically referred to as the crown.

MUMBAI: Broadcasters, advertisers and media agencies are currently grappling with the impact from the implementation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s new tariff order. Disruption in the distribution value chain of India’s broadcasting sector has raised several questions. While some ratings agencies have reported a drop in viewership and subscription revenues, there seems to be a lack of unanimity in terms of the overall assessment.

Sony Pictures Networks India chief revenue officer and head – sports business Rajesh Kaul probably understands the TV distribution ecosystem better than most. According to the media veteran, it is too early to comment on the subscription revenue numbers for his company’s sports cluster under the new regime.

BENGALURU: In a dingdong contest of sorts, pubcaster Doordarshan Network’s English news channel DD India and ARG Outlier Asianet News Network’s Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV have been swapping the first two ranks in Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) weekly lists of top 5 English news channels over the past few weeks.

BARC restarted publishing viewership data in week 13 of 2019 after the implementation of the new tariff order. In weeks 13 and 14 of 2019, DD India was ranked first, while Republic TV was ranked second. In week 15, it was Republic TV that was ranked first and DD India that was ranked second in BARC’s weekly list. The channels interchanged ranks in week 16 of 2019 with DD India in the lead and then once again swapped ranks in week 17 of 2019 with Republic TV at the pole position followed by DD India at second place in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 English news channels.

After a gap of a year Media Research Users Council (MRUC) announced the results of IRS Q1 2019 on April 26. The report is a combination of first quarter of this year along with the second, third, and fourth quarter of 2017. According to the report, print is growing and the dailies in the country has added 1.8 crore additional readers since IRS 2017. The magazine industry has added 0.9 crore additional readers. 

The regional dailies had an increase of 0.8 crore readers in IRS Q1 2019. The industry has added 0.3 crore of urban readers and 0.5 crore rural readers. The south India regional newspapers achieved consistent growth as per the reports and has clinched spots among the Top 20 dailies in the country. 

MUMBAI: B4U Television Network is all set to expand its network with the launch of two new channels B4U Bhojpuri and B4U Kadak.

B4U Bhojpuri, the Bhojpuri entertainment channel, will launch on 15th May. It will air two movie premieres a week. B4U Kadak, which is a Hindi movie channel, will go on-air from 31st May.

Currently, the network owns and operates two Hindi language channels B4U Music and B4U Movies. Both the channels are free to air (FTA).

In 2017, UK-based mid-cap investment firm Abercross Holdings had acquired a majority and controlling stake in B4U network for £20 million. Abercross is led by former England cricketer Alex Loudon and Issam Hamid, former Chief Investment Officer for the Saudi Royal Family.

MUMBAI: Republic TV founder and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has bought back shares in ARG Outlier from Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s Asianet News Media to become a fully editor controlled company. However, Asianet News Media will continue to support Republic Media Network as a minority portfolio investor.

Republic Media Network, which has completed two years, is valued at Rs 1200 crore. Currently, it owns and operates two channels Republic TV (English) and Republic Bharat (Hindi).

In a statement, Republic Media Network said it is now on track to being a completely Editor controlled company after recent agreements by Arnab Goswami to buy back shares from investors like Asianet News Media, who in turn have made strong returns on their investment.

MUMBAI: Nazara Technologies has invested an undisclosed amount in Bakbuck, a vernacular social contesting platform operated by Khichadi Technologies. Currently available in Hindi, Bakbuck plans to expand to 10 more Indian languages soon.

Bakbuck uses technology and immersive user interface transforming popular traditional Indian games like ‘Antakshari’, ‘Saanp Seedhi’ and ‘Tol mol ke Bol’ amongst others, into online contests that users can play anytime, with anyone.