Technology is a great leveller and creativity is no more the fiefdom of large creative agencies, believes Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Media Brands.

Talking about the arm length distance big advertising agencies have maintained from the Goa Fest by not participating at all in the last few years, Sinha, who’s also the Secretary of the Advertising Club and Chairman of the Awards Governing Council, said these agencies were losing big time.

As his new book on the elections hits the stands, Dr Prannoy Roy, Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairperson, NDTV Group, believes that social media, especially WhatsApp, will play an important role in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Dr Roy also thinks that Indian advertising agencies need to catch up with their global counterparts to differentiate between quality and mere numbers.

In an interview with exchange4media, Dr Roy spoke about the issue of fake news, the growing interdependence between social feeds and newsrooms and the future of TV news in India.

Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL) has witnessed enormous growth in the southern region in the last few years. The network expanded its footprint in South last year by entering the Kerala GEC market with Zee Keralam. The Southern region contributes 33 per cent of the network’s viewership and 23 per cent of its adex share. 

In a conversation with exchange4media, Siju Prabhakaran, Executive Vice President & Cluster Head, South Business, ZEE, spoke about the cluster’s performance last year, content strategy for each market, focus areas for 2019 and more. 

The brand to consumer communication from television networks largely spoke about the 'Kumkum Bhagyas', 'Man Vs Wilds', 'Kaun Banega Crorepatis', 'Motu Patlus' and other marquee properties in their programming lineups. Billboards featured the star cast and air-time in gigantic fonts, on-air promos showcased impact moments and social media conversations reverberated around the storyline. TV channels launched ads to promote their shows and garner higher ratings which, in turn, helped them rake in more advertising dollars.

MUMBAI: Amid the ongoing change in the cable and broadcasting sector, direct-to-home (DTH) operators are coming up with new plans to keep subscribers satisfied. Major DTH operator Dish TV has introduced new offers which will provide extra days of subscription with long duration packs.

MUMBAI: Of late, there have been several speculations on the impact of the TRAI tariff order on consumers including hike in monthly cable bill and migration to OTT platforms.

The research agency YouGov conducted a study to find its impact among 1,020 respondents. As per the study, 92 per cent are aware of the new TRAI tariff order while 76 per cent have already made alterations to their DTH subscription as per the new guidelines.

MUMBAI: The new tariff order has been rolled out aiming transparency in the cable and broadcasting sector of India. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman RS Sharma reiterated that the new regulatory framework has brought transparency in the ecosystem along with non-discrimination and fair play. Sharma also asserted that it has reduced the bills of the average TV watcher.

MUMBAI: Reliance Jio is reportedly testing a 'Triple Play Plan' for its fibre to the home (FTTH) service, Jio GigaFiber. The plan will enable users to access Jio GigaFiber, Jio Home TV and Jio Apps in a single pack.

The week that just went by saw a lot of activities in the world of IPL and elections. At exchange4media, we reported about several brand associations with big names like Asian Paints, Fab India and Aaj Tak joining the sponsorship fray for the Indian Premier League.

MUMBAI: With campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019 in full swing, a new channel called Content TV has now been launched on all major DTH platforms such as Dish TV, Videocon d2h and Tata Sky. The channel, which has now been renamed, was undergoing test run for several months and went live as NaMo TV.