Dangal is one of the leading Hindi general entertainment channel available on the Free dish. They have been in the forefront on their content strategy and also acquired a few Mythological content. During this pandemic Dangal made sure that their viewers were kept entertained by providing the best mythological mix with shows like Anand Sagar’s Ramayan, Chandragupt Maurya, Mahima Shani Dev Ki and Dwarkadheesh: Bhagwan Shree Krishna. They are a brand synonymous with constantly delivering diverse stories.

Now as the lockdown is gradually being lifted and I&B Ministry giving permissions for shoots to resume, Dangal is launching their new show ‘Aye Mere Humsafar’ on Monday 31st August.

Arpit Machhar, Head of Marketing, Enterr10 & Deep Drona, Chief Operating Officer, Enterr10 Television, talks to us about the channels growth, their content strategy and way forward for the channel.

In this period of crisis, when no original content was available and viewers had shifted to News television and other genres what was your content strategy to stay on top? How have you maintained your position?

With businesses inching towards normalcy, the media and entertainment sector too is looking at signs of recovery. As for the television industry, General Entertainment Channels (GECs) are looking at regaining 80-90% of revenue in September.

GEC players are banking on fresh content, impact properties and above all the Indian Premier League.

Also, most advertisers who had paused advertising in the first half of the year are coming back to GECs now.

Sharing key insights, Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer - Ad revenue, ZEEL, said: “If we talk about the ad inventory on GECs, Free Commercial Time (FCT) has been already filled up. However, the price point has not come back to what it used to be pre-COVID. Therefore, not September, but normalcy should be back in October. September should be about 80%.”

Bigg Boss Telugu over the last 3 years on Star Maa has been the most watched TV show in Telugu.

For 100+ days viewers of all age and social strata watch this show and give it the mile-high ratings and market share it gets.

This year with the environment of lockdown and limited interactions every viewer has experienced some aspects of how it may feel to live in an atmosphere with mandates. So predictably the insight around Bigg Boss has resonated higher this year proven by the conversations that have sparked off as soon as the logo was unveiled.

In a first the latest promo showcases Nagarajuna in 3 different get-ups of a grandfather, son and grandson. The promo has been Trending from 16th Aug with over 156 Mn reach in Social Platform within 24 hours.

The last season launch episode rated 17.9 TVR and attracted an eye-popping 4.5 Cr viewers in one evening. With its unique ability to be in drawing rooms of consumers for nearly 4 months, a lot of brands have seen an opportunity to leverage this platform and build a strong presence. Some of the brands include Oppo India, Tenali Double Horse Orid Dal, Preethi Kitchen Appliances Pvt Ltd, Skandhanshi Infra Projects India P Ltd, Aravind Laboratories, MTR Foods, Aswini Hair Oil and Adani Wilmar Ltd.

KOLKATA: The recent shakeup in the media and entertainment industry due to the pandemic has given rise to more experiments. Recently, media giant The Walt Disney Company (Disney) decided to take live-action remake of Mulan to its streaming platform Disney+. While direct-to-digital debut has become a common phenomenon during the lockdown, Disney has opted for a premium transactional model rather than offering it as a part of its overall subscription. Naysayers have refuted the viability of pay-per-view or transactional video-on-demand (tvod) in the Indian market but local players have started experimenting with the model.

Shemaroo Entertainment’s digital arm ShemarooMe is trying the model through its ShemarooMe Box Office feature where movies will be available for Rs 80-100 for a three-day viewing. A new budding regional player, Planet Marathi, has also recently announced a ticket window for Marathi films. Although bigger players have not uttered any word on taking this route.

TheSmallBigIdea has been appointed as WarnerMedia’s social media agency for HBO and WB, the global media and entertainment company’s two English-language movie channels in India.

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The full-service digital agency is tasked with increasing reach by using social media to build brand awareness in new markets, strengthen affinity in existing markets through relevant engagement and by developing a distinct voice to drive publicity. TheSmallBigIdea is known for its data-driven creative approach and an understanding of driving engagement beyond India’s metros.

TheSmallBigIdea will create localised and bespoke communication to build viewer interest within newer audience demographics in tier 2 and 3 cities. Their mandate includes Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for HBO and WB, respectively.

Music channel 9XM has partnered with lyricists from the Hindi music industry who recently launched an anthem titled ‘Credit de do yaar’. The anthem highlights the negligence of various streaming platforms and music apps to give credits to lyricists. To ramp up the voice of lyricists, 9XM launched a campaign titled, ‘9XM credit deta hai’!  

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The track ‘Credit de do yaar’ features 15 contemporary lyrics writers across generations, including Varun Grover, Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Kausar Munir among others. The lyricists have come together to sing their humble demand — asking for proper credits on music streaming platforms and YouTube channels. To promote and support the lyrics writers’ quest for recognition for their work, 9XM launched the ‘9XM credit deta hai’ campaign!

Amar Tidke, Chief Programming Officer, 9X Media, said, "9XM has always been an advocate of music creators, curators as well as listeners. Being India's largest music network, we respect every artist in the music fraternity. Lyrics are as important as music for the popularity of any song. We’ve always thanked singers and composers for the music, now it’s time to say thank you for those priceless words that string our favourite songs together! At 9XM, we have always acknowledged the contribution of the songwriters and given them credits on the songs played on the channel."

Arnab Goswami, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Republic Media Network, has announced new management roles across the business and editorial functions, as he plans a stronger digital and language foray in coming months. 

Call for entries open for BuzzInContent Awards 2020 

Hersh Bhandari, who was serving as Executive Vice President (Revenue) will take the role of Chief Operating Officer for Republic Bharat. He will now lead to expand the team working out of the Networks’ Noida and Gurgaon offices, to include brand management, marketing and national network sales.

Bhandari will also lead the revenue functions for North and East India for English news channel Republic TV. 

Priya Mukherjee, who was serving as President, Distribution and International Revenue, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer - Distribution, International Revenue and OTT.

Mumbai: Republic Media Network, whose Hindi Channel Republic Bharat has recently upstaged Aaj Tak as the No.1 Hindi News Channel, has announced critical promotions at the Senior Management level this week.

Arnab Goswami, Managing Director and Editor in Chief of Republic Media Network has announced new management roles across the business and editorial functions, as he plans a stronger digital and language foray in coming months.

Hersh Bhandari, who was serving as Executive Vice President (Revenue) will take the role of Chief Operating Officer for Republic Bharat. He will now lead to expand the team working out of the Networks’ Noida and Gurgaon offices, to include brand management, marketing and national network sales. Hersh will also lead the revenue functions for North and East India for Republic TV, India’s No.1 English News Channel.

Priya Mukherjee, who was serving as President, Distribution and International Revenue has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer- Distribution, International Revenue and OTT. Priya, who is responsible for ensuring deepest reach for the network channels, will be undertaking the OTT portfolio, and expand the team to handle the three verticals that come under her. On cable, Priya has already placed Republic in 12 countries across 4 continents. As part of the digital expansion plan, Republic will increase engagement with OTT platforms.

Republic Media Network has announced critical promotions at the Senior Management level this week.

Arnab Goswami, Managing Director and Editor in Chief of Republic Media Network has announced new management roles across the business and editorial functions, as he plans a stronger digital and language foray in coming months. 
 
Hersh Bhandari, who was serving as Executive Vice President (Revenue) will take the role of Chief Operating Officer for Republic Bharat. He will now lead to expand the team working out of the Networks’ Noida and Gurgaon offices, to include brand management, marketing and national network sales. Hersh will also lead the revenue functions for North and East India for Republic TV, India’s No.1 English News Channel. 
  
Priya Mukherjee, who was serving as President, Distribution and International Revenue has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer- Distribution, International Revenue and OTT. Priya, who is responsible for ensuring deepest reach for the network channels, will be undertaking the OTT portfolio, and expand the team to handle the three verticals that come under her. On cable, Priya has already placed Republic in 12 countries across 4 continents. As part of the digital expansion plan, Republic will increase engagement with OTT platforms.

Sun TV's promoters Kalanithi Maran and his wife Kavery Kalanithi Maran are the highest paid executives in the country in 2019-20, according to media reports. The couple took Rs 175 crore in 2019-20. The couple are reportedly the highest paid executives in the country.  

Kalanithi Maran is the executive chairman of Sun TV, while his wife Kavery Kalanithi is the executive director. The couple reportedly took home Rs 87.50 crore each-- Rs 13.87 crore as salary and Rs 73.63 crore as ex-gratia/ bonus each in 2019-20, say reports.

The other highest paid executives of Sun TV are its Managing Director R Mahesh Kumar who took Rs 1.78 crore, including salary of Rs 1.16 crore and Rs 0.62 crore as ex-gratia/ bonus, followed by Maran's daughter and company's executive director Kaviya Kalanithi Maran, who took Rs 1.22 crore, including a salary of Rs 0.80 crore and Rs 0.42 crore as ex-gratia/ bonus.
Sun TV's standalone total income was Rs 3,653.35 crore in 2019-20 as against Rs 3,883.22 crore. Profit before tax was Rs 1,797.88 crore as against Rs 2,135.94 crore.