Ajay Vidyasagar joins Sun TV Network as COO

After taking a break of two months, Ajay Vidyasagar has joined Sun TV Network as chief operating officer (COO). Vidyasagar has confirmed the development to Televisonpoint.com and says that he has taken over the new role from July 15.

Prior to joining Sun TV, he was associated with Star India as president, content and new media, where he worked for 14 years.

Vidyasagar started his stint with Star India in 1996 and has been a part of the Chennai team of the network. After some time, he shifted to Mumbai, where he was part of the company’s marketing team. During his tenure with Star, he was also the commercial director of Channel [V], the music channel of the network.

In 2000, when Star India acquired Vijay TV, a Tamil general entertainment channel (GEC), Vidyasagar moved down south as head of the group’s regional business, where he was appointed general manager, regional channels, Star India.

In 2004, Vidyasagar went back to Mumbai to head the marketing function of Star India as executive vice-president and was later promoted as president, content and new media, his last designation with the group.

It was during his stint that Star Plus launched the second season of the country’s most popular game show, Kaun Banega Crorepati, after a gap of four years. The same year, Star Network also came up with its second GEC, Star One.

Vidyasagar is known to have used several innovative marketing strategies to promote the Star Network’s channels. Also, during his tenure with the group, he headed the licensing and merchandising functions of Star.

As head of Star India’s new media function, he was responsible for the overall operations of the Internet business of the network. He has also dabbled in advertising and was associated with O&M, Bangalore, where he spent about six years; he left the agency as account director.

Amrita TV firms up Saturday programming with two new shows

Malayalam entertainment channel Amrita TV is gearing up to launch two new shows on 27 June in a bid to beef up its Saturday programming.

While Business Buzz will be aired at 1.30 pm to provide an overview of the businesses in Kerala, travelogue Ezham Kadalinakkare (across the seven seas) will be telecast at 8.30 pm to capture the sights, sounds and spirit of locales around the world.

Business Buzz is divided into three sections – company profile, young businessman and business news.

‘Company profile’ gives a short summary of the firm and its performance that includes details of its origin, growth graph, product range, long term objectives, profit margins and its full history till date (in brief).

‘Young businessman’ will sketch new entrepreneurs who have taken the plunge into the speculative waters of trade and commerce.

‘Business news’ will bring the top stories from the business world, the latest headlines that haven’t been ‘broken’ by any other media, and exclusive coverage of new product launches.

Zee Marathi launches new reality show

General entertainment channel Zee Marathi is set to launch a new quiz-based reality show Hapta Band from 3 July onwards.

The show will be aired every Wednesday-Thursday at 9.30 pm, a slot that has remained vacant since the conclusion of dance reality show Eka Peksha Ek. Zee Marathi has been airing repeats of its show in the same slot.
The show will help winners to clear their debt between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 million.
Hapta Band will be anchored by Aadesh Bandekar, who has been host to the channel’s top rated shows – Home Minister (longest running game show) and Eka Peksha Ek

Sun Direct adds Sahara channels; offers free top up pack

Sun Direct, the direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, has added two Hindi channels to its bouquet from the Sahara basket – Sahara One and Sahara Filmy.

The DTH service provider has also rolled out a new option of including one free top up pack with the basic packs – Shine Pack (North, Bengali and Oriya).

As part of the initiative, a customer can choose any one of the top up packs – Marathi top up (ETV Marathi and Zee Marathi), Gujarati top up (ETV Gujarati) and Hindi Movie (Zee Cinema) along with their basic packs at no extra cost.

The two new channels and the free top up packs will be available across the Sun Direct platform from 1 July.

Sony TV taps Balaji movie CEO to head biz ops

After the turmoil and the forced exit of many senior executives, Multi Screen Media (formerly Set India) is filling up the positions. The company has tapped Ajit Thakur, the chief executive of Balaji Telefilms’ movie business, to take charge of its flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC).

Thakur will join as Sony Entertainment Television business head from 1 July, a source in the company says. Albert Almeida, who was heading the channel, had to quit the organisation amid a clean-up operation in March.

Thakur will have the tough task of reviving Sony TV which has sunk in ratings to lag way behind rivals Star Plus, Colors and Zee TV in the Hindi GEC space. Sony, in fact, will have to contend with a steadily progressing NDTV Imagine for the fourth spot.

Sony got Gurdip Bhangoo from BBC Asian Network to head the channel’s programming and overhauled its prime time on 25 May. The channel is set to launch British broadcaster ITV’s popular celebrity reality show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here (Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao) to step up its ratings.

Sun Pictures pumps in Rs 2 bn towards movies in FY’09

Sun TV Network Ltd. has pumped in Rs 2 billion towards movies, upping its investments at a time when many players are crowding the market in the southern region.
Movie acquisition for telecast rights makes up the bulk of the investments for Sun TV Network which runs a clutch of highly successful channels in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages.
“We have invested Rs 2 billion towards movies in FY’09. We have a library of 8500 films,” says a source in the company.

On the film production front, Sun TV has an investment plan of Rs 700-800 million for 10-12 movies a year. “We have a pipeline plan and the strategy is to produce small and medium budget movies,” adds the source.

Sun grossed a revenue of Rs 280 million from the few movies that it released last fiscal. “We had a 15-20 per cent RoI (return on investments) from the movies that we released in the fiscal,” says the source.

Sun is producing Endhiran on a budget of Rs 700 million. “The movie will come up by the end of this year or erly next year,” says the source.

Sun TV, which has Rs 3.30 billion of cash on its books, has a capex requirement of between Rs 750 million and Rs 1 billion in FY’10.

Kids Ka Jai Ho!

Surely the biggies of the Hindi general entertainment space have been channelising their efforts to attract the kids segment. If Colors has been trying to capture the small pops through its top-rated shows Balika Vadhu and Uttaran, Zee TV is gearing up to use this arsenal in its new property Aap Ki Antara.
But has this effort anyhow eaten into the viewership pie of the discerning bunch of little champs, the kids’ channels as a category? Not really!!! If 2008 saw the kids genre close at a 13.78 per cent share (period Jan-May 2008, All India C&S 4-14), the same period in 2009 (period Jan-May 2009, All India C&S 4-14) saw the genre grow by 1.08 per cent.

Kids Genre Share % in 2009
Month
ALL INDIA 09
Jan
13.9
Feb
13.6
Mar
14.5
Apr
15.6
May
16.6
Source: TAM, C&S 4-14, All India

Within the category, again, there are a few transitions. While Cartoon Network still continues to hold the fort, the channel has seen a slight dip of 0.4 per cent in its market share for the period between January to May in 2009 as compared to the same period last year.

Sibling channel Pogo too has surely managed to remain number two in the space. The channel has also seen a rise in its market share from 20 per cent in 2008 to 22.8 per cent in 2009.

All India Market
Channel
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Cartoon Network
29
26
27
24
23
Pogo
23
24
24
22
21
Nick
17
16
15
21
20
Hungama
14
15
17
14
18
Jetix
10
11
10
9
9
Disney
7
7
7
9
8
Spacetoon Kids TV
0
0
0
0
0
Source: TAM, C&S 4-14, All India

HSM Story

Nevertheless, when it comes to slicing the market further to concentrate on the HSM space, the view is visibly different and new. While CN has seen a slight dip here too for the same period over last (Jan – May 2008), it has been ousted for the first time ever by new market leader Nick for the last two consecutive months. Nick has also seen a 4.4 per cent upward swing in its market share, compared to 2008.

So what helped Nick emerge as the number one kids channel in the Hindi speaking market?

“There are a couple of factors that helped us attain this position. First, the Nicktoons – characters that have helped Nick establish space and engagement with the kids leading to an increase in the stickiness of the channel,” says Nick India SVP and GM Nina Elavia Jaipuria.

“Second, we have managed to take Nick beyond television, thus making it more tangible. And I think we did that very successfully with our experimental 360 degree marketing philosophy – we wanted to be in every place where children are,” she adds.

In 2009, CN, however, continues to remain above Nick at 23.4 per cent (Jan – May 2009). Pogo hasm meanwhile, climbed 4.6 per cent up over last year to garner 22 per cent market share.

HSM Market
Channel
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Nick
22
20
18
25
25
Hungama
17
19
21
17
22
Cartoon Network
27
25
25
21
20
Pogo
22
24
24
21
19
Disney
8
8
8
10
10
Jetix
4
4
4
5
5
Spacetoon Kids TV
0
0
0
0
0
Source: TAM, C&S 4-14, All India
While there is definitely a Cartoon Network vs Nick tale here, there seems to be a new contender creeping up the ladder to challenge the old bee.

Latest Tam data shows that Hungama TV, the kids channel for 4-14-year-olds which saw a 8.8 per cent fall in its market share over last, has relocated to the number two spot to push CN down the ladder for the month of May, 2009.

Recently, as part of its revamping strategy, the channel had introduced three new bands during summer and infused new shows into the bands. And its quite evident that the channel shored up its ratings post the change.

The channel had acquired two live action shows, Hatim from Star and Dharam Veer from NDTV Imagine to put them under the action band, Dum Powder. The Trouble Soda band features shows such as Doraemon and Ninjaboy Rantaro while Fun Gas showcases Shinchan and Asari Chan.

Disney channel, meanwhile, has also exhibited an upward growth in its market share.

Well, indications are on that while competition is really getting fierce, competitors are also putting their acts together to displace the winning feather from CN’s hat.

So, does CN foresee any collision ahead?

Says Turner International India vice president and deputy general manager – entertainment networks, South Asia Monica Tata, “Cartoon Network and Pogo’s relative shares in HSM have grown this January-May 2009 to 45 per cent from 41 per cent in the same period in 2008. These numbers are also a reflection of Turner’s long term vision and strategy for India that has paid rich dividends making Cartoon Network and Pogo the most viewed and loved brands amongst kids in India. Not only kids, but parents too give the highest endorsement to these two networks as their choice for kids (per New Generations 2008).”

“Besides, we also enjoy the lion’s share of the advertising pie. Increased competition has not outstayed us from our leadership position in the last 13 years and that’s a merit/result of our focus on the long-term rather than short-term measures and gains and a proof that we know and service our consumers best amongst all,” Tata adds.

South Story

Treading the Southern path, CN indisputably continues to rule the region exhibiting its leadership crown. Placing itself at the second spot, however, is not CN’s sibling channel Pogo, the second in command in the All India market, but Disney’s Jetix that is fed on action adventure content and targeted at only boys between the age-group of 6-10.

“Of the two global channels (read Disney and Jetix), Jetix is a more defined channel. We have made it available in four languages – English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu,” said Walt Disney Television International (India) senior vice president and managing director Antoine Villeneuve earlier in an interview with us.

South Market
Channel
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Cartoon Network
36
32
35
34
32
Jetix
27
32
30
26
30
Pogo
26
26
25
27
26
Nikelodeon
3
4
4
5
5
Disney
4
3
4
4
3
Hungama
3
3
3
3
3
Spacetoon Kidss TV
0
0
0
0
0
Source: TAM, C&S 4-14, All India
Advertising and the kids’ genre

Advertising growth came under pressure amid recession and clients and advertisers became cautious about their ad spend. As a result kids channels were stressed to move to quarterly deals with big advertisers, slash their ad rates and see some brands do a walk out. Yet, in spite of all, the category saw its ad volume grow by 36.87 per cent for the period from January to May 2009 over the same period last year.

Period
Jan-May 08
Jan-May 09
AD Volumes (Secs ‘000s)
7726
10575
Source: TAM
So does this increase indicate that existing advertisers had increased their spots across the kids channels while channels were unable to attracting new advertisers during the recessionary period?

“Not really. Television is the cheapest medium to reach out to the masses. For every other medium, there is an extra amount to be paid. Manufacturers understand this and they have also recognised our growth. And, thus, even during recession we have doubled our rates,” says Nick’s Nina Elavia Jaipuria.

While Nick claims that despite challenging times the channel quadrupled its sales revenue as advertisers found value in what they offered, Cartoon Network was on course to achieve its yearly targets.

“We’ve added more value for the advertisers with innovative and customised solutions. For example, ‘The Winning Secret’ a contest specially created to build Boost’s association as the energy partner for the Rajasthan Royals that received over 84000 entries! And, ‘Morning Shines’, a customised pre-school programming block specially packaged for Johnsons Baby Top-to-Toe Wash,” says Tata.

Apart from traditional advertisers, broadcasters state that a lot of non-traditional advertisers across sectors like FMCG, investment banks and durable products are also eyeing this space. The rationale behind this, they feel, are an increase in the co-viewing pattern and also the mere pester power of kids who have the ability today to influence parent’s decisions.

“In order to spend time with their kids, parents end up spending a lot of time on the kids channels. Also, animation as a category is today appealing to adults. Thus, a lot of co-viewing is taking place,” explains Jaipuria.

Cartoon Network, meanwhile, claims that over 30 per cent of the channel’s advertisers reach out to its secondary audience (that is 15+) such as Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate Palmolive, Hindustan Unilevers, Reckitt Benckiser, SC Johnson, Marico, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, LG Electronics, Voltas, Whirlpool, Hitachi, Tata Tea and L’Oreal, amongst others.

Says Tata, “We have a robust portfolio of clients comprising both traditional and non-traditional kids’ marketers with over 165 clients between Cartoon Network and Pogo. We are confident of further upping our non-traditional clientele, as 47 per cent of all viewership for the channels comes from CS 15+ audiences.”

Broadcasters feel that the main factors that have led to the growth of the genre are localisation of content, co-viewing pattern, pester power of kids and taking the medium beyond the television space through licensing and merchandising, on-ground activities, constant promotions, polls, votes and contests.

Local content adds a lot of local flavour to the content and therefore helps in increasing the channels’ stickiness. CN believes that the 20 Indian animation shows/features playing on the channel have worked well for the channel. And its 2009 plan, therefore, is to expand on Indian animation content. For Pogo too the focal point will be to expand its original production.

Similarly, while Disney has managed to establish its brand connect with audiences through its franchises, the ratings have been coming in from locally acquired live action content.

“There has been an effect on ratings, but when it comes to a brand connect with the kids it is with our franchise properties. The best example of this is Hanna Montana. Our endeavour is to build a localised experience through Hanna Montana and our other properties,” says Villeneuve.

All said and done, industry believes that even though the category’s viewership continues to grow, even today it remains hugely under indexed. “As a result, in spite of contributing 7 per cent to the total television viewership, it commands only two per cent of the entire television ad revenue pie. This is because of the baggage that the space has been carrying over the years where advertisers are used to paying to the GECs,” avers Jaipuria.

Decision 09: Aaj Tak, CNN-IBN shine on counting day

A clean victory for the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the 15th Lok Sabha elections may have been unexpected for everyone, but not so the viewer turnout for television channels on May 16, the day the results were declared.

According to data provided by TAM Media Research, among all the Indian channels, Hindi news channels showed a 15.6 per cent channel share as compared to the 5.02 per cent share of the same day of the previous week. Even the English news channels had an 1.2 per cent English news genre share over the same day of the previous week, when it was 0.37 per cent.

Hindi news channel Aaj Tak emerged as the leader in its genre, with a channel share of 27 per cent, followed by Star News with 19 per cent and India TV with 13 per cent. IBN-7 remained fourth in the viewership ladder with a 10 per cent share, while Zee News took a share of 9 per cent and NDTV India had a 7 per cent share on May 16. 

Among the English news channels, CNN-IBN had the highest relative share of 38 per cent followed by Times Now with 27 per cent and NDTV 24X7 with 26 per cent relative share.

Dilip Venkatraman, chief marketing officer, IBN18 Network, says, “CNN-IBN’s victory was possible as we delivered a complete 360 degree experience by enabling multi-media touch points, be it on TV, Internet, mobile or other media.”

Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief, Times Now, says, “Our focus was more on news, than numbers. And that’s the reason why we took a considered decision not to do an exit poll, and focus on breaking stories, which is our forte.”

Comparable viewership data for the counting day for the 14th Lok Sabha elections in 2004 are different from the present results. Data by TAM, showed a five-fold increase in the viewership of Hindi news channels on May 13, 2004, the day the results were declared.

The television numbers for 14th Lok Sabha numbers are significantly higher than 15th Lok Sabha elections and even from previous news events that channels covered around that time, like the terrorist attack on Parliament in 2002 or the September 11 terror attacks in New York.

Hollywood brings great TRPs for Tamil channels

Guess what’s pulling eyeballs and bringing in the bucks on telly these days ? No, it’s not the reality shows or Tamil movies. It is, in fact, the dubbed Hollywood films that are bringing in great TRPs. Surprised, right ?

The phenomenon of dubbed films has always existed in Kollywood. Films from Telugu were regularly dubbed into Tamil and movies like Jaganmohini, Vyjayanthi IPS and Idhu Dhaandaa Police enjoyed a glorious run in theatres across Tamil Nadu.

However, it was The Mummy, released in 1999, that kick-started the trend of dubbed Hollywood films raking in the moolah at the box office, says Mohan Kumar, who owns a dubbing studio which provides content for Vijay TV.

In fact, it was Vijay TV that started this trend of showing dubbed Hollywood films on TV. What was it that prompted the channel to go in this direction ?

K Sriram, general manager, Vijay TV, said, “We had this three-hour slot for which we needed alternative content. We opted for dubbed flicks as we had a few titles with us and movies are movies, whether dubbed or otherwise. The first film to be shown was Titanic in 2003.”

Sriram also reveals that it is action flicks and movies involving animals, like Babe, that are usually dubbed as they appeal to kids, who form a major part of the audience.

Although other channels like Sun TV, Kalaignar TV and Raj TV have started cashing in on this trend only recently, the response they’ve been receiving is tremendous. That Sun TV , which has the rights of many popular Tamil films (reportedly over 3,000 titles), has created two prime-time slots (11.30 am and 7.30 pm) for these dubbed films from last Sunday should prove the lucrative nature of these films.

Today, a Hollywood flick is sold to the regional TV channels non-exclusively for a sum ranging anywhere between Rs 1 and Rs 3 lakh. Films of action stars like Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone and films with special-effects like Underworld, The Mummy and X-Men are hot in the trade. 

The dubbing costs for a film vary between Rs 1 and Rs 1.5 lakh. Most channels outsource the dubbing to private dubbing studios. So, how do these studios go about the process ?

Says Mohan Kumar, “First, we go through the dialogues of the film and translate them. Then, we select the dubbing artistes whose voices we think will suit the characters and dub the film.We preview the film and once we’re satisfied, we do the mixing and hand over the film to the studio.”

The Tamil dialogues are perhaps the biggest attraction for many viewers, especially teenagers. “Watching Jackie Chan talk in Chennai slang or Arnold mouthing Rajinikanth’s punch dialogues certainly provides a different experience,” says Praveen Kumar, a college student.

However, Mohan Kumar feels that going overboard with such gimmicks will alienate viewers from the movie. “Viewers should for get that they’re watching a dubbed film. They should only feel that they’re watching an English film,” he says. 

His principle, he says, is to retain the essence of the English dialogue and ensure that the concept doesn’t change during translation.

Now, even mythological serials are being dubbed in order to reach a wider audience. Sun TV’s Ramayanam, a dubbed version of the Hindi original, and Raj TV’s Jai Sri Krishna have been garnering impressive TRPs.

NDTV and The Hindu to launch ‘NDTV Hindu’ on May 16

NDTV Ltd and The Hindu have come together to launch Chennai-centric English news channel, called NDTV Hindu, which goes live from May 16. The channel will cover breaking news and current affairs, as well as user-friendly information.

Announcing the launch of the channel, Dr. Prannoy Roy, chairman, NDTV Ltd, said, “We firmly believe that the future of news is in going local. The Hindu Group with its impeccable credentials has been a household name for generations in Chennai and this partnership will help NDTV Hindu to capitalise on the brand strengths and journalistic values of both the media houses.” 

N Ram, editor-In-chief, The Hindu, said, “Though there are a few Indian language channels that exist for local news, yet there is no English channel catering exclusively to this vibrant city. With NDTV’s strong television broadcasting and editorial capabilities, NDTV Hindu will bring out the true flavor of the city through its high-end content.”

N Murali, managing director, The Hindu, added, “With its non-stop programming across genres, catering to a young urban India, NDTV Hindu aims to change the perspective of every Chennaite about their city, by the minute.”

Rajiv Lulla, managing director and CEO, NDTV Hindu, added, “This channel is a winning combination of editorial excellence and superior programming, targeted at the young. We are sure we will be able to capture the pulse of the city and give the viewers what they have been missing so far.”

Both the partners, Hindu and NDTV believe that city-centric television is the future and are in the relationship for a long term. The channel had a soft launch on May 5 and has signed up with many multi-system operators, including SCV and Hathway Cable and Datacom.

As far as the content is concerned, the channel will focus on both news and features. It will have seven-and-a-half hours of hard news; the remaining time would be devoted to city-centric features, including shows based on audience interaction, fitness, food, shopping, movies, technology, citizen journalism and others. 

Some of the feature programmes on the channel are: I Spy With My Digital Eye, Worked Out Victim, Unclocking Life and Big Pic. The channel will will invite students from Chennai schools for I Spy with My Digital Eye weekly show, where they will be taught how to make films, all caught on camera.

Jennifer Arul, managing editor/COO, NDTV Hindu, on Night Vision show will round up the day’s happenings in and around the city and national news of importance. Coinciding with the counting day, viewers can watch Jennifer on the election special Night Vision with TV journalist Sashi Kumar.

Meanwhile, MetroNation Delhi has stopped live broadcasts and a revamped version of the channel is expected to be launched by the end of July. The Delhi-based channel is presently relying on old shows, along with news tickers.