Z Living Network has signed its third content acquisition deal with Gusto Worldwide Media. With this deal Z Living will add 190 more hours of original food and lifestyle programming to its lineup from Gusto

Chris Knight

This volume deal includes popular food and lifestyle titles Licence to Grill with 97 parts of each 30 min, Road Grill with 39 parts of each 30 min, Cook Like a Chef with 151 parts of each 30 min, Junk Brothers with 51 parts of each 30 min, and The Edible Road Show with 39 parts of each 30 min. Fish the Dish with 30 parts of each 30 min, The Urban Vegetarian with 15 parts of each 30 min, and Spencer’s BIG 30 with 13 parts of each 30 min are all currently airing on the U.S.-based Z Living Network’s health and wellness entertainment channel.

Chris Knight, president and CEO of Gusto Worldwide Media said,“These titles are iconic Gusto series. Z Living Network’s viewers are really going to enjoy the 190 hours of new food programming. We’re pleased to have an ongoing relationship with a channel who is just as passionate about food content as we are.”

Mumbai: BARC data for the period (Week 28: Saturday, 6th July 2019 to Friday, 12th July 2019) in Hindi GEC Urban category reveals that Zee TV has climbed up to 2nd position from No. 3 position in week 27 with 363 million impressions.

Star Plus continues to dominate the chart by scoring 427 mn imps in this week. Previous week runner up Sony SAB has dropped down to third place with 355 mn imps followed by Sony Entertainment Television and Colors in 4th and 5th place with 348 mn imps and 331 mn Imps respectively.

Star Bharat stood at No. 6 with 208 mn Imps followed by FTA Channels Dangal and Big Magic Securing 195 mn and 112 mn Imps. &TV clocked 96 mn Imps to settle down at 9th spot while the Star Utsav manages to retain its 10th spot with 80 mn Imps.

Mumbai: 50 years ago, on July 20, 1969, millions of people around the world witnessed a trio of astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collin – create history, as they became the first men to step on the moon. To commemorate this historical milestone,

Sony Pictures Networks India’s (SPNI) English Cluster comprising channels like Sony BBC Earth, AXN and Sony PIX will celebrate the big day by premiering the movie ‘First Man’ and ‘8 days to the Moon’ for the first time on Indian television.

The Oscar and Golden Globe winning film ‘First Man’, is a biography on the life of astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The movie, starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy,will air on AXN and Sony PIX this July 20 at 1:00 pm and 9:00 pm.

In a unique initiative, Sony BBC Earth has partnered with India’s largest interactive science centre – Nehru Science Centre–to showcase its content 8 Days: To the Moon and Back. The docu-series chronicles the journey of the first man to step on the moon. Students from various schools will get to witness this grand visual spectacle and hear the original andcandid cockpit audio files from fifty years ago!

In addition to the on-ground leg, Sony BBC Earth has collaborated with leading radio channels across India to give the listeners a feel of one of the most dangerous and magnificent missions in history by airing the original conversation audio clips between the three astronauts. The channel also has an interesting digital campaign in place with games, facts and stories that will leave the viewers in awe.

Mumbai:Star India has launched a new campaign to announce their Disney Kids Pack, following the success of the Star Value Pack. The kids pack includes four television channels – Disney Channel, Hungama, Marvel HQ and Disney Junior. These channels will be distributed by Star India. The campaign brings to light a very strong insight on the television viewing habits of families in India and highlights the need for kids to watch content that is tailor-made for them.
The 35 seconder film starts off with a mother questioning her 6-year old daughter about her missing science book and the girl immediately reacts like a stereotype antagonist from a soap opera; indicating her television consumption is restricted to adult series.
The film gives a sneak peek into the lives of millions of families in modern day India; where kids are consuming adult targeted content. Most parents are unaware of the implications of this and kids make do with the content that their parents choose for them. This TVC delivers a hard-hitting message that focuses on repercussions of having kids watch adult content; in a very light-hearted, funny and entertaining manner. It addresses the need for parents to be responsible and make the right entertainment choice for their kids. It also reflects on the importance of retaining their childhood and innocence by having them watch age-appropriate content that is specially curated for them by the Disney Kids Network.

Renuka Ramnath has been appointed as Additional Director of TV18 Broadcast Ltd. for a period of 5 years, effective July 16th, according to news reports. Her designation is Independent Director. Beginning her career with ICICI Group, Ramnath has over 30 years of experience in the finance industry, spanning private equity, structured finance, and investment banking. She has held various leadership positions in areas such as e-commerce, investment banking, and structured finance.

During her time with ICICI Group, Ramnath held the positions of MD and CEO of ICICI Venture.

After the ICC World Cup, it is now The Ashes, the West Indies tour of India and the 11th season of the iconic show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) that digital media advertisers are trying to cash in on. While Hotstar is apparently the market leader in India among all digital streaming platforms with close to 45 per cent market share, according to media buyers and experts, SonyLIV is going to be the close second with a strong content line-up starting early next month.

According to Pranabir Singh, Director-Media Planning, at media agency DCMN, the upcoming cricket series and KBC are the “cash cow” for SonyLIV at the moment.

“OTT is a title driven platform and people watch the content or show they are loyal to. There is no platform loyalty. The upcoming cricket series and KBC are the cash cow for SonyLIV at the moment as all the shows have potential to draw huge viewership and thus a good return on investment for advertisers. SonyLIV now has the opportunity until the festive season to cash in on its tent-pole shows,” says Singh.

The minimum recharge plans introduced by incumbent telcos like Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel has already reached its target base, according to analysts, with Airtel managing to maintain a price premium, compared to rivals.

On the other hand, Reliance Jio's consistently growing subscriber base has not been supported by any tariff increase even in postpaid, an area where incumbent telcos are rapidly improving.

An analysis of more than 100 mobile tariff plans across Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea reveals incumbents command 1.5-2x premium pricing in postpaid and 15-30 per cent premium in prepaid offers, compared to Jio, according to a CLSA research. Essentially, Airtel has managed to retain high-paying users at the cost of losing subscribers, at present.

"While Jio tariffs underscore consistent (market) share gains, the lack of ramp-up in postpaid is surprising. Among incumbents, we note Bharti's expansion in postpaid subscribers and market share performance, compared to Vodafone Idea," noted Deepti Trivedi, research analyst CLSA.

The 28-day mobile plans are giving telecom operators maximum returns, as longer duration prepaid plans tend to be at a discounted rate in the range of 10 per cent and 45 per cent. According to the report, Airtel's postpaid plans are at a premium, compared to Jio and even Vodafone Idea. Jio has the cheapest postpaid plan, priced at Rs 199. While Airtel has consolidated its postpaid offering into four plans priced from Rs 499 to Rs 1,599, it also selectively offers a Rs 399 plan with 40 gigabyte (GB) data. Besides having postpaid plans at similar price points to Airtel, Vodafone Idea has a cheaper Rs 299 plan, with 30GB data and unlimited voice.

Broadcast conglomerate, Disney India, rolled out a new commercial which, according to KV Sridhar (Pops), founder and chief creative officer, HyperCollective, will make parents think - "Oh s***! What have we done?" In the film, a young girl behaves in a manner that catches her mother completely off guard in a rather amusing way.

Disney India's new 35-seconder ad to promote its 'Kids Pack'

When asked a simple question, the girl takes an overly melodramatic stance, complete with a highly articulate monologue. The child's behaviour is indicative of the kind of TV programming she is subjected to, i.e. Indian soaps etc. And that's where Disney comes in with its Disney Kids pack for Rs 10. After watching the film for the first time, Sridhar's immediate reaction was, "You do not want your children and grandchildren to be like that..."

Disney India's in-house marketing team conceptualised the film to promote its Kids pack.

Publicis Media India appointed Anil Pandit as Head of its Programmatic Practice, to further fortify its presence in this area. PM holds one of the highest shares of digital media and expertise in the market and holds bold ambitions on scaling it further, for which it has earmarked heavy investments in ad-tech and specialist talent pools.

Anupriya Acharya

He has been an early proponent in the programmatic space and has helped international DSP platforms establish their 'Programmatic Practice' in India. He has also helped many brands in their journey of adoption of this data and ad-tech enabled practice and is also a speaker/trainer on Programmatic and Data- Driven Advertising as guest faculty in IIMB, IMT and IMI.

MUMBAI: Kartikeya Sharma-owned iTV Network is planning to launch two news channel for the Odia and North East markets. The network is also shutting down its Kannada news channel NewsX Kannada, which was launched last year ahead of the assembly elections.

iTV Network has been on an expansion in the last three years. The company had launched its non-Hindi channel India News Punjab in June 2017. This was followed by the launch of India News Gujarat in December 2017.

In April 2018, the network forayed into South with NewsX Kannada. It was also the first regional news channel under the NewsX brand. However, the company’s South foray has proved to be short with NewsX Kannada being removed from all distribution platforms.

iTV Network CEO Varun Kohli said that NewsX Kannada will be discontinued in a month’s time. He also said that the company has plans to foray into Odia and North East markets.

“We are shutting down NewsX Kannada. It’s a business decision. We have been on an expansion spree. We plan to launch news channels for Odia and North East markets,” Kohli said.

The Odia channel will also be under the NewsX brand. The channel will be called NewsXO