The Indian Newspaper Society has requested the government to withdraw the 10% customs duty on newsprint; industry leaders say the Budget decision will lead to increase in cover price & ad rates.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden Union budget speech hit the newspaper industry with her announcement of 10 per cent customs duty on newsprint. This comes as a jolt to the industry as the newsprint price had started stabilising from last October and the price now stands somewhere close to $700 per tonne, as compared to an all-time high of $820 per tonne.

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) issued a statement on Monday, requesting the government to withdraw the 10 per cent customs duty imposed on newsprint, and uncoated paper used for printing of newspapers and light weight coated papers used for magazines.

“Publishers of Newspapers and Magazines are already reeling under severe financial pressure due to many factors like lower advertisement revenues, higher costs and digital onslaught from technological giants.  Small and Medium newspapers will go into deeper losses and many of them will be forced to close down,” said the INS statement. 

As brands become more convinced of social media's power, its scope and influence are being tested by marketers in new ways.

Social media platforms are no longer just domains for socializing. They are powerful marketing tools for brands. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are witnessing an influx of brands looking to connect with consumers in a more personalized way. Using wit, humour or a strong social message, bands are constantly trying to evolve through mediums that help them connect best with their target audience.

As per reports, Indians top the list on time spent on social media, spending an average of 4-5 hours on the phone. Though Facebook still reigns supreme, the popularity of apps like Instagram and Twitter is big for marketers too. To understand the reach of these apps one can simply land on the Facebook business page and understand the strength in numbers- Instagram has 500 million plus accounts worldwide that are active every day and 80 percent of these accounts follow a business on Instagram. As for Facebook it has 1.5 billion plus users worldwide every day and 7 million plus active advertisers.

But, it is not on ads alone that brands depend on vis-à-vis social media platforms. Campaigns on social media are getting more and more creative and interactive and influencers are being roped in to increase followers.

The advertising landscape in India has seen noteworthy changes in the recent times in digital advertising and the e-commerce sector. Generating data and personalising content for consumers to garner their attention has become key factors for brands. 

According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India is the fastest-growing market for e-commerce, driven by a significant improvement in connectivity and the growing ease of making online payments and transactions.

Talking about the fast growing digital space, Bharat Khatri, Country Lead, Xaxis India, says the number of consumers who shop on the Internet has increased exponentially.

“This has led to e-commerce companies accumulating valuable consumer data, collecting information on which products and categories consumers are browsing and buying. With this data, advertisers are now able to create highly-targeted ads and only engage with the people who would be interested in buying their specific product,” he explains. 

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India on Monday announced that it would soon start reporting viewership of Free & Pay platforms separately.

The new Pay & Free platform variable will be offered over and above the current Urban and Rural cuts that are reported by BARC India. It will be made available to all the subscribers for planning and analysis through BARC’s proprietary BARC Media Workstation Software. It will also be published on the website for select genres.

exchange4media spoke to industry honchos to find out what they think about the announcement.

According to Ritu Dhawan, MD & CEO, India TV, any data that's convertible into intelligence should always be welcomed. And she hopes the same comes true in this case as well.

“Though it’s early in the day to comment on its utility, the team anticipates that among other insights, this particular development may be able to add another dimension to the resource deployment matrix, particularly in certain specific segments, geographically & otherwise,” says Dhawan.

“Additionally, this may also help getting a more refined perspective on the rural markets, specifically because of free dish and its huge impact on these markets, along with insights on viewership of pay channels especially in rural areas. This may lead to some course corrections by both free and pay channels,” she adds.

They are also appreciating the new government’s focus on SME development.

MUMBAI: The media and entertainment industry had high expectations from the first budget of Modi 2.0 government, announced by new finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 5 July. From reduced GST on smartphones and advertising to increased focus on the development of digital India, they had varied expectations from the budget.

While not all their wishes have come true, the industry is quite pleased with the budget and has been lauding initiatives like allowing FDI in the media sector, launching a channel for startups under the DD umbrella, and easing the environment for SMEs and startups.

MUMBAI: The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has granted 258 new TV channel licences in the last five financial years between FY 2014-15 till FY 2018-19. The ministry has also withdrawn 102 licences in the last five years.

As per the information provided by I&B minister Prakash Javadekar in the Lok Sabha, the ministry granted most TV channel licences in FY 2014-15. The ministry approved 74 TV channel licences during the fiscal.

In FY 2018-19, 57 new licences were followed while in the preceding fiscal the number of new licences stood at 34. The number was 53 in FY 2016-17. 40 licences were granted in FY 2014-15, which is also the first year of BJP-led NDA government.

Javadekar also noted that there is no provision of conducting raids on TV channels in the Policy Guidelines for Uplinking / Downlinking of Private Satellite TV Channels, 2011. He also said that 102 licences have been withdrawn in the last five years.

Chennai: COLORS Tamil in association with Lakshman Shruti is set to present a tribute concert ‘Ninaithaley Inikkum’ for MSV, on July 7, 2019 at the Nehru Stadium from 4:00 PM onwards.

MSV’s music has set many benchmarks across all South Indian film industry. Kollywood’s famed play back singer, SP Balasubrahmanyan will render hit numbers of the music director along with leading music artists like Srinivas, Madhu Balakrishnan, Mahathi, Anitha Karthikeyan and Suchitra.

Commenting on the live concert, Anup Chandrasekharan, Business Head – COLORS Tamil said, “This is a great occasion for music lovers in the state. We are bringing alive the magic of MSV through SPB, another legend of this industry. At COLORS Tamil we are always looking at newer avenues to keep our audiences engaged and partnerships like these take us one step closer to the viewers. We are certain that the beautiful medley of songs will take everyone on a nostalgic trip back in time.”  

Commenting on the event, playback singer SPB, as he is popularly known, said,“MSV is a music magician who has given us classic hits that broke away from traditional compositions. The intricacies and nuances in his music speak about his passion and knowledge he accumulated over years. It is such a privilege and I am deeply honored by this opportunity to render his light romantic numbers and bring back his golden era. For me, a greatest devotee of MSV himself and his other fans, the day will be an enriching and unparalleled experience as we sing and listen to his music masterpieces from 60’s and 70’s.”

Hyderabad: The fourth season of the signature acting reality show Drama Juniors Championship on Zee Telugu came to an end on 7th July. The show served as a perfect platform for children around the age of 4 to 14 to present their acting skills. Vijay, Trivedhi, Roshan, Vignesh, Sharma, Rupika, Haasini, Padmavathi, Jahnavi, Divya Roopa and Vaishnavi from Season 2 of the Drama Juniors series were announced as the winners of Drama Juniors Championship on Sunday.

The young prodigies won a trophy and a prize money of Rs. 5 lakhs.  The contestants of Season 3 and Season 1 were announced as the first and second runner-up, respectively. The finale was hosted by the multi talented anchor Sreemukhi, and judged by Ali, Anasuya Bharadwaj and Omkar.

At the grand finale, the tiny tots presented some exemplary performances to keep the audience entertained. Sreemukhi, who is also an ace actress, for the first time, performed a heart touching emotional act that left everyone in tearsand garnered accolades from the judges and the audiences.

Digital brands have pushed in big money into cricket. Spending on TV and digital platforms alike, they have announced their arrival as major players in the advertising scene.

Digital brands are everywhere -- on your phones, tablets and laptops, they are only a click or swipe away. Now they are also making their presence felt at every ad break during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. With over 300 million viewers tuning in to catch all the action since the start of the cricket season, it comes as no surprise that these brands want to be where the audiences are, therefore pumping in big chunks of their advertising budgets into the World Cup.

Think, PhonePe, Google Pay, Cars24, Swiggy, Amazon, BYJU’s, Uber, Dream11 and Policybazaar are just some of the digital brand ads that splash across screens match after match. What has drawn these brands to the World Cup is simple –the target audience; cricket cuts across age, gender and demography. Take the India-Pakistan match of the World Cup as an example, the viewership shattered all records with 206 million (TV+OOH) viewers on Star network, while Hotstar recorded 100 mn active users and a concurrency of 15.6 million, the highest ever in an ODI match. And a big part of this viewership came from outside of the metros. Brand placement and conversion of that recall into downloads is what the cricketing season brings to the table.

Most of these brands have tasted success with ad placements during sporting events, says Aman Dhall, Communications Head at Policybazaar.com.

“We are all betting big on the World Cup to score high on engagement. In the last 4-5 years, the kind of investment we’ve made in sports, particularly cricket, is huge. It has worked beautifully for us. It is our kind of target audience, the ones taking a decision on insurance. We have an in-house model where we can capture seeing the traffic going high on our website post our ad being displayed on television and we are able to figure out if something is working for us or not.”

Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha and Rajiv Bansal turn entrepreneurs with the launch of their new-age media firm, Opoyi which will bring together the best of content and technology

She has led content for some of the biggest digital brands in the country, including NDTV Convergence and Times Internet, while he has helped build iconic digital products like Web TV, Xbox, Google TV during his 20 years at the Silicon Valley. More recently, Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha, ex-Chief Content Officer, HT Digital Streams, and Rajiv Bansal, ex-CEO, HT Digital Streams, changed the face of the digital arm of the 100-year-old media company; in their words they “doubled audiences across properties like Livemint.com and Livehindustan.com and grew Hindustantimes.comby 50 per cent in the last year and tripled revenues in two years”. 
 
Now, ending weeks of speculation on where the two leaders were headed next, Jha and Bansal told exchange4media in an exclusive chat that they were venturing together on the entrepreneurial path with Opoyi, a new-age media start-up because they strongly believe that traditional media companies are not capable of disrupting digital media audiences going forward. 

Decoding what Opoyi stands for, Co-founder Rajiv Bansal says, “Opoyi stands for Opinion of you and I. It goes with our base philosophy that the opinion of everyone matters as long as it is authentic.”
 
Co-founder Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha adds that with Opoyi they aim to build the world's most trusted platform for information, bringing to users reliable and accurate content. “At one end, traditional media companies provide a good level of quality control but have biases and limited content. On the other hand, there are social networks, which provide multiple viewpoints and unlimited content but have no quality control or relevance, and yet viewers looking for more content turn to them which leads to the dissemination of fake news. The consumer wants unlimited content but also expects it to be trustworthy and authentic,” says Jha.