The two genres on television that saw a significant uptick in the viewership were news and movies. However, in addition to falling revenues, another challenge, particularly for the English genre, has been the consumer shift to OTT platforms.  So, how will television consumption evolve, looking ahead? What is the change in consumption pattern? How does the dynamic world of television business work? How do channels crack the viewership code? Sharing his insight on the topic, ‘Decoding Television Viewing in the Multi-screen Environment’ is MK Anand, MD and CEO, Times Network. Anand will engage in a conversation with Nawal Ahuja, Co-Founder, exchange4media Group at e4m Conclave Virtual Series.

KOLKATA: Amid rising political tension in Maharashtra,  the Shiv Cable Sena, an affiliate to Shiv Sena, has asked the cable TV operators to ban Republic Media Network in the state. 

According to reports, the Shiv Cable Sena has issued a letter which is signed by Sanjay Raut’s brother Sunil Raut.  The letter sent to major operators claims that Republic has violated journalistic ethics and guidelines by repeatedly using the non-respectful language for CM Uddhav Thackeray, home minister and holding a ‘parallel court’.

Following the letter, the network has issued a statement. “This is an attack and an attempt to plunder the fourth pillar of democracy. the Shiv Sena wants us to squirm before them, they want to snatch our fundamental right to report. Under Article 19(1)A of the Constitution of India, Uddhav Thackeray, you have no right to do this. Our coverage speaks truth to power. The people of India did not stand for Emergency in 1975, and they will not stand for what the Sonia Sena is doing right now,” it said in a statement.

Mumbai: With high impact shows like Anupamaa, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Yeh Hai Chahatein, Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke and recently launched Shaadi Mubarak & Lockdown Ki Love Story, Star Plus emerged as the leading primetime destination for viewers on both weekdays and weekends with 549 Mn impressions and 29% market share in PHGEC category. Backed by these marquee properties, the channel has consolidated its leadership by hitting a milestone of 269 GRPs, the highest Pay HGEC in the last 5.5 years.

Commenting on this occasion, Star Plus Channel Spokesperson said, “Recent months have been tough on us as a society and the journey of getting back on track has just begun. In this journey, we want to stand alongside our viewers giving them entertainment and escape. The numbers are only an outcome of our sincere efforts to ensure that we put out content that speaks to our viewers based on societal insights and real stories. We will continue to push hard to remain their favorite family entertainment destination.”

Recently Star Plus launched 3 new properties which have added a fresh dose of variety to the channel –

KOLKATA: Urban India’s youth has relied on OTT platforms to kill monotony. Amid other options, the streaming services have emerged as the most popular source of entertainment as 70 per cent of the youth have turned towards OTT platforms in their spare time. Along with existing subscribers, new OTT subscription purchases during the lockdown period spiked throughout the country across demographics.

According to a report from The Data Sciences Division of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India, 65 per cent of millennials (25-39 years) and Gen Z (5-25 years) prefer consuming video content on an OTT platform over TV. The younger the audience is, the habit of consuming OTT is higher. The report also shows that daily OTT content consumption among Gen Z is higher than millennials. 

Bigg Boss Tamil on Star Vijay today has become one of the most loved shows amongst Tamil audiences, and millions of fans, eagerly awaiting the new season, are delighted with the unveiling of its official promo featuring superstar host Kamal Haasan yet again. The promo raced to cross 4 million views within just 48 hours of launch – the highest ever amongst the seasons so far -- and has had social media abuzz with conversations. Advertisers too have come on board, recognizing the opportunity to have their brands associated with the biggest reality phenomenon on Tamil television.

The Promo for the upcoming season features a stylishly, sartorially dressed Kamal Haasan swaying to a peppy number choreographed by Sandy Master of Bigg Boss Tamil Season 3 fame, and music by popular music director Ghibran. It showcases how the Bigg Boss voice has become an integral part of every household, especially in the current times, and has resonated with millions of fans - seen from all the conversations that sparked off as soon as the logo was revealed.

The Data Sciences Division of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) India has unveiled an OTT Insights report, 'Now Streaming: The Indian Youth OTT Story' under its specialist consumer insights wing Dentsu Marketing Cloud (DMC) Insights. The report covers deep findings of OTT content and gaming habits of the Gen Z and millennial audiences from urban India.

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India’s on-demand digital streaming industry surpassed the national film industry in terms of both viewership and growth. With entertainment gone online coupled with a surge in online gamers, the pandemic has proven to be a fillip to the sector with consumers confined to their homes. With the Indian OTT base being pegged to triple this year, the OTT sector presents a huge opportunity for investment in video content and mobile gaming services.

News was the only category on TV that saw a steep growth through the lockdown and even though the country is in the Unlock 4.0 phase, the viewership numbers continue to be high.

However, because of low economic sentiments the peak in viewership did not translate into higher ad sales. Now with the onset of the festive season and a visible recovery in the economy, industry experts say the category is likely to see a 25-30% of upsurge in ad revenues.  

 

Observers say advertisers have been taking a keen interest in the category. “News has become newsier this year. Alongwith Corona updates keeping the audience glued to news, there has been one big incident after the other driving viewership numbers. From India-China border tension to SSR suicide to the Rhea Chakraborty case, news is being watched more than ever before. Though during peak lockdown months inventory fill was never less than 90% but the rates were very low. However, with the markets opening up and news channels reducing their inventory to accommodate more content ad rates have got a boost. Backed by growing impressions, channels now have the confidence to quote premium rates for inventory,” said Deepak Sharma, Managing Director, North-Starcom MediaVest Group.

Last year, in a unique move for non-listed companies, Times Internet Ltd (TIL) released an annual report sharing its income details. If the move itself was unprecedented, the numbers came as a surprise for many in the industry.

The digital arm of media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd revealed that it ended FY19 (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019) with a staggering Rs 1,359 crore in revenue. According to the presentation, it was a 40 per cent growth compared to FY18 (April 2017 to March 2018).

"While we are a private company, we have many internal and external stakeholders, and publishing this builds understanding, alignment and accountability to our goals," wrote Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman of TIL.

In FY20 (April 2019 to March 2020), TIL revenues grew to Rs 1,625 crore. Advertising revenue grew by 22 per cent. Times Prime and its underlying products' subscribers grew by 62 per cent to cross the two million mark.

In a new avatar, online business news platform The Economic Times will offer readers an intuitive and enriching experience. The new UI is the next step in the group’s overarching reader-first ethos, keeping the premium nature of its content in mind.

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The new Economic Times UI also unfolds a new experience for new and existing ET Prime subscribers — enabling them to read sharp, insight-rich stories across 20+ sectors in a cleaner interface with fewer ads. It will give readers exclusive invites to ET Prime’s bespoke events featuring industry leaders and much more. The new offering is a step towards giving subscribers a highly engaging and in-depth business news consumption experience.

Speaking at the launch of the new and revamped interface of Economic Times, Sanjeev Kumar, Business Head, Economictimes.com, said, “Innovation has always been the cornerstone of our success and this time our endeavour has been to aim higher by offering a new experience to our readers. We take a hard look at the way our audiences experience us every single day and decided to take their engagement with us to a new level. That led to the launch of a new look for The Economic Times’ website and app. With this revamp, our audiences will savour their daily dose of all things business, markets and economy in a more elegant, immersive and engaging manner. It will also offer our advertisers to connect with potential customers with an immersive interplay of text, image, graphics, video and podcasts.”

In a bid to maximise its reach, India local language content discovery platform Dailyhunt is betting big on IPL. The news aggregator has onboarded the IPL bandwagon and signed on Associate Sponsorship deal with Star India for the upcoming season to be played between September 19 to November`10 in UAE.

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The industry sources confirmed the development with BestMediaInfo.com.

Dailyhunt will join nine other associate sponsors - Polycab, USL, Coca Cola, ITC, Mondelez, Kamla Pasand, Rummy Circle, AMFI, Gillette (P&G). Star India has onboarded Dream11, Phone Pe, Amazon and Byju’s as Co-presenting sponsors.

Dailyhunt denied from commenting on its IPL plans. However, the associate sponsorship, which costs in the excess of Rs 45 crore, holds significance in the wake of the launch of Dailyhunt’s short-video app ‘Josh’. “What better platform could be than IPL to take ‘Josh’ to the masses in such a short period of time,” said a source.