Khushboo Tanna

editor@exchange4media.com @Khushboo Tanna

India’s performance at the ICC T20 World Cup 2010 left cricket fans disappointed, however, media planners draw consolation from the ratings that show that the average ratings for the matches that India played in was approximately 5.5 TVR. This, say media planners, is a good number given the fact that there has been so much fragmentation in the market and considering that the ICC T20 World Cup came immediately after the IPL had concluded.

Khushboo Tanna May 21, 2010 8:28 AM

What started out as a battle among grown ups, has now passed on to children as well in GEC land – the battle of dance, that is. ‘Dance India Dance L’il Masters’ (Zee TV), ‘Chak Dhoom Dhoom’ (Colors), and the recently-premiered all new ‘Boogie Woogie’ (Sony) all pit the little ones at their dancing best. These channels are also hoping to take advantage of the summer vacations to draw more eyeballs. But is it one dance show too many? Is it an overkill of a good concept? exchange4media finds out.

Khushboo Tanna May 20, 2010 8:23 AM

The India Radio Forum 2010, held in Mumbai on May 19, brought the radio industry under the scanner and addressed issues ranging from effectiveness of the radio medium, pricing and frequency planning to the growth drivers and opportunities. Vikram Sakhuja and Abdul Khan threw more light on the radio industry in their special addresses.

Khushboo Tanna May 20, 2010 8:13 AM

The India Radio Forum 2010 that was held in Mumbai on May 19 culminated with the Indian Excellence in Radio Awards 2010. Awards were given out in 30 categories. Red FM and Big FM led the awards tally, winning nine awards each. Maxus was the only media agency to win at the Indian Excellence in Radio Awards 2010.

Khushboo Tanna May 20, 2010 8:12 AM

In a bid to retain the weekday primetime audience on weekends as well, GECs have been sprucing up their Saturday primetime offerings, which range from reruns and reality shows to soaps and mythological serials. While media planners feel this is a good move for the channels, it remains to be seen whether they catch the viewers’ eyes.

Khushboo Tanna May 19, 2010 7:54 AM

The Indian Readership Survey (IRS), which until last year was released on a half yearly basis, would now be available every quarter. Certain sections of the industry feel that this is a good move but should at the same time be able to offer more on data quality. The publishers' side strongly argues that the IRS' focus should be on data accuracy, rather than frequency.

Khushboo Tanna May 18, 2010 8:51 AM

The entire nation had just one question most of the first week of May – will Kasab get the death sentence. With the whole country closely following the court hearings, news channels had a busy time. Emerging top of the lot among Hindi news channels in terms of viewership on the verdict day (May 3) and the sentencing day (May 6) is Aaj Tak, while Times Now was the most watched among English news channels.

Khushboo Tanna May 17, 2010 8:30 AM

As per the IRS 2010 Q1 data, while Big FM, Radio City and Radio Mirchi have emerged as the top radio stations in Bangalore, it is Radio Indigo, the English radio station, that has impressed the most with a whopping 75 per cent increase in its listener base. However, the top five radio stations in Bangalore have witnessed a decline in listenership.

Khushboo Tanna May 15, 2010 9:01 AM

As per the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010 Q1 data (Radio Stations - last one week) Radio Mirchi leads among the radio players in both Mumbai and Delhi markets with a considerable lead. Radio City is the No. 2 station in both these markets, while Red FM is placed third.

Khushboo Tanna May 14, 2010 8:41 AM

Even as the IPL fever is barely fizzing out, the cricket crazy Indian audience already has something to look forward to in the form of ICC T20 World Cup 2010. India’s performance has not been too steady in the tournament and needless to say, the ratings reflect it. The first three matches that India has played in have rated “decent” according to media observers. The non-India matches, however, have thrown some of the lowest ratings.

Khushboo Tanna May 13, 2010 8:24 AM

It’s been five years since the first episode of ‘Indian Idol’ was telecast on Sony. Now, in its fifth season, the show has continued its association with the channel. After garnering tremendous following in its opening season, the subsequent seasons of the talent hunt show have not been able to sustain enough viewer interest. Media planners share their views on ‘Indian Idol’s performance over the seasons.

Khushboo Tanna May 12, 2010 8:40 AM

Star India has been entering into innovative tie-ups with various brands, for example, the Vodafone roadblock that was done on the entire Star Network some years ago. Taking this innovative theme forward, five channels of the Star Network have tied up with the 2010 Intel Core processor family to promote them through various brand integrations. This innovation is being done by OMD.

Khushboo Tanna May 7, 2010 8:33 AM

After venturing into the home video vertical, UTV World Movies is now planning to foray into theatrical releases as well. So far, it has identified 12 to 14 cinemas across four metros where these movies will be shown. The channel has also tied up with a multiplex for this venture.

Khushboo Tanna May 3, 2010 8:19 AM

‘Pulsar Stunt Mania’, touted as the first biking stunt show on television, is all set for Season 2. MTV, which airs the show, has lined up a series of activities to engage the TG and build buzz around the show, starting with a ‘Rockathon’, said to be India’s first bike and rock festival.

Khushboo Tanna May 1, 2010 8:41 AM

Shams Kabir has joined Star India as Head of Media buying and Presentation. Prior to joining Star India, Kabir was with Oxigen Services India, where he was Senior Vice President, Marcom. He has around 16 years of experience and has worked in companies such as Mindshare, Madison and Media Direction, among others.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 30, 2010 8:12 AM

The news about ZEEL in the process of acquiring 9X channel has been greeted by media planners in general, who feel it is a win-win for both the companies. Post the acquisition, ZEEL will have two GECs under its umbrella, while INX Media will have more money to pump into 9XM.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 29, 2010 8:13 AM

‘Lux Dance India Dance’, the home-grown dance show on Zee has turned out to be quite a hit. After gaining a substantial viewer base, the show carried out some activities to connect with its viewers. A dance carnival, a print innovation and strong presence in the online space were all part of this high voltage marketing activity.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 24, 2010 9:01 AM

Reality shows and game shows have helped GECs grab a major chunk of the eyeballs. While some game show formats are home grown, a lot of them are international formats that have been tweaked to suit Indian taste. Media planners tell exchange4media what is their take on these reality shows based on international formats, how important the host is and other factors that work or do not work for such shows.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 23, 2010 8:52 AM

AdMob has been in the news recently, especially for the acquisition deal by Google. While the deal is still under FTC review, Mahesh Narayanan, Country Manager, AdMob India, shares some insights about the mobile ad network industry, the growth potential and how the industry functions globally.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 13, 2010 8:13 AM

‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) is gearing up for its fourth season and there are very strong rumours that Aamir Khan would be the new host. Meanwhile, the industry is also talking about KBC-4 being telecast on Sony instead of Star Plus. exchange4media takes a look at KBC over the last three seasons and the expectations from the fourth season.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 8, 2010 9:00 AM

Hindi GECs seem to be losing out on a considerable amount of audience due to IPL3. Last year, the Hindi GECs had seen a decline of around 10-15 per cent of their total viewership, media planners predict that the same percentage of viewership decline in GECs during the third season of IPL as well.

Khushboo Tanna Apr 2, 2010 8:21 AM

UTV Movies, the Hindi movie channel from UTV, is set to roll out its first ever brand campaign in May, post the Indian Premier League. The campaign is being conceptualised by TapRoot India. The channel will undergo a complete rebranding and assume a new identity. Kunal Mukherjee, Head - Marketing, UTV Movies, shares more.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 27, 2010 8:30 AM

Channel [v] is out to tap the 7 pm time band and is launching seven new shows on seven consecutive days at 7 pm. Considering that 7 pm is a very strong band for competitor MTV, media planners say that Channel [v] has to do more than this 777 formula and chalk out a long term strategy to overtake MTV.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 26, 2010 9:54 AM

The last couple of weeks have seen Star Plus and Colors involved in a tough battle for the numero uno spot. While both these channels are very bullish on their programming line-up, one has to take into account the loss of viewership due to IPL3. Colors, however, has tied up with IPL to create shows around the event in a bid to retain viewers who watch IPL.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 25, 2010 8:25 AM

Ashish Patil, who has been with MTV for 12 years, has decided to move on and join Yash Raj Films (YRF). At YRF, Patil will work as the Business and Content Head for a new division, which will focus on youth movies. He will report directly to Aditya Chopra, who is the Vice Chairman of the group.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 24, 2010 8:31 AM

It’s Priyanka Chopra for the new season of Colors’ ‘Fear Factor – Khatron ke Khiladi’. The stunts done by Akshay Kumar, who had hosted the earlier season, were a huge factor in drawing the audience. But will Chopra’s glamour quotient and 13 cricketers on the show do the trick? exchange4media finds out from some leading media planners.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 19, 2010 11:10 AM

Delivering the keynote address at the concluding day of FICCI Frames 2010, Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, stressed that there was hunger for good content. He also pointed out some of the serious concerns that this industry would face in the future, the first one being low level of innovative content and repetition of successful formats.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 19, 2010 8:36 AM

‘The War for TV News: Defining No 1 in the dizzying newscape’ was the only news related session at FICCI Frames 2010. The final consensus that emerged was that while the ratings systems helped evaluate the performance, advertisers had to stop pitching one rating format against the other. The panel also felt that television needed one single rating system to streamline the process.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 18, 2010 8:42 AM

The first session of Day 2 of FICCI Frames 2010 commenced with a keynote address by Ronnie Screwvala, CEO and Founder Chairman, UTV Group. He said that the mobile phone was his favourite technology right now and that he saw this medium as a potential game changer. He then went on to give some key pointers that would help create game changers in the gaming, mobile, web and movie business.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 18, 2010 8:42 AM

Two interesting sessions marked the second half of the Digital Media Conference 2010, held in Mumbai on March 11. Mudra’s Bobby Pawar and BBH’s Partha Sinha made an interesting presentation on ‘A Politically Incorrect View on Digital Media’, while Tata Teleservices’ Llyod Mathias highlighted the ‘Opportunities in Digital Media’.

Khushboo Tanna Mar 12, 2010 8:05 AM