Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has signed a Rs 500 crore deal with Bharti Tele-Ventures to share the latter’s national long-distance cable network for 15 years. As a part of the agreement, the Tata-managed VSNL will have the right to use Bharti’s national long-distance backbone across 100,000 fibre km along 2,300 route km.
Hutch, the leading cellular service provider in Gujarat has tied-up with Contests2Win, to develop and launch special GPRS-based mobile contests. Hutch users can download contests onto their GPRS phones, which then refresh automatically daily to present a new challenge to the user everyday.
Call it a dichotomy or a sign of an evolved market. For, Swarovski, the global crystal brand which has become generic for crystal is today facing the onslaught of ‘fakes’ worldwide. Which explains why global cut crystal brand Swarovski is launching its first ‘ingredient branding’ exercise—simultaneously in global markets as well as in India—prompting consumers to recognise and use only genuine Swarovski crystals.
Fiat India is putting in place a restructuring plan to become a volume player through new launches. The Italian major, in an aggressive mode, is expected to price 1.2 litre (petrol) Petra around Rs 5 lakh.
As per a study conducted by Intellect and Interactions, two Lintas media group companies, 66% of the respondents are willing to accept advertising through SMS on their cell phones. Avoidance of SMS (termed as deleting the SMS without reading it carefully) is much lower for this medium compared to the conventional media. 32% are in the habit of reading every SMS that they receive.
Last week, we had seen that Travel & Tourism was a fast growing category on Print advertising showing a growth of more than 160% over the Year 2000. We had also seen the expected seasonal trends exhibited by this category. The advertising expenditures have been at their peak in the first quarter consistently over years confirming the seasonal nature of this category.
Asianet launched Kadamattathu Kathanar recently with the belief that folklore and rituals are an integral element in the rural life of Kerala. Asianet also has plans to launch two to three Mega Serials, which is expected to be on air soon.
The EMVIES are here and media agencies are already contemplating what they would showcase to win the jury this time. In the growing Indian media industry, EMVIES are the only awards appreciating the independent function of the media. Since the time of its inception, the EMVIES have grown and we did some talking to see how the media fraternity views these awards.
The publishers are splashing optimistic colours on the canvas of niche magazine space. Cementing this fact is that large publishing houses and corporates alike are all eyeing this space in a big way. The launches of special interest magazines are tailored to fit the needs and desires of varied segments of the literate society. Infomedia India, the erstwhile Tata Infomedia from the Tata Group, Cyber Media and Jasubhai Digital Media have all been in this space for a long time.
The ratings battle on Indian television is a strange one. Where figures put Sony Entertainment Television as the number two general entertainment channel, a closer look could make that statement arguable. With the exception of the 9.00 to 10.00 pm slot, if ratings for different dayparts are observed, both the channels are close competitors and no one channel can be declared a winner. Two women called Jassi and Kkusum have swung the pendulum in Sony’s favour.
For years now, ad agencies in the country have been battling with high attrition and limited talent pool. As business goes global, there is an acute need to scale up HR. exchange4media.com Conclave brings related issues to the fore.
Indian advertising is plagued with an increasing churn of accounts. Eminent speakers at the exchange4media.com conclave in New Delhi debate out the musical chair syndrome. Change for the sake of change is never a growth booster, they say.
“Service is not a deck of cards. It is something that you customise your capabilities to create a solution related to a specific product. So you address a common set of problems that could be web solution investments, RFID investments or even something as simple as outsourcing – how do I increase my offshoring to India? It is around specific things like this that we create our mindshare.”
The speed of evolution in Indian media is mind-boggling. Today’s competitive Indian media is pro-active. It diligently covers all the different facets of political, civic and business journalism.