<p align=justify>New forms of technology such as video games, broadband Internet access, high definition television and personal recorders are re-defining the viewing habits of people. These were the broad theme of the presentation on ‘New Media & Entertainment’.
<p align=justify>‘Branded entertainment’ has been an age-old phenomenon in the entertainment industry though it may seem like an emerging concept, said Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO, GroupM. “While we have seen this in the 60’s in the soap operas, in the film industry it has always existed as an organised business of supplying props although today we have only complicated the concept,” said Srivastava in the ‘Branded Entertainment’ session at FICCI FRAMES.
<p align=justify>The business model of co-production in animation is more relevant now than ever before. The new model comes in the wake of the increasing difficulty in finding funding for animation series as well as garnering advertising revenues to completely fund content. The speakers at the sessions on animation, titled ‘Co-production: A win-win game’, at FICCI FRAMES ’05 agreed that co-production is the way forward.
The entertainment industry, which is currently valued at Rs 222 billion, is expected to grow to more than Rs 588 billion by 2010, says the recent CII-KPMG report.
‘Intelligent GRPs’! This quest led to the inception of the latest tool from Lintas Media Services, ‘Inteligrip’, which is ‘inspired’ by the findings of the ‘Initiative BBC Ad Watch 2004 — Advertising Avoidance Research’ (AAR).
Prachar has nabbed a significant win by acquiring the media planning and buying responsibilities of D’damas Jewellery India. The account was hitherto with Mediacom. Confirming the win, Mehul Chokshi, Managing Director, D’damas Jewellery, informed that the account is in the region of Rs 25 crore.
In order to scale up its packaged food business, fast-moving consumer goods major ITC is looking at acquiring smaller companies in the sector to complement its product portfolio with a war chest of Rs 150-200 crore.
Deccan Chronicle Interactive (DCI), the Multimedia, Internet, Innovative Media and E-Marketing initiative of the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle Group, is working on the content management for Montessori schools across the world. The agency is currently engaged in setting up the site www.montessorimagic.com for the World Montessori Association.
P&G India, the FMCG major, has tied up with Raj TV in Tamil Nadu for its 'Shiksha' project for the education of underprivileged children. Through the project, P&G will contribute a minimum of Rs 1 crore to CRY (Child Relief and You) for the cause.
The biggest annual global convention in Asia spanning across all aspects of the media and entertainment industry, FRAMES, organised by FICCI, has got an international partner. As the first if is kind collaboration, Pakistan-based international broadcaster Geo Television, the flagship television channel of prestigious Jang Group of Companies, has joined hands with FRAMES 2005, starting from Monday in Mumbai.
Holi has given STAR weekend some reasons to smile. The channel has made a TVR of 11 plus in a Sunday slot with its Holi special programming. Not only has this increased the channel share of the slot but consequently increased STAR's weekend share of voice as well.
CNBC TV-18's Hindi consumer news channel 'Awaaz' is finding its footing in the business news market and in the latest TAM week it takes the top slot in business news channels. Among the new shows to be launched this month on Awaaz are 'Tax Guru,' 'Jiyo Zindagi,' a weekly health and lifestyle show, 'Chalti Ka Nam Gadi' and others.
The changing environment calls for a different approach in marketing initiatives and achieving desired results. To address this subject and to keep ahead of the times, IMPACT, the weekly from exchange4media group, has invited renowned international speaker Bob Kuperman, President and CEO, DDB New York to give an insight on his experiences.
Gearing up for regulatory procedures which would gear a new phase of bidding and expansion, Radio Mirchi is making quite a few changes in its upper echelons. Naveen Chandra, erstwhile Pune Sales Head, is being made National Head (Sales) for the station. Meanwhile, Farid Kuereshi, who was handling this mandate earlier, would be looking into group initiatives for Entertainment Network India. Kuereshi's designation would continue to remain Executive Vice-President, Sales.
The biggest annual global convention in Asia spanning across all aspects of the media and entertainment industry, FRAMES, organised by FICCI, is back. FRAMES 2005, which will focus on various areas like television, film, animation, new media, etc., is set to kick off in Mumbai on Monday.
If the first round of Tata businesses found their way to Lodestar, the second round definitely belongs to Madison Media. After bagging the businesses of Tata AIG and Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals too has decided to partner with the brand. The account is sized in the vicinity of Rs 15 cr. The incumbent on the business was The Media Edge.