TV Today Network Ltd has reported a topline of Rs 71.04 crore in the quarter ended June 2009, a growth of 11 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. The quarterly net profit after tax has jumped 81 per cent at Rs 16.64 crore, as against Rs 9.17 crore last year. Other income, too, has increased 103 per cent to Rs 9.15 crore in the first quarter.
After months of speculations on whether the two would get together or not, Microsoft Corp and Yahoo! Inc on July 29 signed a 10-year Web search deal to better compete against market leader Google Inc. exchange4media spoke to some media planners on the India impact of this deal and whether advertisers now have an alternative to Google.
There is an explosion waiting to happen in the Indian entertainment and media, but first certain issues, including regulatory issues, need to be sorted out. Better content, long term plans and constant innovation will also aid to the growth of the Indian entertainment and media industry. A PwC panel discussion held in Mumbai highlighted several interesting aspects of this industry.
Putting all industry speculations to rest, it is now confirmed that Nabendu Bhattacharyya, President, OgilvyAction India, has put in his papers. He is starting his own venture in the OOH sector soon. Bhattacharyya’s last stint was with Mudra, where he was roped in for their outdoor division, Prime Site.
ESPN Star Sports has announced that integrated telecom services provider Airtel has bagged the rights of title sponsor of the Champions League T20 for a period of five years. The Champions League would be christened ‘Airtel Champions League Twenty20’. The inaugural season is scheduled to commence from October 8, 2009.
Niloufer Dundh has put in her papers as Chief Sales Officer at OOH Media. She has been with OOH Media for a little under three years, joining the agency in December 2006. She has decided not to move anywhere at present and take a short break. She will, however, assist Ishan Raina, CEO, OOH Media, in the capacity of an advisor.
Prahlad Nanjappa has put in his paper as Vice President and Senior Creative Director at JWT Bangalore. He has been with the agency for last six years. Though he has been dabbling with few ideas, speculations are rife that he might go the entrepreneurship way.
OOH Media has brought in Rajesh Kumar as Head of Special Projects. Kumar moves from The Times of India Group, where he was Editor – Special Projects of Times Internet Ltd. At OOH Media, he will be reporting to its Director, Raju Sarin.
Having served the leading Marathi daily for seven years, Lokmat’s Editor for its Mumbai and Aurangabad editions, Dinkar Raikar, has been made the Group Editor of Lokmat. Meanwhile, the Group is geared to launch the Marathi editions in Indore, Bhopal and in Gujarat, besides expanding its English and Hindi editions.
Kalaignar Television Network is gearing to enter the regional kids’ television space with Chithram, which will compete with Sun Network’s kids’ channel Chutti TV. Preceding the launch of the kids’ channel will be another GEC, Kalaignar Asia, which will cater to the Tamil Diaspora in South East Asian countries.
In this second part of his two-part series veteran journalist BV Rao continues with his analysis of what ails print media today. Just like underwear, print will survive. But the waist that wears the underwear will shrink dramatically, so print will have to recast and resize, he concludes.
While the slowdown has had an impact, we are fortunate that in India we have not felt the hit like other parts of the world. From an overall economy standpoint, we are seeing a very healthy growth. But another truth is that the advertising industry in India is not going to grow this year. I am not pretending there is no pain. But while you do what is necessary to deal with the short term pain, you should not take your eyes off from the long-term objectives. The issue is what shape you will be in when the growth curve starts rising again. Because when that happens, we have to ensure that our growth graph is higher than that of the industry’s graph.