Nick has appointed NDTV Media Ltd as its exclusive advertising sales agency in India. As part of the agreement, NDTV Media would be responsible for selling airtime on Nick, which includes sponsorships, spots, promotions and tie-ups, among others.
Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt Ltd, the television venture from Nimbus Sports, has advanced the launch of its second channel. Consequently, Neo Sports Plus has been launched nationwide on Wednesday, November 8, 2006.
Microsoft is adding advertiser messages to the cityscape as users zip through its new Virtual Earth 3D technology that combines photo images and modeling to create realistic representations of cities. Microsoft is making Virtual Earth 3D part of its Live Search offering.
Abhishek Bachchan has been roped as brand ambassador for the Platinum Club of American Express. He will endorse the offering through an extensive marketing campaign with the theme “Membership changes everything”.
The Games on Demand initiative will help over 100,000 private Internet cafes in India compete with organised players in the market. Currently, the service has over 100 games on offer at Rs 225 per month. These games will cost nearly Rs 1 lakh at retail prices for legal software.
The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has announced that the ‘.IN’ domain has reached two lakh registrations, nearly doubling its presence in the market place since last year.
Zee Network and DNA’s Zee DNA Super Sixes Corporate Cricket Challenge has reached its final. The teams from the media and advertising industry that have made it to the finals include O&M, Madison, Rediffusion DY&R, Percept Holding, Sahara One and RED FM.
The popular Zee Cine Awards will be turning 10 next year and Zee Network is pulling all stops to celebrate the occasion in a grand manner. Bangkok has been chosen as the venue for the 10th Zee Cine Awards, which will be held on March 3, 2007.
Rediff.com has reported a 21 per cent growth in its user base to 47.7 million in the quarter ended September 30, 2006 over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The portal has also registered a whopping 94 per cent growth in revenues from its Indian online advertising business in the quarter ended September 30, 2006.
Vinit Suraphongchai, Working Committee Chairman of the 10th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (AdFest) has announced that AdFest 2007 will be held on March 14-17, 2007 at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya, Thailand.
Media houses had complained bitterly when the National Readership Survey Council (NRSC) released the NRS 2006 on August 29, 2006. Publishers pointed out various anomalies in the data. Subsequent meetings between the NRSC and members from the industry have finally borne fruit and vindicated some sections of the media as NRSC has released a revised CD now with some significant corrections, and admitting the errors.
The Indian Express Group has formed a strategic partnership with IT media company TechTarget to publish the latter’s IT magazines and websites in India.
Subhashis Roy has joined as the National Sales Head at Jagran FM after being with ‘Outlook Business’ for a short span of time where he was part of the team that launched the product. Meanwhile, Jagran FM is planning to launch three FM stations in Hissar, Karnal and Gorakhpur in January 2007.
In a bid to further strengthen its presence in the southern states, Zee Telefilms Ltd has promoted R Ajay Kumar as Head, South Initiatives of Zee Network. Prior to his new assignment, Kumar was Business Head of South Channels. In his new assignment, Kumar will be independently heading the critical distribution business of all the 32 Zee and Turner Channels in the four southern states.
MAA Bozell, a part of the MAA Group, has recently made some key appointments to beef up its South Zone offices. While Mala James has been appointed as Consultant-Vice-president, Anand Narayan joins as Branch Manager, Bangalore. Jacob Thomas has been brought in as Head, Kerala operations.
After much hue and cry over anomalies in the NRS 2006, the National Readership Survey Council has released a revised data CD to all its subscribers. Looking at the top line findings, even as the top 10 order doesn’t change for dailies, the gaps sure have.
<p align=justify>With more and more global OOH majors coming into India, the outlook of the clients, the specialist agencies and also the media owners will undergo a sea change. Technology, innovation and accountability with service delivered to the “T” will be the benchmarks that clients will use to judge us, and we all have to stand the test. OOH will evolve beyond its ‘static media’ heritage. Consolidation will also play a key role in taking OOH to the next level.