Month: September 2015

Juggernaut — App-based Publisher

Shabbir Chunawalla

Chiki Sarkar who was with Penguin has set up a new publishing company — Juggernaut for which a phone app is being developed. Durga Raghunath with experience in digital publishing is with her in this venture. They intend to publish all kinds of books, and to start with they will launch 25 title by April, 2016. The titles will multiply soon. They want to occupy a niche — being a phone publisher. Books will be presented on the phone as a ‘snack’ to the growing population of phone users. They believe that phone publishing can revitalize a faltering publishing industry showing declining sales. In phone publishing, one can publish many more titles, at cheaper cost, experiment across genres, collect revenue faster and disburse it faster. If they get the price point, content and consumer experience right, they will break all the records of title publishing. Phone reading will draw in those who have time to read in short, sharp bursts. The presentation will be mobile-friendly. A book of 200 pages can be divided into snack-sized portions, short digestible bits. There will be a chapter or two first and if they like this, more chapters follow. It will be just like an episodic TV serial. In China and Japan, mobile publishing is a big industry. Apart from breaking down a big book, Sarkar wants short books for the phones, say of 20 thousand to 40 thousand words. There are going to be new tales every night at 10 pm.

The app will be light. The payment gateway should be smooth. They have to be responsive to what works and what does not. The content should be compelling enough for the readers to read on the phone.

To the writers, it is a lucrative deal — there will be a physical life, an e-book life and a phone life. There will be greater and faster royalties. Writers can have deep conversations with the readers. If you as an author get a community of people, it will be easier to market the next book. A reader through the app can tell a writer that in chapter 1 which he liked led him to chapter 6 where his favourite character was killed. He may ask the rationale for it.

Nanndan Nilkeni and others are backing this idea.

Genre-wise TV Channel Viewership in India

Shabbir Chunawalla

There are 800-plus channels already jostling for viewers attention. Indian TV industry has been estimated to be Rs.543.2 billion. Of late, the English channels too have made appearance. These channels garner just a little over 1 per cent of the total viewership pie. We have colors Infinity, Star Movies  Select HD, and MN+.

The viewership share by genre is given below in the table

Genre                                                          Share ( per cent )

English News                                             0.1

News ( other )                                            9.4

Hindi GECs                                               31.2

Regional GECs                                          17.9

Kids                                                               7.3

Regional News                                            3.7

Regional Music                                            1.8

Music                                                              3.2

Hindi Movies                                               13.6

Regional Movies                                           3.7

English Entertainment                                0.9

Infotainment                                                 1.3

Sports                                                              2.4

As digital TV is rapidly emerging as a new medium, 20-25 per cent of marketing budget is diverted to the new media.

Predictive Analytics

Shabbir Chunawalla

A consumer must be viewed 360 degrees, and analysed to profile him thoroughly and predict his behaviour. To do this, data that is used is drawn from social media, transactions, click streams, voter bank information, off-line data. These multiple data streams create holistic consumer profile. It allows a deeper understanding of behavioural patterns, context and trends. Each consumer is unique. It is a matter of personalization. More data improves the accuracy of the predictions. Predictive analytics and semantic technologies are used to connect the silos with the information in the knowledge bases to make relevant personalization. A balance is struck between the  ‘acquisition of big data’, and ‘machine learning’. It is necessary to invest in technology to develop it further to process data streams faster.

In the short term, predictive analytics firms facilitate the traditional research and answer the marketing problems economically and faster. In the long run, predictive analytics can be applied to diverse fields — governance, financial markets, hospital administration etc.

Infinite Analytics is an organization that uses predictive analytics technology to drive retail clients’ conversions and revenues. Its  ‘recommendation engine’  has been used for Cromaretail.

Predictive analytics market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 40 per cent to touch $ 150 billion.

Kindly also read the write up on Recommendation Engine dt 26th August 2015 on this site.

Hologram Technology

Shabbir Chunawalla

Hologram is an amazing technology but it seems to be out or reach in day to day life, too futuristic to be seen outside sci-fi movies and video games. It has been applied now to every day happenings. In this technology, a laser is used to imprint an image on to a recording surface. Here one can copy or reconstruct almost anything. Later a camera is used to project this image in 3D form. Hologram USA is a company that creates holograms.

Even the dead celebrities can be resurrected by using hologram technology. Michael Jackson was made to return to the stage ( he died in 2009 ) at the Billboard Music Awards, 2014. His hologram performed Slave to the Rhythm from his posthumous album Xscape, alongside both real and virtual dancers. In 2007, Elvis Prisley was resurrected to perform his 1968 hit If I can Dream  alongside Celine Dione.

Whitney Houston who expired in 2012 will be brought from the dead to do a tour of the world and sing again I will always love you. Billy Holiday, the famous jazz singer who died in 1959 will perform at Apollo, New York.

Some do question the application of this technology to resurrect dead celebrities. In 2014, this technology was used in India by a political party to make its leader to talk to audiences across different cities at the same time.

The Economist and Editorial Independence

Shabbir Chunawalla

The Economist stands for five values — be forward looking, be a trusted curator of events around the world, do not be a disinterested observer  ( actively advocate change ), be global and practice world-class journalism. Its mission is free trade and internationalization.

According to Chris Stibbs of the Economist, ownership of the media does not matter on a day to day basis. Indirectly, ownership is very critical. The Economist has independent voice which is critical to the five values it espouses. Its organization  is geared to uphold these values. Media should be commercially successful — that gives it commercial independence.  Commercial independence is important for editorial independence. And in its turn, editorial independence breeds commercial success. If there is no commercial success, then ownership independence is at risk and so is the editorial independence.

In the current media environment, if you want to be heard, you must have a uniqueness of voice. A good media brand can make money, but it takes time. Just quality is not enough; there has to be a uniqueness of voice.

History of TV Ratings

Shabbir Chunawalla

It was the advent of Rupert Murdoch’s Star Plus in English followed by MTV, BBC and Prime Sports in 1991 that ended the monopoly of the DD. Immediately, in 1992, Subhash Chandra launched Zee TV. In 1993, Sun TV was launched. By 1994, India had satellite channels such as CNN and Discovery. This led to the need to measure the viewership of the TV channels. A simple diary method of the DD era gave way to INTAM or Indian National Television Audience  Measurement under the auspices of ORG-MARG in 1994. Though INTAM brought credibility to the ratings and analysis, its small size and the limited geographical area covered were the limitations. To overcome this TAM was set up in 1998 as a joint-venture between AC Neilsen and Kantar/IMRB backed ISA and AAAI. Thus there were two measurement systems between 1991 and 2001 — TAM and INTAM which caused confusion. There were allegations of data leakage. To correct this TAM and INTAM were merged into one entity by AC Neilsen and ORG-MARG. In the meantime, TV advertising revenue reached Rs. 4500 in 2004. An application was developed by Decision Craft, US called  aMap with 2000 meters which delivered ratings overnight as compared to a week taken by TAM. aMap was used as PR strategy but media planning still depended upon TAM. aMap disappeared in 2011. There was a dispute between NDTV and TAM, and TAM was assaulted by several broadcasters about its ratings. In 2012, Broadcast Audience Research council ( BARC ) was set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF ), the Indian Society of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). It was the latest attempt to do transparent ratings. BARC released its ratings for the first time in 1995. BARC has 25000 meters, as opposed to 12000 meters of TAM. Many subscribed to both the ratings. In August 2015, BARC and TAM formed a new company — Meter Company — with a robust meter size of 34000 meters.

Current Ad Spends

Shabbir Chunawalla

For 2015, the original forecast for ad spend was Rs. 40,658 crore. It has been revised to Rs. 42,234 crore. TV was slated to grow by 10 per cent. It has been revised to grow by 21 per cent. Print grows by 5 per cent, radio by 6 per cent, cinema by 9 per cent, outdoor by 6 per cent and digital by 29 per cent. The overall growth rate of ad spend across all media is 13.80 per cent. ( Source: Advertising Outlook ).

Augmented Reality (AR) : Potential

Shabbir Chunawalla

The physical world’s environment is modified by computer-generated sensory inputs. It alters the current perception of reality. It is distinguished from virtual reality which replaces the real world with a simulated one. Augmentation is in real time. AR enriches the real world with digital information and media such as 3D models and videos, overlaying in real-time the camera view of your smart phone, tablet, PC or connected glasses. In Indian market, augmented reality was introduced in the mid-2000s. A fair amount of algorithm development and computing was required. At the same time, some tertiary technologies were needed. If open source innovations which enables many customers to interact with the brand happen, the cost of technology would reduce. Malls and theatres were targeted for different brands, e.g. a person sitting in chair, could experience a Ferrari forming around him. Augmented reality can let you experience the day or night settings. Augmented reality can create a sensation of you driving a vehicle. All this is live augmented reality. There is a single active user, and there are multiple passive participators. Despite the initial enthusiasm from brand marketers, the technology has not picked up. Ad agencies just do the QR codes which leave the brand marketers unexcited. There are no real eye ball catching AR campaigns in India. In future there could be an alliance between the ad agencies and technology firms to practice such innovations. It could be the next big thing in India.

From BPO to BPM

Shabbir Chunawalla

Business process outsourcing was a people-based model. It has now moved to an outcome-based model. It is called Business Process Management ( BPM ). Earlier they used to take the low-end commoditized work of international clients. There was a public perception that it was an industry of dead-end jobs. The focus of the BPM industry is now to help clients with decision making and become partners offering end-to-end seamless processes. That gives competitive edge to the clients. Call centre or contact centre are the terms which are still in currency, but contacting is just one part of the industry. The BPM industry employs quality, specialised resources. India is expected to be the ‘nerve-centre’ or hub the global BPM sourcing industry. BPM industry positions senior domain experts with every clients so that strategic discussions take place. It is a high cost model. BPM gives specialists a great career option.

Joint Venture of TAM and BARC

Shabbir Chunawalla

It has been realized that two TV rating systems are not sustainable as it causes confusion in the industry. Therefore, Broadcast Audience Research Council — BARC and TAM, a joint venture of Nielsen Holdings, US and WPP, UK will form a company to manage the combined meters these two firms have in 32000-odd Indian homes. For the time being, the working title is The Meter Company. There are 32000-34000 panels which would be managed by the Meter Company. The agreement has been reached, and in a few months the company will be operational.