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The English entertainment space is highly competitive and populated with 8 players and the advent of Comedy Central in India marked the entry of the 9th player. According to TAM, Comedy Central just in its second week of its launch garnered 14% market share in the SEC AB, 15-34, 7 metros (barring Chennai) category in the week which ended from 29th January to 4th February. Comedy Central, now on the 3rd spot has deposed established players like Zee Cafe, BIG CBS & BBC Entertainment among others.

Ferzad Palia, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, English Entertainment, Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. Added “We at Comedy Central are ecstatic with the way the channel has driven in viewership in its second week of launch. It’s definitely been a great start to the New Year. This surely proves that India is ready for a dedicated 24*7 comedy channel and with time Comedy Central will prove its prowess amongst its competitors.”

Comedy Central is available in approximately 20 million households across the country and is available across analog, digital cable & DTH.

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Furthermore, for the second year running, Havas Media also found that most people would not care if 70% of brands ceased to exist and evidence says that the existing approaches to building and measuring brand value are out of date. As a direct response, Havas Media has launched “Meaningful Brands,” a global framework that offers a new index, analysis and proprietary tools to measure and build brand value in the context of today’s demanding environment.

The research was carried out from March to June 2011 across 14 markets – France, Spain, UK, Germany, Italy, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, China, Japan and India. The research took into account the views of 50,000 consumers via online panels.

This innovative global undertaking that covers India and China in Asia Pacific enables us, for the first time, to connect brands with our quality of life and wellbeing. It does this by measuring the perceived impact of brands on our personal wellbeing – their influence on factors such as our health, fitness, happiness, values, social relationships, financial security, lifestyles and habits – and our collective wellbeing, that is, how brands help to improve communities, societies and the environment.

The key consumer trends in China and India include:

74% and 62% say they would pay 10% more for socially and environmentally responsible goods in China and India (highest globally aside from Chile).

Information and expense are the main barriers to socially responsible consumption, with credibility being another key issue in both markets.

84% in China feel it’s the responsibility of companies rather than the government to solve social and environmental issues (compared with 64% in 2009) and 76% in India with a similar increase since 2009.

95% and 85% say they trust companies with a responsible or social profile more than those without in China and India respectively.

Empowerment is down in China: 64% feel that they can make a difference to how companies behave and this is static in India at 71%.

But so is cynicism: 71% feel that most companies are only trying to be responsible to improve their image and only 12% trust what companies say in this area.

On the research part, Vishnu Mohan, CEO of Havas Media Asia Pacific, said: “The findings of Meaningful Brands analysis are especially relevant for marketers in Asia. It clearly shows the seriousness with which consumers in Asia look at the social, ethical and environmental aspects of a brand. As a region, which is growing at a rapid pace, the findings provide us a huge opportunity to create the context that promotes the growth of meaningful brands. Companies and brands operating in our region can play a big role in transforming the lives of millions of people and contribute to the progress of their societies.”

“By contrast, the situation in developed economies is the opposite. Brands in these regions are no longer seen to improve people’s quality of life. There is an aging and increasingly poorer middle class who are demanding that brands help them to lead and create new lifestyles that fit in to their new expectations and values. In order to survive, these brands must re-evaluate their definitions of success and take up the challenge to make meaningful contributions to these people’s lives.” Added, Mohan.

People in fast growing economies, such as Asian and Latin American markets, record a stronger and healthier relationship with brands. The proportion of brands making a notable positive contribution to our lives increases to around 57 % in China, 30% in Latin America, compared to 8% in European markets, where people tend to be more sceptical and less engaged with brands. In the US it’s 5%. The analysis suggests that the next generation of brands will come from emerging economies.

Meaningful Brands helps us to develop this type of relationship by understanding exactly what people expect from brands. It also shows us that there’s a big business opportunity for brands that are able to satisfy consumers by creating wellbeing in the context of their new values, expectations and local market realities.

Meaningful Brands would help us to track how successful companies are responding to these needs by understanding how these companies are contributing to our wellbeing, both as citizens and individuals, and how they communicate these values to us.

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Though Sony entertainment remained at the second position but lost 20 GRPs and recorded 217 GRPs whereas Colors, took a huge jump of 30 GRPs last week, recorded 204 GRPs this week after losing 26 GRPs but remains at the third position.

Zee TV sticks to the 4th position and recorded 179 GRPs after gaining 7 GRPs whereas SAB TV also stays at the 5th position and recorded 133 GRPs after gaining 1 GRP.

Similarly Life Ok also remained at the 6th position but again lost 2 GRPs this week and registered 83 GRPs. Imagine TV also continues to stay at the 7th position but lost 6 GRPs and registered 55 GRPs this week.

Though the week remains dull for the channels but let’s see how it was for the programs. This time top 4 positions are taken over by Star’s shows. Saath Nibhana Sathiya takes over its 1st position with 6.21 TVRs. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai slips to the second position with 6.18 TVRs. Diya Aur Bati Hum takes over the third slot with 6.1 TVRs and on the fourth position is Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon with 4.70 TVRs. Closing the chart was C.I.D at the fifth position with 4.15 TVRs.

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MRSS India will offer Indian marketers local access to best breed of technology for consumer insight generation.

Panchal has more than two decades of experience in Market Research. He holds a master’s degree in management studies from Jamnalal Bajaj institute of Management studies and has worked in P&G prior to his career with D&B, VNU and Nielsen.

Majestic MRSS, Asia’s largest independent full service multi-country market research company, has presence in over 18 countries. It has been working with clients in the Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, FMCG, ICT, Automotive, Hospitality, Retail and Media sectors. It conducts research across APAC and MENA regions, and has always been at the forefront of technology-enabled research.

Speaking about MRSS India, Panchal said, “It has been over a decade now that I have observed Majestic MRSS closely. I have developed lot of respect for this company over a period of time for its understanding of our industry, and the company’s ability to leverage technology. My primary role here is to mentor the leadership team that we are putting in place. With my experience, I am best positioned to guide them on what not to do, and what will work. We expect the full team to be in place by the end of the month.

Commenting on today’s scenario of Indian Market Research Industry, Panchal said, “Research agencies need to continue to be receptive to understanding clients needs in today’s dynamic world. Further, extensive use of technology while delivering true consumer insight is something clients appreciate in an internet and digital world. Our aim at MRSS India is to further leverage the use of technology to offer better and customized services. We will continue adding more innovative and strategic technologies as we become one of the leading players in India. We are pioneers in getting technology in the Asia-Pacific region, and now ready to introduce them to India.”

Speaking on apppointing Panchal as advisor, Raj Sharma , Co-founder and President of Majestic MRSS said , “We know Panchal through his work and contribution to the Market research industry in India. His knowledge, associations and active presence in the industry will bring instant recognition to MRSS India as a brand with global technological leadership and hyper-local understanding. We believe that embracing digital is the new marketing imperative. It is a game changer, and how companies will win, moving forward.

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When together, the youth hold the power to create, choose and change their icons. Digital Socialites mark a revolutionary shift into the way idols are perceived which is why today there is no perfect idol but there is a “perfect youth”. Instead, every idol has one exceptional quality that the youth adopts to make themselves a better package. Youth prefers adopting qualities than copying. The difference is that while adopting means taking and exception feature from an idol and blending it with one’s own personality.

By MTV Insights Studio:

MTV Insights Studio brings you the latest from the life of the youth. This unique understanding comes from being a part of their lives every day and not from watching them from the outside. The statistics and trends are taken from various MTV youth studies including Age of Sinnocence, Digital Socialite, Recreation Redefined and discussions on MTV iSpeak. The researches capture responses from 15-24 years across 10+ cities across India. MTV iSpeak is a network of youth in age of 18-24 years from colleges across 10 cities provides a continuous connect to the youth life. For more youth trends, please click on www.mtvplay.in or write to us at insights@mtvindia.com

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STAR Pravah’s Pudhcha Paul (7.30 pm Mon- Sat) and Swapnanchya Palikadle fetch the highest TVR at their slots beating all Hindi and Marathi General Entertainment with a 4.1 and 4.2 TVR respectively. Star Pravah’s Bhandaa Saukhya Bhare (6.30) pm also rules the slot amongst all entertainment channels.

The Channel that has been engaging in providing the best Marathi content across all genres ranks No 1 in Pune with 139 GRPs.

Shrabani Deodhar, Programming Head, STAR Pravah says,” At Star Pravah we have been constantly reinventing and innovating our content offering for our audiences and are happy with the response of the viewers.”

In addition to the fiction content, STAR Pravah has also been committed to premiering some of the biggest and the best Marathi blockbusters weeks within the theatrical release. 2 out of the top 5 rated movies of 2011; Fakt Ladh Mahana (4.5) and Moraya (4.1) across Hindi and Marathi GEC markets belong to the STAR Pravah bouquet.

Commenting on this landmark achievement, Yogesh Manwani, VP Marketing, says,” Our differentiated content offering coupled with our wide scale consumer engagement initiatives have helped us widen our reach and boost the brand affinity. It is our continuous endeavour to entertain and engage our viewers through our offerings.”

Source* – TAM C&S 4+ Maharashtra markets Week 5’12

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About three in ten (27%) Indian employees have expressed that they are ‘very likely’ to relocate to another city in India if they were offered a full-time job opportunity in the near future, for a minimum of two years with at least a 10% pay raise and all moving expenses covered and another 48 percent are ‘somewhat likely’ to consider the option of relocation within India.

Two in ten (19%) employees in 24 countries would be ‘very likely’ to take a full-time job in another country for two to three years with a 10% pay increase. Those most likely to say they would relocate internationally were from Mexico (34%), Brazil (32%), Russia (31%), Turkey (31%) and India (28%).

“It is interesting to observe that employees from developed countries like Sweden, USA, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, and France are least likely to relocate compared to employees in developing countries like Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Turkey and India,” said Biswarup Banerjee, Head of Marketing Communications, Ipsos in India.

“This clearly indicates that employees in developed countries still believe their national economy will rebound strongly and provide them enough good job opportunities to grow in future,” added Banerjee.

Global employees report they would be most motivated to move abroad for the new job offer by the following incentives: a guaranteed option to return to their current role after two years, (35% say this would make them ‘much more likely to take the job’), 10% pay increase (31%), round trip tickets to visit home (30%) and paid language training if necessary (29%).

Appetite for International Experience

Employees in 24 countries were asked to consider the opportunity of a full-time job available in another country at least three to five hours away by plane for anywhere between two or three years with a minimum 10% increase in pay.

Two in ten (19%) report they are ‘very likely’ to consider moving to this new job. Three in ten (30%) are ‘somewhat likely,’ one quarter (25%) are ‘not very likely’ and another quarter (26%) say they are ‘not at all likely.’

Employees in Mexico appear most motivated by this opportunity, as one third of their employee population (34%) reports being ‘very likely’ to move abroad, followed by Brazil (32%), Russia (31%), Turkey (31%), India (28%) and Saudi Arabia (27%).

On a global basis, those most likely to be ‘very likely’ to take the job opportunity are: low income (32%), low education (31%), under the age of 35 (30%), a senior executive/ decision maker at their work (29%) and men (29%).

When asked to indicate their top reasons for why they would relocate, four in ten (38%) say they would do so because of the better pay. Other reasons employees gave for their interest in moving abroad include: better living conditions (28%), that it is a good career move to get international experience (27%), a new adventure (15%) and time for a change/ fresh start (15%).

More than one third (36%) global employees would not relocate internationally if enough money/ compensation for such a move are not offered. Other top reasons for not relocating are: Three in ten (30%) say they don’t want to leave their friends and family behind (30%), two in ten (18%) say their partner has a job preventing a transfer, 15% say it would be too far/ remote to take the other position while 13% say it is too late in their career and another 13% say they don’t want to uproot children from schools and friends.

Incentives to Move Abroad

There are some incentives that employers could offer workers to encourage a move to that new international job. One third (35%) of employees in 24 countries report that a guarantee to be able to move back to their current role after two years with further relocation assistance would make them ‘much more likely to take the job.’ Three in ten (31%) say the 10% pay raise would motivate them this way, while another three in ten (30%) say that would be much more likely to relocate if they and their immediate family members would each get one round trip airfare per person to travel back home or have two round trip tickets. For 29% of global employees, paid language training (if necessary) would make them much more likely to relocate while 28% would be similarly motivated by being provided with education courses to upgrade their skills.

Three in Ten (27%) Would Make the Local Move

Employees were also asked to consider a similar relocation opportunity to another city: If they had a full-time job opportunity in the near future that would mean relocating to another city in their country, for a minimum of two years with at least a 10% pay raise and all moving expenses covered, 27% report they would be ‘very likely’ to take the job. Four in ten (37%) report they would be ‘somewhat likely’ while one quarter (23%) would be ‘not very likely’ and 13% would be ‘not at all likely.’

Those most likely to relocate to a new city are from Mexico (44% ‘very likely’), Brazil (42%), Italy (40%), Argentina (35%), Poland (33%) and Spain (33%).

Globally, those with low income (32%), low education (31%), under 35 (30%), not married (30%), men (29%) and a senior executive or decision maker at their work (29%) appear most likely to relocate to a new city.

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Speaking on this success Kumar Ketkar, Chief Editor, said, “Divya Marathi is a newspaper completely defined by the readers of Aurangabad. As they have stated in the pre-launch survey, a need for unbiased, politically non-aligned news coverage, Divya Marathi editorial content and design reflects this philosophy of Courageous unbiased journalism and has been hugely appreciated by the readers of Aurangabad. In such a short period, 65% of Divya Marathi readers have stopped reading any other newspaper and 87% state that Divya Marathi has met or surpassed their expectations.”

Divya Marathi currently has 4 editions in Maharashtra, Auranagabd, Nasik, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar.

Vinay Maheshwari VP, Sales and market development says, “The success of Divya Marathi reflects in its high SEC A readership and the profile of its readers. The IMRB survey also reveals that Divya Marathi reader belongs to SEC A/B/C household with SSC/HSC or higher education, living in a house with average of 3 rooms. 57% of the readers have an average monthly income of Rs 10,000+ and they are upwardly mobile. They are comparatively young, believe in investments for future, assuring future by picking up the right kind of life & non-life insurance policies. They have high ownership of durable products such as personal computers, refrigerators, colour televisions, credit cards and four wheelers. For them, Advertisements in newspapers as well as their peer group form the major source of awareness for purchase decisions.’

As per Peter Suresh; Head Strategy at Dainik Bhaskar Group, “We as a standard operating process regularly conduct readership survey for our newly launched editions. As the IRS figures take time to reflect ground realities, these surveys help us to gauge reader connect and editorial direction. The survey also help in bringing alive the changed dynamics of the markets to media planners and advertisers. ’

The IMRB survey was initiated by DB Corp Ltd.

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Fitch notes that TV broadcasters generate 70%-90% of revenues from advertising compared with about 70% for newspaper publishers, and are therefore likely to be the worse hit in this area. However, the broadcasters that have diversified their revenue base towards subscription are expected to perform better than those with a higher exposure to advertising revenue.
The rising newsprint cost, which is the largest operating cost for newspaper publishers and typically accounting for 40%-50% of total operating costs, is likely to pressure the operating margins of the print media industry. At end-November 2011, domestic newsprint prices increased by 13.4% and international newsprint prices by 7.0% compared with the average prices in 2010, respectively. The recent depreciation of the Indian rupee has lead to a further increase in the effective price of the international newsprint.

Fitch expects the Indian media industry to grow at a rate of 8%-12% in 2012. Given the high newsprint costs and expected lower revenue growth, margins of the print media industry are likely to fall to the range of 18%-22%. Broadcasting industry margins are expected to fall to the range of 24%-28%. The lower profitability would lead to the deterioration of the credit metrics of the companies in these two sectors.

Fitch believes that the introduction of mandatory cable TV digitisation in India would improve the business profile of multi-system operators over the medium- to long-term. Also, radio phase-III auctions are believed to be positive for the industry in the long-term. However, the credit profiles of operators are expected to worsen in the short- to medium-term as successful bidders will have to pay non-refundable one-time entry fees.

Fitch-rated Indian media and entertainment companies include Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd. (‘Fitch A-(ind)’/Stable), Rajasthan Patrika Private Limited (‘Fitch BBB+(ind)’/Stable) and Stargaze Entertainment Private Limited (‘Fitch BB-(ind)’/Negative).

The report, “2012 Outlook: Indian Media & Entertainment – Reduced Advertising Spending Threatens Margins”, is available on www.fitchratings.com.

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`Saathiya Saath Nibhana’ and `Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain’ brought in the highest ratings for the Star franchise, with a 5.3 TVR each, while `Diya Aur Baati Hum,’ the channel’s gender-stereotype breaker, had a strong 5.2 TVR. `Is Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon’ (4.2 TVR) completed the top 4 sweep. The crowning glory was that nine of Star Plus’ shows were declared slot leaders.

The channel delivered 306 GRPs this week, clearly underscoring its leadership position across channels and categories.

Nitin Vaidya, Business Head, Hindi Channels, STAR India, said, “The consistent performance and popularity of our shows reiterate STAR Plus’ commitment to quality entertainment and world-class programming. Our constant endeavor is to re-invent the ‘nayi soch’ in the society with every show we conceive, design and offer.”