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Adgully, caught up with Raakesh Paswan, producer and writer by profession, who shared his experience as a producer and gave us insights about his present show (as a producer) Afsar Bitiya.

We asked Paswan, to share his experience of the transformation from being a writer to a producer. He said, “Even when I was a writer, I used to always think of starting my own company and becoming a producer. At the age of 16, I wrote my first play and since then, I was involved with theatre. During that phase I wrote 10-12 plays. Later, I joined a radio station and wrote plays for them as well. After that I came to Mumbai and wrote sporadically but for the last 5 years, I have been writing regularly and professionally. As a writer, I have established my contacts in the industry and the broadcasters also trust me. I guess these are very important credentials to become a producer.”

On whether being a writer or a producer, which role he prefers more, Paswan replied, “Both have their own special attributes. Since I play both the roles, I can’t differentiate. Whenever I produce a new show, I conceive and develop the concept and also write down the initial episodes to give it the correct shape. As a writer when I write, my job is done. But now that I am a producer, my job does not end there. I have to ensure that it is depicted properly on screen. It may sound surprising, but because I play both the roles, once for my regional show I re-shot scenes because I did not feel it was depicted correctly. My team is always very scared of me that I am capable of taking such steps such in the future too. Both roles have creative aspects and I am happy to enact both.”

About his previous show as a producer Baba Aiso Var Dhundho, Paswan explained the idea behind such a concept. He said, “I went to a wedding in Jamshedpur, where I saw this 35-year-old lady who was a midget. I was watching her for quite some time and then I saw few of her relatives all of whom were in the 7-8 year age bracket. They had the same height as her. When this lady asked them not to play in the mud, they turned around and pushed her. She reacted very strongly to this. Witnessing that incident made me realize how someone’s height can decide someone’s strength and personality. That was the time I have conceived the idea of Baba and then later on, I gave my own style to make it apt for the daily soap format.”

He also explained the concept behind the show AfsarBitiya. He said, “My own sister, Payel, is a BDO officer in Jharkhand. I have seen her hard work and her willingness to achieve this status. I always encouraged her to pursue education. I also sent her to Delhi to get special tuitions for this. When she got selected for the BDO exams and cleared all the stages, our whole family atmosphere changed. I saw the immense joy and pride in my parents eyes. Then I thought this can be a nice subject for the television viewers, where I can play a key role to inspire people to pursue education.

We asked Paswan, what kind of concept works today in GEC, “I feel there is no certain formula on television which works. I can tell you about my forte for sure. I always have been showcasing socially relevant subjects because I feel audience can relate to that. But I always maintained that it has to be entertaining otherwise viewers will get bored after a few episodes. Hard hitting subjects with the entertainment quotient will do wonders for small screen. When I conceived shows like Bhagyavidhata, Shraddha and Baba Aisom, people were discussing how this subject will work for the audience, but I wrote it in such a way that people can enjoy the stories. It should not be preachy. One should not forget that, television is a medium of entertainment.”

According to Raakesh Paswan, to make a story successful in a daily soap format concept, back drop is very important. And, in a 30 minutes capsule we have to make sure the audience stays tuned. Nowadays, certain channels are touching upon some offbeat subjects, do you think it’s a gamble to launch a show and then keep a watch if it works? “Not a gamble. As a producer when I see shows like ShubhVivah, PunarVivah, KyaHuaTeraVaada, I feel happy. We have seen that even in music industry many changes have happened, so why not in this industry. An audience should taste all kind of flavours,” commented, Paswan.

About where the GEC space heading today, he said, “I can’t answer this properly only a channel head will be able to give you a proper picture. But content wise if you ask me then I can say writers and creators of the shows should get more creative freedom.”

“For people who think and complained that Raakesh only writes rural-based shows, will stop complaining now. I, now am writing a story on Mumbai,” concluded, Paswan.

In the past, Raakesh Pawan, has written atleast twelve shows and the most popular ones include Dulhaan, Mamta, Ek Ladki Anjaani Si, Thodi Khushi Thode Gham,Jahan Pe Basera Ho, Meri Awaz Ko Mil Gayi Roshni and Hamari Devrani which became the turning point. He grew up in Jharkhand and later came to Mumbai and assisted directors in various production houses. He got an opportunity to write episodes for few shows and realised that this is something he always wanted to do.

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Come digitization, the discerning consumer would look for quality, variety and a strong value proposition and operators who have the potential to offer these will stand to gain significantly. Backed by the belief that ‘content is the cornerstone for success’ and a deep understanding of the discerning consumers’ demand for quality and variety entertainment, the Company has positioned its 7 Channel strong bouquet to cater to a wide viewer palette:

1. BIG CBS Prime, a male skewed premium entertainment Channel (male 15+, SECA,7 metros)

2. BIG CBS Love, the first ever international women’s entertainment channel (female 15+, SECA,5 metros)

3. BIG CBS Spark, the first ever International youth Channel (4-24, SECA,7 metros)

4. BIG MAGIC, a variety entertainment Channel for the Hindi heartland (CS 4+ MP,UP, Bihar)

5. Spark Punjabi, the country’s first International Punjabi Channel (CS 4+, Punjab, 1mn+)

6. BIG RTL Channel in the action space

7. BloombergUTV, India’s premier Business news channel (male 25+, SEC A, 7 metros)

With the latest freshest, hottest content from America through BIG CBS Networks, Indian homes can continue to enjoy an unparalleled viewing experience of their favorite international shows. Similarly, the first International Punjabi Channel – Spark Punjabi ensures the PHCHP region also enjoys the best international content, dubbed in their local language. BIG MAGIC is the Hindi heartland’s only variety entertainment channel offering the best home grown content, which meets local sensibilities and is already a favorite amongst consumers. BIG RTL will bring with it some of the best reality and action programming from the world renowned RTL Group, which also houses Fremantle. And finally, BloombergUTV, powered by Bloomberg, the final word in business news globally, offers Indian viewers a differentiated business news viewing experience amongst the monochromatic competitive offering. The channels come together to offer both consumers and operators an excellent offering.

The multi-media campaign will spread across television, radio, out of home and the digital platforms and will be one of the largest initiatives in this space by any broadcaster. The campaign will be further sustained over the next 26 weeks across all Reliance Group platforms, including BIG FM’s 45 station radio network, it’s out of home arm – BIG Street, its 7 Channel Television network and its digital platforms.

Speaking on the Campaign, Vishal Rally, Business Head, BIG CBS Networks said, “Digitization will usher a new era of television broadcasting and the Choose Your Set-Top-Box Wisely campaign has been conceptualised and designed to benefit multiple stake-holders across consumers, operators and the channels. We are excited to present the most distinctive and eclectic content mix to the Indian viewers through our bouquet of channels, and encourage them to make a wise decision so they can continue to enjoy experience.”

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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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NDTV 24×7 has made history by becoming the first news channel from Asia (not just India) to launch on Virgin Media in the UK in their Base Pack, reaching over an estimated 3 million households.

NDTV channels are now available in over 74 countries, reaching over 18 million homes outside India, making it one of the most widely distributed Indian TV networks.

NDTV Good Times, the flagship channel of NDTV Lifestyle, continued to remain the number 1 lifestyle channel in India. Advertising revenue increased by 25%, vis-à-vis the same quarter last year. During the quarter, NDTV Good Times held two high-visibility events – The Royal Reservation Event and The Food Awards – aimed at deepening its relationship with both, viewers and advertisers.

Revenue of NDTV Convergence, which operates the Internet and mobile business of the group, grew by 64% over the same quarter last year. ndtv.com has recorded 1.6 billion page views from April 2011 – January 2012. It continues to be the largest TV website with more than 1.5 billion minutes of video views, during the same period.

NDTV has established itself as the market leader, in India, in news apps. NDTV was awarded the ‘Best Tablet App (Silver)’ at the Asia Digital Media Awards for 2011. The NDTV news app and the NDTV Good Times app was launched as a marquee partner on the Windows phone 7 platform.

During the quarter, the all-new www.ndtvprofit.com site was launched. The Hindi portal was also re-launched, resulting in a significant jump in page views. NDTV video alerts were launched on two of the largest mobile service providers: Airtel and Vodafone.

NDTV Worldwide exhibits a sharp growth in revenue. Revenue grew by 45% over the same quarter last year. NDTV Worldwide continues to strengthen its client base every quarter.

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Commenting on the results for the quarter, Sai Kumar, Group CEO, said, “It has clearly been a sluggish phase for the industry as a whole. Advertising revenues continue to exhibit lacklustre growth and may continue at the same pace over the next few months. Our subscription revenues are on track as projected. During the last quarter, our profits from ontinuing operations were offset by largely one-time costs incurred towards investments in the expansion of our television channel portfolio and the conscious impairment of our film library given the deferment of our Hindi Movies channel. We strengthened our television stable further with launch of new services such as History TV18, Sonic and our HD bouquet comprising of Colors HD, History TV18 HD and CNBC-TV18 Prime HD.”

Television Business

Steady quarter with consolidated revenues at Rs. 342.8 crores and an operating profit of Rs. 28.5 crores from operations excluding one-timers. (Loss of Rs. 33.9 crores on a reported basis)

- Consolidated Revenues were up 9% from Rs. 314.5 crores (proforma) against the corresponding quarter last year.
- Operating Profits stood at Rs. 28.5 crores during the quarter from continuing operations excluding one- time expenses. Our subscription revenues stand at Rs. 65.2 crores for the current quarter and are on track.
- Launched four channels during the quarter – History TV18, Sonic, Colors HD and CNBC TV18 Prime HD. History TV18 has already emerged as the No. 2 channel in the genre and is
challenging the leader.
- During the quarter, partially impaired our film library consequent to the deferment of the proposed Hindi movie channel.

News Operation

Business News Operations delivered a steady quarter and our revenues increased by 11% (Q3FY12 over Q3FY11).
- Q3 FY12 revenues on a reported basis stood at Rs. 87.6 crores, up 11% against Rs. 79 crores against the corresponding quarter last year. Operating profit stood at Rs. 10.8 crores in Q3 FY12.
- Our Business News Channels – CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz continued to be market leaders during the quarter.
- Launched CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, India‟s first HD enabled business news service, where viewers are offered live, unprecedented access to global markets through the day along with
rich and in-depth live financial data and news alerts, through a unique „2 window‟ screen architecture.

b. In the General News Operations, CNN IBN consolidated its leadership position as the channel of choice for English audiences in a highly competitive market.
- Q3 FY12 revenues grew 9% and on a reported basis stood at Rs. 77.3 crores against Rs. 74.4 crores in Q3 FY11.
- CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2011, India‟s most credible honour with a four-tier process in its 6th edition; felicitated the Indian(s) whose contribution to the country in a calendar year that has strengthened the foundation of our society and has helped build Brand India in the process.
- IBN7 continued to have ratings traction. Zindagi Live Awards in November 2011 were well received.
- IBN Lokmat celebrated the festive season with a host of well received special programmes and was also one of the winners at the Ramnath Goenka Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

c. History TV18 was successfully launched in October 2011 with Salman Khan as its brand ambassador and is already the No. 2 in its genre, challenging the leader. It is available in 7
languages now.

Entertainment Business

- Q3FY11 revenues for Viacom 18 on a reported basis stood at Rs. 364.6 crores, up 13% against Rs. 323 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. Our operating profit stood at
Rs. 38.4 crores for the quarter excluding one-time launch expenses and write-offs.
- Colors turned in a steady performance in the Hindi GEC space during the quarter in the backdrop of a highly competitive market environment. The channel continued to deliver ratings
across programming categories: Fiction, Reality and Movies. Big Boss 5 got bigger this year with more than 110 million viewers. The first ever awards show for Colors – Colors Golden
Petal Awards garnered a TVR of 5+, the highest for an awards show during the year. Colors HD was also launched during the quarter.
- MTV and Nick maintained their market leadership in the youth and kids genres respectively. MTV India continues to build and engage multi-platform youth communities. Nick completed
another year of being No. 1 in the kids‟ genre – Nick has been No. 1 for 3 years in a row now.
- Sonic – the channel for the action loving generation was launched on December 20th 2011 with Akshay Kumar as its brand ambassador. The channel has been well received by its target
audience.
- Viacom18 Motion Pictures released two successful movies in Q3 FY2012: Paramount Pictures‟ – „Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol‟ and „Puss in Boots‟

Digital Content and eCommerc

Web18 recorded revenues of Rs. 26.3 crores, a growth of 21% over the corresponding quarter last year on a proforma basis.

- Launched the Moneycontrol.com iPad app during the quarter. The app is now a leader in its category. In.com‟s digital destination for Big Boss 5 was a huge success.
- Ibnlive.in.com and firstpost.com, continued to provide breaking news and views to digital audiences during the quarter. Firstpost now also has Mumbai and Delhi digital editions.
- Bookmyshow.com continued on a growth trajectory and more than 1MM tickets are now booked every month on the portal.

Newswire 18 delivered revenues of Rs. 10.8 crores for the quarter.

HomeShop18 scaled rapidly across all key operating parameters while delivering ‘customer service excellence’ across touch points. HomeShop18 recorded revenues of Rs. 21.3 crores for the quarter, a growth of 28 % over the corresponding quarter last year.

Orders executed during the quarter grew by over 25% over the last quarter and 101% YOY.

- www.homeshop18.com continued to exhibit strong growth momentum and is among the top 3 ecommerce sites in the country in its competition set as per the Comscore data.
- During the quarter, the company received the following two significant awards:
- HomeShop18 was awarded the “Brand Excellence Award in Internet Business” category at the World Brand Congress, 2011 in Mumbai
- HomeShop18 won the „E-Retailer of the year‟ award by Star Retailer at Franchise India 2011

Print Operations – Infomedia18 and Forbes India

- Infomedia18 recorded revenues of Rs. 42.9 crores in Q3FY12.
- Forbes India continued its impressive market leadership. Mumbai Yellow Pages – our flagship product was released during the quarter. Our special interests publishing division continued to grow.
- Ask Me – our local search engine launched in Mumbai during the year is receiving a good response.
b. Capital18 Investee Companies – Capital18 investee companies had a good quarter recording revenues of Rs. 46 crores for the quarter – growing 48% over the last quarter.
c. Other Allied Businesses Sport18 and E18 continued to build and innovate in their respective niche

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As the biggest cricketing event of Bangladesh, BPL will bring all the glitz and glamour of T20, featuring some of the top names in cricket from around the globe with 21 days of non-stop world class cricket action and entertainment. As the definitive rights holder of the best in international sporting events, ESPN STAR Sports will showcase this exciting new T20 event to cricket lovers across Asia, along with Channel 9 which will broadcast the tournament domestically in Bangladesh.

With the match action kicking off on 10 February, this first edition of the Bangladesh Premier League will feature six teams that will play each other twice each in a round-robin format over 33 matches held in Chittagong and Dhaka. Each team will feature a stellar mix of a leading Icon player from Bangladesh along with current T20 stars and cricketing greats including:

Said Joyee Biswas, Director, Programming of ESPN STAR Sports, “We are delighted to support the expansion of T20 to Bangladesh by bringing this exciting new tournament to cricket fans in Asia.

“As the rights holder for some of the globe’s best cricket events including ICC World T20, CL T20, India-Australia test matches, ODI tri-series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka, and England-Australia ODIs, we are pleased to add Bangladesh Premier League to our portfolio of top cricket coverage.”

Said Enayetur Rahman, Managing Director of Channel 9, “As the first GEC channel of Bangladesh with a mix of Sports and Entertainment, and the producer of BPL T20, we are pleased to partner with ESPN STAR Sports to bring BPL to cricket lovers and look forward to a long term relationship.”

Running from 9-29 February the tournament will feature a mix of 1-2 matches per day. On days when two games are played, the first match will begin at 2pm local time followed by the second match at 6.30pm. In addition to the Icon player from Bangladesh, each team is allowed 9 foreign players, 5 of who can play per match per team. The opening ceremony of BPL will commence at 5pm local time on Thursday 9 February.

ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier sports from around the globe featuring some of the most iconic sports events to viewers across 24 countries in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports operates from its Singapore headquarters and has regional offices across six countries in Asia (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, South Korea). ESPN STAR Sports features a comprehensive portfolio of multimedia assets including its 25 television channels, 3 broadband networks, digital content services, and its on-ground Event Management group.

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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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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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A few friends have also tried to contact Jose’s family and even they seem clueless about the whereabouts. Close friends have also noticed that Jose, who is very active on social networking sites have gone dormant and has had no updates for the last week.

One of the biggest worry is to know if Jose is alright wherever he is. Sources from MTV confirmed the news and said “Of course we are upset with Jose’s behaviour, but we are equally worried about his well being. This is very unlike him”. There seems to be no knowledge of when Jose was seen last, hence out of support, MTV has agreed to run a ticker on the channel to spread the word help Jose’s family and well wishers locate him.