Week at a glance: Zee’s &flix; Ad gyaan from Martin Sorrell, John Hegarty

ZEEL expands English movies offering with &flix; bullish on & brand
After the launch of &Privé HD, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited is now expanding its English movies portfolio with &flix. The SD and HD channel will go live across all leading DTH and digital cable platforms on June 3, 2018 at 1 pm with the premiere of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. With the brand proposition of ‘Leap Forth’, &flix will focus on a distinct set of viewers who seek enthrallment and covet challenges. 

Out of WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell remains bullish on India for new venture
Fresh from the announcement of his deal with Derriston Capital, Sir Martin Sorrell addressed the Indian audience for the first time after quitting as the WPP CEO, via a live video chat from London at the Zee Melt 2018 on May 30. According Sorrell, the advertising and marketing industry is a trillion dollar industry, with traditional media and communication services comprising $500 billion and the new media comprising $500 billion. He further said, “If I look at WPP today and over the last few years, India has become a pivotal economy for WPP. 

Advertising has a huge responsibility: Sir John Hegarty
Sir John Hegarty, Founder, Creative, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, has some sharp words regarding the state of creativity in advertising today. According to him, most of the creativity is crap, with only 10 per cent of it that is good. “The problem of advertising is that we inflict our 10 per cent on people. If a book or a movie is not up to the mark, we don’t read it or go and watch it. On the other hand, the industry inflicts its ads on people for which they get paid,” he said. 

586% ratings growth for Discovery Kids with Little Singham’s launch: Vikram Tanna
April of this year saw Discovery Kids fortifying its presence in the country with launch of a new animation series, ‘Little Singham’. The channel claims to have achieved a whopping 586 per cent ratings growth with the launch of ‘Little Singham’ in Week 17. In conversation with Adgully, Vikram Tanna, VP, Head of Advertising Sales and Business Head of Regional Clusters, Discovery Communications India, speaks at length about the developments in the kids’ genre in India, what kids want to watch today, and much more. 

StarPlus unveils new look, refreshes content line-up
StarPlus, India’s leading general entertainment channel, embarks on an exciting new journey with a fresh look, brand identity and a variety of exciting new shows that reflect today’s young contemporary India. the channel has also roped in one of the most talented and dynamic youth icons of the country, Alia Bhatt, as the face of the brand campaign. 

Ke Hobe Bangla r Kotipoti will be about human stories & drama: Ravish Kumar
Colors Bangla is upping its game in weekday prime time viewing with ‘Ke Hobe Bangla r Kotipoti’, the iconic quiz gameshow ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ regionalised in Bangla. Produced by Big Synergy Media, the show will premiere on July 16, 2018 and air every Monday to Friday at 9.00 pm. Taking the reigns as the host will be National award-winning actor Prosenjit Chatterjee. Ravish Kumar, Head – Regional Entertainment, Viacom18, speaks to Adgully about Colors’ strategy to grow in the regional markets. 

Sony firms up TV + Digital plans to deepen engagement for Dus Ka Dum
Sony Entertainment Television is ready to put on its game face for ‘Dus Ka Dum’ from June 4, 2018. The show, that saw the debut of Salman Khan on Indian television, is all set to come back after 9 years with the very same superstar as the host. Produced by Big Synergy, this new season of ‘Dus Ka Dum’ boasts of an all-new format. With its TV + Digital approach, the show promises to deepen engagement with the viewers. 

300+ campaigns by 120 brands in contention for Star Re.Imagine Awards
With the 11th edition of IPL wrapping up on May 27, 2018, Star India is now all geared for the inaugural edition of the Star Re.imagine Awards, which will recognise creativity and innovation in the use of integrated media in advertising campaigns aired during the Vivo IPL 2018 on Star Sports and Hotstar. A high powered jury, including advertising legend Sir John Hegarty, met in Mumbai on May 26 to deliberate on the winners and select two campaigns that they believe have excelled in terms of creativity and leveraging the platform. 

IPL 2018 is the buzziest so far, garners 16.7 mn conversations: Wavemaker report
IPL 2018 is the most buzziest till date, shattering all previous records. The tournament garnered 16.7 million total conversations, 3X times that in 2017, as per a Wavemaker Mesh report. The final between CSK and SRH was the most talked about match, generating over 240,000 mentions. CSK not only won the IPL2018 trophy, but also secured the No. 1 spot on Social Buzz, beating other teams by quite a margin. 

Mobile internet to reach 28% of media use in 2020: Zenith report
The spread of mobile devices and rapid mobile data networks has transformed global media consumption in recent years. 24 per cent of all media consumption across the world will be mobile this year, up from just 5 per cent in 2011, according to Zenith’s Media Consumption Forecasts 2018. By 2020, this proportion is expected to reach 28 per cent as the mobile internet takes share from almost all other media. The rise of mobile is also forcing brands to transform the way they plan their communications across media. 

Search ad-spend to reach $100.5 bn; mobile search at $62.7 bn in 2018: WARC Data
Following an analysis of WARC’s ad spend data for its 12 key markets – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and US – search advertising spend is expected to amount to $100.5 billion in 2018, an increase of 11 per cent from $90.5 billion in 2017. This equates to one in five dollars spent on advertising worldwide this year. Mobile search is expected to attract $62.7 billion this year – 62.4 per cent of total search spend within WARC’s 12 key markets. 

Zee Melt Day 1: When Tom Fishburne praised Amul’s serial storytelling idea
Day 1 of Zee Melt 2018, held in Mumbai on May 30 and 31, was a reverberating hub of insightful sessions and workshops across industry domains. It brought together ideas that connect marketing, communication and technology and the most valuable leaders and brand marketers from across the globe under one roof. 

If you do just digital, ROI can go horribly wrong - Punit Misra
The two-day disruptive marketing, communications and technology conclave – Zee Melt 2018 – concluded on a high note on May 31. Day 2 witnessed impressive and engaging sessions across the advertising, television and technology domains. Zee Melt, as the name suggests, had innovative ideas, workshops and sessions across marketing, technology and communication space forming synergies. 

When women take the streets, they can light fires: Babita Baruah
Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB India, made a strong case for gender equality in the workplace as well as all spheres of life in her address on ‘The Glint of Broken Glass: Breaking The Glass Ceiling’ at Zee Melt 2018. 

BARC Wk 21: Zee Anmol continues strong; shows from Zee stable rule
BARC ratings for Week 21 of 2018 (May 19-25) [HSM (U+R): NCCS All : 2+ Individuals] saw Zee Anmol surge ahead of the rest of the top 10 channels, further widening the gap with the No. 2 channel (Rishtey). Shows from the Zee stable (3 from Zee TV and 2 from Zee Anmol) continued to capture all the top 5 slots of Hindi GEC shows in Rural+Urban this week.