News Broadcasting
&pictures beats Movies OK on the digital platform
MUMBAI: The promise of &pictures being India’s first interactive Hindi movie channel is strengthened with the unique strategy adopted for the premiere of Chennai Express. The Chennai Express mania refuses to die garnering a staggering 5949 TVTs and propelled the channel to zoom ahead of competition. The Week 47 data issued by TAM reveals the following key highlights:-
&pictures zooms past competition with 112609 GVTs on CS4+, HSM levels
Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM
On the digital platform, &pictures has beaten Movies OK garnering 80129 GVTs
Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM
Chennai Express garners higher Time Spent than that of Boss on Colors
Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM
&pictures garners highest Time Spent in the Hindi Movie genre.
Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM
Chennai Express on &pictures also zips past popular primetime GEC shows like Big Boss, Nach Baliye, CID, KBC, Crime patrol Comedy Nights with Kapil
Source: TAM, wk 47, Cs4+, HSM
The channel had lined up an extensive and innovative marketing campaign including TV, Radio, Print, Outdoor, OOH and Cable for this big ticket premiere that aired on November 23rd. Putting across a differentiated digital strategy helped the channel touch the pulse of the youth through Facebook, Twitter and the blogging community.
The initiative of sending a reminder calls in Shah Rukh Khan’s Voice received a record breaking 153357 unique callers. Selecting four IndiBloggers to relive the journey that SRK and Deepika Padukone had done in the film is clearly a case of achieving success through customer-driven marketing innovation. The bloggers recreated the entire Chennai Express journey which engaged the audiences online. The same was supported by @AndPicturesIN to drive more conversations around the movie premiere. The activation which began on 18th November had four IndiBloggers (Karishma Rawat, Nandini Deka, Arvind Passey & Ramit Narang) travel via Chennai Express train from Mumbai to Rameshwaram. It proved to be an effective medium of getting the audience engaged with the blogging community who kept throwing them challenges enroute their journey. The link www.indiblogger.in/chennaiexpress had live updates from the 4 bloggers and they created record breaking conversations on twitter & Facebook.
Talking about the marketing strategy, Akash Chawla, ZEEL, National Channels, Marketing Head, said, “The rise of social media and the increasingly connected customer makes us continuously think out of the box to engage them in newer and interesting ways. By allowing our viewers to experience a film in person before they see it in their own homes, we ensured that &pictures is synonymous with quality and a channel that puts their viewers first. This innovation in the online space has reaped us the benefit across platforms. It has helped us to overcome existing and emerging challenges and set benchmarks which we look to break again in the near future.”
He adds, “Remarkably, the campaign saw an additional 500 tweets with #chennaiexpressandyou even after the film had premiered. The campaign successfully reached out to a whopping 1.4 unique Twitter users and received over 14 million impressions on Twitter. The impressions via IndiBlogger network was a staggering record 1 Million + and including the impressions generated by four bloggers traveling it comes to a whopping 6.6 million. Owing to the phenomenal response received by this activation, #chennaiexpressandyou was the most talked about topic on Twitter so much that we broke Twitter.”
&pictures marketing strategy for the premiere of Chennai Express was a unique blend of traditional and digital mediums with innovation and differentiation.
News Broadcasting
Kamlesh Singh receives Haldi Ghati Award from MMCF
India Today Group editor honoured for three decades of journalism at Udaipur ceremony.
MUMBAI- Kamlesh Singh just turned a lifetime of sharp words into a shiny shield because when journalism wakes up a society, even the Maharana of Mewar wants to pin a medal on it.
The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) conferred its prestigious Haldi Ghati Award on Kamlesh Singh, a senior editor at the India Today Group, during a ceremony in Udaipur on 15 March 2026. The national award, instituted in 1981-82, recognises “work of permanent value that initiates an awakening in society through the medium of journalism.”
Singh, who leads several editorial initiatives including Aaj Tak Radio, the Teen Taal community and The Lallantop, was presented the honour by Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Managing Trustee of MMCF. The citation highlighted his three decades of contributions to Indian media, innovations in digital journalism, mentoring young reporters, and his popular podcast persona “Tau” on Teen Taal, which fosters thoughtful public discourse.
The Haldi Ghati Award, named after the historic Battle of Haldighati symbolising valour and resilience, is one of four national awards given annually by MMCF. Past recipients include Tavleen Singh, Piyush Pandey and Raj Chengappa.
Other honourees this year included Padma Vibhushan Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Vedamurti Devvrat Rekhe, Treeman of India Marimuthu Yoganathan, Vir Chakra Capt Rizwan Malik, and US-based researcher Molly Emma Aitken, who received the Colonel James Tod Award for contributions to understanding Mewar’s spirit and values.
In an era where headlines often shout louder than substance, the MMCF quietly reminded everyone that real journalism isn’t about noise, it’s about the quiet, persistent work that stirs society awake, one thoughtful story at a time.
