GECs
And now a 3D mobile game for Colors’ 24
MUMBAI: It has been three weeks since Indian audiences have been introduced to a new fictional TV format in the form of real time story telling through the first international adaptation of the American hit 24. With a 360 degree marketing campaign – almost like that used for full length feature films – to help create the buzz around the series, host channel Colors has decided to perk it up by throwing in a sparkling digital ingredient for viewers.
And it’s coming in the form of a 3D interactive mobile game for iOS and Android phones. Developed by Gameshashtra Solutions, it is targeted at those who want to have the thrill of playing Jai Singh Rathod (Anil Kapoor) – the main protagonist of the show – while on the go. Called ‘Safari Storme 24 – The Game’, it is available for download only in India. It will allow gamers to go through three maps of Worli, Dadar and Parel with 30 levels of two minutes each. As of now only the Worli route is available while the other two will be launched in the coming weeks.The first map of Worli is a rooftop setting.
Four and a half months went into creating the 3D game. Fans will keep going through levels, scoring points, winning ammunition and then checking scores with others on the ‘leaderboard’ through their Facebook or Twitter accounts.
“The three locations in the game are also there in the series,” says Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava. “We kept the game in the spirit of the show by taking the concept ‘race against time’ rather than the political drama in it,” he adds.
Explaining the game technique Srivastava says that players have two ways of surviving – hit and survive or duck and survive. As the game levels progress, the enemies come in hordes and ammunition also stacks up.
Coming up with a 3D game has probably cost sack fulls of money, apart from what has already been invested in the expensive show. But the channel seems to not be too worried about it.
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Vivek Srivastava is targeting a million downloads of the game |
“For the first season it is not about making money,” says Srivastava who is aiming at getting 1 million downloads for the free game. However, advertisements will be inserted into the game that would give them some amount of revenue.
24 is Colors biggest fiction property created by Anil Kapoor Productions and Ramesh Deo Productions (RDP). Delly Belly director Abhinay Deo is the series director while Rensil D’Silva is the scriptwriter.
The show is presented by Safari Storme while Next is one of the associate sponsors. The launch day saw it garner 3.4 million viewers with most of it coming from the urban areas while the second week saw it get an average of 2.6 million viewers.
“Television executives in India are increasingly understanding that you can take a TV show into other experiences for viewers. Look at KBC which has a game which allows fans to test their general knowledge skills online and on the mobile. And now Colors has developed a 24 game which will allow youngsters and old alike to shoot, and kill while rising up in levels,” says a media observer. “The fact that it is primarily for the mobile will bring in a lot of fans who will play the game when they have a few minutes to spare, whether in the bus or the train or in between meetings. It’s a great move. Hopefully, some of the gamers who are not viewers of the series will be lured to watch it after playing the game.”
Another media observer says that there is little hope of 24 ever becoming a massy series along the lines of soaps and dramas. “It’s great to flog the horse, but the horse only has that many backers,” says she. “Colors has gambled with 24 and it is to be lauded for the effort especially in terms of taking TV production and narrative to a different level. But it should bear in mind that 24 is going to be a niche affair for some time. So it should not expect too many incremental gains from the game as well.”
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
