MAM
Life OK opens strong with 87 GRPs
MUMBAI: Star India’s latest Hindi general entertainment offering — Life OK –has opened its inning with 87 GRPs (gross rating points) and at No. 6 among the Hindi GECs, as per TAM data for week 52 of 2011 (18-24 December).
Life OK, which was launched on 18 December, has even displaced Imagine TV to No. 7.
Incidentally, Life OK has opened to double of what Star One had been averaging week-on-week. In the week 51, when Star India pulled the plug on Star One, the channel had clocked 44 GRPs.
Interestingly, the last big launch, Colors, had opened with total GRPs of 81, when it was launched in July 2008. Other Hindi GECs like Imagine TV (then NDTV Imagine) had debuted with 55 GRPs in its first week of launch (20-26 January, 2008); 9X recorded a GRP of 21 when launched while Zee Next crawled with a 6 GRP in its opening week.
Life OK was launched with an innovative full-fledged programming schedule. The array of shows included reality, soaps and mythology and movie content.
The channel got a push in its ratings with upfront shows like Rajeev Khandelwal hosted Sach Ka Saamna, UTV Television produced Saubhagyavati Bhava (highest average rating), Mahadev and Meri Maa.
Life OK lags behind market leader big brother Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Colors, Zee TV and Sab.
Media observers say that the channel has pumped in big monies on distribution and promotion of the channel and the daily programming strategy is something new. If the content clicks with the audience, the channel may see further jump in ratings.
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MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
