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Ormax Media launches Ormax Brand Matrix for viewership maximisation
MUMBAI: Media insights firm Ormax Media announced the launch of Ormax Brand Matrix (OBM), a viewership maximisation tool. Broadcasters across categories can utilise OBM to identify a focused plan to increase viewership by upto 20 per cent within six months as the firm claims.
The tool has been created using Ormax Media’s expertise in the area of television insights, built over more than five years, with an experience of working across 55 television channels in India.
Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor elaborated: “Channels make huge investments, both in terms of time and money, to increase their viewership. But it is well known how difficult getting new viewers, or more time-spent from existing viewers, can be. Traditionally, viewers have been segmented by age, gender, markets, SEC and intensity of viewing, such as heavy and light viewers. In Ormax Brand Matrix, we have turned the idea of viewer segmentation on its head, and used a radically different approach – one that’s simple, intuitive and effective in equal measure.”
Ormax Brand Matrix uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative research to recommend a viewership maximisation blueprint to channels using the product. But Kapoor believes the real power of OBM lies in its construct, adding: “Brand research can be very high on good-to-know value but poor on actionability. While developing OBM, we were very conscious that the tool had to be completely action-oriented, with only one goal – viewership maximisation. If an information need or data point is not going to help a channel increase their viewership, it’s not a part of OBM.”
National and regional channels across categories can commission an OBM project, which has been custom-made for GECs, movies, news, music, infotainment, lifestyle, kids, youth, etc. Four channels as per Ormax are already using Ormax Brand Matrix, in less than a month since the product has been ready after two years of extensive research.
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
