MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television (SET) seems to be focusing strongly on its strength, which is in the non-fiction space. After a victorious innings of four entertaining seasons that packaged non-stop entertainment, the channel is back with Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega with its fifth edition. Starting from 12 May, the channel is betting big by airing the show for five days a week at 9pm.

With its maverick judges, Anu Malik and Farah Khan spicing up this season, the show will also have the gorgeous Mona Singh hosting the show with her impeccable style and grace. Joining Mona will be her hilarious co-host, Krushna Abhishek, who with his funny antics will ratchet up the humour quotient and take the madness to a whole new level.

Produced by Wizcraft Entertainment, it will see acts ranging from heart-stopping bike gymnastics to an international illusion act straight from France. Handpicked contestants from all over the country will display their extraordinary skills and talents at the auditions, and the best among them voted by the audience and the judges, will win Rs 11,111 on the spot in cash. Additionally, the best performer of each week will receive a cash prize of Rs 1, 00,000.

Speaking about the launch, Sony SVP and head marketing Gaurav Seth explains: “Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega is a show that celebrates extraordinary talents in ordinary people and the uniqueness and the sheer variety of entertainment in India. This season has lots more entertainment and breathtaking acts that will leave the viewers amazed. We are thrilled to yet again have the unbeatable team of Anu Malik and Farah Khan who will be judging the show for its fifth year. We are offering a differentiated and entertaining option in primetime viewing and we hope our viewers enjoy watching it.”

“Wizcraft is proud to be back with the fifth season of Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega, a show that showcases unique entertainers where performers get a chance to win some money at every step unlike other shows where only one wins in the finale. Along with the baap of entertainers Anu Malik and Farah Khan, adding a freshness to show will be the new host Krushna along with Mona, whose chemistry is infectious. We are sure this season of Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega will take the entertainment quotient to another level”, opines Wizcraft International Entertainment creative head Kailash Gandhi.

The show is going to face hard hitting competition with shows like Diya Aur Baati Hum on Star Plus, Beintehaa on Colors, Chidiya Ghar on Sab, Nadaan Parinde on Life OK and Kumkum Bhagya on Zee TV.

MUMBAI: Crackle – the free video streaming platform – backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment is strengthening its content library. It has now signed a deal with NBCUniversal for the exclusive rights to more than 140 movies over the next three years.

The agreement will see movies such as Ray, Jarhead and the remake of King Kong that will be will be exclusively available on the service but won’t appear on other ad-supported distributors including television channels.

This certainly cements the fact that Sony is much focused on improving its video streaming service, even after Crackle shut shop in UK beginning 1 April. This also shows its willingness to go against the grain of other streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, which work primarily on subscription models.

This move makes Crackle something of a hybrid, operating as a streaming service but making deals like a television channel. The acquisition of exclusive rights provides the service with what it hopes will be content that draws viewers.

Since it is entirely supported by ads, Crackle’s strategy is to appear on as many platforms as possible. The streaming channel is currently on 27 different devices including gaming consoles, streaming set-top boxes and connected televisions.

Crackle was formerly known as Grouper, which Sony bought in 2006 for $65 million. Its original iteration placed it in competition with YouTube more than streamers like Netflix. Sony decided to rebrand it as Crackle in 2007 as a streaming and movie TV library.

Sony has struggled more broadly, spinning off its TV business and selling its computer division.

MUMBAI: For Endemol India that has established itself as a leader in the reality TV space and has expanded into other strands of content, it has been a roller coaster ride.

Although crime shows on TV are common with almost every channel, but the way Sony Entertainment Television (SET) has accepted this genre, nobody has, believe the experts of the industry.

Crime always sells and it is this genre that has worked for the channel which is currently languishing among the bottom three GECs, according to the weekly TAM TV ratings.

CID and Crime Patrol has been airing for years and it won’t be wrong to say that the shows belong to the crime space.  To get back its long lost position in the ratings chart, SET is set to launch Encounter on 11 April. Produced by Endemol India, the show will be hosted by Manoj Bajpayee.

Encounter, as the name suggests, is an account of the dangerous encounters between cops and gangsters. It will bring alive the stories behind the famous encounters of the police and the underworld in India starting from the early nineties. Inspired by real-life incidents, the show aims at redefining the proverbial action series on television.

The promos of the show that is to air 36 episodes have already hit the television screens and will be telecast every Friday to Sunday at 9 pm. It will replace the channel’s dance reality property Boogie Woogie that is shown on Saturday and Sunday while it will also take away a day’s telecast of Nandini (aired at 9 pm) and Jee Le Zara (aired at 9.30 pm) that airs on Fridays. Sources indicate that the latter will be shutting its shop very soon due to poor ratings.

SET senior vice president, head-marketing Gaurav Seth believes that crime shows are the channel’s strength. “There are a lot of crime shows on television but we believe that such shows are our strength. People talk to us in big numbers, watch the crime genre and believe that we do it well. Whether its CID or Crime Patrol, these are the shows which have cult following over a period of time because people think that this is something Sony does best. We want to continue that trend.”

Spelling out the reason of getting Bajpayee on board Seth avers, “He is going to play a very interesting role of narrating the stories from the inside. He has got most implacable credentials when it comes to this genre and has also played humorous characters that have actually stood out in Indian cinema.”

SET has rolled out an aggressive marketing campaign for this show. There will be more than 20-25 channels telecasting the promos of Encounter. For the channel that has already bought 8,000 spots, television is going to play a lead medium for communication. The promotional TVC featuring Bajpayee will also be promoted on other mediums like radio, print, digital media, games and apps.

Ajay Bhalwankar, who has recently joined SET as its chief creative director, believes that the show is going to be a blockbuster. He reveals: “It is going to be very different show and not on the lines of Crime Patrol as people are comparing it with. These are all different cop stories and are not wholly focused on the criminals. You will find a lot of difference from other crime properties which are airing on television today.”

A source closely connected with Endemol revealed that the planning for the show started three months ago. “When we started off, we wanted to do a real encounter series, real cases with real people. But it was just not possible. It also needed to have a fictional twist because getting the police on-board was a difficult task. So we decided to make it a fiction series because the channel believes in crime-related shows and that is its audience.”

The same source further goes on to add: “We shot a small pilot with an actual encounter specialist A Khan and the channel liked the concept so much that they immediately picked it up. The pilot would be of one episode.”

Moreover, compared to Sony’s other crime properties like CID and Crime Patrol, the production cost of Encounter is much higher per episode. As of now three episodes have been canned and are ready to go on-air.

Media professionals feel that the channel should concentrate more on its line-up of fiction rather than giving viewers weekend dose of entertainment. “The show is going to compete with one of the best shows other channels have in that time slot. Since Sony already has strong crime properties that are doing well for them, there was no need to create another one. They should come up with innovative content for its daily soaps which are struggling to find its place in the ratings chart,” reasons a prominent media planner who did not wish to be named.

Encounter is going to compete with Pavitra Rishta (Fri) and DID Lil Masters (Sat-Sun) on Zee TV, Beintehaa (Fri) and Khatron Ke Khiladi five (Sat-Sun) on Colors, Diya Aur Baati Hum on Star Plus (Fri-Sat) and Mad In India (Sun) and Chidiya Ghar on Sab.

Seth is not worried about the competition. “We are extremely hyper and aggressive about everything that we are doing. Since it’s a very competitive slot, we have to believe in our content. And to ensure that people latch on to this content, we have a very interesting promotional campaign going on and we are very excited about it,” he signs off.

MUMBAI: The Sony run video service – Crackle – is no more crackling among UK users and the media conglomerate has had to take the tough call of shutting it down completely from 1 April.  

The company posted a notice about the closure on Crackle’s UK homepage that read: “We’d like to thank all those who have supported and enjoyed Crackle UK. As of April 1, 2014 Crackle’s UK service will no longer be operating.”

Crackle offers viewers free, ad-supported video content, including full-length movies and TV series. The service also operates in US as well as Canada, Australia and close to 20 countries across Latin America, and those operations will not be affected by this closure.

One of the major reasons for the call to shut shop in UK seems to be the increasingly competitive market in the country. Netflix entered UK two years ago and reached out to an estimated 1.5 million subscribers and there is also Amazon, which has been fighting hard to stay relevant by closely aligning its Lovefilm service with its core brand.

Both companies have also tried to outbid each other on content rights for British viewers, undeniably raising the costs for Crackle and any other third-party service to compete. And in the case of Crackle, Sony also had to monetise the service through ads, which may be even harder in a comparably small market like UK.

MUMBAI: The last few years haven’t been very kind to Sony Entertainment Television (SET), at least in terms of weekly TAM ratings, but that hasn’t stopped the channel from making all the right noises in recent months.

On the back of NP Singh’s elevation from COO to CEO and Man Jit Singh’s appointment as president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) comes ‘Sony Mahotsav’, an engagement extravaganza launched by the channel to get up, close and personal with its audiences in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Having started in November last year, the festival will continue till the end of this month, both gratifying and exposing audiences to the opportunity of understanding the 17-year-old brand.

Says SET senior VP and head marketing Gaurav Seth: “This extravaganza has been organised to take the experience of Sony to our audiences in UP, Punjab and Haryana. UP and Punjab are critical markets for us. Through the show, we have realised that even if the channels’ reach and viewership doesn’t reflect in the TV ratings, there is a huge section that wants and desires the shows aired on it.”

SET has already covered Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and Dehradun in UP and plans to cover Punjab and Haryana’s top nine markets including Bathinda, Abohar, Batala, Yamuna Nagar, Kaithal, Jind, Rohtak, Jalandar and Bhiwani.

“We are covering cities in UP which have a population of one million plus, while cities in Punjab and Haryana which are being covered have a population of a 0.1-1 million,” informs Seth.     

With ‘Sony Mahotsav’ held on Sundays, he goes on to explain how it works. “We reach the destination one week in advance and start promoting the festival through radio stations, local cable channels and print. We also rope in a few local people, who inform the residents through word of mouth. Then, we take up a huge ground and set up stalls which showcase the colours of the channel,” he informs.

What can one expect from the fest? It gives audiences an opportunity to interact with their favourite characters from Sony’s shows and serials. Indeed, popular faces like Anoop Soni, Sangeeta Ghosh and Ruslaan Mumtaaz among others have been roped in to engage with the audience.

Elaborates Seth: “There are separate stalls. So, we have a Nandini stall inspired by the show ‘Nandini’ based on the political scenario. On offer are activities like voting for the best couple or best show on the channel.” In a similar vein, there is a Maharana Pratap museum where spectators can dress up like the Maharana; a Kaun Banega Crorepati stall where people can pose alongside show host Amitabh Bachchan; an Indian Idol stall where fans can take to karaoke singing; and a Boogie Woogie stall where fans can groove to foot-tapping music. “There is something for everyone. We have also set up a workshop for women to teach them self defence, which is inspired by our shows CID and Crime Patrol,” says Seth.

Also, spectators can view five to seven minute clips of shows aired on Sony during the day. “The idea is to ensure that people who have somehow missed the shows so far can be informed what the shows are about and can start watching it here on,” Seth informs.

While the sponsor for ‘Sony Mahotsav’ in UP and Punjab is Kent RO, the music talent partner for the state is Universal Music. “We have also partnered with major radio stations in the state. So for UP, we roped in Radio Mirchi and Big FM for promotions. Also, we partnered with local cable operators to distribute the free-of-cost entry passes for the event,” reveals Seth.

Sony has made a ‘sizeable’ investment in the festival and though it has conducted similar such events in the past, they’ve never been on such a large scale.

The channel claims to have got a capacity crowd in every city of UP it has covered so far. “Though the numbers do not suggest the popularity of the brand, the crowd did show the love for the brand,” exults Seth, adding, “Looking at the response, we may conduct such events in other states as well.”

So has a mammoth exercise like ‘Sony Mahotsav’ succeeded in boosting viewership? “We haven’t done any ROI till now. That will be done once the whole activity is complete. Once this is done, we will get an idea of the increase in viewership and reach numbers,” says Seth.

And ‘Sony Mahotsav’ isn’t all. Recently, the channel launched two new shows as well – Ekk Nayi Pehchaan and Main Na Bhoolungi. Whether all of this reflects on the ratings, only time will tell…

MUMBAI: In an attempt to boost ratings of one of its top-rated shows, Sony Entertainment Television (Set) aired the ‘most talked about’ love-making scene on Indian television on 12 March. However, the ratings of Bade Achhe Lagte Hain‘s controversial episode did not see any spike.

This was the first time on Indian television that a serial‘s sequence was taken to the level where the lead couple was shown kissing each other. The show did garner a 3.5 TVR, but this is the average rating that it usually manages. The love-making scene didn’t really make any difference.

Meanwhile, though retaining its No 2 position, SET lost 13 GRPs (gross rating points) in the week ended 17 March. As per TAM data (C&S, 4+, HSM), the channel clocked 218 GRPs during the week.

The Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) genre leader, Star Plus, continues to top the charts. The channel attracted more eyeballs and added 24 GRPs to its last week’s tally. It ended the week with 287 GRPs (last week 263).

Star Plus aired Ra.One twice on Sunday 11 March at 1 pm and 6 pm which fetched 2.7 and 1.7 TVR respectively.

The battle between Colors and Zee TV continues and, once again, the later toppled the Viacom18 channel. Zee TV grabbed the No 3 position with the addition of 5 GRPs. The channel from Zee Entertainment Enterprises bouquet registered 217 GRPs (last week 212).

Colors slipped back to No. 4. The channel lost one GRP to end the week with 214 points. The Apsara Producers Guild Awards that the channel aired on 11 March recorded 1.4 TVR at 2 pm telecast and 2.4 TVR at 9 pm telecast.

Sab too lost eyeballs and ended the week with 129 GRPs (last week 136).

Next on the ladder is Star Network’s second GEC Life OK with 84 GRPs (83 GRPs in the prior week) while Imagine TV clocked 63 GRPs (adding one GRP).

Aided by cricketing action, DD1 saw a rise in ratings in the C&S homes too. The national broadcaster added 27 GRPs as Asia Cup commenced on 11 March. The channel recorded 58 GRPs for the week ended 17 March.

Meanwhile, Star’s repeat channel, Star Utsav, garnered more eyeballs than Sahara One. Star Utsav closed the week with 47 GRPs while Sahara One ended with 43 GRPs in its kitty.

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television‘s (SET) magic run with Amitabh Bachchan at the lead continues as it scales new heights, inching closer to the market leader Star Plus.

Pumped up by the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), Sony races to 271 GRPs, a new peak after a long gap. Star Plus stays ahead by just 21 GRPs and the gap between Sony and Colors widens as shows like Bade Achhe Lagte Hain gain ground.

Sony had reached 270 GRPs more than a year back, but it was like a flash in the pan with the Aamir Khan movie 3 Idiots providing the spike. Sony had moved to an almost eight-year high as it grabbed 270 GRPs for the week ended 31 July 2010, gaining a mammoth 108 points from the trailing week, as 3 Idiots clocked an average TVR of 10.9.

“We are now in a position to sustain our momentum. Our growth has come from a bunch of shows such as CID and Crime Patrol. KBC and Bade Achhe Lagte Hain no doubt spearheaded this movement. With Kuch To Log Kahenge launching on 3 October at 8 pm, we are looking at adding more GRPs,” said Sony Entertainment Television senior vice president and marketing head Danish Khan.

KBC has become the top-rated show with the Thursday episode, featuring Ranbir Kapoor, amassing a staggering 6 TVR. The game show averaged 5.4 TVR and collected 65 GRPs during the week ended 17 September.

Also aiding Sony‘s climb were shows like Bade Achhe Lagte Hain (average TVR of 4), CID and Crime Patrol.

“3 Idiots had helped Sony catapult to 270 GRPs, with a 108 GRP jump from the preceding week. So the fall was equally dramatic. Now the rise is more steady as Sony has seen a 28 GRP gain from the trailing week,” a media analyst said.

Star Plus has shed 15 GRPs to collect 292 GRPs for the week ended 17 September, according to TAM data for the Hindi speaking markets (HSM).Colors descended to 219 points vis-?-vis 233 points it garnered in the previous week.

Zee TV added three points to end the week with 184 GRPs. At number five, Sab stood tight with 124 points as against its last week‘s score of 112.

Imagine TV rose to 75 GRPs, gaining seven points over the preceding week.