The clock is ticking for the entry of a new ratings currency. Market research agency ORG Marg‘s Intam data, the older of the two established ratings services currently available in India, will no longer be issued from the end of March.
The move is part of a process set in motion at the end of October 2001 by AC Nielsen‘s TAM Media Research and ORG MARG‘s Intam that involves the integration of the two agencies‘ ratings systems and the "unveiling of a completely new service in June," LV Krishnan, president TAM India, told indiantelevision.com today.

The cessation of Intam data was originally supposed to go through by 31 January but that has been postponed till the end of March "to allow for a thorough benchmarking" between the two systems, Krishnan says. This is required because Intam uses picture matching technology for its peoplemeters while TAM uses a frequency system. Work is on to debug the software. "It essentially involves software resolutions for which the process is very much on," says Krishnan.

What this all means in effect is that, between April and the unveiling of the new service, TAM data will be the only ratings available.

Krishnan says the work towards a new service is proceeding in close consultation with the joint industry body (JIB) which is made up of 20 members representing broadcasters (Indian Broadcasting Foundation - IBF), ad agencies (the 3AAAs of I) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA). The JIB technical committee is chaired by BV Pradeep, director, market research, Hindustan Lever.

"The JIB has also appointed a research design sub-committee headed by Praveen Tripathi (with over 20 years experience in market research) and a software sub-committee headed by Asutosh Srivastava of MindShare. The committee‘s recommendations will be an input to the final new service plans," Krishnan said.

Pointing to the extent of interaction involved, Krishnan said the JIB has had six meetings between 29 November and 7 January. Represented on the JIB from the IBF are five members, one each from Star India, Zee TV, Sony Entertainment, Sun TV and Eenadu TV.

MUMBAI: In its annual general meeting held on 8 September 2003, the Gujarati daily newspaper Sandesh Ltd has declared a 50 per cent dividend on the equity shares of the company. In absolute terms, what it means is that the existing members of the company will make a neat Rs 5 on every share held.Riding on the news of the healthy 50 per cent dividend, the Sandesh scrip, which put on 1.20 per cent yesterday to close at Rs 126.50, is expected to clock gains on the bourses today.

Its rivals include, among others, the Agarwal family owned Divya Bhaskar and Gujarat Samachar.

Zee Telefilms Ltd today issued a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has scheduled a meeting of its board of directors for 1 February, 2002, to consider and review the corporate structure of the company.

It was in September that Zee Telefilms president (corporate finance and strategy) Rajesh Jain had said the company would be reducing the number of its subsidiaries from 22 to between 10 and 12 in line with its overall corporate restructuring plans.

"Over a period of time, we will rationalise the number of our subsidiary companies for maximising synergies," Jain had said then.

The move will align the businesses of the media conglomerate under three broad heads: Content, access and education ? as proposed by management consultants AT Kearney.

Taking up the example of Zee?s access business, Jain said this business comprises Siti cable which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZTL. Siti cable, in turn, has a wholly-owned subsidiary called Zee Interactive Multimedia Ltd. Zee plans to merge these two companies to bring the access function under one umbrella.

While the education business is conducted via a single company called Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS) all the remaining subsidiaries perform the crucial content business, both in India and overseas, he said.

The move by Zee Telefilms to further rationalise its large number of subsidiaries follows divestment of its stake last year in three subsidiaries ? Buddha Films LTD, Zee Sports LTD and Zee Publishing Ltd.

In line with this restructuring exercise, e-Connect India LTD, which is at present a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZTL, may be merged with ZILS, for distribution functions, the holding company Patco may be merged with the direct-to-home marketing company EL-Zee.

ZTL has eight wholly-owned subsidiaries in India including Patco, EL-Zee Television LTD, Siti cable, ZIML, e-Connect India, ZILS besides two regional channel companies in Dakshin Media LTD (Tamil) and Kaveri Entertainment LTD (Kannada).

Its overseas subsidiaries include Zee Multimedia Worldwide LTD British Virgin Islands (ZMWLBVI) which is the holding company of ZMWL Mauritius and others. ZTL holds 50 per cent stake each in Winterhealth Company LTD which is the holding company for Asia Today Ltd.

Other ZTL subsidiaries functioning abroad include Expand Fast Holding BVI (which is the broadcasting company for Zee Music, Alpha and English channels) and Zee Multimedia Worldwide, Mauritius.

Zee Telefilms had last year appointed Kearney which suggested many changes in the then organisational structure including downsizing the media giant?s manpower, realigning businesses under the three distinct business heads with their respective CEO?s and sprucing up programming on the flagship channel Zee TV.

Yes, Balaji Telefilms has done it again: turned out enviable financial results at a time when other media firms are struggling to match last year‘s performances. The Ekta Kapoor promoted Balaji has reported a net profit of Rs 85.1 million in the third quarter ended 31 December 2001, which is up 28.5 per cent over the Rs 66.2 million it notched in the second quarter ended on 30 September 2001. Its net margin is a chirpy 28 per cent for the just concluded quarter.

Net sales are up by a healthy 27.8 per cent from Rs 236.2 million in Q2 to Rs 301.9 million in this quarter. Some 75 per cent (Rs 230.82 million) of total sales has come from commissioned programs and the remaining 25 per cent is from sponsored programs in the Q3.

The company has managed to keep a tight rein on costs with production and telecast fees staying put at the same level as the earlier two quarters which was Rs 137.42 million.

The spurt in revenues has come at a time when its other income in the quarter has gone down by 60 per cent from Rs 5.2 million to Rs 2.11 million.

The market has been expecting good results from India‘s leading production house as it has driven up the Balaji share from Rs 185 hardly two months ago to Rs 400 plus in the past fortnight. And it responded similarly today with the Balaji share opening at Rs 414.65. It then oscillated in the Rs 412 - 444.85 band closing at a new high of Rs 426. The BSE index was steady at 3384.38, with a marginal positive change of 0.22 per cent.

Crown Media International, which operates the Hallmark Channel outside America, has announced the signing of a three-year regional contract with ACNielsen Media International.

AC Nielsen claims to be the world‘s leading provider of people meter-based TV ratings. The agreement, effective 17 January 2002, will cover television ratings in India, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan.

This is the first regional TV ratings contract that Hallmark Channel has signed with ACNielsen Media International in Asia. Previously, Hallmark had purchased TV ratings information from the company on a limited basis in Taiwan, Australia and Singapore.

Hallmark programming consists of movies, mini-series, series and children‘s programming. The channel claims that its audience numbers have grown in the Asia Pacific region by more than 50 per cent over the past year to 18 million homes. The channel also claims in an official release that in the region viewers are able to watch the service on seven different feeds and branded blocks.

Managing director, advertising sales of Crown Media International Barry Frey said: "Our strong distribution and enhanced programme schedules in Asia Pacific, coupled with our significant viewership and ad sales growth over the last two years, have led us to make this decision. It is important that we have accurate and timely data about ratings for the benefit of our advertisers."

V-P ad sales Asia, Gregory Ang, said: "This agreement with ACNielsen provides the insight and information needed by clients who would like to target their products at the market segments that Hallmark Channel caters to."

Forrest Didier, MD, ACNielsen Media International, Asia Pacific said: "We are very pleased to welcome Hallmark Channel as our newest regional client for TV ratings in Asia Pacific. Hallmark Channel is recognized as one of the most popular entertainment channels in the region and is fast expanding into many markets. We are confident our service will provide Hallmark Channel with the in-depth analysis and insights they need to further increase their presence in Asia Pacific."

ACNielsen Media International‘s television audience measurement service claims to have over 18,000 people meter homes in 12 Asia Pacific markets: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.