Tuesday, 6th May 2008

INFO BOX

TV Advertising More Influential in India Than US
Source: Televisionpoint.com, 5th May 2008

ZenithOptimedia has released the results of its Touchpoints ROI Tracker study, an research undertaken to identify the power of individual consumer contact points to support leading brands. The agency has carried out more than 3,00,000 consumer interviews across 34 countries covering more than 4,000 brands. In India, it has conducted more than 10,000 interviews, covering more than 112 top brands across nine categories.

The study revealed in traditional media, TV advertising is still important at 18% more influential in India and Asia Pacific than in USA. In digital for internet advertising, Asia Pacific is 26% more influential than Europe and 54% more influential in mobile promotions than in North America. The touchpoints report also revealed word of mouth is more influential than traditional media at 12% more than TV in Asia Pacific.

ZenithOptimedia's findings for individual brand categories show that levels of brand experience generated per rupee are much higher for telecom advertisers than for automobile advertisers.The survey doesn't just identify the power of individual Touchpoints to support brands; it also reveals how much better some of these Touch points can work in combination with each other. This is a vital piece of knowledge when planning integrated communications. The agency's Dashboard of Global Norms offers marketers the chance to compare the power of all major communications channels across a variety of consumer groups, brand categories and regions.

Touchpoints ROI Tracker is the consumer research based approach that ZenithOptimedia uses to measure and plan marketing effects across all consumer contacts. It identifies and quantifies the value of every consumer point of contact for a category and its brands, examining the role of each contact point in building brand preference and purchase intent. All forms of consumer contact are measured, including those at point of sale, point of consumption, one-to-one, word of mouth, sponsorship and events, the Internet and mass media.


SPORT SHORTS

* Telekom Malaysia may be increasing its stake in India telecommunications firm Spice Communications to at least 51% from 39.2%. The Economic Times said this seemed to be the only way of pumping in more money into the company, whose debt stood at 12 billion rupees ($291 million) at the time of listing in July last year. "Since none of the partners have a controlling stake, the company seems to be heading nowhere. Spice requires further investments to grow its network. "TM (Telekom Malaysia) cannot put more money unless it raises it stake. It is now aggressively seeking management control," the paper quoted an unidentified company official as saying. The paper said that Telekom Malaysia would raise its stake in the Indian firm through a combination of an open offer to the public and buying shares from the Modis. telecomasia.net, 6th May 2008

* Malaysia's top mobile phone firm, Maxis Communications, plans to invest $4 billion-$5 billion by 2009-10 to expand its network in India. A Reuters report also quoted Maxis CEO Sandip Das as saying that "we plan to beef up our presence pan-India in the next two years." Maxis holds 74% in Aircel Cellular, which operates in 10 telecom circles in India, the report said. Apollo Hospitals Enterprises controls the remainder in the mobile operator. India is the world's fastest growing mobile market where telecom firms added a record 10.16 million wireless subscribers in March, taking the total to 261.1 million, behind only China that had 540.5 million users at end-February. Aircel said it had 10.8 million subscribers in India and had posted revenues of $500 million in 2007. telecomasia.net, 6th May 2008

* SingTel has partnered with Singapore Power, Singapore Press Holdings and Axia NetMedia to jointly bid for the city-state's planned ultra high-speed broadband network. The network, called the Next-Generation National Broadband Network, will allow users to surf the web at speeds of at least 1Gbps, 10 times faster than those available now, when it is fully completed by 2015, the report said. Last week, rival operators StarHub and MobileOne formed a consortium with Hong Kong's Citi Telecom to bid in the government's tender for the construction of the city-state's future cyber highway, the Reuters report said. The Next Generation National Broadband Network is part of state-owned Infocomm Development Authority's Intelligent Nation 2015 or "iN2015" blueprint to give the Asian financial services hub seamless connectivity, SingTel said. telecomasia.net, 6th May 2008

* Media reports put the number closer to 400,000 BlackBerry users in India. India has about 114,000 mobile subscribers using Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry services, much lower than expected, the junior minister for telecommunications said on Monday. Media reports have said there were around 400,000 BlackBerry users in India, while an analyst had estimated the number to be more than half a million. "As per the information received from service providers, there are around 114,000 subscribers as on date who are being provided BlackBerry services by various telecom companies," Jyotiraditya Scindia told the lower house of parliament in a written reply to a question. Four firms, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone-controlled Vodafone Essar and BPL Mobile provide BlackBerry services in India. Eweek.com, 5th May 2008

* Endorsement offers continue to pour in for India spearhead Ishant Sharma and the beanpole pacer would soon feature in a mobile and an online game created around his performance. The lanky speedster, playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Kolkata Knight Riders, entered a tie-up with Jump Games and Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd gaming divisions of the Reliance Entertainment which would see him feature in a mobile and an online game. The mobile game, called Ishant Sharma Cricket Fever, features a 10 over match with the pacer bowling at other players. "Today the youngsters are no longer content with usual ways of playing a game. They want it across all means of communication media, be it television, mobile or the internet," Ishant was quoted as saying in a release here today. The Indian Times, Television Point, 5th May 2008

* A leading Japanese cycling club is eyeing Vietnamese cyclists, leading to talk among national players and coaches about the development of the sport in Viet Nam. Officials of the club Equipe Asada tested three young riders, seen as a first step in recruiting athletes from Asian countries. In a four-year plan running from 2009 to 2012, Equipe Asada expects to participate in Tour de France. They are looking for in Asia to take part in about 200 international tournaments a year and training in France and Asian countries. The club skipper Shinichi Fukushima said he knew the athletes through different sources as television, mass media, Viet Nam Cycling Federation and from an introduction by an Equipe Asada member on the national Thai team. Apart from local Japanese cyclists, the club selects young racers from other Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore to supplement its team. Vietnam News, 5th May 2008

* Thailand-based Media of Medias, a local TV program producer, says it will invest to expand its satellite television business to tap growing demand for paid TV programming. The company plans to launch three new satellite TV channels with content ranging from news, lifestyle and variety, and drama and movies. telecomasia.net, 6th May 2008

* Telstra is generating $20 more per customer every month on its NextG services compared to its 2G services, telco boss Sol Trujillo has told a business leadership forum in London. No other telco in the world was even close to generating that amount on 3G revenues over 2G earnings, Mr Trujillo said. "We've added more coverage, more speed, more applications and more services but, for the user, the most important thing is the experience of high-speed, one-click simplicity," he said. "Because you can now click and get - as opposed to click and watch a little globe spin while you wait 10, 15, 20 seconds - the value is there, and we're generating more average revenue per user than most." Mr Trujillo, who was a keynote speaker along with SAS chief executive Jim Goodnight at the invitation-only forum in London last week, said the earnings premium was also being generated on Telstra's fixed-line broadband. Australian IT News, 6th May 2008

* Events from the WISPA World Tour, the top-tier women’s squash series, are to finally be streamed live on the internet this season, the Women’s International Squash Players’ Association has said. Andrew Shelley, WISPA’s chief executive, revealed that plans to introduce live streaming had been ‘held back’ in order to ensure ‘the quality, affordability and durability of the service,’ but that World Tour events would now be broadcast on a trial basis on PSALive, the specialist internet channel of the men’s top-tier Professional Squash Association Tour. Shelley described the online exposure via PSALive as ‘a very welcome chance for us to provide squash enthusiasts with a service while we develop a longer way forward.’ He also said that PSALive’s membership base had grown to 30,000. Sportcal.com, 5th May 2008