Category: Broadcast

India’s booming short-form video market is just about getting started, with demand for engaging local content and uptake in smaller locations fuelling growth, Manohar Singh Charan, Chief Financial Officer of homegrown social media platforms ShareChat and Moj said.

Differentiated services with regional relevance are driving sustained business momentum and yielding new opportunities for brands to connect with audiences, he added.

In an interview with PTI, Charan said the company is on the brink of being EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) positive at a consolidated level. Mohalla Tech is the parent entity of the social media app ShareChat and the short video app Moj.

He said hiring will be “cautious”, geared to selective and specialised roles as the company gets into the profitability zone.

The Google-backed company is also looking to rope in a few more marquee investors before it goes for an IPO in a 24-month timeframe.

Charan said the company, in FY24, made “great progress” on revenue and cost optimisation, with the top line growing at 33 per cent and losses down to one-third. The momentum continues in FY25.

ShareChat, he said, has been profitable at the EBITDA level on a standalone basis for the last few months, and further losses – and at a consolidated level – are expected to be down to one-third once again in FY25.

An IPO is still some time away – a 24-month timeframe is what the company estimates, as it goes about prioritising the path to profitability. The last round of capital raise was a debt round, but other than that, most rounds have been equity funding.

“We are on the brink of profitability, and we are very well capitalised, all thanks to the round that we raised in 2024. So, per se, we don’t need capital to continue to extend our runway. As we start getting closer to the IPO, we will look to rope in a few more great investors. We already have a handful of really good investors on our cap table.

“There would be cap table rationalisation. You will try and get in people who enter cap tables just before IPO and stay beyond IPO. So, at the right time, we would look to add a few more names before we go public,” he said.

On the growth of short-form video and broad market trends, he said, India is “just getting started”.

“We are on this upward trajectory today. Our internet penetration is more than 60 per cent of our population today. We have 650 million internet users with a 1.4 billion population,” he said, citing estimates that India’s internet user base would swell to one billion by 2030.

“So, you’re looking at a further 50 per cent expansion in the sheer number of people connected on the internet. Indian audiences that are getting connected to the internet today are straight-away landing onto social media and landing onto short-form video as the predominant format of social media.”

The Indian economy, among the fastest growing large economies globally, will fuel per capita incomes and given the rise of short videos as the predominant form of content consumption, it will likely also nudge brands into infusing more money into the social media economy, which is increasingly influencing purchase decisions.

“As our economy continues to grow, we continue to be one of the fastest growing large economies, the discretionary income of the audiences that are on the internet is going to increase significantly.

“Superimpose that with short videos becoming a predominant form of content consumption…in forming an opinion about things, in purchase decisions, relying on a regional language content…we would see that brands are going to start shifting their focus and efforts more and more on vernacular language platforms, and on micro-influencers to carry their brand stories to the length and breadth of the country,” Charan said.

The brand engagement in the social media economy is going to increase multifold in coming years, he noted.

“So, I would say we’re getting started, and we are very optimistic about what the future has to bring for us,” Charan added. PTI

With just over two weeks to go for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, JioStar—the joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd’s Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Co.—has secured 12 sponsors and is targeting ₹5,000 crore in advertising revenue from this edition, according to two people aware of the matter. However, industry experts are not sure if this target is achievable.

JioStar executives remain bullish, citing strong advertiser demand, new audience targeting capabilities, and real-time measurement innovations.

“We are seeing record demand for IPL this year,” said Ishan Chatterjee, chief business officer, sports revenue, SMB & creator at JioStar. “With the kind of reach and engagement IPL commands, brands are prioritising it as the marquee event in their marketing calendar.”

Last year, IPL reached 525 million viewers on TV and 425 million on digital. With momentum from the India-England series and the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, JioStar expects total viewership across platforms to cross 1 billion.

Shashi Sinha, CEO of IPG Mediabrands, sees IPL 2025 as a strong opportunity for advertisers, especially as it aligns with the start of the financial year when brands have fresh marketing budgets. “IPL allows clients to plan budgets early, giving them flexibility. But it’s too soon to make firm revenue projections.”

To be sure, JioStar had initially set a revenue goal of over ₹6,000 crore for IPL 2025 but later lowered it to ₹5,000 crore, the people quoted earlier said on the condition of anonymity.

The combined TV and digital ad revenue of IPL hit a record of close to ₹4,000 crore in 2022, and stood at ₹3,600 crore in 2024, according to industry estimates.

Big spenders and key categories
JioStar has already locked in 12 sponsors, including Campa (Reliance Retail), My11Circle, Opus Paints, State Bank of India, Coca-Cola, Kent Fans, Amfi (Mutual Funds), Amul, Zupee, PhonePe, Jaquar Bath Fittings, and Asian Paints, the people said. More deals are expected to close in the coming weeks.

While Chatterjee declined to confirm specific brands, the people quoted earlier indicate that Campa has signed a ₹200 crore deal, while My11Circle will announce its association today (Monday).

“Summer is coming early, so categories like beverages, air conditioners, and fans are showing strong interest,” Chatterjee said. “We are also seeing aggressive spending from fintech players, BFSI brands, fantasy gaming platforms, and mobile handset manufacturers.”

Premium ad targeting and innovation
JioStar is betting on new ad innovations to attract brands and enhance audience targeting.

“For the first time, advertisers can combine Connected TV (CTV), iOS, and high-end Android devices in their media plans,” Chatterjee said. “This allows brands to precisely target premium audiences.”

The company is also expanding hyperlocal advertising, enabling businesses like real estate developers and auto dealerships to run campaigns targeted at specific geographic regions.

To improve transparency in digital ad performance, JioStar has partnered with Nielsen for third-party, real-time campaign validation. A Neurons Inc. study found that IPL ads on JioHotstar generate significantly higher engagement than user-generated content platforms or on-demand OTT services.

JioStar is also pushing for greater participation from small and medium businesses (SMBs). Through a 10-city roadshow, the company is educating local advertisers on IPL’s advertising potential and offering lower entry points to attract regional businesses.

“We want to break the perception that IPL advertising is only for big-budget brands,” Chatterjee said. “With our new targeting solutions, even SMBs can advertise effectively with smaller budgets.”

TV vs digital: Where is the ad money going?
While television remains critical, digital advertising is growing faster, with Connected TV emerging as the most expensive and sought-after inventory.

While declining on exact numbers, Chaterjee said that CTV is fastest growing. “I wouldn’t go into too much details about the exact numbers, but, CTV is a lean back experience. You have a number of different formats on CTV, lots of functionality that is unlocked. So CTV is, of course, our fastest growing consumption surface,” Chatterjee said.

However, advertisers have raised concerns over JioStar’s shift from concurrent viewership reporting (previously on Hotstar) to a ‘views’ metric. The lack of standardization has led to confusion among brands.

“Unlike when Hotstar reported concurrent viewership figures, the shift to ‘views’ has left advertisers unclear about actual audience size,” said a senior media agency executive. “This has become a key discussion point in negotiations, with brands pushing for more clarity.”

Will paywall hurt viewership?
Adding to these concerns is JioHotstar’s new paywall model for IPL streaming. Reports indicate that users will get four hours of free streaming per month, after which they must subscribe.

Amid worries that it could impact IPL’s overall reach, Chatterjee said the company remains flexible in its approach.

“We are very clear that we will meet our advertiser objectives. That is the number one priority,” he said. “We want users to experience a significant portion of content before reaching a paywall. While we’re still testing and haven’t set a fixed limit, free access will be generous—enough to watch an entire game. This ensures users get a meaningful experience while also aligning with advertiser goals.”

He pointed out that despite the paywall, India-Pakistan match in the Champions Trophy recorded the highest-ever digital viewership for an India-Pakistan cricket match ever, suggesting that IPL will not suffer a decline in audience.

Will IPL set a new ad revenue record?
While sales momentum is ahead of last year at the same stage, high ad costs, concerns over digital measurement, and the potential impact of the paywall model remain key risks.

JioStar is banking on premium ad innovations, strong demand across categories, and aggressive sales efforts to make IPL 2025 a record-breaking year for ad sales.

“With 16 working days left before IPL 2025, we are very confident this will be the best IPL ever in terms of ad revenue,” Chatterjee said. LiveMint

Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, has cemented its position as the industry’s most resilient player, outpacing rivals in subscriber additions, revenue growth, and profitability. But with its core wireless business maturing, the company is now eyeing a new growth frontier: home services.

Airtel’s ongoing discussions to merge its DTH business with Tata Sons’ Tata Play signal a deeper push into broadband, pay-TV, and enterprise connectivity.

Analysts see the move as a strategic pivot to monetize its 5G investments beyond mobile tariff hikes. However, with the pay-TV business in structural decline and execution risks looming, the success of this expansion remains a key question.

Airtel egde and market sentiment
Airtel’s December quarter results reinforced its industry lead.

The company added nearly 5 million new subscribers, lifted its average revenue per user (ARPU) by 5%, and posted a 41% sequential surge in net adjusted profit to ₹5,500 crore.

Yet, despite these strong numbers, Airtel’s stock remains 12% below its September peak, weighed down by broader investor caution.

“It (the DTH merger plan) is a step in the right direction, which will improve Airtel’s functionality in the future. But relentless selling by foreign portfolio investors in large-cap (stocks) has overshadowed sentiment around this development,” said Piyush Pandey, telecom, internet, and IT analyst at Centrum Broking.

The contrast with rivals is stark, though.

Reliance Industries, Jio’s parent, has seen its stock slide 26% from its 52-week high, while Vodafone-Idea shares have plummeted 61%, reflecting the broader challenges in India’s telecom sector.

The push into home services
Airtel’s home services ambitions were a key focus in its latest earnings call. The company plans to ramp up investments in home broadband, data centres, and enterprise services—segments that offer higher margins and long-term potential.

The Tata Play merger would give Airtel access to an additional 20 million premium households, allowing it to bundle services and extract better returns on its 5G investments, said Vivekanand Subbaraman, lead telecom analyst at Ambit Capital.

“Over the past few years, the DTH industry has seen a steady fall in its subscriber base. The industry’s best strategy to counter this decline has been cross-selling other products like broadband,” Sumanta Khan, equity fund manager at Edelweiss Mutual Fund told Mint.

However, the bigger question is whether the Tata Play deal will be an asset or a liability, given the shift toward streaming services.

Flush with cash
Unlike previous capex-heavy years, Airtel is now flush with cash.

With its 5G-related spending peaking in FY24, the company is generating over ₹10,000 crore in quarterly free cash flow, according to a Nuvama Institutional Equities report.

Airtel’s management expects 5G capital expenditure to decline further in FY26, leaving more cash available for new ventures.

Still, 5G monetization remains a challenge beyond ARPU hikes. Airtel is betting on fixed wireless access, fibre-to-home, and private 5G networks as new revenue streams.

“They will realise the tail end of the latest tariff hike in Q4. So, while sequentially earnings growth might slow down, albeit on a high base, on a yearly basis (from FY24 to FY25) their total income will swell,” noted Subbaraman.

Additionally, a slew of cricketing events in the current quarter will drive higher data consumption and monetization opportunities, incrementally boosting profitability, Subbaraman noted. However, its gradual exit from the low-margin submarine cables business will weigh on revenue growth in the near term, he added.

Airtel’s ability to sustain its industry lead will depend on how well it executes this strategic shift. The home services business offers a potential growth engine, but competitive pressures—especially from Jio’s aggressive broadband expansion—remain a key risk.

For now, analysts remain optimistic.

Airtel already bundles mobile, DTH, and broadband under Airtel Black as part of its premiumization strategy. If it successfully scales its home services business, it could drive stronger profitability and better returns on its 5G investments.

Despite structural challenges in the telecom sector—including low returns on capital employed—analysts believe Airtel’s strategy positions it for better equity returns in the medium term. LiveMint

The government should immediately implement sectoral regulator TRAI’s recommendation to reduce the licensing fee from the current 8 per cent to 3 per cent of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), said Dish TV CEO Manoj Dobhal.

He urged the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) to act swiftly as it can drive long-term sustainability and growth of the DTH industry, which is currently struggling.

“Implementing TRAI’s recommendations will unlock greater investment, foster innovation, and improve consumer access to quality services. A forward-looking regulatory approach is crucial for ensuring a competitive and thriving Pay TV ecosystem. We urge the MIB to expedite these much-needed reforms to support the industry’s evolution in an increasingly digital landscape,” Dobhal told PTI.

On February 21, TRAI, to ease the financial burden on DTH operators, recommended a reduction in the authorisation fee from the current eight per cent to just three per cent of AGR.

The current licensing structure is placing the DTH industry in a precarious position, threatening the survival of service providers and the broader Pay TV ecosystem, he said.

Without immediate intervention, DTH players will continue to struggle under an unsustainable cost structure, limiting investment and hindering industry growth, Dobhal added.

“The DTH industry is at a pivotal moment, where decisive policy action can drive long-term sustainability and growth,” he said.

When asked about the announcement of leading telecom services provider Bharti Airtel of merger talks with Tata Group for its loss-making Direct-To-Home (DTH) business, Dobhal said this is because the industry needs regulatory support.

“Tata Play and Airtel exploring the merger, even if there is no confirmation from any of them, the fact that the news is around establishes that the DTH industry needed the regulatory help in ensuring level playing field that would have saved lot of expenses and the same could be put in creating better offerings and a broader digital horizon,” he said.

Airtel is holding discussions with the salt-to-software conglomerate for the merger of Bharti Telemedia, which offers cable and satellite TV services, with Tata Play, according to a regulatory filing from Sunil Bharti Mittal-led firm. PTI

Paramount Global missed quarterly revenue estimates on Friday as weakness in the media giant’s studio and cable businesses outweighed strong subscriber growth at its streaming service after the return of NFL.

Its shares dropped 3.7% in early trading even as third-quarter profit surpassed Wall Street expectations thanks to cost controls and the streaming subscriber gains.

A content line-up that included the National Football League (NFL), the second season of crime drama series “Tulsa King” and horror film “A Quiet Place: Day One” helped the Paramount+ streaming service add 3.5 million subscribers in the third quarter.

That was better than Visible Alpha estimates for 2.46 million additions, and marked a sharp turnaround from the 2.8 million subscribers the service lost in the previous quarter.

Revenue at Paramount’s TV media business, which includes CBS and MTV, fell 6% due to lower spending from advertisers and a drop in subscribers.

Customers have been shunning cable TV for streaming platforms, eroding a lucrative profit engine for media companies and pressuring them to seek options for their legacy businesses.

Paramount’s total third-quarter revenue of $6.73 billion missed expectations of $6.95 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Its filmed entertainment business revenue dropped 34%.

The studio unit had just one major theatrical release this quarter – the animated film “Transformers One” – which raked in revenue of $127 million from the global box office.

Streaming shines
Paramount’s streaming business posted an adjusted operating income of $49 million for the quarter, while analysts expected a loss of $160.1 million.”We feel good about our position and our ability to remain a standalone” streaming service, said Co-CEO Chris McCarthy in a post-earnings call. “You can count on us to be opportunistic, looking at partnerships.”

It was the second straight quarterly profit for the streaming unit as the business also benefited from a price hike for Paramount+ in August and a 6% decline in costs.

The company has been cutting costs ahead of its planned merger with Skydance Media. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, Paramount said.

Total costs fell nearly 2% in the September quarter, helping Paramount report an adjusted profit of 49 cents per share, compared with estimates for 24 cents. Reuters

Baidu said on Tuesday it has bought JOYY’s China live-streaming business for about US$2.1 billion (RM9.3 billion), reviving a deal that fell through a year ago, as the search giant doubles down on the fast-growing digital video market.

The companies had agreed upon a US$3.6 billion deal in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, when video-streaming services benefitted from a surge in usage by people stuck at home. But lack of regulatory approvals sank the acquisition in January last year.

Now, Baidu has finally bought the business, known as YY Live, after Beijing softened its stance towards the tech sector following a regulatory crackdown four years ago.

The company did not disclose what sparked the reversal, but they had been in talks to reach a resolution since the deal collapsed. JOYY had received about US$1.86 billion in February 2021 as part of the original agreement and an additional cash of about US$240 million on Tuesday.

The acquisition will help Baidu diversify its revenue and compete better with online entertainment rivals such as Douyin and TikTok-parent ByteDance, which have grown to dominate the space after making an early start.

US-listed shares of Baidu rose 1% in pre-market trading, while JOYY jumped 6%.

IQIYI, a US-listed subsidiary of the tech giant, is seen as China’s answer to Netflix. But strong competition from startups and heavyweights, including Tencent and Alibaba’s Youku, have weighed on its growth in recent years, with its shares falling nearly 60% last year.

The move could also aid Baidu’s push to expand in AI and cloud as it would unlock US$1.6 billion that the company had put in escrow accounts as part of the 2020 agreement.

Those funds can be used for equipment essential to competing in an AI industry increasingly under the spotlight after the stunning success of low-cost models from DeepSeek. The Edge Malaysia

Folie à Deux opened in October, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav summoned the co-leads of his movie studio to company headquarters in New York. The sequel to the 2019 smash hit Joker had been a critical and commercial disaster, grossing just $208 million, about one-fifth what the original took in—despite costing nearly four times as much to make.

In a closed-door meeting, Zaslav railed against the performance of the film, which studio heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy had supervised from start to finish after joining Warner Bros. in 2022. Zaslav also decried the mounting costs of the studio’s upcoming releases, according to people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. A spokesperson for Warner Bros. disputed this characterization, calling the meeting “a straightforward Joker 2 postmortem and a constructive conversation on the slate.”

De Luca and Abdy—or Mike and Pam, as they’re known in Hollywood—are about to release a 2025 lineup that leans on more expensive films with uncertain box-office prospects, starting with Mickey 17, from award-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, on March 7. Box Office Pro forecasts the movie, a science fiction comedy that cost more than $100 million to produce, will deliver an opening weekend of no more than $20 million in the US and Canada, suggesting it will have a hard time making enough to earn a profit. De Luca’s and Abdy’s contracts, which pay them more than $10 million a year each including bonuses, are due to expire in 2026, according to several people at the company as well as people who conduct major business with the film group.

The movie studio’s struggles have been a drag on earnings at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, which has lost more than half its market value since Discovery and WarnerMedia merged in a $43 billion deal in 2022. On a quarterly conference call in November, Zaslav conceded that “even in an industry of hits and misses, we must acknowledge that our studio’s business must deliver more consistency.” Profit at the division that includes the motion picture group is expected to be down by about a third when the company reports its annual results on Feb. 27, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

“Clearly the focus needs to be on the returns and how the film studio is going to make more money going forward,” says Robert Fishman, an analyst at MoffettNathanson, a media and entertainment investment research firm. Shareholders are eager to see better performance from the motion picture group, which will help stabilize earnings and pay down debt the company took on to merge and create Warner Bros. Discovery, Fishman says.

When Zaslav hired De Luca and Abdy to turn around Warner Bros., formerly one of the most stable and profitable studios in Hollywood, the division was lagging behind Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp.’s Universal and other rivals. Its recent movies based on DC Comics had struggled to compete with the more successful titles from Disney’s Marvel Studios. Warner Bros. had also just lost marquee filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the director of Oppenheimer, who effectively ended a 20-year relationship with the studio in 2021 when it decided to simultaneously release its pictures in theaters and on its nascent streaming app.

By bringing in De Luca and Abdy, who most recently ran Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the James Bond studio, Zaslav hoped to leverage their excellent relationships with talent to make blockbusters. True to form, the pair has signed production and development deals with megastars including Tom Cruise, Timothée Chalamet and Margot Robbie, as well as horror director M. Night Shyamalan. In addition to deep relationships with talent, the co-executives brought a history of award-show wins to the studio: Abdy previously worked at the independent producer New Regency when it won Oscars for 12 Years a Slave and The Revenant, while De Luca’s producer work has been nominated for best picture three times, for The Social Network, Moneyball and Captain Phillips.

Movie buffs—including Zaslav, a 65-year-old former cable television executive enamored with Hollywood who says Moneyball is one of his favorite pictures—love award-winning dramas by auteur directors. But today’s most successful studios overwhelmingly rely on films based on existing intellectual property that can produce sequels, consumer products, spinoff TV series and video games. The 10 highest-grossing movies released domestically in 2024 were all in some way tied to previous films or popular brands. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, green-lit years before De Luca and Abdy joined the studio, became the highest-grossing picture in Warner Bros. history after its release in 2023.

At Warner Bros., De Luca and Abdy have continued to put a lot of faith and money in acclaimed directors making original—if not obviously commercial—projects. Following a bidding war, they spent at least $130 million on One Battle After Another, a movie directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, known for Boogie Nights and Phantom Thread. They justified the budget because of the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio, forecasting it could gross $180 million in the US and Canada alone, according to people familiar with the matter. The director’s highest-grossing film to date, There Will Be Blood, was made on a budget of $25 million and generated global ticket sales of $76 million upon its release in 2007. To secure an original idea from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, De Luca and Abdy committed $75 million and agreed to give the rights back to Coogler after 25 years. The budget has since eclipsed $90 million. On some projects, they agreed to pay directors an immediate share of cinema ticket sales before a film made a profit.

To be sure, many of Warner Bros.’ recent failures predated De Luca and Abdy. DC films such as The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom were developed under their predecessor, Toby Emmerich. But the same goes for some of its biggest hits, which include Barbie and Dune: Part Two.

The spending decisions at the studio, described by some employees as indicating a lack of fiscal discipline, are especially poignant given the company has eliminated thousands of positions across multiple units since the merger. Morale at the film group is especially low after a third round of cuts. The company spokesperson denied that there have been any clashes and said that “Mike and Pam are aligned on budget priorities” with Zaslav and Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels. Since joining, De Luca and Abdy have lowered the average net production cost of Warner Bros. films from $168 million to $106 million, the company added.

The slate De Luca and Abdy developed over the next two years also includes some franchise fare, including films in the worlds of Final Destination, Mortal Kombat and The Cat in the Hat. “Like most major studios, WB is building a slate with tentpoles, IP-driven films and franchise sequels,” the company’s representative said. And several directors, screenwriters and cinephile executives in Hollywood are rooting for the studio’s original film bets to succeed, even if those same executives have been baffled by the movies’ costs.

Following the poor performance of the studio last year, two of the pair’s most senior deputies were pushed out in January: marketing chief Josh Goldstine and International Distribution President Andrew Cripps. (Goldstine’s contract had been renewed in 2024, while Cripps’ was up later this year.) Both were in the middle of planning for the release of the studio’s biggest titles in 2025, which include an adaptation of the video game Minecraft and F1, which Warner Bros. will distribute in cinemas for Apple Inc.

The producers of F1 originally chose Warner Bros. over rivals in part because of Goldstine’s success marketing Barbie. Goldstine and Cripps were also working on July’s Superman from DC Studios—a separate subsidiary that makes movies and TV shows based on comic-book characters and shares marketing and distribution staff with De Luca and Abdy’s film unit. James Gunn and Peter Safran, who lead DC, found out that Goldstine and Cripps would no longer be managing Superman’s release less than 24 hours before the firings, according to people familiar with the matter. When asked at a media event in February whether Goldstine’s ouster had been disruptive, Safran answered: “It was a decision that Mike and Pam felt was for the best.”

Meanwhile, De Luca and Abdy are racing to quell any perception that their spending has imperiled Warner Bros. Discovery’s earnings, in part by hiring a chief business officer for the first time. The pair brought in Ted Lim from Amazon MGM Studios, giving him a mandate to help “optimize internal processes” and make sure the group’s moves are aligned with Warner Bros. Discovery’s long-term corporate objectives, according to a memo De Luca and Abdy sent at the time of his hiring.

“Ted will collaborate with each division to ensure each Warner Bros. Pictures release reaches the widest possible audience beyond its theatrical window,” they wrote. Or, in other words, he will be doing his best to make sure enough people actually see the films De Luca and Abdy have backed. Bloomberg

Paramount Global fell short of Wall Street’s fourth-quarter revenue expectations on Wednesday as a continued decline in its cable TV unit clouded higher-than-expected subscriber growth for its Paramount+ streaming platform.

Shares of the company fell about 2% in extended trading.

Media giants are reshaping their business strategies in response to the continued erosion of cable TV audiences to streaming platforms.

According to TD Cowen’s analysts, Paramount is highly vulnerable to fluctuations in advertising performance due to its heavy reliance on ad revenue.

The company, which is planning to merge with Skydance Media, reported revenue of $7.98 billion in the quarter, compared with analysts’ projection of $8.10 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Paramount will scrap the diversity, equity and inclusion component of its employee incentive plan, according to a memo seen by Reuters, joining a growing list of major companies, including Disney, that have made similar changes to their DEI initiatives in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle them.

Revenue at its TV media segment fell by 4% from a year earlier, hurt by declines in the linear advertising market and fewer sporting events on CBS.

Its filmed entertainment division posted an adjusted operating loss of $42 million due to higher marketing costs associated with releases.

However, the company’s flagship streaming service, Paramount+, added 5.6 million subscribers during the quarter, its highest addition in two years, compared with expectations for 2.58 million new subscribers, per data from Visible Alpha.

In the fourth quarter, Paramount+ welcomed back the popular American spy thriller “Lioness,” while also debuting “Landman,” a drama series starring Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore.

A strong content lineup, including original productions such as “The Agency,” starring Michael Fassbender, helped boost engagement and subscriber growth.

“There are still too many services chasing too few dollars,” said Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight, adding that partnerships “will be key to success along the long tail of streamers.”

Paramount reported an adjusted per-share loss from continuing operations of 11 cents, while analysts were expecting, on average, a profit of 12 cents per share. MSN

Technicolor Group, the owner of Oscar-winning visual effects companies MPC and The Mill, and feature animation company Mikros Animation, has begun to shut down operations, threatening the jobs of thousands of artists worldwide.

In a memo sent to employees at the weekend, Technicolor Group CEO Caroline Parot wrote that due to “inability to find new investors for the full Group”, it had “filed for Court ‘recovery procedure’ before the French Court of Justice”.

Its UK business went into administration on Monday, with “the majority” of its roughly 440 employees reported to have been made redundant.

Technicolor Group is also reported to have sent US employees the WARN Act notice required by law for large companies ahead of planned closures and mass layoffs.

One of the largest shake-ups of VFX industry jobs in a decade
We don’t usually cover studio closures on CG Channel, but this is potentially one of the most significant since the bankruptcy of Rhythm & Hues, over a decade ago.

The companies owned by Technicolor Group include some of the world’s best-known VFX studios, including MPC, a three-time Academy Award-winner for its work on Life of Pi, The Jungle Book and 1917, and The Mill, which, although now mainly a commercials specialist, also won an Oscar for its work on Gladiator.

The Group also owns Mikros Animation, the veteran production company whose recent credits include animated feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and games services business Technicolor Games.

Industry consultant Joseph Bell, former Los Angeles General Manager at The Mill, estimates Technicolor Group’s current global workforce at 4,500.

As well as the UK, US and France, that includes artists in Canada and India, whose current status is less clear: you can see a map of how the jobs are distributed globally in this LinkedIn post.

Attributed to fallout from COVID and the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
In a memo sent to staff, the text of which has been shared on Reddit, Technicolor Group CEO Caroline Parot attributed the Group’s financial problems to a “difficult operational situation resulting from post-covid recovery, [and] a costly and complex separation from the previous group followed by the writers’ strike leading to a slowdown in customer orders”.

Comments on Reddit, including those from artists who say they recently worked at Technicolor Group companies, also cite the Group’s management culture and job bidding practices.

Tributes pouring in on social media
Former staff are also now sharing their tributes to the companies affected on social media.

In one representative post on LinkedIn, DNEG co-founder and double Oscar-winner Paul Franklin commented that, “like so many others in the industry, MPC is where I got my start” and that it was “hard to imagine the last 30+ years without that”. CG Channel

The government is looking at global best practices for regulating over-the-top players. TRAI has sent suggestions regarding regulations to the MIB and DoT. The two are still reviewing the suggestions in light of rules adopted worldwide. India may look at South Korea, which had regularised OTTs last year.

While the telcos now face financial penalties starting at ₹2 lahks for the first violation, going up to ₹5 lakhs for the second, and ₹10 lakhs for further offenses, there are no such regulations for the OTT players who ride on their networks and broadcast spam messages or calls in a similar fashion.

For unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), TRAI has said the regulatory framework around OTTs comes under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

According to telecom services providers (TSPs), the regulatory disparities prevailing in the sector are impacting them adversely, leading to concerns over market fairness, national security and user privacy.

“Things are very dynamic today and our understanding is that OTT is a service which rides on application layer. TRAI can only regulate on carriageways. Since OTT runs on application layer TRAI cannot regulate on content,” said a source.

The official also mentioned that Indian TSPs are asking for revenue sharing model when it comes to OTT players because OTT services ride on the telecom infrastructure, but there is no revenue sharing model worldwide as such, right now.

Uneven playing field
According to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), that represents major TSPs like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea, the absence of OTT regulation under the new Access Service authorisation perpetuates an uneven playing field.

“To address this, the government should enforce traceability and user privacy rules on all calling and messaging apps, as those platforms provide similar services using the Internet network,” it said.

Recently, COAI also slammed TRAI for not bringing OTT communication service providers under the ambit of the TRAI’s amendment of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR), 2018 to strengthen consumer protection against UCC.

Financial penalties
The telecom industry representative said that while TSPs now face financial penalties for misreporting spam communications, there is no such regulations for the OTT players like WhatsApp or Telegram, who ride on their networks and broadcast spam messages or calls in a similar fashion.

As per the new amendment, TRAI has fixed fines starting at ₹2 lakh for the first violation, going up to ₹5 lakh for the second and ₹10 lakh for further offences. Repeated violations can also lead to suspension of telecom services.

“We believe that a more comprehensive approach is required to tackle the issue effectively. In the current digital landscape, both OTT communication providers and telemarketers have become major stakeholders in messaging, and thus, it would be critical to establish a regulatory framework to ensure accountability from all stakeholders in the ecosystem, including OTT platforms and telemarketers/principal entities,” S P Kochhar, Director General at COAI had said. The Hindu BusinessLine