MUMBAI: The familiar Mudra logo with two hands striking a pose (mudra) will be seen more often on television sets now. Mudra Videotec has announced its intentions to expand it's presence in the domain space of TV software and ad-film production.
 

One of the earliest entrants, Mudra Videotec is into the business of buying/selling slots on the national broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) and its regional channels; co-producing "commissioned" software on cable and satellite (C&S) channels; producing ad films and audio-visual productions to fulfill the needs of in-house clients.

The company has already bagged the mandate to create TV software for DD Bharati (sports programmes) and Eenadu TV. The company teamed up with an independent producer Tamil Mani on DD-Chennai to create a new prime time slot Mon-Fri at 6:30 pm - and the programme Atthaai has won rave reviews in a market which has been traditionally dominated by the private satellite channels. The company is also planning to increase the proportion of DD National (Hindi) offerings as compared to the vernacular programmes on regional DD channels.

While speaking to indiantelevision.com, Mudra executive director and chief creative officer Kaushik Roy says: "As far as contributing revenues and marketing content to national broadcaster DD is concerned, we are already amongst the top five players. Now, we are planning to increase our presence on DD and its regional channels as well as amongst the private broadcasters. In the initial phase, we are targeting the south Indian market and moving cautiously. Later on, we shall tap the 'Big Guns' such as Star, Zee and Sony in a phased manner. "

Mudra Videotec has the following programmes on air

Programme    Channel/Time slot    TAM Ratings for 18-24 May (week 21)
Mera Humsafar    DD1, Mon-Tue 9pm    3.4 (all homes) ranked 61
Shayad Tum    DD-1, Thur 9:30 pm    6.3 (all homes) ranked seven
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke    DD-1 Wed 9:30 pm    5.3 (all homes) ranked 19
Manchuparvatam    DD-Hyderabad Mon-Fri 4pm    amongst the top five in Hyderabad
Atthaai    DD-Chennai Mon-Fri 6:30 pm    
Marurmarunnu    DD-Keralam

    
Mudra Videotec has a team of 15 people spread across the country with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Roy has two business unit heads who report to him: Mudra Videotec national marketing head - ad sales Sunil Shetty and manager, audio-visual and films Umang Pahwa.

While speaking to indiantelevision.com, Shetty says: "We have contributed Rs 90 million over the last 20 months to DD's kitty. In terms of revenue contribution, Mudra Videotec is amongst the top five. Currently, Mudra Videotec has around seven hours of weekly programming on DD and its affiliate channels; we are amongst the top two."

Meanwhile, Roy has also expressed optimism that the division will also get new business from Mudra clients. "As far as ad-films and audio-visual production is concerned, we are aggressively pitching for in-house business from within the Mudra network. We are hoping to leverage our expertise in software/content production and offer value-added services to clients."

Pahwa, who is responsible for the AV and films business, adds: "We have done quality work for clients such as McDonald's, Reliance Infocomm, Godrej group, HP lubricants amongst others. In fact, the McDonald's campaign has won seven awards last year inclusive of three Abby awards and four AAAI awards. We are hoping to convert other large clients within the Mudra fold such as Yamaha and Dainik Bhaskar."

Incidentally, Mudra Videotec had worked to create the Reliance Infocomm launch AV films which were aired at the Reliance technology centre in Navi Mumbai on the launch date earlier this year. "We managed to deliver despite constraints of hectic schedules and almost impossible deadlines. We were creating three to four films every week!" says Pahwa.

Roy sums it up by saying that Mudra Videotec has become one of the top revenue earning divisions within the Mudra fold and is growing at a furious pace. "Mudra Videotec is giving something back to the parent agency in terms of revenues as well as insights and inputs!" he says.

Looks as if Mudra Videotec has come a long way since the time Roy undertook the challenge (August 2001) of ensuring that the division's potential is translated into revenues and value for shareholders.