MUMBAI: The Annoying Orange, which has grown in popularity online, is breaking out of the virtual kitchen as Cartoon Network has acquired the television rights to the most-watched web series of all-time.

Inspired by the viral sensation watched by millions on YouTube, a new half-hour television series will premiere next year as part of Cartoon Network?s original programming block.

Created by Dane Boedigheimer and produced by entertainment management and production company The Collective, ?The Annoying Orange? features an Orange that playfully heckles other fruits, vegetables or nearby objects with puns and jokes. The television series is the latest brand extension for ?The Annoying Orange?, which has already taken the internet by storm.

The Annoying Orange web series has racked up over 850 million total views on its dedicated channel on YouTube as of September 2011, and with new episodes debuting every Friday, it continues to attract millions of views and new fans each week. The Annoying Orange is the ninth-most-subscribed YouTube channel of all time with more than two million subscribers and has over 10 million fans on Facebook and Twitter. The popularity has also translated over to the official web site, which generates nearly four million page views each month.

Now YouTube?s favorite fruit is embarking on an all-new high fructose animated adventure on Cartoon Network. The television series follows Orange and his band of buddies as they travel through time in a magical fruit cart. From Prehistoric Era to Colonial Times, Orange and the rest of the Kitchen Crew are dropped into random adventures and forced to squeeze their way out. Joining Orange on his escapades are his fellow popular produce pals from the web series including Pear, Passion Fruit, Apple, Marshmallow and his nemesis Grapefruit.

The continued success of ?The Annoying Orange? on the internet will present a promotional platform for the television series. Cartoon Network will work with The Collective to mobilise and motivate the property?s tremendous fan base through You Tube and AnnoyingOrange.com via the short-form original content that will continue to be produced separate from the television program - and can be used to drive tune-in messaging in an innovative manner.

Cartoon Network chief content officer Rob Sorcher said, "The Annoying Orange and Cartoon Network were just meant to be squeezed together."

The television series was developed and will be produced by The Collective, which also financed the pilot before shopping it to broadcasters. Dane Boedigheimer co-created the television series with Tom Sheppard (Emmy Award-winning writer for Pinky and the Brain). Conrad Vernon (director of Madagascar 3 andMonsters vs. Aliens) will serve as executive producer for the series along with Gary Binkow and Dan Weinstein of The Collective.

Boedigheimer said, "Two years ago when I launched The Annoying Orange, I never imagined that my unhealthy obsession with talking fruit would become such a phenomenon. I?m really excited to bring a new version to Cartoon Network."

The Collective CEO Michael Green said, "We want to continue to ensure that The Annoying Orange?s huge and loyal audience can enjoy the fruits of Dane?s creative vision whenever and wherever they want. Our model at The Collective is to partner with creative artists to build global brands across all possible platforms and we could not be more excited to join forces with the Cartoon Network to extend the magic of this property to cable television."

The television deal comes as the first wave of The Annoying Orange licensed merchandise is being met with strong demand at retail. Leading the way is an ap?peal?ing line of apparel and accessories that began to roll out in October at JC Penney locations nationwide. The highly-anticipated debut toy line from master toy partner The Bridge Direct, Inc. which features a collection of talking plush, clip-ons and collectible figures will hit specialty retailers including Toys "R" Us and RadioShack in time for the holiday gift giving season. Meanwhile, The Annoying Orange: Kitchen Carnage app is now available for iPhone and Android.

BANGALORE: Fox Traveller will start airing a new one hour weekly show- Life Mein Ek Bar (Once in life) from 6 November at 10 pm. The show will run for 10 episodes every Sunday.

The show is about the adventurous journey of four friends, including actor and VJ Purab Kohli. The show has been inspired by Bollywood movies- ?Dil Chahta Hai? and ?Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara? say sources at the channel.

Fox International Channels VP marketing Debaprita Banerjee said, " Life Mein Ek Bar promises thrill and excitement as the gang of four boys gear up to take on adventurous activities, thrilling escapades and some heartwarming journeys causing some serious adrenaline rush and a lot of connection moments with everyone who has been wanting to give the mundane life a break.

"At Fox Traveller we have been striving to present locally produced content that has a fresh approach to travel-that would capture and reflect the way young India looks at a journey that should be packed with unique experiences that involves a bit of self discovery, rather than just discovering a destination".

The four men whose escapades ?Life Mein Ek Bar? focusses on are Kohli, IT marketing professional Jupiter Huidrom, software engineer Arun Kolagada and film editing student Bhaskara Seth. While Kohli was picked up by Fox Traveller, the other three were chosen by Kohli through an extensive Facebook hunt to find perfect travel companions with whom he could share a common travel list.

Depending on the audience and the advertisers? reaction, Fox Traveller may go in for another season of the show.

For this season, Fox Traveller has roped in two main sponsors - Nestle as the presenting sponsor with the show being ?powered? by telecom company MTS. Fox Traveller has also got on board Wrangler, an advertiser that is generally present on youth centric and music channels. After the first airing of all the episodes of the show, the broadcaster is planning on reruns of the show over the next six to eight months.

MUMBAI: Star Movies has launched a new initiative, Star Movies Hollywood Premieres, to bring exclusive screenings of the Hollywood titles for their fans a day prior to their official theatrical release.

For the same, the channel will be leveraging the strength of their studio tie ups.

The channel will ask the viewers to participate in a contest and answer questions that will be broadcasted on Star Movies and their India Facebook Fan page. Lucky viewers will get the opportunity to attend the exclusive premiere screening of the latest upcoming movie title.

The property is kick starting with the premier of The Three Musketeers on 13 October at select theaters in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata.

To engage viewers further, the English movie channel will also conduct other activities during the screening like lucky draws which gives the viewers a chance to win a Blackberry and Star Movies branded merchandise.

Star movies also holds the exclusive right to premiere other Hollywood biggies like In Time, Twilight Saga- Breaking Dawn and The Darkest Hour among others.

Star India GM and Sr VP, English Channels Saurabh Yagnik says, "Star Movies is a Hollywood expert and a leading destination for the biggest Hollywood blockbusters in India. We are delighted to bring the most awaited and acclaimed Hollywood titles for our Indian viewers and are committed to growing the consumption of Hollywood movies here. We want to continue as Hollywood experts and believe in giving our viewers the complete Hollywood experience by launching a premium brand property, ?Star Movies Hollywood Premieres?. This will give the viewers the opportunity to exclusively experience the premiers, prior to their official theatrical release in India. We have tie ups with some of the biggest studios and aim to enhance viewer engagement and build brand Star Movies."

MUMBAI: Facebook has introduced new analytics tool for marketers including a new metric to track conversations surrounding a brand or business.

The company has also launched a new expanded ad format.

The ???People Talking About This??? will show on brand pages below Likes and count the number of people who have participated by Liking, leaving a Wall post, commenting, photo-tagging or answering a question posted to a Facebook page.

The company’s announcement said, "This will help marketers and Page owners understand how to make their content more engaging and shareable, which increases the reach of their messages on Facebook. It will also help users get a sense for what Pages are relevant, engaging and interesting to them when discovering and connecting to Pages on Facebook."
The updated Insights dashboard for marketers will also show the number of friends of fans of a page, and a page?s weekly total reach -- and the changes as compared to the prior week.

 The social networking site has also started a page, Insights API, for the analytics developer community.
Besides, Facebook added a new premium ad unit combining page posts with any related social activities undertaken by friends.

According to Facebook, social context makes advertising more effective -- leading to a 68 per cent rise in people recalling an ad. Moreover, people are twice as likely to recall the ad and four times as likely to spend.