ITV

Category: Specialised and Niche

  • Vibha Chopra on 2020 roadmap for Zee Studios’ film biz

    Vibha Chopra on 2020 roadmap for Zee Studios’ film biz

    MUMBAI: In 2019, Zee Studios’ film distribution business has grown by 30-40 per cent and film syndication business has seen a growth of 10 to 15 per cent. Last year, Zee Studios entered new markets like Hong Kong and Japan with the release of Dream Girl and Manikarnika. In 2020 it plans to enter new areas in Africa, Asia Pacific, Korea and Taiwan and focus on regional content as well. In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) head-global syndication & international film distribution Vibha Chopra unveiled her plans for 2020 in film distribution and syndication business.

    She said, “In 2020-2021 we will continue to invest in content. We always cherry pick the right type of content that we think that will relate with our audience in the overseas territory. Along with that even regional content is coming up and finding up the audience. At one point it was just Bollywood and the regional content didn’t make it really big, but this year we have seen Malayalam, Tamil and Punjabi films. They also broke records in their own space.”

    “In addition to that we are also speaking to many other territories like Philippines and Thailand, to acquire those movies for the key market where we are very strong in.”

    With 4800 movie titles and 260 thousand hours of Indian content in its library, Studios witnesses huge demand from APAC region because socio-economic and cultural similarities resonate.

    2019 has seen a lot of films which were not anticipated to be  big films but they did great business. “This was a very interesting year. We saw films that were very heavily content driven. Previous year it was dominated by either content driven films or masala films. This year had an appetite for both. As we saw a mix of good content films and masala films doing very good business. I think overall it's been an interesting year that way and obviously for Zee Studios it's a great year on a movie frontier,” said Chopra.

    She further adds, “We have done obviously well in the traditional territory and we are able to grow that. Year on year traditional territories are accepting Indian content more and more. In addition to that there are other non-traditional territories that are seeing the resonance of our content that we have been able to release our films in Japan, Hong Kong and China. We had the largest number of releases in China this year with Mom, Beyond The Clouds and Gold.”

    Chopra also expressed her views on NTO. She said, “It is an interesting time and its a dual opportunity as a challenge. Opportunity because more people sample your content which they will find relevant for their market."

    “I think OTT enables content  to reach far and beyond certain territories. Of course then the challenge becomes that one is so widely available on OTT then players do not give relevance on traditional platforms. The consumption of traditional platform is going down too. So that poses a bit of a challenge for everyone. For any content syndication. That's a challenge because once upon a time television used to be a big platform but now with OTT it's a shared space right now,” she comments.

    Chopra also highlighted her journey with Zee Studios, “I started film distribution and we built everything from scratch. It was a different kind of experience setting up Zee Studios International and seeing where it has reached. This syndication was a different experience. It was seen as an acquired child and all in difficult times where syndicated content in difficult to hold because of the influx of various OTT platforms and how content is reaching the audience,” she informed.

    “With that change of fact, I have always been very passionate about how to enter a newer market. I think both these portfolios did together that there are opportunities to stay. We are talking to various people on format or selling our IP or remakes or things like that. I think there are these challenges which come with the opportunity, that's a very exciting part of the business. 60-70 per cent of the market focuses on Indian audience outside India, this syndication has largely taken Indian content for non Indians. You are dealing with two very different set of audiences and how they consume your content and what do they have to say about your content. So I think it is a kind of complete experience of international market. It's been a great learning experience to understand how the content is received by Indians and non Indians at large,” she said.

  • Insync TV brings fresh content from cultural music festivals

    Insync TV brings fresh content from cultural music festivals

    MUMBAI: Perfect octave Media has partnered with some cultural music festivals to telecast Indian classical music on Insync TV channel. The content will also be launched in the Insync’s digital app soon.

    Insync has partnered with Melodic Rhythm's by Pt. Vijay Ghate – The prestigious programme held at the Balgandharv, Ram Mandir at Pune; Gimar Mahotsav 2019 – An annual festival at Junagadh, Gujarat and Sangeet Samaroh 2019 – Curated by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at New Delhi.

    “This adds tremendous value to our existing propriety content and will bring new sponsorship support for the channel. It will also help in our endeavour to bring varied talent in the region of Indian classical music for our viewers across the globe,” the company said in its BSE filings.

    Perfect-Octave launched India's first ever 24X7 classical music based on television channel ‘Insync TV’ to showcase Indian classical and other music genre such as ghazal, sufi, fusion, spiritual, music education, dance & also western classical and world music. The channel is visible on all major digital cable networks across India reaching 30 million Indian households.

  • Does India need a Hallmark-like channel?

    Does India need a Hallmark-like channel?

    MUMBAI: Is there scope for a local TV channel developed along the lines of the Hallmark Channel in India?

    We, at indiantelevision.com think there is. There was a time in the eighties when Hiba Video – part of Nari Hira’s Lana group – churned out low cost thrillers for the home video and cable TV market. They were reasonably successful. Then came Amit Khanna’s Plus Channel group in the nineties that too produced low cost films which notched up some success.

    Since then, there have been no initiatives in this direction in India. Maybe because the Bollywood star system is too strong. However, in recent times films with lesser known faces and good storylines have been rocking it at the box office. Hence, we believe it is time to ponder over the potential of the opportunity.

    Let’s take a look at what Hallmark – remember the greeting card company – has been doing. Part of American media entity Crown Media the cable TV channel turns out a menu of low cost, quickly made formulaic films, with predictable storylines. This year, Hallmark  and a sister TV channel, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, produced 103 original movies, 40 of them revolved around Xmas. Since 2011, it has been telecasting these movies around the clock, seven days a week during the Christmas season.

    The tack seems to be working: the programming band called Countdown to Christmas has helped Hallmark Movie Channel become the No 1 cable TV network amongt women 25 to 54, and in some time slots No 1 in households and total viewers. 72 million viewers tuned into Hallmark in 2018 during the Countdown to Christmas Special.

    Its revenues too have been rising: Crown Media group notched up sales of of $214 million with a net of some $94 million in 2014 ( the last year for which its financials are available. )

    What’s the secret sauce behind the success of Hallmark Movies?

    According to the The New Yorker magazine, Hallmark shoots its Christmas movies in just about 15 days, with minimal takes and maximum efficiency, in affordable, often Canadian locations, and they are shot on location – not expensive sets – all with a distinctive Hallmark feel. The films tend to centre on indpendent women with interesting jobs (novelists, designers, bakers, chocolatiers) and appealing romantic prospects (royalty, firemen, bakers, chefs). Programming is seasonal; as the year progresses, characters pair up amid winter wonderlands, Valentine’s Day chocolate-making contests, fireworks celebrations, pumpkin patches, and Christmas parties.

    “The familiarity of the films is essential to their success. Hallmark screenplays have nine acts, each of which hits specific plot points—a meet-cute in Act I, before the first commercial, an “almost kiss” in Act VII. The shots are lit with a distinctive warmth. Actors recur,” explains The New Yorker.

    “Hallmark Channel fare has always struck a delicate balance between realism and something more idealised. A paradox of the channel is that the artificiality of its content, which offers predictable pleasures—the “almost kiss,” interrupted by a ringing phone or a bleating goat; the ubiquitous baking contests—is often delivered alongside surprisingly realistic performances. Unlike modern rom-coms, Hallmark plots—which almost always feature romance, even alongside the murder investigations—are driven not by arch concepts, high jinks, or panic about being single but by what one can describe to me as “a voyage of self-discovery.”

    “In Hallmark films, townspeople care for one another, run viable small businesses, and compete in gingerbread bake-offs – America as we might wish it were, and as some believe it once was. It has thrived in the Trump era. Last year, it was one of the only networks to gain viewers besides Fox News and MSNBC. It also depicts a purple America, without guns, MAGA hats, rage.”

    So in effect it offers America an escape from the harshness of life that most Americans face on a daily basis. And the audiences lap it all up like there is no tomorrow.  Hallmark’s mark is being left not just on TV. Streamers have also taken note and Netflix and others have been picking up their films or Lifetime TV’s (which too has taken to making similar kinds of films) movies to serve the mushy viewers.

    Then, Hallmark has taken to sponsoring  a Christmas convention called Christmas Con which brings together 17 of its movie stars at a modest convention centre in Edison, New Jersey. Thousands of Americans descended to meet their favorites wearing reindeer antlers, pro-Hallmark T-shirts, and posed inside a Christmas ornament-shaped frame while guzzling cider.

    It’s not as if Hallmark always had it so good at the movies. It began as a greeting card company more than a century ago. It was only in 1951, that it ventured into TV by sponsoring the first original opera written for television, “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” It followed by sponsoring TV productions of literary adaptations, Broadway plays, and, in time, original films under the band Hallmark Hall of Fame. “It became the most award-winning franchise in television history, with eighty-one Emmys,” says The New Yorker.  “The origin of the films lies in the distinctive two-minute Hallmark-card commercials that had aired during the Hall of Fame broadcasts, starting in the sixties, which became famous for making viewers cry. In “The Music Professor,” from 1983, a girl races to arrive at a piano lesson before her teacher and hides a card between the pages of her sheet music. When he finds it, both struggle to contain their emotions.”

    The channel has its fans in producers, directors, and actors who find it steady pay and steady work, thanks to the flurry of movies it produces.

    The Hallmark Channel ran in India for quite a while a decade or so ago. It finallly shut down. The service is available as an OTT subscription service in the US as well as.

    Now we are not arguing for a Christmas-movie filled channel; what we are talking about is a season-driven channel. India has more festivals than probably any country. And one could have Diwali, Eid, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Onam and other festival-linked special tightly-budgeted themed films – some could be romantic – targeted at the stay-at-home-work- at-home women.  

    And it’s quite possible such a channel could do well courtesy the differentiated content it offers.

    Any takers?

  • EPIC TV’s Akul Tripathi on content changes post NTO & roadmap for 2020

    EPIC TV’s Akul Tripathi on content changes post NTO & roadmap for 2020

    MUMBAI: As the new tariff order (NTO) came into effect in 2019, niche channels feared its impact the most. Belonging to one of the niche genres – infotainment, EPIC channel with its focus on India-centric content went against the tide. In the tough year the channel experimented with various genres and launched shows like EPIC IQ Challenge, Regiment Diaries and the new season of Lost Recipe. Going forward in 2020 the channel will bring another season of these marquee shows along with some new and unique formats that have never been seen in the infotainment space. 

    In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, EPIC channel content and programming head Akul Tripathi spoke on the channel's journey so far, challenges faced by the infotainment, advertisers' keenness on upcoming shows, content strategies and roadmap for 2020.

    In November the channel completed its fifth year. One of the remarkable experiments was trying the reality format in the infotainment space- EPIC IQ Quiz Challenge which was launched in October. 

    "EPIC IQ Challenge premiered this year in October and demonstrated that the reality show format can work on infotainment channels as well. Regiment Diaries continues to receive very emotional and heartfelt responses. Season 2 is eagerly awaited and we too are excited to see it on air soon," Tripathi comments.

    He says, “The last five years have been very memorable for EPIC. We have received so much love and loyalty from our viewers, and accolades from the industry that are truly humbling.”

    “This has also been a learning experience. We are learning something different about the viewers and their preferences every day. However, the one lesson that stands out is that good content works. If you’re putting out quality shows which offer relevance and entertainment, you will find people coming back for them. Part of our success is owed to the fact that our shows have lasting appeal – they are as popular today as they were when they premiered. It is also vital to keep offering viewers something new, which has led us to experimenting with various genres, such as reality infotainment, which was very well-received,” Tripathi expresses.

    With all the changes in the industry it has been an exciting year for EPIC as well. “The enforcement of the new regulations has shown us that the love and loyalty for EPIC is everything that any brand or business can hope for. The response we have received from both distributors and cable operators has been heartening, to say the least."

    Even advertisers are taking to its shows. Regiment Diaries has been a favourite since it launched, but Lost Recipes Season 2 made its own mark this year. The response was exceptional. "We had a host of brands excited about coming on board with EPIC IQ Panga, a digital property we launched along with EPIC IQ Challenge, that gave advertisers a chance to interact directly with the audience. At the same time, we have advertisers equally willing to associate with our legacy content."

    Challenges

    EPIC is unique in the infotainment genre with its focus on India-centric content and its commitment towards telling stories from India. The channel has a library of premium, Hindi-language Indian content that has been built with great passion and put together along with the right mix of talent, technology and story, backed by credible research which remains the key to creating great content. “With content from the world at your fingertips, the audience is far more demanding than previously on production and entertainment values.

    Content Strategies

    For content, the channel gives special attention to timelessness. The expertise of the channel lies in creating content that stays relevant and with the latest technology so that it remains fresh and current over time. Tripathi says, “We emphasise on storytelling to have several layers to it, that makes for great repeat watching value and give viewers a new takeaway every time they see it. We believe this, along with being made in the native language of the viewers makes for content that resonates across age groups and also remains viable for the channel.” 

    He also informed that the channel will curate content across genres to showcasing the country’s past and present with a unique touch of entertainment and fun. "This year, we experimented with a quiz show and found that audiences are truly open to eclectic content. Going forward, we are planning to come out with more shows about nature and wildlife, which have their own dedicated viewers, and so their own ROI."

    Plans for 2020

    Viewers can look forward to a new season of Regiment Diaries coming out very soon. The channel is also looking at bringing the second season of EPIC IQ Challenge in 2020, with new editions of EPIC IQ Panga. “Also, keep an eye out for some very unique wildlife content. We are also developing some concepts that have never been attempted before in the infotainment space. Interesting times ahead, and watch this space for announcements,” says Tripathi.

    He further says, “We aim to further diversify our offerings, make meaningful collaborations, like the recent one with Amar Chitra Katha, and also allow for more touch-points for our content, especially through interactivity in-sync with our OTT Platform – EPIC On.”

  • JOP Network’s journey from curating content to running 3 pay channels

    JOP Network’s journey from curating content to running 3 pay channels

    MUMBAI: It is often assumed that the TV broadcast market in India has reached a saturation point and is dominated by big media networks with deep pockets like Sony, Zee, Times Network, Disney-owned Star India (earlier owned by Rupert Murdoch) or Mukesh Ambani-owned Network18, leaving no room for start-ups to grow and establish themselves in this cluttered media space.
     
    However, JOP Network, a Delhi-based five-year-old content startup, has proved both these notions wrong. Not only has the startup that began its journey in 2014 as a content curator in the niche-segment of health and wellness grown by leaps and bounds in last five years, JOP Network currently runs three pay channels in India and Australia and plans to launch three more (1 GEC, 1 sports and 1 lifestyle) in the coming year.

    Owned by banker-turned-media entrepreneur Urvi Agarwal, JOP now produces and curates content for Indian and international markets and distributes via its own channels (Fitness Studio, Hollywood Masala, Life Mantra) as well as via global television networks such as Discovery, FOX Traveller, Airtel DTH, Tata Sky, Astro Malaysia and in-flight channels of Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways to name a few.

    JOP’s success demonstrates that even in a crowded and cluttered Indian broadcast TV market, it is possible to carve out a distinct space by curating and producing high-quality content and finding right market for your content.

    The beginning: 2014

    Talking about launching JOP Network in 2014, Agarwal says she realised at a very early stage that there was a dearth of speciality and niche channels in the Indian media landscape.

    “Globally, there were specific channels for one’s everyday lifestyle needs, from fitness to even fishing, but there was nothing that focussed on Indian masses.”
     JOP provided content to other channels for the first two years before getting its big break in 2016 when it signed a deal with SWIFT Network in Australia for spiritual lifestyle channel LifeMantra.

    The channel telecast content related to the philosophies of Ayurveda, yoga and balance and has been viewed by approximately one million viewers so far.

    Indian TV broadcast entry: 2018

    In 2018, JOP finally broke into Indian broadcast market by signing a Value Added Service (VAS) channel deal with Airtel DTH. Its first channel in India, Fitness Studio, was launched in January 2018 and featured celebs like Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Mandira Bedi, Vinod Channa, Namrata Purohit, and James Crossley amongst others.

    “On average, we produce approximately 60 to 70 hours of fitness and wellness content in-house in a year. We also have a strong network of partners globally from whom we acquire the remaining,” she says.

    Agarwal firmly believes that Fitness Studio (one of India’s industry-first pay channel in fitness genre) can contribute hugely in making India a sporting nation and in making fitness a social movement.

    “Television, even today, is the best medium to reach the Indian consumer in every part of the country and of all ages. Fitness of body and mind are essential if one wants to develop a sporting body and spirit. Even beyond sporting, a fit nation is a healthy nation and TV can play an important role in it,” she explains.

    Hollywood Masala

    Then in November 2018, JOP launched another channel, Hollywood Masala, which broadcast international blockbuster movies in Hindi.

    Agarwal says: “Hollywood Masala came into being after we observed a need gap in this segment. Most Indian audiences are comfortable in consuming content in Hindi or in regional Indian languages. The huge success of international movies such as Avengers, Bohemian Rhapsody can be attributed to them being released in theatres in Indian languages.”

    While JOP has hitherto focused on procuring already dubbed international movies, the startup is also investing in creating its own dubbing facility.

    “Mostly we try and procure movies which are already dubbed and censored. Currently, however, we are dubbing approximately 100 titles in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and the average cost of dubbing and censoring a single title is Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh.”

    For 2020, Hollywood Masala has already acquired a huge catalogue distributed via PVR and some big titles from Paramount Pictures.

    NTO and Pay TV model

    JOP has launched both these channels (Fitness Studio, Hollywood Masala) as pay channels in 2018. Thus, they were well prepared for the February 2019 New Tariff Order (NTO) disruption that forced DTH, LCO and MSOs to move to a new tariff regime.

    Consequently, unlike other media networks, JOP has seen steady viewership growth in 2019 in the post-NTO era.

    “On average, we have seen a month on month increment of 5000 subscribers on both these channels,” she says, adding “celebrity content and big movies surge up the subscription even further.”

    Agarwal is also quick to underline that both these channels are also completely advertisement free. “That is the main USP of these two channels. We generate revenue via subscription.”

    However, have not JOP’s expansion plans suffered on account of not having distribution deals with local cable operators (LCOs) and multiple system operators (MSOs)?

    “We run these channels in collaboration with DTH operators as they are pioneers in the VAS field and have teams which focus on growing the business. MSOs and LCOs do not focus or specialise on VAS. Hathway runs a few VAS but prices them very low,” she says, adding that LCOs should think about adding robust VAS especially in the post-NTO environment when consumers are more receptive to the idea of paying for premium content.

    Content sales

    Apart from linear channel distribution, JOP’s other prominent stream of business is content sales.

    JOP has signed content sales deals with over 30 in-flight entertainment services across the world, including top airlines such as Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Alitalia, United Airlines, and Qantas.

    “We work with a French distributor for all our in-flight entertainment deals,” Agarwal says. The rates, however, vary from deal to deal, she adds.

    While JOP has sold content to OTT players from the very beginning, Agarwal is in no hurry to launch her own OTT platform. “We do not plan to launch our own OTT as of now. However, we have already started collaborating with various Indian and international OTT platforms for launching our content on them,” she says.

    The company is also in talks to raise funds to grow the company further and aims to invest this money in ramping up its own in-house production.
    2020 will be an interesting and challenging year for the five-year-old content startup. Not only does it plan to launch three new channels but also hopes to build its own dubbing and production capabilities.

    The success of three new planned channels in the cluttered Indian broadcast market and how soon JOP turns profitable remains to be seen. However, undoubtedly, JOP’s journey will serve as a testament on how to build a media network in crowded Indian broadcast media space. 
     

  • A+E Networks | TV18’s Avinash Kaul on branded content, investment & growth of infotainment genre

    A+E Networks | TV18’s Avinash Kaul on branded content, investment & growth of infotainment genre

    MUMBAI: Producing original shows on issues of contemporary local significance like surgical strikes, national elections, Ganesha festivals, marvels and mysteries of India; that’s how History TV 18 aims to stand out in the niche segment of infotainment channels in India.

    “Very consciously we are going towards the direction of original local content because that is what will make our brand stand out in India,” says A+E Networks | TV18 MD and Network18 CEO Avinash Kaul in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com. He also spoke on the need for creating original content in infotainment space, challenges faced by the genre, impact of NTO on niche genres, economic slowdown, channel’s growth trajectory and plans for 2020.

    Kaul believes that factual and lifestyle channels offer the best branded content options. “Factual entertainment is something which enables all kinds of genres to flow, and all kinds of brand stories to be told. So that's the proposition that we are trying to go with. It is a very robust platform because of its availability in multiple languages. The channel cannot compete with the ratings of GECs but it enables a brand environment where brand story can be beautifully curated. As a branded content it's the perfect way forward because the ratings are far higher than news but are much lower than GECs but the mass reach is still there.”

    Speaking on some of branded shows done by the channels, Kaul says, “Our programming and marketing team has over 250 years of experience and have pioneered some of the biggest, tailor-made sponsored initiatives that have set benchmarks across industries. This, combined with our digital presence, might have resulted in several clutter-breaking advertiser-funded projects.”

    To mention a few – Hamdard’s One for All a digital-first initiative- stories of people who have contributed towards the betterment of society; Renault presents Ride to Conquer is about four influencers from different walks of life who go on a drive for self-exploration; and Imagine your Korea- an initiative to get more Indians familiar with S Korea as a travel destination.

    He further says, “From a ratings standpoint, obviously we are doing very well. FYI TV18 is the number one lifestyle channel in India by a huge margin. It's roughly around 60-65 per cent of the market. It beats even channels like FoodFood and Living Food, TLC Fox Life, Good Times, all of them. So it's fairly strong in the ratings ecosystem. As far as History TV18 is concerned it usually comes in number two after Discovery in the factual entertainment genre, which given the fact that Discovery is in the country for more than 30 years, and beating the likes of NGC and others by itself is remarkable.”

    History TV18 has also released unseen differentiated programming in the Indian market. Kaul says that shows like Pawn Stars, Baggage Battle and Storage Wars from international houses resonated well, despite a lot of people having thoughts that it may or may not work as well in India.

    The channel also has a show called Forged In Fire which is about people making knives and people making swords, which is a reality show. “Now, that's not something that one would see on a normal channel or any other factual entertainment channel and that's one of the top-rated shows,” he opines.

    OMG! Yeh Mera India has two main sponsors Hyundai and Havells. “Even though History TV18 channel was a late entrant in the factual and entertainment genre, we were the early adopters of local content in India. We have OMG! Yeh Mera India Season 6. In three and a half years we have done six seasons. So which means in a year we do more than one season. So that gives you a sense of the amount of response that we get from this show, not only on TV, which is obviously top-rated but also on digital,” informed Kaul.

    Due to the current business environment due to NTO, Kaul feels there is certain softness in the market. Because of this, the channel has kept some originals on hold for FYI TV18.

    The biggest challenge faced by the genre is investment in original content. In India, the market share of infotainment is very low whereas, in the West, the genre holds the second position after sports. Kaul attributes this to investment in original content. Indian TV channels did not pick up the trend and the late entrants had to begin it, putting more pressure on them. He further says, “If it had been done at the right time, I think the genre would have leapfrogged to a totally different place.”

    With regards to content, Kaul said, “The only thing that is well exploited in India is Mythology but not History. So if history could be done, that could really change the entire complexion. Because even if you see the OTT platforms, by the time they come to factual entertainment, it is another three four years as they are first creating mass production, like Sacred Games and other things which are basically something which will smack and people will get used to it. After building those libraries they will invest in these other shows. So I think that journey will take time. Until that time, we are only custodians of making shows like that. We can do it only one show at a time or two shows at a time.”

    Revealing the plans for 2020 Kaul says, “The plan is to stay on course. I think this is the time to not get derailed from our plans but to continue building X amount of local content. My opinion is that if we stay on course and if we maintain our business, tightly we will deliver on our business. So that's what the key thing is that we're delivering on our business goals overall, I think we should be able to ride out this rough patch.”

  • Epic launches wildlife and quiz shows to attract new viewers to the channel

    Epic launches wildlife and quiz shows to attract new viewers to the channel

    MUMBAI: Epic channel will soon be launching a show on wildlife after experimenting with genres like mythology, sports, food, history, travel, culture etc. Additionally, mid-September will also see the launch of a new quiz show Epic India Quiz Challenge. The new shows are an attempt to garner new and different viewers.

    In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Epic channel head – content & programming Akul Tripathi said, “At Epic we are trying to create or curate programming that caters to different interests. We have been providing content regarding infotainment in as many non-conventional ways as possible and we will continue to do that. We believe in the diversity of India and showcasing that through all type of programming categories that are available to us.”

    Epic boasts of a vast content library including Raja Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniyaan related to food category, Mid Wicket Tales with Naseeruddin Shah, Umeed India, Indian Martial Arts in the sports category, Ekaant, Road Less Travelled, Kahi Suni in the travel category, Devlok with Devdatt Patnik in the mythological genre, Regiment Diary, etc.

    Tripathi mentioned that with every new type of program launch, a new set of audience joins the channel. “We are trying to reach out to different groups of audiences based on the kind of programmes they like watching, so that they come and sample the channel and then they realise that there is a lot more content for them.”

    The channel in association with Rupa Publications also announced a long-term collaboration of adapting its TV shows into books. Following the success of Adrishya, and Khwabon Ka Safar, the partnership launched three books that are literary adaptations of Epic’s immensely popular series – Umeed India, Sharanam, and Dharmakshetra.

    Tripathi said, “We have always been exploring on how we bring our stories to the larger audiences. Television offers a 24-hour window and a finite amount of catalogue. Compared to that, a book has a longer shelf life which can be referred to as and it adds a different dimension. All infotainment things we create are timeless in nature and having it in a book format adds to that timelessness dimension.”

    The partnership with Rupa is a long-term sustained initiative to convert TV shows into books. The upcoming Epic India Quiz challenge will also be adapted in the book format.

    The channel re-launched itself as an infotainment channel on July 2017 and Tripathi believes that the viewership of India-centric programmes has increased. “The genre has immense potential. There is a significant shift or increased interest of viewers to watch factual programming especially about the country which has been deprived to them via infotainment channels in the country because most of the programmes that we had have been skewed towards international content. This has opened up an entirely new genre of content for a lot of people who have seen this kind of content for the first time. The future is going to be about India-centric infotainment content,” opined Tripathi.

    Epic is also striving to show content in other languages such as Tamil, Bengali and even English through its app. “I don’t see anybody else in this space doing this much for the infotainment-loving audience,” said Tripathi. 

  • Travelxp to premiere ‘Off The Grid Ethiopia’ from 8th September

    Travelxp to premiere ‘Off The Grid Ethiopia’ from 8th September

    MUMBAI: Travelxp will feature an exclusive show on Africa’s oldest country, Ethiopia from September 8-12, 2019 at 8 pm on Travelxp 4K, Travelxp HD and Travelxp SD. Off The Grid explores an offbeat travel perspective by journeying into the unknown, doing the unconventional, going local and living the anticipation to experience something new.

    “Off The Grid Ethiopia” is a 5-episode series, featuring Ethiopia’s unparalleled heritage through rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, rare archaeological remains of early hominids in Addis Ababa, ancient palaces of Gondar and the fortified historic town of Harari. The show also introduces indigenous tribal communities like Karo, Hammar, Daasanach and Mursi. Glimpses of some rare species like a Gelada baboon, world’s only grass-eating monkey make the show one-of-its-kind.  

    OTG has been directed by the veteran travel director Rohan Patoley and hosted by an adventurous Emeline Nsingi Nkosi. Sharing his experience, Rohan commented, “The expedition to Ethiopia surpassed our expectations. We were up and close with nature, spending days with ethnic tribes, documenting UNESCO heritage sites, etc. The country has a distinct beauty and it deserves to be seen. Off The Grid will be an immersive watch for our audience

  • Man v/s Wild with Bear Grylls and PM Modi brings 88% viewership growth for Discovery

    Man v/s Wild with Bear Grylls and PM Modi brings 88% viewership growth for Discovery

    MUMBAI: Man v/s Wild with Bear Grylls and PM Modi brings 88 per cent growth in the viewership of Discovery channel. The show was broadcasted across 12 channels of Discovery network.

    The original airing of Man V/s Wild with Bear Grylls and PM Modi recorded 6.9 million impressions and ~400 million viewing minutes. 18.4 million unique viewers tuned in for the episode across the country.

    The premiere day Monday August 12 and week 33 2019 have recorded the all-time high viewership for Discovery Channel.

    The channel was at the 4th position across all channels/genres on Monday during the time-slot 9-10 hours. As per week 33 of BARC India ratings the channel garnered 65.2 million impressions in TG all India 2+ segment and 8.3 million impressions were recorded in Megacities NCSS AB 2+ segment.

    The show is also streaming on Netflix across world. The show features the India Prime Minister walking through the wilderness of the Jim Corbett national Park in the foothills of the Himalayas along with Grylls, while extolling the need for tiger and environment conservation. The show witnesses PM Modi in a hitherto-unseen avatar, learning the tricks of survival in the wild from Grylls.

    Apart from sharing space in a make-shift raft with Grylls, making a spear and partaking in a hot drink made from curry leaves, PM Modi also speaks about his time spent in the Himalayas and highlights the rich envirnmental heritage of India, which needs to be preserved. PM Modi is only the second world leader to feature in the iconic show, the first being former US President Barack Obama.

    The show is produced for Discovery India by Bear Grylls Ventures & Electus a Propagate company, where Bear Grylls, Delbert Shoopman, Rob Buchta and Elizabeth Schulze are executive producers and Ben Simms is co-executive producer.

  • National Geographic to air documentary “Counting Tigers” on 7 August

    National Geographic to air documentary “Counting Tigers” on 7 August

    MUMBAI: National Geographic’s upcoming documentary Counting Tigers which closely follows India’s tiger census and gives viewers rare access to the operations behind this momentous exercise to premiere on 7 August. The documentary will also stream on Hotstar.

    The documentary showcases the efforts of officers and forest guards involved in the process of tracking and counting tigers, including the never before in-depth tiger profiling. It also encapsulates the use of advanced technology and efficacious methods deployed in order to up the ante on accuracy of this tiger census. Interesting to know that nearly 15,000 camera traps were used for capturing tiger images and recording their unique stripe pattern with the help of a dedicated software.

    Riding on the spirit of authentic and trustworthy storytelling, National Geographic, through this documentary, elaborates on the current habitat and situation of tigers in India. It celebrates those officials and biologists who have taken the responsibility to conserve the tiger population and work round the clock to ensure so.

    Commenting on the announcement, a Nat Geo spokesperson said, "As the world battles to save its most charismatic animal, Counting Tigers showcases the intricacies of monitoring and tracking tigers and deep dives into the existing challenges that are a threat to the tiger population. Through this film, for the first time, viewers will get to understand how the Indian jungles are positively impacting the global tiger population. We are delighted to be a part of this year’s census estimation and to be able to share this incredible story with every viewer."