ITV

Tag: GECs

  • Colors’ gung-ho digital strategy

    Colors’ gung-ho digital strategy

    Send in your tweets to @ColorsTV, be a part of a Facebook contest, stand a chance to win an iPad, tweet away your views with #Jhalak..#Madhubala. Watch Colors live, maximum You Tube hits. #ThisIsTHEchannel WithanAdmirableOnlineStrategy.

    Well, the crux of this story is just that. Colors, Viacom18‘s maiden Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC), which has carved a commendable place for itself in a very short span of time, is a channel with a massive digital presence. Hence, taking our digital series forward (read the previous stories on Sony and Star Plushere), we take you through this interactive journey of the very dynamic Colors, presenting awe inducing figures, highlighting the ever increasing online fan communities and much more…

    The official Facebook page of Colors has an overwhelming 1.88 million likes with more than 100,000 active fans. While the channel keeps its official page up-to-date with galleries and snippets of upcoming episodes, it also links the platform to the official pages of its various shows. The official page of its popular fiction dailies likeMadhubala: Ek Ishq Ek Junoon and Balika Vadhu have garnered 0.48 million and 0.43 million likes respectively. Among non-fiction shows, Bigg Boss Season 6‘s official page boasts of 0.16 million likes, whereas, the recently launched Season 6 of popular celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa has already garnered 0.1 million likes.

    Colors contstantly updates its Facebook profile for its 1.88 million plus fans with teasers, pictures and snippets

    Apart from the official pages, Colors has gained immense popularity through the numerous fan driven pages of its hot-selling properties. The upcoming season of Bigg Boss already has a fan page featuring more than 22,000 likes, while the previous season‘s fan page figures around 0.29 million likes. But the show which seems to have broken all records is the very popular Vivian Dsena – Drashti Dhami starrer Madhubala-Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, produced by Nautanki Films. The love-hate relationship of the lead protagonist has definitely captured the imagination of the TV viewing audience. There are more than 100 Facebook Fan pages dedicated to the show with some registering more than 60,000 likes. Well, if that‘s not impressive, what will be?

    In a world where news is being replaced by a tweet of 140 characters, soap plots are tweaked according to fan tweets. Twitter enables instant reactions and feedback and Colors makes the most of this platform. With more than 81,000 followers and around 16,000 tweets, the official twitter handle of the channel (@ColorsTV) is a buzzing place. Every few minutes, the handle buzzes with tweets and re-tweets. Every couple of days, the channel also launches interactive contests to engage with its fans. Recently, @ColorsTV awarded an iPad among other goodies to winners of the #Jhalak contest. The success of the Twitter launch of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa can be gauged from the fact that the official hash-tag was trending all over India for nearly three consecutive days and also in UK and US for some time.

    It takes a person like Vivek to spearhead the digital revolution at Colors

    Colors Digital Head Vivek Srivastava asserts: "Our effort on social media is to start and manage conversations and we have some very good brands on both fiction and non-fiction which help our cause. Just to give you an example Colors properties trended 51 times at all India level in the last financial year."

    For a general entertainment channel, the video uploads drive maximum traffic and for the same purpose, Colors launched its official YouTube channel in June 2008 and has since uploaded around 18,300 videos. The YouTube channel has 0.2 million loyal subscribers and a magnanimous count of around 149 million video views so far.

    On an average, every Colors upload garners more than 20,000 video views within a couple of days. Here as well, popular properties like Madhubala, Balika Vadhu, Jhalak and Bigg Bossgarner average views as high as 85,000, 40,000, 50,000 and 45,000 respectively. The wedding special episodes of Madhubalaalso recorded views as high as 0.16 million. Besides, the much promoted grand premiere of Jhalak was uploaded in 33 videos, each video garnering thousands of video views.

    Srivastava informs: "The episodes are uploaded within a couple of hours of the show going on-air, however we create specific content for the internet and mobile which goes beyond catch-up for episode. This is primarily aimed at engagement, if there is a Colors fan intending to know more, discuss or comment on our shows, we have to facilitate it."

    The mainstay platform of Colors has web exclusive content, photo galleries, polls and much more

    Such a comprehensive digital presence is further topped by the official website of Colors- www.colors.in.com. This is the mainstay platform of the channel as it aims to use all its other platforms to drive traffic towards the website. It is the hub of all online activities for the channel with web exclusive content created especially for it along with live streaming, picture gallery and video uploads, trends and show trivia. What more, the channel has been successful in generating 100 million page views last year. "We have a very strong offering in colors.in.com a website which goes beyond just catch-up TV. There is news, videos, behind the scene, interviews, discussions, special content, live streaming and much more; the effort is to feed an ardent Colors fan with as much information as possible," Srivastava elaborates.

    The question which hits our mind is whether the website delivers on the huge investment? Srivastava is very clear in his answer: "Yes, we are investing in it heavily. For a content heavy platform like Colors where we own most of the IP of our content, it‘s important to have own destinations and build traction for them from a long term perspective. YouTube, Facebook, twitter and other such platforms serve as media vehicles to best engage with our consumers and monetisation of our content, since most of these platforms have huge audience bases we put significant effort on them as well."

    Colors targets all social media platforms and also boasts of ‘web exclusive‘ content. All in all, it has done it all- from having an official Facebook page to an active twitter handle; from one of the largest YouTube portals to the very interactive colors.in.com

    Why so much of social networking? What was the driving force for this aggressive online strategy? The digital head reasons: "Viewers are viewing, sharing, blogging and tweeting TV content. Consumers are willing rather eager to engage with their favourite shows and characters outside the silver screen. We realise this need, these serve as great conversation starters and opinion builders. It's important that we are present wherever our consumers are seeking us, and wherever possible channelise conversations to positively impact the brands."

    An interesting aspect of GECs online is the apt usage of archived content. A lot of older episodes of popular properties as well as popular shows that have gone off air, get a considerable amount of traction. "Blockbuster content from any era gets traction, 1000 episodes down we still have viewers watching initial episode of Balika Vadhu and Uttaran. Obviously the shows on-air will get higher traction but there is always a market for classic content," adds Srivastava.

    Madhubala seems to set precedents for the rest of the fiction shows with more than 100 Facebook fan-driven pages

    In terms of genres, some non-fiction properties like Bigg Boss stand out because of the nature of the property and its ability to start conversations. But at an overall level both fiction and non-fiction gets equal traction.

    The virtual world of Colors is not restricted to your laptop and desktop, the channel has very impressively targeted mobile as well. It all began with the launch of the Bigg Boss app which allowed viewers to watch all that is happening inside the house at any given time. The 24/7 live streaming app became an instant success and got the Bigg Boss fanatics hooked to their cell phones.

    Today, Colors is taking the app world very seriously with the launch of the Jhalak app. This has a play along feature allowing the viewers to play real time along with the original telecast of the show. Apart from this, one can participate in quizzes about the show, vote for their contestants, watch videos, express your views on social platform etc all through one app.

    Srivastava further explains: "People today are using multiple screens – laptops, smart phones, tablets etc and multiple platforms – the video sites, the social networks, Apps, Games etc to access content. Although, the numbers are small especially when compared to the reach TV as a medium provides, however the growth and engagement the medium provides is phenomenal."

    Does he see then a profound shift from desktops to tablets very soon? "Tablets and mobiles are becoming important as the second screen, however the consumption is varied, most of video consumption is catch-up in case you have missed an episode or a highpoint," he further adds: "The bigger hook is exclusive content, viewers want to interact with their favourite stars, know more about their off screen personalities, behind the scenes, news, views, interactions, sometimes even spoilers. We ensure both these are present in equal proportion on our digital platforms."

    Episode videos are uploaded within 2 hours of the telecast. Popular shows get more than 80000 average video views per episode

    On that note, one has to but, wonder about this new-found lucrative source of revenue for the channel. How does the channel use this space in order to monetise? Srivastava reveals: "For a broadcaster, advertising and subscription revenues still contribute the maximum. However, revenues from digital platform have been exhibiting significant growth. Majority chunk of the revenue still comes from Linear and VOD content, then there is WAP, Voice, Gaming etc all of which exhibit positive numbers if you have the right offering."

    In that case, is it time that GECs start taking the digital platform seriously from the revenue generation point of view? "Without commenting on the numbers the digital revenues have been showcasing a healthy growth YOY and as penetration of internet and accessibility to smart devices increases over the next few years we anticipate a bullish trend."

    Television broadcasting is going through a metamorphosing phase, what with the TAM rating fiasco and the impending AD cap regulation. Talks about reducing dependence on advertising revenues is becoming the part of every discussion. In such a scenario, is there a possibility of subscription revenues from this rapidly growing online medium? "The Subscription market on both Internet and mobile is evolving. As models become stronger and penetration increases subscription revenues will start contributing more," states Srivastava.

    All in all, Colors has definitely created an everlasting place for itself on the digital platform. Who are these who have created this dynamic virtual reality? On prodding Srivastava answers: "We have full fledged team looking after content creation, SEO, SEM for all platforms – social media, Colors website, Internet and mobile."

    Whoever you knight in shining armours are, you have surely left an imprint in this ever evolving online space. Way to go!

  • Stars light up Star Parivaar Awards 2013

    Stars light up Star Parivaar Awards 2013

    Star India’s much-appreciated Star Parivaar Awards is getting glitzier and glamorous. As the actors walked the red carpet, dressed in their best attires, unlimited fun and entertainment was guaranteed. Yash Raj Studio became a witness again to a bigger and better Star Parivaar Awards 2013, which was held on 15 June. The channel has roped in Oral-B as the main sponsor and Amway as the associate sponsor for the grand event.

    The initiative marks the success and recognition of TV characters on Star Plus by the audiences who monitor them closely and daily on their favourite soaps. The function was a limitless package of path-breaking performances, glamour, humour and not to forget the gorgeous television stars.

    Sooraj (Anas Rashid)-Sandhya (Deepika Singh ) from Diya aur Baati Hum, Aaditya (Nakuul Mehta)-Pankhuri (Disha Parmar) from Pyaar Ka Dard Hain, Gopi (Giaa Manek) – Ahem (Mohammad Nazim) and Rashi (Rucha Hasabnis)-Jigar (Vishal Singh) fromSaath Nibhana Saathiya, Aakash (Rahul Sharma)- Poonam (Ishita Dutta) from Ek Ghar Banauga,Nach Baliye-5 winners Jay and Mahi, Ranvijay (Bhavesh Balchandani) -Veera (Harshita Ojha) with Ratan (Sneha Wagh) from Veera were some of the popular Parivaar faces who walked the red carpet.

    Masterchef Fame Sanjeev Kapoor, Vikas Khanna and Kunal Kapur also did the honours along with Masterchef India season 3winner Ripu Daman Handa.

    The evening could not have ended without the doffing of the collective cap to the power of Bollywood. Celebrities like Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Riteish Deshmukh, Sonakshi Sinha and Imraan Khan added some spice to the event.

    Star Parivaar Awards’ unique theme ‘Yeh Prem Kahaani Hai…Parivaar Ki’, brought out the best from the members of the family, who enthused the audience with their breathtaking acts. Be it young or old, all the popular Star Plus actors burned the dance floor with some mesmerising performances.

    With Parivaar Awards roping in Shiamak Davar to choreograph the entire show, the musical theme adopted for this year, was an add-on to entertainment. As the biggest Parivaar of the country came together to celebrate love and togetherness, the evening had its moments of pathos, joy and tongue-in-cheek humour. Present at the occasion also were quite a few TV producers who have contributed to Star Plus success: Rajan Shahi, SLB’s Arvind Babbal , Tony and Deeya Singh, Shashi and Sumeet Mittal, Rakesh Paswan, Yash and Mamta Patanaik, Kavita Barjatyya, and Rashmi Sharma. Star India’s CEO Uday Shankar, COO Sanjay Gupta, content engine head Gaurav Banerjee, Star Plus business head Nachiket Pantvaidya, non-fiction head Ashish Golwalakr were all there to cheer their actors on.

    Also on hand were Star Parivaar Awards jury members Indiantelevision.com and The Indian Telly Awards CEO Anil Wanvari, producer J.D. Majethia, and veteran journalist and writer Bhawana Somaiyya.

    This apart, the 3D mapping projection and three-sided Varsha Desai-designed stage at YRF were a revelation. While SOL Productions was responsible for the creative and the TV production of the event, Frames handled production on the red carpet and the curtain raiser.

    The highlight of the show was the group performance by Shagufta Ali (Moti Chaiji from Veera), Hina Khan (Akshara from Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai), Disha Sharma (Pankhudi from Pyaar ka Dard) and Neelu Vaghela (Bhabho from Diya aur Baati Hum) who made the audiences go ga-ga with their mind-blowing moves and grooves.

    While most of the stars burned the dance floor with their high on energy performances, the rest of the members were seen humming the new STAR Parivaar song 2013 – ‘Tum Jo Milgaye ho’ sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Ankit Tiwari.

    Well onto the show, the event started with an electrifying prayer dance by the team of Shiamak Davar along with Bhabho, Naitik, and other popular faces of Star welcoming guests to a memorable evening. This was followed by a comic act put together by the cast of Diya aur Baati Hum and other famous actors from the show Yeh Rishta and Veera and Rahul Mahajan.

    The very dashing television chocolate boy Karan Wahi and Ek Hazaaron me Meri Behna hai fame Jeevika left the viewers in splits with their quick drollness and rocking stage presence as they co-hosted the evening for the first category of awards. Helping them with the awards segments were the lively co-hosts Jay Bhanushali, Karan Mehra, Neelu Vaghela and Ashok Lokhande.

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar gave away the ‘Har Ghar ka Pasand Sadasya’ Award.

    While on the one hand, the gorgeous Monica Bedi, who shook the audience with her exotic performance on the popular number Lat Lag gayee from Race 2, provided an oomph factor, Akshara, Sandhya and Pankhudi made the audiences go ga-ga with their thumkas and latkas.

    All through the fun and entertainment, the Star Parivaar Awards did not forget to highlight the plight of women and the injustice faced by them. The spectacular performance by Ratan from Veera and Pankhudi from surely was a highlight of the star-studded evening.

    The rope walking act with no support by Anas Rashid (Diya aur Baati hum fame Sooraj) surely made everyone skip a heartbeat.

    All in all, Star Parivaar Awards was a magnificent evening to remember with fabulous performances, surprising acts and the shinning television industry at its glamorous and entertaining best.

    Click here for photos of the Star Parivaar Awards Red Carpet

  • “Sab will be among the Top Three Hindi GECs”

    “Sab will be among the Top Three Hindi GECs”

    From being a copywriter, director to business head, the soft-spoken Anooj Kapoor has worn various hats. But what makes him different from others is the way he manages the work-life balance. He proudly claims that in his more than 20 years of career there has rarely been a day when he has been in office later than 6 pm. Even today, he leaves office at six in the evening and on weekends he switches off from work, unless required. Someone who believes in working hard hasn’t forgotten to live to the fullest too…

    Indiantelevision.com’s Meghna Sharma spoke to the executive EVP and business head of Sab Anooj Kapoor about the channel’s current plans,the reason for there being no other channel like Sab and the channel’s future plan. Excerpts:

     
    The channel underwent a revamp recently, was it really needed? 

    Nothing we do here is what everybody else does, starting from our programming which is totally differentiated from the rest in the GEC space. So, this revamp is not because others have done it too. All we have done is revamped the packaging of the channel. The last revamp was done almost six years ago, and we thought we have had a wonderful growth in the past five years. So we wanted the packaging to be more colourful. We have retained the old colours and added more colours to our package to convey freshness, more audience on the channel as well as more people sitting together to watch our shows. It can convey a lot of things, but essentially, we wanted a fresh look.

     

    You said you are adding more people who are watching your channel. So through the revamp and apps are you targeting youth now? 

    Asli maaza sab ke saath aata hai… has stood true for us. The entire family comes together and watches TV. We have a mix of audience, from males, females to kids. We also have a healthy mix of Sec A, B and C. So we are not trying to broad base our TG, it is already 4+.

    However, we cannot deny that new things always appeals to people. In the age-group of 4-14, we are the number one channel. In the last TAM rating, we were ahead of Star Plus. In the higher age-group, 15-24, we are fairly strong but we realised there is a need to engage audience on fresher platforms – facebook, comics, SABurbia and other apps. And the age-group after that, we keep appealing through our ads where the whole family comes together.

     

    Our other initiative ‘Sab ki Saafari’, is also first of its kind. The idea was to get people from smaller towns meet their favourite characters or watch a shoot. Through this initiative we get our loyal audiences to meet their favourite characters and also show them what goes on behind the camera. We have another loyalty program called SABprise wherein the more you watch the channel the more you get rewarded for it. We feel that today it has to be a two-way communication. If they have given us so much and helped us grow 600 per cent in five years then we should also give them something in return.

     

    With the awards season on, when can we get to see Sab ke anokhe awards? 

    We are coming back with Sab ke anokhe awards in August. The first round did well for us as we got a rating of 2.8 which I’m not going to compare with other award shows, but for a channel like ours which has a limited reach it is a very healthy rating. It was purely because of the uniqueness of the show. We came up with categories which went beyond the clichéd categories. This time we are going to add even more categories and try to be as anokha as possible. We will be sticking to our strategy of being different and innovative.

     

    What kind of weekend programming does the channel currently have? Any plans to introduce new shows?

    Currently, we have two silent comedies on Saturday – Guttur Gu and Malegoan ka Chintu. Guttur Gu has been recognised as the longest running silent show in the world by the Limca Books of Records, and then we have Waah Waah Kya Baat Hai which consistently rates among the top five shows in the non-fictional category on the weekend. So, we have fresh weekend programming. We might add new programs in the future wherein we will look at reality or mix of unique concepts like silent comedy but nothing is crystallised yet.

    “We touched our highest rating of 159 in February this year and now with digitisation when we are far better placed”

     
    SAB is the only comedy-centric Hindi GEC, wherein other networks have second GEC channels, why do you think there aren’t many players in this genre? 

    We are the number one comedy channel in the world. We are the only channel in the world which does daily comedy shows. If you will look at channels like Zee Café or Star World, the sitcoms they have are weekly and have seasons. We have Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah which has done 1200 episodes now, Lapataganj in its first avatar had done 850 episodes and FIR will be touching 1000 soon (in September). So while we have been able to be innovative, we have also done successful programming. All this while we know that there is a limited pool of comedy actors, writer, directors and producers.

    Also, before SAB, comedy wasn’t seen as an important genre by GECs. We have been able to reign in that limited talent and try to cultivate a few more. With the limited pool I don’t think there is enough talent for more than one channel to survive. And secondly, we have a DNA which has gotten us consistent success. There is no doubt that other channels have dabbled into comedy especially after seeing SAB’s success, but all the top three or four GECs have not been able to succeed. And, therefore they are apprehensive.

     
    Do you work with a certain set of production houses or open to others as well?
     
    We have always encouraged new producers, but at the same time we have certain set of producers that have consistently worked for us. We also have people who have never done comedy before and doing it successfully for us. For instance, Malegaon ka Chintu is produced by Deepti Bhatnagar Production which hasn’t done comedy in the past, Gutur Gu is done by Fireworks who have in the past done CID and Aahat. And of course, we have Asit Modi, JD Majathia, Vipul Shah and Ashwini Dheer. So, we have been able to mix both.

     
    You are also available in the US, UK and Europe, what has been the response there? 

    We are extremely popular abroad. In the UK we are the fastest growing channel.

    It is a fact that we have created almost 7,000 hours of original programming and when we compare data with other channels dedicated to comedy we are miles ahead of them. From the 70s, since DD started, no channel has claimed or can claim to be the number one channel based out of India but we can!

     
    It’s going to be a year now since digitisation took place. How has it helped the channel? 

    We have a business model which by definition doesn’t afford us very high rates and because we also have to keep our profits in mind, we couldn’t place ourselves where top three or four GECs could. This meant, we could not be well placed in the analog. However, with digitisation, we now fall in the GEC cluster. Now our sampling will soar up. We also strongly feel that our trial retention rate is high.

     
    Currently, which are the weak slots that you would like to strengthen?

    The difference between manufacturing and television is – that in manufacturing you can perfect a formula whereas in our industry, the same raw material will go to the same factory but the end product sometime works and sometime fails.

     
    Lastly, when do you see Sab among the top three? 

    We are well on our way. We have never stopped growing. We touched our highest rating of 159 in February, this year and now with digitisation when we are far better placed, I hope we will one day be among the top three.

  • Indian TV B’casters: ‘TAM’ing TV ratings

    Indian TV B’casters: ‘TAM’ing TV ratings

     Does the Indian TV broadcast industry want TAM? In one word, the answer is No. Definitely not in the form and manner it is monitoring TV viewership in India. Definitely not the kind of viewership numbers it has been spewing out for them week by week. The major Indian TV broadcast networks have already shown their utter disgust and disregard for its TV ratings by closing their checkbooks on TAM.

    On almost every front, the Indian TV broadcasters – through the IBF – have been flexing their muscles and showing that they mean business. And they have been sorting out troublesome issues: like striking a wage accord with TV industry technicians; setting set up a self-regulatory mechanism when government wanted to muzzle the media; getting the advertising industry to agree to net billing after the government demanded taxes for the gross advertising agency bills it used to make payments on.

    But one of the most vexatious issues it has been grappling with is the TV rating‘s one. And now that the lights have been put out on TAM, what now for the broadcast industry? What are the options before it? Let us take a look at a couple of them:

    *For one they can continue with TAM Media. However, they can give TV ratings a hiatus for a couple of months. It‘s quite possible the chaos that is happening on account of analogue shutoffs and digital set top box switch-ons, will settle down and the ratings will stabilise in that period. They can also dialogue with TAM and ask it to get back to basics and do an establishment survey once again (if possible), represent the peoplemeters appropriately in power-lit areas in LC1, rather than in power-dark areas. And finally, take a closer look at the entire process of churning out ratings that happens every week, through a committee constituted for the very purpose.

    There is a possibility that we could end up with a period of no TV ratings in India if issues are not sorted out by all concerned. How long that period will be is not clear (some say it could be until BARC comes up), but broadcasters will need to get advertisers and agencies’ support for their decision. So far, both have said they are not comfortable with ratings going away, and have spoken up for TAM.
    _____****_____

     

    With all major B‘casters unsubscribing from TAM TV ratings, only time will tell if the viewers‘ true choice can be reflected with the emergence of BARC

    * Or if this is not working out forget that TAM exists, cut off its blood supply, and watch it gradually bleed and die. Come up with a viewership metric that works in the interim for all concerned – broadcasters, advertisers and agencies – and allows the business of communicating brand messages through television for a fee to continue.

    The broadcast industry is torn between the two options. The first has been done before between October and December 2012 and it was painless for all concerned and allowed TAM to continue its existence in a profitable manner. 

    The second option, while it appears the easier one to see through, comes with its set of challenges.

    The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)‘s TV ratings system seems nearly a year away and could take longer to get to the levels of coverage TAM is providing now. Unless, under the leadership of Puneet Goenka and Partho Dasgupta, BARC manages to do an Ambani on the system and get the establishment survey, the constitution of the sample, the installation of the meters, the development of the software, the stabilisation of the findings and everything down stream thereof completed in super record time. Most advertisers and agencies have been optimistic about BARC.

    Industry can learn some lessons from the experience of Turkey in 2011. Turkey‘s broadcasters and the industry shut down the ratings service run there by AGB Nielsen in late December 2011, amidst allegations of corruption, which were denied by the ratings service provider. The industry body – The Television Audience Research Committee (TIAK) – prematurely severed its contract with AGB and urged TNS – part of the WPP Group‘s Kantar Research – to set up an alternative ratings system which finally got going in May 2012 with a 1000 peoplemeter panel, as against 2,500 people meters earlier.

    Industry can learn some lessons from the experience of Turkey which faced a ratings blackout in 2011. During the blackout TV ad rates and prices were determined by using average ratings from the month before the shutdown, combined with monthly share performance from the whole of the year.
    _____****_____

    In the interim, adage.com reported in March 2012 that life went on for Turkish advertisers, agencies and broadcasters though the “TV-buying system has since been in shambles. Without reliable new-audience measurement data, prices have been determined by using average ratings from the month before the scandal erupted, combined with monthly share performance from the whole of 2011. The industry is working to regain media agencies‘ and advertisers‘ trust.”

    Agreed, we are not questioning the ethics of TAM in India, though many have hurled allegations against it. There is a possibility that we could end up with a period of no TV ratings in India if issues are not sorted out by all concerned.

    How long that period will be is not clear (some say it could be until BARC comes up), but broadcasters will need to get advertisers and agencies‘ support for their decision. So far, both have said they are not comfortable with ratings going away, and have spoken up for TAM.

    With reason. Two or three months without TAM mean they will have little data to support a TV advertising expenditure between Rs 3,600-4,200 crore. That‘s not an amount you can sniff away.

    Hence, all three will have to come to the table and agree on a performance metric to justify the expenditure and offer some accountability. Could the Turkish media industry‘s interim solution during the TV ratings shutdown there be adapted to work in India?

    Broadcasters are slated to huddle very soon (either this week or next) to get some consensus on which route they will take. Some broadcast CEOs have been travelling and hence have not been able to get together.

     

  • Star Plus believes digital is the way forward

    Star Plus believes digital is the way forward

    (Hindi GEC Star Plus features in this the second of our series on what TV channels are doing in the digital and social media space)

    It’s the leader in the Hindi general entertainment space in India and has been so for the most part of the previous decade, and even this one. The Star India network, has been gung-ho on the online space, ever since one can remember like its owner Rupert Murdoch, who has had a fascination for it but confesses he does not know how to deal with it.

    Star India took a big punt when it acquired the much-touted indya.com way back in 2001, coughing up a hefty $50 million in buying it. It has since not known what to do with it. Just like Murdoch failed to fathom what the group could do with myspace.com, finally selling it out cheap.

    Star India‘s Indya.com fiasco looks unlikely to be repeated today. CEO Uday Shankar is quite clear on that and a crack team at the media giant has been working overtime to engage with its viewers.

    “We have leveraged the platform of digital, our various digital assets and the power of broadcast integration to drive deeper multi-screen engagement and conversations,” says Star India marketing & communications executive vice president Gayatri Yadav.

    “Having an engaged audience that can interact with the brand is a very meaningful goal. This helps us build loyalty for the characters and the brand, develop interest in new launches and of course acts as a great influencer for new audiences to sample the on air content. The engaged audience base also acts as a great feedback mechanism for our content.”

    Star India marketing & communications executive vice president Gayatri Yadav

    Star has been innovative in actively energising, featuring and interacting with audiences with powerful integration of online with on-screen content. All the key show launches and events now have at least one element of live engagement with the viewers. Auditions, which were earlier only limited to on-ground activities, have further been extended to the digital platform, reveals Yadav.

    In terms of video content that it uploads, Star Plus broadly classifies it into long form and short form, catch-up content, web exclusives, promos and legacy. For platforms like YouTube the channel‘s approach has been to upload short form catch-up content, which it says has been very well received. Its own video platforms have long form catch up content, along with some marquee legacy shows.

    Starplus.in and Star Player (www.startv.in) are among the two-owned platforms that it uses to encourage users to engage with the channel and download content. Data on how many downloads the Star Player app has achieved was not available at the time of writing but its Facebook page had received 93,000 likes or so.

    Star Plus constantly keeps on updating pictures and videos of its shows on their website

    Star Plus constantly keeps on updating pictures and videos of its shows on these websites. Star, however, does not upload an episode within a couple of hours of its telecast. Besides, it uses textual and image content like daily recaps, show highlights, trivia and polls to interact with and engage the visitor.

    Apart from internet based platforms, Star Plus also leverages the reach of the voice platform through SPOM (Star Plus on Mobile – 5057827). Through its voice portal Star Plus on Mobile, the channel runs audio recaps of the daily shows, daily diaries, and voice blogs of popular characters and also title tracks of the shows.

    Star Plus uses the mobile platform to leverage it‘s content

    With live engagement being one of the significant elements, Star has Plus has created applications for Apple, Blackberry, Android and Nokia through which people could interact, chat with the judges and read blogs while watching shows such as ‘MasterChef India‘.

    For some of its marquee shows like ‘Nach Baliye‘ and ‘MasterChef India‘, Star Plus has leveraged the transmedia storytelling route – where the main show has a strong storytelling leg running exclusively on digital platforms which link back meaningfully to the main show.

    Apart from this, the channel has showcased its content on the digital platform through initiatives like the web premiere of ‘Saraswatichandra‘ exclusively for digital audiences.

    Star Plus has an official Facebook page with around 2.80 million likes and hundreds of thousands of visitors talking about the channel and its programmes at any point in time. On Twitter, another vital ingredient of the social media mix, the channel has around 88,250 active followers. @StarPlus is buzzing with tweets and re-tweets every couple of hours. The numerous fan-driven handles of their popular shows are busy re-tweeting and sharing every Star update, making for a huge cacophony of views across the digital world.

    YouTube also plays an integral part in Star’s digital strategy with close to 2.50 million subscribers

    YouTube also plays an integral part in Star’s digital strategy with close to 2.50 million subscribers. Drama series and reality shows are attracting a good number of page views, say channel executives. Star uploads day-to-day activities, episodes that viewers may missed, comparatively, among on-air shows, fiction has an upper-hand over non -fiction shows.

    The channel’s official Facebook pages for some of its TV shows have received commendable responses from nitizens/viewers. The Facebook page of its leading fiction series ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ has 2.34 million likes with 2,485 active followers on Twitter. ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ also leads the drama genre with more than 32,304 video views on YouTube in just two days. Another fiction show ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ bagged 20,529 video views for one of its episodes. Reality shows such as ‘India’s Dancing SuperStar’ lead with 1,18,222 video views.

    Star Plus marketing vice-president Nikhil Madhok

    Star Plus marketing vice-president Nikhil Madhok states, “We are producing a lot of content exclusively for our digital assets, be it in the form of behind-the-scenes clips, rehearsal footage, bloopers, interviews and much more. We have even made special edits of the episode acts just for digital. For example, Chaavat Boys, which is a group of engineering students from a Mumbai college, have already become a rage online, and all their dance acts have gone viral. In fact, people have been uploading videos of their own version of Chaavatgiri.”

    Star Plus claims that ‘Nach Baliye’ generated one billion impressions online during the course of its telecast. Of these, a 100 million happened on the final episode itself, which not only trended at no 1 in India but also worldwide, it says.

    ‘Satyamev Jayate’, (SMJ) the first talk show produced by Aamir Khan Productions created a lot of buzz on social media platforms. It became the most searched query on Google immediately after its first episode. SMJ has 93,929 followers on Twitter and its official Facebook page has 1.69 million likes.

    SMJ has 93,929 followers on Twitter and its official Facebook page has 1.69 million likes

    Official pages of SMJ were launched on the big three of social media – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to provide a platform for fans to share their views and interact. Updates were posted at regular intervals. Video snippets and full episodes were uploaded on YouTube for fans to watch the show or a favourite segment at their convenience.

    Reports suggest that though initial conversations around SMJ were triggered by Aamir Khan’s popularity, conversations around the causes he espoused on the show took centre stage later. The reason for this trend can be assumed to be the content fed into social media platforms. The fever of the show became strong on digital as the show only aired once in a week for 1 hour on Sunday. For the rest days, they storm the viewers by different social messages by constantly updating videos and statuses and also by tweeting.

    “We at Star deeply cherish our relationship with consumers. Giving consumers a chance to engage and interact deeply with our brands and characters is no longer an option, but a necessity. It is something we value deeply and have set up a team, infrastructure and partners to enable us to interact meaningfully with consumers across the network,” concludes Yadav.

  • How Sony Entertainment is driving its online ambitions

    How Sony Entertainment is driving its online ambitions

    Nitesh Kripalani is a man on a mission. His weapons: a MacBook Pro, a high tech smartphone and a 3G internet connection. His battleground: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the oceanic mobile app market. Kripalani spearheads the very dynamic ‘digital team‘ of 10-15 young and passionate social networking experts at Sony Entertainment Television (SET). It is his responsibility to create a virtual and online connect for hundreds of millions of Sony Entertainment Network Television viewers – in India and worldwide. Kripalani is one of the masterminds of the digital revolution that has gripped India‘s Hindi general entertainment TV channels (GECs).

    The future of television could very well be digital. What could not have even been imagined a decade ago is now an indispensable part of our television viewing experience. Social interactivity with viewers at home is now just a ‘comment‘ away. ‘Tweet‘ and express your views on the latest twist and plot of your favorite daily serial. Guess what? The future is here and how!

    Catching up with the pulse of the audiences, Multi Screen Media‘s (MSM‘s) Hindi GECs Sony and SAB have carved out an online indent for themselves. The need for making their presence felt on the dynamic platform of new media urged Sony to gradually devise a social media integrated communication plan around three years ago.

    Let‘s consider the statistics to gauge the digital reach of the two GECs of SET.

    Sony and SAB both have an official Facebook profile and Twitter handle with a commendable fan base. While Sony‘s Facebook page boasts of around 0.17 million likes with 7,500 plus facebookers talking about it, SAB has 50,249 likes and 2,649 active followers. The quintessential TV viewing audience is increasingly engaging on Facebook. Then its official Facebook pages for its TV shows tot up large numbers. Itsiconic Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar starring Bade Acche Lagte Hai Facebook page has 0.7 million likes with 21,000 active followers. The official page of its Kaun Banega Crorepati has 0.35 million likes with 6,700 active followers and the show‘s registrations have yet to start. Crime Patrol has knocked up 0.1 million likes with 3,800 active followers. The long running CID, which garners huge ratings for the channel, however has a comparatively low 33,000 likes with 1,110 active followers.

    The thirst to know more about their favourite shows is quenched on these Facebook pages. Sony constantly updates these with pictures and teasers of upcoming episodes. The buzz is also kept alive by the Sony‘s TV show addicts who go to make up its fandom. When looking at a channel‘s Facebook presence, fan driven pages cannot be left in isolation. A lot of action takes place through these fan pages. Look for Bade Acche Lagte Hai, Sony‘s popular fiction show, in the Facebook search bar and chances are that you will be looking at 10 active Facebook pages with as the most popular sporting close to 0.25 million, with 40,000 fans being active.

    Twitter, being an indispensable aspect of social media, cannot be left out. And it is here where the Sony Network has to buck up and it lags behind its rivals Star and Colors. Hindi GEC Sony has an active twitter handle with around 7,500 followers, while SAB follows with approximate 4,500 followers. @SonyTv is buzzing with tweets and re-tweets every couple of hours.

    What more? The numerous fan-driven handles of their popular shows are busy re-tweeting and sharing every Sony update, making for a huge cacophony of views across the digital world.

    Ironically, the Facebook and Twitter fan base is just the tip of the iceberg. What takes the cake is Sony‘s official YouTube channel which has one of the most massive subscriber‘s bases in India of nearly 1.6 million and a humongous video views count of over 660 million. SAB has its own share of digital audience with around 28 thousand subscribers and 190 million video views. Ever since Set India joined YouTube on 20 September 2006, it has uploaded 1,69,994 videos so far and counting. No wonder, Sony leads most other GECs in the rat race of YouTube subscribers.

    In order to aggregate all its social media activities under one umbrella, SET India launched a vibrant and ‘lively‘ Sony Liv this January. Sony Liv is a branded website cum app which is slowly but surely gaining momentum which has generated nearly two million downloads on android and iOS platforms. The official SonyLiv Facebook page has over 0.12 million likes. In five months, the branded site has attracted around 12 thousand followers with 15 million videos watched so far. The fans are more than happy to catch up with not only the latest episodes of their favourite on-going shows, but also remain loyally connected with their beloved shows which have gone off air.

    All in all, SET has done it all from having an official Facebook page to its twitter handle; from one of the largest YouTube channels to a newly launched Sony Liv. The numbers are heartening! On an average, each YouTube upload by Sony garners as many as 25 thousand video views! The episodes are uploaded within two hours of telecast and by the next day, the newly discovered online audience has watched it repeatedly.

    Bade Acche Lagte Hai leads the race on Sony‘s YouTube channel. The adorable middle-aged married couple – Ram and Priya have a dedicated fan-following of around 35 thousand viewers who watch every episode within a couple of days. Next in the YouTube popularity index stands the veteran fiction-crime show CID, which continues to garner a massive count of more than 30 thousand video views for each episode.

    We have finally entered the era where the quintessential TV viewing audience is engaging on the digital platforms. Who knows, in the not so distant future, our stereotyped Saas-bahu sagas will drive a lot more traction online than what the TRP‘s tell us now!

    Sony began targeting the online space around three years ago. The first phase focused on handphones with the Indian Idol audition mobile registrations and special Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) apps. The second phase promoted the Sony YouTube channel and the third phase which continues today, involves the development and promotion of its own branded website-cum-app Sony Liv.

    Sony Entertainment Network SVP – new media, businessdevelopment and digital/syndication Nitesh Kripalani says: "We have covered all social media platforms from mobile to our own branded site that is the newly launched Sony Liv. It is an integrated marketing communications approach. We look at the online space as the means to reach maximum audience. The main aim is – first, to interact with and engage with our audiences and get their valuable feedback; second, to spread the word and promote our shows through this mass medium; and finally third, it is to monetise the online traffic."

    Kripalani estimates that the Indian digital market is Rs 1,000 crore – Rs 1,500 crore out of which approximately Rs 200 crore constitutes the mobile market; the rest is left to digital. Understandably, this digital revolution has opened up a whole new universe for revenue generation.

    Sony derives its online revenue through its existing advertising associations. Last year, Sony‘s official YouTube channel earned significant online revenue from brands like Axis bank, MTS and Maruti that sponsored popular shows like KBC and Indian Idol.

    As far as social media such as Facebook and Twitter go, Kripalani says, "Currently, our goal is not one of maximum monetisation. In fact, we believe the platform must be primarily used for reaching out to our viewers. Perhaps a year from now, we may look at subscription based content following a premium model where 80 per cent of the content is free while the rest is paid for."

    Sony Liv has been attractively packaged with several elements including videos, photos, behind the scenes videos and archived content. Some of the older shows like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, Aahat, Heena and older episodes of Crime Patrol, Comedy Circus and CID receive considerable traction as well. This content that was otherwise rendered useless after the shows went off air is now being made to eke out revenues through digital media.

    Comparatively, among on-air shows, fiction has an upper-hand over non -fiction shows. Kripalani reasons, "Fiction series dominate the most watched content online because of loyal viewers who watch episodes repeatedly. However special episodes of non-fiction shows like Indian Idol, Comedy Circus or a KBC attract thousands of views. Fiction series have a consistent following which is understandably missing in case of non-fiction."

    Sony‘s revenue from its online initiatives runs into millions of dollars. Yet the network has not moved into producing web exclusive content like some of the other Hindi GECs. However, Kripalani does not dismiss a possibility of producing such content in the future. "As the market expands and becomes more receptive, we will look at generating content exclusively for the web. Let‘s say in the next year and a half, Sony Liv will be the one stop destination for exclusive web content. After all, the digital platform is very profitable and is growing rapidly," he concludes.

  • English GECs bet big on digitisation

    English GECs bet big on digitisation

    The early exit of BBC Entertainment and focus on target segmentation marked the English general entertainment channel (GEC) genre as digitisation propelled change in 2012.

    Audience stickiness continued to be a challenge for the English channels, forcing them to ramp up marketing to ensure that perception fell in line with their product offerings.

    In a digital environment, channels will have to increase their local feel and touch. AXN, which has completed 15 years in India, is getting more aggressive in the marketplace. The India operations is in the process of shifting from Singapore and there will be more local shows.

    “Operationally, we will have the scheduling and programming move to India. We will thus be able to sensitise to the Indian tastes and needs. We will also be able to move to the market quicker and respond to advertiser queries faster,” says AXN‘s newly appointed India head Sunil Punjabi.

    The positioning of the channel also changed from the ‘heart of action and adventure‘ to ‘It‘s Thrilling‘. A survey was conducted in January 2012 and it was found that AXN viewers wanted content that went beyond action. There was craving for a deeper, richer and engaging experience.

    Explains Punjabi, “Our aim is to broaden the genre. Our focus now rests on content that is high on energy and engagement. That is why we moved away from our action position to thrills. We have added layers to our strategy.”

    A part of this strategy is to provide light content early and then move on to the later part of prime time with shows that have substance. The aim: to evenly split between dramas and reality. Says Punjabi, “Unlike our competitors, we don‘t have sitcoms. Serious dramas are not their main focus. And non-fiction and reality shows comprise just 20 per cent of their content lineup.”

    Star World has been striving to bring shows relevant to the English content viewing audience. A case in point is the airing of the Australian TV series ‘Packed To The Rafters‘. And to make the show more relatable to the audience, Star World made Karan Johar the face of the campaign.

    “From our Hindi and regional GECs, one of the biggest learning is that viewers seek life lessons from the daily soaps they watch. The issues faced by the Star World audience, the English speaking, urban Indian youth, is quite myriad and they don‘t get to see shows which reflect their life on TV. Our audience will be able to resonate with the issues faced by the characters in Packed to the Rafters and emulate the way they resolve the conflicts,” says Star India senior VP, English programming Rasika Tyagi.

    In March 2012, Star World created a block called ‘Crime At Ten‘ that imbibed the American style of showcasing programmes in a checkered format. The property showcased the latest seasons of crime shows, including ‘Dexter‘, ‘Castle‘ and ‘Criminal Minds‘ that aired on weekdays at 10 pm.

    Big CBS, the JV between RBNL and US media conglomerate CBS, is pushing CBS flagship shows as well as adding layers through localisation.

    According to Big CBS business head Anand Chakravarthy, DAS (digital addressable systems) is one of the biggest things to have happened for the genre. “With the first phase of digitisation having started, the genre penetration has grown substantially in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata – the three biggest markets for English GEC. Carriage fee reduction has also happened,” he says.

    But not everybody shares this sense of optimism. BBC Worldwide Channels was not willing to wait for digitisation to take matured shape. Two channels – BBC Entertainment and CBeebies – were shut late in the year. BBC Worldwide Channels, Asia senior VP, GM Mark Whitehead bemoaned the fact that India was the only country where they had to pay carriage fees. “The nature of the Indian market for pay-TV channels make the economics of running channels very challenging at this time. We have reluctantly concluded that we need to close our channels.”

    For those who cared to wait, wider distribution of channels is beginning to happen. A case in point is FX and Fox Crime, both uniquely positioned in this space.

    Comedy Central, which has completed a year, is hoping segmentation would start paying in a digital form of distribution. Viacom18 Media senior VP, GM English entertainment Ferzad Palia says that he is encouraged by feedback received on Twitter and Facebook. “Even with digitisation, you need to get more English language speaking homes into the overall sample. We find that comedy works both with mature and new audiences. But there is room for improvement in terms of things like scheduling.”

    Converting Snacking into loyalty: To get viewers to stick on, some English GECs are trying out a better balance of content. Also, a stripped strategy is being followed which makes it easier for fans of a certain show to follow what is going on.

    Punjabi says that the genre would continue to have this challenge of converting snacking to loyalty. AXN‘s strategy is to have branded slots which will help viewers to recall the type of programming on a particular time band. “Hence we are building loyalty on slots. AXN has the highest spread of programming genres and we believe we have a lot more to offer to our viewers.”

    Another way to building loyalty is airing seasons back to back. Before a new season kicks off, older seasons are aired. This helps market these shows and more sampling takes place. “But this strategy is not followed for reality content as that does not make sense,” avers Punjabi.

    Zee Network business head niche channels Anurag Bedi also feels that longer seasons of shows are key to building loyalty. “Longer seasons in prime time are what our current focus is on. Currently we have brought on ‘Numbers‘ on Zee Cafe which will air on the channel till its sixth season. Then we have ‘Gossip Girl‘ season four, five and six. Bringing newer seasons of the popular shows and understanding the viewership needs builds loyalty,” he says.

    Zee Cafe implemented the stripped strategy with the understanding that Indian viewers have a set way of consuming television, which is Monday to Friday. “The Indian viewers prefer daily shows and clubbing number of seasons together helps retain the viewer over a long period of time. Stripped format coverts snacking into loyal viewership,” says Bedi.

    Big CBS took the simulcast route to build stickiness. ‘X-Factor‘, ‘America‘s Got Talent‘ and ‘American Idol‘, for instance, were simulcast across the three channels. “Now we will no longer simulcast. We are building our primetime band,” says Chakravarthy.

    To increase reach and boost sampling, many channels in the genre air movies. Sporting properties are also seen as an opportunity by Big CBS Prime which shows martial arts and wrestling. Chakravarthy explains that movies are shown on the weekend. “Movies become a great destination for sampling the channels as they pull in a larger audience. They also offer good sponsorship opportunities. The aim of having sporting properties is to broad base the channel. Sports bring in both younger and older audiences.”

    The ad pie: English general entertainment channels raked in about Rs 1.3 billion in 2012.

    Multi Screen Media president networks sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta believes that shifting AXN‘s operations to India will help the broadcaster to work more closely with clients. “AXN has seen a 20 per cent revenue growth. We will be able to focus on shows that work well in India and offer more tailored solutions to clients,” he says.

    Palia claims that 150 brands advertised on Comedy Central. “Many TVCs are funny. So people on our channel are more receptive towards them as they are in a similar frame of mind,” he said.

    The Future: The genre can expect more channel launches amid digitisation as better distribution revenues are realised.

    Chakravarthy expresses satisfaction that digitisation is forcing broadcasters to focus more on content. “Everybody is trying to bring in really good quality shows. The genre and the audience will gain,” he says.

  • Sunny, porn and big bad world of TV

    Sunny, porn and big bad world of TV

    It took a lot of frisking around in bed in the buff – with first, women,and then men – for the camera to transform an Indian Sikh girl Karenjit Kaur Vohra from Ontario into a global porn star who goes by the handle of Sunny Leone. From there she made her way back to India and into our homes with the fifth season of Bigg Boss where she has surprised all.

    Her face is finely structured, her smile bewitching the youth of India. She is comfortable in her skin as a sex goddess. Her laugh is gay, full of abandon. She comes across like a person who knows what she is all about, and she loves it. She has all the oomph and jiggles in the right places to make her stand out from the rest of the Bigg Boss 5 gang. She is Indian, and looks partly so, but sounds totally foreign. And yet she speaks Hindi with a charming accent and style. She is exotic. A mysterious enticement.

    Yes, she has that seductive figure, the seductive American/Canadian accent and a very seductive way of carrying herself.

    But she has done nothing – yet – to warrant her the porn star status that has made her the wet dream of millions of her fans the world over.

    Adult content can offer a release for many frustrated youth, who, in its absence, tend to vent their pent-up frustration out on girls as young as four or five as newspaper reports have revealed
    _____****_____

    The media has gone to town with Sunny. Reams and reams of pages of editorial have been written about her. Internet news sites, facebook communities and blogs have gushed about her porn star status in the hope of titillating readers to consume more of their pictures, and the accompanying puerile editorial. (This piece hopefully is not adding to the pulpy content). News channels too have spent thousands of minutes of on-air time examining Sunny Leone from every angle and even flashing pictures of her nearly undressed.

    Then some unknown organisations backed by shady characters have been grappling at straws to nail her and the show for crossing the boundaries of decency. And cash in on the Sunny phenomenon. And possible bask in the glare of the media by sending out dubious press releases about her being banned by some unknown associations of persons.

    But Sunny -the consummate professional that she is – she has not given them the chance; she has walked the thin line extremely well.

    Do you know Sunny Leone may have never made it to Bigg Boss 5? Well, she had been signed on earlier this year. But folks at the channel were balking at having her on-air as there were concerns whether cause-hunting groups would make a pornographic star’s appearance on the show as a cause celebtre.

    Finally, however, senior management decided to bite the bullet and go ahead, and ordered the channel’s standard and practices division to keep an even sharper watch on the content before it is pushed out on air.

    India which has given the Khajurhao, the Kama Sutra to the world has hypocritically been blocking out risqué content for years, nay decades.

    While most progressive countries allow adult content on air late night with some controls, India‘s lame policy makers and influencers have shut the door on it. Pseudo moralists in government and pseudo social activists have strangled and paralysed any movement on this score. India has millions of sex workers nationally servicing 10 times as many men daily. Parlours offer sex services from young masseuses under the guise of massage. There‘s a strong underground pornographic production network on anyway which disseminates clips through the net and through illegal channels in South East Asia and even India. These continue to flourish under the very noses of these same pseudo moralists. Some may also have the blessings of some of these very protesters in power.

    The Bhatt angle may have been just a ploy to attract eyeballs, deflect some heat the channel may have been getting-courtesy – Sunny, and also bring in Bollywood to make it look legit.
    _____****_____

    The fact is that adult content can offer a release for many frustrated youth who in its absence tend to vent their pent-up frustration out on girls as young as four or five, something which we tend to see in shocking newspaper reports day in day out. The government‘s Victorian approach is helping no one, apart from giving some ammo to the moral brigade to make noise from time to time and keep the information and broadcasting ministry busy. The government has set a digitization of Indian cable TV deadline. The technology that digital cable TV and DTH brings with it enables selective blocking of what can be termed objectionable content in the home by the viewer himself. The viewer will get to decide what he/she and his family members will be permitted to watch.

    So it’s about time that the powers-that-be drop their pseudo-moralism and take steps to rethink broadcast of adult content in the age of the internet where sex is the most searched term on google. And there are more visuals of the sexual act easily accessible to even underage kids at the click of a mouse then ever in mankind‘s history. Also, remember an extremely bold film like The Dirty Picture by the queen of family dramas Ekta Kapoor is getting rave reviews and attracting the so-called "conservative Indians" to cinema halls and multiplexes.

    Back to Sunny. She has tried to break out into Hollywood in the past, without much success. But Bollywood seems to be more accepting and welcoming than mainline or B-grade movie makers of the good old US of A. Earlier this week, she cast her spell on film maker Mahesh Bhatt who has been linked with the most beautiful of actresses and has had several relationships with the most desirable women. Bhatt fawned over her, showered lavish praise on her – behaving like an ageing, veteran film maker who has found his muse towards the sunset of his career.

    And he has offered her a part in Jism 2. Sunny, appears warm to the idea, and has left it to her agent in the US and Pooja Bhatt’s Fisheye Network to hammer out an agreement on her behalf for her Bollywood debut. If that is worked out, it will be a dream come true for Bhatt.

    A performer who has done it all, will be relatively easy to deal with.

    Dropping clothes will come naturally; smooching will not be a problem, she will possibly go the Full Monty; no body doubles will be needed. It will make for an interesting movie

    Sunny times are ahead. Yeah!!!

    Or at the end of it all nothing may emerge from it. The Bhatt angle may have been just a ploy by the channel‘s marketers and spin doctors to attract eyeballs, deflect some heat the its management may have been getting courtesy Sunny, and also bring in Bollywood to make it look like even India‘s most respected entertainment institution is wooing her and possibly get a veneer of legitimacy attached to what is going on on-air.

    If this is true then, our dear Sunny will head back to Los Angeles at the end of Bigg Boss 5, and remain a much remembered nymph. And she will be doing what she knows best: producing and marketing herself in the big lucrative world of porn.

  • 2001-2010: Small screen touched lives in a big way

    The decade seems to have whizzed by. It almost seems like yesterday when the country‘s first television crorepati took home his Rs 1 crore cheque for excelling in KBC (Kaun Banega Crorepati) from its suave and sophisticated host Amitabh Bachchan.
    But  for television the past 10 years have packed in a lot of punch and gut-wrenching change. I will try and examine what are the 10 major trends that have characterised the past television decade. The list is not comprehensive and I am sure there are many other highlights others may want to add; but this is my effort.

    From competition to super competition: In the past decade, even a back-of-the-envelope calculation tells us that around 300-400 new channels have been launched, in almost every genre: news, religion, regional language, general entertainment channels (GECs), Hindi GECs, specialised city specific channels, youth channels, movie channels, alternate movie channels- you name it and you have it. Others are waiting to be launched: luxury channels, golf channels, cookery channels, and what have you.

    Concurrently, the advertising and subscription costs have not gone up in proportion. So channel managements have to innovate to be profitable, even as the costs have been rising. People retention is a major challenge for almost every player in the television space, because of the paucity of professionals. Because of the competition and the fact that programming executives are risk averse, most of the channels for a large part – have over the past decade – been following a single strategy: if one type of programme works well on a channel or in a network, the others follow and develop a similar one. Net result is that all the television channels almost look the same because of similarity of content. For most of them therefore, there is a battle on the ground level to increase their visibility and this has led to an escalation in distribution costs in terms of carriage and placement.

    The changing face of drama and soaps: At the beginning of the decade, were the saas bahu sagas on Star Plus, which focused on the interaction and travails of women in extended wealthy ethnic families. Shows like Kyuunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kahin To Hoga, ran for what seemed like ever and retaining their audiences despite. You had a rare CID, Astitva and Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin which deviated from the beaten path. You also had comedies such as Kichdhi, Baa Bahu aur Baby, Office Office which sparkled and added to the audiences‘ mirth.

    Then with the arrival of Colors the focus shifted to social issue based rural shows – aka as social dramas – like Balika Vadhu, Na Aane is des… Laado and Uttaran. Almost every channel followed with similar shows. While Zee had Agle Janam Mohe…, Imagine TV came up with Devi, among many other programmes of similar ilk.

    Themes such as child marriage, female foeticide, women trafficking, the caste system, feudalism, farmers‘ suicide and superstition formed the thread of many a programme.

    Of course, comedies received a big boost thanks to Sab TV a channel from the Sony Entertainment Network which has a surfeit of comedies, and some comedy shows on Sony.

    The emergence of reality TV: Reality TV roared into the forefront in the past decade. The nation watched inmates in a house being cooped together in a home for around three months and their reactions to each other in that closed environment in Bigg Boss in its seasons. Celebrities and their tolerance to extreme tasks were tested in Khatron Ke Khiladi. Then, youth went around on a predefined route on bikes in MTV‘s Roadies. From the UTV stable emerged a show that shook the nation with its focus on infidelity in the form of Bindass‘ Emotional Atyachaar. Partners were discovered on TV and marriage took place on shows like Rakhi Ka Swaywamvar and Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega. Individuals bared their most hidden secrets to Rajiv Khandelwal in the popular Sach Ka Saamna. Past life regression was explored in Raaz Pichle Janam Ka. Talent hunts such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Indian Idol, Nach Baliye, Jhalak Dikhla Ja, Dance India Dance added oodles of reality punch to enthrall Indian viewers.

    The debate over regulation: In the midst of all this, both industry and government continued to dither over regulation.

    Time and again, government raised an alarm that content was going out of hand in both the news and general entertainment spaces. News took the route of sensationalising and glorifying almost everything and tabloid television became the norm.

    News excesses became glaringly evident in the case of the coverage of the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.The news industry responded by setting up the News Broadcasters‘ Association, the Broadcast Editors‘ Association, a code of ethics and programming, and also set up structures which allowed viewers to resort to a complain mechanism in case they felt that news was going beyond its brief.

    On  the general entertainment side, an attempt is being made to set up a programming code and ways of compliance to it by the Indian Broadcasters‘ Foundation. While there were moves afoot on the content front, the government pussyfooted its way into regulation on the distribution front.

    In the early part of the decade it mandated the spread of set-top boxes and conditional access systems as part of its digitalisation plans, but then it took no decision to further it to another 55 cities or monitor and further its spread in the four metros where it had ordered the cable operators to digitize. It restricted broadcasters from charging more than Rs 5 per channel to subscribers and hence kept the cable TV subscription prices for viewers in check.

    Even as the decade was towards its last leg, there was no clarity on whether selfregulation was what the industry would be governed by or was it co-regulation.

    The emergence of production houses: The demand for content led to the emergence of new production powerhouses. UTV Television, Synergy (now Big Synergy), Sagar Arts, Cinevistaas, Miditech, Creative Eye, Siddhant, DJs, Contiloe, Optymystix and Balaji Telefilms were the leaders at the start of the decade. The end of the decade had seen multinationals and more new Indian production houses adding to that list. Fremantle Media, Endemol, Zodiak (through SOL) belonged to the international list and was behind some of the real big productions. Amongst the newer indigenous ones who had forayed and made their mark included Directors Kut, Sphere Origin, Shakuntalam Telefilms, Walkwater Media, The Right Picture, Wizcraft, Cineyug, Playmate etc.

    At the same time, producers were forced to put their houses in order with the associations striking to raise their wages, limited hours of working, and more structured production cycles.

    The explosion in new talent: Talent costs spiralled out of reach as experienced actors started charging sky-high rates even as film actors, directors, producers hopped on to the television bandwagon. Producing cost-effectively meant that new talents had to be scouted and cast at lower rates. Hence, producers and channels worked closely with casting directors to find new faces, most of whom had next-door looks. Younger people were cast from colleges, from street corners and they went on to become big names.

    Sport as a grand television spectacle: Cheerleaders, belles and whistles, the involvement of filmstars in teams, the decade saw sports becoming a television spectacle like nothing else. Sports – read cricket – television was serious business in the seventies, eighties and even the nineties and meant for serious students of the game. But in an effort to broadbase the sport and make it appealing to women, female commentators were brought in whose clothes made the headlines.

    Then came the IPL 20-20 form of the sport which allowed industrialists and the Bollywood brigade to own teams in a quick-bite format of cricket. Big doses of entertainment were thrown in with lots of pomp, loud music, bands and scantilyclad girls waving from the sidelines, owner-actors and industrialists egging on their teams. And the nation took to it like no other form of entertainment.

    Meeting the needs of region-specific audiences: Thanks to its many languages, India is not an easy market, especially for the media owners. The decade saw a ballooning of regional language television with broadcast networks adding channels with content catering to local audiences of the state. The south has the Sun Network as the leader with languages catering to all the southern language states. Amongst the national players, Zee was a pioneer in this and today runs general entertainment television channels in Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, among others. The other networks are not far behind with Star, Sony, and even Viacom18 moving aggressively into the language space.

    The proliferation of news: News burgeoned through the decade with specialised general news channels, city-specific channels, business news channels and even entertainment news channels being launched. And the spate of news channels was not just in the national language, they proliferated in regional languages too.

    Close to 1,200 hours a  to 1,200 hours a day of news is churned out daily by the news channels. According to an estimate, around 600 channels have been licensed to uplink from India. Of this, a majority of the applications were for channels in the news space. So much has been the rush in the news television space that even a state such as Andhra Pradesh has about 15-16 news channels in Telugu.

    Along with channels news anchors have also emerged as stars of sorts. At times, they give their actor kin a run for celebritydom, having notched up huge fan followings for themselves.

    New distribution platforms: First, there was only Doordarshan. Then came cable TV in the nineties. The first decade of the new millennium has been characterised by the emergence of digital TV, mainly DTH TV homes. Of the 150 odd million TV homes, around 110 million have either a cable TV or DTH connection. Six platforms waging a cutthroat battle have resulted in extremely low subscriber costs with fees being as low as Rs 150. Cable TV has also been forced to keep its prices extremely low because of the competition from DTH. On the horizon are newer modes of broadcasting such as HDTV, IPTV and streaming of content over wireless broadband. Clearly, for customers there is a harvest of plenty in store.

     

  • Suvarna scripts a programming turnaround

    Star’s Kannada offering Suvarana is on a roll these days. The channel seems to be on the path to entrenching itself, at least for now, in the number two slot in the Kannada GEC space. The top three positions were for long occupied by the Sun Network’s Udaya TV, the number one player by far; Ramoji Rao’s ETV Kannada at No 2; and Zee Kannada, a relatively newer entrant at the third spot.

    “Suvarna stands for fresh entertainment. Call it fiction or non-fiction or any program for that matter; our approach is to offer differentiated and fresh concepts as programs,” says Suvarana business head Anup Chandrasekharan.

    The channel says that it is attempting through a planned strategy that it calls a ‘Threshold Strategy’ to grow its viewership by attracting the 15-24 age group, which did not consume Kannada television. “We decided that once we had the people to sample our offering through reality shows, we will ensure that stickiness prevails in the form of fiction,” reveals Chandrasekharan.

     

    “Our reality shows such as ‘Pyete Hidigir  Halli Lifu’ (PHHL), ‘Halli Hyda Pyeteg Banda’ (HHPB) ‘Pyete Mandi Kadige Bandru’ (PMKB) have helped bring in younger and newer audiences – the 15-24 year olds, to Kannada television. To our pleasant surprise we find that even the 25 plus age groups are glued to PMKB during the 8-9 pm time slot,” avers Chandrasekharan.

     

    “Also to  to attract the youngster, we have NGC programs with a Kannada voice over on air for an hour. We have brought in successful soaps such as ‘Lakumi’, a weekend comedy talk show ‘Maja with Sruja’, mythology shows like ‘Guru Raghvendra Vaibhava’, a weekend horror reality show ‘Shhh’, Tulu language shows, etc., into our programming mix,” informs Chandrasekharan.

    He adds: “To present soaps in a new light and form to Kannada viewers, we have set our own rules for producing. For example, the protagonist has to be in the age group of 15-25, she has to be new to the television. Similarly, new to TV yet experts as directors are introduced. Four out of the six soap directors are from cinema, and have made their debut on the small screen through Suvarna.”

    He clarifies that while reality shows have been bringing in the numbers for Suvarna, the effort has been to reduce the number of hours per week of reality programming. “Contrary to perception, we have only one daily reality show Monday to Friday during the 8-9 pm slot and one weekend horror reality show,” states Chandrasekharan.

    The channel experimented with fresh programming concepts such as the tribal theme series with PHHL in May this year. The show had 10 city girls experience 50 days of village life with one winner for the finale. It immediately followed that with HHPB wherein it took the reverse tack in the show. Eight tribal boys were mentored by eight city girls to find who amongst them survived the best in the city.

    The third and culminating sequel this year to the tribal theme is the currently on air PMKB which has 12 city bred Bangalore youngsters-young men and women in their twenties, to rough it out like tribal folk in a dense forest in Karnataka for 60 days. This is a first by any channel in a forest in India – other forest-theme programs have been shot abroad.

    Another first by the channel in the Kannada GEC space is that the grand finale episodes of the two completed tribal reality show sequels have been aired on a Sunday, with each final episode being over 14 hours in duration. This has helped the channel rake in huge mid week GRPs and a leading position for that period in the Kannada GEC space.

    For bringing in new audiences and to ensure viewership involvement and stickiness, the channel has initiated proceedings to help people indentify and associate themselves with the channel. It has started ‘Ladies Clubs’ in various towns and cities in the state.

    “We have started the Ladies Club initiative to involve audiences, to try and understand its pulse, to find out what is that they want,” explains Chandrasekharan.

    Membership to the Ladies Club has strict and special eligibility conditions. Chandrasekharan says the team has so far met and brainstormed with the Ladies Club members in three cities on weekends. To build continued loyalty, during meetings, Suvarna has also given an opportunity to some of the talented Ladies Club members to display any special skill sets they have on air.

    Suvarna has also focused on high intense innovative activities over print and outdoor to promote its soaps. Its religious story ‘Guru Raghavendra Vaibhava’ has been promoted through activities like projecting the episodes on a giant screen everyday between 6.30 pm and 9.30 pm at Mantralaya temple where thousands of devotees gather. The channel has distributed the Mantralaya Prasadam to 200,000 homes in 10 towns along with information on the show.

     

    Suvarna claims that it has set a record with the world‘s biggest friendship band as part of its initiative to promote the show ‘Classmates.’ ‘Classmates’ has friendship at schooldays as its core theme. It has also implemented classroom-to-classroom promotions in over 170 colleges in 10 towns.

    These efforts seem have borne rich fruit for the channel. TAM ratings furnished by the Suvarana management indicate that over almost four years (starting from calendar year 2007 to week 48 of the current year) viewership for the Kannada GEC space has shrunk. Suvarana has, however, managed to grow its own numbers by double digits year on year, bucking the overall negative trend.

     

     

    As per the chart above, Kannada CS 4+ viewership fell from 4147 in 2007 to 4079 in 2009 and to 4014 till the 48th week of this year, while Suvarna moved from the last position in 2007 with ratings of 84 to 251 GRPs (week 48 of 2010).

    Suvarana’s ten week average GRPs from September 2010 to November 2010 are 335. Thanks to the 14 hour long marathon grand finale on a Sunday of HHPB, the channel reached its peak GRPs for the year at 418.

    To quite an extent the channel has nibbled away numbers from Udaya, ETV, Zee and even Kasturi which stood at number four in 2008 just before Star took a controlling stake in Suvarana.

    In 2007, Udaya’s mean GRPs for the year stood at an unassailable 780. The following year they stood at 637, in 2009 at 545, and during the first 48 weeks of the current year, they were at 502. Comparable figures for ETV Kannada during the same period are 372, 283, 246 and 208 GRPs, while those of Zee Kannada are 85, 209, 194 and 169 GRPs. Kasturi’s figures for the same period are 107, 143, 107 and 96 GRPs.

    “The channel (Suvarana) has been producing quality serials and shows at very low cost. Its reality show cost per episode is one-tenth of what it would cost a national level channel to produce,” informs an industry source who has worked with the channel. The source further informs Indiantelevision.com, “This year the channel should turn the corner and show a very decent profit.”

    “From nowhere Suvarna has come up to a respectable position in the Kannada space,” adds a senior Bangalore-based media executive. “Its programming seems to be working well for it.”