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  • ZEE 24 Ghanta’s Ananya Samman 2024 achieves phenomenal success in spotlighting inspirational stories

    ZEE 24 Ghanta’s Ananya Samman 2024 achieves phenomenal success in spotlighting inspirational stories

    Mumbai: ZEE 24 Ghanta’s 15 edition of Ananya Samman 2024 has once again achieved remarkable success in showcasing inspirational stories, solidifying its position as a beacon of honour and recognition. This year’s event, held on-ground, was a resounding triumph, spotlighting individuals who have defied adversity to make significant contributions to society.

    Ananya Samman, renowned for its credibility and authenticity, continues to hold a special place in the hearts of the Bengal market, resonating deeply with the audience. The evening was filled with touching tributes and poignant moments, leaving a profound impact on all who attended.

    The prestigious Maha Samman was rightfully awarded to the legendary tennis icon, Sania Mirza, in acknowledgement of her unparalleled achievements and unwavering dedication to excellence. Additionally, luminaries such as Jeet, Sunil Chhetri, Rupam Islam, Subrata Gangopadhyay, and D. Ashish were honoured for their outstanding contributions to their respective fields. Moreover, the Ananya Sadharon category celebrated the exemplary work of Pradeep Bhattacharya, Joyita Mondal, Chamak Chhetua, Azharuddin Khan, and Pabitra Mandal, shedding light on their commendable efforts across diverse spheres. These awardees exemplify the spirit of resilience and altruism, inspiring others with their remarkable efforts to give back to their communities despite facing personal struggles.

    Among the distinguished attendees were Shashi Panja, serving as the industry minister; Chandrima Bhattacharya, the finance minister; Snehasish Chakraborty, holding the portfolio of transport minister; Bratya Basu, guiding the education ministry; and Aroop Biswas, leading the sports ministry. The event also featured luminaries such as Usha Uthup, the renowned Superstar Dev, Kalyan Chaubey, President of AIFF, the melodious Singer Sreeradha Bandyopadhyay, Anirban Bhattacharya, Abhishek Dalmia and the esteemed Poet Subodh Sarkar and many other senior bureaucrats adding further grandeur to the occasion.

    Zee Media Corporation Ltd CEO Abhay Ojha highlighted, “Ananya Samman epitomises the triumph of the human spirit and the profound impact of recognition. It goes beyond being just an event; it’s a potent platform that celebrates the unsung heroes whose remarkable achievements inspire positive change in our society. The overwhelming success of this year’s ceremony underscores the profound influence of honouring individuals whose stories deeply resonate with our audience.”

    Zee Media Corporation Ltd CRO Mona Jain further added, “As we honour their achievements, we also reaffirm our commitment to uplifting and empowering communities through meaningful storytelling. Each story shared at Ananya Samman serves as a reminder of the transformative power of perseverance and determination. Through this event, we aim to inspire our viewers to embrace positivity and make a difference in their lives and communities. The overwhelming success of Ananya Samman is a testament to the enduring impact of recognising and celebrating the achievements of individuals who have overcome adversity.”

    Ananya Samman 2024 was fortified by a network of esteemed partners, each contributing significantly to its success. Co-presenting partners Sreeleathers Ltd, SPS Steels Rolling Mills Ltd, and Mukharochak, alongside co-powered entities Indian Institute of Hotel Management and Berger Home Shield, spearheaded the event’s mission to recognise excellence and community impact. Additionally, the invaluable support of gold partner Orient Gems & Ornaments Pvt. Ltd, driven by Tata Ace and, special partner Narayana Health, and broadband partner Alliance Broadband elevated the event’s reach and impact. Lastly, our silver partners, including Samata co-operative Development Bank Ltd, Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (EIILM) – Kolkata, Square Mark Homes Private Limited, Go Everywhere, and Alteus Biogenics Pvt Ltd, played a crucial role in amplifying the event’s message of positivity and empowerment, collectively embodying the spirit of Ananya Samman 2024.

    As we reflect on the achievements of Ananya Samman 2024, let us be reminded of the transformative power of perseverance, excellence, and community solidarity. Together, we can forge a brighter future for generations to come.

  • Will launch two OTTs before end of this year: Discovery India’s Karan Bajaj

    Will launch two OTTs before end of this year: Discovery India’s Karan Bajaj

    MUMBAI: When Karan Bajaj was hired to take over and run Discovery India in 2016, he was an unknown entity to most in the Indian media business. However, he had the credentials: a best-selling writer, a yogi and good exposure to the consumer having worked with Mondelez and Kraft Foods in the US.

    His mandate was clear: get Discovery India ready for the digital future and set it on a faster growth track. And he has: Discovery Kids has grown 587 per cent since he has taken over. All core networks are up 15-20 per cent and revenue growth has accelerated to high double digits.

    One of his initiatives Discovery Jeet, a fact-based fiction channel – a new genre in the general entertainment space did not pan out as well as was expected and it did not generate the viewership it was hoped it would.

    But Bajaj is not letting that drag him down – thanks to the support he has from his Europe-based boss JB Perrette. It has been back to the drawing board to recreate a new Jeet, even as charting a rapid growth curve for the other channels in the Discovery India bouquet. And he is no longer an unknown entity having carved a niche for himself in the media ecosystem. He clearly says – with a bashful smile -that it has been a “dynamic 18 months” and that he is going to continue to swing – read: take risks.

    Indeed. His other punt – Little Singham – has done well for the channel Discovery Kids catapulting it up the kids TV ranking.

    Indiantelevision.com’s Santosh Jangid and Ayushi Hirani got into a conversation with Bajaj to ask him about whether he was standing firm, and what he intends to do with Jeet, and on digital. And the boyish-looking lanky Bajaj was pretty candid about the learnings, how the network is evolving and where he sees it going in terms of programming.  Excerpts:

    What is your overall Discovery strategy and plan for 2018-2020?

    First, let me give me you a bit of background. When I took over, the overall intent was that if I look at how Indian consumers are structured, they form a pyramid. At the top are about 20 million households, who are with a premium DTH connection or a broadband connection.  And there’s this very seismic shift happening in those 20 million households, they are becoming completely internet enabled households. In 18 months, they will totally become the phenomenon we see in the US – the cord cutters. Their primary content consumption is via the internet.

    The next 100 million are the linear TV viewers and they will have a second screen which is a smartphone. The remaining 120 million are entering the TV universe.

    I looked at these three segments when I had come, and noticed that our business had a very strong propensity with the top 20 million households. And as I was going forward the way I had structured the strategy was that for the top 20 million households our entire delivery ecosystem has to become digital-first. For the next 100 million households, we have to create mass propositions. Like our current proposition is not local and mass enough is what I surmised. And the remaining 100 million households will follow the first two.

    So if I look at the strategy of Discovery India it is more or less completely unchanged than what I had set in 18 months. There have been some wins, some hiccoughs, but the strategy does not change based on initiatives. So If I think of the top 20 million households, we had said that in digital there are two successful models: you are either an aggregator – that is you aggregate a lot of content like a Netflix or Hotstar – or the other one that is successful globally is the niche passionate community. So one of the most profitable American digital brands is a college wrestling app which aggregates only college wrestling content and charges $5 a month to subscribers with a million subscribers. That’s $5 million a month where the cost of acquisition of the content is pretty low.

    The right of Discovery is to be an aggregator of passionate communities. We had said we are going to be the top community in auto, food, tech and travel. Because that is the Discovery right. I will never be the aggregator. I don’t want to aggregate movies or entertainment because that’s not the game Discovery does well. We are an aggregation of a lot of passionate communities of five to seven million people each. So when we arrived, we immediately tested a military brand called Veer. You will not have heard of this. By its nature I don’t want millions of people to hear of it. If you are a military passionate consumer today, Veer is the no 1 military brand within a span of a few months of launching it. It is growing 5,000 subscribers a day organically on YouTube alone. We are soon launching a food brand and the game is that we have a global library and we have local content on food. And I am anticipating that in a very short time, we will become a leader in the food digital space. The idea is that we will become the leader of these niche passionate verticals that are very strongly associated with Discovery.  And it is a very unique position to play in. Later on this year, we are going to aggregate the non-fiction communities into a single product platform which immediately becomes like the Netflix of non-fiction. Currently, we are delivering these communities content on social and telco platforms.

    So that’s the top few million households to move to a digital ecosystem in a way that Discovery does very well.

    Is digital your only focus?

    On the second step on the mass TV side, we had taken Kids which was like a laggard channel on number 10. We have given it a mass-orientation because kids are usually driven by ratings, tier II and tier III towns by offering them Little Singham and recently it shot up to the number 3-4 position. Then we launched Jeet on the mass side. Jeet has not worked as we expected it to work –and this happens. But I still believe in a mass proposition – like I believe that Discovery has a right to play in the mass proposition. Would that mean more local content on the flagship channels, which we did successfully with Veer. I will continue to do initiatives around mass TV while pivoting digital.  I will see how I can create more mass IPs like Little Singham on Discovery Kids or Veer.

    When is the Discovery Kids platform coming up?

    Discovery globally is launching a digital platform. Kids is a big genre in digital. If you see the number one concern that parents have about digital is that it is not a brand-safe environment and Discovery comes with a very strong brand and it comes with a brand safe environment for kids.

    So that kind of idea is what they are launching the global Discovery Kids brand which is both fun and educational. With that platform I will use Little Singham which has done extremely well. I have all the global content plus the local IPs here which are of a lot of relevance.

    So now the platform is ready globally. I am creating a timeline to import it here. By the end of this year, you will see a launch in the kids digital platform side and what we are tentatively calling the House of Discovery which is the digital product that houses all of these niche passionate communities in tech, outdoors, auto, military, wildlife, science, food, travel and all the other Scripps content that is coming up. So overall if I look at the strategy, I will say the business is more robust than it has ever been. All of our networks are growing double digits in terms of revenues despite the broader kind of noise that I hear around English genre. If you look at the viewership and ratings, Q4 vs Q1, every brand is up 15-25 per cent.

    The core thought process that I had followed on the core premium network on the Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC side was that for these networks to have a long-term sustainable play, they have to be clear leaders in their genre. They have to have digital scale and they need to create local IPs, that are completely a must-have for advertisers and consumers.

    We have strengthened our genre leadership and our gap versus competition. We are doing limited high-value perennial stuff where we have exclusive access. And hence we are doing well there.

    What shows are in the pipeline for the infotainment genre?

    On Discovery, I have the Air Force Academy in June. We have the women’s fighter pilots, which I am very excited about. In December, we have Siachen special which is a first ever of its kind. Plus we are doing a reality show on Discovery for the very first time. It’s called Real Men which is about taking around five civilians and putting them through a military boot camp. There is no winner; you are winning you over yourself and your ability to withstand what military does on a daily basis.  We are trying to create the concept of service over self for the young generation.

    On Animal Planet we have very strong conservation drives like Project Cat. Last year, we took it on ourselves to double the tiger population and we used India – the Manas sanctuary – as a testing ground to do that. We had a dramatic increase in the population. So we will continue to support that effort and do local programming around that.

    TLC with Scripps coming in has excellent thousands of hours of food content. So we will do local food around to supplement that global content.

    Tell us about the strategy for replacing the local content on Jeet?

    We are still working on it. If I step back a little bit, what was Jeet trying to do? The whole point of Jeet was: can you create a Discovery for the masses? It was a new category in the general entertainment space. We had not benchmarked against competition.  Our goal was to create fact-inspired fiction that is a story with a meaning and mount it at a scale that is very mass-y. We had always said if we can get 40-50 GRPs we would have a very differentiated channel. Unfortunately, that combination of content, marketing and distribution that you need in order to bring it to that level didn’t work out.  The connection did not get formed with viewers. So now with Scripps coming in, which was coming in alongside the Jeet launch, we are looking at all the new thousands of hours of library that have become available and seeing that is there anything that fits the same thesis that we started the channel with. We will look at content in the entertainment space with a deeper sense of purpose behind it. So we are working on the proposition that can we create an entertainment channel with the library that is available to us.

    In terms of target audience, the pyramid structure remains the same, like I said that we are going for the next 120 million households as we go with the mass TG with both kids and Jeet. So if we are launching or continuing the same GEC for Jeet or dipping into the global library, we are looking at the vantage point of view of the mass consumer and can this work in a single TV household. And can we look at the thousands of hours of content, which is not the traditional Discovery library. The Scripps library is a good mix of entertainment. But nothing changes in that front. The only thing is we decided not to do any more local content on Jeet.

    What about the existing local content on Jeet

    Even when dipping into the global content, we will intersperse some of it with some of the local content that we have, as long as we have not overscheduled it. As long as we feel that some part of it has not been seen by consumers, it will be a mix of global and local content till the time the content reaches a wear out – till people have seen it enough.  The repeats will be aired in June when the first round of programming ends.

    For promotional and advertising strategy, it will be the combination of both internal and external network that we have always done. We use our internal network very well because it is a very targeted pool and the same strategy that we did for Jeet. The Scripps transition will happen in Q3 and we will look at how we will schedule. The new content will be dubbed in English and Hindi.

    What were your learnings from Jeet?

    There are two kinds of learnings: first, we knew that it should be the perfect interplay of content, marketing and distribution. The reality of Jeet was that all of them had to work perfectly. It is somewhat easier to launch with the expectation of launching the number one GEC, so in that kind of GEC, you spend a lot in marketing, distribution. At a level like which is at a 6X scale of what we spent and then when you spend that level of marketing, you spend that level of distribution, you spend that much on content etc. your chance of success are still limited. GEC is anyway a tough game. But your chances of breaking out become easier because of the scale at which you are coming. With a proposition like Jeet, you have to be perfectly right because you are spending at a certain level of content, marketing and distribution to be at a certain level of performance. You have to get the Goldilocks model completely right. You have no margin of error. We knew that coming up with the differentiated content was a risk, but we also didn’t want to go the other route. The learning we have is that I am very proud of it. I am very proud of the team, the energy that the organisation went through, the efforts that they made, we took this risk and the energy that went into creating it. For 20 years we had produced just around five hours of programming and with Jeet we completely changed that. One learning is that we need to continue taking the swings. We are open for business and we will continue to take our swings.

  • Discovery boss JB Perrette proud of Jeet bet

    Discovery boss JB Perrette proud of Jeet bet

    BALI: The management at Discovery is pretty sanguine despite  the low continued ratings of its new India channel Jeet.  Speaking at APOS in Bali, Discovery Networks International president and CEO Jean-Briac Perrette said: “We are very ambitious and big believers in India as a market. We want to figure out ways to scale up there. We believe in the opportunities in that market and Jeet in the space of real-life entertainment seemed like a really interesting concept and a swing for us. We are very  proud of that swing, “

    He added, “We will continue too see what makes sense to do there. The more important thing is that not everything that we do is going to work, but we are not afraid of that  because experimentation and the trials and swings are needed to succeed in the world that is changing as fast as it is.”

    He was very optimistic of the fact that Discovery would continue to invest in India and in innovation. Perrette revealed: “Discovery as a company is not afraid of swings. We spent half a billion dollars investing in the Oprah Winfrey Network. For the first three years, it went nowhere. Now, it is a leading Afro-American Network for women in the US and hugely profitable. We  knew nothing about sports and now we are a leader in sports across Europe. We knew nothing about doing a massive big event  and we had the biggest and most successful winter Olympic games ever. We are not a company that’s about shying away. With this disruption, one thing we know for sure is that we need to keep moving and keep investing, and probably taking bigger bets and more risks. Because the world is changing so fast.”

    He, however, revealed that the shape and morph of the routes that Discovery would take to attain the size and scale in India could change. “The ways we do that in India, whether we do it through Jeet or more digital investments or other things we look to do in that space. Those are going to change several times over the next few months and years as we look to grow.”

    That sure should give team Karan Bajaj and Discovery India enough to  plod on and make a success of what they have set out to do.

  • Jeet storms the market with big debut week reach

    Jeet storms the market with big debut week reach

    MUMBAI: After entertaining the Indian audience for more than 20 years with world-class documentaries on food, science and survival, Discovery Communications India (DCIN) has entered the Hindi general entertainment category (GEC) with a bang thanks to Discovery Jeet. The channel, which launched on 12 February 2018, has backed up the rave reviews for its differentiated content with phenomenal reach.

    According to Chrome DM data on 13 February 2018, Jeet secured high launch numbers with a Day Two OTS of 87.1 per cent across urban Hindi-speaking markets. The channel’s OTS was around 20 percentage points higher than the recent debut of Arnab Goswami led-Republic, which stood at 66.9 per cent during its launch in Week 20 of 2017. Chrome Data analytics and media CEO and founder Pankaj Krishna said, “Discovery Jeet has made an unprecedented distribution debut in the history of Indian television. With the Naaptol tie-up and multiple landing pages, Jeet has had a phenomenal launch.”

    RANK

    LAUNCH WEEK

    CHANNELS

    HSM (%)

    1

    WK-06, 2018

    Discovery Jeet

    87.1*

    2

    Wk-20, 2017

    Republic TV

    66.9%

    3

    Wk-10,2015

    &TV  

    64.2%

    4

    Wk-26, 2014

    Zindagi

    59.1%

    Source Chrome Track 2.0, 9 am, 13-02.2018

    *Excluding Rural data; Rural data to be released once the weekly rural data is compiled

    The channel is also available in the base pack of all the direct-to-home (DTH) channels, which means that even if a consumer purchases a pack with the minimum number of GECs, Discovery Jeet will be a part of the pack. This only ensures that the channel reaches most households across India. The channel is available in standard as well as high-definition feed, reaching 120 million households during the launch.

    Moreover, DCIN, which launched the channel with distribution to more than 100 million households in the country, has signed on Netflix as the exclusive global OTT platform. With Jeet, DCIN is aiming to break the clutter in the Hindi GEC arena riding on purpose-driven entertainment content that is available in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The network, however, does not intend to add more regional languages anytime soon. Jeet has launched with five hours of programming daily out of which three hours is bespoke, ground-up original programming built on the thesis of the underdog winning.

    Broadcasters have been actively using landing pages to garner trials and, thereby, viewership for years with the idea being that higher the accessibility, greater the chances that the channel would attract trials and, therefore, repeat viewing. 

    “We have tied up with home-shopping channel Naaptol, which is a popular landing page on most MSOs. Naaptol shows two hours of snippety Jeet content everyday between its own content,” said Discovery Networks Asia Pacific senior VP and head affiliate sales Vijay Rajput.

    Earlier this week, C&S Medianet announced that it had supported Dish TV India Ltd, Videocon D2H Ltd and Siti Cable Network Ltd and successfully brought to conclusion the interconnection agreement with DCIN. With the conclusion of the arrangement, Jeet has been prominently placed on all the three platforms. 

    On the comparison with Colors, Discovery Communications India senior VP and GM (South Asia) Karan Bajaj said that there were parallels to be drawn but the approaches were different. “While Colors was launched with a clear strategy to be number one in the space, Discovery Jeet made an entry into the market with a clear focus on the quality of the content. Our thesis has revolved around quality.” He added that were no concerns with how things turned out with Epic since the emphasis has been on content quality. Jeet’s shows follow the daily soap format so the focus is on engaging the viewer on a day-to-day basis.

    Also Read :

    Discovery Jeet gears up for Feb 12 launch

    Not relying on movies to garner Jeet’s viewership: Karan Bajaj

    Discovery launching Hindi GEC in Q4, re-brands ID as Discovery Jeet

  • Jeet draws first blood in GEC showdown

    Jeet draws first blood in GEC showdown

    MUMBAI: After entertaining the Indian audience for more than 20 years with world-class documentaries on food, science, survival and more, Discovery Communications India (DCIN) is all set to entertain Indians with its general entertainment channel (GEC) Jeet. Slated to launch on 12 February 2018, the channel is already earning rave reviews for its content. The channel, which will launch with distribution to more than 100 million households in India, has already signed Netflix as the exclusive global OTT platform and has added another feather to its cap a week prior to its launch. The company has announced unprecedented consumer engagement for the entertainment domain with content trailers of Jeet achieving record high completion rate of 65 per cent on YouTube and 40 per cent on Facebook, more than double the industry benchmark of 30 per cent completion rate on YouTube and 20 per cent on Facebook.

    According to DCIN’s release, Jeet’s content-led trailers have cumulatively delivered more than 300 million impressions, more than 100 million views in just over of 2 weeks on YouTube and Facebook. The two trailers of 21 Sarfarosh and Swami Ramdev Ek Sangharsh have crossed 50 million views on YouTube and Facebook.

    This week, Discovery JEET will release another 100 plus pieces of digital content with an aim to further intensify its reach on digital and give consumers a glimpse of the range of content on offer.

    Jeet’s differentiated content philosophy has found many natural partners and helped achieve pre-launch inventory sales targets. The channel’s brand-led partnership approach has seen multiple brands from major conglomerates, including Reckitt Benckiser, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Marico, Mondelez International, Johnson and Johnson, Yellow Diamond and Quickheal come on board even before the launch.

    “We started speaking about entertaining and inspiring content in all our sales pitches a while ago, but the moment we started showcasing rushes of our shows to advertisers, the response started to change dramatically as they were able to experience Discovery Jeet’s line-up of dramatic, compelling stories of real, relatable characters presented in a cinematic, larger than life format,” said DCIN senior VP and GM (South Asia) Karan Bajaj.  “We are enthused with the response that Jeet has been able to garner from the consumers, the advertising community as well as the affiliate partners. We will be dialing up an aggressive marketing campaign even further as we get closer to the launch of the channel.”

    Jeet is aiming to break the clutter in the Hindi GEC arena riding on purpose-driven entertainment content. The channel will launch with five hours of programming band daily out of which three hours will be bespoke, ground-up original programming built on the thesis of the underdog winning.  Jeet will be available in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

    Also Read:

    Discovery Jeet gears up for Feb 12 launch

    Discovery India ties-up with Reliance Animation to produce kids IP

  • Video consumption by premium audience on digital exploding: Karan Bajaj

    Video consumption by premium audience on digital exploding: Karan Bajaj

    Mumbai: Karan Bajaj, head of India/South Asia at Discovery Communications India, comes across as a curious mind. In an exclusive conversation with Indiantelevision.com, he spoke on a range of topics-from Discovery’s latest digital ventures to the network’s foray into the general entertainment space with the much-awaited Jeet.

    In the course of our conversation, Bajaj revealed that TV viewership would grow at a 10 per cent rate in the coming five years. Despite a difficult year for television, he believes that the launch of a GEC like Jeet, which has a differentiated proposition, will give Discovery the benefits of growth.

    Here are the excerpts:

    How do you see the TV market in India shaping up?

    I follow my own thesis and don’t just imitate the market. There are about 250 million households, which can be ranked in a pyramid. The top 15 million households have fixed broadband at home and premium DTH connection, the next 120 million predominantly have cable television connection and mobile phones for their individual snacking consumption. Out of the last 120 million households, 20 million have Free Dish and the remaining 100 million do not have access to television.

    While projecting for the next five years, the top layer will grow aggressively from 15 million to 30 million and will move towards the digital space. So, here, television viewership will decline and digital viewership will grow exponentially. In the next 100 million households, television viewership will continue to grow at about 10 per cent rate because the bottom 120 million will enter the space and will aspire to get a cable connection. So, a big chunk at the bottom will be rising to the middle of the pyramid as the middle starts to migrate to the top. My thesis says that in the coming five years, television viewership will grow 10 per cent because of those 120 million households, bottom line people will get TVs at home and Free Dish will grow exponentially. And, this made us launch Jeet, a mass entertainment channel, specifically targetted at the tier 2 and tier 3 audience.

    What is your thesis to move to digital space?

    My current business is queued towards the top 30 million households, which is migrating to digital. This is the premium category where TV viewership might be going down by 15-20 per cent but their video viewership on digital might be exploding. Again, when we look at TV viewership pie in India, the current arc of English factual and lifestyle content is about 1 per cent of TV viewership in India but on digital, it is about 15 per cent. Things like auto, food, tech, lifestyle, outdoor, military, female comedians or activist comedy are consumed 10 times more significantly on digital.

    Now, if I project out for the next five years, I see two successful models that are emerging in digital. One is the aggregator whose role is that it becomes the single point of contact for a wide variety of content, from movies to entertainment to sports etc. There can be maximum three or four aggregators who can make money in the coming ten years but not all the 20-25 aggregators available for consumers. So I decided not to compete in that space. The other space that I find interesting and exciting is the passionate community space. For instance, on YouTube, a Gujarati comedy show emerges as a fast-growing channel in the last six months.

    We are starting our own food vertical with Scripps Network Interactive. I get very excited on seeing the niche digital and the passionate community in India for food is a $120 million market with no market leader. We are not launching an OTT channel, but a brand.

    What makes a digital community strong?

    A digital community is made passionate and strong when there is extremely frequent engagement such as by uploading one video per day because that builds loyalty. Refresh rate has to be high on digital and the quality of content should be delightful content. But if the creator is investing in creating high quality content every day, how he will make money? Brand integration is the way to look forward but it’s tedious. So, here Discovery comes with an advantage. Discovery has 6000 hours of original high quality global content library to edit, curate and create. So, my cost of production is nothing, all I need to put is the cost in editing. Here, I am able to create a very passionate community with my global library.

    On top of that, we are producing tent pole content which is amortised across both digital and linear in different formats. For smartphones, the format will be of 7-10 minutes. On Discovery channel, it would be between 30 to 60 minutes. Though we aren’t paying much for 80 per cent of the content volume, we are paying highly for the remaining 20 per cent. It is an attractive financial model and dramatically expands the reach of Discovery Network.

    What are the passionate communities you are planning to build on digital?

    I am looking to create rabid passionate community on digital including YouTube, Facebook, Jio TV, Airtel and Vodafone. First, we are launching Veer, which is a military passionate brand and Rise an activist female comedy show, both launching on 26 January 2018. Then we are coming up with auto and food with Scripps in March. These are massive scale shows with Veer having 1000 videos a year (average 3 per day) – one from our library and remaining from our tent-pole content. In three to five years, when we will have six to eight such verticals, four of them will become significant like the top military community, auto community, food community, activist comedy community. We are entering in a space where nobody has entered yet. We enjoy the advantage of having fresh global content library while other creators have to get into production first and then distribution later.

    What is Veer all about? How does the content for Veer deal digitally?

    Veer is a military passionate online brand by Discovery. In our global library, there are 1000 hours of global content in Hindi language dubbed, which we will be putting out as two-three videos a day. We have best hero content while shooting in top commando schools in India. We have top quality Breaking Point that went crazy on digital. Now, we are planning Breaking Point next year in land and under water (part 2) of 45 hours of content. Military content has a passionate community with 12-18 million unduplicated people in India who watched it on digital.

    Did demonetisation affect the business of Discovery Networks? What were the after-effects?

    The initial six months of demonetisation and GST we were prepping. We did not launch any show between January and June, but after July, we launched Queens of Comedy on TLC and Breaking Point on Discovery and we were not left with space for sponsors to come in. Breaking Point was a six-hour show and Queens of Comedy was four hours. In 2018, we are creating 45 hours of content for both the shows.

    How much scale and reach did you get from military content?

    We have military at scale. Every month we will be having new military series coming and multiple platforms to launch. Digital has tripled our reach. Historically, the reach of Discovery is 60 million (unduplicated) per week but now it has set a benchmark of 145 million based on our projections. TLC has an unduplicated reach of 35 million but now we are projecting that the channels we are launching across platforms will expand our reach to 105 million.

    Do you have an in-house studio to churn out the content or you will outsource it?

    Veer and Rise, are structured differently. For Veer, we have our in-house team for editing, cutting and clipping the global content for all the videos at scale. The hero content we are outsourcing from different production houses who are specialists in making military content. We have low to medium cost weekly formats, one is Military Lessons in Life done by a General father and son, and other is Military News.

    For Rise, we will outsource the high quality content like Queens of Comedy, Kings vs. Queens and for hygiene content, we have tied up with a bunch of local creators for exclusivity and we will own the IP rights of all.

    Tell us about your revenue model for digital ventures?

    The military content attracts a powerful set of male advertisers. Our revenue model is built on linear commercial time, TV and digital brand integration, YouTube digital revenue which is the icing on the cake, international syndication revenue and licensing of the content on other digital platforms. The content will appear differently on YouTube and other digital platforms. The arc of the whole story will be portrayed in five to nine minutes packs for various digital formats. We are doing offline and online marketing campaign for Veer and Rise.

    What is your thesis for constructing Jeet?

    We have learnt from our past attempts that the only way to scale in GEC is through daily viewership. Everything on Jeet is being mounted as a soap opera. We are constructing three to four hours of daily content and two hours of weekend content for the tier-2 and tier 3-town family audience. Overall, in the first year, we are coming up with 1000 hours of original content for a year. We have constructed it as four hours of weekdays content and two hours of weekend content. The core prime time bands will have Swami Ramdev: The Untold Story and Saragarhi. Then, we have shows like Anjaan and Hero Hiralal that are constructed like GECs but their quality is premium as compared to other GECs.

    I have realised that in this genre, you need to have IPs, which people refuse. In 120 million households where Jeet will be visible we need ratings or else we won’t have a compelling proposition. The idea is that we are reaching a sophisticated consumer with affinity content not measurable by ratings. When you have that kind of content, ratings sky rocket.

    What is so unique about your 1000 hours content?

    It is premium. Swami Ramdev: The Untold Story is a dramatised version of real events and is a finite series of 23 minutes every day. Saragarhi is a story of 21 Sikh soldiers, a finite series produced by Contiloe production house. These both series will restrict to 85 episodes. Anjaan and Hero Hiralal are infinite series. The former is a supernatural TV series produced by Lotus Talkies Productions, the production company of Sony TV’s Crime Patrol. It’s a 45 minutes weekday show. Whereas, Hero Hiralal is a conceptual series that revolves around an auto-rickshaw driver and his seven-year-old daughter who needs a heart transplant. The show is been edited by the in-house team of Discovery Communications. For weekends, we have non-fiction comedy shows.

    Will Jeet attract advertisers?

    Jeet will scrape a good chunk of the premium layer. I don’t want to replicate the competition’s model, rather I wanted to focus on perception selling. I am confident about the scalability of brands and advertisers. The context of the show where you advertise is at times strikingly in contrast to what the brand stands for. So to get scale advertisers have no other option. Typically, if you are a progressive brand, like Ariel that I handled, you end up advertising in a very regressive soap opera as that’s the only way to get scale. Jeet will allow brands to flourish by not only providing them with scale but also premium content that matches the brand philosophy and enough to attract a premium audience.

    How will Jeet be packaged to consumers? Will it be an FTA?

    Discovery Communication currently has 12 channels and Discovery Jeet is replacing Investigation Discovery channel. Jeet will be available on subscription-based pay TV. We have a very robust affiliate business. For syndicating, we are very singular in our offerings. Jeet is a singular proposition and not like any other GEC, which is replaceable. We have a strong launch plan in which distribution is very important for us. Vijay Rajput is the distribution head of all channels of Discovery Communications India.

    The interest in this sort of content is super high and soon we will be announcing our digital partnership. I am swamped by the international syndication request before launch. They are independent affiliate networks who have sampled the content through some other form.

    Who is supervising the functions of Jeet?

    Discovery Communications vice-president real world products south Asia Sameer Rao is leading Jeet. The middle-east team of Discovery has made a significant offer of syndicating the content globally. Christopher McGrath will be taking care of content syndication globally in Discovery Communication. We have a strong management and sales team in the leadership of Vikram Tanna and Rajput.

    Also Read:

    Discovery to launch digital channels, ties up with telcos

    Discovery launching Hindi GEC in Q4, re-brands ID as Discovery Jeet

    Discovery India hires Geetanjali Bhattacharji 

  • Push wins CCL creative account

    MUMBAI: Push Integrated Communications has been awarded the creative duties of the Celebrity Cricket League 2013. The mandate includes creative development and execution across multiple media platforms.

    The ad spends on the league will be in the range of Rs 100 million.

    CCL founder and managing director Vishnu Vardhan Induri said, “CCL is truly larger than life with its popularity challenging even the IPL. Push Integrated has brought alive the Block Buster appeal of the competition. Their creative visualization and ability to dovetail the communication idea into different media platforms is truly noteworthy.”

    Push Integrated managing director and CEO V A Shrikumar added, “Push Integrated is truly humbled to be bestowed with this honor. CCL is the next generation entertainment. CCL will bring larger audiences to the field of entertainment and sports. We are charged and ready to package this product in a way that is going to set a new trend in the industry.”

    CCL is a 20-20 league cricket property involving superstars from the feature film fraternity. It has teams from Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal. This year two new teams have been added from the Marathi and Bhojpuri regions. Participants of the league include Mohan Lal, Sunil Shetty, Venkatesh, Vishal, Sudeep, Jeet, Ritesh Deshmukh and Manoj Tiwari. This year CCL will be telecast on eight channels of Star in as many languages. The league stretches from 19 February to 10 March.

    About PUSH Integrated Communications Pvt. Ltd.

    PUSH Integrated is a true blue integrated communication solution provider with competencies that extend from communication strategy, creative development and execution to media solutions, digital strategy and activation, film production, event management and public relations. Each of the services are independent profit centers with focused capabilities. For PUSH, the idea chooses the medium for resonation, and then the competent partners and associates take over the function seamlessly. PUSH Integrated is the creative partner fro MAXUS in India and has strategic partnerships with MConsult, the Business strategy consultants, a part of Group M. Today PUSH has an impressive list of clients from retail and services to FMCG, education, fashion, healthcare, banking and infrastructure. The clients include Kalyan Jewelers, A.V. Thomas & co. ltd., with AVT Premium, Kalanikethan, Wrangler Jeans, Sobha Restoplus, Manappuram Finance and Shanders Developers to name a few.