Star to invest Rs 20,000 crore to expand sports coverage in India

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However, the company said cricket will continue to be its focus.

PTI | Nov 6, 2013, 02.40PM IST

NEW DELHI: Star Network, the media and entertainmentfirm owned by Rupert Murdoch, on Wednesday said it willinvest more than Rs 20,000 crore to expand its sports coveragein India and has roped in cricket captain M S Dhoni as brand ambassador for its Star Sports channels. 

The network also unveiled a new brand identity for Star Sports across six channels and has renamed all the ESPN channels, subsequent to the buyout of ESPN Inc's stake in their 16 years old joint venture ESPN STAR Sports (ESS). 

"Star has made a commitment of more than Rs 20,000 crore into the sports business. The investment is being used to fuel expansion of sports coverage in the country and to build exciting new leagues, including the Indian Super League in football, the Hockey India League and the Indian Badminton League," Star Network said in a statement. 

Why Star Sports is retiring ESPN brand in India

Sanjay Gupta says the company wants to take cricket into languages beyond Hindi and English, such as Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada. over the next few quarters. Photo: Sameer Joshi

Mumbai: With a commitment of over Rs.20,000 crore in sports in India, Star India is looking to aggressively build its business in the country with the launch of six new sports channels under the Star Sports banner. The new channels— Star Sports 1,2,3,4 and HD-1 and HD-2—will sport a new logo and go on air from 6 November with the Indian cricket team’s captain M.S. Dhoni as a brand ambassador. Sanjay Gupta , chief operating officer atStar India Pvt. Ltd, shared the broadcaster’s plan for sports content and why digital is the way to go. Edited excerpts:

Your company has said it has set aside $2 billion for the next five years for sports. How will you use this?

We are committed to over Rs.20,000 crore of investment (in sports) in this country. Fundamentally, sports fans have been irregular viewers of content on TV. Within the time they spend, almost 80-90% of it is spent on cricket. What we need to do is to ignite the passion for sports and get people to spend a lot more time watching it on TV.

We are retiring brand ESPN in this country. The two things we want to invest in, in a big way are..., first,...cricket. Today, cricket is limited to India playing international matches and Star Cricket (the cricket-only channel in the Star India network) has become synonymous with Star Sports in this country. That is the only thing people associate with and watch. We believe cricket is much larger than Star Cricket, which is also why we are retiring the brand. It goes away and becomes Star Sports. So it almost becomes one Star Sports with 96 hours of content available in a day across four standard-definition destinations.

We have been doing a lot of international cricket, but we want to double down on domestic cricket and university cricket. We want to develop the 150-160 days of domestic cricket and spend time getting university cricket and women’s cricket. We’ve seen the response to that on ground. Clearly, there is a high desire for local content.

The other thing is, we cannot be a one-sport country. We want to invest in building other sports, whether it’s hockey, badminton or football. Not only are we investing in what goes on air, but in also shaping sports by investing in the leagues. We genuinely believe that if we need to change the degree of engagement that sports fans have with content, then we really need to invest in content.

But isn’t doing away with Star Cricket a risk?

Yes, it is risky, without a doubt. But we also believe that, possibly, Star Cricket as a brand and destination, came in the way of sports in this country. From a broadcaster’s point of view, because it’s a 24-hour channel, it restricted the amount of content we created for it. The amount of cricket has to go much beyond, and will be the driver for all our channels (Star Sports 1,2,3,4). We are increasing the amount of time cricket gets on air and offering a lot more options within cricket as well as beyond cricket (other sports) to audiences.

Star Sports 3 is to be in Hindi. What is the potential for sports in regional languages?

We expect to take cricket into many more languages beyond Hindi, such as Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada. Over the next few quarters, we really want to go beyond Hindi and English.

If you look at the total content consumption in this country, only 2% is consumed in English—if you take all English news, movies and drama channels that get beamed in this country. The remaining 98% is in local languages. That tells you about the opportunity we are missing. Broadcasters have not invested in making the sports content locally relevant for fans. Our belief is that one reason why our sports engagement has been so low, beyond infrastructural issues and sports not being core, is that it hasn’t been available in the local language. By putting it in a local language, we are opening up 50 times the possible opportunity and growth.

What are your plans for starsports.com?

It’s a bottle that we opened only nine months ago and within that time we’ve already got 15 million unique visitors. What we’re doing on television, we will do bigger and better online as the medium allows you to showcase more content and that too in a bigger manner.

We’ve already got cricket, Formula One and football on it and we will expand that as we go along. But more importantly, it is an extremely interactive medium where consumers can start engaging even more deeply with the sports they watch. They may use it as a second screen (when they are watching TV) or even as a first screen. So a lot of investment will go into that. A lot of youngsters want to engage with sports and devices, mobile phones, tablets will play a very meaningful role in sports consumption. We’re using technology to deliver a much better experience to consumers.

Star Plus has been a market leader for some time now. The regional channels have also done well. You’ve now announced huge investments in sports. What next?

The current priority is sports, but beyond that, we definitely want to focus on digital. We have done well on television, but we think this country is ready for consumption of content on other devices and we are using sports to invest significantly in that direction, with starsports.com as well. Our beachhead into digital is through sports, as it is targeting the same audience, young men and women, who will consume content on new media. This is a big investment we are making and it is also opening up an opportunity for Star India—we will lead with sports and follow with movies and drama, in that order.

What is your view on the 12- minute ad cap (the broadcast regulator has capped advertising at 12 minutes per hour of programming, including two minutes for in-house advertising)? One of the largest advertisers in India, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), has stopped advertising on your network because there is no agreement on ad rates (following the cap, some channels sought to increase ad rates to compensate).

The impasse with HUL continues. But we strongly believe that at the core of every content business lies a great viewer experience. If something comes in the way, it brings down value. Some channels had so much advertising that it was difficult to know whether the channel was running ads or content. We have reduced ad inventory anywhere between 15% and 18% to comply with the ad-cap rule, so in the short term, it hurts. It does affect our revenue. But in the long run, it is good for the industry and the consumer.

We are talking one-on-one with each of the key advertisers and explaining why we are doing what we are doing. There is a lot of misconception that we have done this voluntarily. It is the law of the land, our broadcasting licence is based on the condition that there is a 12-minute ad cap. We cannot be wilfully ignoring it.

Critics argue that Star India bailed the Indian cricket board BCCI out with the sponsorship for Team India. Was that done with the idea of eventually grabbing the rights to the Indian Premier League (currently with Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd)?

Nobody bails anybody out… BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is too big. Sachin Tendulkar’s last two test matches start now and we were very keen to use that opportunity to announce the new sports network. We are using this sponsorship to make Star Sports bigger than it already is. You can really bring alive the new logo on ground, talk about the philosophy of Star Sports through commentators, and pre- and post- (match) shows on the network.

This was a good sponsorship for us. People have seen ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket for the last 10 years in this country. To change it, you need a very meaningful and impactful advertising campaign. These matches with Sachin (Tendulkar) will reach a huge audience. In terms of sheer audience aggregation, it is a huge opportunity, and we expect that at least 100 million people will tune in for one test match.

TAM wk 39: Sab and Life OK highest gainers 05 October 2013 01:41 pm | InSearchindia.com Team

MUMBAI: The TAM TV ratings for week 39 are out and it seems to tell the same story. There is no change in the top three positions even as the war continues. Sab, a sister channel of Sony Entertainment Television, is the highest gainer this week with 331,772 GVTs (289,471) at number five, followed by Life OK, the next highest gainer with 334,306 GVTs (313,138) at number four spot. Other GECs have witnessed a drop in their ratings. Star Plus manages to stay on top with 506,317 GVTs (534,590) while Colors maintains its number two position with 458,409 GVTs (479,892). Zee TV too saw a fall this week and holds its number three spot with 384,111 GVTs (413,707). Sony slips to number six spot with 286,083 GVTs (327,089). Sahara One is at the bottom of the list with 26,838 GVTs (26,495). Coming back to the GEC leader, Star Plus' popular show Diya aur Baati Hum saw a drop in its ratings and rated 9,614 TVTs (9,819). Another prime time show, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai scored 6,328 TVTs (6,587). Pyar Ka Dard Hai reported 7,191 TVTs (7,342). Saathiya witnessed a rise and registered 7,101 TVTs (6,456). New epic series Mahabharat witnessed a drop in its second week with 5,518 TVTs (6,356). Second placed, Color's much hyped reality show Bigg Boss seven witnessed a drop with 4,811 TVTs (5,080) this week. Long running fiction series Balika Vadhu saw a massive rise and rated 7,797 TVTs (6,551), Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon scored 4,743 TVTs (4,990) and Uttaran reported 3,464 TVTs (4,140). Comedy Nights with Kapil reported 6,804 TVTs (7,244). Zee TV's fictional offering Qubool Hai saw a drop and scored 5,511 TVTs (6,340). Pavitra Rishta generated 4,421 TVTs (4,733). Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke notched up and scored 5,343 TVTs (5,035). The channel's historical show Jodha Akbar maintains its stability and scored 8,027 TVTs (8,025). Drama series Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se registered 4,675 TVTs (4,612). Its new dance reality DID – Dance ka Tashan took its tally to 4,088 TVTs (5,021) on a Saturday and 4,290 on a Sunday. Fourth placed, Life OK’s top mythological series Mahadev scored 3,623 TVTs (3,588). Do Dil Ek Jaan stood at 1,725 TVTs (1,801), Savdhan India rated 2,563 TVTs (2,300), Shapath generated 3,729 TVTs (3,988). Ek Boond Ishq propped up this week taking its tally to 2,351 TVTs (2,029). Fifth placed, Sab's fiction show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah continues to be the channel leader with 8,096 TVTs (7,276). Chidiya Ghar saw a marginal rise as it rated 3,176 TVTs (3,045). Lapataganj reported 2,015 TVTs (2,066). Baalveer registered 2,835 TVTs (2,605). Other fictional shows witnessed marginal rise and fall as well. Sixth placed, Sony's long running crime series CID witnessed a huge rise and recorded 5,505 TVTs (5,070), Crime Petrol registered 4,789 TVTs (6,415). The channel's historical show Maharana Pratap generated 2,840 TVTs (3,266). KBC lost its score and only garnered 5,176 TVTs (6,134). Comedy Circus earned 3,505 TVTs (3,092). Other fiction shows either held on to their viewership or dipped marginally during the week. In the movie channel genre, Zee Cinema reported 201,334 GVTs (187,397); Star Gold witnessed a slight rise to 183,757 GVTs (177,380) and Movies OK notched up taking its tally to 107,863 GVTs (96,047). On the other hand, &pictures garnered 67,942 GVTs (67,480) and Max scored 207,046 GVTs (210,021). Let's see what's in store for the channels in the coming weeks.

Sony back at no four; Star continues to lead the pack 13 September 2013 09:55 pm | InSearchindia.com Team

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MUMBAI: The war for 'the best among the rest' continues even as the top three positions see no change in week 36 of TAM TV ratings. In week 36, reality shows have worked wonders for most of the GECs. The best example is Sony's new reality show Kaun Banega Croreprati that has garnered 8,950 TVTs on a Friday and 8,460 TVTs on a Saturday. Sony which was at the fifth position last week has propped up to fourth position and witnessed a huge growth, recording 346,122 GVTs (291,074). Zee TV was the next highest gainer as it witnessed 410,774 GVTs (395,024) and occupies the number three slot. Star Plus continues to lead the pack by maintaining its stability and reported 494,732 GVTs (495,509). Not quite far is Colors which continues to maintain its number two position recording 452,851 GVTs (452,921). Sab, a sister channel of Sony goes back to the number five position as it rated 322,392 GVTs (319,158). Life OK is at sixth position this week with 276,290 GVTs (269,927). Back to the chart topper, Star Plus channel's popular show Diya aur Baati Hum saw a drop in its ratings and rated 9,765 TVTs (10,175). Another prime time show, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai saw a slight rise taking its score to 7,261 TVTs (7,024). Pyar Ka Dard Hai reported 6,840 TVTs (6,515) and Saathiya registered 6,079 TVTs (6,127). Reality show Junior Master Chef lost its audiences witnessing a drop 2,370 TVTs (2,671). Colors' popular celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa has grabbed attention of the viewers this week generating a huge growth 6,482 TVTs (5,979) on a Saturday and 7,568 TVTs (5,730) on a Sunday. Long running fiction series Balika Vadhu registered 5,912 TVTs (6,127), Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon scored 4,847 TVTs (5,329) and Uttaran rated 4,450 TVTs (5,069). The comedy show Comedy Nights with Kapil is enjoying good attention of viewers generating 7,983 TVTs (7,072). Zee TV's reality dance show DID Super Moms witnessed drop in its viewership and rated 3,257 TVTs (4,653) on Saturday and 4,012 TVTs (4,490) on a Sunday. Its fictional offering Qubool Hai scored 6,380 TVTs (6,492). Pavitra Rishta generated 5,163 TVTs (5,078). It's long running series Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke scored 5,362 TVTs (4,785). The channel's historical show Jodha Akbar seems to attract audiences by its interesting track taking its tally to 7,259 TVTs (6,824). Drama series Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se registered 5,946 TVTs (5,188). Fourth placed, Sony's long running crime series CID saw a healthy rise recording 5,941 TVTs (4,758) and Crime Petrol scored 3,418 TVTs (4,783). The channel's historical show Maharana Pratap generated 3,354 TVTs (2,993). Sony's Indian Idol Junior aired its grand finale on 8 September and reported 6,290 TVTs. Other fiction shows either held on to their viewership or dipped marginally during the week. Fifth placed Sab's fiction show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah continues to be the channel leader with 6,751 TVTs (7,094). Chidiya Ghar gets active this week when it scored 3,064 TVTs (2,777). Lapataganj reported 2,062 TVTs (2,093). Other fictional shows witnessed marginal rise and fall as well. Sixth placed, Life OK's top series Mahadev rated 2,511 TVTs (2,995). Do Dil Ek Jaan stood at 1,462 TVTs (1,721), Savdhan India rated 2,651 TVTs (2,271), whereas Shapath generated 3,339 TVTs (2,455) and Gustakh Dil rated 1,333 TVTs (1,372). Sahara One continues to be at the bottom scoring 28,742 GVTs (29,645). In the movie channel's genre: Zee Cinema reported 206,038 GVTs (246,750); Star Gold witnessed a fall with 176,904 GVTs (194,992) and Movies OK rated 105,357 GVTs (118,643). On the other hand, Max witnessed a drop with 179,760 GVTs (223,692). Well, it seems the GECs are having a good roller coaster ride. Let's see what is instore for the GECs in the coming weeks.

Interview with The One Alliance president Rajesh Kaul "We are hoping for a fair share of revenue in a digitised ecosystem" 9 Sept 2013 9:45 pm | InSearchindia.com Team

Cable TV digitisation has forced the entire television ecosystem to come face to face with some gut-wrenching changes. Each one of the players has come under the scathing gaze of either the ministry of information and broadcasting or the telecom regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Some have even got a rap on their knuckles as the powers that be continue to work overtime on evolving a rickety old cable TV landscape into one capable of delivering top of the line world class digital services. Earlier this month, it was the aggregators that came under the scanner of TRAI which sent out a consultation paper which tries to reduce their importance in a digitised cable TV India. TRAI has said that aggregators tend to misuse the clout they have and need to have their wings clipped. The One Alliance, a  Discovery India-MSM joint venture which distributes 28 channels to the 30,000 or so cable operators nationally is one of the aggregators whose future and existence many are questioning.  But its president Rajesh Kaul, a scarred veteran of many a cable TV battle,  is hopeful things will get sorted out and work out well for him and others of his ilk such as MediaPro and IndiaCast. Even as The One Alliance has been celebrating the completion of 11 years of being in business, Kaul was busy preparing his responses to be presented to the regulator before the scheduled 27 August deadline. He still found some time to speak to Indiantelevision.com’s Seema Singh on trends in carriage and placement fees, the TRAI consultation paper and all things cable TV. Excerpts: Do you see the aggregators become more relevant or less in the coming years? Why or why not? We will be as relevant as we are right now. We are a very important link in the chain of the entire television ecosystem. We just hope that with digitisation we will get a fair share of revenue which we haven’t got for so many years.   What is your take on the TRAI consultation paper, which if implemented will cut down on the aggregator’s clout? We are evaluating the entire paper for which we need to file replies. TRAI in all its open houses and interaction with stakeholders has maintained that the era of regulation should go now and that they want to deregulate. So the consultation paper came as a surprise. On one hand they talk of deregulation, while on the other they put us under more regulations. May be the regulators need some clarification on the same and we are working on it. I am unsure of the intensity of the complaints put by the MSOs.  All through we have been following the TRAI and Information & Broadcasting Ministry (MIB) guidelines, with not a single case of deviation. There are close to 700 channels today and this has led to huge competition. The situation is such that no one channel can behave unreasonably with an MSO or with consumers. We all need eyeballs from our consumers. The competition ensures that the channels’ content and rate is good. We have to ensure that everything is as per market dynamics so that they are more liked and watched. This is the age we should be talking of forbearance rather than regulation. As per the TRAI regulation we are supposed to offer our channels on a la carte rate as well and this is available to the MSOs. In this country, there is a ‘must provide’ for all broadcasters, according to which not a single channel can say “No”  to an MSO for providing the channel to them.  But the MSO has the option to not subscribe to our channels. Since all the channels are on a la carte rate as well, there is no question of forcing them to subscribe to our bouquet. Another point that needs mentioning is that the broadcasters have not been getting a fair share of revenue in subscription. We thought with digitisation things will change. We have been a very good stakeholder in this entire process and done all that the regulator wanted us to do, be it doing quick deals to help MSOs sell the set top boxes or curbing our ambitions to make profits.  We hope that we will bear the fruit of being responsible stakeholders in this entire stretch one day. TRAI had even in the past come up with such consultation papers, but always heard us and I am hopeful they will listen to us even in this case. We are going to them to present our thought process. May be some wrong impression and feedback has gone to them, our duty is to explain to the regulator.   The second phase of DAS will conclude soon. Any problems that you faced in this switch? What is the percentage growth in revenue in phase two as compared to phase one? We are still waiting for a transparent system. With digitisation the consumer can chose what they want, and pay for it. This transparency has not come out so far. We are still not getting reports from the MSOs and do not know who is watching what. These are the bottlenecks that we face. We were looking at ambitious numbers when digitisation kicked off. We didn’t get that in the first phase. Also as responsible stakeholders we curbed our ambitions then because we knew it would be difficult to expect a huge jump in the beginning. We supported the MSOs, which is what the regulator wanted us to do. But with the completion of phase II, we should be inching towards that fair share, which should be around 35 to 40 per cent of the on-ground subscription revenue collected. This should happen by April 2014. Channels cannot survive only on ad sales, subscription money is a very important revenue stream for broadcasters, but unfortunately it hasn’t so far happened in India. Another problem that the broadcasters face is the high carriage fees. In an analogue system, due to capacity constraint, broadcasters had to pay huge carriage fees. But now with digitisation there is no question of any capacity constraint, so why have carriage fees? How are you playing out the carriage fee market? Will the carriage fees come down? How much has this come down, pre- and post-DAS?  In the next three years there should be no carriage fees. Though carriage fees  have come down post DAS, we still have been paying some placement fees to support the MSOs as they make their transition. But, with the completion of digitisation, even this should go down.  I expect carriage and placement fees to disappear over the next two to three years. While these were expected to go down further by phase II of digitisation, it has only been to the extent of about 25 per cent. Earlier the subscription revenue share we (read: broadcasters) were getting from the cable TV ecosystem was about 10-15 per cent. Now it has gone up to maybe to 20 per cent on the overall. Some broadcasters may have got 25 per cent but others may have got lower amounts of the digital dividend.  Many of the channels don’t get any subscription revenues because in the analogue environment they could not afford to have that as a part of their business model. With digitisation all this could change.   Do you plan to add more channels in the bouquet? What was your strategy to ensure that you had Times Network in your bouquet, when other news channels were walking out of the bouquet? We are not market shopping for channels and we are not desperate. Only if tomorrow we come across something good, we will think of adding it to our bouquet. We added Times Television Network to our bouquet this year. It was a mutual decision between the two of us. They fitted in our profile and also they wanted to be a part of our network. They are a premium channel and they deserve suitable revenues considering their performance and we at The One Alliance are working to get them those revenues. We are in the process of concluding deals for Times with other MSOs. We have finished with Hathway, GTPL, and some other MSOs. And more are coming.   You had a dispute with Hathway going on for some time? How is that progressing? There were many issues like are bound to happen in the cable TV business and yes one of these issues was the one we had with Hathway. And one of the issues - amongst the many issues - we had with Hathway was The Times network, which we have been distributing. But we amicably resolved all the issues with Hathway this evening. And the One Alliance bouquet of channels should have come back on all of Hathway networks by this evening. (26 August).   It’s been 11 years in the business, how has the journey been so far? The journey has been fantastic. While we started with three or four channels now we have a bouquet of 28 channels, with extremely powerful and premium channels. We have various genres, we have a solid name and repututation. It has a journey which has had  more ups than downs. Unfortunately, even with the IPL being the biggest sporting property in this country, we have not been able to monetise it well due to under declaration. But, now we have aggressive plans to monetise it for the next season.. What are the key pointers that set The One Alliance apart from other aggregators? As compared to others aggregators you have less channels, is that a limitation. How do you see things going ahead? We are the most stable joint venture (JV) in the industry. All the other aggregators are just a couple of years old. Our partners are very much involved and keen to ensure that the stability continues. For us the quality of the channel is important. We have never been in the race of having 50-60 channels in our bouquet.  We have channels from different genres in our bouquet and most of them are amongst the top two or three ranking in their respective genres. There are many more who want to be a part of One Alliance, because they trust the JV. Also our dealings are very transparent. We can add two to three channels at any given time, but our policy doesn’t allow us to do that. We have always believed in quality and so want to have premium channels in our bouquet. Today we are the strongest, despite having 28 channels. Also we are the only one having a sports channel in our bouquet unlike the others. Considering we have most genres covered in the bouquet, I don’t see any limitation. Our revenue is far higher than the others.   Are you selective about the channels you take in the bouquet? What are the criteria that a channel needs to fulfill to be a part of The One Alliance bouquet? The channel and the company backing the channel should have similar kind of values and ambitions like ours. We also look at the channels’ performance, which we understand on the basis of the weekly television viewership ratings.   What is the reach of the bouquet and which is the largest channel in the bouquet?   We currently have 28 channels from different genres in our bouquet. Sony Entertainment has the largest reach and, during IPL, Sony Max gets the largest reach. IPL is the biggest sporting property that we have. What is interesting is that though most sporting properties are a simulcast with Doordarshan, IPL is the one property which is exclusive on Max. This makes it the most important property in the sporting channel world and we have it. We are present almost across the country. We would be there in around 90 per cent of the towns, which have cable and satellite, but through DTH our reach is 100 per cent. Close to some 6,000 cable networks across the country carry our channels. What is the current strength of the organisation? One Alliance employs 125 people with offices in Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Indore and Mumbai. Apart from this, we also have a strong distribution network with distributors in Rajkot,  Pune, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Patna, Ranchi and Lucknow among others. Like this we have offices in 60 cities. The distributors have their own employees. So, if we take a cumulative strength, we have around 350 people working for us.   The major revenue for The One Alliance is dependent on IPL. So till how long will IPL be with Sony Max? How do you maintain subscription post IPL and also with so many controversies surrounding IPL, how will you deal with it?  Unfortunately, even with IPL being the biggest sporting property in this country, we have not been able to monetise it well due to under declaration. But, now we have aggressive plans to monetise it for the next season.

Sony highest gainer in week 33, Life OK back to five 22 August 2013 03:05 pm | InSearchindia.com Team

Sony highest gainer in week 33, Life OK back to five 22 August 2013 03:05 pm | InSearchindia.com Team

MUMBAI: In the week 33 of TAM TV ratings, Hindi GECs seems to be in a shuffle mood. Unlike last week, where Life OK had surpassed Sony and Sab, this week Life OK is back to its fifth position. Sony is the highest gainer this week as it added 48,804 TVTs (Television Viewership in thousands) taking its cumulative to 349,377 GVTs (Gross Viewership in thousands) (300,573 last week). Viacom18 Group’s mainstay Colors was the next highest gainer holding on to the number two slot adding 18,648 TVTs taking its tally to 456,414 GVTs (437,766).  Other GECs have seen a fall in their GVTs. Though Star Plus continues to be the leader and has maintained its stability as it reported 489,692 GVTs (505,715), Zee TV holds number three slot and registered 415,506 GVTs (424,270). While, Life OK who was the highest gainer last week, it witnessed a drop to report 303,478 GVTs (315,728). Sab remains stagnant at 293,433 GVTs (298,326). Coming back to the leader Star Plus, Diya aur Baati Hum proved to be the star yet again and as it rated 11,166 TVTs (10,356). Another prime time show, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai saw a huge rise in its reach taking its score to 7,284 TVTs (6,542). Pyar Ka Dard Hai fared well with 6,503 TVTs (6,233) and Saathiya registered 5,949 TVTs (5,525). A special event named Saath Hai Hum Uttarakhand that aired on 15 August didn’t fare too well and rated 1,107 TVT. New reality show Junior Master Chef saw a good start as it rated 4,277 TVT. Colors' popular celebrity dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is on the winning side this week when it generated 5,826 TVTs (5,299) on Saturday and 5,047 TVTs (4,503) on Sunday. Long running fiction series Balika Vadhu witnessed a drop and scoring 6,276 TVTs (6,644), Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon rated 4,304 TVTs (4,396) and Uttaran scored 4,839 TVTs (4,508). The comedy show Comedy Nights with Kapil saw a marginal rise and generated 6,847 TVTs (6,831). The new entrant on the channel Mrs Pammi Pyarelal witnessed a fall as it rated 1,575 TVTs (1,766). Zee TV's reality dance show DID Super Moms with its outstanding performances notched up and rated 5,893 TVTs (5,551) on Saturday and 5,498 TVTs (4,349) on a Sunday. Its new show Do Dil Bandhe Ek Dori Se started off well with 5,341 TVT. Its fictional offering Qubool Hai saw a rise and rated 7,435 TVTs (7,188). Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke registered a slight rise taking its score to 4,386 TVTs (4,332). The historical show Jodha Akbar observed a huge growth scoring 6,011 TVTs (5,547). Fourth placed, Sony Entertainment Television's long running crime series CID scored 5,210 TVTs (5,177) and Crime Petrol saw a slight fall when it rated 3,815 TVTs (3,859). On the other hand, Comedy Circus ke Ajoobe Mahabali witnessed a dropdown 2,482 TVTs (2,816). The channel's historical show Maharana Pratap managed to remain close to its last week's ratings, generating 3,028 TVTs (3,139). Other fiction shows either held on to their viewership or dipped marginally during the week. Sony's Indian Idol Junior had a good viewership on Saturday reporting 4,529 TVTs (4,351), but seems to lose its audiences on Sunday scoring 4,279 TVTs (4,602). Its new entrant Jee Le Zara scored 2,620 TVTs on the starting day i.e 15 August. Fifth placed, Life OK’s top series Mahadev rated 3,426 TVTs (3,493). Do Dil Ek Jaan scored 1,721 TVTs (1,783), Savdhan India rated 2,653 TVTs (2,867), Shapath saw a rise with 3,352 TVTs (3,088) and the new entrant Gustakh Dil rated 1,624 TVTs (1,884). Sixth placed, Sab's top chart fiction show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah continues to be the channel leader with 7,070 TVTs (7,032). Chidiya Ghar lost its audiences and scored 3,262 TVTs (3,412). Jeanie Aur Juju saw a fall when it reported 2,049 TVTs (2,490). Other fictional shows witnessed marginal rise and fall as well. Sahara One continues to remain in the bottom scoring 34,398 TVTs (32,326). In the movie channel's genre: Zee Cinema saw a rise, reporting 252,322 GVTs (228,837); Star Gold witnessed a fall with 215,873 GVTs (219,247) and Movies OK saw slight improvement and rated 137,781 GVTs (122,304). On the other hand, Max reported 213,437 GVTs (232,253). Let's wait and watch, how the channels fare in the coming week...

SAB

Sab TV revamps look; announces marketing initiatives

By Mohini Mishra Posted on 22 June 2013

Comedy general entertainment channel (GEC) SAB TV has added vibrant colours and new motifs to its channel and show packaging, which went on air from 9 pm onwards on 21 June.

Argentinian design studio Steinbranding was hired for the revamp.

The Sab team is pushing aggressively on all fronts

"Our new look signifies renewed freshness and a positive move into the future, truly articulating the spirit of 'Asli Mazaa SAB Ke Saath Aata Hai'. We have only changed the clothing of the show, but retained the content, concept and basic colours. We have also added more designs which is relayed between soaps," said SAB TV EVP & business head Anooj Kapoor at a conference held at JW Marriot Hotel.

And in order to further propagate the fact that it has a fresher and peppier look it has put together quite a few promotional films on the lines of its existing 'Sab Ka Wakt Ata Hai' called "Saas-bahu," "Mooch" and "Hands-Up."

The channel's management announced that it is going the whole hog on digital with online games and applications. One of these is 'Sabarbia', a one of its kind social game, which has attracted 75,000 people in the past two months.

The Sony senior management (from L to R) SabTV head Anooj Kapoor, MSM CEO Man Jit Singh, MSM COO NP Singh: applauding SabTV's success and driving it into the future

The channel has also launched a loyalty program called 'Sab ki Sawari', through which viewers are rewarded for watching its shows for longer durations: they get a chance to meet their favourite actors on the sets of different Sab shows. "Then we have school programmes called Sab ki Paathshala that aims to engage with a younger audience by providing them with interactive learning experience," added Kapoor.

Then SabTV has integrated free applications including, SAB Ke Comics - a mobile app available on iOS and Android smart phones. The application has over 100 comic strips of six shows cracking jokes on five popular characters of Sab. The five characters which have been animated include: SAB ka Gadha, SAB ka Gopi, SAB Ka Gulgule, SAB ka Mama and SAB ki Jeannie. "The application has already registered 200,000 users," informed Kapoor.

Apart from this, Sab has rolled out 'SAB Khelo SAB Jeeto,' an unique game show that can be played with the entire family. The game show enables fans and consumers to participate and win gifts and merchandise.

60 per cent of the channel's total promotional budget is set aside for TV advertising, 30 per cent for print and the remaining 10 per cent for out-of-home advertising and others. "As far as digital media is concerned, we have not made any investments. It is just a platform for us to drive the audience to television," said Kapoor.

The channel has gone in for oodles of activation in malls, Big Bazaar, Cafe Coffee Days and multiplexes and has a huge outdoor presence - over 700-800 hoardings pan India, excluding Mumbai. "In Mumbai, we have placed our hoardings in over 100 bus shelters in residential areas," said a source.

The faith that both Sony Entertainment COO N.P. Singh and Kapoor have had in taking the comedy route for the channel five years ago seems to have been well-placed when one looks at its success today.

"Our ratings have gone up by 600 per cent and revenues by 900 per cent in the last five years. We have seen a surge in advertisers from 25 in 2008 to 80 plus now. With its current presence in the US, the UK, Australia and South Africa, the channel will soon expand to Dubai," Kapoor informed.

Can Sony’s new offering ‘Live it up’?

Can Sony’s new offering ‘Live it up’? By Seema 22 August 2013 08:00 pm | InSearchindia.com Team

MUMBAI: Every Thursday is a reality check for the channels and its shows. And more so when it gets a new show onboard. The success of any marketing campaign is reflected in the ratings and so when Sony Entertainment Television launched its new soap Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara, it built a big marketing campaign to create the right buzz to get good viewership numbers. Sony which is the highest gainer this week, as it added 48,804 TVTs (Television Viewership in thousands) taking its cumulative to 349,377 GVTs (Gross Viewership in thousands) (300,573 last week), launched Jee Le Zara, on 15 August in the 9:30 pm slot. The show which entered into a very competitive time slot with Star Plus’s Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Zee TV’s Qubool Hai ruling the ratings chart in this time slot, has received 2,620 TVTs in its launch week and all this after some good marketing campaigns. “Every time slot today is competitive, we need to get audiences and so created a huge marketing campaign to inform people of the new show,” says SET senior VP & head-marketing Gaurav Seth. From a ‘Van Flag Off’ by Sangeeta Ghosh, the protagonist of the show to running of Twitter contests, the channel went a whole hog to hit the right cord with its audiences. The promotional activity started with the three promos shot for television. “Similarly, we had radio spots, which spoke on Sangeeta’s character in the show. We also launched a big multi-media print campaign on the day of launch of the soap which sustained till the first week of it going on air,” informs Seth. To sustain pressure and ensure that the promos went viral, the channel launched several social media activities and outdoor innovations. “One of this was when on 13 and 14 August we had a Jee Le Zara bus ferrying women from one part of the city to the other. The idea was to inform people of Sangeeta’s return on TV and also to promote the idea of Jee Le Zara,” he comments. The channel which launched the #Jee le zara moment contest on Twitter received over 7700 tweets with nearly 5.37 million people joining the conversation. “We were trending on Twitter on the launch day,” he informs.  The channel also ran promos of the show in major cinema chains nationwide for one week during the screening of Chennai Express. With Sony targeting not only the metros, but also UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat, with a 360 degree marketing campaign, we wonder if the numbers are enough when compared to the 7,435 TVTs of Qubool Hai and 7,284 TVTs of  Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. The show will need some catching up to do in the coming weeks.

Sony's romantic gamble with the 9:30 pm slot 10 August 2013 11:54 pm | InSearchindiacom Team

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MUMBAI: From 9:30 pm onwards this independence day, Sony Entertainment Television has ambitions to gives to its viewers a breath of fresh air. How? Well! One, the channel launches its new series Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara and two through this show, it brings back the queen of romance on TV, Sangeeta Ghosh. "Sony stands for hope, aspirations and happiness and so does the show," says SET chief operating officer N.P Singh. Sony which aims at strengthening its fiction genre is continuously looking at fresh concepts. "We were looking for content which was different and we came across this. It was relatable and real, like most of our shows. It is a kind of story that you will see Sony doing," he adds. Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara is a simple concept and has evolved from everyday stories Kehta Hai Dil…Jee Le Zara is a story of Saanchi who is modern yet traditional. "It is a simple concept and has evolved very much from everyday stories. Today, for a lot of women, marriage may not be the first preference," says Rose Audio Visuals producer Shristhi Arya, who is known for doing off beat and sophisticated soaps like Lipstick, Guns and Roses, Remix, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na and Twinkle Beauty Parlour. "With increasing aspirations, both love and marriage are pushed aside. Also the fact that a lot of interaction takes place among colleagues who are of different age groups, falling in love with a younger man is easier," says Arya explaining the storyline. Arya feels that television has the responsibility to reflect the sign of the times "And this is a sign of 'A' particular zone of people," she adds. Sony stands for hope, aspirations and happiness and so does the show, says N.P Singh The show will be replacing Parvarish which currently runs in the 9:30 pm slot. "Parvarish has been on air for the past two years and has had a successful tenure. The time was right to replace it with a newer and fresher show," informs Sony EVP & business head Sneha Rajani. Apparently, both the channel and the producer feel that the new show's storyline has a fit with the aspirational needs of the core Sony viewer. "Through Sony I have got a platform which has the exact audience that I am looking for my soap," informs Arya. The story is about a family living in the beautiful hill station of Panchgani. "It was the script that excited me the most. It is a simple story of simple characters and this is what got me to direct the soap," reveals show director Siddharth Sengupta who has earlier helmed dramas like Balika Vadhu and Ek Chabhi Pados Mein. The crew which started filming in end-July has recreated the feel of Panchgani in Film City located in Goregaon in Mumbai. "We are shooting 12-13 hours daily and have currently shot approximately six episodes. We need to build a bank, because once the show goes on air we will be only meeting deadlines," reveals Sengupta. Shristhi Arya feels that television has the responsibility to reflect the sign of the times we are in The main protagonists are Sangeeta Ghosh (Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand fame) and Ruslaan Mumtaz who made his debut in Bollywood through Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar. While Ghosh plays Saanchi, Mumtaz will be seen as Dhruv. The other characters are Sulabha Deshpande and Meenakshi Sethi, who will play the two grandmothers, Delnaz Irani who plays Dilshad, Nabeel Ahmed will be seen as Advait and Priyanka Sidana will be seen as Prachi. The story has been written by Niranjan Iyengar and the screenplay and dialogues are by Arjun and Purva respectively. The main sponsor for the show is L'oreal Paris Total Repair 5. Sony is using a 360 degree marketing campaign to lure in audiences to the channel. The channel has appointed MOMS Outdoor Media Solutions for managing OOH activities. "We will be marketing the show on TV, radio, print, digital and also hoardings," informs Rajani. The channel has shot three promos and also shot three to four countdown promos, which are airing currently. Apart from this, the marketing campaign will also involve a print ad on the day the show goes on air. The show is a clutter breaker, says Sneha Rajani The show will face stern competition from Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus, Qubool Hai on Zee TV and Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuchh Kaha: Season 2 on Colors. Does Sony have any strategy to deal with this competition, answers Singh, "Well, competition is a reality. Within the very aggressive competitive market, you have to differentiate the niche. Sony in its last 17 years has always run shows which are different from the rest and that has set us apart and we continue to follow that strategy." With reality shows working better for Sony, why add another fiction soap in the already cluttered fiction genre? Says Rajani, "We consciously decided two years back to focus more on fiction shows. We had gone a little weak in capturing viewers in the fiction space and so decided to focus more on the fiction genre." "Also we currently have two reality shows Indian Idol Junior and Comedy Circus running on our channel. Kaun Banega Crorepati will also hit TV screens soon. All this leaves us with no space for any more reality shows," she adds. So what's new in the soap that will help it get good TVTs? "It is a clutter breaker. From the time the promos went up, I have been receiving messages from people who can relate to this story. It is not drama, but the journey of an independent, yet responsible woman," comments Rajani. "Fiction today is the mainstay for every GEC. People want to see fresh content. Now how well the programme does depends on its content and whether it has been able to add some freshness to it. If it can engage its audiences, it will surely do well," says Madison Media Group, Bangalore COO Dinesh Rathore. The channel will soon see a row of new soaps replacing the current ones. But for this slot, it is surely placing a big bet that viewers will bite. Will keeping the show simple for people to believe in it, help the channel record increased TVTs? With the channel falling off to the fifth position in this general entertainment channel space, Sony must surely be praying it will.

The Trai ad cap fall out..

The Trai ad cap fall out

Insearchindia.com Team

(31 May 2013 9:15 pm)

MUMBAI: The Indian broadcasting industry is in a tizzy following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)'s binding decision to implement a 12 minute per hour ad cap effective from October 1.  The ad cap will understandably have an adverse effect on broadcasters' inventories which help them generate an estimated Rs 14,000 crore in advertising revenues. And this could also impact their survival, because most of them are dependent on sale of their respective advertising inventories at a good price. All in all, it could well turn turn out to be a very expensive regulation. Colors Raj Nayak - Hike was inevitable... General entertainment channels like Colors and Star have already announced that they will be raising ad rates by 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. This move does not really come as a surprise for many, as Colors CEO Raj Nayak explains: "We would have anyway done our annual hike by about 10-15 per cent so as to be able to absorb the increase in costs of programming, production etc. We have not still seen the full impact of digitisation in the form of either a fair share of reduction in carriage fees or an increase in subscription revenue, and with the inventory cap becoming a reality, we are left with no option but to increase our advertising rates to be able to stay on course." The hike in ad rates on Colors will be effective from July 1 but one wonders will it work in a marketplace where negotiation is a norm and prices are anyway discounted by up to 30 per cent? To this Nayak asserts: "We are here for the long term and we value our relationships with our clients. We will work closely with them to arrive at a win win situation. Having said that I believe, clients who are paying least will have the biggest impact." The channel has done all its calculations based on its revenue objectives, annual rate increases and has arrived at the 30 per cent hike figure, which Nayak says is what the channel needs on an average to stay on course. Star India CEO Uday Shankar preferred to keep his cards close to his chest. He said, "I cannot talk about our strategy." However, the ad rate hike may also drive advertisers towards lower priced outlets and other lesser crowded genres. Vikas Khanchandani - Consumption of inventories on under-leveraged channels will improve. AIDEM director Vikas Khanchandani says: "Both GEC and Niche play different roles for different advertisers and the weight-age applied are depending on the need of the brand. The hike in advertising rates is to bridge the gap from reduction in available inventory to broadcasters on account of the decision by TRAI on the cap. Each broadcaster or channel will increase their rates basis their current P&L and the impact of reduction in airtime over what they are currently selling over the cap and/ or any other escalation in input costs. The consumption of inventories on under-leveraged channels will rise." In that case, will GECs bother about inventories being spread over to niche channels and other outlets? "That's not such a bad thing. The truth is there is already an overflow of inventory on GEC channels even without the cap, and with the cap the supply demand ratio will change dramatically," says Nayak. The ad cap is thus affecting one and all, so wouldn't the niche channels want to go the GEC way and hike their ad rates as well? Do we see the rate hike spreading across the ecosystem- news, niche, etc or to other mediums? Nayak replies in the affirmative saying: "We believe this problem of supply-demand will also spill over to the Niche, Music, Sports & News & movie channels too. So I will not be surprised if they too will be forced to re-look at their advertising rates. I would like to believe that with the pipe getting choked, these channels too will not be left with an option but to increase their ad rates, unless they have a magic wand or a secret formula." A magic wand or not, all broadcasters general entertainment or niche would do all that they can to lessen the adverse impact of the impending ad cap. Offering a media buyer's perspective ZenithOptimedia partner Navin Khemka said that the smaller channels that sometimes run as much as 25 minutes of ads in an hour will find it difficult to sustain themselves. "They will take a big hit if they are not able to increase the effective rate. The ones who run 12-15 minutes should be fine. The key is to be a top three player in a genre. Then you should be alright and manage a hike. At the moment it is hard to say what kind of a rate hike channels can manage. You also have to consider the fact that sometimes annual deals are done. Channels will either try their best to honour them which they should or do some restructuring." In terms of ratings he thinks that the issue of variance in numbers will resolved in a couple of months time. "It is actually in the channels interest that the fluctuation continues as then they can say that they are not responsible for the poor delivery." A+E Networks| TV18 VP, head marketing Sangeetha Aiyer offers a different take saying that for the factual and lifestyle genres increasing rates might not be feasible. "The current economic environment is difficult. The ad market is not great. With the slowdown most genres apart from the Hindi GECs are facing a revenue crunch. Also packaging in digital cable has not happened. Tam also has to get its house in order. FMCGs account for 40 per cent of the factual genres revenue. So ratings do play a role especially since factual channels have language feeds." So what is the way forward? She notes that doing more local properties is one way as for that channels could charge a premium. "The aim should be to conceptualise ideas that can work as a tentpole which is what we did for 'The Greatest Indian'. Of course for that you have to earmark monies for production, marketing. I would have preferred it if the ad cap had come once digitisation was complete. We normally air 15 seconds of ads." MSM Rohit Gupta - It's a demand-supply equation. MultiScreenMedia (MSM) president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta declined to talk about his channel's strategy. He however added that it is likely that most genres will go in for a rate hike. "If you don't then you will lose money. It is a demand supply equation. Market forces will take over. You could see a situation where clients look at more genres and channels given the shortage of available inventory on channels that they frequently use." Times Television Trigunayat - Movies Now to hike rates by 50% Movies Now is looking at a 50 per cent rate hike in the coming six months. Times Television Network CEO English entertainment channels Ajay Trigunayat is in favour of the reduced inventory. "English movie channels air around 15 minutes of ads in an hour. What was happening was that channels in other genres were abusing inventory and airing as much as 20 minutes an hour. This compromised the effective rate in the English movie genre. Now the viewer experience will be better. Less ads will result in more stickiness for the genre which will also justify a rate hike. Overall I expect ad rates in the English movie genre to grow by 25 -30 per cent." Trigunayat concedes that the 50 per cent hike target is ambitious. "But we always set out ambitious targets for ourselves. In the short term there will be issues. I expect resistance from clients. But things will iron themselves out. A clearer picture of various channels' strategies will emerge by August. On our part we are not getting the rate that we feel we deserve. Generally for a new player clients wait to see the response that the channel is getting. The other challenge has been TAM ratings which have seen big fluctuations. Our rate has been flat for the past six months and fluctuations in the ratings have played a part in that. The ratings could take over a year to settle down. Clients therefore will have to look at other metrics like brand positioning, quality of the content etc. We also have to spend more time convincing clients". On the issue of rating fluctuations Gupta conceded that there is a trust issue. "At the same time clients do not only use ratings. There is qualitative analysis that goes into media buying. Clients do their research. Over the past five years Sony's inventory has stayed the same. Yet we manage revenue growth of 20-30 per cent as we hike rates." Asked if less inventory on more mainstream genres will benefit the English movie genre Trigunayat noted that English movie channels are already running at full capacity. "If you look at players whether it is us or Star Movies, HBO, Pix their inventory is full. They will all increase rates. Clients will benefit if they book spots now well in advance which is what happens in the US." Neo Sports Krishnan - Ad cap unfair on sports genre Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan said that the ad cap is unfair on the sports genre as breaks happen according to the sports action going on rather than on the basis of the clock. "Sometimes you might not have much of an ad break in an hour. Sometimes you might have more if there is a live cricket telecast. I would have preferred it if the rule was an average of 12 minutes an hour in a day. Then things would have evened out". The news genre is not left unaffected by this development. An industry insider points out that the government should be more considerate towards news broadcasters. "You cannot reduce our ad inventories while you do nothing about the enormous burden of carriage fees that we have to bear." He further adds that unless the carriage fee is brought down substantially and subscription revenues are also looked at, the ad cap compulsion is unfair. There must be a considerable drop in carriage fees wherein a network of 2-3 channels has to pay approximately Rs 10 crore - Rs 12 crore while single channels pay not more than Rs 2 crore - Rs 3 crore, he said. Khanchandani adds: "Impact on news will be different from that of niche. News is most impacted by the decision and have to significantly increase their own rates on account of very high dependence on ad time. If the increase in GEC pricing is very steep the advertiser might optimise the plans in favour of some genres but as I mentioned it depends on the requirement of the brand." A CEO of a news channel while refusing to come on record admitted that "the news broadcasting industry will also look at hiking ad rates because even our inventories are being adversely affected." In such a complex scenario based on the government and business environment, the advertiser's target audience and consequent decision remains the bone of contention. After all, with the impending digitisation, there is a lot of ambiguity revolving around which channels are reaching the audience and which are not. Khanchandani gives some perspective: "The television platform continues to be an effective medium for advertisers at large and I strongly believe in the medium. The impact will be varied across genres and channels. It's a function of demand and supply and their respective state of inventory utilisation. Fundamentally prices will go up across channels and inventory utilisation across under leveraged channels will improve." GECs are confident of their loyal advertisers; as Nayak puts it: "The advertising market is buoyant, I see a reasonable growth this year over previous year and we believe as long as we deliver value people will continue to invest in our channel."