The broadcast media is going in for interesting alliances. Last year, Star and Zee tied up to forge a distribution alliance. Prior to that Viacom 18 and Sun had got together. Earlier this year, the Star Plus mega-show Satyamev Jayate tied up with Doordarshan for a simulcast. And now Sahara One’s India-Pakistan music show, Sur-Kshetra, will be aired simultaneously on younger but bigger GEC Colors.
Colors has announced a first-of-its-kind strategic tie-up with the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Sahara One to simulcast the relatively new singing based reality show – Sur-Kshetra.
Produced by Sahara One, in association with Gajendra ‘Antakshari’ Singh’s Saaibaba Telefilms, Sur-Kshetra will be a cross-border musical battle between the Indian Team, captained by Himesh Reshammiya and the Pakistani Team, captained by Atif Aslam. Evaluating the teams and judging the musical talent will be Asha Bhosle (India), Abida Parveen (Pakistan), and Runa Laila (Bangladesh).
The show will be anchored by actor Ayesha Takia and the episodes will also have musical stalwarts like Ghulam Ali, Hadiqa Kiani and Sajjad Ali from Pakistan, and Suresh Wadkar, Ismail Darbar, Alka Yagnik and Sapna Mukherjee from India.
Speaking about the strategic tie-up, Raj Nayak, CEO – Colors, said: “Music has the unique ability to unite people and today, it has brought two channels together. Sur-Kshetra will mark Colors’ foray into the singing non-fiction content segment and we are extremely excited about this new venture. By adding the show to our bouquet of offerings, we are working towards fulfilling our commitment to cohesive viewing, while providing our audiences with unique content keeping them engaged.”
Adding to this, Suresh Mishra, Asst Director, Sahara One said: “With this legendary Indo-Pak musical grandeur, viewers from both the nations and across the globe will witness a new generation of gifted singers. We are very excited about this strategic tie-up with Colors, giving Sur-Kshetra a combination of two large platforms that does justice to the stature of the show”
Stratagem Media Pvt. Ltd, led by Mr. Sundeep Nagpal, began as a media planning hub for medium-sized ad agencies in the early 90s and somewhere along the middle of the last decade, it morphed into a media services company.
The ‘Media RHYTHM’ series is a recent initiative by the company to enable participants channelize the thought processes that govern modern day practices in media selling.
The initiative engages experts from the industry who jointly conceive and design such programs over hours of discussion to make them as relevant as possible. RHYTHM is an acronym for Realizing Higher Yields thru’ Talent Harvesting in Media. At another level, the programme also serves to orient the thought process in a particular direction and thereby condition the mind.
Mr. Nagpal believes that such open programs are useful for companies which wish to develop talent and knowledge base of select personnel in their sales departments.
The forthcoming program, to be held on July 21, has been conceived as a single-day workshop titled “ReveNEW Concepts and Ideas”. The modules will focus on concepts that are integral to the media business – media evaluation & utilitarian concepts, as well as the subjective aspects that can be used effectively by sellers.
Facilitators like Madan Sanglikar will administer a module on the applicability of new media for new brand and how media houses can build on it. Bharat Kapadia will stimulate participating sellers to think creatively by involving them with certain exercises.
Suresh Balakrishna will engage participating sellers on how to translate the basic tenets of a brand communication into a media-led solution.
Yang Saints and Warriors will be henceforth handling the creative mandates for Red FM. The win comes after a multi agency pitch that Red FM had called for a couple of months back.
Though no confirmation from Red FM could be obtained at the time of filing the report, sources close to the development have confirmed the news to MxMIndia.
The agencies participating in the pitch include names like Lowe Lintas, DDB Mudra, Scarecrow Communications, Law &Kenneth and others.
The incumbent agency on the account is Ogilvy & Mather, who have been handling their creative mandates for the past five years. Even the marketing spends could not be ascertained at the time of filing the report.
Red FM is a property of Sun TV Network, India’s largest television network which has 20 TV channels, 45 FM radio stations, two daily newspapers and four magazines in several Indian languages.
Continuing with the feature we carried on July 2 (Link: http://www.mxmindia.com/2012/07/the-half-year-that-was/), we bring in more views from the industry on the six months gone by. This half-yearly report card is again a mixed bag – while some have had an excellent run, others had few hitches on the way. Here’s bringing views from some leading players of the industry.
Broadcasting:
Rohit Gupta
Rohit Gupta, President, Sony Entertainment Television
So far, it’s been an excellent year for Sony network. And I’m sure it’s been same for the industry, at large. The industry is still growing and there have been no cuts in spends. People are still putting their money in the medium. I’m sure there is no gloom surrounding this industry. Even the 2008 slowdown didn’t affect us. So, there is nothing to worry about too.
Sunil Lulla
Sunil Lulla, MD and CEO, Times Television Network
I would say, it has been testing six months for the broadcast industry. The biggest set-back has been the extension of the digitization implementation. The IBF ran a very good campaign for it but since MSOs couldn’t fulfill the requirements, unfortunately it has to be postponed. My advice to the ministry now would be to take strict actions and make sure the new deadline is met. It is important for the industry since it will shape the industry and help us understand it better too.
By and large, important events in the broadcast industry like IPL, Indian Idol did well and a new show like Satyamev Jayate was launched. However, there is still a gap between how a show performs and what the viewers really want. Hence, I think TAM needs to be more clear and needs to increase its sample size too.
But what really shocked the industry was the new adult timings and ‘A’ restrictions on television. What happened with Dirty Picture’s telecast was regrettable. Nevertheless, after the self regulation imposed by various channels – news and GECs – the quality of content has improved.
As from the business point of view, from January till April, it was good; but May onwards the marketers have had a watchful attitude. It might not impact the industry at large, but a certain sections might get affected. Also, given the current economic climate, one will have to keep a very watchful eye for the near future.
The last six months have been eventful for the broadcast industry. First it was the whole discussion regarding digitization – from notifications to it finally getting delayed. Hopefully, the new deadline will be met as it is positive for the broadcast industry. Also, the new advertising guidelines set by TRAI will make sure that the market doesn’t get diluted.  Such moves will only benefit the industry and help it grow.
However, there has been a slowdown in ad sales and revenue generation. Everyone knows what happened during an event like IPL. It is a slow phase right now, but the costs of purchasing rights are still high. So, it won’t be wrong to say that testing times are ahead.
K Sriram
K Sriram, GM, Vijay TV
The last 6 months in the Tamil GEC space has seen a dramatic change in programming. KBC travelled into Tamil Nadu and with actor Suriya donning the role of anchor. The barrier between the big screen and television was truly breached for the first time. KBC Tamil ensured that prime time television in TN was redefined, as it not only cut across audiences, but also surged ahead of the power cuts and the IPL fever and eroded into SUN TV’s prime time shares. Vijay TV saw a growth of 41 per cent in the year in a market which was otherwise declining. Content came to the fore.
Tamil television also saw the movie acquisition game being taken to another level with Nanban, the hit Tamil adaptation of 3 idiots, being screened within 100 Days on Vijay TV. Another path breaker given that A+ titles before were insulated for a year. Loud and clear in the Tamil GE space – the game just got bigger and in the last 6 months there was only one player playing the game. Competition is sure playing catch up.
Marketers:
Harkirat Singh
Harkirat Singh, MD, Woodland
The overall market in the branded retail segment has been seeing growth. The biggest change that one sees in this segment is that now the growth comes from smaller towns. In the earlier phase, the growth came from metros; and if one ventured into smaller towns in branded retail say a decade back, most likely, things would not fall in place. Now the risk factor in venturing into the smaller towns is much less and there are many players in branded retail who are turning towards these cities knowing that growth opportunity lies there.
For Woodland, last six months have seen steady growth and we intend to open 60 stores this year, though the rider is to expand but be selective. The market, I would say, has been slow. But that is the trend I would say during a particular time of the year where each year business is slow and picks up only later. As for retail, I think the market is vibrant and the sector has been seeing activity and is slated to see increased activity with FDI in retail being relaxed.
Vikas Jain
Vikas Jain, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Micromax
For the mobile phone industry there has been no concern about consumption, as the demand for new sets continues to be on rise. The change being that now the customers are well-educated on the mobile sets they want to buy and with change in technology there have been change in the preference on the type of mobile sets. The key, therefore, is to recognize and anticipate the product in demand and meet the needs of consumers. The players need to create a roadmap of the products to be launched rather than get carried away by technological changes. Keep an eye on the changing trends and tweak the launches accordingly.
On the flip side, the devaluation of rupee has put pressure on the margins and Micromax being a player that vouches for being cost effective will not yield to increasing prices of the phone sets. As for following any trend on cost cutting on the marketing and communications front, we have not done any. We continue to be associated with Bollywood and Cricket and would associate if any good opportunity came to us.
Media Agencies:
PM Balakrishna
PM Balakrishna, COO – Allied Media
I think the months of April-May were on par but June was not so great. The feeling is that of a slowdown for sure. But an advertising perspective there is cause for worry. It’s a reflection of the economy not looking good in the past few months with petrol prices seeing a hike, inflation seeing a rise and other such factors. These factors play a part in the way media spends pan out.
Where television is concerned there were some properties that did well like the Euro Cup recently and also the IPL before that, but then there are signs of slowdown with advertisers not being too keen to be associated with properties and also with the rates coming down. With Print, which sees ads from sectors like Real Estate and so on, there was a sudden upsurge that was seen in June with most property dealers advertising a lot in dailies and magazines. But that may be a sheer sign of desperation because transactions are not really happening or consumers are not really picking up stocks. There has not been a surge from other sectors as well and they are treading cautiously. So if one were to do a quarter to quarter analysis, one would see that there has been a decline in April-June this year compared to the same quarter last year.
As for the revival, what I have observed recently is that clients have been drawing up plans which they might want to unveil soon, probably around the festival season. But I think overall, the growth will meander along in the next quarter also. Probably the last four months of this year may turn out to be good but whether it is enough to offset the slow-burn over the first six months – I am not too sure.
Anamika Mehta
Anamika Mehta, COO – Lodestar Universal
Although we are six months into the year, I do not think the industry will record the original projections that were forecasted. We are just into the first quarter and therefore we cannot conclude much but overall some categories are seeing a slowdown. Sectors like real estate and finance have seen a slowdown in the spends but FMCG companies are yet to go slow. They are playing a cautious game though.
Also, much of the growth is also the result of the current economic conditions which do not look good at the moment. But it will not be all gloom and doom as is being witnessed in Europe but it will also not be a great story as was being propounded forIndia. Also, one cannot predict the exact figure beyond a point but the approach is going to be that of caution.
Sundeep Nagpal
Sundeep Nagpal, MD, Stratagem Media
I would say the media industry in India is already feeling the effects of the economic gloom that has been in the works for some time now. From what I have been given to understand the first quarter of this fiscal has been reasonably difficult. In fact nothing can be said about the trend that will emerge in the next six months as there is some amount of scepticism in the industry. Unfortunately, in our industry fluctuations are happening faster than what we have witnessed before – whether up or down. It takes a lot of deeper understanding and attention to details if one has to figure out what the current media scenario correlates to. Frankly, even I do not have an answer to that. It’s very easy to say that it is dependent on the overall global or Indian outlook but that is too macro a view to attribute to. If I was a media planner, I would be looking at ways to look out for the early signals and accordingly find out the relevant methods to adopt. Overall, the industry may just about see a decline in its growth numbers for 2012 than what was originally anticipated.
Advertising:
Arvind Sharma
Arvind Sharma, Chairman, Indian Subcontinent, Leo Burnett
As the GDP numbers have been showing a slowdown, one can see that it is getting reflected in the advertising spends too. While at peak the advertising industry was showing a growth of 25 per cent, it would be somewhere around 7 per cent in the first half of 2012. At individual agency level, while we have seen a growth on 40 per cent in 2010 and 25 per cent in 2011, in the first half of 2012 we would see a growth of around 15 per cent. But I think at an individual agency level we still can manage fairly good growth as India has close to Rs35,000 crore advertising expenditure hence the need of the hour is to get aggressive and lay claim to the bigger pie from that budget. This will happen from organic growth from current clients to acquiring new businesses. This growth will also come from making our offering robust.
If one were to look at growth, then in our case, I would say that we have seen growth from our existing clients but growth from new clients or from new major initiatives have been significantly less. However, I would say that the mood currently is to be cautious.
PR:
NS Rajan
NS Rajan, Managing Director, Ketchum Sampark
While we have grown by about 20 per cent in the first half, we are witnessing headwinds gathering across various sectors which can in turn affect growth in these segments and consequently the PR business in the second half.
Also margins could be under pressure in the coming months as the increased cost of servicing may not be compensated by incremental revenues unless the economic environment changes significantly which can lift up sentiment.
MBA from a leading business school in the American Midwest, two years with a boutique investment bank in Boston and then this young man lands up for a chat about what he needs to do to get a job in the media.
It is still easy to think there is a clear demarcation that sets the media apart from the rest of the world. Aamir, Ashton, Arnab and Aishwarya are in the Media. (They don’t even need surnames to identify them). Media people ‘need no introduction’. Us grunts have nothing worth introducing and thus, don’t need to be introduced.
Or is it so simple?
There were the Media people but they were few and readily identified as such. M J Akbar dazzled us with his insight in columns for a newspaper he edited. Rajat Sharma put people into the dock, quite literally, as he hosted a talk show. Derek O’Brien got all of us furiously scratching our heads even as he quizzed school kids. Madhuri Dixit sent testosterone levels into orbit merely by counting from 1 to 13. And Lalu had to invoke Sridevi’s cheeks in search of a universally comprehensible metaphor for Bihar’s roads.
Then Tim Berners-Lee came along and changed everything, although for years after he thought up hypertext in an obscure corner of CERN, we would scarcely have known it.
By the late 90s, regular blokes discovered that it was possible to find a wider audience for their periodic rants on WWW than they previously could muster around a water cooler or in a cafe. The web log, then portmanteau-ed to weblog and finally truncated to blog was born either in 1995 or 1997 (you can find an interesting history here).
Then blogger came along in 1999, bang in the heady days of the Dotcom Boom and setting up a blog became Luddite-proof. From the very beginning, the blogging community had a wide range of interests and capability. The largest majority would create an account in an idle moment never to visit it ever again. A few would invest time and effort in their posts and endeavour to reach out to an audience with regular, engaging updates. Remember that these were people operating far away from the conventional notion, but what they were doing was indisputably publishing.
Everyman had just stormed Fortress Media.
It began with the written word. Soon enough, authors had found ways of adding pictures to their words. And the web was becoming more clever all the time. It was able to transport not just text but sound and video too. Also, devices to record audio and video had started to shrink in price and size even as they got massively more powerful, thus putting near professional quality sound and image acquisition within reach. Events unfolded at a rapid pace thereafter. Amazon pioneered a lightweight handheld device for reading digital publications. The Kindle was a runaway success and for the first time, books could be self-published by anyone with a good idea and capable penmanship without ever being imprinted onto the dead-tree medium. Soundcloud allowed wannabe speakers, singers and instrumentalists to distribute their art and craft without surrendering themselves to the crafty gnomes of the music industry. Youtube opened doors for every standup comic, ballerina, burlesque queen and cute kitten to show off its talents on glorious Technicolor video.
But wait, we were talking about an investment banker contemplating a career in the media. So what’s with this long riff about what we now refer to, rather condescendingly I might add, as User Generated Content?
Well, it wasn’t just individuals that got inspired to start using the all new powers of WWW to talk to their “Audience”. Businesses of every stripe saw the opportunity too. To be rather more honest, what they saw was consumers – happy and irate, sounding off about their brand experiences in these wide open spaces and were left with little choice but to deal, for better or worse, with what they were getting. Surely we’ve all heard the now almost apocryphal story of Coca Cola’s attempt to take down a fan page on Facebook that spectacularly backfired? To the point where they had to pretty much say ‘Let bygones be bygones and let’s be friends’? (Moral: Don’t clobber, co-opt).
You see what’s happening here. Companies and brands were becoming broadcasters and publishers.
At no time before in the history of our human civilization has communication across every conventional fence and barrier been so easy, inexpensive and by implication pervasive or ubiquitous. And barring the rare exception, individuals and entities find it more productive to be participants in this endless feast of reason and flow of soul than mere mute spectators. There’s even a taxonomy to describe different levels of involvement with media: Paid media are, as the name suggests, those that you have to buy access to. Earned media are where the media voluntarily carry news or content about you. Finally, owned media are, again as evidenced by the name, those that you own and control. Who doesn’t want earned and owned media?
And what was it that we were talking about when we began this ramble? Ah, yes. A job in the media.
I told the young man, he could stop looking. After all, every job- FMCG, Banking, Automobiles, Telecommunication, <insert randomly chosen industry name here> eventually, was going to be a job in the Media.
Paritosh Joshi was until recently CEO, Star CJ. He has been a marketer, a mediaperson and a key officebearer on industry bodies. He is Strategic Advisor, Ormax Media. He can reached via his Twitter handle @paritoshZero
VR Padmanabhan joins RK Swamy Media Group as General Manager, South. Mr Padmanabhan has previously worked with MEC Chennai, Mediacom (Group M Singapore), Motivator (Malaysia) and Euro RSCG (Bangalore/Chennai). His last assignment was as an entrepreneur and consultant at Linear Communications
Speaking about this development, Sandeep Sharma, President RK Swamy Media Group said: “Padmanabhan joins our senior management team and has a clear mandate to manage and grow the south market. He has quality experience in the media domain and has worked on FMCG, IT, Telecom, Retail, Auto sectors in India,South East Asia and has considerable experience in managing the south market. His astute understanding of brand needs in the context of media will help offer superior solution to our clients. He will be based out of our Chennai office.”
RK Swamy Media Group comprises of four units – Media Direction, Digital Direction, Hansa Media and Hansa Outdoor. It is part of RK Swamy Hansa, a leading marketing communications and services group, serving over 150 companies in India and the US. With around 1100+ professionals, the Group offers Creative and Media services, Market Research, Direct/CRM & Advanced Analytics, Events and Activation, Healthcare Communication, PR, Social & Rural Communication and more.
Launched in July 2011, Seventynine, the mobile ad network, started commercial engagement in the market in April 2012 with a focus on rich media inventory especially videos to enrich user experience. Seventynine has clocked record growth serving 700mn ad requests within three months of operation.
Currently, Seventynine is working with brands such as Microsoft, Lufthansa, Nokia, Opera Mini, ICICI bank, ICI Dulux, Tata Docomo, Nazara, Mcarbon, Techzone  and so on and is in talks with other large brands for similar association. The mobile ad network is focusing actively on building inventories across mobile applications and mobile web.
In an email interaction with MxMIndia, Chirag Shah, Co-founder, Seventynine spoke about his company’s journey since July 2011, its break-even plans and so on. “The journey so far has been very exciting and full of challenges. We are focusing heavily on unique product development, platform and analytics. Since March 2012, we have hit the market and managed to get some amazing response. Mobile ad spends are growing at more than 100 per cent. Spend on content such as application is growing at more than 400 per cent growth rate.”
“We are launching a unique product on android platform and we intend to share details on that in the next 10-15 days. This unique product will be our focus for 2012-13” he added.
“Mobile phone and mobile internet users are growing rapidly and consumers are spending more time on mobile as compared to TV, newspaper and internet. We are actively focusing on innovative technology solutions to create the differentiation that will position us ahead of the curve.” added Deven Dharamdasani, Co-Founder, Seventynine.
The team size of Seventynine is currently 15 but, the mobile ad network company will be hiring aggressively. “We intend to have a 50 member team by the end of this year” observed Mr Shah.
Seventynine is said to be one of the fastest growing mobile ad network in the country with Rich Media serving capability such as videos and HTML5. It is working closely with The Times Group, Network 18, Reuters, Business Standard, Nimbuzz, Angry Bird, Talking Tom Cat and others and has tie-ups with leading exchanges across the world.
Mogae Media has announced the launch of Mobocracy, India’s first single window mobile creative agency. Headquartered at its Gurgaon offices, the new mobile boutique already has a team of 12 professionals across design, creative, technology and mobile integration.
“The world is getting smaller. At Mobocracy we’ve invested in founding the right skills for optimizing design for the small screen and strengthening communication strategies for this next wave of advertising. We are already working with our diverse portfolio of clients to integrate smart mobile thinking into new and existing campaigns,” said Tanya Goyal, Executive Director of the Mogae Group.
With massive rise in the number of mobile phone users accessing the web on their handhelds, it is very important for a brand to have mobile version and Mobocracy offers top-notch mobile web design services to help a brand reach its target audience that is scattered over many handsets & versions in a unified way.
“It’s hard to believe that as recently as a decade ago; most businesses did not even have a website or, at best, maintained a meagre online presence. Today it is as much a staple of our daily lives as is the personal computer, making it vital for businesses to not only maintain a comprehensive website, but to keep updated with advances in technology that will offer customers easy access to the information they desire. Further the advent of ‘smart phones’ such as the iPhone, Android phone or Blackberry has prompted those in the business of building and hosting websites to explore new technological avenues, leading to the creation of ‘mobile web sites’,” said Tanya Goyal. “Ultimately, mobile websites are a win-win both for clients and consumers – helping to deliver a brand’s message and compelling content to current and potential customers with just a glance at their mobile phone screen.”
Mogae Media, the parent entity of Mobocracy, was set up in October 2011 by veteran ad-man Sandeep Goyal, former JV partner and Chairman of Dentsu India.
Marmalade Digital is making use of several technologies plugged together in one platform called Demand Side Platform (DSP). DSP offers transparent automated media buying across multiple sources in real-time.
Buyers have complete control through a web-based interface. DSP is fully transparent and neutral, not favouring any publisher, advertiser or inventory over others. This increased transparency and targeting addresses prevailing disparities in display domain.
Throwing light on Marmalade DSP, Hemant Kumar, founder and chief executive officer, Marmalade Digital said: “Our goal is to be the digital partner who will provides smart media buying insights and optimization to agencies, enabling them to focus more on client strategy, brand building and less on execution of media plan.”
Till date advertisers had access to only reports which tells whether campaign has performed or not. With direct control and full involvement in media buying, advertisers will know exactly what performs best for them and how the performance can be improved. The learning stays with the agency and can be re-used.
“Marmalade DSP is an intelligent media buying platform that will offer value beyond impressions and clicks to its advertisers. To ensure brand safety, Marmalade DSP maintains a strict compliance with IAB standards. Advertiser can also choose type, content and category appropriate for its brand,” he added.
It is business as usual at BBH India post the agency’s acquisition by Publicis Groupe. The Publicis Groupe which previously held 49 per cent stake in BBH has upped its stake to 100 per cent. In another related development, Publicis Groupe has also acquired 100 percent stake in NEOGAMA/BBH.
Partha Sinha, Managing Partner, BBH India, told MxMIndia: “Nothing changes as far as BBH India is concerned. The shareholding pattern remains the same and we continue to report to BBH global leadership based out of London.”
In an official communique on the BBH site, Nigel Bogle, Founder of BBH, said: “The decision was very clear. We were looking for an opportunity that would ensure that our agency maintained a high degree of autonomy and could continue to abide by the values characterized by the black sheep. The key point for us was the preservation of our operational independence in managing the BBH brand, which has produced almost uninterrupted growth for thirty years. The new ownership not only ensures our autonomy, but brings us considerable advantages through Publicis Groupe’s resources and global infrastructure.”
BBH was launched officially in India in the year 2008 with much fanfare with Priti Nair, Partha Sinha and Subhash Kamath taking the role as managing partners. However, Nair has since moved on to her own venture. Mr Sinha and Mr Kamath continue to steer the India ops.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is known for its creative work. Founded in 1982 by John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty, the agency has been steadily expanding its footprint and now has offices in London, New York, Sao Paolo, Singapore, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Mumbai.
Read Advertising Age interview with Mr Nigel Bogle where he says: “Publicis Groupe can never merge us with another agency. They can’t make us take business we don’t want to. We’re not obliged to pitch for anything. They can’t move us into one of their buildings.”
Text & Video by Shruti Pushkarna
Although most of its channels are not mass like those offering soaps and sitcoms, the Discovery Network is a key member of the Indian broadcast landscape. The Discovery Network Asia Pacific’s Senior Vice President & General Manager for South Asia, RahulJohri attributes the network’s success to its dedicated and loyal viewership and says it is far ahead of competition
Under Mr Johri’s leadership, Discovery India’s portfolio has grown from two to eight channels. In 2009, he led Discovery Channel to become India’s No.1 channel in non-fiction entertainment. He cemented TLC as India’s definitive lifestyle channel and energized Animal Planet with the brand recording the highest audience growth in the factual space.
He launched three new networks in 2010, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo and a 24-hour high definition channel – Discovery HD World. Mr Johri has also pioneered the channel’s localization strategy by launching language feeds in Telugu and Bengali. Discovery Channel Tamil was also launched in 2011.
At a press meet in the Capital on July 5, Mr Johri announced the launch of a new series on TLC called Be Blunt with Adhuna Akhtar. A six-part series, Be Blunt with Adhuna Akhtar showcases the striking transformation of the girls selected from across India into dazzling divas by popular hairstylist Adhuna Akhtar and her brother Osh Bhabani.
MxMIndia caught up with Mr Johri soon after he unveiled Be Blunt to the media. In this one-on-one interaction, Mr Johri tells MxMIndia about Discovery’s leadership and the network’s latest offering and that Discovery Kids will be unveiled shortly. He also shares his views on how digitization is set to impact Discovery and other niche channels.
Excerpts from the interview:
It’s interesting that you have a show on hairstyling. Tell us a little about this show with Adhuna Akhtar?
Our focus in TLC is on different aspects of lifestyle and one of the most prominent ones of that is appearance. So keeping that in mind we thought a hairstyling show would fit in really well on the channel. And there is no other hairstyling show. When we wanted to do it, we found Adhuna Akhtar, who is one of the most popular hair dressers in the country. This show takes in six different individuals and carries out a makeover on them and in the midst of doing the makeover, Adhuna gives viewers a lot of tips on how to keep their hair better.
You mentioned there are six episodes of this show ready to air… what’s coming up next?
We have always done new things and surprised our viewers. Whether it’s a show on Shah Rukh Khan’s life, the jewellery show, and now it’s a hair dressing show, so we will continue to surprise people.
And then there’s the programme capturing the Indian Army’s Women Expedition to Everest…
The Army sent an expedition which scaled Mount Evereston May 25 and 26. There are seven women who were part of that expedition and a total of 17 climbers who climbed Everest. We shot the whole show; in fact, a Discovery cameraman also climbed Mount Everest along with the climbers. Right now we are editing the footage that has been brought back and we hope to bring this show within this year.
And the two-part series on Oprah’s visit to India?
Oprah was here earlier this year and she shot extensively in Mumbai, Vrindavan, Agra and Jaipur. There are two episodes of this new series that she now does which is called The Next Chapter which appears on Oprah Winfrey’s Network in US and in India you will see it both on Discovery Channel and on TLC. Discovery has had quite a few specials in the past, like the special show with Shah Rukh Khan, another one of course coming up with Oprah…
Considering a lot of money has to be invested in promotion for programming, isn’t it better to stick to longer format shows rather than these one-offs?
It is a part of the kind of shows we do. A documentary filmmaker does not make a series, there is no 52-part documentary. It will always be smaller parts. And viewers know that there will be specials and we have now eight different channels of our own. So we have enough air time to take the message to the viewers.
Discovery has got a lot of competition in this space now, especially from a channel like History which is doing fairly well. How do you view competition from upcoming channels?
We are, by far, the leaders in the genre. We are bigger than the sum of all our competitors. We’ve been in the business for 15 years and no matter how you slice and dice the numbers, we are the leaders. And we will continue to present to our viewers with quality programming. And the other important thing which is responsible for our leadership position is, on Discovery you will always find shows which are on brand. There is nothing that is not on brand. So viewers get from Discovery what they expect from Discovery. And that is really responsible for the loyalty that we have of our viewers.
A channel like TLC is fighting for viewership with English GECs like Star World and Zee Cafe…
 TLC is bigger than most of them and TLC has a very dedicated audience. If you ask people what they watch on TLC, they will give you names of shows that they follow. And TLC has managed to establish itself as the definitive lifestyle channel in this country and that really gives it the advantage.
Speaking of niche channels, how are Discovery Turbo and Discovery Science doing?
In terms of reach, they continue to grow. Discovery Turbo has very dedicated audience in the metro markets and Discovery Science has been growing all over the country. Its distribution has been growing. And if there is a country in the world where a Science channel fits in perfectly, it is India because 65 per cent of India is under 30 years of age. And 35 per cent of the country is under 14 years of age. And everybody understands the value of education. And that is why the science channel works so well here.
And how’s your regional foray going? Discovery Tamil is a success… what languages up next?
Discovery Channel Tamil is a great success. Discovery is the only international company to have a full-fledged channel and not just a dubbed feed in the language. So it has its own programming grid, it has all the on-air packaging in Tamil. And from the day we launched in Tamil, the rating has more than doubled. Today it is the No 9 channel in Tamil Nadu. We are already available in Bangla, Telugu and Hindi and we continue to evaluate languages.
It’s been a while since you announced Discovery Kids at FICCI Frames. When will it be launched?
The test signals of Discovery Kids are already on and we are currently seeding the channel in various parts of the country. We should be announcing the launch very soon.
And how will it be different from the other channels in this space?
Discovery Kids is not a 100 percent animation channel. It has the inherent Discovery values. However, we understand the value of entertainment so there is a lot of entertainment on the channel and it’s a parent-approved entertainment channel.
What will be its driver shows? For instance, POGO has Chhota Bheem and Disney has Doraemon…
We have our set, and like I said it’s just a matter of time that we’ll announce Discovery Kids and we will show you all the big shows that Discovery Kids has.
Are you looking at a reality show like Endurance which is a rage internationally?
You will get all the big shows of Discovery Kids in India!
Do you think digitization will have a positive impact on channels like Discovery?
In a digital world where the consumers are not constrained by the bandwidth capacity and have a complete choice, channels like Discovery become that much more important. As a consumer you get complete control over what you want to watch and that is where clearly defined offerings like TLC, Discovery Science, Animal Planet have a clear cut proposition and they become that much more pronounced in a digital environment.
Given that TRAI will have restrictions on pricing of channels, will niche channels (like Discovery) really benefit from it, considering the huge amount of investment on content by these channels…
Not being able to price your channel has its drawbacks… I would like to bring the military channel here which talks about all kinds of war strategies and so on. But that will have a small dedicated tribe to watch it. Till the numbers grow, the next level of specialization is difficult. It’s a challenge to get extremely specialized channels into the country.
Consumers today are buying products that are lifestyle statements. LG is taking a step towards meeting the implicit needs of their consumers by coming closer to them with the launch of LG Lifestyle and Service on wheels initiative.
Designed as a direct-contact initiative for LG’s aspiring and lifestyle conscious consumers, the LG Bus showcases the company’s flagship products and takes consumer experience to a new high. The bus is designed around the concept of a modern home that embodies technology and style. A team of a lifestyle consultant and a service engineer help the consumers experience the Life’s Good philosophy.
The LG Lifestyle and Service on Wheels is well wired with broadband connectivity onboard for faster call allocation and flow of information.
LK Gupta
On the launch, LK Gupta, VP-Marketing, LG India said: “Today’s consumers want the very best of everything. They want better quality, differentiated features that aid convenience, strong after sales service standards, world class designs and highest standards of consumer engagement. We have introduced LG Lifestyle & Service on wheels with the sole aim of coming closer to our consumers and build emotional connect. This is one of the finest experience and service-led initiative the consumer durable industry has ever witnessed. We are confident that with this unique initiative, LG will certainly witness positive change in the customer service space and significantly raise the bar of customer aspirations.”
RC&M, the On- ground partner for LG Lifestyle and Service on Wheels has taken LG on a journey to more than 100 RWA’s across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra.
“Exhibiting all the premium LG products, the lifestyle lounge in bus serves as the perfect tool to enter the consideration set of target group and leverage their loyalties for the brand, effectively giving LG a competitive edge,” said RC&M’s spokesperson.
Mogae Media has announced the launch of Mobocracy, India’s first single window mobile creative agency. Headquartered at its Gurgaon offices, the new mobile boutique already has a team of 12 professionals across design, creative, technology and mobile integration.
It is business as usual at BBH India post the agency’s acquisition by Publicis Groupe. The Publicis Groupe which previously held 49 per cent stake in BBH has upped its stake to 100 per cent. In another related development, Publicis Groupe has also acquired 100 percent stake in NEOGAMA/BBH.
In an official communique on the BBH site, Nigel Bogle, Founder of BBH, said: “The decision was very clear. We were looking for an opportunity that would ensure that our agency maintained a high degree of autonomy and could continue to abide by the values characterized by the black sheep. The key point for us was the preservation of our operational independence in managing the BBH brand, which has produced almost uninterrupted growth for thirty years. The new ownership not only ensures our autonomy, but brings us considerable advantages through Publicis Groupe’s resources and global infrastructure.”
LG Electronics had launched an innovative campaign – “LG Lifestyle and Service on Wheels”. LG has a compelling range of premium offering across various product categories and the lifestyle lounge recreates the décor of the customers home to give them a perspective on how LG’s premium range of products enhance their home and life.