MxMIndia

Tag: BIG CBS

  • Anirudh Maheshwari, Shweta Arora and Brijesh Tanna join Reliance Broadcast Network to head key functions with channels

    RBNL fills three top slots for sales and C&C

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) has announced three key appointments in its television business. These include:

    Anirudh Maheshwari

    Anirudh Maheshwari – appointed National Sales Head for Language TV at Reliance Broadcast. In his new role, Mr Maheshwari, who has had a rich past in the financial services sector, will be responsible for key decision-making in the area of sales, and growing the business for the now-turning-near-national Big Magic and Spark Punjabi. Some of the organizations he has been part of include Citibank, ICICI Prudential Life, Standard Chartered Bank and Xerox. He will be reporting to Sunil Kumaran, Business Head – Language TV.

     

    Speaking about his appointment, Mr Maheshwari said, “I look forward to taking up this challenging role and working towards ensuring that the channel grows consistently towards leadership positions in this space.”

     

    Shweta Arora

    The second appointment is that of Shweta Arora has been appointed National Sales Head, BIG CBS. Ms Arora will be heading the sales function for Big CBS Networks and will be leading the charge for planning and driving the sales strategy nationally to increase marketshare and revenues for Big CBS. Like Mr Maheshwari, she too isn’t from the broadcast sector. She joins RBNL from ING Vysya Bank where she served as Associate Business Head – North, for the bank’s private banking division. She has worked with Citibank, Kotak and ABN Amro Bank. Interestingly, Ms Arora has also had a four-year stint with the hospitality industry when she worked with the Taj group of hotels.

     

    On her appointment, Ms Arora said, “My agenda will be to utilize the company’s core strengths and built long-term partnerships with new and existing clients, while making the brand experience more enjoyable.”

     

    Brijesh Tanna

    And the third appointment is that of Brijesh Tanna who is appointed Head of Content and Communications for Big CBS channels. He will lead the mandates of Content, Brand Solutions, OAP (on air promotions), and Marketing among other areas. The former Senior Producer for Star India has also served as Associate Vice-President, Content Development & Head Entertainment Commissioning for Astro Malaysia.

     

    Mr Tanna, who has been recognised for his work at NY Festivals, Promax World and Promax Asia, is looking forward to his new role at RBNL. “The company is looking to expand its reach and increase its much-respected offerings. This presents a massive opportunity for a challenging career,” he said.

     

  • The Big CBS business head talks about the Hindi feed gambit and his plans for English entertainment

    Prime, Love and Talking Business with Anand Chakravarthy

     

    Concurrent and simulcast are a few things that are synonymous to the Big CBS network. The latest addition to the network is the Hindi feed of the BIG CBS Prime, the male-oriented channel in its bouquet. As part of the ‘Talking Business’ series, Anand Chakravarthy, business head of the BIG CBS network,  spoke to Pradyuman Maheshwari and Meghna Sharma on how his channels are faring after digitalisation and plans for the year ahead.

     

    It’s interesting to see you go Hindi with Prime… tell us more!

    The starting point is actually looking at this trend of what’s happening in entertainment. In Movies there’s UTV Action. Many regional channels have brought in international content dubbed in local languages. Hollywood blockbusters are doing very well in Punjabi or Telugu. Then we saw Tamil and Telugu movies making a foray into Hindi GECs. The ratings for both were excellent. All of this adds up to a very simple conclusion that one, there is an evolution in audience taste and ability to consume content. No longer does skin colour, context of the movie have to be relevant for people to watch it. The appetite of the Indian audience has changed. We saw it starting with the kid genre moving to infotainment and movies and now ascending into mainline GECs.

     

    So have you tweaked your content too?

    Prime was always the male channel and Love a channel skewed towards women. So in terms of genres if you look at urban men versus mass male audiences, preferences are still in the space of action, crime and some genres like comedy. In terms of tweaking, we have finetuned the prime FPCs to include some genres which we believe have a universal appeal. For example, we bought back Bellator. When we launched Prime in English, Bellator was part of launch package and it did very well for us. Over time, we removed it and we said let’s bring it back because as we go to larger set of audience shows like Bellator will work really well. But we continue to have great shows at primetime. We have got America’s Got Talent’s latest season followed by CSI and 48 Hours. So, the genre is still male-skewed but the content is new. We have got brand new shows from CBS; 48 Hours has been on for 17 years and has won 17 Emmy Awards. CSI is a great franchise, it has always been. It is the largest watched show in the world. And AGT, which unlike American Idol and X-Factor has a broader appeal because it is not necessarily singing.

     

    With BIG RTL Thrill, which targets male audiences in Hindi, now also available in metros like Mumbai and Delhi, do you see it as primary competition to Prime Hindi?

    Thrill is still limited to UP and we are slowly getting it on other platforms as well. The way we see is that today the male audiences are very under-served as a population. The genres that men watching are essentially news, sports and movies. Now movies transcend men and women, so if you look at content for males, it is very limited. There are actually no channels which are focused at the male. This is perhaps the beginning of a trend. Are we the only channels which are coming in? Not necessarily. So, even if we are entering the space where Thrill exists, the fact is that it is an under-served market and there is space for more.

     

    Are you also looking at other feeds like South Indian feeds?

    Our premise is to start off with Hindi which will cover HSM. The second phase of DAS with 38 cities is predominantly HSM. With digitization, operators want more channels. And we come in as a channel which is not only English but also has a Hindi feed. The digital set-top box allows you to change languages; that’s something which will open up the opportunity. If I have to go onto analogue, I won’t be able to offer a language option. I’ll have to take a call – Prime only in English or Prime only in Hindi. DAS allows me to do that.

     

    In terms of advertising, do you expect to attract different type of ads for Prime Hindi?

    No! About 30 percent of ads on English entertainment channels are in Hindi. So while we talk of audiences in English entertainment channels, it is broadly SEC A and B. So the audience in the metros are very familiar with Hindi. There are some genres and categories which only advertise in English but there are many which are talking in Hindi. For example, the latest Axis Bank or the Quickr commercial. They are on English GECs and are all in Hindi!

     

    Even for Prime Hindi, it is targeted at Sec ABC. It doesn’t go beyond this. The core audience will still be Sec A and B because it is not just pure visual. For instance, even if I’m watching CSI in Hindi, it requires involvement; it is not something ‘dekh sakte hai’. Because the content is not for instance say Terminator 3 where it’s just action so anybody can watch it and dialogues don’t matter much. So that’s what we are saying when we say Hindi feed versus pure play Hindi content which is like movies.

     

    Look at all the English movies worked in India; Die Hard 5 has already released in Hindi and the posters are in Hindi and in English. The fact is that audiences are evolving and people are willing to consume content but it is only at the SEC A and B level.

     

    December 26 was when the first ratings post-digitization were out. How has the story been for you in the last two months? We saw a spike in ratings initially but they went down. How are they now and what are the learnings?

    Well, we waited for five to six weeks post that, we have actually re-programmed our channels. In the first five to six weeks, two things happened: DAS and then the universe changed. So it took time for data to settle down and give us clear indications of what genres were working. And there have been some interesting changes. So if you look at last year and this year, we found that sitcoms have an equal amount of attraction among women. The data last year was clearly showing that it was male-skewed. Sitcoms didn’t have a large enough play amongst female audiences so that is why we had kept sitcoms out of Love initially. But when you see last data post-DAS, new genres have emerged which are more universal in appeal. We saw reality formats like American idol and X-Factor which were more female-skewed becoming more universal. So, the fact is that you have to be programmed on the basis of data you have. The data which one has will change as the universe changes, the amount of digital goes up. So, re-programming has just set in and I think over the next two-three weeks you’ll see the impact of that.

     

    Isn’t that a worry that data got skewed in one direction in the first few weeks and then got changed to another direction later. And now we have the LC 1 markets…

    LC 1 market doesn’t impact us but it certainly will impact all national channels. Unfortunately, the reality is that India is an evolving environment. TAM is far from perfect, everybody knows it, but in the absence of any other measurement, as a programming strategy, what do I do? If I do intrusive programming it won’t show up in ratings so I have to look at TAM data and I have to see what data is throwing up on the basis of what’s working and programme my channels accordingly. Today, honestly, broadcasters are not left with any choice and forced to build their programming strategy around ratings.

     

    Doesn’t customer loyalty get impacted when you change programming strategy and timings?

    Two of my biggest shows are Excused and SATC so we have retained them and not moved them at all. So it’s Excused at 11pm followed by SATC where Love is leading the genre. We have fine-tuned the earlier primetime. Pre-primetime is a big opportunity as per the new data. So, traditionally, primetime was 10pm to 12:30am, but between 7pm and 10pm and more importantly between 8-10pm there is also viewership that needs to be tapped into. Similarly, there are slots in the data which need to be tapped into. And that’s where we have kind-of rejigged programming in order to tap into emerging opportunities.

     

    Any new shows coming up?

    48 Hours is premiering for the first time in India and we have just launched it. AGT’s latest season has just gone live and the third one is the CSI Las Vegas which are all brand new. We will be bringing in two big shows now. One is Elementary which is the new Sherlock Homes launched in America in the Fall of 2012. We are going to launch it in March on Prime which will be followed by another new acquisition about which we’ll make an announcement soon. There are some very big shows which are being launched at the end of this year. One is a show called The Dome by Spielberg which you can catch online and which we are definitely going to get to India from the CBS table.

     

    You just mentioned online – so how much do you get affected when your audience prefers to watch shows online?

    We have just finished very extensive research in Nov-Dec which is both quantitative and qualitative, which threw out that there are various segments. One the segments in this bunch of people who watch more of content on their laptops than on TV. The only thing with this group is that they are very, very small in numbers. What will get them to TV is your ability to show content as quickly from the US as possible. So we believe that a great way to bring them in is to show some shows purely concurrent with the US. For example, American Idol is concurrent to US telecast; even Fox doesn’t upload the episode 48 hours after the telecast. It doesn’t justify to have a full-fledged strategy for them because it’s not going to get any returns, but we are doing things so that they do come in.

     

    Tell us about BIG CBS Love…

    On Love what we are doing is that though the content is female skewed, it is appealing to men as well. It will be the core eight metro-focused channel that we have in our portfolio, as Prime will become broader outside the eight metros and into HSM also. On Love, we have been able to build a very strong franchise with our shows like SATC and Excused. We have brought in comedy in primetime at 8-9, followed by the American Idol strip. So we have comedy followed by reality which has worked for us. We are launching the Next Top Model latest season next Monday. The drama slot is 10-11pm where we are going to launch a very big show called Beauty and the Beast (March 25). In March, we also bring in a new sitcom called The Game which is about WAGs.

     

    Currently Grey’s Anatomy is #1, so do you have a counter for that?

    Let’s face it, for a channel which has been around 14 years, it has made a great franchise in the market. So, whoever watches English GECs has grown up on Star World. Hence it does become an automatic choice to go to. And do we have a portfolio to counter them? Yes, we do. The challenge for us is to build a brand in the market. Star World used to dominate the 10-11pm slot which we have already eaten into. And they launched Homeland to outdo us which isn’t working for them. So we have a strategy which will help us to eat into their shares more.

     

    While  there is a legacy of such channels, the younger set of viewers aren’t as loyal to English entertainment channel as they are to Hindi GECs.

    The current channels in the market have been offering very ordinary fare for a very long time. The action has happened in this market in the last two years. Where have you seen content coming to India so quickly as the US until we launched? Now all the channels in the genre have upped the game, that’s why we have seen concurrent telecast on channels like Star, Zee, AXN etc. Everybody realizes that the audience doesn’t want older content any more, they want things which are new as they are available online. We will see an evolution happening.

     

    I think there is loyalty to shows. For instance, Friends used to be a great franchise at one point of time and there was great loyalty to that franchise. Same with Big Bang Theory, so when it moved from Zee to Star, Star did gain because people moved with the show. Even with a show like Excused, we have been able to build a franchise for it. Content on English GEC is episodic, thus you can watch one episode and come back after one week and still watch it. Hence, the viewing is also very different.

     

    So, Big CBS Prime is going to be your pan-India English GEC like Star World or Zee Cafe?

    Not really. Given the Hindi feed, Prime is going to give a footprint to the audience far more than what Star and Zee has. And Love will be purely eight metro channel whose audiences will grow from other markets as well.

     

    What about Spark?

    It is a music destination and it will continue to be so. But the focus is more on Prime and Love because every business has to decide what battle they want to fight? Where they want to focus your energy and investments on so that you can build a stronger brand. We have all the deals with big music labels and we continue to play latest music.

     

    Apart from these three channels, do we see any new additions to the bouquets?

    There is Spark Punjabi and that strategy is also being fine tuned. Will we launch a new channel? Not necessarily in the near future but we are considering new formats like HD which one would definitely look at in the near term because there is a growing opportunity because of digitization. But obviously it has to be viable business format because no subscriber is willing to pay money for HD. But it will change over time.

     

    With Prime when we see Hindi settling down, we’ll think of other languages for Prime and take it to even bigger market space.

     

    You have had some success with locally produced shows. Are you looking at doing more of that?

    Certainly. Our aim to do one every quarter because we believe that there are areas in the Indian market that are still very relevant to the audience. Bollywood, sports etc is still very big part of appetite of this audience. So we have created properties which are evolved and appeal to their sensitivity like India’s Sexiest Bachelor or India’s Prime Icon.

     

    Any star like Karan Johar?

    Even in the current line-up of shows like Indian’s Sexiest Bachelor season 2 we have Sarah Jane Dias hosting the show. But about bringing in better known names? At present nothing is planned but you cannot rule it out. It’s a great opportunity to get the brand into people’s minds. We are exploring something in that space but it’s too early to make an announcement.

     

    The marketing of English channels has been a mixed bag – some are majorly marketed, we are currently seeing billboards of Comedy Central’s Anger Management all over. Are you a believer in greater marketing spends?

    Where you spend your money is what matters. And what are you advertising for. Is outdoor the best medium to talk to your audience? May be, may be not. We believe we have to use media smartly to talk to our audience. One cannot go splattering all over the city like Hindi GECs. I don’t believe there is ROI there. We look at relevant touchpoints. Digital is a very big space; one has to be very active in the online and mobile space. A lot of our promotions happen online and digital. We look at where this audience lives and go to. We do things at Crossword regularly, with Landmark, with Barista, with brands like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and we also do cinema very regularly. We choose the right kind of cinema properties we want to be available at. Given the competition today, one has to market itself aggressively. Given parity and distribution, now it is product and content that is sold.

     

    The sentiment is the Big CBS is conservative in its approach in terms of promotions, properties etc. Is the perception correct?

    I couldn’t say conservative. If you look at our spends today, compared to competition our share of voice is very high. We continuously do stuff – we might not do print ads but we continuously do beta stuff. Because we believe that the audience we are talking to is not the traditional one. Maybe people are reacting to one or two campaigns which the competition has done. To be frank, Big CBS has pioneered a lot of stuff which others have copied. We were the first ones to do concurrent so frequently and we were the first one to do simulcast. We were the first one to do strong digital integration for brands and do interesting contest where we send people to watch semi-final or finals of X-Factor and American Idol. Now others are copying us and doing the same thing. We forced a lot of brands to change their strategy.

     

    You mentioned digitization becoming a big driver of the business. What do you anticipate in terms of revenue say in the next six months vis-a-vis advertising?

    There will be a significant contribution coming from there. So a lot of platforms we are talking to for subscription money coming in and they are not actually saying no. A lot of platforms which have had us for a long time are recognizing their own ability for ARPUS. For example, DTH because we have done a lot of co-branded promotions with them. Like giving them first promos of a show, promoting their offers on our channels etc. So now when we are talking to them for higher share of subscription, they are talking to us and not saying no which was probably the case two years back.

     

    Have you achieved your targets?

    Not fully, but we are getting there. We have made a fair amount of progress from where we started. I think digitization has been a boost for us. We have seen a 15-25 percent growth in ERS already which was a struggle in the non-digitized days. Now every month we are able to up for rates and go closer to our targets.

     

    And plans for the next year?

    The biggest focus is to get Prime Hindi feeds into every single market in the country. The channel is moving from the core eight metros and making in-roads into other markets. On the back of it, we’ll make sure Love rolls out significantly in its reach. And we want to bring in big shows and we want to feed the market with the best content from the CBS table. Another area which will see a significant share is localized products which is relevant not only for audience but advertisers as well.

     

  • BIG CBS Love will air the latest season of American Idol concurrently with the US telecast

    American Idol 12 to launch on BIG CBS Love today

    By A Correspondent

     

    After the successful run of The X Factor USA and exploiting the post-digitization opportunities among English GECs, BIG CBS Love set to air the 12th season of American Idol, concurrent with the US. It will premiere on the channel today (January 18) and will air every Friday and Saturday at 9pm.

     

    American Idol is said to be one of the most successful reality shows in the history of television. The channel is promoting American Idol Season 12 heavily through a 360-degree marketing campaign which reaches out to audiences through multiple touch-points like print, radio, electronic, OOH and digital mediums.

     

    Anand Chakravarthy

    Speaking on the launch of American Idol Season 12, Anand Chakravarthy, Business Head – BIG CBS, said, “Keeping in mind the current scenario post-DAS, the show will reach a larger audience base across consumer segments, while simultaneously offering marketers an excellent platform to reach out to their target audiences.”

     

    The channel will also host an online talent hunt for aspiring singers called ‘Love To Sing’ with Talenthouse.com which will allow fans from across the country to be a part of the American Idol experience. The winner of the ‘Love to Sing’ contest will get an opportunity to witness American Idol live in in Los Angeles.

     

  • The successful implementation of DAS in the key metros has resulted in a strong upsurge in the viewership and market share for the Big CBS Network, consolidating its position as the premier English entertainment network amongst viewers across metros

    Big CBS network at No 1 in English GECs post DAS

    By A Correspondent

     

    The successful implementation of DAS in the key metros has resulted in a strong upsurge in the viewership and market share for the Big CBS Network, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited’s joint venture with CBS Studios International, consolidating its position as the premier English Entertainment Network amongst viewers across metros. A release from the company said that according to the latest TAM reports of week 51 (Source: Dec  16-22 Dec, Digital 4+ AA Sec A, Top 7 metros), Big CBS channels – Prime and Love – have topped the charts, registering a cumulative relative share of 28 percent among all other competing English GECs.

     

    For the same week, Big CBS Love has surpassed Star World and AXN with 3.33 GRPs compared to 3.04 (Star World) and 2.58 (AXN). (Top 7 Metros, CS SEC A 4+). The channel also garnered all 3 Top Positions in the Top Rated Programmes Charts, with Sex & The City, Excused & Life Unexpected among CS Females SEC A 4+, 7 Metros.

     

    According to latest TAM reports, the data also highlights the huge increase in the Relative Share, Reach and TSV of the Big CBS channels post DAS (Digital Addressability System) ie during weeks 48-51 (Market: Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta. TG: CS 4+ Sec A) compared to the pre-DAS figures. The Relative Share of Big CBS Prime and Love increased by 93 percent and 192 percent respectively while the channels’ Reach increased by 86 percent and 124 percent. The TSV of both channels also registered impressive jumps with Big CBS Prime and Love logging 33 percent and 78 percent growth respectively.

     

    Anand Chakravarthy

    Anand Chakravarthy, Business Head, Big CBS Networks said, “The post DAS environment has demonstrated the power and impact of the Big CBS Network. With digitization any existing distribution advantages, legacy competitive channels had, is now nullified with the Big CBS channels available across every headend in the DAS markets. This combined with exclusive and the latest seasons of leading shows from the US, has delivered proven performance.”

     

  • The newest season of the popular reality show will start airing from October 8 with Reliance Mobile, Microsoft and Nivea as sponsors

    Big CBS network to simulcast American Idol

    By A Correspondent

     

    After simulcasting global shows like America’s Got Talent and The X Factor, the Big CBS Networks is set to bring the latest season of the singing reality television show – American Idol. The eleventh season of the reality show will simulcast the show across its three-channel bouquet – Big CBS Prime, Love and Spark. American Idol will launch on October 15 – and the show airs from Monday to Thursday at 9 pm, across all three channels.

     

    Anand Chakravarthy

    Talking about the show, Anand Chakravarthy, Business Head, Big CBS Networks said, “This show, once again, is in keeping with our endeavour of offering the latest-freshest-hottest of global entertainment to India. American Idol the pioneer of all singing reality television shows, promises to generate excitement on television amongst the relevant audiences. We are happy to be offering audiences with exciting content while offering marketers the perfect platform to reach their audiences with maximum return.” The reality show has partnered with Reliance Mobile, Microsoft and Nivea.

     

    The judges include Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson. The show will be hosted by popular American television host and producer Ryan Seacrest. With the upwardly mobile Indian seeking more and more global content, the show promises to generate some excellent excitement amongst audiences in India.

     

    With America’s Got Talent already on air on Big CBS Prime, Love and Spark followed by The X Factor, which is airing concurrent to the US.

     

  • As part of his new profile Mr Chakravarthy, who has been associated with Reliance Broadcast Network right since its launch, will take on the mandate of the overall P&L and brand development for the joint venture's English channel portfolio.

    Anand Chakravarthy gets added role as Biz Head, BIG CBS

    By A Correspondent

     

    Anand Chakravarthy

    BIG CBS Networks has announced the appointment of Anand Chakravarthy as its Business Head. As part of his new profile Mr Chakravarthy, who has been associated with Reliance Broadcast Network right since its launch, will take on the mandate of the overall P&L and brand development for the joint venture’s English channel portfolio, that is, BIG CBS Prime, BIG CBS Love and BIG CBS Spark. Along with his new profile as Business Head for the BIG CBS JV, he will continue with his current designation as Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd.

     

    Mr Chakravarthy has been with Reliance Broadcast Network since 2006 and has played an instrumental role in taking the company from a pure radio company to a multimedia conglomerate that it is today.

     

    Sharing his initial reactions on the elevation with MxM India, Mr Chakravarthy said: “CBS is a brand that was launched two years ago, and I was part of the launch. While I have been doing marketing for quite some time now, for me to take over the business mandate is an opportunity to grow into a larger business role. We have some exciting shows lined up.”

     

    When asked on how he would juggle multiple roles including handling the marketing mandate of RBNL as well as being responsible for the P&L of the new English channels under BIG CBS he said: “On the marketing front, my role is more of providing strategic help and guidance to the different teams but my focus will be largely on the Big CBS business because it is still very young and requires a lot of attention. Also, I have been doing marketing for a long time so that comes easy to me. Though I was handling regional channels Magic and Spark, now to move to the English genre space will be a new experience for me as there is a new set of consumers, new set of products and a different set of challenges to meet. But the great thing is that CBS is a great brand and they bring some fantastic content to the table. Between BIG and CBS, building a joint venture is in itself a prestigious brand to work for. So it’s an interesting opportunity and I am looking forward to it.”

     

    Speaking on Anand Chakravarthy’s appointment, Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd. said, “Anand is one of our finest and most committed senior management associates. As the business takes a new leap with some amazing content – America’s Got Talent, American Idol, X Factor, Dexter and more, along with the impending digitization which will catapult these channels into another level, no one is better equipped than Anand to lead this initiative and focus on great content and communication, subscription revenue, and building greater value for advertisers.”

     

    Though it is still early days, Mr Chakravarthy already has his work cut out for him. He asserts: “The channels have taken off well and we have an objective to take them to a strong leadership position. The other thing is that we want to bring in more and more exciting content so we are just in the middle of the latest season of America’s Got Talent. Next is X factor that will be simulcast along with the US on September 14. We’re gonna follow that up with American Idol and the latest season of American Idol post that as well.” The focus, he says, is to bring in some of the marquee properties from the US which are familiar and well-known in India and start launching them simultaneously with the US. “Over the next six months, we want to cement our promise as a network that will deliver the latest, precious and hottest of American TV and will do that with a series of exciting launches,” affirmed Mr Chakravarthy.

     

  • The show will be simulcast across BIG CBS's three channels – Prime, Love and Spark, beginning September 14 and then every Friday and Saturday at 9pm in India

    BIG CBS brings X Factor in concurrent telecast with US

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    On the back of the success that the simulcast of the reality show America’s Got Talent delivered to the BIG CBS Network, it is going all out to cash in on the trend. The network has acquired the latest season of The X Factor, which will air concurrent to the United States, from Fremantle. The show will be simulcast across BIG CBS’s three channels – Prime, Love and Spark, beginning September 14 and then every Friday and Saturday at 9pm in India.

     

    Created by Simon Cowell and produced by Fremantle Media – North America, The X Factor is back for its second season with a jury mix that consists of Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, Simon Cowell and L.A Reid.

     

    Commenting on the show, Anand Chakravarthy, EVP marketing, RBNL said, “It has been our endeavour right from the start to offer India the latest-freshest-hottest of global entertainment, and with the acquisition of Fremantle’s hit show The X Factor, we once again live up to our promise. The X Factor’s concurrent telecast with the US and the simulcast across the Prime, Love and Spark channels will give us enormous mileage. Our strategy allows the show to reach a large relevant audience base across consumer segments, while simultaneously offering marketers an excellent platform to reach out to their audiences.”

     

    To ensure optimal reach, the BIG CBS Network has planned an extensive marketing plan for the show. The network will engage in a multimedia holistic marketing campaign across multiple touch points ranging over radio, television, out of home media and social media to promote the show.

     

  • The combo of FM radio & regional TV has worked wonders for the Reliance Broadcast Network

    BIG plans for regional media: Tarun Katial

     

    For once, what you are reading is a truly BIG story. Literally, metaphorically and every way you would like to. A lot has been written about the way his empire that has been expanding its tentacles. It’s been a 360-degree approach to media and entertainment with events and activations getting a fair deal of attention as the radio stations and TV channels.

     

    In fact, there is every reason for the CEO to be delighted with the success of his television channels, network of radio stations and slew of other allied entities. Together, both the BIG networks have been churning out good numbers for RBNL encouraging it to spread its activities across regions in India. Having launched BIG Spark Punjabi and BIG Magic, the emphasis of the network is on tapping the potential from regional settings and that is where they have centred their attention around currently. The next 12-18 months will see the network exploit opportunities in the regional space through both, organic and inorganic route.

     

    Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd met with Pradyuman Maheshwari, Johnson Napier & Meghna Sharma of MxMIndia, and walked them through the road traversed by BIG thus far. While the discussion on the regional foray was the mainstay of the discussion, he also spoke about the launch of BIG RTL Thrill (to be a Male, Action channel in Hindi), on grappling with measurement issues for niche channels and why he is hopeful of radio pulling it off big time post the onset of Phase III in India. Excerpts from the interview:

     

    How has RBNL’s growth story been in 2011-12?

    [youtube width=”400″ height=”225″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnkBC-d4tQ[/youtube]

    It has been a mixed year for us. I wouldn’t say it was great but there have been some good things that have happened. In an environment like this, you’ve got to make the most of what you can do. To begin with, there were some good things that happened in our radio business. One, we were able to get some advantages out of the Phase 3 regulations. With the policies being announced, we have been able to put together some amount of capital expenditure and operational expenditure rationalisation with that and been able to build a more robust network with that. So, over a period of time, we have been able to build content hubs to build some amount of excellence in the quality of work that was getting done across the country.

     

    Tell us more about the synergies of the radio and TV businesses…

    Yes, what has been good for the radio business is that over a period of time we have been able to build more and more 360 degree value using both the radio and television platforms together. It’s actually been equally good for radio and television that we got the regional television business. We’ve been able to draw some serious amount of synergies both in terms of marketing & promotion and content and in terms of the value that we have been able to deliver to clients in the region.

     

    We’ve been able to do some path-breaking work like in UP, MP, Bihar and Punjab we’ve been able to build radio and television content ideas that have done exceedingly well in terms of numbers, revenues and advertiser impact. Also, they go beyond the classic IP that we were creating over a period of time, which comprise numerous regional events, concerts etc to picking up regional insights and building shows and content ideas around it. For example, we created a show in Punjab called the BIG Boli Star which was a huge success and was the number one show on Punjabi Entertainment Television for many weeks. It was an idea that actually played out on radio three months ahead of even television. In Punjab, we have also created the first daily radio and television show live together, where we do the top 20 show from radio live on television.

     

    Are your synergies inclined more towards regional channels and lesser towards the English channels in your network?

    Yes, the synergies are far more with the regional space. So radio and television have been working exceedingly well together for us. We believe that regional audiences and advertisers like this bundle exceedingly well – any idea that gets created from a point of view that it cannot get amplified but can take a form and shape of a show or content in itself on both the platforms. We created another good platform for kids and mothers in UP, MP and Bihar called ‘Bal Kalakaar’, which we just wrapped up and have just started another series called ‘BIG Memsaab’  in MP, Bihar and Jharkhand. So with these ideas, a lot of these classic FMCG clients who do not have engagement platforms and do not have a 360 degree amplified property are getting exceedingly excited about them. It also helps us to build our brand, build a local connect and build 360 degree engagement for the BIG FM, BIG Magic or BIG Spark Punjabi brands in the region.

     

    You currently have an all-India footprint with BIG FM and with BIG Magic, Spark Punjabi etc in the North. What about the regions where you do not have a presence?

    For the other regions we end up working with the leading regional broadcaster of that region like Star Vijay in the South or ETV in Bengal, Maharashtra, Kannada…

     

    Will you be looking at launching regional channels under BIG CBS network?

    I cannot comment any thing on that for now. India is not one India today; it is a mini-continent. I was reading this article recently which highlighted how brands are picking flavours or building variants for regions specifically. The same is true for media platforms too. It is just the start of how regional television is developing; we’ve had some standard ones in the South and even in the Hindi speaking belt, we have seen how Marathi and Bengali have done exceedingly well. We have our eyes firmly set on the Punjab and Hindi heartland space. I think there will be opportunities over the next 12-18 months that we would want to exploit…

     

    Organic or inorganic?

    Both… we have a firm belief in the regional space. We have seen that very clearly with our radio venture where advertisers now want to boost their noise levels in certain regions but even more so there are consumers who have huge parochial pride who look for local connect and do so very differently with national and regional entertainment mediums.

     

    You tweaked your offering on Spark Punjabi…

    It started out as a completely international content channel dubbed in Punjabi. We had always planned to do more regional content around it. But as we developed, we have seen that the off take of the local content is also as good. So while the international content is doing well we have supplemented it with very good local content. So there have been shows from Punjab in Pakistan which have worked very well here because of the language and cultural similarities. So there have been some changes that we have added on to the channel.

     

    Even Spark which was earlier into general entertainment is now more music.

    We do show a lot of youth shows on it but because it is primarily international shows so there is less that you can do on it; there is more music that we play out with it. We are now doing America’s Got Talent that will be simulcast on spark at the end of July. We have done some music shows like the one where we partnered with ArtistAloud called Thank God It’s Rock on Friday, then there is another one called International Music Favourites, then we have just done a show around Justin Beiber…So the essential insight in youth but we have also realised that with youth the biggest insight is music. That’s because their attention spans are very low and they look for snacking/aspirational content. Some of the heavy series content have been restricted to BIG CBS Prime and BIG CBS Love and is slightly focussed towards older audiences.

     

    And what about Love (the channel)…

    It’s pretty much the same and is performing well. You must have seen our work around Diva Destination – I think it is first of the block. We’ve done an output deal with Fremantle which will give us access to the latest season of America’s Got Talent and a few other shows which you’ll hear about soon.

     

    Would you be looking at getting more Indian content on these channels?

    We do a fair bit of it… we probably do more than a few others. We run a show called I Love Style, we are planning to do the next season of India’s Sexiest Bachelor and India’s Next Top Model…in conjunction with that we plan to do India’s Next Top Model Expo which is a platform for women and luxury brands to come together based on an international format. It is also a platform where casting calls happen for the show. So essentially these channels will stay international, but we’ve cherry-picked some upper SEC luxury ideas on to the channels.

     

    What are your plans for BIG RTL Thrill?

    We’ve been doing some good content acquisitions which I believe we have a good winning library. Hopefully, you should see the channel taking off by the end of this quarter. The content will be primarily Hindi but it will have international content as well. It will be a Male Action channel in Hindi.

     

    And how has the advertiser network grown in BIG CBS stable over last year?

    Our network is unique as it is not a classic one like the Hindi GEC or movies platform. We have built it around the luxurious brands and have unique brands like Kimaya that does a show with us and we believe that because of the kind of content and positioning we build these channels around it gives us an advantage. There is no woman-centric upper-end channel in the country. I believe Love has that unique positioning and that’s why these luxurious brands end up partnering with the channel.

     

    So is advertiser-funded programming the way to go for you?

    It’s not advertiser-funded but advertiser context programming. It’s not funded by anybody but by us but is contextually relevant to a luxury brand. That is the way to go for us as we believe that outside of the English magazines luxury brands have very little room or platform to advertise on without too much wastage. Television works far better than any other platform to be able to give you that audio-visual appeal.

     

    And has that worked for Spark too?

    On Spark we have seen a lot of youth off-take like Vodafone 3G, Airtel 3G, Justin Beibers etc. So telcos are the big clients today. When you look at our regional channels, you have the classic FMCG clients who advertise with us in significant volumes. We’ve been able to build 360 degree properties for clients like Reckitt Benckiser, which is known to be a tough advertiser in the marketplace – they did a whole property for us for Big Memsaab in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand etc with Harpic as well as Dettol; HUL has been with us for a long time and so is Tata salt, Godrej, P&G, SC Johnson, Nestle, etc.

     

    Do you see this move receiving impetus with the onset of digitisation?

    I think the English channels will tend to benefit very well both in terms of availability and subscription revenue. Channels like these are key to any platforms channels list because if they want to draw in ARPUs and if they want significant premium on the English side of the business they need to have enough such channels on the platform. We believe this is really the time for channels such as these to be in the marketplace.

     

    One of the peeves facing English magazines is that readership studies do not reflect the kind of profile of the audience very well. Do you feel this also applies to niche channels like the ones you have?

    If you look at how TAM does its sampling on the digital base they have an issue on how they do their sampling on the digital base. And when you cut SEC A it is essential to cut digital because if you are hoping for somebody to buy an outfit from Kimaya or high-end luxury items you are safely assuming that he or she has a STB or a DTH box at home. If you start to sample audiences like that you end up getting very small sample sizes and the data pretty much reflects nothing. So obviously there is an issue with the way sampling is done and boosters are put in that profile of audiences. Over a period of time, TAM has been assuring us that they will boost the sample size and change their sampling mechanism but that hasn’t happened yet.

     

    They are said to be increasing the sample size by 650 meters soon…

    But I do not know how that will help the SEC A profile. Because suppose if I am a sample house and have a DTH connection at my place and I subscribe to a certain pack on it like Platinum, Silver or Gold…now the first thing there is whether my sampling matching the universe of the number of people who are on the Silver pack. So if Dish TV has 100 subscribers and if 60 of them are on the Silver pack then does TAM reflect that 60 or does it reflect nothing? Because as you measure in a digital pay environment it becomes very difficult to sample basis the universe sampling of the DTH box or the STB. What happens in the UK or the US is that measurement does not extend to channels outside of the ones which are on the base line.

     

    That’s because in a sampling mechanism you will never be able to cover the entire luxury or specialised channels viewers…

    We’ve been engaging with TAM and discussing how these surveys are ought to be done. There is no point getting into a rating platform that does not actually represent the base level on any of these digital platforms. So if I have seven different DTH platforms and seven MSOs and they have different pacts and different universal samples take different pacts, so how does that reflect into the TAM measurement sample? If you get picked up as a sample home, how do you become a sample home? Nobody knows the universe to pick a sample, right? So what gets picked on the sample is most common between all platforms, which is the base channels.

     

    Guess that’s the way to go for niche channels such as yours?

    In fact you could refer to the survey that is done by BARB in the UK you’ll get a sense of what the others are doing.

     

    BARC has taken from the BARB model, though it’s taking too much time

    It ought to have been done a while ago. We have far too many diverse interests now.

     

    There is this whole issue of carriage fees that is obviously expected to take a dramatic turn post digitalization. What are your thoughts on the issue?

    I think it already has changed to some extent. People understand that content that is required by any MSO who has to fill 500 channels is not easy. Are all 500 channels willing to pay that much carriage fee? They need to understand if they want to compete with DTH, they should be able to offer better or at least similar service, if they want to retain customers. And if they are able to communicate that promise effectively then you have to have content on your side.

     

    You had made your foray in the SAARC region with Sri Lanka this year. How has that been doing?

    Our big focus in the international market is through Big Magic which is to take it across Indian audiences. It is still in its early stages but its strength has been the content. And because of the regional programming has allowed the network to connect with audiences. We have already launched in Canada and we plan to take that to the US, UK and Australia as well. So it gives us a fairly good footprint across the globe. Sri Lanka has our CBS channels, but Hindi channels are going everywhere.

     

    How is the arrangement with CBS going?

    Good. It’s a JV. They contribute a lot in terms of content, programming. We have four new shows coming up this year including Sherlock Holmes from the US for which we are very excited. It’s the first on Indian television.

     

    And in terms of films, are you looking at acquisitions?

    We do a fair amount of that but it’s mostly on weekends because it is a series channel and we don’t want to mix and confuse the viewer. Our focus is on America’s Got Talent, American Idol and X Factor which will keep us ahead as it’s going to be relayed live from the US. One side you’ll have Simon Cowell on X Factor, another side JLO on Idol etc…

     

    So what’s the next big thing from RBNL?

    I think on the radio side, we are very excited about the phase III. We want to go to the deepest part of the country and it will be a big play. We also want sports on the radio. We’ll want to buy ICC’s rights on cricket for radio – live commentary. And we are also very excited about this play between regional TV and radio. The combo has been a really good one for us.

     

    What are your plans on the regional channels front? Are we going to see more of them in the next year or so?

    There is no given timeline to it. We will now focus on consolidating the two we have. And when RT Thrill is launched it’s going to be 3+3 English channels. Six is a lot. We want to get through that before we decide to launch more.

     

    Is South an area you are looking at?

    I don’t think so because even are radio stations don’t extend too much to that area. Our strength lies in the HSM belt. Except for Karnataka, we are not very big down south.

     

    You have various divisions beyond radio and TV channels…

    We did a lot of work on Big Live so we do a lot of live events – about 50-60 of live event formats in the country. Today as per sheer value and volume, we are the biggest IP owners in the country but we don’t speak about it too much. And we are slowly and steadily building over these platforms. We have gone beyond building classic entertainment formats to engagement platforms so we are doing more and more things that matter to the consumer.

     

    And awards too?

    Yes, we do about 50 awards or more than that across regions. We have also started doing some interesting thing like Big Disha, which is about providing career counselling to tier 3 and 4 college kids. And P&G is actually working with us on it. We do something called Mele Ka Big Star where do big melas and do a kind of talent hunt which eventually comes on to TV and radio. We also do another one which is called Big Aasman which is grooming platform which we created for tier 2 and semi-urban women who plan to move to the metros. We do a lot of this but we don’t talk about it too much. They do well for the brand, for the advertiser and for the consumer.

     

    Since advertisers also get the benefit of radio, does that cannabalise on the revenue of the radio station or is it all factored in?

    It’s all factored in; they chip the revenue. We don’t put the money of live event or on radio but it’s really more of the 360 degree market share strategy. It ends up delivering more value to the advertiser, which helps us in building a stronger relationship.

     

    Any big IP events coming up?

    We already have 3-4 of them. We have the BIG Star Entertainment awards that happens at the end of the year on Star; we just finished the BIG Young Achievers awards which will appear on Star Plus next month… Then there is BIG Star IMA awards, Television awards…

     

    Fair number of tie-ups with Star?

    Yes, three of them are on Star. But we also work a lot with regional guys.

     

    What about Digital? What is your presence there?

    We do a lot of digital stuff too. We deploy content on as many devices as we can. We also work very closely with BigFlix. We have launched the BigFlix services in addition to Big Magic service in North America. We are doing a dual-play.

     

    Finally, in terms of revenue ratios, how is the organisation doing?

    I think it’s 70 per cent radio and 30 per cent television, but we want to get into 50:50 ratio. It will take about 18 months from now to get to that ratio.

     

    With Big Magic Marathi and Bengali channels coming up?

    You can ask me this as many times as you want to… (laughs) But it’s too early to talk.

     

  • is the No. 1 channel in the region with leading prime time shows like Jerry Di Adaalat, Veer Hawaii De, Amreeka Di Top Model and international movies

    Spark Punjabi emerges winner for BIG-CBS

    By A Correspondent

     

    Spark Punjabi, the innovative international Punjabi channel launched by BIG-CBS, the Reliance Broadcast Network and CBS  jv, has reported excellent ratings by TAM. The channel has been rated as the leader during primetime of 7pm-12am, according to TAM reports, week 3-6 2012 (TAM India: CS4+ Males, Punjab 1 Mn+)

    With its endeavour to offer hand-picked world class content, dubbed in Punjabi to the audiences, the channel offers advertisers the best possible platform that they could seek, to reach out to audiences with minimal spill-over. The region is one of the richest regions and boasts of a strong base of affluent consumers. The market offers a good business opportunity for this channel format as it has excellent TV and C&S penetration, coupled with limited local language entertainment options.

     

    The channel is being supported by an integrated marketing plan leveraging multi-media platforms. With RBNL’s existing radio brand 92.7 BIG FM reaching 22 cities in the region and its OOH arm BIG Street’s 3,000+ ambient media options across the markets, BIG CBS Spark Punjabi offers marketers an integrated media opportunity.

     

    Speaking on the rating, Vishal Rally, Business Head, BIG CBS Networks said: “The strategy of taking world class content, tailoring it to meet local sensibilities and catering to the entertainment requirements of the people of Punjab has worked! Audiences have lapped up the channel, while advertisers are seeing excellent value for their brands.”

     

    The channel is available across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh (PHCHP) region and distributed on digital and analog platforms, with an extensive reach of over 6mn+ C&S households in the region.

  • The channel will now be available on top DTH platforms like Reliance Digitial TV, Tata Sky, Videocon, Airtel, Dish TV

    Reliance Broadcast Network to distribute Bloomberg UTV

    By A Correspondent

     

    Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd. on Monday announced the coming on board of Bloomberg UTV, India’s premier business news channel, as part of its distribution portfolio. This move further strengthens the well-crafted television strategy of RBNL which includes the 3 BIG CBS Channels – BIG CBS Prime, Love and Spark, and the regional Channels BIG MAGIC and Spark Punjabi. Add to this, the channel which is scheduled to launch through the JV with Germany’s RTL Group, and Reliance Broadcast Network will boast of an unmatchable seven channel bouquet.

     

    The partnership points at excellent synergies between the businesses and will allow for seamless integration of Bloomberg UTV into the existing bouquet. While Reliance Broadcast will benefit from having a premier news channel empowered by the global authority in business news – Bloomberg. Bloomberg UTV gains through becoming part of a commanding bouquet of channels backed with an excellent brand lineage. This consolidation establishes a bouquet to be reckoned with and one that will meet requirements of both audiences and marketers alike.

     

    With digitization in the anvil, reduced bandwidth issues and a boost in demand for premium quality content, the channel portfolio stands to have an edge in the market. The reach and varied profile of consumers and customers brings with it opportunities for bundling and cross selling, ensuring the bouquet is able to garner optimal subscription rates.

     

    With each channel having its distinct audience base, the entire bouquet will cover a wide spectrum of the Indian cable and satellite television viewing audiences. With its ability to offer advertisers the opportunity to reach out to audiences ranging from 4 year olds to 25+ year olds, from heartland India to the key metros, it ensures an unparalleled marketing platform.

     

    The 7 Channel mix now offers the following:

    1. BIG CBS Prime, a male skewed premium entertainment Channel (male 15+, SECA,7 metros)

    2. BIG CBS Love, the first ever international women’s entertainment channel (female 15+, SECA,5 metros)

    3. BIG CBS Spark, the first ever International youth Channel (4-24, SECA,7 metros)

    4. BIG MAGIC, a variety entertainment Channel for the Hindi heartland (CS 4+ MP,UP, Bihar)

    5. Spark Punjabi, the country’s first International Punjabi Channel (CS 4+, Punjab, 1mn+)

    6. BIG RTL Channel in the action space

    7. Bloomberg UTV, India’s premiere Business news channel (male 25+, SEC A, 7 metros)

     

    With a prolific mix of channels cutting across genres ranging premium English, credible news and well-tailored regional channels, the bouquet of Reliance Broadcast Network stands to make a significant impact in the market.

     

    Speaking on the occasion Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network said: “With the addition of Bloomberg UTV to the RBNL network, we now present one of the strongest television portfolios in the country. This consolidation of the network delivery platform allows us to enable marketers with a single consolidated outreach platform, while offering audiences the best possible television content.”

     

  • For this project, Big Digital has brought together different verticals of the RBNL network for an effective and widespread promotion and visibility.

    Big Digital to handle digital promotions for Sadda Adda

    By A Correspondent

     

    Big Digital, the digital arm of Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, has been promoting the Ramesh B Agarwal’s multi-starrer Sadda Adda, across various mediums. The youth-centric movie, which released on January 13, has attracted eyeballs due to its promotions on popular youth destinations on the digital space.

     

    Big Digital has embarked on various activities including Facebook and Twitter page management. The Facebook page is constantly kept updated with interesting insights about the movie, cast and constant interactions and discussions. The page is also kept updated with PR activities of the team and exciting contests. Big Digital is also promoting the songs on mobile via SMS push and WAP promotion.

     

    The YouTube channel’s promotional videos and songs of Sadda Adda have received over 87,000 video views so far (http://www.youtube.com/user/SaddaAdda). Popular websites like Yahoo! and Rediff have also been promoting the film and songs.

     

    For this project, Big Digital has brought together different verticals of RBNL network for an effective and widespread promotion and visibility. The partners include radio partner 92.7 BIG FM, TV partners BIG MAGIC and BIG CBS along with BIG Street for the OOH promotions.

     

    A spokesman for Big Digital said, “Sadda Adda’s widespread promotion on the digital platform has helped the film gain tremendous buzz and popularity. The film is for the youth and hence digital marketing has played a huge role in gaining eye balls. We hope to build many such properties for our clients.”

     

  • BIG CBS Networks unveils fresh programming and future plans for the network

    New programming to make BIG CBS bigger

    By A Correspondent

    BIG CBS Networks Pvt. Ltd., an equal joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network Limited and CBS Studios International, has announced its new fresh programming line-up and future plans for its channels. The network, which went live with three channels in a record breaking time of under six months, has captured hearts of the discerning Indian audiences and stands as the No 1 English General Entertainment Network today.

    In keeping with its promise of offering the latest seasons of programming, airing concurrent to the US, the channel has acquired fresh content from leaders in the international entertainment space like Boman Bridge, Alfred Haber, Bobby Goldstein and Medi-Asia. Offering audiences more than 25 hours of original fresh programming each week, on each channel, the Network offers audiences a further assortment of programming, and advertisers, the best platform to partner with for their brands.

    Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nikhil Mirchandani, Business Head, Television Channels, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd said, “We are very pleased with the way the channels have shaped and delivered. The channels have grown the market and we have been able to successfully bridge the existing void in international quality programming that existed. We now enter our next growth phase and are completely equipped with our hand-picked shows that match the tastes and sensibilities of our target audiences.”

    Mr Mirchandani further added, “BIG CBS’ programming is in keeping with our endeavour to offer Indians the latest, freshest and hottest content straight from America. Today, audiences have evolved and are looking for more than just soaps and films. The well travelled Indian viewer is always looking for quality content and we continue to bring the best of American television to our viewers here. Also, our effort to give audiences India-grown content has worked excellently for us with the overwhelming response to India’s Sexiest Bachelor. Tracing this success, BIG CBS is now launching the next Indian property, India’s Glam Diva. With this and more shows planned BIG CBS Network is poised to become a network to reckon with.”