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Tag: English entertainment channels

  • When the IPL begins, it takes centre stage and other programming has to hustle for eyeballs and ratings. What are channels doing to match the IPL's popularity and also stay ahead of one another?

    IPL vs Drama: Who will win this match?

     

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    Since its inception, the cricket Indian Premiere League (IPL) has been in the news – sometimes in the best of ways but often for all the bad reasons, but this hasn’t made any difference to the cricket-crazy country. When the almost-two-month-long tournament starts, there is very little else that occupies top of mind for the Indian public.

     

    For television channels, it is an extra busy time. In addition to their own one-upmanship battles, they also have to step up programming to beat the IPL’s popularity.

     

    Most channels, especially English entertainment, try to woo audiences with special packages. For instance, Zee Studio started it early with its package – Powerplay 2.0, which aimed at its male TG through action movies and lasts till the end of the month. “Cricket being a religion in this country, the idea is not to counter IPL but to create a property that viewers can move on to post the matches,” says the channel spokesperson.

     

    Prashaant Bhatt

    According to the recent data, IPL has impacted ratings, especially that of GECs. And with around 10 days left of the extravaganza, what can or should a channel do to boost its ratings during the yearly event? “IPL is one of the biggest events on television. And it does have an impact on all entertainment channels but beyond a point, since because both have different sets of audiences, the impact varies,” says Prashaant Bhatt, Weekday Programming Head, Colors.

     

    The channel, however, says that their launches and highpoints are thought through months in advance, keeping in mind the audience viewing preferences and content requirements of the channel. “This year as well, we planned our strategy accordingly and now we have four of our shows in the top 10, which is a testament to the fact that we are going about it the right way with our plans. We reckon that there is a loyal audience for cricket just as GECs, and don’t see a huge overlap of the two. Moreover, if the content and concept of the show is strong, the audiences will continue to watch their favourite shows over IPL.”

     

    Having said that, one can easily see that most of them do make certain efforts to make sure that they don’t lose out viewers by showing either maha-episodes or blockbuster movies. Many GECs even wait till the event to finish before they can launch their shows. Jhalak Dikhla Ja, Indian Idol Junior and Dance India Dance are some.

     

    On the other hand, for youth entertainment channels like Comedy Centeral or MTV, UTV Bindaas, the IPL doesn’t matter as most show re-runs of their popular shows during that time slots. Indrajit Ray, Director, Content, DisneyUTV says, “Despite IPL, our channel’s ratings have grown. The genre usually doesn’t get affected by IPL because of the content it showcases. Youth will consume it irrespective of whether IPL is there or not.”

     

    And since cricket cuts through age, are children’s channels wary too? “April, May and June are very important months for the entire category thanks to the kids being on vacations. Over the years we have noticed that IPL has a minimal impact on the category with 5-10 percent deviation. Since it is summer vacation time, we at Nick have a content and marketing strategy that will ensure that kids stick continuously on the channel with the least amount of outage. We will put our best foot forward with our frontrunners Ninja Hattori, Motu Patlu, Keymon Ache and Pakdam Pakdai. Apart from the new shows/seasons there will also be a lot of interactivity through contests like ‘Party with Ninja’ to keep the kids engaged beyond TV,” says Mr Ray.

     

  • Comedy Central, a serious contender in the English entertainment channels, has taken the No 3 position in the category in week 1

    It’s comedy time in English entertainment!

    By Rishi Vora

     

    English entertainment channels now have one more serious contender, which has already left an impact at its launch. Comedy Central, from the Viacom 18 stable, has taken the No 3 position in the category in week 1, with 14 per cent market share. It may be noted that Comedy Central is Viacom 18’s sixth channel.

     

    Comedy Central was launched in theUSinitially, and post 2006, extended its presence to other countries. InIndia, it has been launched in seven cities -Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,Hyderabad,Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad, reaching 20 million households across analog, digital cable and DTH.

     

    It is said that the Indian version will have localised content apart from the international library of shows.

     

    Now that the channel is at a reasonable position, the challenge is to keep the momentum going and, slowly but surely, be the No 1 player in the genre. Yes, there are established players, such as Star World and AXN, but Senior VP and General Manager of English Entertainment channels, Viacom 18, Ferzad Palia is of the opinion that Comedy Central has a differentiated offering. It is the first 24-hour comedy channel in English which catersSECAB+ audience.

     

    On why there was a need of a comedy channel in the English entertainment category, Palia explained: “Comedy Central comes as a light hearted channel in an environment which is so much stressed and depressed; something which came up very strongly in our research.”

     

    He added: “Also, the audience which we’re catering to are not on the lookout for crime and drama. And the pattern of the TG which we’ve observed is seen to be non-decisive in a way, where there is not much clarity on what the viewer wants to watch. But, with Comedy Central he knows he is going to get light-hearted humour – all the more reason for him to stick around with the channel.”

     

    With the English speaking population on the rise, consumption of English content too will rise. It is said that 8 per cent of the total population understands English and a subset of that percentage can converse in English. Because English channels reach out to the premium audiences, there are advertisers and brands that look to advertise on English entertainment channels, and Comedy Central is already on the ball as far as tapping advertisers is concerned. It has already got Volkswagen on-board, and a few more premium advertisers will follow.

     

    Apart from advertising, the channel is looking to add to the revenue via subscription, events and merchandise. “We are catering to an audience which no advertiser can afford to ignore. They’re a bunch of aspiring people, very discerning and those who enjoy quality programming. And this audience looks at English entertainment as the only form of entertainment on TV, apart from sports and movies.”

     

    Though the channel seems to have carved out a niche within a niche segment (launching a comedy channel in the English entertainment category), Palia disagrees: “Comedy cuts across gender and age. So in that sense, it isn’t very niche.”

     

    The channel, in next few weeks, will see a full-blown marketing campaign covering, print, outdoor, radio, Internet. The channel was launched with a TV campaign which ran across network channels. Social Media will be one big thrust for the channel as far as marketing is concerned.

     

    Though the market looks a bit crowded with players like Star World, AXN, FX, Fox Crime, Big CBS channels – Spark, Prime, Love and BBC Entertainment, it will be interesting to see how the genre grows and which channels emerge on the top.