MxMIndia

Tag: Mahesh Samat

  • Samat succeeds Siddharth Roy-Kapur, who is departing the company to explore his own business interests

    Mahesh Samat to return to Disney, as CEO, Walt Disney India

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mahesh Samat

    Walt Disney International, a division of The Walt Disney Company, has announced that Mahesh Samat will return to his leadership role of The Walt Disney Company India as Managing Director. Samat will resume management of all Disney businesses in India (except ESPN), with all local business segments reporting into him. He will take charge on November 28 and report to Andy Bird, Chairman, Walt Disney International.

     

    “Mahesh guided Disney in India in its early days, and we are thrilled with his decision to return to the organization he helped build,” said Bird. “We are encouraged by the opportunity we see to further grow our business in India and believe Mahesh’s entrepreneurial spirit, knowledge of our brands and franchises, and long-standing expertise in our broader operations will continue the momentum we are experiencing in this dynamic market.”

     

    Samat succeeds Siddharth Roy-Kapur, who is departing the company to explore his own business interests. “Sid is a pillar of the Indian entertainment industry and has demonstrated passion and commitment for the Disney business. He carved a strong position for Disney in the Indian media and entertainment space that positions us well for the future. We are immensely thankful for his service and wish him well in his next venture,” Bird said.

     

    As Managing Director, Samat will have responsibility for setting and driving The Walt Disney Company’s strategy, coordinating all business efforts in India including overseeing Disney global franchises in the market, expanding existing businesses, and creating new business opportunities.

     

    Samat departed Disney India four years ago to establish Epic Television Networks and was Founder and Managing Director of The Epic Channel, a popular Hindi entertainment channel (HD) focused on history, folklore and mythology-based content.

     

    “It’s exciting to return to the wonderful world of Disney,” Samat said. “Disney really is special entertainment with heart, and I am delighted to see that the unique stories and iconic characters of Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars–as well as our homegrown brands of Hungama, Bindass and UTV–continue to find a home among Indian audiences. Moving forward, we’ll accelerate the great work done by the team and create new, innovative ways for audiences to engage with our stories, brands and characters, and drive growth across our businesses.”

     

    With more than 25 years of experience in FMCG and Healthcare across India, Asia-Pacific and Europe, Mahesh originally joined Disney from Johnson & Johnson, where he was Managing Director, Southern Europe, J&J Vision Care, based out of London. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, he worked for Kellogg’s, Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis, and Boots India Limited.  Samat holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Sydenham College and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management.

     

  • The Twitter application was created as part of the EPIC Channel’s ongoing campaign

    Epic channel introduces Twitter alarm for #Epicat10

    By A Correspondent

     

    EPIC channel has unveiled a unique innovation for their new campaign – #EPICat10. The channel is has released ‘The EPIC Channel Twitter Alarm’ that lets followers set a reminder for the 10 PM shows. The Twitter alarm was conceptualized for the EPIC Channel by Grey group India and executed in collaboration with Twitter. The Twitter application was created as part of the EPIC Channel’s ongoing campaign.

     

    Mahesh Samat

    Mahesh Samat, MD, The EPIC Channel says, “When GREY suggested the idea as part of the ‘EPIC At 10’ campaign, we were instantly sold and excited to get it activated. We are proud to announce ‘The EPIC Channel Twitter Alarm’ for the first time in India. Twitter has been excellent in facilitating the innovation. The core idea of our Campaign is to drive tune-ins to the 10 pm timeslot on the channel. The Twitter Alarm fits in perfectly with the campaign.”

     

     

    Sunil Lulla

    Sunil Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director, Grey Group India commented, “At GREY group, we are constantly looking at creating, ‘Famous & Effective’ campaigns for our clients. This makes it imperative to step beyond the boundaries and create – even if it is something as simple as a ‘Twitter Alarm’. We hope that soon enough, India will need no reminder to tune into The EPIC Channel at 10 PM.”

     

  • It promises to be a channel with a difference as it gets set for take-off tonight. A Q&A with the founder & MD of Epic

    Epic isn’t a GEC, don’t subject it to standards that GECs have: Mahesh Samat

     

     At 9pm primetime today (November 19), when you otherwise tune into your favourite soap or reality show or news, well, hour, there’s a new channel going to be born. Epic. What has set a lot of attention on the channel is the nature of its content and the people backing the initiative.

     

    Spearheaded by Mahesh Samat, Managing Director, Epic Television Networks Pvt. Ltd., this is the first genre specific Hindi entertainment channel that will showcase content based on Indian history, mythology and folklore in a uniquely contemporary format. Industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra and impresario and restaurateur Rohit Khattar are co-promoters of the venture company.   The programming line-up has a mix of fiction and narrative non-fiction shows, short-form content as well as films at launch.

     

    Excerpts from an interview with Mahesh Samat by Shivani Jain for MxMIndia…

     

    There is already a glut of channels in the market telecasting a wide gamut of programmes in the general entertainment and infotainment space. Do you think there is still room for a channel dedicated exclusively to Indian history and mythology?

    Yes, we found that the few mythological and historical programmes being telecast currently have a huge following. This, in fact, was the genesis of Epic. Our relationship with our history and mythology is in our DNA. We are emotionally connected with it, more than any other country. So this opportunity was waiting to happen.

     

    It has taken you’ll a long time to launch the channel. The announcement was made a year back. Was this due to issues on clearances from the government, or…

    The issues with the previous government and approvals have been well-documented. I don’t want to spend too much time discussing that. The new government has been really helpful. We have got our approvals. And we are moving on.

     

    … or was it the programming. Did that delay the launch?

    There is no doubt that programming does take time. But the delay was due to some unavoidable extraneous circumstances. The main thing is Digitization has improved and viewers have become more attuned to different kinds of content.

     

    All TV channels needs deep pockets, but a channel like Epic needs super deep ones given the nature of your content. How has the journey been for you so far?

    I think we are trying a whole different model of television. We have to remove the current, existing models and get into new age. We had a business plan and we are with the business plan. We’ve had promoters who are very supportive.

     

    And some very high-profile promoters indeed. How has it been working with Messrs Ambani and Mahindra?

    There are actually three promoters. Mr Rohit Khattar is the person who is involved more directly with the business. He is the chairman of Epic. Mr Anand Mahindra and Mr Mukesh Ambani are relatively less involved. So we work with all three. Rohit being the chairman is more involved.

     

    And how participative are the three?

    It is varying degrees of involvement. Obviously, they are very busy people. Their involvement is limited to that extent. By the way, both Rohit and Anand are old film buffs. Rohit has the largest collection of film memorabilia which had gone to Venice and a couple of other places. And Anand himself is an undergraduate in films. His subject in Harvard was films, if I am not mistaken. They all have a passion for it. But operationally, Rohit was the one most involved.

     

    When do you see the channel breaking even?

    Sorry, we don’t disclose those figures. I think we are on track with the business plan.

     

    What about viewership? Given the emphasis on getting the right ratings, what are your expectations on viewership?

    I am very clear that we are not a general entertainment channel. So we should not be subjected to the standards and discussions that GECs have. Our reach will be lower, our ratings will be lower because it is a certain genre, a certain…

     

    A certain niche…

    No, it is not niche. I don’t like the word ‘niche’ because niche makes it too small. Let’s start looking at a third word which is ‘segmented’ which looks at a chunk of the market, but not the whole market.

     

    What has been the feedback from advertisers thus far?

    I think they are all very interested. Given that it’s a new concept, they understand the positioning, the story of differentiation, the story of segmentation.

     

    You have come from Walt Disney, which is a totally different world?

    Really, is it? So if you step back and see…Disney is a brand, a brand for kids. What we are trying to do here is become a brand in history and mythology entertainment. I think all my experiences of building brands over the last few years are proving to be useful here.

     

    So did it require a lot of reorientation on your part?

    I don’t think so. It’s an area I am familiar with – media and entertainment. Hopefully, our programmes succeed and become brands. If you look at global examples of channels like Discovery, Disney, even AXN, Comedy Central, you see examples of brands being set which are by genre type of content. And that’s what we are doing here.

     

    Tell us a little about your flagship programmes or driver shows?

    They are all flagship programmes. We have Siyasat, DharamKshetra, Daanav Hunters, Adrishya, Ekaant, Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaniyaan. We also have a couple of comedies. For instance, we have Javed Jafri taking a light look at the films of the 1970s and ’80s. Watch them all on Epic.

     

  • Seeing how viewers lap up myths and legends on TV, it's not surprising an entire channel dedicated to folklore etc is coming up. Will it be a tale with a happy ending?

    Will Mythology 24×7 work for Epic?

     

    By Meghna Sharma

     

    In the beginning there was Ramayana. It was the day, or rather the Sunday morning, when the world stood still as millions watched the televised dramatization of one of India’s best-known epics. Close on its heels was the sweeping soap opera of Indian mythology, the Mahabharata, and then came Bharat Ek Khoj which gave us facts laced with dramatized enactments of India’s myths and legends.

     

    Those were the days of Doordarshan. With the explosion of cable and DTH, and technological strides enabling better and better CGI, viewers are now spoilt for choice in the realm of mythology. The most popular currently is the magnetic Lord Shiva on Life OK, with the delectable Parvati and cutesy Ganapati capturing hearts of all ages.

     

    It is this raging popularity which has led Mahesh Samat, former Walt Disney India head, to plan an entire channel based around mythology. For someone who is has a passion for history this may seem an obvious move. “With digitization, today, people have access to various channels and hence, an availability to launch new genres. We did a lot of research and dipsticks before taking this decision. People want to have a connection with history,” says Mr Samat when asked about his decision to launch India’s first genre-specific Hindi entertainment channel – Epic.

     

    “Epic stands for story-telling. Here we are not just going to rehash history but create new characters from our history,” he adds.

     

    But is there really enough TG of this genre to launch a channel? “I think for such a genre, the TG is universal. Anyone who is in the mood to watch the genre will switch to our channel. Of course, we know that people won’t be watching the channel all the time. We would be an important part of people’s choice wherein they choose to watch us when they feel a need to watch something mythological or from our past,” believes Mr Samat.

     

    Pratap Bose

    According to Pratap Bose, COO, DDB Mudra group, for any genre, be it action or mythological, content is important for a channel to be a hit or a miss. “If the content is 10/10, nothing else matters. People should like what you give them and they will come to you if it appeals to them.” However, he does believe that apart from great content it is important that one effectively distributes and promotes the channel so that more and more people know about it.

     

    The channel launch is being planned for August, provided all regulations are cleared. And a 360-degree marketing mix has been planned for it. Aparna Pandey, who will be looking after content and packaging, will also be in charge of the channel’s marketing. Ravina Raj Kohli is the development head. The team is already in talks with various producers, though a lot of development work will be done in-house.

     

    Very few know that Mr Samat is a comic book writer and has authored a comic called The Adventures Of Vanayu – The Spirits Of Ixora. Will he be lending his talent to the channel, too? “I would leave that to my very talented and professional team. However, I wouldn’t deny I have a very good sense for such content.”

     

    With various networks launching regional channels or dubbed feeds, the Epic Television Networks Pvt Ltd knows the importance of regional space. However, they want to take things slowly. “We would like to build the brand in Hindi first and then go ahead… step by step,” says Mr Samat.

     

    And what about syndication? With Indians spread across the globe and an interest in Indian history at an international level, one cannot rule it out. “Syndication is a very good revenue option as well. But we will only think about it after we get it right here,” reaffirms Mr Samat.