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ONE OF the biggest impacts of digitisation has been on the English entertainment genre on television, and networks are matching the digital leap with quality content made available across the country. Now, the best of the West—Homeland, House of Cards, The Newsroom, Masterchef Australia, Masterchef US, and documentaries like Revealed: Line of Control and Mega Kitchens—and also made-in-India content is on offer on Star, Zee, Discovery, Fox, HBO and AXN.
If 2013 saw a number of new channels being launched, including Star Movies Action, HBO Hits, HBO Defined, Star World Premiere and Romedy Now, these channels continued their run in 2014, adding variety and depth to the content already available. In fact, now, apart from pure English general entertainment channels (GECs), English movie channels have also started screening English TV programming. For example, HBO airs the popular hit serial, The Newsroom, on HBO Defined.
As per Debarpita Banerjee, VP, marketing and communication, NGC Networks and FOX International Channels, “It’s an interesting time for both the English entertainment genre and the infotainment genre in India. While English entertainment channels are drawing more tune-ins by refreshing their libraries and screening premieres in India as soon as they are launched internationally, infotainment channels are focusing on broad-basing through local languages and local productions.”
She adds, “At National Geographic, we have seen a lot of success in India after innovatively localising our content, both on the production and acquisition fronts. New seasons of Science of Stupid with Manish Paul, Covershot: Maximum City and Mega Kitchens are some examples.”
Across the Discovery Networks, too, things are being spiced up. Three new channels were launched in 2014 (ID, TLC HD World and Animal Planet HD World) and it now operates in six genres, from science to food, through 11 networks, reaching a cumulative 260 million homes in five languages. “We expanded our business fuelled by marquee initiatives—new channels, unmatched India productions and marketing innovations,” says Rahul Johri, EVP and general manager, south Asia and south-east Asia, Discovery Networks, Asia-Pacific.
For Discovery, their hit India productions have been programmes like Revealed: National Defence Academy, Revealed: World’s Biggest Election, Revealed: Rann of Kutch, India: Living Traditions and Trinny & Susannah’s Makeover Mission India.
National Geographic is gearing up to air Mega Kitchens, which will cover India’s unique kitchens, “not just for their food, but for the magnitude of the processes, volume, scale and technology”. It will feature the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where 40,000-1,00,000 free meals are served daily; Khadakwasla’s National Defence Academy in Pune, which houses the largest military kitchen; and the Brahma Kumaris in Mount Abu, with India’s largest solar kitchen.
The official spokesperson of Star says, “India has been witnessing a surge in the premium consumer segment that demands access to the latest and the best of everything, including entertainment. This segment of consumers is willing to pay a premium for exclusive products and services.” In keeping with this trend, Star World Premiere HD showcases over 50 shows and 700 hours of fresh content in a year, sourcing from the biggest studios like Sony, Disney, Warner and Fox, among others.
Though English entertainment comprises only 1.1% of TV viewership, industry sources point out that the genre attracts the top SEC A category of viewers and 4.5% of advertising revenue. These numbers have to be seen in the perspective of Hindi general entertainment channels, which are the key drivers of TV viewership, accounting for 30% of total viewership in 2013 and garnering 27% of ad revenues.
Ask the broadcasters whether the low viewership is a concern and most of them say they see the genre growing, especially after the third phase of digitalisation. Zee Café’s Sharlton Menezes (head, content and marketing, Zee Café and Zee Studio) insists that English entertainment as a genre is now growing even beyond the metros. “Our core audience is the younger urban youth aged between 15 and 24 years. There’s a huge audience yet to embrace English entertainment and with the next phase of digitisation, the number of markets we reach out to will increase,” he points out. Zee Café has been airing popular content like The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars and House of Cards.
Scale & content
As Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment, KPMG in India, points out, “English entertainment is still a small sliver of overall television viewership in India and there are various models being experimented with to grow viewership.” If some networks are bringing in current content from the West, others are dubbing content in various Indian languages just like Hollywood films do to widen their reach. “Post the third phase of digitisation, we will have to see what is going to be the more broadly accepted model,” says Thakkar. He points out that networks are developing premium offerings to move to a subscription-based business model, given that the majority of their revenues come from advertising now.
Programming strategy on English GECs has seen a change to give viewers access to content, as it airs in the US, sometimes even days before the US release, says Thakkar. “This was important since English GECs were losing to online viewership and downloads on account of delays in telecast in India,” he adds. According to the KPMG media report of 2014, given the high content costs and the current low ARPUs (average returns per user), industry participants believe that premiumisation is needed for a subscription-driven revenue mix and to improve the financial viability of English entertainment channels.
But to reach scale, broadcasters cannot afford to only focus on English entertainment. So they have worked their way around this by offering entertainment in various Indian languages, including Hindi.
Says Johri, “India is a vast country with diverse needs and attitudes. The Indian viewer is discerning and appreciates a variety of content. Our channels range from factual, lifestyle, kids, high-definition to Hindi entertainment. Our expansion over the past few years and the matching success is a reflection of India’s significance in the world of Discovery.” In 2014, Discovery launched ID, an investigative channel. “Our research findings revealed that Indian viewers have an immense appetite for true investigation- and crime-based narratives if presented in an entertaining way. We identified this vacuum and created a segment within the Hindi entertainment genre,” says Johri.
Star World Premiere HD plans to take ahead the channel’s proposition of bringing a line-up of international shows aired on the same date as the US. “This year, we are excited to announce international content like Marvel’s Agent Carter, crime-comedy-drama series Backstrom, the new comedy Fresh Off The Boat and returning seasons of the critically acclaimed family drama Parenthood, espionage drama The Americans, sci-fi series Helix and culinary superhit MasterChef Junior US,” says the Star spokesperson.
As Thakkar points out, the English entertainment space, comprising English GECs and movie channels, has made significant gains from phase I and II of digitisation, with viewership increasing by leaps and bounds in the eight metros post it. The KPMG report notes that digitisation has widened the scope of English entertainment by making quality content available across the country and that the genre enjoys premium (socio-economic classification) SEC A viewership, which helps it garner a disproportionate share of television ad revenue vis-à-vis its total viewership.
In the English GEC segment, creating a buzz around the shows and attracting relevant eyeballs matter more than ratings. Says Menezes: “We see a lot of social buzz beyond the current ratings measurement.”
Advertisement revenues
Johri says all of Discovery’s 11 unique-content channels have advertisements. “We have a well-entrenched portfolio that provides high-quality and differentiated audience through the year for advertisers across categories. Our brands offer consistent and targeted viewers, which is what the advertisers look for. This is evident from the fact that our channels have a wide range of advertisers and product categories across markets pan India. We are committed to further invest in content, distribution and promotion to offer maximum value to advertisers.”
Banerjee says Fox Life reaches 52 million households across India and that the infotainment genre is growing at a healthy pace, adding that both NGC and Fox Life have seen an encouraging jump in ad revenues. “On Fox Life, the fact that we have consistently been the leading channel in the travel and lifestyle genre has got a lot of traction with sponsors. In the past six months (FY’15 H1), we have got 32 first-time advertisers on Fox Life. Amazon, Caratlane, JBL, Hike Messenger are some of the brands that have been added to the long list of advertisers on the channel this year,” she points out. “There is still immense opportunity in growing the pie and that will remain our focus. The launch of the Indian feed is in the pipeline, but we would like to talk about it more closer to its launch,” she adds.
** It’s an interesting time for both the English entertainment genre and the infotainment genre in India. While English entertainment channels are drawing more tune-ins by refreshing their libraries and screening premieres in India as soon as they are launched internationally, infotainment channels are focusing on broad-basing through local languages and local productions, Debarpita Banerjee
VP, marketing & communication, NGC Networks & FOX International Channels
Digitisation: English Vinglish | The Financial Express
If 2013 saw a number of new channels being launched, including Star Movies Action, HBO Hits, HBO Defined, Star World Premiere and Romedy Now, these channels continued their run in 2014, adding variety and depth to the content already available. In fact, now, apart from pure English general entertainment channels (GECs), English movie channels have also started screening English TV programming. For example, HBO airs the popular hit serial, The Newsroom, on HBO Defined.
As per Debarpita Banerjee, VP, marketing and communication, NGC Networks and FOX International Channels, “It’s an interesting time for both the English entertainment genre and the infotainment genre in India. While English entertainment channels are drawing more tune-ins by refreshing their libraries and screening premieres in India as soon as they are launched internationally, infotainment channels are focusing on broad-basing through local languages and local productions.”
She adds, “At National Geographic, we have seen a lot of success in India after innovatively localising our content, both on the production and acquisition fronts. New seasons of Science of Stupid with Manish Paul, Covershot: Maximum City and Mega Kitchens are some examples.”
Across the Discovery Networks, too, things are being spiced up. Three new channels were launched in 2014 (ID, TLC HD World and Animal Planet HD World) and it now operates in six genres, from science to food, through 11 networks, reaching a cumulative 260 million homes in five languages. “We expanded our business fuelled by marquee initiatives—new channels, unmatched India productions and marketing innovations,” says Rahul Johri, EVP and general manager, south Asia and south-east Asia, Discovery Networks, Asia-Pacific.
For Discovery, their hit India productions have been programmes like Revealed: National Defence Academy, Revealed: World’s Biggest Election, Revealed: Rann of Kutch, India: Living Traditions and Trinny & Susannah’s Makeover Mission India.
National Geographic is gearing up to air Mega Kitchens, which will cover India’s unique kitchens, “not just for their food, but for the magnitude of the processes, volume, scale and technology”. It will feature the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where 40,000-1,00,000 free meals are served daily; Khadakwasla’s National Defence Academy in Pune, which houses the largest military kitchen; and the Brahma Kumaris in Mount Abu, with India’s largest solar kitchen.
The official spokesperson of Star says, “India has been witnessing a surge in the premium consumer segment that demands access to the latest and the best of everything, including entertainment. This segment of consumers is willing to pay a premium for exclusive products and services.” In keeping with this trend, Star World Premiere HD showcases over 50 shows and 700 hours of fresh content in a year, sourcing from the biggest studios like Sony, Disney, Warner and Fox, among others.
Though English entertainment comprises only 1.1% of TV viewership, industry sources point out that the genre attracts the top SEC A category of viewers and 4.5% of advertising revenue. These numbers have to be seen in the perspective of Hindi general entertainment channels, which are the key drivers of TV viewership, accounting for 30% of total viewership in 2013 and garnering 27% of ad revenues.
Ask the broadcasters whether the low viewership is a concern and most of them say they see the genre growing, especially after the third phase of digitalisation. Zee Café’s Sharlton Menezes (head, content and marketing, Zee Café and Zee Studio) insists that English entertainment as a genre is now growing even beyond the metros. “Our core audience is the younger urban youth aged between 15 and 24 years. There’s a huge audience yet to embrace English entertainment and with the next phase of digitisation, the number of markets we reach out to will increase,” he points out. Zee Café has been airing popular content like The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars and House of Cards.
Scale & content
As Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment, KPMG in India, points out, “English entertainment is still a small sliver of overall television viewership in India and there are various models being experimented with to grow viewership.” If some networks are bringing in current content from the West, others are dubbing content in various Indian languages just like Hollywood films do to widen their reach. “Post the third phase of digitisation, we will have to see what is going to be the more broadly accepted model,” says Thakkar. He points out that networks are developing premium offerings to move to a subscription-based business model, given that the majority of their revenues come from advertising now.
Programming strategy on English GECs has seen a change to give viewers access to content, as it airs in the US, sometimes even days before the US release, says Thakkar. “This was important since English GECs were losing to online viewership and downloads on account of delays in telecast in India,” he adds. According to the KPMG media report of 2014, given the high content costs and the current low ARPUs (average returns per user), industry participants believe that premiumisation is needed for a subscription-driven revenue mix and to improve the financial viability of English entertainment channels.
But to reach scale, broadcasters cannot afford to only focus on English entertainment. So they have worked their way around this by offering entertainment in various Indian languages, including Hindi.
Says Johri, “India is a vast country with diverse needs and attitudes. The Indian viewer is discerning and appreciates a variety of content. Our channels range from factual, lifestyle, kids, high-definition to Hindi entertainment. Our expansion over the past few years and the matching success is a reflection of India’s significance in the world of Discovery.” In 2014, Discovery launched ID, an investigative channel. “Our research findings revealed that Indian viewers have an immense appetite for true investigation- and crime-based narratives if presented in an entertaining way. We identified this vacuum and created a segment within the Hindi entertainment genre,” says Johri.
Star World Premiere HD plans to take ahead the channel’s proposition of bringing a line-up of international shows aired on the same date as the US. “This year, we are excited to announce international content like Marvel’s Agent Carter, crime-comedy-drama series Backstrom, the new comedy Fresh Off The Boat and returning seasons of the critically acclaimed family drama Parenthood, espionage drama The Americans, sci-fi series Helix and culinary superhit MasterChef Junior US,” says the Star spokesperson.
As Thakkar points out, the English entertainment space, comprising English GECs and movie channels, has made significant gains from phase I and II of digitisation, with viewership increasing by leaps and bounds in the eight metros post it. The KPMG report notes that digitisation has widened the scope of English entertainment by making quality content available across the country and that the genre enjoys premium (socio-economic classification) SEC A viewership, which helps it garner a disproportionate share of television ad revenue vis-à-vis its total viewership.
In the English GEC segment, creating a buzz around the shows and attracting relevant eyeballs matter more than ratings. Says Menezes: “We see a lot of social buzz beyond the current ratings measurement.”
Advertisement revenues
Johri says all of Discovery’s 11 unique-content channels have advertisements. “We have a well-entrenched portfolio that provides high-quality and differentiated audience through the year for advertisers across categories. Our brands offer consistent and targeted viewers, which is what the advertisers look for. This is evident from the fact that our channels have a wide range of advertisers and product categories across markets pan India. We are committed to further invest in content, distribution and promotion to offer maximum value to advertisers.”
Banerjee says Fox Life reaches 52 million households across India and that the infotainment genre is growing at a healthy pace, adding that both NGC and Fox Life have seen an encouraging jump in ad revenues. “On Fox Life, the fact that we have consistently been the leading channel in the travel and lifestyle genre has got a lot of traction with sponsors. In the past six months (FY’15 H1), we have got 32 first-time advertisers on Fox Life. Amazon, Caratlane, JBL, Hike Messenger are some of the brands that have been added to the long list of advertisers on the channel this year,” she points out. “There is still immense opportunity in growing the pie and that will remain our focus. The launch of the Indian feed is in the pipeline, but we would like to talk about it more closer to its launch,” she adds.
** It’s an interesting time for both the English entertainment genre and the infotainment genre in India. While English entertainment channels are drawing more tune-ins by refreshing their libraries and screening premieres in India as soon as they are launched internationally, infotainment channels are focusing on broad-basing through local languages and local productions, Debarpita Banerjee
VP, marketing & communication, NGC Networks & FOX International Channels
Digitisation: English Vinglish | The Financial Express
