Back in the late 1980’s, Sunday mornings used the see the streets of India seem strangely deserted. It was an era, in which audiences across all age-groups, would be at home practically glued to their TV screens watching a weekly show based on the great Indian epic Ramayan. The series’ home channel, state-run Doordarshan, used to reign supreme in the absence of any competition from DTH satellite TV. Fast forward to 2008 and Ramayan is back on air. But a lot has changed in the last two decades or so in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) genre. Forget double-digit television rating points on a single channel, it takes a while to just count the number of players in this genre. Plus, some are focusing only on specific demographic groups. And given the spate of recent launches, competition is set to become even more fierce. NDTV Imagine, hoping to gain audience share by airing shows like Ramayan, is the latest to join the Hindi GEC bandwagon. Just before NDTV, November 2007 saw INX Media introduce 9X, and Zee Entertainment Enterprises came up with its second channel Zee Next in December 2007. The timing of these launches comes at a stage when Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television, Star One, Sahara One, SAB TV, Star Utsav and others such as UTV’s Bindass, all belonging to the Hindi GEC genre, are not only battling amongst themselves but also trying to sustain leadership position for this genre, which has decreased considerably in the last couple of years. Some feel the programming needs a serious introspection. Starcom MediaVest group CEO (South Asia) and CEO – specialist solutions (Asia) Ravi Kiran said, “In spite of the presence of several GEC channels, audiences are getting tired of similar kinds of programming across most channels. As a consequence, GEC viewership over the last few years has actually dropped. Copycat content insults viewer sensibility. New stations have to look for truly breakthrough ideas, perhaps encourage young, untested directors and studios, instead of running to the same handful of studios to get their scripts and shows.” In terms of the audience share across all the genres in 2007, the Hindi GEC topped with 23% share (according to viewership data shared by Mediaedge:cia for age 4+, socio economic class ABC, all-India). Within this genre, Star Plus led the pack with 37%, followed by Zee TV (27%), Sony Entertainment Television (13%), Sahara One (8%), Star One (7%) and SAB TV (5%). Only a few years back, this genre used to command a cumulative share of 35% – 40%. Against this backdrop, it is intriguing to assess how new channels are planning to carve a niche for themselves. While NDTV Imagine is being termed as a ‘classic GE channel’, on the other hand 9X is focusing on programming that reflects the Indian value system and has a universal appeal. And when Zee shared plans for Zee Next, it stated that the channel will aim to resonate the changing preferences of today’s youth. This ranges from their search for identity, the struggle to fit in, the laughter and joy of life, romance, fun, gossip and games. It plans to blend the modern and progressive societal outlook with the traditional middle class Indian value system. “ZeeNext aims to invite the younger section of the audiences without alienating the higher age-group,” the company said. When UTV introduced its youth-oriented JV broadcasting venture Bindass last year, it launched a GE channel targeting the 15 – 34 years age group. UTV categorically stated that young India is bored with current offerings on TV and there is a gap in the general entertainment space for young audiences. While launching Bindass, it indicated that its main target group was being engaged by “specific one-off shows from GECs and by a few niche channels.” The likes of MTV, too, overhauled their strategy last year. MTV, for its part, named interactivity and personalization as the drivers for the brand. The new initiatives comprised new on-air environments including stylized packaging, five new short-format shows, one new reality show, a new international VJ, reface of www.mtvindia.com and the launch of MTV’s Digital Music Store. Providing an insight into planning behind NDTV Imagine, its executive vice president, marketing, research and communication Manoj Vidwans told Television Asia Plus that the focus is on catering to the family audience across age groups, 6 – 60 years of age. “As far as Hindi entertainment is concerned, there are only two to three big players, so the space is hardly crowded. For the size and growth of the Indian market, this hardly comprises clutter. In fact, the more the merrier. More programmes and more genres mean more options for the viewer. It’s this growth potential which is attracting investments and alliances from the global players,” said Vidwans. On viewers’ preferences, Vidwans said, “On the entertainment channels, audiences watch programmes not channels. More than the programme genres and formats it is the content that connects with the audience that will work. Importantly, the GEC space is a highly elastic category as it is led by appointment viewing. Hence if there is enough quality content on GEC, people would watch it all.” On the return of Ramayan, he said, “Ramayan has a huge connect with audiences across the country and has all the elements that will deliver on our promise to entertain and delight. It has the potential to make Ramayan a show that the whole family will watch together every evening. We believe that Ramayan will unify audiences.” The pre-production for Ramayan commenced in April 2007. Around 400 people worked during this stage – on the sets, making costumes and sourcing jewelry etc. The sets were designed after extensive research into the descriptions of main locations (such as Ayodhya, Janakpuri and Lanka) since no visual references are available. Most of the computer graphics (CG) work started way before the actual shoot, based on the visual and descriptive references given by the concept artistes and research scholars. Vidwans said, “The CG in this rendition of Ramayan has taken a giant leap from the time the epic was first made for television 21 years ago. For example, the exterior of the entire Ayodhya city has been created in CG and has 190 layers of compositing.” He acknowledged that the main challenge was to conceptualise and create content that would be fresh, appeal to the entire family and hence would be inclusive – as opposed to exclusive programming that’s aimed at a fraction of the total audience. Programming that would be familiar yet different. Among the new players gearing up to enter the same genre include Viacom-18 (a JV between Viacom Inc. and the TV18 Group) and Turner International, which recently formed a 50:50 JV with the Alva Brothers for a broadcasting venture focusing on an entertainment channel in Hindi and other Indian languages, targeted at the urban Indian audience. Nikhil Alva, co-promoter of Alva Brothers, believes that the genre will grow with new formats and segments. “There is opportunity for more exciting and engaging formats,” said Alva. Anshuman Misra, managing director, Turner International India Private Limited said the combined skills of both the partners will result in an offering that is fresh and alternative, targeted an under-served urban Indian audience. Though Misra declined to reveal details of the programming strategy, he mentioned that the channel is being planned for the second half of 2008. Even as some relate GEC category with appointment viewing, it seems the new players are quite aggressive about building brands – marking big budgets for their launch. For example, for the launch of 9X, INX Media planned a comprehensive 360-degree communications campaign, which was rolled out on 25 TV stations, 35 radio stations in 28 cities; on hundreds of cinema screens in 19 cities running more than 2000 spots a day; and included a print campaign across all key national and regional newspapers. 9X was also the on-air and on-ground sponsor of the India-Pakistan cricket series for two months till December 2007. Akin to their communication strategy, these are equally aggressive about their distribution. And despite all this substantial expenditure, a channel like NDTV Imagine expects to break even by the end of next year. The expansion of this category has also resulted in new ways to garner ad revenues. For example, telco major Airtel and Star recently entered into a two-year strategic agreement that is tailored to mutually benefit both the companies. The broadcaster will receive a committed advertising outlay from Airtel for the next 24 months while Airtel will have the privilege of paying a mutually-negotiated rate with inflation protection. Similarly, INX signed multi-year deals with the likes of Vodafone. While new players are going quite aggressively about their task, the existing players, too, are optimistic about standing their ground. Mumbai-based Sony Entertainment Television’s executive vice president and business head Albert Almeida said, “It’s early days for both 9X and Zee Next. And then we have another one in NDTV Imagine, plus two more to come in Viacom-TV 18 and the Alva Brother-Turner venture. The new launches have all been high decibel ones which have created the hype and initial sampling for the channels. Currently they have succeeded in expanding the existing GEC pie rather than getting viewership from existing players like Star Plus, Zee TV and SET.” Continues Almeida, “After this initial high decibel communication blitz we will need to see how they will sustain and stabilise their viewership. It’s certainly going to be a long journey for these new entrants before they become a destination – they need to establish their brands, have a clear point of view and content that reflects this view, before unsettling the established players who are well entrenched. None of them currently have anything that differentiates them.” On approach of new channels when it comes to targeting audiences, Almeida said, “The days of being ‘Everything to Everybody’ are gone. Channels will have to have to carve out a position – a demographic, geographic or psycho-graphic segment where it could be a dominant player. The key existing players can for a while still play the traditional role of having ‘something for everybody’ thanks to the strong brands they have built, their current reach and equity in the minds of the viewer.” But a player like NDTV doesn’t agree with this. In fact, it has even indicated its intention to make strong headway in a short span. “We believe that with our fresh programming that’s inclusive and appealing to 6 – 60 years audiences nationally, NDTV Imagine would be within the category leaders, soon,” said NDTV’s Vidwans.