Telly watch: It’s IPL Season 2 Vs movie channels

IPL Season 2 might not have grabbed the ultimate viewership as expected so far, but it definitely has set the tradition for TV channels across genres to spruce up their content to secure their shifting audiences. exchange4media takes a look at what content and marketing strategies various movie channels are adopting to face the IPL season.

Considering the fact that the IPL coincides with an important season for the movie channels – the summers – the pressure to make the best out of this time is all the more for the movie channels.

Fresh Content

PIX has lined up fresh content for the season under its initiative called ‘Summer Innings’. Summer Innings has been strategically lined up around the IPL matches. Commenting on the new content, Himmat Butalia, Marketing Head, PIX, said, “The acquisition of new films and scheduling them around the matches will further strengthen our position. Sure it’s going to be a tough fight, but as long as one plans well, we are confident that our viewers and fans will remain truthful to the brand and the channel.”

Akash Chawla, Marketing Head, Zee Cinema, said, “Last year, we enjoyed consistency in terms of ratings during the IPL season. Summers are very important to us and we definitely want our audiences to enjoy their vacations indoors. Taking a lead from our success last year, we are introducing ‘Dopahar Zee Cinema Par’ again this year with fresh movies, packaged with a lot of interactivity and innovation. So far, preliminary ratings suggest a dip in this year’s IPL as compared to last year.”

Commenting on whether there is a tall a shift in audience preferences towards sports content instead of movies, Sameer Rao, GM, Star Gold, said, “We continue to programme strong rating titles in prime time across genres such as action, comedy and drama. In addition, we have beefed up our offering in other slots, both weekdays and on weekends. Our belief, based on the experience from the last season of IPL, is that audiences continue to spend time on good movies, even during the matches.”

New marketing campaigns

Channels are trying to reach both the media and audiences to gain the maximum out of this season.

According to Butalia, “PIX will be rolling out a number campaigns and promotions to further attract viewers to the channel. The first among these series of marketing efforts this fiscal year is the ‘PIX Summer Innings’ campaign that will be rolled out through outdooor, print and radio in the key metros to garner higher reach and ratings during the IPL period.”

Star Gold’s Rao said, “It is a challenge to find the right kind of movies to hold audience interest, given the compelling proposition of Twenty20 cricket. We have ongoing campaigns, both on-air and off-air, to promote specific properties on the channel.”

With a somewhat dampened rating for IPL during the opening matches, going forward it will be interesting to see how the channels across genres manage to hold their ground.