Content Is King
Thadani, has worked with industry giants like Nadiadwala Grandsons Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Vijayta Films and White Feather Films, and will lead the conception of new creative projects and will be responsible for forging partnerships for producing web series and new content.
“We have been beating HBO consistently and now we are aiming to get the No. 2 spot in the genre. The second focus is of course digitization,” states Amogh Dusad, Programming Head, Pix
We don’t believe that Hollywood entertainment is all about action movies, a mix of genres is essential from a programming and scheduling perspective. Month on month we hand pick our movies to maintain a healthy movie mix. This clearly shows in the channel’s performance and the market share we have been able to garner. With such a strong line up of films PIX has beaten HBO all through the year of 2011. Now we want to move ahead and take the No. 2 position. We would need to do lot more things for it. There will always be latest blockbusters, animation, some Indian films, rom-coms, thrillers, horror on PIX to keep our movie mix strong."
When it comes to mobile, the rights are a little strange. Neo may go on mobile, but it may vary from event to event. A football event may have a very different right structure from that of a badminton event. There would be a Neo on mobile, but it would be programmed very different from television. There would be extremely short formats or mix of different sports put together.
“When it comes to mobile, the rights are a little strange. Neo may go on mobile, but it may vary from event to event,” says Mautik Tolia, Neo Sports Broadcast.
Our ambition and mission is to broad base the genre and ensure that each and every Indian is tuning in to our channel. We look forward to having History leading the factual entertainment genre and growing it progressively into an alternative to mainstream general entertainment channels… This is the general trend the world over: factual entertainment channels actually compete with regular mainstream entertaining channels and we expect that to happen here as well.
We are very passionate about bringing in different ideas to the market, to be innovative and do things differently. For instance, with reality shows, we are training producers to also learn how to film. We are leveraging the resources we have and combining that with finding fabulous talent here and training them so that we can do different things. We ensure we match audience preferences by doing systemic audience research and then tailoring our products to the number of niche areas available in the Indian viewer market. We also rely strongly on our global exposure and experience in the entertainment, media and television world to bring in strong differentiation.
(For a good television property) a great idea/ concept is key. For a reality show, I would either adapt a successful international format or create something entirely new. For a fiction series, personally speaking, I would now go for a ‘male’ dominated show. Something new and different! Followed by a fantastic set-up, great team who can deliver the concept as envisaged, and channel support – to give it the sort of push it needs on marketing and promotions. Then you cross your fingers and hope for the best!
We will be more aggressive and we will pick up more topics of relevance for the people. We are going to be more insightful, indepth and comprehensive, serious and cutting-edge in terms of reporting and analysing various issues. Apart from that, now on we will be doing more and more campaign-based news content on issues of mass interest.
In the areas of factual entertainment, there hasn’t been any success here yet and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because potentially it doesn’t make a lot of noise. One of the reasons that some of the shows like ‘Idol’ or… ‘Millionaire’ have been successful is because they are big. It’s that second tier of international formats that have worked well in the western countries that have not yet picked up for the Indian market.
If you chase TRPs, you never get it; if you chase credible content, you get the ratings and that is how it should be. Consciously, we never discuss ratings. Beyond a point one should not be chasing ratings on a micro basis, my experience shows that if you take care of the big picture and you chase good content, ratings would follow definitely. But if you consciously chase ratings like a statistician, very often they don’t come to you.
Prem comes with 17 years of rich experience in journalism with both print and online medium. As the Managing Editor of Yahoo! India, Prem is responsible for the editorial content for Yahoo! India, across its industry leading properties including- Yahoo! Home Page, Yahoo! Cricket, Yahoo! Movies and Yahoo! Finance amongst others.
I think the biggest learning has to be what you make of yourself; because it is really easy to want to emulate other people, other styles, other techniques, which is great because you can learn and absorb. But it has taken me ten years to become comfortable with myself and the way I present on television and some people like it and some don’t. Some hate my hairstyle and some like my talking style. Everyone has an opinion and that’s fine because you are in a public forum. I am very comfortable with myself and how I have developed as a professional.
From 1996 to March 2000 Nik Gowing was the principal anchor for the 90 minute weekday news programme The World Today and its predecessor NewsDesk. He has been a founding presenter of BBC's Europe Direct and has been a guest anchor on both the BBC's HARDtalk and the BBC's Simpson's World. He is now a main presenter on the news programmes re-launched in April 2000 and a regular presenter for the BBC's Dateline London. Nik's appointment draws both on his extensive reporting experience over two decades in diplomacy, defence and international security, and his presentation and chairing skills. As a principal programme presenter for the channel's extended, continuous 24-hour/7-day week coverage of major crises, Nik's invaluable experience was called on throughout the Kosovo crisis from March to June 1999. He was also on air for six hours shortly after the twin towers were hit in New York City on September 11, 2001 and the coverage won the 2002 Hotbird Award. He also fronted the unfolding dra
This is my belief as a journalist, I cannot follow the tabloid route, or do what other people are doing. I solemnly believe that if people get a sensible debate, you will get viewers – there is that interest in society and the developments that impact it. My concept for the programmes was very clear – follow the news and try to raise questions around it. It is the oldest trick in the trade but if you do it with sincerity and conviction, it still works.
The core proposition for both radio and TV is music. In radio, we deliver music to our listeners and in TV we deliver music to the viewers. The entire game revolves around how you engage them with giving them the music. There are other music channels as well, but the deal is what more apart from music can you give to create an attitude for the channel and to create that stickiness for the channel so that people come back. As far as 9XM is concerned, the brand is recognised by both kids and the youth. The platform is set and hence, it gives me a starting point.
India is more than ready for the science channel. Discovery Science has been receiving extremely positive response from the viewers. India is a young country and there is immense curiosity amongst the viewers for information. Knowledge is cool. The viewers want to be informed and entertained about the various advancements and technologies from around the world. As expected, we have received positive feedback from all parts of the country.
“India is more than ready for the science channel. Discovery Science has been receiving extremely positive response from the viewers. India is a young country and there is immense curiosity amongst the viewers for information. The viewers want to be informed and entertained about the various advancements and technologies from around the world,” says Vikram Channa, Vice President - Programming, India & Head of Production, APAC, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific.
Unlike adults, whose preferences and entertainment needs are largely set, kids’ preferences and content affinities are constantly evolving, based on their experiences, exposure levels and influences. It is a delightful challenge to provide engaging, inclusive and responsible content to kids at varying life stages in the 4-14 year age group. Their entertainment needs are naturally varied, and with the three channels that we have, it is something that we aim to satiate.
We don’t want to be a magazine of record, we don’t want to give the re-run of stuff that the reader already knows. That is the way all good weekly magazines in the world are headed… Days of the traditional weekly newsmagazine are over. For that, there’s Google News. We will not put the week’s news on the cover unless it is a very significant event. Then also, as far as possible, we will try to look at it from a fresh and interesting perspective so that it stimulates the reader’s mind.
We want to be more serious and balanced and go beyond ‘breaking news’. We have a very clear focus on ‘Bharat’, which is distinguished from ‘India’.
As the center of gravity in the world is shifting globally from the US and Europe to Asia, there is a shift in India, too, especially on the media front. Foreign multinationals have started understanding India much better now, and as their penetration rates increase, they are encountering the Indian language media.
“As the center of gravity in the world is shifting globally from the US and Europe to Asia, there is a shift in India, too, especially on the media front. Foreign multinationals have started understanding India much better now, and as their penetration rates increase, they are encountering the Indian language media,” says K Yatish Rajawat, Editor-in-Chief, Business Bhaskar.
Content remains the king. But with changing times, the definition has to be broad based. Primarily, you need good quality content to attract your reader/ viewer. It is good content which attracts the advertiser as well. Hence, advertising follows good content. But, it is a close second. Without advertising (read it as revenues), you cannot spend on promotions, marketing and retaining good talent through salaries. The effect is cascading.
“Content remains the king. But with changing times, the definition has to be broad based. Primarily, you need good quality content to attract your reader. It is good content which attracts the advertiser as well. Hence, advertising follows good content. But, it is a close second,” says Shishir Joshi, Group Editorial Director, Mid-Day Infomedia Ltd.
The media today is very dynamic and we need to continuously delight the reader to grab and retain his or her attention. There is just too much stimuli out there. So, the biggest challenge will be to keep the reader interested month after month. But keeping the reader interested is also an opportunity for us to keep innovating. Creatively, we have lots to explore.
On the Net you get only short stories, for example, about a car launch or so on, but you don’t get feature write-ups or stories around it. That is what a magazine is about. I agree that an Internet presence is very important today, but a magazine is acceptable and will always be acceptable in the long run. Magazine is the only solution – one can take it everywhere and anywhere, and read at leisure. The print medium is very strong and it won’t be replaced any soon. However, one can never predict about the next generation.
The first big crisis for journalism came after 9/11 and the media industry failed that test. The essential crisis was: ‘what is the role of journalism in the face of a national crisis?’ The media industry globally failed that test. They became polarised very quickly and began to reflect largely their governments’ views. This was particularly true of the British and the American media. Though the media industry has recovered from this, I am not sure whether it would be able to act substantially differently in the face of the next national crisis, which is very sad.
India is a very big and a very vibrant market. My understanding is that about 85 per cent of the homes watch the NGC channel. It’s is a huge audience we are talking about in India. However, the factual audience is very small in proportion to the several million in India. That’s one huge opportunity.
Ashutosh, Managing Editor, IBN-7, says that Hindi news channels have changed beyond recognition in the last few years; the pace is phenomenal, but they have also dumbed down the content and moved away from news. He wonders whether Hindi news channels today are news channels or something else!
Rena Golden, Senior VP, CNN International, points out that the most obvious difference between Indian and Western news channels is the difference in audiences being targeted. CNN-IBN, NDTV, Doordarshan, etc., and the others are competing in a national market in India and CNN is not competing with them. The audience is the prime differentiator, she says.
Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor & CEO, Janmat, says there is there is a mad rush for breaking news and everyone wants to be the first, which at times leads to misreporting. “We have to be mature enough to put in place some control mechanism. We should focus on responsible journalism,” he says.
Veteran journalist, Member of Parliament and political commentator, Dr Chandan Mitra balances all these roles easily. Having joined The Pioneer as Editor in 1996, he took over its ownership in 1998 when the 140-year-old publication was threatened with closure. In this special conversation, Mitra makes several candid admissions.
Gary E Knell, President & CEO, Sesame Workshop, says the question is not just that television teaches, but what does it teach. Popular for its programme 'Sesame Street', Sesame Workshop creates innovative Educational content for children from birth through age 12 in over 120 countries. For Indian children, Sesame Workshop is developing a multimedia initiative for 2-8 year-olds modeled on Sesame Street.
“I don’t think FDI is required. We have the monies. In fact, Indian companies should be encouraged to emerge as multinationals. Instead of looking at the US and Europe for a shop-out, we should look at publications there that we can grab. It is a reality. If I get the right buy at the right price in the right atmosphere, I will definitely venture into it.”
Gireesh Kumar Sanghi, Chairman & MD, Vaartha Group, and a Member of Parliament, holds that the Indian media industry needs another body parallel to ABC to ensure that publications and advertisers get the benefit of these studies. He also holds that there is no need for FDI as the media here has the monies.
To explain his argument about the dog eat dog situation, Deepak Segal, EVP, Content & Communication, STAR India, mentions that Sony and Zee were not bothered about STAR Plus and didn’t take even STAR One seriously. “We have seen what has happened in that case,” he says.
“What excites me about the Indian BPO industry is that it’s open to anything, ready to try anything”
Rusty Weston, Founding Editor, Managing Offshore, talks about the Indian BPO industry at length, its strengths and challenges, as well as CMP Media’s tie-up with Cybermedia to bring out an outsourcing publication, website and events.
![“Advertisers are really seeing the value of the [V] brand today”](https://storage.googleapis.com/test-media-files/news-photo/fs_17700.jpg)
What had started as just music has now evolved into a more flanked offering, says Amar K Deb, Head-India, Channel [V]. The music channel has a young, raring-to-go team and is the country’s numero uno creative hothouse, he claims.
Jason Dasey, a popular face on ESPN STAR Sports, sees the exclusive India focus of SportCentre as an exciting challenge. Production standards are what set ESPN and Star Sports apart from other sports networks broadcasting in India, he says.
In a turbulent teen readership landscape, 'Seventeen' is perhaps one of a kind. The magazine is targeted at young women between the age of 12-24 years across India. Suparna R Motwane, Editor-in-Chief, 'Seventeen', discusses the strategy behind introducing Seventeen.
Reality TV, the 24-hour channel brought to India by Zone Vision and distributed by Zee Turner, has successfully completed two years in the country. Chris Sharp, Chief Programming Officer, says the channel took its first step towards localisation of the channel in India by introducing India specific fillers in August 2004.
Much of the Reader’s Digest’s content is about story-telling, true stories written in a fiction format. Every issue of the Digest also has two or three articles devoted to self-improvement. People like its package, because it is practical, and contains commonsensical ideas. There is also humour in the content. It is this huge range and variety in content and the fact that the articles are very well-written that has ensured its place as the most popular magazine in India.
I think it’s very important to have a strong volume of cricket – to launch as a football channel, an extreme sports channel or a golf channel in India (as has been done elsewhere in Asia) makes no sense. Cricket is important.
Nik Gowing is one of the most familiar faces on television news. The Principal Anchor of BBC’s 90-minute news programme, ‘The World Today’, and its predecessor, ‘News Desk’, says while BBC’s coverage is “straight down the road”, he feels that India and Pakistan cannot live separately. He also talks about the role of the media in covering international events.
Sumon Chattopadhyay, Executive Editor of Anandabazar Patrika, describes the editorial and content policies by which this trendsetting Bengali daily has set the agenda for Bengal and also in journalism. With strong commitment to unbiased and bold journalism, ABP has developed equity as an institution which few newspapers can boast of. Credibility, authenticity and trustworthiness are the three guiding parameters shaping its content.
The speed of evolution in Indian media is mind-boggling. Today’s competitive Indian media is pro-active. It diligently covers all the different facets of political, civic and business journalism.
Alka Saxena, Editor and Head of Programming, Zee News Channel, emphatically states that news empowers the common man and hence should not be subjected to any slant. Advertorials, in her view, have their own role but cannot take the place of editorials. Read more on this in this week’s Content is King.
We are out to broaden sports audiences. We want to get higher females and be innovative in using mediums like SMS in conjunction with our programming.
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