Peter Hutton, Vice-President – Programming, Ten Sports

Ten Sports launched in India in early 2002 at a time when the twin sports channel – ESPN and Star Sports-held total sway. Many in the media business gave Ten Sports a little chance to cause any major upsets. With Max getting into the fray with the World Cup 2003, doubts over whether Indian market could afford so many sports channels grew louder. Ten Sports, however, held ground and came back with a bang with the India-Pakistan cricket series early this year.

Media columnist Rakesh Khar, Programme Director, Journalism and Mass Communications Programme, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, spoke to Peter Hutton, Vice-President, Programming, Ten Sports, for exchange4media on the journey so far and the road ahead for Ten Sports in the fiercely competitive sports content business in India. Excerpts….

Q. It’s been almost over two years that Ten Sports launched in India. How has the journey been so far?

It’s certainly gone better than anyone dare expect with the viewing figures as no one in the sports genre through the period. WWE has provided an incredible daily boost to the channel and long term cricket rights deals already signed up in three of the 10 test playing countries (Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka) as well as our own events in Morocco and Sharjah offer the channel a great edge.

Q. The golden rule in any business, more so in the fiercely competitive sports content business, is that if you are not the number one brand, you stay in the market at your own perils. Does Ten Sports subscribe to the number game theory?

I think our viewing figures tell their own story because of the consistently high ratings and reach – but I think a look at international markets, such as the US disproves the theory anyway, where ESPN, Fox and the other networks – all co-exist with strengths in different fields. There is always space for quality players.

Q. What, according to you, is the brand personality of Ten Sports? I think it’s a mix of energy, innovation, entertainment and cricket.

Q. How would an Indian consumer profile Ten Sports? Does Ten Sports provoke top-of-the-mind recall among the audience in India?

Yes, I’m confident that we would be at the top of the mind now and right up with the bigger entertainment channels. The Pakistan versus India cricket series and the soccer World Cup clearly helped that process but I think and am confident that day-by-day we are turning into a strong regular choice.

Q. Channel drivers are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain the content business on television. Do you see any one show that is a channel driver on Ten Sports?

I would imagine majority of our shows do well for themselves. But given that live and exclusive content always scores, I would pin point the combination of WWE and the live cricket as two big drivers along with other shows that help build channel loyalty for Ten Sports.

Q. Ten Sports, in contrast to competition, has been rather sedate in its marketing appeal. How do you compete in the market without aggressively connecting with the audience?

Well, we believe that the name of the game is not to outspend but to outthink the competition. I think the viewing figures prove that we’re doing well.

Q. The battle for eyeballs reigns supreme in sports content in India. Do you see Ten Sports as a brand that believes in expanding the market or a brand that aggressively nibbles at the current market share?

We have already expanded the market thanks to our use of WWE and have the best single channel market share. We will continue to strive to do better in this regard.

Q. What has been your experience with other sports? What has been the outcome of your initiative on live coverage of horse racing from Mumbai and many other such new content properties?

The racing’s been good fun and it’s been personally rewarding to support a sport traditionally ignored by TV in India. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve been able to help develop the sport and we’ll stay with it for the long term.

Similarly with hockey, I think we’ve helped the sport reach a higher profile on television in the country and hopefully this can lay the commercial foundation for Indian hockey to succeed again. The Tour de France live coverage in prime time in India has reached the point where it’s out rating Formula 1 and that’s something we take a pride in, whilst we also took the world cup soccer to new heights in India.

We’ll continue to look to expand the range of top-level international sport we show – it keeps life interesting, but we’re very clear that this is maybe 10 per cent of the business – the key thing is the wrestling and cricket.

Q. Cricket pre-occupation at sports channels is leading to all kinds of experimentation. You were the first to bring in Bollywood on air with a film star interviewing cricket stars. Now we have a ‘Shaz and Whaz’ show that recently featured Priyanaka Chopra. Does the Bollywood bit actually add to or subtract from the purist definition of a sports channel?

We’ve held out against the pressure to follow the trend and ‘go showbiz’ on our live cricket coverage. I think we take a pride in the fact that we work with the best international commentators and crew to show cricket properly in all its glory and limit the commercial content to a level that does justice to the advertisers but doesn’t reduce the quality of the experience for the viewer.

Q. What is the positioning of Ten Sports as a brand? Do you see today a distinct place for Ten Sports in the Indian sports TV market?

I think the brand is changing as we learn from experience and grow as a company. Originally, we were very much based around WWE and archive cricket. Now we can realistically claim to have a volume of high quality live programming as the basis of what we do. The brand is evolving, but has a strong innovative profile thanks to the unique type of shows (Gamer TV, Robot Wars) as well as introducing live coverage of international events to India (Tour de France, South American football, top horse racing). However, we shouldn’t kid ourselves in that the majority of the business in India is about the international cricket and the wrestling. We are learning and are committed to offer the best quality sports content to our viewers.

Q. What kind of a connect does Ten Sports enjoy with the Indian TV consumer?

The channel’s distinctive and innovative combination of packaging and programming is the essence of its appeal and the reason why it always appears refreshing to the Indian consumers. For example, the unique positioning and high daily ratings of WWE mean a strong viewer loyalty to Ten Sports. The trust and loyalty of our viewers is something that we treasure most.

Q. How do you profile your typical Indian consumer? What is his DNA like?

I think it’s impossible to do so – as an English language sports channel, the ratings obviously look particularly strong amongst an ABC 15+ male audience, but we attract support from all areas, socio-demographic groups and age groups.

Q. Do you see anchors as on air personalities that actually help drive the channel as is the case with your competitors?

We’ve been delighted with the progress of Sanjay Manjrekar as a confident cricket host and it’s been a particular pleasure to see some of the greatest cricket commentators in the business working for the channel. You name them and we have them: Ian Chappell, Ian Healy, Tony Greg, Michael Holding, and Tony Cozier etc. I think cricket coverage endears itself to big names in the game and we sure have the best in the business.

Q. The sports content market is abuzz with brand ambassadors. Do you see brand ambassadors as potential channel drivers?

No, I do not think so. I think they’re a good way of adding to the income of cricketers.

Q. Sports content in India is extremely cricket-centric. You have brought in the variety element. Has it helped expand the audience base for sports content in India?

I think any rational analysis of the market shows that first of all WWE gets much higher ratings than almost anything on a daily basis. It’s only cricket played in prime time (such as in the West Indies or the sub-continent) that really compares.

Q. There is a view that outside of cricket no sports content platform can achieve any meaningful presence in the Indian market. Does Ten Sports subscribe to this maxim?

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.