Deepak Shourie, Executive VP & MD, Discovery Networks India
<p align=justify>"I believe very strongly that as India moves forward with the young population we have, which is the aspirational population, there will be people who will move and say I don't want just saas-bahu, I want something which is more entertaining but informative. So, we will move to that space."
"I believe very strongly that as India moves forward with the young population we have, which is the aspirational population, there will be people who will move and say I don't want just saas-bahu, I want something which is more entertaining but informative. So, we will move to that space."
Armed with a Bachelors' degree in Economics from Delhi's St Stephen's College, Deepak Shourie began his media career as Group General Manager of Living Media, publishers of India Today. In a meteoric career, he has been instrumental in launching Outlook magazine and has served as Executive President of Hindustan Times. Prior to joining Discovery, Shourie was at the helm of Zee Telefilms as CEO and Operating Partner and Publisher of Zee Publishing.
With nearly 20 years of experience in the media industry, Shourie joined Discovery in 2001. He spearheaded the company's growth in the region through various initiatives, including the distribution joint venture with Sony Entertainment Television India - The One Alliance; the launch of India's first international lifestyle channel - Discovery Travel & Living, and the time-band strategy for Discovery Channel. He realigned the company's programming and marketing strategies to make the channels more relevant to Indian viewers and advertisers alike.
Discovery Networks India got into its first local production by unveiling the Great Indian Wedding on Discovery Travel & Living recently. Sumita Patra of exchange4media caught up with Shourie on the sidelines of the premiere of the show held in Udaipur. Excerpts:
Q. Last year you had said that a lot of stress would be given to push Animal Planet as far as marketing was concerned. What steps have been taken in this direction?
We have not been able to do it. We are still working on it.
Q. Discovery has been in India for over a decade. How has the journey been so far?
I think the journey has been very successful. First five years was a very great building block. We laid the foundation. The channel was made available to people. It focused more on nature, wildlife, and education. When I came in, we made it diverse, brought in different sections of the family to watch the channel, time bands, Women's Hour, Late Night Discovery. We brought a lot of diversity into the content and, therefore, different kinds of viewers. Then the next stage came of acquiring Indian content, give it an Indian feel. The third stage is coming now of producing content, which will work in India as well as rest of the world.
Q. Please share some of the marketing breakthroughs that you have achieved for your three existing channels.
Discovery - change of focus from nature, wildlife to a wider audience, time bands, appointment viewing, great content, and diversity. Travel and Living - its new, took time, but the channel is delivering its objective. Animal Planet - we have not really put a marketing focus to it but it is doing extremely well.
Q. But with this directive coming into place do you see ad rates going up?
If lesser inventory is available rates will have to go up. It is going to make a huge difference. Supposing your programming is, let's say, 45 minutes and you are allowed only 10 minutes, what will do you with the rest? There are a lot of implications. I won't be able to comment till we have grappled with all the issues - cable pricing, Broadcast Bill, advertising control, surrogate advertising.
Q. Your comments on CAS. Good, Bad, Ugly, Necessary…
Worldwide, CAS has worked on a voluntary basis. Unless the whole system is ready - the MSOs, the cable operators, the people who can fix the box - can you imagine millions of homes wanting a box to be fixed on one particular date, it can't happen. That is why it is always voluntary, not mandatory.
Q. What about the National Geographic Channel?
National Geographic is there, we also have wildlife on Discovery, but Animal Planet is the only channel that is dedicated to animals and humans. So we see no competition.
Q. What next for Discovery? During the presentation you hinted at starting more specialised channels.
If you see from our own stable as well, Discovery Science, Discovery Health, (I am just giving you an example), they are more focused. We are not going to launch any news channel that's not our business.
Q. Can you share some long-term plans?
(Laughs) You are a journalist, do you think you can trap me?
Q. How has Discovery Travel and Living been faring since its launch?
The channel is doing very well. The reach is going up, it is higher than all English channels. We will add more Indian content, more marketing, more recognition and more brand building of the channel.
Q. How have you been able to meet the challenge of positioning Discovery as a mainstream channel?
By diversifying content, by marketing wider, by ensuring that we cater to the consumer's requirement rather than our own thinking. I am a very consumer focused person.
Q. I think there were talks of introducing a Tamil feed?
Yes, we are considering that. Perhaps by next year.
Q. Do you welcome this move?
Absolutely, because we are platform neutral. The more platforms that exist, the better off we are.
Q. What steps you have taken to differentiate Animal Planet from the competition?
There is no competition to Animal Planet. It is a unique channel.
Q. You had introduced your Hindi feed in 1998. How has it been performing? Can we expect more such regional feeds?
Hindi feed is doing quite well because it has widened the reach of the channel and if you ask me whether we will add more languages, yes we are working on them. But it is too early to speak on that.
Q. With the new directive on the cap on advertising time, do you see ad rates going up? When are you going to take any decision in this direction? What other implications do you see arising from this directive?
I don't want to comment on the Broadcast Bill or all these notifications because too many changes are happening at the same time and the industry is grappling with the situation. All I can say is, it's a tough call.
Q. What have been the major strides made by the Indian television industry during the same period?
It has made huge strides. Cable television started in 1992, from then till now, the journey has been amazing. Look at the number of homes with cable TV, look what cable means to people today, look at difference from Doordarshan days of before to today when you have 300 channels. The market has matured and is evolving.
Q. You once said that the greatest challenge was to position Discovery as a mainstream channel. Have you been able to meet the challenge? How?
I believe very strongly that as India moves forward with the young population we have, which is the aspirational population, there will be people who will move and say I don't want just saas-bahu, I want something which is more entertaining but informative. So, we will move to that space.
Q. Discovery has been doing a lot of Indianisation of its content, for instance the Discover India series and more stress on local content. Has it in some way diluted the channel's original positioning?
Not at all. Discover India is just about 10 per cent of our total hours. Our big programmes still come from the global market place. That is the original positioning. But we are adding local content, people are interested in knowing what's happening in India, after all India is one-sixth of the world's population, they need to know about India also. We are in talks with good producers for our local content, but I can't reveal their names at the moment.
Q. How has the advertisers’ response been to the time band that you introduced for Discovery and Animal Planet?
What happens with the time band is that viewers are able to relate to a particular band, if I am interested in wildlife or if I am interested in late night, I know what to expect and it's easier to relate to. The concept is working very well for Animal Planet too. It becomes easier for the advertiser as well to cater to his target audience. So, the response has been quite favourable.
Q. I am just trying to gather some information.
You have got lot of information. We are going ahead in a very determined way. We believe that there is an aspirational market. The future for products like Discovery and Travel and Living is very bright. Animal Planet is the only channel dealing with the world of animals and humans and with the DTH opening up now, the potential to bring in specialised channels, which will have a narrower focus, is there.
Q. Discovery will now be offered as part of the Tata Sky DTH venture, what changes do you see with this new development?
None. We are going to be on cable as well as on DTH, so it really depends on who takes what or both. We will be the same.
Q. How has the response been from both the viewers as well as advertisers?
Very good. Firstly, we choose programmes that are very good and then we say 'tonight' on Discovery. We find sometimes that we are on the same slot as others, but we probably got 30-40-50 per cent increase in viewership as compared to the previous week.
Q. What held you back from doing so?
As a company, we have various priorities, at the moment the priority is other issues. We will look at Animal Planet at the right time.
Q. You had once said that you were evaluating the concept for a magazine. Nothing much has been heard on that front so far…
Well, we haven't really focused on it. There are other priorities at the moment.
Q. So, there will be more specialised channels catering to a particular segment?
Yes, but not immediately.
Q. Of late you have been laying stress on appointment viewing and specific theme based weeks. What is the genesis behind this idea and how has the response been so far? How do such initiatives garner more eyeballs?
I tell you why, the number of channels that exist today, consumers don't have the time to think of what is coming. So whatever I have advertised is for 'tonight' on Discovery, the memory is that short, if you like the idea you will watch it tonight.
Q. At this moment all the three channels of Discovery have specific blocks for a particular theme. If you have to compare the viewership of a particular block, say Fun Zone, Indian Safari wherein you had a specific theme with a normal programme, how does the viewership differ?
The whole idea is to be able to tell people - see, when you come to Fun Zone, you are expected to watch this kind of programme. That's the whole idea to give a name, otherwise people will not remember.
Q. Discovery faces competition from English movie channels as well as from news channels. With so many players in this space, what steps have you taken to stand apart from the clutter and beat the competition?
We will respond to the challenges as they come.
