Ever since TV shows returned with fresh content after over 100 days of hiatus, marketing these shows has become more important now than during the pre- COVID times. Even though the viewership on television was at an all-time high during the lockdown, when the fresh content stopped airing on the Hindi GECs, show loyalty plummeted with viewers seeking other channels for new content. Therefore, there was an immense need for promotion and marketing to bring the audience back to the fold as fresh shows made a comeback on the channels.
Broadcasters had to find innovative ways to communicate the comeback of fresh content, making safety and togetherness the common thread.
For instance, Sony TV came up with the campaign #RestartSafely with the message "Let us together take small steps and #Restart Safely."
Colors TV launched a campaign #KaroColorsOn for their new content. They asked viewers to not to wait for a date but join them and enjoy new and fresh episodes from the same day itself. Star Plus too came up with #Komebackserialska where its TV shows actors created a buzz on social media as they went live to communicate with their fans.
Speaking about the change in marketing during COVID, Sapangeet Rajwant - Head - Marketing, and Digital – Hindi Mass Entertainment & Head of Brand Solutions - Viacom 18 shared, “The pandemic has bought a shift in consumer behaviour and they have made a seamless transition to digital mediums. We have also redefined our strategy and investing in the right places to ensure the mediums we choose hereon are more effective and collaborative. We would focus on recalibrating our communication keeping in mind awareness, safety, and compassion which is the need of the hour.”
The last few months have been life-altering for all of us as we strived to get in sync with the new normal."
Rajwant added that as the content consumption habits changed, they also made a shift in promotional approach. She said, “We are looking at different ways to renew the experience of appointment viewing and build a dynamic connection with our audience. We will have to keep on engaging with the viewers and reminding them of the show tracks and the time slots.”
Traditionally, the channel was looking to achieve that through shows promos across its network and non-network channels to build intrigue around the new content. The consumption of the digital medium has grown manifold and becoming omnipresent across platforms is deemed crucial.
She said, “We have been creating interesting video vignettes, showcasing our characters while reiterating the time slots. We have a huge social media presence and we are also utilising that effectively to communicate with the audiences. We created a campaign hashtag #KaroColorsOn as communication for our new content. The campaign went live from 6th July and soon made it to the top 10 trends. We also had our artists share special bytes asking viewers to rejoin them and revisit the show's journey by simply switching on to COLORS. We are also looking at creating clutter-breaking communication for our shows along with high points as all the channels will be starting their respective communication as well.”
While the major broadcasters chose digital mediums to create a buzz about their fresh content, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) partnered with leading CPG brands and did a massive outdoor teaser campaign. ZEE collaborated with leading brands like Nestle Maggi, Amul Lassi, PepsiCo, Red Label, Cadbury Dairy Milk, ITC Dark Fantasy to gear the nation up for 13 July, the date when new content made a comeback on Zee TV. The outdoor teaser created lot of buzz on social media as people were wondering what #13thkitTaiyyari was all about.
The #BanegiBaatSaathSaath promise has been rolled out across media and to all of ZEE’s partners along with a film, which is an ode to the entire TV industry coming together to entertain its viewers.
Though OOH acted as the medium to announce and create curiosity, the channel used twin strategy, starting with outdoor and later taking it to digital and TV.
Speaking about how the media mix has changed during COVID, Rajwant explained, “In pre-COVID times, our media plans would comprise all kinds of effective mediums, including TV, print, below the line activities, and a lot of on-ground consumer engagement. But it has changed as presently, there is a lot of ambiguity about the usage and efficacy of traditional media like print, radio and out-of-home.”
She further added, “In the new normal, as people are not stepping out of their houses, outdoor advertising has taken a huge beating and so has radio as people would consume it largely while commuting. There is still a lot of apprehension amongst people when it comes to newspaper subscriptions. In the absence of some of the biggest traditional mediums coupled with the fact that people are consuming a lot of digital and online mediums a lot, we have completely tweaked our media mix. For some of our recent campaigns, we have extensively used TV, social media, online news portals, and other digital platforms. Apart from this, we are also advertising on platforms like DTH and cable.”
Rajwant believes that it’s too soon to predict which medium will prove to be most effective and what will emerge as the right media mix. “In my opinion, we marketers will have to keep trying different approaches to see which one delivers the best results,” she said.
Sharing his thoughts on the medium of marketing during the pandemic, Karan Taurani, Vice President, Elara Capital said, “ The channels must be spending more on digital mediums and also on their own network channels as well. In pre- COVID times a lot of spending was done on an outdoor and print medium which is now negatively affected during the pandemic, so their own channels could also boost some kind of marketing efforts coupled along with digital advertising.”