TALKING POINT: INDUSTRY TRACKER

OUR CORE HAS BEEN COMING UP WITH UNIQUE PROGRAMMING FROM A CONTENT STANDPOINT: ALI HUSSEIN
Eros International’s OTT platform Eros Now, in association with Colour Yellow Productions and filmmaker Aanand L Rai recently released their first original film, Meri Nimmo to viewers worldwide. Ali Hussein, COO, Eros Digital talks about the digital partnership with Colour Yellow and Rai, the 360-degree marketing campaign, the focus on regional content and more…

ON RELEASING THE FILM ON DIGITAL FIRST: We decided to take a very different approach to the existing construct of how a film is mounted and released. We started with a trailer on Monday, music release on Tuesday, and finally the film release on Friday. Our core has always been about coming up with interesting and unique programming from a content stand point. Eros Now on digital is a great avenue to showcase films to a global audience. We have a fairly extensive digital plan for the year with Colour Yellow Productions and filmmaker Aanand Rai.

MARKETING MIX: We have a 360-degree campaign, which started from the date of the film release. The campaign is a combination of offline and online, since Eros Now wants people to sample the new product and reach out to them wherever they are. The style of the marketing campaign will be in Eros’ avatar, but Digital style. However, it will not be a long six-eight week campaign.

CONTENT STRATEGY: We have three simple buckets: long-format episodic originals, which is our focus area; original films which we will be developing, and short films. All of these culminate into creating a brand which consumers can relate to and recognise. There will be eight original series, which we will start releasing from June-July. We haven’t put a number to our movie releases, as this will be an evolutionary process.

FOCUS ON REGIONAL CONTENT: We will map this more from an Indian consumer consumption standpoint and focus on all regional markets, beginning with the top five to six regional markets. The platform has 10,000 titles across 10 languages. We are working extensively in certain markets to be able to improve regional content, as we feel that this will help us acquire more paid subscribers.
(As told to Madhuwanti Saha)

WE ARE LOOKING TO GROW SONY YAY! BY AT LEAST 25% THIS YEAR: LEENA LELE DUTTA
Sony Yay! - the kids’ channel from the Sony Pictures Networks India stable, recently turned one. Leena Lene Dutta, Business Head, SPN Kids Genre talks about how the channel was launched with a local flavour and how Bengali and Malayalam content have also been added with growing demand from these markets. Having already produced 88 hours of original content, Sony Yay! is set to scale up to an additional 120 hours in its second year of operations. Dutta tells us more…

ON COMPLETING ONE YEAR: Using local characters, names and stories has resulted in good viewership today. The success we have achieved in just one year, has taken other channels at least five years to accomplish. Even in terms of ranking, we have exceeded other channels launched in the last 5-7 years. Today, we are addressing 24 million children in a month. We have been able to maintain a consistent market share of 5-6% and are looking to grow by at least 25% this year.

ON THE NEW SHOW: We have launched a new action-comedy show called KickO and Super Speedo, featuring the adventures of a superhero kid, KickO and his special gadget car, Super Speedo. This is our biggest launch of the year.

ON THE NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN: Sony Yay! plans to further extend its viewer base with a comprehensive summer campaign, reaching out to over 25 million kids across the country through an extensive TV plan, coupled with on-ground activations at 84 city centres, malls and other associations.

ON THE DIGITAL FRONT: We have partnered with Netflix, making shows such as Sab Jholmaal Hai, Jai and Viru and Guru Bhole available on the platform. We are also looking at a strategy for creating content for other digital platforms.

ON MERCHANDISING: Sony Yay! has entered the merchandising space in association with Black White Orange (BWO), a leading licensing, merchandising and branding agency.
(As told to Sonam Saini)