Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 talks about BE Viacom18’s latest association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. Anooj Kapoor, Senior EVP and Business Head, SAB TV talks about the launch of Sab TV HD.
‘PUBLIC-PRIVA TE PARTNERSHIP IS A JOURNEY WE ARE BEGINNING NOW’
Viacom18’s Integrated Network Solutions (INS) arm BE Viacom 18 has been roped in as consultants for Department of Tourism, Government of Arunachal Pradesh with the mandate to boost tourism to Land of the Dawn-lit mountains. Actor John Abraham has been roped in as the brand ambassador of Arunachal Pradesh Tourism. Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 tells us about the initiative and about experimenting with public-private partnership
On BE Viacom18: Viacom18 is a holistic media house and our ability to partner with brands entering India and also building Indian brands is good. Be Viacom18 is our business vertical taking this forward. In essence, we are a nodal point with huge understanding of the Indian consumer and Indian landscape and a network which can give you leverage as you build a brand or launch a brand in India, that’s what we bring to the table and that’s what we want to continue to drive as we go forward.
The Vivo experience: We had a one-year association with Vivo for their launch and it was a fruitful association. We were the one stop shop for them - we were their media people, their creative people and we extended our network for them. We gave them some of our prime properties for sponsorship. We would like to replicate the same as we go forward with others.
Association with Arunachal Pradesh Tourism: The association with Arunachal Pradesh Tourism is even more special because while we are continuing to build on Be Viacom18, we are also experimenting with public-private partnership. A public-private partnership is important if we have to grow tourism in India, a sector which is labour intensive and can create a lot of jobs. We need to grow internal tourism within India and also make sure that India becomes the destination of choice for foreign tourists. Developing tourism is critical and we will showcase the diversity of the country. We will set mid-term mechanisms to review as we go forward, clearly defining the milestones on which each one of us is working towards and see how we are progressing on those milestones.
Leveraging One Viacom18: We will leverage the entire Viacom18 network – the television networks, the film studio, digital etc. We will work with the government to help improve the ease of doing business, make films in Arunachal Pradesh and have a single window clearance. We can also look at having incentives to shoot there. We could have content shot there shown on our television channels. We could also build some properties in the live space, particularly in music space. All our businesses in Viacom18 are going to come together to partner with Arunachal Pradesh Tourism and the Be Viacom18 team will be the nodal team to drive this as we go forward.
Revenues: Close to 2% of our total turnover comes from Integrated Network Solutions. We would like to grow this very rapidly and we could double it every three years, if not faster. In the medium term, we would like it to be anywhere between 5% to 10% of our total revenues.
Public-private partnership: Public-private partnership is a journey we are beginning now. There are parts of government which are very progressive now and there are individuals in the government who are very receptive and open in their thinking.
BRINGING BACK THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST
Sony Pictures Networks Television India (SPN) recently launched Sony SAB HD on September 5, 2016. The new channel will resonate the core brand promise of Sony SAB, its standard definition (SD) channel – ‘Asli Mazaa SAB Ke Saath Aata Hai’ and will mirror the prime time programming line-up of the SD channel.
Anooj Kapoor, Senior EVP and Business Head, SAB TV tells us more. Launching SAB TV HD: We didn’t have any compulsion from the business perspective to have an HD channel. We have a slew of exciting shows coming up in the next two to three months and thought that this would be an appropriate time to launch the HD channel.
Broad-basing the Viewership: Our new shows are unique and entertaining. We are bringing back female protagonists to broad-base the viewership of the channel. This is essentially the change in the FPC. Rather than going for the consistent male underdog strategy that we have been pursuing, we are getting at least two to three shows, among the seven new shows, which will be driven by strong female characters.
The TG: SAB TV is primarily an urban centric channel. The channel is also slightly skewed towards males – 52:48. The new shows have been tailored in such a way that even though the protagonist is female, the show will appeal to men. We cannot and shall not in any way erode our core audience of males. Our attempt is simple – try and woo some of the GEC viewing audience who believe that unless a show is led by a female protagonist, it’s not for women. With soaps having a very strong and loyal female viewership, what we can hope for is a 50:50 split in viewership. We also want to use the edge of the male viewership for advertising purpose as brands which are targeted at males find a unique platform in SAB.
