NatGeo launches itself in a new avatar, playing up content, its core competence, with new shows and revamped old ones
By Deepika Bharadwaj
From asking its viewers to ‘Think Again’ and then ‘Live Curious’, National Geographic Channel (NGC) India has now launched itself in a new avatar, playing up its core competence – its content – saying ‘This is Who We Are.’ The re-launch is a part of the global rebranding of the channel, making it more dynamic, thrilling, larger than life, fourth dimensional and experimental than ever before. Just before the year ends, the three P’s – Product, Packaging and Positioning of NGC have undergone a change to present a new Nat Geo to its viewers in the New Year.
“It may sound clichéd but the fact is change is the only constant. When your audiences are growing, their tastes are changing, you have to stay relevant to the changing needs,” says Debarpita Banerjee, VP, Marketing, Fox International Channels, citing the reason for the relaunch. She adds, “There was a global consensus that it is time to refresh our look and feel and the way we talk. When it came to the campaign, we decided that it has to be urgent and we have to let our content do the talking because content really is king. We always show who we are, so we thought let the philosophy take the background. We are trying to refresh larger than life memories in the minds of our viewers.”
Hunter Hunted, Trapped, Indestructibles, Man Vs Monster, Banged Up Abroad, Mega Factories – the new lineup boasts of exciting new shows and fresh series of old and popular ones. “The idea is to reinforce the image that our patrons have in mind of National Geographic. It is an evolution of our branding, an evolution of our content,” observes Keertan Adyanthaya, Managing Director, NGC Network India and Fox International Channels. The year 2011 has been an eventful one for the factual entertainment genre in India. From extension of the top player in regional belts to entrance of a new player from an established network; multiple language feeds to new looks, the genre has seen action from every player. Is the overhaul an answer to all that? Debarpita responds quickly, “We are not reactive. We have been planning this for a while. And with the kind of changes we are making, I believe we are pro-active.” Keertan also adds, “Our focus has always been on technology, wildlife, history, nature and culture and not reality shows. Many channels will disguise themselves as infotainment channels showing reality shows, but people watch this genre for information and knowledge, and we provide them with content that expands their knowledge. General Entertainment Channels, for that matter, show much better reality shows. If you notice our channel, it is about the organization - the National Geographic Organization - about making people curious and then satisfying their curiosity by giving them the knowledge. We would continue to do that. When people go home and watch us, they expand their horizons of knowledge. That’s what we want to do; we don’t want to show people fighting with each other. There is another audience to watch that. That genre also does very well. But that’s not infotainment.”
Nat Geo’s programming make-over will bring in a new flavour every month. For instance, the entire line-up in December has been programmes showcasing the deadliest encounters. Prime Time showed Deadliest of the Wild, The Best of the Deadliest and The Deadly Premieres. New series like ‘The Indestructibles’ showcase people who have survived the deadliest crashes but are still alive.
Apart from the new shows, NatGeo is also planning to bring Nat Geo Today to India – a news capsule that gives you the best of what’s happening around the world in terms of science, technology, conservation, environment and ecology. After launching three new feeds, viz., Tamil, Telugu and Bangla of NGC this year, the focus would now be on distribution of other bouquet channels like Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Music and Nat Geo Adventure, informs Keertan.
Despite all the additions, the channel has constantly lost to other players in the ratings game. To our question whether that bothers him, Keertan says ‘no’. “Our presence in markets like Tamil Nadu is limited as we are a paid channel and not free to air (FTA). History is FTA. Even in metros like Delhi and Mumbai they have an edge of about 20-30% because they are present in CAS households and we are not present there. So it’s like comparing apples to oranges. More importantly, we believe that there is no competition to the kind of offering and content that we have. We are a hardcore factual channel; we provide factual entertainment which expands your knowledge. National Geographic is the only channel that is recommended in most schools in India - teachers advise students to watch it. No other channel can say that,” he claims.
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