That’s the charm that Reliance Broadcast Network’s flagship channel, BIG Magic, is counting on as it prepares to wave its wand at audiences yet again
By SIMRAN SABHERWAL
Change has been the only constant in Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL)’s journey so far. In 2013, RBNL’s radio arm92.7 BIG FM decided to position itself as a ‘retro’ station in key markets. In August the following year, RBNL re-branded its regional entertainment channel, BIG Magic Bihar and Jharkhand as ‘BIG Magic Ganga’. Its flagship channel, BIG Magic (launched in April 2011 as a regional channel focused on HSM) was re-launched last year as a national channel, and re-positioned as the ‘one-stop destination for humour’, a comedy channel for the masses. Now, taking forward its belief that comedy is serious business, BIG Magic has once again undertaken a complete makeover by launching a new look and identity.
“BIG Magic was in the light entertainment space and we wanted to move to a full-on irreverent, comedy spoof and laugh-out-loud (LOL) space. For our first anniversary, we decided to sharpen our positioning and deliver what we hope will become the ultimate comedy destination in this country,” says Tarun Katial, CEO, RBNL.
So what’s new?
With a logo which is ‘topical, fresh, vibrant,’ and the use of emoticons, an attempt has been made to give the channel an ‘urban, young, contemporary,’ feel. So does that mean the channel will move away from its core markets? Katial replies, “We are not doing away with Tier-II but we want to zoom in to the metro, mini-metro and urban audiences for the channel.”
The sharper positioning also means a shift in the TG – from family viewing to the male and kids demographic. RBNL believes this will separate its offering from SAB TV, the current leader in the comedy space. Worthy to note, the male positioning is similar to the position taken by BIG THRILL – RBNL’s action entertainment channel targeted at male audiences.
Waving the wand again
Besides launching new shows, BIG Magic has revamped its existing shows and is working on beefing up ‘the iconic characters’ in its inventory. The increased focus on short-form content helps RBNL as the content can then be platform-agnostic with a large play in mobile and digital. RBNL also plans on building on-ground comedy festivals. Also in the works is the Indian adaptation of a UK-based game-show ‘Family Fortunes’.
Paritosh Painter, NCD, RBNL, explains, “We are experimenting with a lot of things and might also break the schedule by telecasting a show for three consecutive days perweek i.e. Monday to Wednesday and Thursday to Saturday.”
Talking of revenue generation and advertising, Katial says, “We believe that advertisers are actively looking to integrate themselves into short-form content and we are looking at a 25 per cent growth in our advertising rates.” The TG ensures that kids and male-skewed advertisers will be looked at more than the classical FMCGs.
With ‘cutting-edge content’ as the new route, short-form content forms the basis of the marketing peg with comedy being the central theme across the 360-degree marketing plans which include all formats of traditional media and digital. Shalini Gupta, CMO, RBNL says, “The whole objective is to look at comedy as the only filter for any communication across ATL media. In the BTL space too, we are looking at interesting associations, such as with Canvas Laugh Factory and other such tie-ups that can help us reach places that people have identified with comedy.”
The next move
With marketing spends at BIG magic doubled compared to last year across all mediums and spends on digital touching nearly 5-6 per cent (up from 2-3 per cent in 2014), when’s the profitability arriving, we ask Katial. “We’re looking to invest till we reach threshold audience levels before we start looking at very active profitability.”
RBNL is also looking to strengthen its presence in the international market with the UK market being its next likely destination. For now, it will be interesting to see if BIG Magic can make us and its advertisers LOL.
Feedback: simran.sabherwal@exchange4media.com
