Today if the mass audience is hooked on to high drama of Hindi general entertainment channels, a loyal set of viewers are glued to drama, comedy and action series on AXN, Star World and Zee Café. Shows like Ugly Betty, Friends, Baywatch, Desperate Housewives, Magicians Greatest Secrets Revealed, Heroes, Wipeout, America’s Funniest Home Video,So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol are the staple prime-time entertainment for high-end consumers across metros, sub-metros, cities and one million-plus towns. In comparison with GEC audience, their number is small but they are growing at a faster rate. Besides, as high end consumers they also make an involved and evolved audience both for channels and advertisers.
If with 27 per cent share, the Hindi GECs reach out to about 70 to 80 million viewers, the English GECs’ reach is a miniscule figure of just about two million. But premium viewership and advertising make them high delivery brands. As Rohit Bhandari, senior vice president, AXN/Animax says, “The reach and viewership numbers for English GECs is low since they serve a smaller demographic of the audience, their importance for advertisers promoting premium goods and services ranks quite high.” However, while growth in reach and viewership of Hindi GECs will come as a result of higher penetration of cable and satellite households at the bottom of pyramid, English GECs are already into the homes of their potential audience within the existing numbers.
According to Anupam Vasudev, Star India’s head of marketing, only about 15 per cent of English newspapers and magazines readers watch English entertainment channels. “These numbers clearly indicate that in terms of reach, viewership and revenue, English GECs have a great potential for growth,” he points out. The bulk of the audience comes from Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad while other cities like Ahmedabad and Pune are key areas of interest.
“Markets like Chennai and Kerala also are high English- viewing centers and recent trends are showing a good growth of people wanting to view quality content on English GECs,” says Sujay Kutty, senior vice president and business head, Zee Café and Zee Studio.
While shows that are high in visual appeal such as reality, magic and movies are the most popular and which, according to Rohit, make AXN a clear leader in the English GE pack, there is a reasonable sized audience set that enjoys drama series as well. “Over the last two years, we have seen a gradual increase in the consumption of drama series. Also, with stars like Anil Kapoor starring in the latest season of 24, the awareness for these shows is steadily going up,” adds Rohit. Sujay says there is a great diversity in taste amongst the audience. “However, research indicates that viewers have a special preference for comedy and action,” he reveals.
While the US is the main source for acquiring most of the content, particularly sitcoms and dramas, there are other markets like Europe and Australia that are being sourced for content like reality and magic shows. “Relevance and accent make the American shows most preferred here,” says Keertan Adyanthaya, head of Star World and Movies, adding, “But the real challenge lies in picking the right shows as well as periodic refreshing of content, packaging and marketing.”
While on a small base of 20 million viewers, the channels are doing decent business in the region of Rs. 100 to 150 crore (five to eight per cent of Hindi GEC’s revenue), the major grouse against English GECs is the time lag between their telecast in rest of the world and India. “There are number of factors that contribute to the delay. But most importantly, it is best to observe which shows have done exceedingly well in the US and bring only the choicest picks of the lot to India,” explains Sujay. He further points out that in a bid to simulcast shows in India, if one has invested in such shows, channels can run into a loss because there are several shows that start off in the US and then get cancelled after not faring well. However, channels are making efforts towards reducing the gap between the telecast in the US and India. “The Tonight Show with Conan O ‘Brien airs at a gap of mere 12 hours,” says Sujay, adding, “Similarly, the latest season of The Big Bang Theory will be shown in India in February close on the heels of its telecast in the US.” Same is the case with American Idol, informs Keertan. Also, in case of reality shows like The Amazing Race and others, they are telecast in almost real time, claims Rohit. “As for series, the current lag is around four to six months as the US markets create enough buffers for DVD release windows etc,” he explains.
