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| Star Jalsa eyes other revenue earning options |
| Pradipta Mukherjee / Kolkata Feb 23, 2009, 00:13 IST |
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Star Jalsa, the Bengali general entertainment channel (GEC) from the Star India stable, is eyeing alternative revenue streams through merchandise and online revenues.
According to J C Giri, executive vice-president of Star Entertainment Media, “Now that the channel has grown significantly in terms of viewership, we are looking at taking it beyond television, which would also work as other revenue earning options for the channel. For instance, we are looking at introducing merchandise for some of its popular shows and even packing them in CDs and DVDs.”
According to Tam media research, as of January 2009, Zee Bangla was the market leader among Bengali general entertainment channels (GECs) with a 35 per cent market share, followed by ETV Bangla at 29 per cent, and Star Jalsa in the third position with a 21 per cent market share.
“We are also looking at strengthening prime slots and introducing shows during mid-day as well as a few weekend specials. Currently, our programming slot is between 6.30 and 10.30pm and five days a week. We may also look at producing original Bengali movies with the help of Star Fox going forward,” Giri said.
The company intends to introduce merchandise like apparel, jewellery and also CDs and DVDs of a few of the popular Bengali shows.
Star already has its merchandise line for some of the popular shows on Star Plus, like its Star Parivar range.
Star India's Bengali general entertainment channel - Star Jalsa - went on air on September 8, 2008.
This was part of Star India's plan to invest $100 million to launch as many as six regional channels in India.
In the regional space, the network has a Tamil channel Star Vijay and two news channels. There is Star Majha, the Marathi news channel, and the ABP joint venture that runs STAR Ananda.
In a bid to expand its viewership through the internet and generate additional revenues, Star India has tied up with Nautanki.tv.
The broadcaster will make its content available on the video website, and has already started to offer video clips from Star Plus, Star One and Channel [V].
Nautanki.tv is an online platform which enables video content producers to upload and host their content in short duration formats, and distribute it through 10,000 video widgets owned by the portal.
This tie-up gives Star a new medium to take its content to viewers in India and across the world and add value to the advertisers. Content from Star’s regional channels will also be added.
The videos uploaded by Star India on Nautanki.tv include various clips, each of three minutes duration, from discontinued but popular shows such as Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasautii Zindagi Kay, and Sanjeevani.
Clips of Channel [V']s Get Gorgeous are also available on Nautanki.tv. Star India will share the revenue earned through the video advertising with Nautanki.tv, which will in turn, share it with the people who use its widgets on their blogs or websites.
This is not the first time that Star is using the online platform to expand its reach and increase viewership for its programmes.
It already uploads short-duration video clips of various programmes that run on its national and regional channels on its own internet properties such as Indya.com and Indyaondemand.com.
According to Adex India, in 2008, out of the total advertising revenue on television, regional channels contributed 41 per cent compared with 51 per cent by the national channels.
The total regional advertising market, including print and television, stood at Rs 2046.2 crore in 2007-08. Of the total advertising market in India, the national versus regional ratio was 81:19 per cent, clearly skewed in favour of national advertising.
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