Star World brings Australian series to India

Channel to offer popular drama series, Packed to the Rafters, across TV, Internet and Mobile platforms

The English entertainment channel Star World is all set to air popular Australian  drama series Packed to the Rafters, for the first time in India. Packed to the Rafters is a highly acclaimed series which revolves around the story of the Rafter family, who are fighting different problems of life together.

Rasika Tyagi, Senior VP, English Programming, Star India said, “From our Hindi and Regional GECs, one of the biggest learning’s is that viewers seek life lessons from the daily soaps they watch. The issues faced by the Star World audience, the English speaking, urban Indian youth, is quite myriad and they don’t get to see shows which reflect their life on TV. Our audience will be able to resonate with the issues faced by the characters in Packed to the Rafters and emulate the way they resolve the conflicts”.

The channel has also launched a six-week on-air campaign with Karan Johar to make the show more relatable to the audience. Star World believes that the Indian youth connects with Johar's films as he depicts the Indian values of respect and loving the family in a modern context. “He believes relationships are universal, be it in set in any other part of the world and that’s why he relates to Packed to the Rafter,” the channel said.

Closer to the launch of the show, there will a robust Print, Digital, DTH, Cinema, Radio and OOH campaign reaching audience across the target markets.

The channel will be hosting a web premiere across the Star World website and other social networking sites to give the Indian viewers an experience of the show before it goes on air. The digital Premier will be held on November 30, before its official launch on the channel on December 4.

Subsequently, each of the episodes of the show will be available to be streamed and viewed on the Star World web and wap platforms after it telecast on air.

Commenting on the digital catch-up service, Tyagi added, “When we go for consumer home visits, we get a reality check on how content is being viewed by the youth today. They want to watch a show at their convenience - anywhere, at any time. So, we as content providers have to gear up to share our content across platforms, on internet or on mobile.”