AXN eyes some more of audience action

Known for its thriller and action shows, it wants a bigger slice of the viewership pie and is going to target two different kinds of viewers

AXN, Multi Screen Media's English entertainment channel is all set to unveil its high definition (HD) counterpart. More importantly, it is ready with a new strategy that will reflect in both its standard definition and HD feeds.

AXN has been in India since 1997, and was initially the only competition to Star India's Star World. AXN was positioned as a channel for action and thriller shows. While it continues with the same positioning to date, there is need for some tweaking now.

"AXN has enjoyed the first mover advantage in the thriller and action space. The problem it faces is the perception among masses. While it invested in content, it failed to make a mark with targeted marketing. Thus, the need to relook at the entire strategy," says an industry observer, with experience in broadcasting English entertainment content.

A new programming along with the HD channel will be available from April 6. The business head of MSM's English cluster, Saurabh Yagnik, talks about the need for change following viewers' consumption patterns. Yagnik was earlier heading Star India's English cluster. He says that digitisation (with electronic programming guides and better telecast quality, besides reach) has ensured that English entertainment channels, too, see appointment viewing rather than accidental discovery of content.

The latter was the norm in the analogue regime because of placement and bandwidth issues.

According to data provided by a broadcaster, the English entertainment genre saw the time spent by a viewer increase from 16 minutes in the pre-digitisation era to 22 minutes (by 37.5 per cent) in the post-digitisation period. The number of viewers who spent 10 minutes on the genre has gone up from 16 per cent before digitisation to 24 per cent after digitisation.

"This allows us to mould our programming strategy to take advantage of appointment viewing. We have partnership and deals with almost 20 studios and hence, have access to some of the best English language content. Now it is up to us to build relatability with the audience," says Yagnik.

About the marketing challenge pointed out by the industry, Yagnik says that there is a need to make the right kind of noise.

According to social media analyst, Social Baker, AXN now has some of the highest social media rankings. It has around 5 per cent of Facebook engagement rate compared to 0.64 per cent of Star World (Dec, '14- Feb, '15) or Zee Cafe's 2 per cent. On Twitter, it has around 56 per cent share of voice, followed by Star World with 27 per cent and Zee Cafe with 10 per cent.

AXN will also woo two kinds of audience. There are the early-adopters who seek out international shows and then there are people who go by word of mouth before beginning on a new show. The former discuss the shows in their social circles, both online and offline, while the latter depends on the chatter that builds around them.

On weekdays, it will provide a milieu that would be a mix of previous and new seasons for the ones playing catch-up, while on weekends, it will air episodes close on the heels of their US or UK telecast for the early-adopters.

As a result, the weekend slots will air the latest of the tent pole shows such as Hannibal, Sherlock, Elementary and Supernatural in fiction and reality shows such as The Voice, Top Chef, So You Think You Can Dance and Top Gear. MSM joins Star India in trying to bring down the gap between the telecast of new seasons of foreign shows.

"Having the day and date shows will help rope in the 'opinion leaders'. These are also the most prone to piracy and hence, the faster the channels can serve the content, the more mileage the platform gets. We have seen Star World Premier HD do this. Among the non-HD channels, one can see AXN trying to make the push for both old and new content," says an analyst in the space.

The weekday prime-time will start at 8 pm and extend up to midnight. The 8pm-slot will have traditional AXN shows, mostly in the thrill and entertainment segment such as Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guinness World Records and Wipeout. The 9pm-slot will focus on reality content such as So You Think You Can Dance and Fear Factor.

Fiction will take over from the 10pm-slot with shows like 24, Elementary, NCIS and CSI, followed by the edgier Dexter and Californication.

Yagnik hopes to take the market share (in terms of reach) higher than last year through these moves. In 2014, the channel enjoyed a reach of 28 million viewers, the highest among its peers according to TV viewership rating agency, TAM.