Sun Direct mantra: Be regional, think national

Its ad-jingle “Tan tana tann” has come true all the way. Sun Direct DTH has become the second largest direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV operator in the country.

There are presently around 20 million DTH subscribers in the country and Sun has managed to capture more than 25 per cent of the pie with a customer base of 5.3 million. It has moved ahead of Tata Sky, lagging only Dish TV in the pecking order.

Presently the number of DTH subscribers is around 20 million serviced by seven players in the country: DD Direct, Dish TV (6.8 million), Sun TV (5.3 million), Tata Sky (5.1 million), Big TV, Airtel DTH and Videocon. DD Direct is a free-to-air service provider.

“Our strategy has been ‘be regional, think national’ and we continue to focus on south India. We have been consistently growing in this market and this rise in subscriber base has happened over a period of time,” says Tony D’ Silva, chief operating officer, Sun Direct DTH.

D’Silva said that one operator cannot address the needs of all customers and hence everyone has to exercise discretion. “There is a limitation on the transponder’s capacity. What people watch in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or West Bengal would be very different and we have identified our market well,” he says. The TV advertisement campaigns of Sun had an emotional connect with the audiences as Sun communicated in the regional languages that they would get what they wanted.

Since all DTH operators charge almost the same fees, there isn't any substantial price advantage that Sun enjoys, D’Silva says “Content is the key differentiator for us. When we started our services, we had to compete with the cable operators. Unlike north India, cable prices in the south Indian market are much lower, so we had to start at a lower price point of Rs 75 per month.”

However, the price has since gone up to Rs 99 per month now as the Sun TV network now commands a premium due to its higher reach and viewership.

According to a KPMG-FICCI report on the media and entertainment industry, “The strength of the southern market alone can be demonstrated by 1500-odd gross rating points (GRPs) that Sun TV, which dominates the Tamil Nadu TV industry, commands. In comparison, 1100 GRPs are shared between some five players in Hindi GEC and the market leader at any point of time finds it difficult to gain more than 250-300 GRPs”.

The Sun network increased the rates of not only its flagship Tamil channel Sun TV in 2009, but also followed the trend in Telugu, Kannada and Malyalam GEC markets by hiking the rates for Gemini, Udaya and Surya channels respectively19. This is in contrast to the flat trend amongst national players.

On its part, Tata Sky says it is no longer focused on volumes alone and wants to focus on the quality of customers and maximise revenues from them. “We will never sacrifice volume share completely for value share. But we believe that a sustainable business model will come from adequate share in value terms and not from volume for volume’s sake,” says Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik.