Viacom18 Media to launch Gujarati movie channel on Jun 1

Media and entertainment firm Viacom18 Media will launch Gujarati movie channel, Colors Gujarati Cinema, on June 1 to further expand its presence in regional space, a senior company official said.

The pay channel will offer over 300 films across genres.

The Gujarati ad revenue market size is pegged at Rs 100 crore and Viacom18's regional general entertainment channel, Colors Gujarati, enjoys a market share of 43 per cent in the same.

"I see our market share going up significantly. It should at least be 50 (per cent) plus. These days the reach you get from movies is unparallel. We are hoping in the first three months itself, we start to see a lot of traction," Viacom18 Head - Regional Entertainment Ravish Kumar told PTI.

The channel would be priced at Re 1 per month and will be a part of the network's primary 'Colors wala value pack'.

"Gujarati language has clocked the highest growth rate amongst all language TV viewership with 36 per cent year-on-year growth. Movies as a TV genre enjoy 25 per cent viewership in Gujarat. With the absence of a premium television channel showcasing Gujarati movies, it was a perfect white space for us to capture," he said.

Gujarati cinema market industry is estimated to be of Rs 500-600 crore.

Viacom18's regional cluster viewership has seen a 36.5 per cent growth, contributing 22 per cent to revenues in 2018-19. It contributed 17 per cent in 2017-18 and 18 per cent in 2016-17.

"I would ideally like (it) to be 50 per cent (regional share) and that's what we are working towards. It's been steadily going up year-on-year because a lot of the growth is around regional channels as we continue to do better in the markets that we are in.

"There are quite a few markets where we aren't a dominant player but the market itself is huge. I see ample opportunity to grow both ways," he said, adding that he sees the regional channels contributing half of the revenues in the next five years.

On further expanding the portfolio, Kumar said: "This year we are consolidating. Kannada, Marathi are our areas of strength, Tamil we are a recent entrant although we made a strong start, we still have a long journey ahead of us...We have a lot of white space markets to look into. We will continue to push expansion strategy."