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For a TV network in India, Hindi GECs are hard to ignore. Hindi GECs account for 27 per cent of the ad pie. However, Disney India, which acquired UTV India in 2012, does not have one.
Siddharth Roy Kapur, the managing director, says, "We are pretty satisfied with how smart we have been in the TV business by keeping our investments at what they are. We have managed to keep a profitable business, the risk profile of going without something like a Hindi GEC has worked in our favour." Instead, the media network is trying to take a page out of global Disney's book.
What Disney India, which is also present in movie production (studio), licensing, mobile gaming platform, is aiming for now is branding its content. Vijay Subramaniam, VP, content and communications, media networks, says, "Besides being a profitable media network, we want to build on branded entertainment - where a consumer starts associating content with a channel. Disney does that well (content which is instantly recognisable as created by Disney)." The brand Disney is looking to further now is Bindass, the youth channel launched in 2007. Subramaniam says, "Research has told us that shows such as Yeh Hai Aashiqui, Love by Chance, Emotional Atyachaar are recalled by the audience as Bindass shows and not just by their names."
Subramaniam says, "It was only apt that we look at our portfolio, now that Bindass has established itself as a friend to the youth, to see which other channels, even if profitable, would offer far better value by being brought into the Bindass fold." While UTV Stars functioned as a music cum Bollywood content channel, Subramaniam says that it is tough to build Bollywood as a setting, as it is not exlcusive to any platform.
"But with Bindass, we have hit the right notes by getting a certain flavour of stories on love and relationships right for the youth, be honest and empathise with them and celebrate moments with them. The same group is also consuming a lot of music and hence, Play," Subramaniam says.
Roy Kapur says, "While earlier relationships for the youth was shown in a more risque manner, Bindass portrayed a reality that was okay for the youth to watch with friends and family and still feel that it was meant for them. In single-TV households especially, the youth weren't embarrased to watch the channel."
Bindass Play will now reinforce Bindass' positioning - as an enabler of purpose and action. Play, for example, would give a free hand to the audience to curate the content, like Bindass did with Tia's Playlist on Facebook. Its Tweet Meri Beat would would allow users to play songs on the channel using their Twitter handles, while there would also be a programme based on SMSes.
Disney is banking on Bindass' brand loyalty to rub off on Play, besides UTV Star's own pull.
UTV Stars as of July-September, 2014, had an overall channel share 0.28 per cent and among the Hindi music channels was sixth in channel share (all India, target audience 4 years and above).
Bindass, in July-September, 2014, was ahead of MTV and trailing Channel V in channel share, among the three most recognisable youth channels (see chart).
Disney is ready with a distribution strategy for Bindass. Gandhi says, "We have ensured that Bindass sit with the GECs in the EPG (electronic programme guide), moving it up the order (for which networks have to pay carriage fee to platforms). So anyone surfing Colors or Star Plus could easily switch over to Bindass to sample it." The network consisting of eight channels, also ensured that UTV Stars was included in as many base packs as possible of DTH players over the last two years, making Bindass Play accessible to 50 million DTH homes. In a genre which gets only Rs 150 crore from subscription (the balance Rs 750 crore come from advertisers), Disney is banking on digitisation take off at a fast clip.
Disney's plans for Bindass, which industry sources say clocked revenues of Rs 125 crore (while the whole media network made around Rs 625 crore), are trying to capture the trend in youth entertainment on TV. The Hinglish channels such as MTV and Channel V have not only moved towards fiction shows but have also incorporated branded content where advertisers weave in their brands with the stories being told. These give a boost to the advertising-led genre.
Gandhi says, "We have built a huge pipe of branded content, primarily on digital (YouTube). Last year, we created more than 500 videos for brands and have 20 brands working with us for Play." Bindass has around 56 million minutes of content viewed on its YouTube channel in a month.
While, earlier only two-wheeler makers would advertise on Bindass, now lubricants and four-wheelers have started coming onboard too, besides mobile phones and computer acccessories players. FMCG, though, continues to be the largest contributor.
However, there would still be challenges, as a senior official with one of the DTH platforms says music channels act as fillers for the audience and the time-spent is low. Hence, without the synergies as evident in Sony's music channel (Mix) and label, or the association of T-series with m-Tunes, he says, standalone music channels such as Bindass Play would find it challenging to sustain as music channels because buying the music rights takes a further toll.
It is for Disney, then, to make brand Bindass work hard for both the channels than Play be another entry in the music genre.
