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I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a truckload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched ’round and ’round ’til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on

Years later, Indian viewers had more than 500 channels, but amid the frenetic swirl of programming notes and promotions for shows, viewers despaired of finding something they really wanted to watch. People hated the fact that laborious surfing of channels was required just to discover the right programme. Viewers’ drudgery ended in 2005. That year marked the launch of What’s On India, a TV guidance and electronic programme guide (EPG) company — which was recently hailed by Forbes India as one of the top 5 ‘Hottest Start-ups to Watch in 2010’. What’s On India provides the much needed solution for a personalised search of TV content.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Atul Phadnis, the founder and CEO of What’s On India, describes how the company secured an instant connect with viewers both on screen and off-screen on its website. In fact, the connect has also been established on the company’s WAP portal and even on social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Indeed, the concept of television guidance has been readily accepted since there was a yawning need-gap between the right content and the right eyeballs.

Excerpts from the interview:

Adgully: What inspired you to start What’s On India?

Atul Phadnis: During my stint as a vice-president of an audience measurement company, TAM Media Research, I found that people spent a lot of time trying to find something worth watching. I instantly knew that a guide which could provide the schedules of current and upcoming TV shows would prove to be a solution. I believe that when new programmes are launched, there has to be a marriage between the right content and the right eyeballs, especially in the Indian market which is extremely fragmented and segmented. My belief led me to the electronic programming guide (EPG) business.

An overwhelming majority of viewers switch on their TVs without knowing what to watch, since they have to choose from over a hundred other channels. Consequently, many often spend hours flipping between them, making many little stops as they go back and forth on a remote-controlled journey. This endless journey inspired me, and What’s On India was launched in 2005 as the TV industry was debating Cable CAS, and as the DTH revolution was gathering pace.

AG: How have viewers responded to What’s On India channel?

AP: A recent study conducted by the company among early adopters of the What’s On India channel has found that more than half of the channel’s viewers go to the What’s On India channel every time they switch on their TV set. They do this to cut the time they would otherwise take to search-and-find TV shows through mindless surfing of channels!

AG: What accounts for What’s On India channel’s success?

AP: It’s the only Indian TV channel that tells you what to watch on TV. The key insight guiding the company’s plans is that 70% of the time, viewers switch on their TVs without knowing exactly what to watch. The TV industry is increasingly becoming aware of this ‘Unplanned Viewing’ phenomenon that has been exacerbated with the supernormal growth in channels and programmes over the past few years. Viewers were getting overwhelmed by thousands of viewing options in a single day. During these 70% of unplanned TV sessions, millions of viewers are in the search-and-find mode in a bid to find interesting programmes to watch.

This problem is tackled by What’s On India channel. Its USP is that it constantly presents viewers with information and recommendations of what TV programmes to watch and where to find them.

AG: What future course have you set for the What’s On India business?

AP: We are aggressively targeting smaller, scattered, and standalone cable operators, as a survey conducted by What’s On India indicates that local cable operators view What’s On India as ‘the channel of channels’. The channel is now looking at expanding its reach beyond metros by acquiring subscribers in tier-II and tier-III cities. Our first phase target is to reach 20 million homes. We are present on the web, on Facebook and Twitter, and even on the mobile phone with our WAP site. We plan to foray into the mobile telephony content-search business after the 3G technology kicks in.

AG: And what can the viewers expect?

AP: The channel is set to introduce new programming concepts and formats for viewers. One of the new shows will be in the form of a parental guide, where there will be enough content and means for parents to handle the relationship between the child and the TV. Currently, the majority of children are overexposed to TV, with parents being clueless about tracking and controlling their kids’ viewing habits.

The second format revolves around the pre-show content of shows to be launched by various channels. The idea is to inform, educate and create an interest in viewers’ minds about the upcoming big properties.

AG: Was it tough to get to where you are today?

AP: When we started, there were three major obstacles to negotiate, and they were to do with various market realities. The first obstacle was in terms of technology. In 2005-2006, technology had to be built from scratch in India because the market was unlike others and technology could not be simply borrowed. The second hurdle was building industry standards for broadcast networks as well as for operators in the EPG domain. Finally, choosing the right presentation for the channel was another obstacle. As for the offerings and the look, the company tested around eight or nine versions before launching the final one. Now that the channel has been launched, the biggest challenge is to ensure that the channel keeps evolving its offerings even as distribution continues to ramp up.