Exclusive | Embracing change & ensuring content availability, HistoryTV18's Aiyer

As we all know, the adoption and popularity of ‘Second Screen’ is growing at a fast rate that online giants like Facebook and Google are rushing to compete with Twitter, who is currently paving the way in this area as the most dominant player. HISTORY TV18 has recently launched an app which allows fans to interact with one another around feeds (videos, images, facts), participate in show discussions, and create conversations on various topics).

The HISTORY TV18 app will offer viewers to network around feeds while watching their favorite shows, watch videos, participate in show discussions, like and reply to Twitter feeds and other social media integration. The app also boasts of a unique feature where it assimilates seamlessly and pulls out friends automatically from the user’s contact list. Viewers can add other users as their buddy and on approvals receive exclusive HISTORY TV18 stickers which can be used in the chat rooms.

Adgully caught up with Sangeetha Aiyer, Vice President and Head Marketing, A+E Networks|TV18 to know more about the initiative. Speaking about the rationale behind an app for the channel, Aiyer said, “In the last few years, there has been a transformation in the way people consume information with a dramatic rise in the number of smart-phones and increased connectivity. In this regard, it would be fair to say apps are the new websites. Television is one of the prime movers of social media, so it made eminent sense for our channel to adapt mobile as a medium to reach our audiences. HISTORY TV18 has always been at the front of digital and has always been open to innovation and experimentation.”

Thorough research and ideation had gone into the development of this app; it is the first exclusive second-screen channel app in India. Audiences using the HISTORY TV18 App can view their chats in real-time via the ticker on-air and discuss it with other fans watching the same show. The app is taking the community-building approach, but unlike other platforms (Twitter and Facebook), here the audience is much targeted. Not only does it allow users to connect with other fans and discuss their favorite shows, but it also helps HISTORY TV18 to connect with their live viewers and get feedback about the shows. “This is a long term community-building approach where the channel can analyze past vs. present data to predict future behavior and trends. Besides this, and more importantly, we are observing tectonic shifts in the way people are consuming content and believe the app will lead us to holy grail of viewership and profits,” she said.

Though the app has mainly been promoted in a traditional way primarily through promos, the channel is seeing growth in a very organic, viral manner, spreading through word-of-mouth. Aiyer said, “Our audiences can also see the live ticker on-air, which serves as a promotion and directly communicates its utility and functionality to users instantly and at some level, helps brings perspective to the channel by taking viewer involvement to the next level”.

When asked about the response, Aiyer said, “The response has been unprecedented to say the least. We have crossed over 280,000 downloads from across the country in a little over a month since launch and are well on our way to reaching half a million downloads by the end of this month! Over 7,000 people have rated us with an average of 4.4 on the Google Play Store. Even on iOS where the standards are extremely high, 60+ people have reviewed the app, a majority of whom have given it a rating of 5/5. Reading the reviews, I am quite humbled by the love and affection our fans have toward us. I am probably biased, but it wouldn’t be an overestimation to call this one of the best received apps in the industry.”

With the advent of smartphones and broadband connectivity, increase in content consumption on mobile platforms will become an eventuality. How media companies evolve to this change in consumer behavior is something we have to wait and watch. “At HISTORY TV18, we are embracing the change and ensuring our content is available where the viewer wants it to be, as more and more people consume content on-the-go and at their convenience. You will just have to wait and watch but you can surely expect a major disruption to the current status quo,” she added.

Some of the interesting features of the app include reliving shows wherein the viewers can chat with tens of thousands of fans while watching your favorite shows on TV, with the option to chat live and see those chats on-air in real-time; follow shows in which the viewers can follow their favorite shows and create and play polls and quizzes about them and can also view images and videos in the Gallery section; mention friends in which any one can tag their friends while chatting about their favorite shows and have real conversations and lastly social invite where the users can invite their friends to join the HISTORY TV18 community across different social platforms. [By Aanchal Kohli | Twitter: @aanchalkohli]