Ag Talk | If it doesn't sell it isn't creative, Balaji's Sameer Nair

The news of Sameer Nair joining Balaji Telefilms as its Group CEO a few months back came in as a little surprise for the television and broadcast industry. But only for good reason as he headed back to where he began from, after a sabbatical taken to try the entrepreneurial role! Having an illustrious career in the television media business for years now, Nair has donned many hats in the past. However, the announcement did manage to bring in the curiosity element in the industry as to what and how Nair will bring on board at the media company. 

An executive turned entrepreneur and now a top boss, Nair was formerly the Programming Head, COO & CEO of Star Network and was later the CEO of NDTV Imagine. From selling space in Yellow Pages to being a member of a political party, Sameer Nair has had a volatile career throughout.

Amongst many of his achievements, Nair, at Star TV, was responsible for revamping the network and launching the combination of fiction and non-fiction – KBC and Balaji daily soaps on Star Plus in the year 2000. These and other shows catapulted the channel to the Number 1 position which it held on to for a span of 9 long years. Nair, in many ways has been credited to not only launch NDTV Imagine, but also bring genres like mythology and historical programming into daily primetime schedules.

Now aboard Balaji Telefilms, Sameer Nair talks to Adgully about his plans, roles, strategies and a lot more.

Adgully (AG): It’s been a few months that you came aboard the Balaji Telefilms ship. What does your role at Balaji entail?
Sameer Nair (SN):
My role is very simple and clear as a Group CEO; I work very closely with Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor. The plan is to scale up the business at Balaji Telefilms which has been the leader in television content with all of its programs enjoying a position amongst the highest TRPs on their respective GEC’s from last 20 year. At Balaji, undoubtedly the team has done a remarkable job of creating one of the most vibrant entities in content generation.

AG: What are some of the immediate challenges you faced at Balaji?
SN:
There are more opportunities than challenges as the company has had a wonderful track record of producing brilliant shows like the most recent one being - Yeh hai Mohobetain which is performing really well among the audience on both the slots (7.30 PM and 11.00) along with many other shows. We are launching new shows and in that sense Ekta has really created a great creative space among the audiences. We have had good releases in the past 6 months, capping up with Ek Villain which touched 100 CR. Going further too, we have a really robust movie slate with a plan of releasing 8 movies in 2015 and other 8 to 10 movies in 2016.

AG: Shed some light on the new entity Box Cricket League. How did that happen?
SN:
Very recently with Marinating Films we devised a new entity, Box Cricket League. We have worked very hard with the other senior people of the team to ramp up that property. There are 8 teams owned by different celebrities who are an interesting mix of people including RJs, sports commentators, some ex-players etc. BCL has both male and female stars playing on-field together and catapults the drama and entertainment to new heights. This is an interesting IP for us and very first year we would be an expenditure on our front as we will be seen spending a lot of money in terms of making these properties happen and touch newer heights. 

AG: Is it far to say that BCL is a step to foray in the sports reality entertainment?
SN:
There is nothing like foraying into this genre, but since we are in the business of creating and owning newer and interesting IPs, this is a step for giving something interesting to our viewers. With Marinating Films we are working on a lot of other ideas too in the events space. Recently we did a joint venture with Select Media and hosted and produced Star Box Office Awards. And with Select Media we have come up with Event Media within which we will be coming up with a lot of new awards and events as well. So being a content generator, our aim is to give a platform to the talent and becoming a magnetic hub that can attract people to come and work with us in a collaborative manner.

AG: While Balaji has produced many shows over the years, what according to you does the company still need to work on / or lacks?
SN:
Balaji has set its own standards in the fiction properties and there are a lot of talks going on among the channel heads in terms of doing high production one hour fiction shows, weekly and bi-weekly formats. Though Balaji has not typically done non-fiction in the past but with BCL etc we are looking forward to doing a lot more in that space. So we do not believe in just doing it for the sake of doing it but doing it with an aim to back newer ideas!

AG: While you have worked on both the sides of the game, how do you see production houses and broadcasters find a sync between quality content and fruitful programming?
SN:
There is a great sync though between broadcasters, content generators, production houses, theatre owners etc but producing fruitful content etc are the real matters of debate, because we believe in David Ogilvy’s statement which says, ‘if it doesn’t sell it isn’t creative.’! As at the end of day it is a consumer who has to view and consume your content and like it enough to make it monetize for all. We are in a business where if the content is selling it is creative but the only concern is whether it is selling better that the cost of making or not!

AG: With an illustrious experience in the industry, share your thoughts on whether or not have audiences and their preferences for content on television changed over the years?
SN:
Yes, the audience behaviour has changed, but these changes happen gradually, it cannot change at a fraction of a second. For example a genuine change in the TV viewing habits was seen when Star Plus did Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000, it was a big thing. So today with so much of new content there are a lot of people who have shifted from daily soaps to other genres. With newer generation that is coming in this industry they have brilliant ideas which are far beyond daily soaps. Also, the audience that was watching KBC fourteen years ago and the audience who is watching KBC today, one will easily identify the changes in the viewers therefore urging the content producers changing their execution strategies. Undoubtedly, every generation has certain amount of rebellion and the rebellion is complied with technology and other things.

AG:  Balaji has been known as the pioneer of soap-operas in modern day Hindi television space. While the production house has tried a few new formats, what is the success rate of these formats against daily soaps?
SN:
Many things have worked well because if you look at non-fiction formats like quiz shows, comedy shows, dance show, detective shows, mythological shows, historical shows, I believe all have worked on an encouraging note. But there are few genres which are evergreen and will always be successful. Like for Indian audiences, daily soaps is a successful genre and will always be successful. The reason behind the same is the composition of the audience in India which is highly marked out in terms of geography.

AG: With new formats, you have also tried to cater to various age groups and newer TG’s. How does a production house cope with the changing desires and demands of these varied TG’s?
SN:
It works in the same way; our business is to anticipate the needs, demands and preferences of our consumer. The game is to do it first before any other production house does it!

AG: Also, the last few months have seen short-format and finite series mushrooming on Hindi GEC’s. How viable do you think are these formats considering the audience mindset and the time a show takes to build a connect with the audience?
SN:
In the west, finite and short format genre is the most exciting and successful one. This notion is pretty new and niche in India so with time as we all evolve, learn and understand this, we will slowly and steadily get into the this very soon..But what we, as content generators should understand is the fact that our audiences are different and the way finite/shot format genre works outside India, is not necessary the same way it will work here. The only point of success would lie on economics; if that is right then the show is a boon for the channel and the marketer. The finite show format comes out to be a little more expensive though.

AG: With certain shows from the production house performing well at channels across, what is focus in the next 2 years?  
SN:
The focus will be on creating IPs, collaborative businesses, diversifying new TV businesses, enhancing film business and adding more movies to it. | By: Aanchal kohli | Twitter: @aanchalkohli 

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