AgTalk | Huge market for niche channels: Prasana Krishnan, Neo Sports

This is a country where Sports is considered as another religion, where people would sacrifice and celebrate the success as another festival with fireworks and loud music. In the last couple of years, sports other than cricket have been getting more popular like football, hockey and wrestling. In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Prasana Krishnan, COO, Neo Sports Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. talks about the development of the channel, its objectives for the coming years among other things.

Adgully: How has Neo Sports grown in the last couple of years?

Prasana Krishnan: NEO Cricket has been ranked the no. 1 channel by viewership for 3 years in a row (out of 4 years of operations) and we are really proud of this achievement. Maintaining this leadership and consistently meeting viewers' expectations of quality sports offering is always an exciting challenge. NEO Bouquet was also ranked the number 1 Sports network for the year 2010 as per TAM.

We also expanded our global reach with our North American launch and are already available in USA on Comcast network, one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communication products and services and Cablevision Systems Corp. One of the leading telecommunications, media and Entertainment Company in USA, to telecast the 24-hour sports channel, NEO Cricket. We have also signed a deal with Asian Television Network, Canada's largest distributor of world class cricket to distribute the channel in Canada.

We are also proud of the fact that many significant achievements by Indian sportspersons like Arjun Atwal's historic win when he became the first Indian to win the first US PGA tour title, Saina Nehwal's ascendancy to top three in the world and Sachin's 200, the first in world and many more took place on NEO.

Ag: How challenging has it been to consolidate the channel viz a viz competition?

PK: Though it is a highly competitive market, we have managed to grow significantly and consolidate our leadership position and expand geographically. We have strengthened our cricket portfolio with new long term deals with the BCCI, ACC, etc. Innovative programming has helped us differentiating ourselves from others by maintaining the right balance between high quality content and following international high class broadcast practices. As far as NEO Sports is concerned we offer premium quality global sports including top drawer Football, Tennis, Golf, Motoracing, Badminton to all the sports lovers. This includes German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, US PGA TOUR Golf, ITF Davis Cup and Fed Cup, WTA Tour Women's Tennis, BWF, NASCAR & MotoGP among others.

Ag: How much of a potential does the other sports have in terms of developing when compared to cricket?

PK: Football continues to grow aggressively and we have seen and witnessed good demand for both Bundesliga and Serie A. Indian success in badminton is well documented these days. Golf continues to grow very well particularly in urban and affluent markets and we are witnessing strong demand for our PGA tour coverage. Tennis has a very steady and strong following and the recent Indian success in Davis Cup has helped in strengthen demand.

Ag: What are the two main objectives for the next two years for the channel?

PK: To maintain our leadership position in the core Indian market. Continue our expansion process with more geographies added and consolidating our leadership position in these markets.

Ag: How have you seen the media space evolving in the last five years?

PK: Broadcasting industry has seen strong growth in advertising. DTH emergence is a major trend with over 24 million subscriber base as reported in media. This is bringing addressability and competition to the distribution segment and aiding growth.

Ag: What are the challenges in sports broadcasting?

PK: The entire broadcasting industry is facing some uncertainties due to the regulatory changes that are on the anvil. The emerging environment provides for a huge opportunity for growth for the industry but obviously transition period does create some challenges. But the long-term outlook for the sector is extremely bright and the business of sport seems set to grow rapidly for most of this decade.

Ag: What is the scope for niche channels in today's market?

PK: There is a huge market for niche channels in India in today environment. Indian audience's taste is rapidly changing and to cater to this diverse viewership, broadcasters are looking at launching a variety of channels featuring dedicated content right from health to food and lifestyle. Revolution and innovations have no end when it comes to the Indian television broadcasting market and day- by-day improving technology will play a key role in the growing trend of niche channels. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]