AgTalk | Unafraid to challenge the status quo: Colors' Raj Nayak

Colors, a general entertainment channel and part of the Viacom 18 family, that was launched on July 21, 2008 has completed a successful five years of existence. The channel in keeping with their promise to provide innovative entertainment continues to enthrall audiences in India and across the globe.

The channel which completed five years on 21st July 2013 has not only overtaken the other GECs but has carved a niche for itself with their differentiated programming thus giving a new meaning to Indian entertainment television. They are the leading player among the GECs and have made unparalleled headway in their programming, promotions, marketing and distribution strategies. The challenges they face is only helping the channel to emerge a stronger brand which is gradually paving its way to become the no.1 in the GEC genre.

Currently, the channel is featuring a number of successful shows, such as Balika Vadhu, Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, Uttaran, and Sasural Simar Ka. The channel's most popular and longest running shows are Balika Vadhu & Uttaran which ranked in the top 5 shows of Indian television's TRPs charts, within 3 months of their launch.

In conversation with Adgully on the 5th anniversary of the channel, Raj Nayak , CEO, Colors takes us through the channel’s journey, their challenges, marketing strategies , their activities on  the  digital front , the channel’s  vision for the future and more. This is what he had to say:

Adgully (AG) : Since the inception of the channel what have the  highlights of this five year journey been? Have most of the expectations been fulfilled according to you?

Raj Nayak (RN):  The journey has been exciting, both the celebration of our success and the endurance of our failures. Reaching the top slot and reaching in such a short time obviously has been exciting but highlights would be the many firsts that we did as a brand – Right from scheduling KKK against the top rated fiction shows to story of a child bride to Ring Ka King to Zindagi abhi baki hai  with Yuvraj Singh and now 24; we have always led the way with newer and fresher approach. This has been the highlight and the most satisfying part of our journey.

AG: What would you attribute the success of Colors to? 

RN: Our ability to include every member of the family is our biggest strength. This is the reason why Balika Vadhu, Bigg Boss, Comedy Nights with Kapil and Pammi despite being completely different genres are all successful. The other strength that we have is the fact that we are unafraid to experiment and challenge status quo.

AG: Please share with us some of the best works at Colors that has  made the channel proud till date?

RN: Oh this list can be really long for the short five years that we have been there, but let me name three key properties – Balika Vadhu, Madhubala and Bigg Boss. Balika Vadhu and Bigg Boss because it gave brand COLORS an identity and Madhubala because it’s about what brand COLORS is today – ‘BLOCKBUSTER’

AG: Could you tell us a little about the big markets for Colors internationally? What kind of marketing push would we be seeing in the near future?

RN: COLORS is present in 50+ countries, COLORS content is being syndicated in more than 50 countries and in 20+ international languages. We have done very well internationally, unlike India we didn’t have the network strength when we launched internationally. Such has been the response for brand COLORS that we had to launch another brand classic GEC brand ‘Rishtey’ only for the international markets.

AG: What strategies undertaken by the channel has led Colors to be where it is today?

RN: We launched as the 11th GEC player, we knew we were entering an already crowded market. Hence the COLORS strategy was on three pillars the 3 D’s – ‘Differentiation’ in Content, ‘Disruption’ in scheduling and effective ‘Distribution’. The team knew if they had to succeed they had to be different, not another me too and they needed to go will all guns blazing.

To elaborate, shows like  "Bhanwar" idea of telling true stories but in the garb of a family drama set in rural india, or our flagship show Balika Vadhu, beautifully telling the uplifting story of child bride, completely different from the urban Saas Bhau shows at that time. Breaking viewership habits was a challenge and therein the strategy to use a high profile Bollywood star and strip a non fiction show like Khatron Ka Khiladi on week days prime time. Besides other shows in different genres like mythology etc, the offering was complimented with blockbuster Bollywood movies that worked as tent poles to drive in newer audience. This was supported by strong distribution and sound marketing. I think the combination of all these factors made it work. In that sense I would say yes it was a Big Bang overall strategy and it worked. It was a risk for sure but a calculated one, and fortunately for Colors it paid off.

AG: The numbers have sufficed as far as the channel's reach and the shows are concerned, so according to you what is that one characteristic  of your team which helped achieve these milestones?

RN: The one characteristic that defines the COLORS DNA is our ability to not play safe. We have always lived like a challenger brand and this makes us unafraid to challenge status quo, the word ‘Impossible’ is temporary in our dictionary.

AG: Given the successful completion of the five year journey what kind of new strategies would we be seeing in the near future?

RN: At our core we will always be ‘entertainment with differentiation and variety’, but  the one thing that will take us to a higher level will be ‘thought leadership’ in every area of our business, be it content, production, marketing and even sales & acquisition.

AG: What have your learnings from the past been which you would  improve upon and implement henceforth for the betterment of the channel? What vision do you have for the channel five years down the line?

RN: There have been learnings from the past, as we move ahead we need to stay nimble-footed, agile, continue to re-invent and be relevant for our viewers.

AG: Given the fact that digital is the order of the day what progress would be seeing on the digital front at Colors?

RN: Digital is growing too fast to be ignored. COLORS has a two pronged approach for digital – Engagement and Value Creation. While most of our show specific interactions are engagement led, we are working with a long term objective to create our own destination across Web, Mobile, Apps and OEM’s.

AG: Colors is all set to launch the series ‘24’ in the near future. What kind of differentiated programming would audiences be witnessing soon on the channel?

RN: We are living up to our promise of offering viewers blockbuster and varied entertainment. We have already announced the launch of ‘24’, it’s the first step towards seasonal programming in India. We are the only channel that has done seasons for a fiction show – ‘Na bole tum…’ Similarly we are experimenting with newer genres in primetime with Mr Pammi Pyarelal and ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’. We are always on the lookout for content that is differentiated and will resonate with the Indian viewers.

AG: Colors as a channel has redefined  Indian entertainment television since the last five years. What are your views on this?

RN: We take this compliment with a lot of humility and keep pushing ourselves never to let our viewers down.