AgTalk | Will sustain the leadership position: TheOneAlliance's Rajesh Kaul

It is an association that has stayed true to its name. While partnerships keep getting forged and break faster than one can think of, this one has been going on for 11 years and over the years has only emerged stronger. Yes in 2002 TheOneAlliance, formerly known as MSM Discovery Pvt Ltd was formed with an aim to cater to all distribution platforms and offer them the best of entertainment. Today it distributes 28 channels ranging from their own Sony and Discovery channels to TV Today Network to Times Television Network to Neo Prime & Neo Sports. It recently completed 11 years and entered its 12th year. On the eve of TheOneAlliance achieving this milestone, Adgully caught up with Rajesh Kaul, President, TheOneAlliance to know his views on the various matters concerning the environment in which it operates. The following is the transcript of the talk.

Adgully: Looking back, from the day One Alliance started, how has been the journey in these 11 years? Is the growth satisfying? Can you mention some of the milestones within this period?

Rajesh Kaul: We are celebrating 11 glorious years of sustenance and leadership this year. Growth has been good but not as desired because of the various reasons. Today, TheOneAlliance has more than 25 per cent of market share of revenue pie of the paid broadcasters present and we are looking at growing at a fast pace.

AG: How has the business scene changed within this period? What are the new challenges in the digitization era? What are you doing about this?

RK: We had just 150 - 200 channels 11 years back and today there are 700 channels. Lot of consolidation has happened on ground and within channels. We have moved from a complete analog to a complete digitized world. We are hopeful that with digitization, overall revenues will get multiplied and the carriage fee which has been a big part of the broadcasters becomes negligible. After DAS II our main challenge will be the rolling out of CAF forms. Soon distribution revenue will be taking over ad sales revenue. So in 5 years’ time we will see that the revenues from distribution will be far more than the revenues from ad sales.

AG: What is the future roadmap now that you are already on a firm footing, what next for TheOneAlliance? What will be your sustainable competitive advantage?

RK: We are ready for the future, our channels are doing well. We have exceedingly premium channels in our bouquet, so we are completely ready and the road map is also ready. Now digitization has happened so we just have to correct the overall revenue share allocation on the ground. Broadcast should get 35 – 40 per cent of the overall revenue, so that should happen now which has not happened so far. The roadmap is ready we just have to implement it.

AG: What are your future plans?

RK: In the next 2 years, digitization will be completed in the country and that would bring the much desired transparency. And much awaited fair shares of revenues. With the strength of content, TheOneAlliance is poised for a big leap in revenue. We are looking at a 200 per cent increase in revenue in the next 5 years.

AG: How do you view the TV distribution scene in the country? What will be the future trends like?

RK: In the worldwide scenario, distribution revenue contributes to 70 to 80 per cent of the overall revenue and ad sales contribute only 20 or 30 per cent. In India it is completely different but with digitization, things are expected to change for the better. So channels will be earning a huge lot of money from distributions and distribution revenue is going to be one of the most significant and crucial. Very soon you will see that the distribution percentage for broadcast will overshadow ad sales.

AG: What is the business philosophy of TheOneAlliance?  How are you different from the rest?

RK: TheOneAlliance has been the only stable JV since the past 11 years. We have 28 exceedingly premium channels in our bouquet. We have always focused on Quality rather than Quantity. TheOneAlliance boasts of featuring leading channels in all genres. We have very stable partners. MSM and Discovery both are media giants and they keep investing so we will always ensure to sustain the leadership position.