An 'encounter' with Sony's Gaurav Seth

Today television entertains audiences with programmes in varied genres, among which crime is the most consumed genre. In the Hindi GEC space, Sony TV is the leading channel which offers three crime based shows and now with their latest offering Encounter adding to the list, the channel will be maximizing shows in this genre. Encounter, produced by one of India’s leading production house Endemol is all set to be launched this Friday, 11th April 2014.

Adgully caught up with Gaurav Seth, Sr. VP and Head-Marketing, SET to know more about their upcoming show, its promotional activities, their beliefs and strategies with regard to content on the channel and much more.

The promos of the show have already created a buzz amongst the audience, but what was the thought behind coming up with a fourth crime based show on SET?  “We are coming up with the show Encounter because crime is an exciting genre to be in. Historically for Sony shows in the crime genre like CID, Crime Patrol and Adaalat have worked well. We realized that people come to Sony for content like this and this show is an interesting take on the encounters which have taken place in India and also depicts how Indian Police have tackled the crime over the last 30-40 years,” briefed Seth.

The show will be hosted by Manoj Bajpai, an acclaimed Bollywood actor who will play the role of a narrator for the show. Sharing the reason about why Manoj Bajpai was the right choice for the show, he said, “We believe that Manoj is the only person who would fit the bill of an extremely convincing and believable host for Encounter. In the past he has portrayed numerous different characters in movies based on this genre, so we are certain that he will be convincing in his role as a host for the show.”

Encounter based on true stories and inspired by real life instances which have taken place in the country have been reconstructed to bring alive famous encounters that have been etched in the minds of the people and the media. The format will be much on the lines of its on - going docu-drama, Crime Patrol.

Although SET has always been viewed as a male focused channel, efforts are on to bring women oriented shows on the channel as well. When asked if with Encounter the channel is reinforcing the belief that it is a male oriented channel he said, “It’s just an assumption that SET is a male focused channel or crime is a genre which is only watched by the male audience.  Crime is a genre which is watched by mass audience.  Even for our lead shows there is high concentration of children and female audience. We at SET believe in offering programmes for family viewing in the prime time slot. Encounter, is not content which we are positioning for only a certain section of the audience.”

Encounter will be aired Friday- Sunday at 9 pm , will replace dance reality show Boogie Woogie  and also shift the slot for two daily soaps. On asking the rationale behind the same, he explained, “Our shows Nandini (aired at 9 pm) and Jee Le Zara (aired at 9.30 pm) will henceforth work in Monday-Thursday slot as they did in the early days of their launch. The reason behind moving the shows back to  the earlier slot is that some of the stories of  Encounter  may require  three parts to tell the story thus the reason for the Friday –Sunday slot.  Such changes are the norm at SET and other channels too where experimentation, evolving audiences and growing properties rather than slots is the trend seen of late. We are sure that these changes will not affect the story telling of Nandini and Jee Le Zara.”

The show that will be aired three times a week, spans 39 episodes and as part of their marketing and promotion plans, the promos are already visible on nearly 25 television channels along with a high focus on other mediums that include radio, print, digital media and others.

Speaking about competition, Seth said, “There is competition in every slot today. It is all about offering content which we as a channel give to consumer at any given time. In India majority of people watch television in the prime time slot, and so SET too aims to put content in that slot.  We also believe that the strength of our content is good and will continue to get audiences. Encounter seems to have potential in terms of content and the show will also involve stars from the television and film industry.” SET believes that the show will have good pick up once it is launched.

Audiences who are presently subjected to a string of soaps and reality shows on television can now look forward to more in the crime genre and make their week-ends interesting with ‘Encounter’ soon to be launched on Sony Entertainment Television.