Education, promoting entire genre key to HD growth: Vivek Srivastava

Times Network has rolled out a 360-degree ad campaign for its English Entertainment cluster (EEC) – that includes Movies Now HD, Romedy Now HD and MN+ – to urge the viewers to raise their standards and switch to HD viewing on television.

Starting today, May 2, 2016, the campaign, seeking to inspire viewers to upgrade from SD to HD, will tell them: ‘It’s time to raise your standard to High Definition’.

Vivek Srivastava, SVP and Business Head, Times Network, English Entertainment Cluster, explained, “This multi-media campaign is meant to encourage TV homes to make a rewarding switch from SD to HD and enhance their Hollywood viewing experience. It is estimated that around 12 million HD enabled LCD and LED panels are sold every year, but there are only around 6 million HD subscriptions, so there is immense growth potential. This campaign will benefit not only our own English Cluster, but the entire industry.”

He further said, “HD channels have shown a 93 per cent increase in viewership over the last year and have doubled their ad volumes. Times Network has been a pioneer in the HD space, and we have a full-fledged HD offering with Movies Now HD, Romedy Now HD and MN+. We hope that this campaign will persuade viewers to subscribe to the HD packs.”

The film, featuring Purab Kohli, is a fun take on how Hollywood is viewed in India. It is placed in the timeframe between the points where the central character clicks the remote, and when the TV actually switches on. It takes us into the mind of the character to create an absolutely perfect environment around him that will elevate his movie-watching experience. The film unfolds to catchy music and an energetic edit pattern, using seamless and photo real VFX to create a sparkling world of illusion in the mind of the central character.

In addition to the TVC, which will air across all Times Network and other reach-based TV channels, the Times Network EEC will run a sustained promotion on digital platforms and a high-impact campaign in The Times of India publications, along with interactive activation in agencies across major metros.

In conversation with AdGully, Vivek Srivastava throws more light on this campaign to promote HD viewership.

What kind of growth in HD Viewership are you looking at?
If you look at the growth last year to this year you will find that the HD viewership per se has almost doubled itself. The ad volumes in this segment have also doubled themselves. The number of channels has also grown from a piddly amount to about 55 to 60 channels now. Therefore, there’s enough action happening in the genre and the good part is that consumers, platforms, advertisers and broadcasters – the four key pegs of this segment – are all focusing on and looking at this area as the growth area. If you look at it from a distribution standpoint, the ARPUs on Standard Definition have almost stagnated themselves, and have almost remained the same in the last three years. HD is really that additional segment, and what are you spending? You are spending some Rs 200-250 on an HD connection. It’s almost equivalent to a movie ticket. A guy who has an HD TV set and, I am assuming, a home theatre system that goes with it, can certainly spent Rs 250. It’s not the ability to spend, but it’s just the value system or education that you need for him to accept it. For any new service to work, either cost could be a factor, the quality of the piece could be a factor, the technology could be a factor or education could be a factor. I don’t think technology is a factor in this case, as technology is completely taken care of. Cost of Rs 200-250 at a regular level is not too big an amount, specifically for the segment that we are talking about, the segment who are spending on expensive gadgets. Content availability is today not a factor. The inflection point does not count, I think the growth has been phenomenal in the last one and a half years. But if the industry gets behind it, then this number will be far greater. And this campaign really is not just for our network.

Why not focus on your genre and take a more higher plank?
We are focusing on Hollywood, we are focusing on our genre and we are talking about our channels; but HD growth will not happen on the basis of one or two channels, it will happen on the basis of the entire genre. So my channels can drive my genre, but the penetration will happen across the industry. Therefore, if the growth happens, it will benefit the entire industry. And I think every player which  has an HD beam is contributing to the cause first by providing content, second is, by promoting the factor and educating the consumers as well in some form or the other will only help the cause, and that’s what we are doing.

Are you also looking at increasing the ad rates going forward from Monday (May 2)?
This campaign doesn’t have any ulterior motive of upping the ad rate or anything of that sort. This campaign is purely, in its truest form, focused on growing the subscriber base. We would look at increasing the ad rates basis the performance. The objective of this campaign is pure and simple and straight – educate consumers to the benefits of viewing Hollywood content in HD and getting them on board.

Will you be showcasing some specific Hollywood content or marquee properties during this month-long HD campaign?
We show marquee properties all the time. So there is a premiere which is happening next month on Movies Now which ‘John Wake’, post that we have ‘Dumb and Dumber’. On MN+ we had ‘August Osage County’ last month, we have ‘The Angriest Man in Brooklyn’ featuring Robin Williams, which is happening this week.

Then there are certain movies, which look much better in an HD environment…
We have a full channel which focuses on this segment, which is MN+, which is focusing on the fact that certain movies will look better on HD. It’s not as though we want to fool the customers. I think the products are strong enough and the promise is strong enough for people to come and sample it anytime in HD and get back. We are not looking for a quick fix, it’s a long drawn education. I think there will be certain people who will convert fast, certain people who have already converted. For example, if we start promoting this in the metro market, we are converting the converted. They are already aware of HD. But the same thing will not happen for the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, where some amount of education is needed. Therefore, for this campaign you would want to use certain mass channels apart from the niche channels that you typically end up using.

So, is the campaign focused more towards the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets?
From the perception standpoint, the campaign is focused on anybody who is a Hollywood viewer and has an HD connection. If you look at the media environment per se today, you’ll find that Hollywood is working as much in the metro markets as much it is working in the smaller towns. Therefore, it is important for us to get into those smaller towns and regional markets as well and that’s what we will be doing through the campaign.

Will it also involve a bit of activation or experiential element?
We will do a bit here and there, but I don’t think that will be the mainstay of the campaign, because the real experience is on your screen. For example, if you remember Goafest this year, we had the 4D experience. By doing something like that we can get something like 5,000 people at one go but it won’t serve the purpose. The product is really on your screen and if we can explain it on the screen – whether it’s television as a medium, or mobile phone as a medium, or the computer screen as a medium, is a different case – but primarily the communication is for the television product.