History TV18 bets big on local content to woo small town viewers

History TV18 is all set to take its next big step of ‘Going Local’. A fresh set of ‘Indianised’ programming content will make way into the television sets of viewers from every nook and corner of the country, particularly those of the rural audiences.

Leading the ‘Go Local’ bandwagon will be the premiere of a new show, ‘OMG! Yeh Mera India’, which will go on air on March 10, 2016 at 8.00 pm. The show will take audiences across the length and breadth of India, showcasing ‘OMG’ facts about its people and places; all packaged into weekly half hour episodes hosted by actor and stand-up comedian Krushna Abhishek. From showcasing the world’s biggest family in Mizoram to a ‘visa’ temple in Andhra Pradesh to a soldier who can perform difficult yoga-postures riding a moving motorcycle, every week Krushna Abhishek will take viewers on an unforgettable journey into an India that will make them go OMG.

Commenting on the channel’s new offering, Sangeetha Aiyer, Vice President and Head Marketing, A+E Networks TV18, said, “It’s exciting news for all our viewers that we are now creating local content and launching shows that are India specific and shot here. Ever since our launch we’ve pushed the envelope on all aspects and I think our local India shows best epitomise our efforts. While India related content exists in the genre the key differentiator for History TV18 is that we plan to create a lasting India franchises through our shows, which is a first of sorts for our category.”

Aiyer further said, “We are now looking at 153 million households that BARC measures. There have been tectonic shifts in how the pecking order of various channels has changed for good. When BARC emerged with the rural ratings, some channels emerged as No. 1 and now Zee Anmol out of nowhere is No. 3 or No. 4. Lots of changes have happened since BARC has come in because a whole new set of audience has come into the picture. The other most important thing is that the audience demographic definition has changed. We have moved from SEC to NCCS. BARC is constantly evolving this because majority of the audience residing in the urban areas is a myth. So, we are looking at rural in a big way as far as the content, marketing and the TG goes. Contribution of rural to the television audience pie is 41 per cent. By no means can you ignore that number.”

Factual entertainment in India

Speaking about the factual entertainment space, Aiyer noted that there were some pretty good sub-genres such as natural history, science and technology, action and invention, tough men, tough jobs, etc. “When we were focused on metros as a market, certain sub-genres worked well but as your universe is spread out, as you go towards rural, you will see that there are certain other sub-genres like science and technology, extreme action adventure that have penetrated through geographies and TGs. This is interesting because it allows you certain insight in terms of the kind of genres that you want to go back to,” she added.

Aiyer further informed that from an all India perspective, History TV18 was looking at getting to the No. 2 position and be a strong contender in that spot. “More importantly, we want to grow the stickiness in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns and that we believe will be achieved through local productions,” she said, added further, “As a bouquet, you will see that History TV18 is again wearing a mass hat to draw in larger audiences. We plan to go regional. So Tamil Nadu, Goa, and Maharashtra continue to be the focus markets. The North East, especially Assam, has come to be a key contributor to factual entertainment. There is also need to have a stronghold in markets like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.”

Starting this year, History TV18 will have more core history and more India related content in the mix. ‘OMG! Yeh Mera India’ is one of the first such endeavours. The channel is looking at building franchises so there will be more seasons of ‘OMG!’. “Similarly, whenever we develop any local content the idea is to have returning franchises that build audiences, timeslots over a period of time,” Aiyer said.

She further said, “Every quarter we are planning a tent pole strategy where you have the entire 360 degree approach for marketing and content driving to push these tent pole initiatives. These can be local initiatives and acquired initiatives that we do as a part of our global strategy for History. For example, there is a series that we are looking for at the next quarter, which is called ‘The Roots’. It is an amazing brand defining series. It a multi-million dollar production and will air across 33 countries.”

“The other thing that we are clearly looking at with experience for the last four years is to stick to three or four sub-genres that really perform and resonate with the audiences rather than having a trial and error approach to things. This genre has gone through so many changes since 2010-11 that I don’t think anybody was sure as to which strand of content was working. Now with a sizable audience and rural coming into the mix, I think one of our key areas of focus is to stick to 3-4 sub-genres, but have more kicks under each,” she added.

Stress on ‘Artifactual’ to continue

Aiyer further pointed out, “‘Artifactual’ is something that History TV18 brought to India. It is something that is very core to us as a brand because one of the biggest associations that we have for this reckoning is ‘Pawn Stars’. We will continue to have that strand as part of our strategy, but the idea is to see if those formats can be brought into India. So, an Indian version of ‘Pawn Star’ is something that we are working on.”

“We are no longer a niche player though factual happens to be at the end of a long tail in this genre, there is ample opportunity for this to become mainstream, therefore, most of our formats and themes have mass appeal. Ratings are of course relevant. The reason people come to television is to be entertainment and it is very important to have a good presentation. So, we plan to have about 100 hours of local production in 2016-17, starting with ‘OMG! Yeh Mera India’. It’s been a mega campaign for us. We have not had this kind of share of voice since our launch. That should speak volumes about the intent and the drive that we have to bring local production into India,” Aiyer said.

She affirmed, “We are looking at changing the way History TV18 has been perceived so far. It will not be one of the channels that you will want to snack and reach. There are about 8 to 10 shows that we are looking at in the coming year. We are working on a lot of interesting themes, especially in the action space. There is an interesting show that we have in the pipeline, which is about some of the deadliest jobs in the country and which is scheduled to premiere in May.”