Living Foodz seeks to delight taste buds across the globe

As per FICCI-KPMG Indian Media & Industry Report 2015, infotainment channels have a 1.3% share of viewership and 2% share of Adex in India. However, as per the industry watchers, the picture might change soon and be more in sync with global trends. Reason being that audiences are now seeking differentiated content and sampling of global shows on digital platforms is increasing. 

‘Living Foodz’ a new channel focusing on international food and lifestyle from Zee stable seeks to quench this increasing thirst.  The channel being launched in collaboration with Living Entertainment will be an extension of the Living network belonging to Essel Group which already has a presence in overseas market.
The channel will compete with a wide variety of channels in the Food and Lifestyle space, among them Discovery, NDTV Good Times, Food Food, History and others. It seeks to distinguish itself through a healthy mix of differentiated programming. The channel would be bilingual – some of its shows would be in Hindi, while others would be in English.

Speaking on this initiative Dr. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, ZEEL and Essel Group says, “In 2008-2009 we asked ourselves what to do next. The obvious choice was to compete with large media groups. We saw an opportunity in the Food and lifestyle genre which has an industry size of 1-1.5 lakh crore. In keeping with this, we are proud to present Living Networks in India. ‘Living Foodz’ is yet another endeavour from our group to bring the world closer through entertainment.  Our group has always believed in creating not just great content but building genres and brands that are milestones. We believe that we are the first ones in bringing an altogether different concept and gifting it to the rest of the world.”

Rajiv Kheror, President Strategy & Planning, International Business adds, “Food is a worldwide phenomenon. Audiences across the globe want to enjoy and understand food like never before. Your thirst for Foodtainment is about to be quenched with ‘Living Foodz’ - the new destination for the best in food and entertainment. We are all set to redefine food content in minds of Indian viewers.”

Target Group:

The channel has opted for psychographic segmentation for this channel instead of defining its audiences by demographics or geography. It is targeted at people who have refined tastes, enjoy life and love to do things with style.
Living Foodz plans to break geographical boundaries and cater to a global audience. Punit Goenka, Managing Director & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited opines “Living Foodz is targeting a global audience making it the first time that original content from India will be available to audiences across the globe. We are not only proud to present this new channel but we are sure that within a year we will garnering not only a huge audience but will be seeing a huge growth of the channel as well.”

Research:

According to a study by ZEEL group, different kinds of food are searched on Google more than 95000 times within an hour. In the top 10 videos of food shows around the world on YouTube top two are from India, while in top 12 videos in the genre from Asia four are from India. The data simply reflects the growth of Food Entertainment Industry in India.

Content:

The channel programming would have a mix of 80% national and 20% international content. Piyush Sharma, CEO, Zee Living- India APAC says, “We will be bringing in flavours from across the world; Living would be focused on a specific kind of offering from travel, food and culture. The fact remains that Food is one of the most underutilised category.”

It already has a library of 2000 hours of content catering to both genders across age groups in urban India. The travelled and the connected people with an interest in varied types of food with a global viewpoint is the core audience that ‘Living Foodz’ would be targeting.

It would have an array of top chefs and food personalities hosting highly differentiated shows. Ranveer Brar, for instance, will be hosting ‘The Great Indian Rasol’ which will cover newer places, new experiences and mouth-watering food from different parts of the country. ‘Chef on wheels’ hosted by Gautam Mehrishi is an endless journey on bike that touches upon organic food, fruit and vegetables. Rocky an Mayur will host ‘Food Xpress’ where the two will go on a trail of an exciting food journey to discover the spiciest, exotic, expensive and extreme food. ‘Vickypedia’ hosted by Vicky Ratnani presents international cooking. Kunal Kapoor will host ‘Pickle Nation’ talking about artisans & communities who create a lifetime of memories and magic with their jars of pickle. There would be show hosted by Rakhee Vaswani as well.

The channel is also bringing in International chefs. ‘Good Food America’ will be hosted by Food Expert chef Danny Boome, who will be taking viewers on culinary adventures in search of the best restaurant. Peggy Kotsopoulas, a holistic nutritionist, health educator and culinary consultant will emphasize on health by creating healthy and delicious food in her show ‘Peggy’s Kitchen Cures’.

Marketing & sales:

The channel has opted for a Pan India launch.
The ad campaign, created by Scarecrow, caters to a discerning audience. The channel has a marketing budget of Rs 15 crore for the launch phase. While it would be a 360 degree approach in marketing, key focus would be on network channels.
Helios Media would manage ad sales for the channel. Kellogg’s and Go Cheese, as per the sources, are on board as the sponsors.

Revenue Projections:

As per the channel estimates, it would have Rs 80 crore revenue from overseas market in next six month, while revenue from India would be close to Rs 30 crore in the same timeframe. It effectively means the channel is aiming at generating Rs 100 crore revenue in the first six months of its existence.

Digital Presence:
The channel plans to launch on digital platforms with a well thought through strategy. Its app as well as web presence would be launched within six months with content customized for those platforms.

In the coming next eighteen month the company is looking at launching another three channels which are Living Rootz, Living Travelz and Living Homez.