MSM switches to aggressive viewer acquisition mode

Well, the story goes back to 20 years. Multi-Screen Media (then Sony TV) was the first one to offer nearly all programming genres to Indian television viewer. Multi-Screen Media (MSM), which started with a single channel SET two decades back, now has successfully established channels in all genres and a few hybrid ones also. Among them SET, Sony SAB, Sony AXN, Sony MAX, Sony MAX 2, Sony PIX, Sony SIX, Sony KIX, Sony MIX, Sony Animax and Sony LIV.

20 and agile, the Network plans to infuse fresh energies in the television network, propel its digital offerings and refurbish its flagship channel. MSM has given its battle cry, and is busy fine tuning the strategy and collecting the ammunition for the next round.

GEC

MSM plans to give SET India a big push by introducing fresh programming without wavering from its core positioning. NP Singh, ‎Chief Executive Officer, MSM explains, “We are focused on the core positioning of the channel. Having said that, you will witness lot of new content in the next six months. Sony has always had an urban feel and moving away from that will not make sense for us. We will continue to try and retain our urban feel and at the same time offer content which is also liked by the rural population. One such example is Hanuman.” He stresses on viewer first as he says, “We are trying to increase the consumer insights and put viewership in the center of our strategy. We have observed that audiences are looking for reality shows, fiction shows, events, movies, daily soaps, thriller, comedy, crime programming etc. and we always have been providing all genres and will continue to do so.”

The center of the network’s strategy right now is to create new content to lure female viewers back to the channel. “Once we have viewers on the channel, everything else will follow. We are working hard to gain consumer insights both qualitative as well as quantitative. We are going and talking to consumers at the ground level and finding out what they want,” he says. The channel with a strong viewership among male audiences, now intends bringing programming that would lure the female viewers to the channel again. Sony will also bring back the next season of KBC next year.

With a keen desire to make Sony the top channel in viewer consideration set, a new management team too has been put in place. Singh is optimistic that with aggressive focus on programming and a new core team in place, there would be ‘a big immersion in terms of viewership in six months’ time.

Reflecting upon the many achievements of the channel so far, Singh says, “We have always focused on offering best viewing experience to our viewers. We take immense pride in the kind of content we have always offered. Ek Mahel ho Sapno Ka was first daily soap on TV which aired for 1000 episodes from the year 1999 till 2000. Then there was Ghar Ek Mandir which did very well too. We have our first crime show C.I.D which is successfully running since 18 years. Crime Patrol is another one which has been running since 12 years. Aahat has done multiple seasons. We at Sony were the first ones to start seasonal programming. We also offered talent shows like Indian Idol which was the first interactive reality show where in the finals garnered around 5.5 crore votes. Sony made a mark with the first ever dance reality show called Boogie-Woogie as well.”

Sony SAB, which started as a comedy channel, has well entrenched itself as a light hearted family centric channel with popular shows like Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chasmah, Lapata Ganj, etc. The popular GEC would be soon seen in an HD avatar too!

MSM’s second Hindi GEC, Sony Pal, which was launched as a female-centric channel did not take off as was expected. However, where original shows failed, old shows did the turnaround for the channel. The channel, which currently has archival content from Sony’s library as well as airs South Indian movies, may get back original shows in the future.  “In a few months’ time if we see viewer interaction growing, which we are seeing right now, then we will start bringing original content again on Pal. I have a broad outline of what I want to do over the next six months,” Singh says.

Its Bengali offering, Sony Aath established in 2012, offers a good mix of exciting crime series in Bengali and at the same time boasts of having the biggest Bengali films library in India.
BEYOND GEC

Sony MAX, soon to be seen in HD, was the first channel in India to present a blend of Cricket and movies, and also to create the concept of 'Cricket jockey'. SONY Max 2, meanwhile, airs movies of the yester-years. Explaining the logic behind completely redefining Cricket viewing on television Singh says, “Objective was to take Cricket closer to the female audiences as everybody thought cricket was the game only played by men. Within a year by 2003, the women viewership grew to 31%. Also, we started to showcase the trivia around the movie with a prime called 'Extra Shot' where behind the scenes and the actors talking about the movie were shown.”

In its quest to provide differentiated programming and a diversified bouquet, MSM has gone the alliance route in many instances.

To strengthen its presence on the sports front, MSM recently joined hands with Disney’s ESPN and their current channel Sony Kix will be rebranded as Sony ESPN. Prasanna Krishnan, who currently is business head of Sony Six, will lead the partnership with ESPN.

MSM has entered into a strategic partnership with NBCUniversal as well to offer better viewing experience to its audiences. This alliance will now enable MSM to have access to Universal Pictures’ new U.S. theatrical releases, in addition to numerous other titles from the studio’s vast film catalogue.

In, another move towards offering diverse content to its viewers, MSM has teamed up with BBC Worldwide to launch Sony BBC World, an infotainment channel which will be headed by Saurabh Yagnik who is also the head of Sony Pix and Sony AXN. The channel would be a high-definition one and would be available in Tamil, English and Hindi.

DIGITAL

The network is also making steady progress on digital front. MSM’s video-on-demand (VOD), OTT platform Sony LIV has garnered 1.5 million views for its first-of-kind web series called ‘Love Bytes’. Sony LIV intends creating its own shows as well as presenting third party shows to enhance its library as well as to give viewers more options.

Sony Liv will also benefit from the collaboration with ESPN, increasing its current sports offerings significantly on its VOD platform. Further expansion of MSM’s digital presence is also on the agenda. Singh divulges, “We are exploring opportunities on the digital platform as it is growing rapidly. We’ve taken small steps towards it by launching Sony Liv. In the last one year, we have upped the ante. Love Bytes, our first original series on Sony LIV got 1.5 million video views, leading to a 300 per cent growth in our video consumption on the digital platform.”

As to whether its digital content would be free to view or paid, Singh states that they have a model that is combination of the two. He explains, “We currently have all our content available on AVOD (advertising supported video on demand). However, we would soon start putting some of our marquee content in SVOD (subscription supported video on demand). FIFA 2014, incidentally was on our subscription based product, which was available on Liv Sports. It was a first in India.” Plan is to experiment with free-mium model, where premium content is initially charged and then becomes free.

The network, thus, is leaving no stone unturned to increase its offerings, cross platform presence and share of audience. One sure hopes that these strategies and new programmers & channels on the anvil translate into a big jump in viewership.