Sony stands for hope, contemporary content & progressive thinking: NP Singh

Sony Entertainment Television hasn’t had a good run in recent times as far as BARC ratings are concerned. With the upcoming Season 9 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Sony Pictures Networks is targeting revenues of around Rs 1,200 crore, as per various media reports. Earlier this week, Sony announced two new shows – ‘Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi’ and ‘Ek Duje Ke Vaaste’ – in the 9.30 pm and 10 pm slots, respectively, to spruce up its prime time line-up. Now, it is learnt that popular comedian Kapil Sharma will return to television with a new comedy show on Sony, which is slated to go on air in April-end.

In a freewheeling conversation with Adgully, NP Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks,speaks about Sony’s content strategy, digital plans and more. Excerpts:

AG: What does Sony stand for?
Sony stands for hope, aspiration, contemporary content, progressive thinking and forward looking. All our characters are contemporary. You will find solutions in our content and not just the problems, which is what viewers want to watch, and that’s what we are trying to present in our new shows.
AG: What indications are you getting from the new BARC data following the introduction of rural data? How much do you see that impacting your content strategy? Will see content tailored to suit the tastes of the rural audience, although in our past conversations you had mentioned that Sony’s content is more skewed towards the metro audience?

If you look at our network and the way we are addressing the various segments of the market, Sony has always been more of an urban kind of brand and is very popular in the urban markets and large towns, and that’s how we will stay. SAB TV, which is the only family humour channel in the market, cuts across viewers in big towns, small towns, rural markets and wherever people can see that content and across all TGs. Pearl, which is our third channel, is very popular in the rural and small town markets. Thus, we have different channels in our bouquet that cater to different audiences.

Among our movie channels, MAX appeals equally to both males and females across markets. MAX also sees a little more mature audience. Then we have MAX HD, which is very vibrant and youthful, showcasing the cinema of today. I am very proud that in just a matter of two months it has become the No. 1 Hindi movie high definition channel. Likewise, for our other channels – be it MIX or PIX or AXN – we have very clearly defined segments that we are addressing through these channels; one size will not fit all.

AG: What are the strategies that you are putting in place for IPL 9? As per various media reports, around 75% of the ad inventory for the tournament is already sold.

It’s premature to speak about the status of IPL ad sales is. It’s going on very strong and we are looking for a fairly strong growth over last year. But at this stage what is really in my mind is how BCCI will tackle recommendations on ad inventory in particular, because any drop in ad inventory has a huge commercial ramification, therefore, that is something that we are concerned about.

AG: BARC rural data shows FTA channels performing quite well. How do you plan to leverage this strong performance?

We have Sony Pal in the FTA channel category. It is doing extremely well as you would have noticed from the viewership ratings of BARC. We are going to continue this with Sony Pal and I am sure the viewership will continue to grow.We are already seeing very positive advertiser response on the channel. We will get original content back at the channel at the right time. Right now our current strategy is working well for us. I just want to set a strong foundation for the channel before we take the next step forward.

AG:  What are your plans to further strengthen your music channel?

MIX continues to do extremely well for us. It is a profitable channel. The viewership has been growing week by week for the last few weeks, if you have
noticed. It is something I am very happy and satisfied with.

AG: Competition on the digital front is growing. How do you plan to keep Sony Liv ahead of the competition? What different are you doing from the other players in this space?

We were among the first few to do original programming and original content on an OTT platform. That content has done really well for us and we are now in the middle of producing more content for Sony Liv. With our partnership with ESPN, we have access to their content and their videos, which are available on Sony Liv. With our joint venture with BBC Earth, all the BBC Earth digital content will also come and sit on Sony Liv. We have aggregated a lot of Hindi movies. ‘Dilwale’ was first premiered on Sony Liv and many more such premieres are planned for the future. We have aggregated a lot of English language movies and shows as well. We are also acquiring a lot of third party content on food, travel and some of those niches so that Sony Liv become a wholesome product for all the users.