We don’t aim to compete, but stand apart: Neeraj Vyas on Sony ROX HD

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) further strengthens its position in the Hindi music space with the launch of Sony ROX HD, its second music channel after Sony MIX. Sony ROX HD will showcase the latest Hindi film music in high definition visual format of 1080i resolution that is enhanced by Dolby Audio. 

The new channel’s tagline – ‘Music Melody Madhoshi’ – captures the approach of taking the core ingredient of the genre, that is, ‘Music’, curating and treating it through the perspective of beautiful music, that is, ‘Melody’, to transcend the music experience on Sony ROX HD to a high of ‘Madhoshi’. 

One of the channel specials – ‘ROX Original Artiste of the Month’ – sets up ROX HD as the first ongoing platform for upcoming Indie artistes on national television. At the center of it all is a comprehensive music content acquisition strategy through tie-ups with all the leading labels in contemporary music, such as T-Series, Zee Music, Sony Music, YRF, Eros Music, UTV-Disney and TIPS. 

Available only in High Definition (HD), Sony ROX HD launches across key direct-to-home (DTH) and digital cable platforms such as Tata Sky, Fastway, In Cable and UCN, among others. The channel will be promoted extensively across all Sony Pictures Networks’ HD channels, carrier platforms, coupled with print, a robust digital and social media presence to engage with audiences at different touch points. 

Commenting on the new channel, NP Singh, CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India, said, “There were 15 channels when we ventured into the music genre five years back. We wanted to create the most music-centered destination on Indian television and Sony MIX went beyond our expectations on that count. Building on this gratifying experience, we decided to launch Sony ROX HD. And now, with this launch, we are geared to take a leadership position in the broadcast of music entertainment by curating an incredible experience for music lovers. While MIX will cater to SD households, ROX HD shall set itself as the premium contemporary music channel for youth in HD households.” 

When asked about the demand in the market that led to the launch of a second music channel from the Sony stable, Singh said, “Firstly, there is not always a great demand. You have to create demand and that’s what we did with MIX as well. Even when we had MIX, a lot of questions were raised as to why now when the market was so cluttered. When we did some research we got the insight that the youth don’t have a dedicated destination for the kind of music that they want to listen to and see the kind of quality that they would like to enjoy – both video and audio. Hence, we decided that it is incumbent upon us – as Sony is known to pioneer top quality content both in terms of visuals and audio – that we should come up with a channel which will cater to that need of the youth of today, which is why ROX HD has been launched, which, I am sure, will resonate with that set of audience.” 

Speaking on the business model of Sony ROX HD, Singh said that channel would be sticking to the traditional model. There will be advertising on the channel and it will be subscription-based as well. He added, “As far as the ad rates are concerned, given our experience with other HD channels on the network and given that this is very distinct and different from what you see, I am very confident that you will see a very strong advertiser traction on the channel and the reach will continue to grow with the growing penetration of High Definition.” 

So far, the advertisers are yet to come on board and Sony’s teams are in talks with various advertisers. “The initial response has been very positive,” Singh claimed. 

He further said that there was a lot of passive consumption of music, which would continue. “I can see a very bright future for all mediums,” he added. 

While he refrained from commenting on the ad rates for the new channel, Singh affirmed, “We would certainly want to set a high threshold because of ROX HD being a premium channel, which will appeal to the premium audience and hence, can ensure command on strong ad rates.” 

When asked about new channel launches in the pipeline in the year ahead, Singh informed that the network would be launching BBC Earth HD in March-April this year, while an organic and locally produced kids channel was also slated for launch in the next six months. 

When asked about new channel launches in the pipeline in the year ahead, Singh informed that the network would be launching BBC Earth HD in March-April this year, while an organic and locally produced kids channel was also slated for launch in the next six months. 

Neeraj Vyas, Senior EVP & Business Head - Sony ROX HD, Sony Pictures Networks India, added here, “A youth-focused contemporary Hindi music channel, Sony ROX HD’s music content and programming initiatives will make it the leading hangout destination on TV for 15-21-year olds. We are a ‘True-Blue HD Hindi Music Channel’ ensuring our viewers enjoy music that looks good, sounds great and feels awesome.” 

He further said, “15-21 is the biggest segment in the universe that watches music channels.” 

“Great sound is essential for a complete cinematic entertainment experience and Dolby is excited to work with Sony ROX HD to unveil a dynamic audio experience for consumers. Together with Sony ROX HD, we aim to transform the way music is consumed in the country,” said Pankaj Kedia, Senior Director, Emerging Markets, Dolby Laboratories. 

Adgully caught up with Neeraj Vyas to know more about the competitive factors in the Indian music television landscape, creating differentiation for Sony ROX HD, marketing plans, partnerships and more. Excerpts: 

How do you plan to create differentiation for Sony ROX HD? Given the current scenario in the Indian music television genre, is there space for another music channel?
There will be space for another music channels provided you create a distinction. That is something we have always tried to do. Even five years back, when we launched Sony MIX, there were 15 channels already existing  in the market. But the whole objective was to make sure that we did things differently. Otherwise the videos are the same. It’s an eye for detail in the presentation that makes it likeable or not likeable. Even when we set up MIX, we set it up in a way that it was completely differentiated. Even then we did day-parting. Probably it’s the only channel that exists today which does music right from the 60s to contemporary. It transcends a very large part of the audience. Similarly, ROX HD is a channel which will look sharp and feel sharp. 

The Dolby partnership is clearly a huge differentiation. Every track that you see will be full-framed, it’s not going to be 16:9. We have ensured that when the picture is blown up, we don’t lose any pixellation. Every track is then put through a 5.1 stringent Dolby reality. Dolby has some very serious benchmarks in terms of quality. So we had to merge the workflow of Sony Pictures Network and Dolby to make sure that you get this kind of output. That’s another distinction. ‘ROX School of Music’ – where small little bites about music are told beautifully is another differentiator. 

‘Gigs in town’ is in terms of what’s happening where in terms of music is also there. At least in the first phase, we will try and cover the six metros. It is basically a cupcake of all the musical gigs happening in the large towns of India. ‘Trending Now’, will have the top trending songs of the week. I am looking at doing interviews with musicians, music reviews, etc. ROX is clearly youth, there is no pretence. 

In terms of variety, we are confident that we will have more music than anybody else. We have deals signed with all the popular labels – T-Series, Yash Raj, Sony Music, UTV, Tips – everybody making music is with Sony ROX HD. 

What, according to you, is the size of the Indian television music industry?
HD is around 9 million homes. From an advertising perspective, the music industry’s share of the whole viewership pie is around 6 per cent. That’s the total bandwidth of music. If you look at it from HSM point of view, very critically, from media plan perspective somebody was looking at a Hindi speaking market media plan which is bulk of the media plans. Then what you have to start with are your general entertainment channels, which give you the largest reach, then there are Hindi movies channels and post that you have the music channels. So clearly, a very integral part of any media plan – given the cost that it comes with – it’s a great frequency build-up. We have created a product which is meant only for HD. The whole objective was to never to do a standard definition play here. The objective is to make it shine with its graphics, keep it minimalistic, partner with Dolby for the sound output, and to make sure that the picture quality is razor sharp. The entire objective is not to compete in the space, but to set us apart. 

What are the marketing and promotion plans lined up for Sony ROX HD? What about the digital push?
We will be promoting Sony ROX HD across our network. From a marketing standpoint, we are a network of 22 channels, which is a huge benefit that we have compared to so many others in this space. All the five promo films are out playing everywhere, while the mother promo is on MIX already. From the media mix point, the stress is on television, followed by print, radio and outdoor. 

As far as digital push is concerned, we are going live on Facebook with all our network pages – this is an industry first, where we are going live with every Facebook page of the network. I don’t think there is a bigger digital initiative that anybody would have taken on a launch day.

The music genre has a lot of imbalance in terms of profitability – while Mastiii has been at the top in this genre for a long time, it still doesn’t have the kind of reach that MTV or Sony MIX garners. Is profitability an issue in this genre?
That’s the whole problem. Why is it like that, it’s for them to resolve this. If they decide not to capitalise on their leadership, what can anybody do here? If 70-80 per cent of your content is around the music of the 80s and 90s only, then the advertiser who is looking at a younger TG will definitely not come on board. 

There are certain complexities in the way the BARC rollout has happened. There is a large percentage of viewership numbers that comes from the DD Direct platform, which is a large share even in the LC1 markets. The dispersion of peoplemeters needs to be a lot more balanced. Going forward, in the new dispersion I am assuming that they will be a much better balanced. Still, DD Direct is also a platform that is growing and you cannot undermine that. 

I was extremely hopeful that DAS III would do a lot of good to all of us, like DAS II, where a lot of music channels got sell space because of the increased bandwidth. However, with DAS III, it is in a tizzy. With so many stay orders, it is so complicated, I can’t even remember right now in which states DAS III is on and in which states it isn’t. A clearer picture will emerge by March 31, 2017. DAS Phase IV is again a big boon for all of us, because that is when everything will go digital. I think a lot of small channels will benefit from it. The more digital spreads, the more will be the spread of HD; so, you won’t be restricted to the large metros.

Please tell us about the research that went into Sony ROX HD.
We have a process where we do research on most things throughout the year. There is a network team for that. Right now, there is a huge focus on rural because none of us know about it beyond a point. So, we will embark on this exercise in the next 15-20 days, which will go on for almost four months. So, we will be travelling around the world and see what the patterns of viewing are, what people like, go to their homes, analyse. It’s a process that happens all the time.

Tier 3 and 4 towns are seeing increasing DTH penetration. How has the growth of HD been in these towns?
See, it’s not going to compete with DD Free Dish, it’s a very different call. That whole perspective is very different. HD is niche and super premium, so the distinction is very clear. Viewers as well the advertisers will look at it from a different lens. 

Where do you see Sony ROX HD one year from now?
I feel that HD penetration, which is growing, it is critical for all of us that it takes off in a much bigger way. We will only make sure that we grow with the HD penetration. As long as we ensure that we are differentiated and adhere to the high quality standards, we will do well, because word-of-mouth is very critical in the HD space.