Sony to fight it out in GEC space come May 25

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
With seven new shows, a changed look after 14 long years and the high voltage marketing campaigns, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is all set to fight it out in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space come May 25.

N P Singh, chief operating officer, MSM India, says, "On May 25, Sony will change to reflect the changes in Indian society, to relate to its new aspiration, to stand up to its new expectations and to cater to its changing entertainment needs."

For Gurdip Bhangoo, senior vice-president and head, programming, Sony, and his team, it has been a very exhaustive six months involving research, evaluation and analysis about the perception about Sony in the market, what the channel stands for in the entertainment space and what can be explored.

Gurdip Bhangoo said, "We have tried to give the viewers a perfect blend of shows that will resonate with families of today's India. Each show has a distinct identity and the overall programme line up is going to be uniquely different than what you have seen so far on the Indian GEC space."

For the past four years, Sony has not done well in the Weekday prime time band and hasn't got the required stickiness to any of its weekday properties, unlike some of its weekend properties. MSM India re-evaluated its flagship brand Sony and used the big platform of IPL to convey the big change to the viewers.

Variety, innovation and quality are what the new Sony will offer. While there are six new shows, Dus Ka Dum (a game show) is a second season. A conscious effort is being made to introduce a lineup that is different from what is currently on offer on other channels.

In its second season, Dus Ka Dum will be a weekly, being telecast at 9 pm on Saturdays and not twice a week like the first season. The rationale is to maintain the novelty factor of the game show. It will have more celebrity contestants and well known personalities, since in the last season, episodes featuring celebrities rated much higher.

On weekdays, the entire 8-10 pm time band has been re-worked. Older shows such as Meet Mila De Rabba, Hum Ladkiyan, Kabhi Socha Na Tha and Aathvan Vachan will be replaced by new ones.

Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur, a period love story produced by Nitin Desai Studio, will take the 8 pm slot. This is the first time that Sony will feature a show like this, which is the story of the beautiful warrior princess, known for her ethereal beauty, grit, valor, patriotism and sacrifice.

At 8.30 pm, there will be another fiction show, Palampur Express, which is a story about a small town girl who is a good runner and dreams of being a champion runner. It's a feel good aspirational story that the channel hopes will be well received in the smaller towns. In fact, the channel's strategy is to attract eyeballs from small town audiences since they are early watchers.

After 9 pm, the programming will be urban-centric, with shows such as Bhaskar Bharti, which is a romantic comedy produced by DJ's unit. This will be pitted against serious drama soaps on other channels.

At 9.30 pm, there will be Ladies Special produced by Optimystix. The local trains of Mumbai will be the backdrop of the programme, which will incorporate stories of four different women, their individual problems and how the train is the place where they congregate. To promote the show, the channel will have radio stations hosting live from local trains.

At 10 pm, Monday to Friday, there will be a non-fiction show, called Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega, a home-grown format. Participants with any sort of talent will be given a platform to perform and impress the jury and the audience for a certain period of time. The successful candidates will then compete in the finals. The show is being produced by Wizcraft and will run for six weeks.

There will be another comedy show introduced in the weekend band at 10 pm. The channel is already looking at shows and ideas to be launched in a few months.

Except for the logo, the entire packaging of the channel is slated to change. The channel's identity will be refreshed with new images but the theme will remain constant. The promotions of the new lineup have already begun in full swing across media - during IPL on television, in print, outdoor, radio and on-ground activities.

Danish Khan

Talking Heads with Danish Khan, marketing head, Sony Entertainment Television
Why the change and why now ?
We realised that Indian society and Indians have changed over the years. Hence, we felt that it is imperative for us to imbibe these changes in our channel too. One of the important changes that we are imbibing is in the first P viz. Product. The programming mix on our channel will be quite varied. Every 30 minutes on the channel will be different from the previous one.

So we are looking for a complete variety in our programming rather than banking on one successful formula. Novelty, variety and quality will be the three key elements of Sony's programming in the new avatar. We'll move away from the daily dose of saas-bahu and focus on urban oriented stories to bring freshness and novelty.

Why an increased focus on 'urban' stories ?
In our new avatar we are targeting the progressive Indians. We define this audience as people that are extremely open to western lifestyle; are tech savvy; but are still rooted in Indian traditions. We are talking to the India, which is on the move. That's the psychographic profile of our target audience and so urban stories.

That takes care of the most important P. What about your packaging strategy for the channel ?
We are changing the complete look and feel of the channel. In fact the graphical representation of the channel will be fresh too. You'll see Sony in a complete new avatar sporting hope and happiness.

What kind of results do you expect post-this revamping ?
This is a long process and it'll take time to give results. We don't expect an immediate jump in our TRPs within a week's time after the repositioning. It's a long term strategy and we're looking for a long term target. The new look launches on 25th May, but we'll keep on launching new shows throughout the year. And we expect that in a couple of years, we'll be among the top two players in the GEC category.

You are sparing no effort to communicate this change ?
Yes! We are using a 360 degree approach. In mass media, we're using TV and radio heavily. And we're supporting that with outdoors. Apart from that we will be tying up with some brands to promote the change.

Besides, we are also using the IPL platform. IPL draws a lot of eyeballs to SET MAX and it makes a lot of sense for us to monetise on those eyeballs. That's why we strategically planned this change post-IPL.

Some feel that this bold move from Sony is a tad delayed. Your equity with viewers is already down. What's your take ?
We tried a host of things even earlier and some of them didn't work. We have been working on this change for last six to eight months and we are quiet confident about it. Every business goes through changes in the environment.

Those who respond to the changes go further in the race and those who don't respond to it lose their position. This change is imperative and that is why we are investing in it. And our investments are based on sound business logic.