Starcom, BBH to handle advertising mandate for Star CJ Network

Sumedha Srivastav - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
Star CJ Network India, the equal joint venture (JV) between Star India and CJ (Cheil Jedang) Home Shopping of Seoul, has appointed Starcom Worldwide - Mumbai as its media agency, following a multi-agency pitch. The size of the business is estimated to be substantial.

BBH India was appointed as the creative partner for the account a couple of months back, following a multi-agency pitch that included five agencies. BBH will be responsible for above-the-line as well as below-the-line advertising for the new channel. Star CJ Network will launch an home shopping channel in the country, whose brand name is yet to be decided.

Paritosh Joshi, chief executive officer, Star CJ Network, says, "We have appointed BBH India and Starcom group as our creative and media partners. In the campaign, we aim to convince people that home shopping is convenient, making them believe that here the product range is better than outside and items are value for money is another challenge."

Around August 2008, the Network got permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to infuse about $ 2 million towards running a non-news, non-current affairs channel earlier this year and the new channel is likely to be launched by the end of this year.

According to the deal, while Star will be the wholesaler and broadcaster, CJ's expertise will lie in providing products and tie-ups with brands. Some of the products of the CJ Group will also be sold on the channel.

"I think the Star brand equity will help in making believe that it is something which can be trusted on. There is a lot of scope for innovation in the space and consumers too will realise this once they have an outlet to access." Joshi added.

Shopping on TV has been available for years now, but a majority of Indian shoppers still prefer to touch and feel before buying a product. Despite this, major TV networks are focusing more on the home shopping segment. With Star CJ, the focus on home shopping is more compelling.

When launched, Star's network will be the second dedicated home shopping channel in India. TV18 Home Shopping Network, a 75:25 JV between Network18 Media and Investments and Hong Kong-based private equity firm Saif Partners, launched Homeshop18, a 24-hour channel, in April last year.

According to Ernst & Young, home shopping in India - which includes e-commerce, catalogue shopping and tele-shopping - is a nearly $ 2.5 billion industry, growing at 25 per cent annually. What is more, it is expected to become a $ 10 billion industry by 2015.

Over the last two years, the duration of tele-shopping programmes has increased. Data compiled by TAM Media's research showed that home shopping accounted for 8 per cent of the total programming on general entertainment channels (GECs) in 2007-2008, and it went up to 17 per cent in 2008 -2009 in the non-prime time band.

Zee TV's home shopping-based programme Trust Value Commitment (TVC) has a viewership of 17 million. Colors with Home Shop18 has a viewership of 19 million and Sony Entertainment with Telebrands has a reach of 14 million.