English entertainment channels bank on film, show premieres
English entertainment channels are focusing on television premiers of movies and international TV shows to attract audiences and advertisers amid competition from video-streaming platforms. This involves telecasting the shows closer to their international showing and broadcasting new films before they are available online.
AXN India, for instance, premiered BBC’s popular show Sherlock (season 4) on January 7, a week after the programme was launched in the UK. Colors Infinity premiered season 1 of Emerald City on January 7, within 12 hours of its international launch.
Industry executives said there has been a 40-60% surge in the number of new shows and films being telecast, and this will rise further. “We try to offer shows within 12 hours of their US showing so that the viewers don’t feel the need to illegally download them,” said Ferzad Palia, head, youth and English entertainment at Viacom18.
Viacom18 which runs Colors Infinity, Vh1 India and Comedy Central India, plans to air at least 40-50 new shows this year, up from 30 last year.
Premieres of shows and movies also have an advertising premium attached to them. Industry estimates suggest that ad rates for the premieres range from ₹50,000 to ₹1.5 lakh for a 10-second spot, and sometimes as high as ₹2.5 lakh, depending on the popularity of the show or movie. In contrast, ad spots for regular shows and movies could be as low as ₹1,000-1,200 for a 10-second spot.
“Revenue from premieres is much higher. Sometimes, ad rates go as high as 10 times the usual rates. For Sherlock, we had a tie-up with Uber and Social (café-bar) and there was a huge buzz,” said Saurabh Yagnik, executive vice president and business head of English channels at Sony Pictures Network.
Movie channel Sony Le PLEX has been airing one premiere a week since its launch in August 2016 and plans to continue doing so. Sony PIX will offer 15-20 premieres on an average this year in a bid to cash on a market, which is growing at 15-20% annually.
Jehil Thakkar, head (media and entertainment) at KPMG said: “If channels don’t premiere movies or shows, audiences switch to pirated content, which leads to revenue loss.”
According to media buyers, this approach remain far less expensive in terms of ad rates than Hindi entertainment channels. “Their prime time ad rates are often less than 10% of rates of Hindi entertainment channels,” said a media buyer who asked not to be identified. On average, Hindi general entertainment channels charge between ₹90,000 to ₹4.5 lakh for a 10-second spot in a prime-time show.