History TV18 has announced that it will target rural and small town India with a 'slight revamp', which also involves creation of local content.
Sangeetha Aiyer, VP and head marketing, A+E Networks TV18, briefed the media on the change on 7 March 2016.
She said, "The only way to grow as brand is to grow the space. With BARC going rural, there are 153.5 million households that can be measured. And what we've found out is that rural and small town accounts for the largest consumption of factual entertainment."
Aiyer informed that the local content generation will allow the channel to wear a 'mass hat'. "We'll have more Indian local history now. We are going to stick with three to four sub-genres and have more shows under them. The content will be in Hindi and will be dubbed across regional languages."
She added, "When it comes to yield, local productions are better for it. Since costs are lesser, the RoI on local properties are better. On the back of local content we're looking to get to number two (behind Discovery) and become a strong contender. We want to ape Discovery's reach."
The channel plans to have 100 hours of local production in the next three to six months.
The localisation journey begins with the launch of a new show 'OMG! Yeh Mera India' on 10 March. It features actor and stand-up comedian Krushna Abhishek.
To communicate the new show, Aiyer said that a marketing budget of Rs 1.5 to Rs 1.7 crore has been set aside, of which 25 per cent will be spent on digital. TV promos will air on the Viacom18 network and beyond.
