"We don't want to get into the hardcore soap arena," says Anand Chakravarthy

On 10 October 2011, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd's entertainment channel BIG Magic (catering to the hindi heartland, i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar) launched two new shows, Super Sunny and Junior G, in a bid to grab a larger market share in kids' segment. It has also brought back 'Tu Tu Main Main', a popular one of a kind series that showcased the eternal sweet and sour relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The marketing investment for the two new shows is reported to be around Rs 2 crore.The marketing activities involve a TVC and a 360 degree campaign created by Purple Focus.

Although this is not the first time a series is being rerun on a channel, it's definitely the first for Tu Tu Main Main on a channel that's catering to a few states in a particular region.

  

Anand Chakravarthy, executive vice president, marketing, Reliance Broadcast Network and business head, BIG Magic, explained the reason behind the same and said, "The show offers light-hearted entertainment for women and it hasn't been played on television for a long time now. The television penetration in the market has gone up substantially over the last five to six years. And many of these viewers have not been exposed to this show ever. This step has been taken purely to grow women audiences' sampling on the channel."

He adds that content really doesn't have an expiry date which is why series/sitcoms like F.R.I.E.N.D.S still appeals to the audience. BIG Magic intends to position itself as a channel providing light entertainment. It doesn't want to get into hardcore soap arena because Chakravarthy feels there are enough channels offering that already.

The two new shows are being aired in the evening slot from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Chakravarthy shares that the timing for the shows was decided on the basis of TAM data which showed that kids from the age-group of four to 14 years tend to watch TV more often during these hours.  

While there are no new shows introduced to cater specifically to the male audience of the Hindi heartland, Chakravarthy states that the channel has always had strong content for its male audience which includes shows like Naadaniyan which can be viewed by both male and female viewers together. The prime time slot includes action movies specifically catering to the male audience.

Chakravarthy notes that it's rare to get a show that works across the country considering the audience is different everywhere. Therefore, BIG Magic aims to work at the micro-level. They plan to have reality shows with local participants so that their viewers can watch what they can relate to as well.

As for the competition, Chakravarthy said, "Local presence of E TV, Sahara, Zee and Mahua is primarily the competition." But they are in fact fighting for viewership with the main GECs as well. Inspite of that, he says that the channel has reached 1.4 crore unique viewers on an average basis over a period of four weeks. 

The new shows form 20-30% of the total planned investment for the channel till the end of this fiscal year. Chakravarthy said that almost 80% of the invesment is yet to be made. Of their 360 degree campaign, digital forms 12% of the entire marketing spend. A Facebook page has been created just to create some amount of social media traction since the channel realises that their target audience is not really active on the social network.