`Colors` across your screen soon

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`Colors` across your screen soon

Viacom 18's latest channel banks on content 'differentiation' as its USP.

It will be the tenth entrant to the general entertainment space. After Peter Mukherji's INX and NDTV's Imagine, both of which were launched over the last year, comes Viacom 18's ‘Colors' to be broadcast in July. Colors is banking largely on the clout of the existing networks of its parents Network 18 and Viacom.
It is also resting its hopes on ‘differentiated and disruptive' content to fight it out in the keenly competitive entertainment genre. The channel claims it will take a break from ‘saas bahu' soaps and instead offer reality shows like Khatron ke Khilari (KKK)—a takeoff from The Fear Factor. Besides, it will also host period dramas.
Media buyers believe it could work. Says Prashant Kumar, managing partner, Group M, one of the biggest media buyers in India,"Ratings for ‘saas-bahu' serials have come off. So if a channel offers some different formats and provides some relaxed viewing, audiences may be interested.' More important than the content though, points out Kumar, is the distribution. "The channel needs to be seen in the initial months because that's crucial," he observes.
The management at Viacom 18 is aware how critical distribution is going to be and has budgeted for annual carriage fees of Rs 50 crore. It's hoping to leverage the existing relationships that its parents Network 18 and Viacom — which together broadcast nine channels across genres — have with cable and DTH operators.
That should make it easier for Colors to get itself a good deal with distributors and to make sure viewers get to watch the channel. Says Rajesh Kamat, CEO, Colors, "The channel will be an encrypted pay channel with a free-to-air window for about three to six months, so it's crucial that viewers watch the programmes."
However, as far as advertisers go, Colors will be sold as a stand-alone channel. Kamat believes that bundling channels together could result in one of them suffering. Spots on the channel will be competitively priced, but Kamat feels that a show like KKK featuring film actor Akshay Kumar, should command a good rate.
Today, ten second spots, during prime time, range anywhere between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh on channels such as Star Plus and Zee. Colors hopes to funnel audiences through promotions on the bouquet of Network 18 and Viacom. Besides, the Bollywood connections of Studio 18, a company that produces and distributes Hindi films, will also be leveraged.
At an estimated operating cost of Rs 300 crore annually, running an entertainment channel, can be an expensive proposition. The genre may command around 34-35 per cent of audience share attracting around 1,000 gross rating points a week, but the space is crowded with incumbents like Star and Zee.
What's more, there's no formula for getting the content right; a recent reality show hosted by a leading Bollywood star on the number one channel, hasn't exactly mesmerised audiences. Kamat is probably right when he says it would be foolhardy to foray into the space as a stand-alone channel; this one's clearly a network play.

`Colors` across your screen soon