We are larger and more profitable without IPL: Sony MD and CEO N P Singh

We are making big investments in content and technology, says Singh

Just two weeks before the reports of Sony’s possible acquisition of Viacom18 broke, Vanita Kohli Khandekar met N P Singh, managing director and CEO, Sony, to talk about life sans IPL. Edited excerpts:

Are you missing IPL?

I missed it for one day because of the emotional connect with the property. We have had it for 10 years. But I woke up the next day and it was work as usual. At the price at which it went, monetising it will be a challenge. Without IPL, we are now larger and more profitable. 

Is Sony in the danger of becoming totally dependent on KBC à la The Kapil Sharma Show? 

Every channel has a driver property. We have multiple driver properties. Even without KBC, we were among the top two. Our dependence on one single property is no longer there. There are many properties driving viewership — in fiction there is Mere Sai- Shraddha aur Saburi, Vighnaharta Ganesha, and Patiala Babes. Over the weekend there is Indian Idol, The Kapil Sharma Show, and Crime Patrol.  

There is a strong perception that Sony is largely limited to urban Hindi-speaking markets. Your comment.

The perception is driven by our flagship channel (Sony Entertainment Television), it has an urban skew. But SAB cuts across all target groups and geographies, so does MAX2 (for films from the 90s). Sports (where Sony has 10 channels) is not urban or rural.  

If you were to look at your portfolio today what are its strengths and what is missing?

On linear, in HSM (Hindi-speaking markets) we are by far the leaders. In (Hindi) general pentertainment channels and in movie channels, we are number one. English is under pressure for all of us (since OTTs are eating in the share of English programming). We have a Marathi and Bangla channel which are doing well. In sports, both NBA and UFC (National Basket Association, Ultimate Fighting Championship) are successful and so is WWE. We are making strong investments in football. And there is a lot of cricket. Because remember the Board of Control for Cricket in India only sells the rights to tournaments in India. When India plays in England, Australia, or South Africa the telecast is on Sony. So, from a linear portfolio we are very well entrenched in HSM sports, kids (Sony Yay) and infotainment (Sony BBC earth). The missing piece is in the South and we are aware of that and have thought of how to get to those viewers. 

On the non-linear side, SonyLIV has 60-100 million monthly active users. We are making big investments in content and technology. We have also started investing in regional content for SonyLIV. We started content production last year with Studio Next. We have started producing our own shows. On KBC, we earlier did only format deals but now we have got the rights and have made KBC for DD Kashir, in Marathi for Sony and in Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. 

Plus, we are doing scripted productions like The Scam (based on Sucheta Dalal’s book) for Applause. The first year has been profitable. Then there is movie production where we are ramping up from an average of 2 to 8 movies a year. 

How big is digital now? 

Digital was always a sliver. Now, it is 15 per cent of the top line. We are investing in sports for the digital part now, acquisition of movies, originals like Gullak (five episodes). 

Would you look at an acquisition, especially for the South part?

We will keep all options open if we have to go to the South. People have been successful with organic launches . Also, there aren’t too many options in non-organic. 

The whole broadcast market has changed in the last years or so, Disney now owns Star, Zee will have different owners. How is Sony placed in this market? 

We are very well-placed in HSM, sports, and movies. We are very strong in all the genres we are operating in. And, we are well placed to seize new opportunities the market throws up. 

What opportunities are you looking at?

We are looking at opportunities in the south Indian languages (linear or non-linear, organic or inorganic) by next year. 

What are the big trends and challenges you see?

The challenges from the environment, from technology, or new competition are an opportunity to me. The biggest challenge we face is uncertain regulatory environment that holds back not just us but others from coming into the business. When we do our analysis, we need to know this. So, whichever area we are expanding our portfolio in, we look at it with the lens of an uncertain regulatory environment. It is not good for our business, the industry or the country. 

Your view on OTT.

All the existing linear players are there and we have done well. We are seeing a shift from an ad-supported to SVoD (subscription video on demand) which is great. AVoD (advertising video on demand) is democratisation while SVoD can work for different viewers who can pay.