It is time for television broadcasters to wake up and rethink their business and branding strategy.
If they have to be successful, channel branding will be the key to their success in the post-Conditional Access System (CAS) scenario.
Based on this branding, it is expected that viewers will select their most preferred bouquet of channels which they would like to watch and pay for.
This is part of the continued series of updates on the findings of a syndicated study by ORG-MARG on the preferences and perceptions of consumers towards the proposed CAS and their choice of television channels resulting from it.
Surveying consumer preferences within channel genres shows that the most likely and preferred bouquet that a viewer would like to have and pay for are Star Plus, Star World, Aaj Tak, Zee Cinema, Star Sports, Discovery and Channel [V]. Sony was not included within the scope of this study.
The need for distinct and effective channel branding assumes greater importance when viewed in conjunction with viewer apprehensions regarding the implementation of CAS.
Today, viewers largely have programme loyalty and not channel loyalty. This is because the channels have not effectively communicated about themselves to the viewers.
Says Srinivasan Raman, vice-president, AC Nielsen ORG-MARG,
