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In the one year since Viacom18 slid into the driving seat for ETV's entertainment channels, it has either improved ratings or initiated a revamp. But not before the duo helming the regional entertainment channels of ETV did a reality check of the legacy of brand ETV.
"We had overestimated the strength in the ETV brand name initially; we did not realise that years of neglect had taken its toll," says Ravish Kumar, executive vice-president, and an ex-Star India hand, who is now heading ETV Kannada, Bangla and Oriya. Anuj Poddar, his counterpart who oversees ETV Marathi and Gujarati, and is executive vice-president, says, "We had inherited a brand with a strong legacy but it was floundering in contemporary times, losing share."
Launched by Hyderabad media baron Ramoji Rao in 1995, ETV came to Viacom18 when the JV partner Network18 paid Rs 2,053 crore for 50 per cent of entertainment channels and all of the news channels; it is in the process of acquiring the remaining half in stakes in GECs. But Viacom18 has already been working on turning around ETV to make its regional foray count.
ETV Kannada and Marathi have seen significant jumps in their ratings. ETV Marathi has moved from 15 per cent channel share to 23 per cent in roughly a year's time with an audience of female viewers, 15 years+ and SEC ABC among regional Marathi channels. ETV Kannada has moved from a share of 22 per cent to 29 per cent for a similar period. Poddar of ETV Marathi says that it came after the scale of production and cultural nuances were increased. "Our take on KBC surprised both trade and audience as they had expected a watered-down version but found it no different than its more illustrious Hindi avatar," says Poddar. Ditto the multiple-city auditions that were held in hinterland Maharashtra (Satara etc.) for MAD, its dance show.
Kumar says, "We have not relied on movies and banked on our fiction and non-fiction. We have either developed our own programme (Indian, non-fiction), or had a big ticket international format (Big Boss) or done a hybrid like Dancing Star (licensed format from BBC). Out of our top five shows, three are originals and the other two are adaptations," . Big Boss in Kannada brought in audience who stayed with the channel after the show went off air.
ETV Kannada's ploy to take lead actors of its shows to smaller towns, almost once every month has helped in making an instant connect. Innovations in programming has seen characters from two shows (Lakshmi Baramma and Ashwini Nakshatra) come together in a third, infusing novelty into the channel.
With 12-14 new shows already on ETV Kannada and Bangla, it has been reported that Viacom18 is looking to match spends of leading regional channels on fresh content, which could range between Rs 80-100 crore.
But not all moves have worked out for the network. ETV Bangla continues to search for its toehold in a market with well-entrenched viewing habits and lorded over by Star (Jalsa) and Zee (Bangla). "It had held off fresh programming that had eroded its sheen. And, we also learnt that it was no point taking the two leading players head-on at prime-time. We have done big-ticket non-fiction in this market with Jhalak and Big Boss but found that the audience had locked in their preferences. We will be flanking them from now," says Kumar.
ETV Bangla is now launching original programming in the afternoon to coincide with the Bengali new year (April 15) calling it Duronto Dupur. It would comprise shows such as one based on Bankimchandra's Durgeshnandini, directed by Tarun Majumdar (of the movie Dadar Kirti fame), a remake of Colors' Balika Badhu and non-fiction like a neighbourhood-based game show. This is going to be the tip of ETV Bangla's revamp, Kumar says.
However, it would have been one of the tougher decisions for ETV as a Kolkata-based media planner says that Zee Bangla rules in non-fiction and Star Jalsa fiction. "Weekday afternoon slots are still considered as bonus spots only," he says. Though, Kumar says, "There is an afternoon viewership but no one has original programming."
ETV Marathi, too, had to take the tough call of discontinuing with a 10-year-old show, risking alienating its 45-year plus, non-urban loyalists. "However, we can not depend on a linguistic affinity anymore. For a young, urban viewer, we are looking to freshen up the line-up (a show featuring a young couple, Majhe Man Tujhe Jhale, for example)," says Poddar.
It has helped that the regional channels can look to Colors, the Hindi GEC for content adaptation (Balika Badhu, Big Boss licence), an approach that has been adopted by other networks too such as Star India. But Kumar says that ETV does not want to clone shows across market markets. Neither does he want to hinge a strategy on movies alone. "It is an expensive strategy and does not help if I am a challenger brand," says Kumar.
ETV Kannada also telecasts its road-shows on weekends and experts say this could be an additional revenue source, especially as Viacom18's sub-division, BE Viacom18 meant to provide solutions for brands, is looking to launch properties for advertisers for integrated marketed in the future to support ETV's many channels. Star and Zee get nearly 30 per cent of revenues from regional channels, says KPMG.
For Viacom18, ETV Oriya and Gujarati are next in line for attention.
