 "Star India sharpens its rural focus")
Ever since the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) started reporting rural television viewership data in October last year, broadcasters have been aware that sooner or later, they would need to customise content for rural audiences. Star India, which has been studying viewer behaviour in remote areas for a while now, is stepping into the game early with the launch of its new channel, Star Utsav Movies that will play popular (even contemporary) Bollywood films for homes that do not have access to these films, many being in areas that do not have a local theatre. The channel will go live by the end of this week. However, even as Star finalises its line-up for what many believe is a safe bet for rural eyeballs, the question really is whether other broadcasters will follow suit?
While the true impact of providing urban plus rural measurement data is just being felt, many have had their lens trained on rural audiences for a while now. Star India too has been working in the space. By building Utsav as a free-to-air (FTA) movie channel that caters to rural tastes and needs, the network hopes to gain a stronger foothold in these areas says Hemal Jhaveri, general manager, Star Gold, Movies OK and Star Utsav.
Currently undergoing a test run, Utsav Movies will dip into the broadcaster's vast library of popular movies. The team has been selective with its movie line-up as it is keen to break into a region that has always thrown up significant viewership numbers, but was considered to be a dark spot for advertisers as these numbers were not measured and accounted for.
"With the advent of BARC, rural markets took centre stage with as high as 50 per cent of TV viewership coming from the heartland. Our analysis indicated that there was a clear need gap in this category since 25 per cent of the total viewership came from movies, but the Hindi movie genre share is a miniscule 5 per cent. This is because of the non-availability of good content from the existing Hindi movie channels in the FTA space," says Jhaveri.
Star India is no stranger to rural audiences. Jhaveri says that they have been present in the GEC market with Star Utsav for almost 10 years now. The channel played old shows from the Star Plus and Life OK library until now. "The big difference is that now BARC measures the market. It's logical for us then to extend the Utsav brand, which already resonates with the audiences there," he adds.
Jhaveri adds that the advertiser profile will be more or less the same that is on Star Utsav. FMCG, white goods, pumps, tractors, agriculture equipment and telecom companies are expected to form the bulk of advertisers. He says that in case of FMCG and white goods categories, the product profile might change, but only time will tell. The communication around the channel will also take a more local approach with radio and regional print publications spearheading the effort, aided by on-ground events in nearly 400 villages.
Utsav Movies has been in the pipeline for a year and a half and Jhaveri says that extensive research was done by his team. For instance, the market survey showed that the afternoon slot, which is considered low-value (from a monetisation point of view) for general entertainment and movie channels currently, actually has active viewers in rural areas. This is being factored into the programming schedule Jhaveri informs.
Another finding from the study is that rural entertainment viewing is concentrated during the holidays/festivals. Jhaveri says, "This works well for us, since the tag-line for the channel is 'har din utsav'."
Interestingly, the team is using this information to also put in place a stronger 'family appeal' filter in the line-up. "Not only are these households single TV, but at times, the entire family lives in a smaller space and so the TV is in the common area," says Jhaveri, indicating that the channel will be very careful with what it serves up.
The research also showed that for many households, TV is often the main/only source of audio-visual entertainment that the family can enjoy together. For access to cinema halls, families have to travel as far as 50 kilometers in some cases. Even then, there is no guarantee that they will get tickets and whether it'll be a Hindi movie that they watch. This is the need-gap that Jhaveri and his team want to fill.
In keeping with rural viewer needs, the content offering on the channel will be different from the network's other movie channels like Star Gold, Movies Ok and Star Gold HD. For instance, prime-time movies will be aired at 7 p.m. rather than the usual 8 or 9 p.m. slot. However, the network will not be acquiring any new movies exclusively for the channel yet.
For distribution, it will rely on DD Freedish, the popular DTH platform in rural areas, though, the channel will be available on other platforms too in the long run. Now, begins the wait for rural viewers to tune in.
