Which are the other regional channels you are planning to launch?
At this time we have six regional channels plus English and Hindi. So, at this point in time, we have covered the big ones. There are a lot of things that needs to be done in the existing places. We are leaders in Bengali, in Marathi and Kannada we are not the leaders which we aim to be, in Telegu we have some work left to be done. And we are not very strong in Andhra yet. We have to first consolidate what we have acquired rather than start growing in newer markets.
What is your strategy to combat competition?
Like any other genre, in the regional channel space also one needs to continuously offer innovative content, which keeps the consumer engaged. But you have to adapt to the local taste and culture. So if you are operating in Karnataka or Kerala you have to stick to the sensibilities of the local market and should be able to address the regional programming requirements.
What are the revenue opportunities here.
The viewership figures are growing very rapidly although South India is a more penetrated market. But when we entered the Bengal market for example, the market exploded significantly. The market grew by about 30-35% from a viewership perspective. Clearly, presence of new players expands consumption, expands viewership. Opportunities for ad revenue for south, Bengal and Marathi are strong. In regional markets, the bulk of the advertising spend used to happen in print which is a very expensive medium in terms of cost per reach, cost per thousand. So with the growth of regional television, over a period of time it will grow the market for television ad revenue. But will eat into the print revenue. But it may also encourage a lot of new players who were earlier not advertising on television to try out the medium.
The contribution of regional channels to our overall revenue will be in excess of 35-40%.