After Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi released on December 12, 2008, director Aditya Chopra, vice-chairman of Yash Raj Films, took a year off to diversify into television. He took the time to put a team together for Yash Raj TV and tied up exclusively with broadcaster Sony Entertainment Television (now Multi Screen Media) to produce content and launch five serials and shows.

It wasn?t a surprise move ? big film studios have been toying with the idea of getting into the TV space for at least two years ? but the response was a surprise.

Ratings were lukewarm at best, throwing up anything between 0.4% for action/thriller Powder and 1.2% for reality show Lift Kara De, hosted by Karan Johar. And, yet both Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar, best friends too, are excited about television. ?I?d like to do something on TV. I am very serious about it. I want to understand the TV market which is different from films,? Karan Johar told FE.

At the press conference to launch Yash Raj TV on Sony, Yash Chopra, chairman, Yash Raj Films, said the decision to take the plunge into television was Aditya?s, who is quite obsessed about television and wanted to form YRF TV.

For Yash Raj Films and other film producers, foraying into TV can be one way to ?de-risk the business?. Rajesh Jain, executive director and head, information, communication and entertainment, KPMG, says the film industry has degrown by 10% in 2009, due to various factors like meltdown pressures, liquidity crunch, poor content, standoff between multiplex owners and producers/distributors. Then again, if the film industry was pegged at around Rs 10,000 crore in 2008-09, the Indian TV industry is now double the size and on growth path, unlike films. According to KPMG and Ficci, the TV industry had moderate growth in 2009, unlike films which de-grew.

Profits at Yash Raj Films (YRF) have been under pressure since 2007, when barring Chak De! India, all the other releases ? Tara Rum Pum, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Laaga Chunri Mein Daag and Aaja Nachle? flopped. As per estimates, YRF, till then the most successful film studio, got a return of barely 10% from five films in 2007. In 2008, too, YRF, which turned into a studio in 2004, announced a slate of five films and Rab Ne? apart, the rest, especially big-ticket Tashan, failed miserably at the box-office. In 2009, it released just three films ? New York, Dil Bole Hadippa and Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year? of which only New York did well at the box office, grossing Rs 61 crore worldwide. In 2006, Fanaa and Dhoom 2 alone had grossed in excess of Rs 250 crore.

Launching the TV venture, Yash Chopra said over the years (YRF started in 1971), wellwishers had empowered it to try different things. ?This encouraged us to launch YRF TV. There is always going to be a demand for content and there is enough space for everyone today who can produce good and meaningful programming. It is a natural progression for everyone who is in the business of making content in any format.?

But it obviously isn?t as simple as that, as the initial ratings suggest. It?s not necessarily always that a film production house or a film celebrity will succeed on television as well. Shah Rukh Khan?s Red Chillies Entertainment had two shows on the small screen ? Tere Mere Beech Mein on Star Plus and Ghar Ki Baat Hai on NDTV Imagine. Both got average TV ratings of 1.66% and 0.4%, respectively. The average ratings of popular shows range between 6 (Colors? Uttaran) and 4.9 (Zee?s Chhoti Bahu), according to TV ratings agency TAM.

?There is a lot of talent in the film industry and it is good if they come into television,? says Shailja Kejriwal, EVP content, Imagine, ?but the requirement of movie-making and the requirement of TV is vastly different.? TV, being ad-driven, needs the maximum eyeballs for advertisers to come on board and hence, as an industry, it?s always aiming at the bottom of the pyramid. Kejriwal says film makers, especially the younger crop, usually aim at the top of the pyramid and thus there?s a huge gap between the content-maker and the markets they are supposed to attract. Thus, film-makers switching to TV are often baffled and find it difficult to adjust or make two ends meet.

Being advertising-driven, ratings are of prime importance for television. ?Advertisers will spend money on the ratings that your show generates and money pours in only if your ratings climb,? points out an analyst. Yash Raj Films? vice-president (marketing & communication) Rafiq Gangjee says it?s early days yet for YRF TV. ?We have achieved good response from our target group and there has been phenomenal word of mouth.?

Sony Entertainment Television?s business head Ajit Thakur says good content providers can make it in any platform. He?s happy with the way YRF TV has taken off. ?We thought it would start slow. We are happy with the way it is going. We are confident about the content and there?s tremendous word-of-mouth, thanks to the quality of production and the superior, intelligent narrative.? Even Jain of KPMG agrees it?s premature to look at ratings of YRF shows just yet. ?A show takes time to grow; we must wait and watch for at least three months,? he adds. As it turns out, YRF is in no hurry. Analysts point out that TV is a far bigger business now in India and everybody wants to enter the medium. There are also far lesser risks for the producer, points out Kejriwal, ?the content is pre-sold and margins are built in, it?s the broadcasters who take the hit if the show is a flop?. Contrast that to films, where the producers take the hit if a film flops.

And yet, there?s a strong case for good film studios hopping on to the TV platform. TV channels are mushrooming, content and talent are scarce and it?s in dire need of new faces. But there are a few learnings a big film-maker or producer must keep in mind before taking the plunge, say experts. ?On TV, you are judged every night, unlike films where you are judged say once every two years when you release your film. You have to have a stomach for that kind of thing,? points out Kejriwal.

Yash Raj Films, for instance, wants to treat and approach TV serials ?just the way we do with our films?. So, as in films, it has taken great pains over production values and ensuring that everything is thought about carefully and provided as per the script. An episode takes several days to shoot. All of this adds to the final look in each of our shows. Also, as in films, we follow a bound script, something that is unique in the television space,? says Yash Chopra. But is that enough to work up the ratings and prompt other big studios to jump into TV? Usually, it?s the other way round. TV content makers use TV as a stepping stone to advertising and films. Director Vipul Shah began by producing TV shows. While it?s early to say whether YRF?s TV bid will succeed, at least Karan Johar is happy that the waters are being tested. ?After My Name is Khan, I am going to plunge into creating TV infrastructure,? he says. But that?s another story.