As Hollywood movie channel HBO completes a decade in India, the channel has lined up a series of original productions for the Indian viewers beginning with ?The Pacific?, the most expensive HBO production ($200 million) ever. The Time Warner channel today is running neck to neck with its key rival, Star Movies and together these two channels hold more than 65% market share. FE?s Rahul Sharma, caught up with Shruti Bajpai, country manager, HBO South Asia, on the decade-long journey, the movies and the original series. Edited excerpts.

What has led to the success achieved by HBO in India?

There are three things that have worked very well for the company and helped it reach where it is today?content, consistency and refreshing. The content was magical, our strategy was consistent in making sure the content gets bigger and better and finally we refreshed our offerings. We were the first one to come out with thematic packaging by offering different genre of movies. We were the first ones to come up with interactivity way back in 2001-02 through SMS and contests. One of the things that helped in a big way in ensuring reach was our subtitles, synopsis. We always had an upper hand in creativity when it comes to marketing, like Spider-man coming out of the newspaper, the Keanu Reeves cutout suspended mid air on billboards, etc.

What have been the learnings on the way?

I wouldn?t say learnings, but there have been interesting insights. Whatever you give to the audience, they would resort to the creepy crawly, Bruce Lee kind of flicks. I remember the number one movie for a particular period was Enter the Dragon. I don?t think they will get out of fashion, they have a certain appeal but certainly there is a fatigue factor that also comes into play.

How was 2009 for HBO?

The year 2009 was great. We are exactly on par with Star Movies with a 33% share over the 52-week period. We met a lot of success with our original series. For the first time in many years, our original series, Entourage and True Blood were among top raters among English movies. In terms of advertising, it was a little tough but we were able to at least maintain revenues from the earlier year and did not see a real dip.

What has been the response to the HBO original series?

HBO original series have been able to carve that niche for itself. That?s the reason we have increased their numbers. We had a one-off with Band of Brothers. It came in 2001 and we weren?t sure how that would do. We started in 2000. It was received very well. Sex And The City did phenomenally well. When I say this it means, they would start showing in the ratings. Now ratings itself are low for English movies and even lower for series. It?s the same for the most popular series like Friends as well, these don?t rate very popular in comparison to movies. English movies are the ones that bring the numbers in terms of eyeballs. Having said that, there are a lot of people who like watching good quality English entertainment programming. The whole HBO universe has different kinds of people with different kinds of taste.

What is the split between original series and movies?

Originals would be less than 15%. At any given point of time, you?ll have an HBO original on air. We start with The Pacific, when it gets over we?ll have Hung. Advertisers? response has been extremely good. It?ll be easy to get these advertisers for, let?s say, a Dark Knight. But there are a lot of sponsors who believe in these shows and would like to associate with these.

What is your current market share? And what about the competition?

Market share is an ambiguous figure which keeps changing. English entertainment as a percentage of the total TV viewership in India stands at less than 5%. I think that in that 5%, English movies are the big daddies. They command the maximum eyeballs–at least in the metros, the number of English movie lovers has only been growing. The base is rapidly growing. It?s a niche but, very important, niche market. I think it?s a game, where one is number 1 and other is number 2. Ten years ago there was a big fight for number 1 position. We had then three channels and now we have eight. But the fight is between the two, and the number 3 is a good distance behind. They have to do silly tactics, in the form of FTA (free to air) channels and no advertising, because healthy competition is growing.

Are you planning to launch the HDTV channel of HBO?

We already have an HDTV service in US and Asia. In India, as digital experience gets better and people are willing to pay that kind of money it is something that can be looked at. But then a lot of things are victims of media hype. If you start looking at numbers of TV sets, plasma, LCDs, HD sets, multiple sets, the numbers are still low. There is potential. It has to be a little bit slow and study. Till the consumer mindset changes and he says that I am not going to buy all the channels, I am going to be selective, choose HD channels and I?m willing to pay that much, until then, it?ll still be a lot of talk.

Video on demand has become a popular feature on DTH (direct to home) platforms. Do you fear that movie channels might take a hit?

It is a great service but the numbers are still to look that big. Firstly, VOD is not exactly VOD per se. You have only fixed timings and its not that you can watch it at any given time. Secondly, world over this is a value added service, no where it is competing with movie channels. This is an interesting top up and HBO itself has it. HBO in many countries in Asia offers this. You buy your whole pack and you get an S-VOD which is subscription video on demand through which you get your subscribed movies. In the Indian market, it?s still wait and watch. It has to be commercially viable and numbers have to look healthy. On the one hand, we have consumers paying Rs 300 for 350 channels. On the other, we are saying we want HD, VOD, etc. Are we willing to pay Rs 2000 as a monthly bill? That answers it.

How important is HBO India in the overall HBO matrix?

HBO India is a very important part of the HBO Asia business. There is an overall interest in the India business because the market is just opening up. Critical mass is still to happen. India will remain and become extremely important.

What is the next step?

We have a lot of stuff happening abroad. The HBO market in the US is very advanced. We have multiplex channels in Asia, we have a subscription with S-VOD service, an HD channel, there is a lot that we have. For India, it?s a question of timing, getting critical mass, commercial viability. Only then we?ll be looking at expanding in a big way. Because you have seen a lot of players coming and expanding in a big way and one year down the line, they are no where. We don?t have those flamboyant ambitions. A lot of things may not make sense and some may make sense.

What plans do you have apart from the original series?

We are looking and working towards September when we complete 10 years. It?s a movie channel, so there will be a lot of freshness in content and resonance.

How much are you going to spend on advertising and marketing this year?

We spend small but spend smart. We can?t compete with general entertainment channels or cricket– our budgets will look paltry. But we do spend such that HBO is noticed in that category. It is small and interesting stuff.