In these times of austerity you can save a few hundred rupee notes if you are ready to wait out a month or two to see the latest box office hit. Bodyguard, Agneepath, The Dirty Picture, Rockstar? you name it, within a month or two of their release, these movies have been shown on the small screen. Gone are the days when film aficionados had to wait for at least a year to see their favourite movies on television. The waiting period has come down to a couple of months, thanks to broadcasters who queue up to strike a deal with the production houses as soon as a movie goes on the floors. While movie fans and film producers are certainly happy, what’s in it for the television channels who are showing these blockbusters?
The business of showing movies on general entertainment channels (GECs) and movie channels may not have come full circle over the years but it’s hard to ignore that the market has shifted from syndicated deals to exclusive ones. Way back in 2006, syndicated deals allowed a producer to sell satellite rights to more than one broadcaster. While producers made more money by negotiating with multiple players, broadcasters had to pay a smaller amount to acquire the movie rights. In 2007, the first syndication deal was done by Studio 18 for Jab We Met. As opposed to this system, two years ago, exclusive satellite rights of a big film went for as much as R17 crore.
Cut to 2012 when there’s nothing unnatural about broadcasters paying through their nose to acquire exclusive satellite rights. The two biggest satellite rights acquisition of this year so far are still-in-the-making Dabangg2 by Star India and Agneepath by Zee Network at R50 and R40 crore, respectively. It will take several airings across the channels of both the networks to recover the exorbitant acquisition costs. According to broadcasters, however, these movies are certainly worth the huge sums of money they pay for them. Recently, premieres of blockbusters such as Bodyguard, Singham and Robot garnered decent television viewer ratings (TVR) ?10.08, 8.79 and 4.11 respectively to push the respective channels or networks up the gross rating points (GRP) ladder. Also, once exclusive satellite rights of a film is acquired, the broadcaster is allowed to sell it further to DTH players.
Today, the deal is largely in favour of producers as there’s no established formula for arriving at the price tag for the small screen other than star cast, director and the production house.
Amrita Pandey, executive director – syndication, international distribution and Disney media distribution, studios, Disney UTV, explains how there is no set formula to arrive at the satellite acquisition rights of a movie. ?There are some genres, actors and directors that command a premium. Their competitive edge makes a broadcaster invest in them,? she says.
However, according to industry insiders, the metrics to judge the worth of a movie are very much there. Typically, a big-ticket film from the Yash Raj banner with big stars will come in A+ category and fetch an ad rate of approximately R4 lakh for a 10- second slot. Movies such as Band Baaja Baraat and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu will come in A category and command R2 lakh per 10 seconds followed by B category movies such as Ladies vs Ricky Bahl and Vicky Donor at R1 lakh for 10 seconds or even less. Also, films which qualify for family viewing are on the wish list of most broadcasters. For instance, while Agneepath can be considered one of the best examples of a family entertainer, a surprise box office hit such as Vicky Donor may not fit the bill for family viewing.
Manasi Sapru, director, programming and acquisitions, movie channels ? media networks, Disney UTV is happy with the performance of both UTV Action and UTV Motion Pictures, the two movie channels in the Disney UTV fold. ?Both the channels have content as the main differentiator. More than 500 films are made by Indian producers every year and movie acquisition has undergone a change with more broadcasters asking for exclusive deals. The syndication model failed to stand the test of time because it did not allow any channel to build an identity,? she says. At the same time, Sapru feels that the acquisition call will be rationalised soon. “In Hollywood, the costs are rationalised and we can learn the same,” she adds.
The last few years have seen a slew of Hindi movie channels come in, indicating that movie channels play a big role in pushing up the GRPs of networks, despite the high acquisition costs of movie titles . Movies OK in the Star fold, UTV Movies and Cinema TV are some of the latest entrants in the 578 GRP movie channel genre which has established channels such as Zee Cinema, Star Gold, Sony Max and Filmy. While Zee Cinema, launched in 1995, can be seen as the pioneer in the Hindi movie channels genre in India, media planners are of the opinion that the channel has lost viewers to Sony Max from the Multi Screen Media stable in recent times.
It is interesting to see how big networks such as Star and Zee have been investing in movie channels even when movie premieres on their GECs have strong viewership. For instance, known for its reach in India Star went on to create shadow offerings GEC Life OK and movie channel Movies OK. To begin with, with strong content both the channels have pulled viewers from Sahara One and Filmy. Says a senior media planner on condition of anonymity, ?If we put together the GRPs delivered by all big networks, Star will come on top with flying colours. For instance, I will not be surprised if they come up with a third movie channel catering to viewers of top eight metros or multiplex audiences to put it simply. Such a channel’s library may include movies made by directors including Sujoy Ghosh, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banarjee, among others.?
Hemal Jhaveri, general manager, Movies OK, explains what made the Star network go for a second movie channel. ?Our channel is targeted at families. Movies OK cannot be dismissed as a shadow channel of Star Gold. Genre specialisation is a worldwide phenomena and there’s always room for a bigger channel in the same network.? Besides Dabangg 2, the channel has rights for Bol Bachchan and Bodyguard. In a way, Movies OK is following what Filmy did a few years ago by airing the latest hits.
Star Gold, meanwhile, has been able to attract viewers and advertisers with decreased ad time and increased ad rates.
Jhaveri explains how running a movie channel remains a risky business. ?With acquisition costs going through the roof, it is becoming important for broadcasters to pick and choose the right content which has repeat value,? he adds.
Gaurav Seth, senior vice president, marketing and communications, Set Max reveals that the channel follows the principle of ?careful, calculated and aggressive? while acquiring titles for its movie library. The Max movie calender this year includes The Dirty Picture, Dangerous Ishq, Paan Singh Tomar, Raaz 3, and Shanghai, among others. The satellite rights for most of these movies have been acquired for a period of 5-10 years. ?The investment is worthy as the genre is growing. We reach 60% of the TAM base weekly,? he says.
Cinema TV, the youngest entrant in the Hindi movie genre, is focussing on movies from the ?70s and ?80s, with more recent movies being aired during the prime time bands. Cinema TV?s CEO Hitesh Sabharwal shares how this month-old channel came into being within 70 days of planning. ?We are not in the rat race of acquiring exclusive movie rights. Instead we are investing in non-exclusive rights for a year or so. Cinema TV is mainly positioned as a mass channel and so we are targeting advertisers from across categories,? he says. Currently, the channel is focusing in strengthening its distribution in B and C towns. ?There is life beyond TAM and our healthy sampling numbers prove this,? he adds.
Zee Network has acquired rights for Don 2, Agneepath, Agent Vinod, Barfee, Heroine, Desi Boyz, Players, Joker and My Friend Pinto at R200 crore. A few days back, Viacom18?s Hindi GEC Colors struck a deal with Eros International for exclusive satellite rights of nine unreleased films. Apparently, movie satellite rights is turning out to be a typical example of demand far outstripping supply with viewership of movie channels growing and broadcasters willing to pay huge amounts to acquire satellite rights.
Says Anwesh Bose, senior vice-president, DDB MudraMax Media, ?The viewership pie for Hindi movies genre is not increasing as fast as it was predicted few years ago. Some GECs such as Imagine and Real which had movies as differentiators have also shut down.? The viewership for Hindi movies on television has grown from 11.35% in 2010 to 11.93% in 2011 to 13.49% so far this year, according to television audience measurement firm TAM Media Research. According to numbers gathered from various media planners, the Hindi movie genre is currently delivering 551 GRPs on a weekly basis.
At the same time, to build stickiness, television networks are leaving no stone unturned in packaging their channels along with aggressive marketing initiatives. Right packaging is one of the crucial aspects of running a successful movie channel. At least that?s one of the biggest learnings for English movie channels in India. Gone are the days when an advertiser would buy airtime on HBO and Zee Studio or Star Movies and Zee Studio as part of a standard media plan. On the back of big titles and great packaging, late entrants such as Pix and Movies Now have emerged as game changers. While Pix acquired rights for big titles such as Salt and The Social Network, Movies Now cashed in on the Indian preference to watch sequels of blockbuster movies back-to-back.
?With cable and DTH penetration mushrooming in smaller cities and towns, viewers have started sampling English movie channels. Interestingly, viewership numbers have been growing for some English channels from Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. Delhi and Mumbai have reached a saturation point,? adds Bose.
Says Ajay Trigunayat, CEO of English Entertainment Channels, Times Television Network, which owns English movie channel Movies Now, ?The English movie genre has grown to 74 GRPs. Close to 90% of our viewership is library-led. So we do not buy the myth of how movie premieres determine a channel?s market share. At the same time, regulatory hurdles have made it tough for broadcasters to make more money. In future, digitisation and advertising streams will develop to become our saving grace.? He also points how brand management of movie channels has never been strong. ?We chose to launch in high definition to provide a better viewer experience,? he adds.
According to insiders, recently Star has sent emails to advertisers and media agency to offer contextual advertising. This means the network will work with these stakeholders to establish how each brand of an advertiser can run ads on different channels of the network. This will take away pressure from prime time which is a priority for all the advertisers.
For obvious reasons, advertising revenues is all that sustains a new movie channel initially. Some players are miffed with advertisers and planners for not letting them make enough ad monies. ?New English movie channels are certainly delivering numbers but rates are brought down during negotiations. We do not get paid higher than Star Movies and HBO. Besides, marketing spends in the category have gone up by 30%. While viewership is expanding, business is not,? said a channel head, who did not want to be named.