TALKING POINT INDUSTRY TRACKER

BY IMPACT Staff

Gaurav Banerjee, President and Head of Content Studio, Star India talks about the launch of Star Plus Dopahar which marks the re-introduction of the afternoon time-band. Sathya Sriram, Head, Strategy & Marketing, The Hindu Group talks about its re-launch which includes a contemporary design, sharper packaging and reinvigorated content

WITH ‘STAR PLUS DOPAHAR’, WE WANT TO CREATE A NEW PRIMETIME DESTINATION IN THE AFTERNOON SLOT: GAURAV BANERJEE

Hindi GEC Star Plus recently announced the launch of ‘Star Plus Dopahar’, which marks the re-introduction of the afternoon time-band. The channel will air four shows with original content -‘Kya Qusoor Hai Amala Ka?’, ‘Tu Sooraj Mein Saanjh, Piyaji’, ‘Dhhai Kilo Prem’ and ‘Ek Aastha Aisi Bhee’ - from April 3, 2017 between 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm. As the endeavour is to create a fresh viewing habit, the channel will be undertaking a high decibel 360-degree marketing campaign. Gaurav Banerjee, President and Head of Content Studio, Star India tells us more

THE AFTERNOON TIMESLOT: In the last seven to eight years, we haven’t made any big move in the afternoon slot. The increased competition in the GEC space meant that the focus shifted to evening primetime. We feel this is the time to return to the afternoon slot and we will put our best foot forward. Our endeavour is to create a new primetime destination in the afternoon slot. Whenever we have experimented with new stories in new time slots, we have been successful and have expanded those time slots.
 

INCREASING CONSUMPTION OF HINDI ENTERTAINMENT: We aim to increase the total time spent on Hindi entertainment. Consumption can increase with more people tuning in to watch and with people who are already watching increasing the number of minutes they consume. We believe there is room to grow both. This is linked to better quality and variety of story-telling, which will get people to watch more content. There is a large chunk of our country today – in rural India and even in urban areas - which is not on television. We need to get people on TV, though for Star, the platform of consumption doesn’t matter - it could be on TV or Hotstar. Our intent is to create big appointment viewing in the afternoon.
 

WEEKEND STRATEGY: There is a great opportunity to put out differentiated content. Whether it is ‘Dil Hai Hindustani’, a new format that we developed which featured global talent singing in Hindi or our recent launch, ‘Koi Laut Ke Aaya Hai’, a romantic thriller. We are looking at new formats, different types of story-telling. Later in the year, we have ‘TED Talks India: Nayi Soch,” a global first Hindi TV talk show created in partnership with TED which will be hosted by Shah Rukh Khan.

THE READER IS AT THE CENTRE OF CONTENT CHANGES IN THE REFRESHED & REDESIGNED HINDU: SATHYA SRIRAM

The Hindu recently re-launched with a contemporary design, sharper packaging and reinvigorated content. Sathya Sriram, Head, Strategy & Marketing, The Hindu Group tells us more about the re-launch.

INSIGHT BEHIND THE RE-LAUNCH: Grabbing eyeballs through sensational journalism has become the norm, but readers of The Hindu find comfort in the ‘old-fashioned’ – and trust us to help cut through the information noise and articulate core issues. To reaffirm our commitment to distinctive journalism and serve our readers, we have re-introduced The Hindu – refreshed, reinvigorated, revitalized. We’ve made changes in content and design, offering a new and contemporary look, refreshed and reinvigorated content and sharper packaging, in order to maintain growth and sustainability.

CONTENT CHANGES: The reader is at the centre of our content changes; there are more cinema, business, international, sports and lifestyle-related articles through the week.  There is a single all-India edition of The Hindu north of the Vindhyas, with Mumbai Local and Delhi Metro supplements providing relevant local content for these metros respectively. In Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, there is a thematic MetroPlus every weekday, along with daily local and cinema content. Our other sub-brands – Friday Review, EducationPlus (now EDGE), and DownTown, also have refreshed content. Further, the Sunday edition has been relaunched as a brand new mega edition, The Hindu on Sunday, that provides readers with a leisurely and in-depth reading on a range of topics.

MARKETING INITIATIVES: We kick-started a 360-degree marketing campaign, The Hindu ReFRESHED, through which we communicated the change to our community across the country. On launch day, we carried an innovative format called the ‘French window’, inviting the reader to open two flaps that revealed the new masthead and a personal note from the Editor. We explained the changes in content and design to help the reader navigate through the refreshed sections, reaching over five million people through various digital platforms.

POST RE-LAUNCH: We hope that The Hindu on Sunday will be a truly differentiated offering and a turning point for English newspaper dailies in India. We continuously seek feedback and input from readers, being the only newspaper in the country that carries a toll-free number for our readers to call in.

ADVERTISERS’ RESPONSE: We have received largely positive feedback about the refreshed content and design from advertisers, who now have a better platform to directly reach their target audiences through thematic sections in the newspaper.

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