Tarun Katial, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) tells us how BIG Magic and BIG Magic Ganga have fared and what’s next on the agenda for both the channels
Re-branding an established brand is always a challenge, but Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL)’s television arm has ventured down this path, twice in the last one year. First, its flagship channel, BIG Magic (launched in April 2011 as a regional channel focused on HSM) was re-launched as a national channel, and re-positioned as the ‘one stop destination for humour’ – a comedy channel for the masses. Then in August, RBNL re-branded its regional entertainment channel, BIG Magic Bihar and Jharkhand as ‘BIG Magic Ganga’. IMPACT caught up with Tarun Katial, Chief Executive Officer, RBNL, to ask him how things have panned out for the television vertical of RBNL.
A ‘BIG Magic’ re-launch?
Commenting on BIG Magic, Katial says, “Not everything goes as per what you want to do, but largely we are pleasantly, happily dissatisfied about the performance of the channel.” While satisfied with the performance of marquee shows like Har Mushkil Ka Hal – Akbar Birbal, Uff Yeh Nadaniyaan, Bal Gopal Kare Dhamaal, Katial adds they could have done better with an earlier distribution push with some of the new DTH platforms and marketing push. “But some of those things were not entirely in our hands,” he observes.
With distribution has been a challenge for RBNL especially as the network expanded its geographies beyond its core Hindi Speaking Markets (HSM), tying up this end was a major priority. Over the last year, RBNL strengthened its distribution network by inking national deals with DTH players. Says Katial, “We have not only covered all the ground on DTH but a lot of ground on some of the LC-1 markets and are hoping it will give us good results. We are largely very well covered across HSM and are looking to cover some ground in Tier IV markets in Rajasthan and in Jharkhand.” With the distribution in place, the network has seen traction not just in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan but also in Gujarat and Maharashtra and the focus is to build on in the metros.
Content is King
Another key strategy on Television chalked out in 2013 was to focus on intellectual property and proprietary content. Katial says that the company has over the last 18 months built a solid bank of content and believes that this is the right direction as focus on good creative idea helps build a better brand. However, the challenge here was getting sharper consumer insights and the right talent on board, particularly as comedy is a tougher genre.
Enhancing The Local Flavour
Katial believes it is local content that has helped BIG Magic Ganga remain the “leader brand” in Bihar for a long time and adds the name change to Ganga has helped as it truly reflects the ethos and culture of the region. BIG Magic Ganga has built strong brands in Bhakti Sagar, Bhakti Samrat, Police Files, Big Memsaab and Big Bahuria.
With intense competition from the Hindi GEC space in the primetime band, the programming is structured with devotional in the morning, focusing on women in evening and men at late-nights with shows on crime. The diverse content has helped deliver numbers. Looking ahead Katial says, “Our aim is to fortify BIG Magic Ganga’s national distribution. We will invest more into concepts that are relevant and exclusive to that region and build some very strong brands which are 360 degree in the future.”
Bringing In the Advertiser
With innovations being the buzzword across the entire RBNL network, Katial says innovations with brands like Johnson & Johnson for Clean & Clear and Hajmola Chatpata No.1 has helped draw in advertisers. This, in turn, has had a positive effort on the ad rates, which have increased three times over and every large advertiser is on board. Looking ahead on further hikes in this space, Katial says, “We have serious head room to grow but understand that in Television the currency of pricing is linked to the currency of audiences.. as the audiences grow for any channel, the advertiser is ready to pay.”
Ad rates have also grown by 1.5 times in the regional space, with National advertisers contributing up to 80% and the remaining being the local and SME players. With the Bihar assembly elections slated for November this year, BIG Magic Ganga is hoping to see a big upside from the additional political advertising.
Digital & Consolidation
On his future plans, Katial bets on Digital and says, “Future plans are largely linked to moving content into Digital and being a multi-channel network, Digital with comedy is a great space to be in. The next level of expansion is to continue investing in content, distribution, to find their digital variants and strengthen the digital output.”
RBNL has also bought the Indian rights for the sitcom show, The Middle, and Freemantle’s top-rated game show, Family Fortunes, which will be aired on BIG Magic. Also on the radar is expansion into the United Kingdom (BIG Magic International is present in US, Canada and Australia). As for new launches in India, Katial says, “We are looking to consolidate. We are not looking at any new launches in the next one year. Our effort will be to increase the number of hours of content on both the channels and increase our investment in marketing and distribution.”
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