?What is the local strategy adopted by the channel to attract viewers and more so, encourage co-viewing (kids & parents together)?
As an international category, Star Movies is getting Hollywood movies to India, but the biggest differentiator is that Star has invested heavily in building the deepest and widest collection of movie titles.
Within the competition, we have the widest array of films ranging from romance, comedies and animation to action. With over 700 film titles in our library, we are able to satisfy different audience sets through thematic movie festivals such as anime fests for kids and mothers, adventure fests for the family and romantic comedy fests for women.
In the English movies’ space, we are the only channel to have tied-up with four of Hollywood’s biggest studios; we have first output deals with the likes of Fox Studios, Disney and Universal, and a second output deal with Sony Pictures. This implies we show the biggest titles coming out of Hollywood, and ours is the only channel to air as many as 70 to 100 premieres in a year.
Coming to the action genre, we have even gone ahead and launched Star Movies Action to cater to our male viewers and create a niche destination for them.
What is the competitive landscape like? How has Star Movies managed to be the leader in this genre for so many years? What is your TG like?
The main differentiator for Star Movies is our tie-ups with Hollywood’s biggest studios, with three of them giving us a first output deal. None of the other channels in this space have more than one first output deal with any such studio.
Sony Pix has one first output deal with Sony Pictures. As for the rest of our competitors, Movies Now is a channel of complete repeats with no first output deals and no film premieres. Ditto for Zee Studio. HBO is the only channel which has its own library.
Star Movies is a place where the audience can look forward to a new film premiere almost every weekend, says Vaz |
This leaves just Star Movies, a place where the audience can look forward to a new film premiere almost every weekend.
Coming to our main TG; it is C&S 15+ SEC A and B for all India one million plus towns. English movie viewers are highly aspirational by nature. Star Movies is watched by nearly 13 million viewers on a monthly basis, which is nearly 57 per cent of the category. We continue to dominate this space with nearly a 33 per cent higher viewership than the channel next-in-line. The number two player may vary between say Sony Pix, HBO and Movies Now but we always maintain our numero uno position.
Star Movies leads the category with 23 per cent relative share (Week 43 to Week 46 ’13). CS 15+ AB | 1Mn+ | Based on TVTs. Star Movies Action is ahead of Zee Studio - a 10 year old channel - Star Movies Action is at eight per cent relative share, Zee Studio at six per cent.
How big is the advertising market for this genre and what is your share within the same? Which categories spend the most on advertising on your channel? Are there any new emerging spenders?
The advertising market for the English movies genre is around Rs 600 crore net, with Star Movies accounting for a 35 per cent share of it.
The main categories we have onboard include technology, automobile and FMCGs with emerging categories such as e-commerce and online portals. Of late, several luxury brands too have joined the fray, so we have the likes of Tag Heuer and Rado (watches) and BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar and Range Rover (automobile). Since we reach out to the crème de la crème with around 10 million premium viewers across the country, Star Movies becomes one of the premium vehicles for advertisers to reach out to their audience.
How are Star Movies and Star Action making their presence felt on social media? Which digital agency handles your digital media?
Social media is an integral part of our marketing strategy; we truly believe in creating disruption in the digital medium and always try to come up with innovative and clutter-breaking campaigns.
We are constantly in touch with our audiences via social media which is the perfect medium to really interact with the consumer. We are constantly creating new incentive to ensure that consumer interaction is a constant.
The official Twitter page of Star Movie India (@StarMoviesIndia) boasts of 42,366 followers and the Facebook page has 2,520,808 likes and 53,550 people taking about it (at the time of writing).
Online and offline games created using the Hollywood content become extremely experiential for the viewers and creates a more personalised medium of conversation helping us to move beyond advertising and become a part of their lives.
For instance, the Pirates’ treasure hunt campaign created history in terms of social media engagement last year, winning a couple of digital awards. Similarly, the Oscar campaign was named the richest creative execution by Google; we also carried out an innovative campaign around 007.
Source: Indiantelevision.com
