Elevator Pitch:

India occupies a unique spot on the global map, it is the largest democracy as well as the second most populous
country in the world.This makes it a mouth watering prospect for all the media house businesses operating in the
country,to innovate, disrupt and express themselves freely and cater to a large audience base . Another thing that
makes the country unique is the diversity in terms of cultures, beliefs, languages etc. In India, there are 29 states
having 22 major languages, written in 13 different scripts, with over 720 dialects and many other languages that
aren’t officially recognised. The Territory of providing quality regional content through a dedicated channel is
relatively unexplored by many of the major media houses present in India . O these lines, our business idea taps on
these prospects by proposing that Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) expands it’s network by introducing
state/region specific entertainment channels on television. These channels apart from being made available
separately, in a state specific fashion will also be fully available on SPNI’s digital platform ie. Sony Liv which can be
accessed through laptops/tablets/mobile phones.
Dedicated regional channels as well as their digital presence will help Sony to penetrate and expand it’s customer
base across the country!

The Existing Landscape :

Indian Regional Channels broadcast programmes on various state dominant languages. The private regional
channels are neither completely entertainment channel nor exclusively news channel. Rising advertising revenues
and increasing viewership have provided the drive for many big players to enter into the business. Some regional
media leaders like ETV, Sun TV, Asianet have a strong grip over the regional market. Moreover, major national
networks, like Star Network, Zee Network have also realised the importance of such channels, and thus have
launched many regional channels under their banner, showcasing well planned and produced programmes.
Regional channels are growing also because of digitisation, which facilitates better quality and a greater
viewership. Digitisation has propelled a lot more TV channels in the regional space. In the future, it is anticipated
that there will be a lot of segmentation, clutter and disruption. In all, the current situation in the market for
regional markets is that they are in a bright spot and SPNI should capitalise on this opportunity.

The insight behind the idea :

HIGH LOCAL LANGUAGE SPEAKING POPULATION:​ ​The Indian market has a great scope for regional language
content because of its high (88%) non english speaking population.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS:​ T​ he study also showed a rise in average viewer income and a decrease in average
age of TV owning household and a decrease in average family size from 4.39 in 2015 to 4.15 in 2016. TV
penetration in India went up by 10% in 2017 at 64% as against 2013 when it was at 54%. Total TV viewership was
780 mn in 2017 against to 675 mn in 2013. TV ownership also rose 19% to 183 million. However, out of these 183
mn households 84 million households are in Urban regions while 99 million are from rural areas. Thereby rural
India TV ownership stands 17% higher than Urban India​.

SPIKE IN REGIONAL LANGUAGE INTERNET USER BASE​: The number of local language internet users in India
was growing at 47% Y-o-Y and had touched 127 million as on June 2015 according to a report by Internet and
Mobile Association of India and IMRB International.

INCREASING SIZE OF SOUTH INDIAN MEDIA INDUSTRY:​ ​According to a report by consulting firm Deloitte
Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd the media and entertainment (M&E) industry in South India ​was projected to
touch Rs 43,600 crore by 2016-17 from Rs 23,900 crore in 2012-13,. The study also showed that the south indian
media market was dominated by TV with 56% market share. According to a 2016 BARC India report, there is high
demand for film based content down south, both for Originals and Hindi dubbed content.
The changing market dynamics suggests great scope for expansion in the South Indian original content space,
which is currently dominated by regional media houses, like ETV (Telegu), Sun TV (Tamil) and Asianet in
Malayalam.

The impact the idea will have for SPNI :

Quantitative:-
1. Expansion into the Southern Regional Media would give access to the INR 43,600 cr South Indian Media
and entertainment Industry
2. LIV platform as a complement to the channel and using it as a marketing tool to promote the sony
network brand
3. A strong App/ website user base would result in a greater share in the Mobile Ad market which is
projected to grow to 10,000 cr by 2018
4. SNPI would get to leverage the Brand recognition generated by the channel to enter into the lucrative
mainstream South Indian movie production

Qualitative:-
1. SNPI’s expansion down south would give the media house almost nation wide presence
2. Learning from experiments on the SONY AATH platform like Sports with local language commentary could
be leveraged
3. Dubbed Hindi content which has high viewership would not only reduce costs but can also be used to
promote SNPI’s Hindi productions

Idea Launch & Sustenance Strategy:

The Channel:​ The expansion on the south market would be spearheaded by a Sony branded channel for the south
as a whole, the contents on which would be dubbed into the language of the State where it is being aired. Given
the commonalities in culture and preference this model would be used to fine tune the channel to consumer tastes
and preferences before eventually expanding into specific regional language channels for individual states having
specialized content.

The content and program placement on the channel can be determined in accordance with the findings of the
BARC study on the dynamics of the South Indian TV market.
Film based programs and Serials lead on Average time Spent as well as Overall Time Spent in all four regions.
The Content​:​ developed should thus be of the above two categories interspersed with breather shows.
Since the focus of the Original programs would be execution they should ideally be developed by upcoming
directors and feature Youtube celebrities who would carry some pre-garnered brand value.

The APP:​ The second pillar of the expansion strategy, the LIV app would be promoted as the go to platform for
regional content down south,for both licensed and original products. With the growing consumer demand for
cross platform viewership, the app platform would perfectly complement the channel.
The app would also be used to collect user preference data as well as other consumption data to offer
personalized content, reminders and offers and freebies; in essence, the app would act as a customer relationship
management arm of the channel.

The Expansion:​ The channel would ideally be launched in the different states in phases, only after the contents
have been curated according to local preferences and a regional language Original TV series/Film developed
specifically for that region, which will be used on Social Media to promote the channel launch as well as the LIV
app.
We would be targeting an Ad market share of 20 percent in the first 3 years of operation during which time there
would be a singular channel for the whole southern market (inclusive of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana
and Andhra Pradesh)
Execution Challenges and Solutions:-
1. Low internet penetration and Network speed​s: Pre download feature would be offered to offset
buffering issues, the network issues are also expected to iron out as data penetration and 4G usage
increases especially in rural areas.
2. Marketing the LIV Platform​ : Since most rural and semi urban population and huge chunks of the urban
population in our country watch Bollywood movies, we would advertise it initially through Influencer
marketing on T.V ( on popular news,sports and entertainment channels popular in the region ) using social
media platforms like Youtube and facebook. The rural end of the marketing campaign would feature Wall
Paintings and channel LOGO banners to generate brand hype
3. Competition from market Leader​s: The Marketing Model for the channel would feature its Content and
Interactive App-TV synchronicity as its USP. Brand sony will be leveraged through aggressive marketing in
the specific regions.