| Interview with Vijay
TV programming head Suresh Iyer |
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| "We
are on the way to weaning viewers from Sun" |
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| Posted
on 23 September 2002 |
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| It was after an eight year
stint in UTV Mumbai that Suresh Iyer shifted down south to start the
company's operations in Chennai. It was during this phase that the
production house teamed up with Star India to revamp the sickly Vijay
TV and Iyer took charge as the programming head. |
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| Vijay's launch in its new avatar in
October 2001 helped shake reigning Sun out of its complacence, obliging
it to launch an exclusively film channel KTV to combat Star power
from emerging in the south. A year down the line, Vijay claims to
have made a dent into Sun's stronghold, inched past KTV and left rivals
Raj and Jaya at least a mile behind in the channel share stakes. |
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| Iyer likens a typical television
channel in the south as a department store, where every section has
to be well-stocked in order to appeal to the customer. In a chat with
indiantelevision.com, Iyer outlined his plans for making Vijay the
best stocked channel of the south… |
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Where does Vijay stand
in the numbers game today?
In Tamil Nadu, Vijay is the only channel that is showing steady
growth. During Kavyanjali, there is a over 25 per cent jump
in channel shares, while it is nearly the same when Kadhai Alla
Nijam is being aired. Our effort is now to make Vijay well stocked
on all fronts. In the past, it suffered from a lack of consistent
identity. There was a time when it targeted youth, then a time when
it tried to become a family oriented channel. Right now, I would describe
any successful channel in the south as a well stocked department store,
with each section well supplied to cater to different kinds of customers.
Currently, we have all time slots - morning, afternoon and night -
stockpiled with a choice of good shows. The effort is also on to appeal
to each target audience, although we are focused on targeting the
SEC A, B,C 15 + female audience. |
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| "Right
now, I would describe any successful channel in the south as a well
stocked department store, with each section well supplied to cater
to different kinds of customers" |
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Which are the new shows on Vijay TV and who do they target?
Apart from Kadhai Alla Nijam (KAN, the reality
show hosted by Lakshmi that focuses on re-uniting missing persons
with their families), we have launched Shriraman Shridevi,
a fresh interpretation of the Ramayan in a modern context. Slotted
in the 9 - 10 pm band, the serial, which started on 19 August, has
been shot to scale and moves from a rural to urban set up. We have
also launched another serial directed by Revathy from 15 July and
a women oriented serial written by well known Tamil author Indumathi
in the 8.30 pm band. KAN is telecast between 12.30 pm and
1.30 pm, with a repeat at 10 pm. The idea is to take on major shows
on Sun TV in the 7.30 pm to 11 pm slot and the 12 to 2 pm slot.
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| "Although
Sun remains the clear leader, we have beaten KTV in the afternoon
band as well as during the belly of prime time"
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How was KAN conceptualized and how does it work?
We wanted to create a reality show that would have an element of
drama as well as human emotion in it, without becoming a dragging
bore. To that end, we decided to split the one hour show into five
segments. The first of it recreates the story of the protagonist
with the help of clippings, the second opens the story for discussion
as it were while the third portrays a mirror story. The fourth and
fifth segments are live phone in sections, in which we feature experts
as well as affected parties. The drama is built up with surprise
elements at the end of each section.
The sets at our studio at Kodambakam have been designed by Sabu
Cyril and the lighting comprises completely of tubelights to give
an even feel to the sets. We have tied with Bharati as well as VSNL
for the phone ins. We usually get a barrage of phone calls from
the second segment itself, and several people have even volunteered
to help the people featured in the show.
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| "We
have drastically changed the way channels are packaged in the south.
The concept of classy on air promos has also taken off in a big way
due to Vijay's promos" |
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So, have you beaten rivals
Jaya and Raj in the fight for the third spot in Tamil Nadu?
It's no longer a fight for the third spot. TAM figures for August
2002 have given us a clear edge over Raj and Jaya in the 12 to 2 pm
band. Although Sun remains the clear leader, we have beaten KTV in
the afternoon band as well as during the belly of prime time - 9.30
pm to 11 pm. We are now trying to eat into Sun's share so that even
if it retains say 50 per cent channel share, we can try to reach 15
to 20 per cent on our own. |
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How has audience perception of Vijay
TV changed since its relaunch in late 2001?
Viewers now perceive us as a neutral channel they can trust. While
Sun and Jaya often give the biased version of news, we have reaped
the benefit of being a neutral player in the stakes. We have daily
news bulletins, courtesy NDTV, at 7 and 11 pm which draw a reasonable
audience. We now reach nearly 70 per cent of Tamil Nadu. We have drastically
changed the way channels are packaged in the south. The concept of
classy on air promos has also taken off in a big way due to Vijay's
promos. |
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So, is Vijay focusing on fiction to bring
in the viewers or you planning to introduce new genres?
Fiction will remain the cornerstone of our programming. Novel
concepts like KAN also work, but the game show genre is still shaky
territory. A Koteeshwari is fine, but it has to generate Koteeshwaris
(crorepatis) regularly to sustain viewer interest, something that
is not possible with regional channels. Vijay's focus will now be
to introduce fiction based shows to wean away Sun's following, and
the strategy will be to move the stories faster and better. |
