These are challenging times for pan Asian broadcasters. The economic downturn has meant that ad revenue targets will not be easy to meet. And for the action-oriented broadcaster AXN, this is more so with its parent Japanese electronics major Sony scaling back as it posted its first loss in many years.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), however, is looking at opportunities to snap up assets in the Asian region that would come at an attractive price.

AXN, which launched in 1998 as an Asian channel, has grown in stature and moved to the matured markets, attracting male audiences. Localisation has also worked as a strategy.

In an interview with Indiantelevision.com's Ashwin Pinto, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) Networks Asia senior VP, GM Ricky Ow elaborates on the channel's brand positioning, growth, challenges and expansion plans.

Excerpts:

Parent company Sony is scaling back due to a downturn in the global economy. How is this affecting SPE Networks Asia in terms of investing more in content and channels?
SPE Networks - Asia will continue to invest in content and channels because opportunities are presenting themselves in Asia. Especially during such tough economic times, people realise the need for television as an affordable form of entertainment. With the wave of TV digitisation starting to sweep through the region, there will be opportunities for us to grab some real assets in the new digital world.

What are the challenges that pan Asian broadcasters like AXN face in these tough times?
Firstly, there remains substantial revenue leakage through piracy. Secondly, competition continues to increase with more channels and choices entering the market. As audiences become increasingly fragmented with growing competition for their attention, business plans have to remain relevant.

In addition, new media offers opportunities for the brand to go beyond television - for content to be consumed anytime, anywhere, in many forms. At this time, however, all players in the industry are still in the race to find the perfect business model that will work for new media platforms.

Another challenge is that the English GEC genre is perceived to be used as a 'snack' by viewers. How do you go beyond that and try to build stickiness?
It is a misconception that AXN offers 'snack TV'. Many of our shows are of an hour's length per episode and others are even two hours long. AXN programmes offer a destination to escape to. One of the reasons why we have remained as the dominant player in this genre is that we offer something different and viewers actually watch and follow, not just surf through our content.

When Sony launched AXN in India way back in 1998, it was to be an action and adventure channel for male audiences. To what extent have the objectives been achieved?
When Sony launched AXN in India back in 1998, it was the first action and adventure channel. We had set out to be the first to create such a genre, and to be the best. I think we have succeeded as we continue to offer the best today, even in the face of rising competition from channels trying to replicate AXN's successful model.

We also wanted to offer high quality English entertainment to audiences in India as well as the rest of Asia that is growing in sophistication and affluence. We felt that a channel with unique content of distinguished quality will not only excite the top end of the market, but also markets that are as a whole more mature, with viewers that are sophisticated and well-travelled. I believe that these goals have also been achieved today.

How has AXN evolved as a brand over the years?
AXN began as a high-end proposition. It was one that targetted affluent adults as well as children from affluent households. Since then, action and adventure as a genre has in many ways extended itself to mass markets because it is a universal language. With the viewership numbers that the action and adventure genre is delivering today, AXN is definitely not a niche channel, but a unique content destination with far wider appeal than we originally thought.

What were the challenges AXN faced in establishing the brand?
AXN was blessed to have started out when competition was not that great in the market. A brand is made up of a brand promise and product fulfilment to the consumer. For AXN, our brand promises and product fulfilment have always been very closely aligned since its early days. In a lot of cases AXN over-delivered on brand promises, and that has had a long term positive impact as the channel has won over audiences' loyalty and affection.

The best evidence of that was seen during the ban on AXN in India some years back. Viewers missed AXN and wanted the channel back on TV. This was strong testimony that AXN has indeed done well as a brand.

Investments of the earlier days into on-ground events, then into original programming, and more recently into the Action Awards, have all worked out well for what AXN stands for.

AXN started as an Asian channel and then moved elsewhere. How far has it succeeded in this?
AXN was born in Asia and was then marketed around the world. This shows that quality channels need not always be created in the West or elsewhere and then parachuted into Asia. Sony had the belief and confidence we could launch a channel first in Asia, and then bring it around the world.

We have created original content like AXN Asia's The Amazing Race Asia. The reality race has been one of the most difficult to produce, and yet we have done well at it. In doing so, we have achieved our goal of creating original Asian productions which are good enough to be watched around the world.

AXN Asia's sister channel Animax, Asia's anime and youth entertainment channel, has also made breakthroughs. In 2009, Animax offered content in shortened broadcast windows, via simulcast deals with Japanese studios and broadcasters. Shows like InuYasha - The Final Act and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood have been broadcast within the same week as the Japanese broadcast, and Tears to Tiara in a same-time-as-Japan simulcast. This has been a big step to ensure fans and viewers catch the shows on the channel and nowhere else.

AXN and Animax were among the first channels in the region to provide mobile offerings. Animax Mobile 3G streaming service was launched about two years ago, while AXN also had mobile-based content for its top shows. A highlight of AXN's mobile venture include exclusive video footage which was unavailable on TV, for The Amazing Race Asia in 'The Host's Diary' where show host Allan Wu shared his thoughts and added to the entire show viewing experience for AXN viewers.

And on the marketing front?
On the marketing front, AXN prides itself on always being a challenger brand. We continue to view AXN as a challenger and are prepared to pursue innovative and creative marketing strategies to grab attention, but without offending the cultures, sensitivities and sensibilities of each market.

The ads that we have created over the years have always been outstanding, and can capture viewers' attention and excitement of the channel, but never offensive. We have been consistently doing so and AXN is one of the few TV networks in Asia that have pursued such aggressive marketing strategies.

In 2002-2003 AXN made a deliberate shift away from movies and focussed more on top line shows like Alias, 24. What factors prompted the move and how did this help in terms of ratings?
In 2002, AXN shifted in focus away from movies, but the channel continued to offer regular movie slots. The shift in focus was to ensure AXN had a richer variety in the programming mix that still offers action and adventure to our viewers.

Back then, drama series such as 24 and Alias were not as well watched as movies, but seeing that the quality of production in such series were as good as some movies, we were confident viewers would take to the new drama series on AXN.

Indeed, movies widen the overall reach of channels. However, our reduction in movies has not affected AXN's reach in this case; movies continued to be part of the programming mix. The increase in drama series offerings enhanced AXN's connection with viewers at the top end of the market. This is difficult to measure by ratings, but there are considerable viewers that AXN reaches out to. They are opinion leaders and trend-setters, and they demand such content.

AXN's ability to successfully market such drama series has also contributed to greater viewer 'stickiness' to the channel. While a movie is a one-off show, drama series average 13-15 episodes per season, and that has worked to keep audiences coming back to AXN.

How big a role have local shows played?
We started off with local events and progressed to producing local shows, both of which added to the overall AXN experience. In recent years, AXN has focussed on regional or international shows that India is a part of. While such regional shows are not dedicated to India alone, these offer a totally different experience to Indian audiences. We will continue to produce more of such regional shows that will include India and the rest of Asia.

Local events, local shows and regional shows with local elements have all brought different types of experiences and enjoyment to Indian audiences. With India becoming an increasingly important market for everyone including SPE Networks - Asia, we expect to offer more of the three different initiatives - local events, local shows and regional shows - in time to come to provide even more connectors with AXN.

Is the localisation strategy the same across Asia?
Localisation strategies are very similar across Asia, but with some markets having more localised shows and others able to participate in the regional shows that AXN creates. In that regard, we have been able to rope all markets in, and offer the same AXN touch and feel across the region.

The economic downturn has helped SPE Networks - Asia as a whole to refine our plans. It has helped us re-set our priorities, re-evaluate our templates of success, and rethink if we can do things better. The economic downturn has definitely impacted us and everyone else, but we believe we can derive a positive outcome from it by re-examining what we assumed had worked in the past, and come up with new strategies to move forward.

How has AXN fine-tuned its localisation strategy this year?
We have invested in local productions such as the AXN Action Awards, and will be looking at opportunities that can bring a very different touch in original productions that are relevant to India.

In addition, we have introduced English subtitling in India to enable viewers who may not be used to some of the accents to still enjoy the shows on AXN.