Zee Telefilms has drawn up an aggressive marketing and promotional campaign for its religious and alternative lifestyle channel, Jagran, launched on 14 January.

Pointing out that distribution is one angle that is being pursued in a planned manner, channel head for Jagran, Anil Anand told indiantelevision.com that some exclusive programming deals too have been sewn up.

"Jagran and T-series have entered into an exclusive content deal wherein the latter would make available some the best singers in its stable in this category as also their devotional music video," Anand said.

A promotional Jagran van on its rounds

The devotional music videos of singers that would be made available to Jagran by T-Series include those of Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh, Sonu Nigam, Hariharan, Anoop Jalota and Manhar Udhas.

Over the next couple of months, programmes related to Feng Shui, yoga and alternate medicine too would be introduced in a bid to position the channel as a lifestyle one, with most of the programming taking place in-house.

The promotional blitz is being undertaken as Jagran, according to Anand, is receiving a fairly good response. Quoting TAM data, he says that for one recent programme --- an all-night session of singing devotional songs --- that was telecast live, Jagran notched up 1.2 TRP amongst all religious channels.

Purists and some disgruntled cable ops may say that such figures don't make much difference, as the market for this genre is very small, but the Zee Tele management feels otherwise.

At present, India receives more than half a dozen religious channels,

A Jagran flyer targeting the devout

including one in English called God TV. Pointing out that almost 90 per cent of Delhi's cable ops have been cajoled to show the channel on receivable bandwidth, Anand said that negotiations are also on with Mumbai -based MSOs, including INCablenet and Seven Star, for carriage in the metropolis.

But more than the metros, it is the small towns and cities where the market for a channel like Jagran lies. Not satisfied with 100-odd small cities and towns, Jagran now is showcasing its exclusive content at religious places in North India, which attract over 10 million visitors annually if government data is to be believed.

The Jagran rath or van, carrying Dish TV equipment, parks itself near big religious events to indulge in promotional activities. And, it seems, even the religious-minded don't mind a bit of materialism.

Apart from these initiatives, there are plans to have Jagran branded gift hampers and CDs on various aspects of life and teachings from Gita.

Who says religion doesn't pay or cannot be marketed?