Sony Vizha bets on global formats, culturally rooted stories to challenge Tamil TV incumbents

MUMBAI: Sony is taking a big swing at Tamil entertainment. Sony Vizha, its new Tamil entertainment brand, launches on 19 October. Rajaraman Sundaram, chief content officer – South Regional at Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), who is leading the company’s expansion in the southern markets, set out the thinking behind it at a virtual media roundtable.

The brand name is the first clue. “Vizha” is a 2,000-year-old Tamil word for celebration, used for occasions from silver jubilees to temple festivals. Rajaraman said the promise is a new world with “a good dose of positivity”, built on family-inclusive entertainment with global scale.

Speaking at a virtual media roundtable, Sundaram said the decision to enter Tamil Nadu followed consumer research conducted in August 2025, which pointed to a gap between viewers’ evolving entertainment preferences and the programming available on traditional television.

“There are always generational shifts, aspirations change, which creates a gap for a new player to come and disrupt,” Sundaram said, explaining the rationale behind the expansion.

According to him, Tamil Nadu’s economic growth, younger demographics and increased exposure to international entertainment have reshaped the audience’s expectations. However, viewers continue to place considerable importance on their language and cultural identity.

He cited a sentiment that emerged during the research: “Subtitles are a tax we are paying to consume good content.”

For Sundaram, this captures the opportunity for a broadcaster that can combine the scale and storytelling of international entertainment with content that feels distinctly Tamil.

Moving beyond the traditional family-drama formula

A central part of Sony Vizha’s positioning is its intention to move beyond the home-centred narratives and recurring family conflicts that Sundaram believes dominate the existing television landscape.

He argued that conventional programming has not kept pace with audiences who are increasingly exposed to Korean dramas, Turkish fiction, international reality formats and diverse stories across streaming platforms.

“The whole entertainment brief from the audience has been given, but the incumbents are not fulfilling that,” he said.

Sony Vizha intends to address this gap through stories that extend beyond domestic settings, exploring schools, colleges, hospitals and other spaces that reflect contemporary life. Its fiction slate is expected to encompass humour, slice-of-life narratives, crime, thrillers, horror and romance, with a greater emphasis on younger characters and experiences.

The objective, Sundaram explained, is to make entertainment relevant to entire households rather than associate particular genres with a specific gender or age group.

He also believes that the distinction between television and streaming has contributed to a fragmented entertainment experience, leaving an opportunity for content that families can watch together.

“Can there be a proposition that can bring everyone together and not make it appear for a certain gender?” he asked.

The channel’s broader promise centres on positivity, family inclusivity and storytelling that reflects contemporary Tamil society without losing its cultural roots.

Global formats, local sensibilities

Sony Vizha’s non-fiction strategy will draw on internationally established formats, including Tamil Idol and Celebrity MasterChef Tamil, while adapting their presentation and content to local tastes.

Sundaram maintained that acquiring or adapting a familiar global format is not, by itself, sufficient to differentiate a channel. The execution, production scale, talent and cultural relevance must also set it apart.

“Format familiarity is definitely important, but the scale” is equally significant, he said, pointing to the opportunity to bring international production values to Tamil audiences.

For instance, a cooking competition should go beyond replicating a familiar format to incorporate regional ingredients, food traditions and recipes rooted in Tamil households. Similarly, singing competitions should give participants room to develop rather than expect them to arrive as finished performers.

Sundaram also highlighted authenticity as a key differentiator, arguing that viewers have grown sceptical of reality shows they perceive as manufactured.

“The filter which we’ll use and you’ll see in all our non-fiction is authentic reality,” he said.

The approach will sit alongside a slate of fiction, films and sports programming. The channel has announced Crime Patrol in Tamil, featuring Rangaraj Pandey, as well as a Tamil version of CID. It is also acquiring film rights across satellite television and digital platforms and plans to offer sports coverage with Tamil commentary.

The programming strategy is intended to create a broader entertainment portfolio rather than rely on a single genre or flagship property.

A platform-agnostic distribution strategy

Sony Vizha’s launch comes at a time when broadcasters are navigating the coexistence of linear television, connected TV (CTV), streaming services and social video.

Sundaram said the network would not approach its Tamil expansion exclusively through the lens of traditional television. Instead, it intends to create a connected content ecosystem in which audiences can discover programming on social media, watch exclusive material on YouTube, tune in to linear television and engage further through streaming.

“If you’re launching a business so late in 2026, we cannot use a linear lens to launch the business,” he said.

Under this approach, different platforms will serve different purposes. Instagram will support discovery and audience engagement, while YouTube will carry behind-the-scenes material and exclusive content. Linear television will continue to serve appointment viewing, with streaming providing additional opportunities for on-demand consumption and interaction.

The focus on CTV is particularly relevant as audiences increasingly move between mobile devices and larger screens. Sundaram said the network’s priority was to make content available wherever viewers choose to consume it, rather than restrict distribution to a particular delivery mechanism.

He also highlighted the value of streaming data in understanding viewing patterns, including where audiences stop watching and how preferences overlap across genres. These insights, he said, can help refine programming and improve content discovery.

The strategy reflects a broader shift in how broadcasters assess the relationship between television and digital media: the objective is not simply to distribute the same content everywhere, but to develop platform-specific experiences that complement one another.

SPNI signals significant investment in Tamil Nadu

The network is prepared to commit substantial resources to establish Sony Vizha in a competitive market, Sundaram indicated.

“We will be spending far more than what the incumbents are spending in the market,” he said, referring to the investment required for global formats, celebrity-led programming, film acquisitions, sports and fiction that moves beyond conventional family settings.

However, SPNI is not setting its initial success benchmarks solely around market share or profitability. Sundaram said the company would focus on whether audiences recognise the channel’s proposition and respond to its programming.

He identified measures such as aided and unaided brand recall, reach, intent to watch and intent to pay for content as indicators the company would monitor internally.

“The larger thing is there’s a brand promise. Are we staying true to that? That is what success for us would mean in the first year,” he said.

Sundaram added that the longer-term ambition extends beyond establishing a presence in Tamil Nadu. The network also wants to expand the range of stories within SPNI’s overall content portfolio, creating locally rooted narratives that can resonate with audiences beyond the markets in which they originate.

A different pitch to advertisers

Sony Vizha’s positioning is also designed to create opportunities for advertisers seeking to reach audiences across television and digital platforms.

Sundaram said around 11 brands had already associated themselves with the channel’s proposition before it went live. He argued that its family-inclusive positioning, emphasis on positivity and cross-platform distribution could offer advertisers a distinct environment for brand building.

Rather than relying exclusively on conventional television advertising metrics such as cost per rating point (CPRP), the network intends to develop integrations tailored to individual brand objectives.

He cited the example of a two-wheeler manufacturer entering Tamil Nadu and seeking to establish its proposition against established competitors. In such cases, the network would work with the advertiser to understand the product’s features and integrate them into relevant programming.

The approach also extends to sponsorship-led integrations, where a brand becomes part of a show’s narrative rather than appearing only during advertising breaks.

“Our editorial is at the service of the advertiser,” Sundaram said, adding that integrations must remain seamless and must not compromise the entertainment or the programme’s values.

He also pointed to brand-uplift studies as a way to assess the impact of associations, tracking how a brand’s position changes over the course of a programme or season.

For advertisers, the proposition is to combine the reach of television with digital engagement and more tailored integrations, while addressing the challenge of duplicated audiences across platforms.

Building for the long term

For SPNI, Sony Vizha represents more than an entry into another regional television market. It is an attempt to test whether a combination of global formats, culturally relevant programming and integrated distribution can create a distinct proposition in a market with established competitors.

Sundaram acknowledged that building a new brand would take time, but maintained that the network was prepared to stay the course.

“We may start small, but we know over a time, I will cross the threshold and become a mainstay and we’ll be at it till we get there,” he said.

The immediate test will be whether Sony Vizha can translate its research-led positioning into programming that viewers choose to watch and advertisers see value in supporting. Its longer-term success will depend on whether the promise of differentiated, culturally rooted entertainment holds up beyond the launch and establishes a durable place in Tamil households.