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: The 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 speeds: 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 Leaders: 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.