Adgully Exclusive | HBO is the one stop shop for entertainment and movies: Shruti Bajpai

Home Box Office, available across 50 countries and with a reach of over 35 million subscribers, has become a leader in the media space. HBO International has its presence across Asia, South Asia, Central Europe and Latin America. HBO South Asia was launched in the year 2000 and as a 24 hour movie channel it has entertained movie enthusiasts across India, Pakistan, Maldives and Bangladesh since then.

HBO's programming includes the best of Hollywood movies on television first in South Asia through associations with 15+ studios and independent movie companies, including Paramount, NBC Universal and Warner Bros.

The channel completed ten years of its operation in India. On this occasion to gather more about the channel's journey so far and future plans, Adgully caught with Shruti Bajpai, Country Manager -South Asia, HBO Asia.

Talking about some of the key milestones for the channel over the decade, Bajpai says, "When we look back over the ten years gone by we at HBO have kind of redefined the English movie channel space in India. When we launched in 2000 there were already a few players in the market, but people were used to watching certain kind of movies and specific genre of movies. But when we launched we had deals with the top four studios of Hollywood, it suddenly unleashed the powerhouse of entertainment. I believe HBO has changed the way people watch movie and entertainment in India. Our packaging and programming goes through a revamp every month with fresher content."

"The other milestone is that our launch affected the programming and content across English movie channels to a certain extent. A lot of fresher content and also critically acclaimed movies started being a part of the programming. We later also came out with our franchise called HBO Original Series. It has worked very well with our audiences and we have been able to offer something more and new compared to other channels in the same space," she adds.

Bajpai further points out that the channel has grown from strength to strength in terms of distribution and advertising. The number of sponsors and the commercial viability of the channel has grown progressively.

She recognises the channel as the "one stop shop for entertainment and movies in the country". "You can expect anything from us that falls in the domain of quality entertainment then it can be to come out with the most number of blockbuster premieres, or having a good number of strong franchises, or even screening movies which are critically acclaimed. In the real term of words we are the only international movie channel," Bajpai adds.

She further points out that HBO is an international brand with a very strong reach and that it is very well differentiated in the market amongst competition. However she acknowledges that as competition picks up the audiences start expecting more of the channel. "The expectation of the viewers naturally goes up and then you have to improve your performance further to match upto that expectation. Hence we have planned a new line-up which is not only entertaining but is very relevant. Our quality and the commitment to build that quality is central to us," Bajpai points out.

So given the leadership position for over 10 years, what will be the channel's marketing and packaging plans?

Bajpai says, "Going forward we will be looking at fine tuning our marketing mix. We have realised that one brush stroke is not enough to attract all kinds of audiences. Social Media has proved very engaging for us, we have the largest number of fans compared to our competition. We think social media is a very good way to interact with our viewers and to know about their preferences in programming. We are looking at exploring on ground activities and OOH campaigns in a big way. So the marketing strategy is going to be to fine tune the mix keeping the end user in mind."

Bajpai says that digital is an extremely important element in the media mix and it also led to the realisation that the channel's interactivity with its viewers was more so across the digital space than through any other medium. "Digital as a medium perhaps reaches more of our loyal audiences than any other medium, stickiness is a very important factor for any channel. Besides, it might be fashionable at the moment to say that digital is important but one has to really understand the relevance of the medium in terms of it providing a better platform for engagement and interaction to your viewers," she says.

She points out that the English movie space has grown in the country and evolved over the years but she is quick enough to add that these channels can certainly never be compared to the GECs. However she also adds that the ad revenues have gone up for the space pretty much over the years. "HBO pioneered the whole space of movie channels and brand associations. We were the forerunners in terms of coming up with customised packaging. When we started off, advertising was limited to just commercials on the channel. Now there is so much of brand integration and depending upon the brand's communication we customise the programming, " she adds.

Bajpai identifies the TG for HBO as inclusive of anybody who loves watching movies and has an average command over the language- English. In terms of marketing the channel believes going out and out promoting that one big movie of the month through various media like print, television, radio, digital and OOH. The channel does so because they believe in reaching out to their viewers through various touch-points and so that the brand promise is registered further.

Talking about the challenges for HBO in a country like India, Bajpai says, "The market is hugely fragmented. In India today, in the English entertainment channel space there are many options available besides just English movie channels and hence the attention span keeps fluctuating. Moreover piracy is very much a phenomenon in the country. So these are the challenges in terms of maintaining the audience base and internally the challenge is in terms of many new channels launching in the space."

She further points out that the smaller markets are also an area of focus for HBO and she acknowledges that the rural markets are reporting growth in literacy and digital growth.

When asked if the channel has plans to move into HD, Bajpai points out that, "The problem in moving to HD is that if your USP will be technology led and not content led, it will be replicated. Everybody will eventually move to HD but the question is how commercially viable is it and what is the actual mass of audience using the technology."

While signing off, Bajpai says, "The year 2011 will be very interesting with a lot of competition. We will also have a lot to offer to our viewers. Some very big ticket properties will be launched by us. Overall the year 2011 will be more intense in terms of people fighting to attract eyeballs. We will all have to concentrate on providing fresher content which has never been seen in India before." | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]