Adgully Exclusive | Raj Network gears up with slew of new shows ahead of festive season

Raj Network, a Tamil Nadu based South Indian GEC targeting young and old, male and female alike, has positioned itself as The People's Channel. It was started in 1994 to provide wholesome entertainment for the entire family. The Network runs a number of serials, chat shows and game shows. In addition the Network has built up a library of some of the best in Tamil And Telugu films from the nostalgic old favorites.

Through its Five channels - Raj TV , Raj Digital Plus, Raj News 24x7, Raj Muzix and Vissa the network presents its viewers a smorgasbord of some of the best shows in South Indian entertainment today.

When Adgully spoke to the Chief Operating Officer, Mala Manyan, about the new show launches and also asked to elaborate a bit on the launch of largest reality show which the market is buzzing with, the she said, "we are launching a series of soaps & reality shows in the next few months starting from July. While "sindhu bhairavi" is the channel's success story, we are coming up with a serial titled "Mann Vasanai" (the smell of soil/earth) from the 1st of July which is the Tamil version of "Balika Vadhu" the success story of colors. The next lined up for telecast in "Karuthamma" (the dark girl) which is yet again another hit of colors ("Laado"). Regarding shows/realities we have the biggest reality coming up titled "Tamil Pesum Kadhaanayagi" (the tamil speaking heroine)...this is a hunt for a heroine who can speak tamil. Most of the heroines in the tamil film industry are girls hailing from the rest of India & therefore do not speak tamil language and their voices are always dubbed. There was a time when Kollywood is coming up with a lot of realistic & rustic movies which are big hits, this search for the heroine who can speak the language is actually a hunt on behalf of the entire tamil film industry. The beautiful girl can hail from any part of India or even the neighboring countries Singapore & Malaysia".

She added, "We will not only find them but also groom them & would also give them a chance to work with us in future. We shall conduct auditions in 7 cities in India apart from Singapore & Malaysia. All the top artistes, directors & cinematographers will be part of the show as judges and help us in grooming the beautiful damsels....big names like Murugadas (director of Ghajini) and Vetri Maran (director of award winning "aadukalam") have already consented to audition the finalists of our show for their forthcoming projects....the winners cannot ask for anything more!!! The show will be colorful & youthful, besides being glamorous & humorous."

She also stated," We are also launching a hunt to search for a poet who will be given an opportunity to pen a song in a film."

The most important aspect of a channel's success is its content and programming strategy.

When asked about that Mala Manyan told adgully, "Content & programming strategy is simple. Any time you tune in to the channel, you should be able to see something good that will instigate you to come back more often. We would like to avoid shows that are clichéd, soaps that are melodramatic. Just keep packaging good content with aesthetic changes."

These days all the new shows and programs have some or the other celebrity in it so as to popularize the show. While asking about that there would any of the "BIG STARS' in the upcoming show she said, "Yes...shows like "Tamil Pesum Kadhaanayagi" will have big stars during the course of the show. Not just the stars of today, the stars of yester years will also be part of the show. Other shows like Hunt for a poet & singers will have top line lyricists, music directors & singers...

All the shows would target the entire family. The programming strategy shall define the TG depending on the timings of programs.

Telling in detail the marketing strategy she concluded, "we are not leaving anything unturned as far as promotions of new programs are concerned, for example we are the first channel in T.N. to be running a 30 sec promo from tomorrow in 14 screens, all shows, in 2 of the most prime multiplexes namely Satyam Cinemas & Escape Cinemas for 2 weeks. We are also running very frequent promos in the number one FM station, Hello FM (106.4) (7 stations across TN) These are apart from the regular paper advertisements, posters, bus panels, flyers, etc."

Sanjay Banerjee, National Head, said, "We will be doing 360degree promotions leaving no stone unturned as far as reaching our customers / viewers are concerned. We have tied up already with India Times & would introduce contest on almost all content. We are also planning to have a lot of phone-in programs to maintain a regular connection of viewers."

"As for the revenues we are looking at a 100% increase in our Ad Revenues this Year. Our first QTR has been very upbeat & the team is all geared up to achieve the goals desired by the management," Sanjay Banerjee conclusively stated.

The channel was started with a mission of popularity par excellence among people in places we serve, for our program and practices. Proactive approaches leading to better perception of all the products and services of the brand Raj, Globally. Retain the platform for the masses and truly a peoples channel as in the past, the present and the future. The Raj Television Network understands this. A lot of effort is being taken to ensure that the programming mix appeals to people of all ages, of all backgrounds making it truly a People's Channel. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal(at)adgully.com]