Lot of research has gone behind ‘Thank God It’s Fryday’: Ashit Kukian

Zoom, the Bollywood and lifestyle channel of the Times Network, has partnered with Philips for the third season of their show, ‘Thank God It’s Fryday’. The popular series that combines food and fun had celebrity chef Ranveer Brar and actress Prachi Desai board the TGIF Express that will travel across eight cities – Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gurgaon, Varanasi, Kolkata, Vadodra and Indore – to discover the treasured recipes from across country.

Commenting on the show launch, Ashit Kukian, President - Revenue, Times Network, said, “Looking at the success of Season 1 and 2, and with the demand for more from our foodie viewers, we are pleased to announce the new season which is a treasure recipe-hunt. The show offers a lot of tadka and twist in each recipe and it promises to offer the most delicious and treasured fried food of each city which can be made healthy with the use of Philips Airfryer. We promise viewers will have a more engaging, mouth watering and an exciting ride on the TGIF Express 3.0.”

ADA Ratnam, President, Personal Health, Philips India, added here, “It has been an extremely satisfying partnership with Zoom. With every edition of TGIF, we take our pride – Philips Airfryer – one step further and prove to everyone that this is the only appliance that can give you best of both the worlds – taste as well as health. TGIF Season 3 comes with an exciting new format, but with the same unbeatable combination of Philips Airfryer and Chef Ranveer, which, I am sure, will leave you hungry for more.”

Chef Ranveer Brar, the brand ambassador of Philips Kitchen Appliances, will set out on a treasure food-hunt in the TGIF Express with his eight celeb buddies across eight cities to find their eight most memorable dishes. The Chef will taste the local trademark delicacies of the city, re-creating them with the Philips Airfryer. As part of the treasure hunt, he will interact with restaurant owners and city locals for clues. The show will also feature other exciting experiences of the Chef like visiting his celeb buddies’ favourite restaurants/ dhabas along with live interactions with fellow foodies in the form of food games.

In conversation with AdGully, Ashit Kukian, President- Revenue of Times Network, speaks more about Tg, research, challenges overall answer in this one.

What can we expect in Season 3 of ‘Thank God It’s Fryday’?
We will be going to different places, try different things for which we have done a lot of research. Besides, chef Ranveer is himself an encyclopedia when it comes to food, so his understanding of regional cuisine, what is the heritage of a particular city is an added element.

A lot of our viewers want to try out new things and have new experiences. Moreover, India as a country is becoming a lot more health conscious, so the show and the Philips Airfryer fit very well with our programming content.

Are there plans to foray into different genres as well?
We do a lot of research on the evolving tastes of our viewers, and based on what our viewers need from time to time, we will be developing the content accordingly. Hence, it is too early to comment on which other genres we will be venturing into. Right now, a large part of our content is music-based format and differentiated content.

What is the growth strategy for Times Network?
Whatever we do at Times Network, we believe we should be in the top 2 or 3 in the market in terms of the value that we create for ourselves, and Zoom is no different. We are hopeful of reaching the top 2 or 3 position in a span of one or two years.

From the advertising point of view, what are the key revenue drivers at Times Network?
Zoom has a large portion of FMCG advertising, but keeping in mind music as a genre, and that it caters to the entire family, all categories are advertising on Zoom. Advertisers that are on general entertainment channels are also coming to Zoom. So, it cuts across categories.

What has been the major reason behind the success of Times Network?
We strongly believe that if there is one network in this country that is delivering to the English audience – be it English News, Business News, English Movies, and English GEC – we are the only ones present across genres. If you look at the competition, they are present in one or the other genre, not all. So, we believe that we have the country’s single largest English audience (the numbers prove it), delivering all over the country from the broadcast point of view. We also believe that the quality of audience we deliver across the network is possibly the best that anyone can deliver, and that is precisely the prime reason I see behind the success of Times Network.