Exclusive | The Magic that turned BIG: RBNL's Anand Chakravarty

Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) one of the youngest and largest media houses currently has its presence in the space of TV, Radio, Experiential marketing, Out of Home and Digital offering brands the opportunity to reach and engage with 206 million consumers across the Reliance group.

 

Big Magic was launched by RBNL on 4th April 2011. They have completed one year and still going strong. This channel is a light hearted variety entertainment Hindi channel which goes through a fascinating journey in the heartland of the northern regions mainly comprising of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. All these states consisting of about 96 lakhs people have similar socio-cultural backdrop, tradition and beliefs. Big Magic reflects these nuances in the form of humour, bollywood, movies, music and action. This combined with the no. 1 network of the region 92.7 Big FM provides an unmatched integrated media platform for brands. They have been successful  in  their journey since the past one year and are all out to sharpen their focus further for greater success.

 

The channel has launched a series of local shows like Big Bal Kalaakar, Big Memsaab, Hasya Panchayat and newly launched shows like Hum Hai Bajrangi, Police Files and Mele Ka Big Star which reflect the culture, language, entertainment and ethos of the region.

 

Big Magic is all set for repositioning which will take place very shortly according to Anand Chakravarty, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Business Head of the channel. Big Magic celebrates its first anniversary with a new brand positioning – Apna Pradesh Apna Magic. The new positioning is intended to further build Big Magic as the very own channel of the Hindi heartland. In the past one year they have made great strides and lived up to its promise of offering the heartland the entertainment of their choice. With an excellent assortment of local programmes they have surpassed entrenched players to grow its audience base phenomenally. They are also looking at expanding their original programming.

 

Apna Pradesh Apna Magic brings the channel closer to the people of the heartland making it truly local and reflecting the people’s tastes and preferences and entertainment requirements. Conceptualized by the inhouse team APAM will be communicating to the audiences through a multimedia campaign with heavy use of radio. 92.7 Big FM, outdoor television, print and social media.

 

With regard to their channel launch since last year, Anand Chakravarty also says that as the channel developed the markets, they recognized the need to create stronger base and there was a great opportunity to actually build the regional context. He also adds, “As we work increasingly in that market we are able to identify more and more regional platforms and clearly we are being able to focus as a regional entertainment channel.” 

He also added that from the advertisement business point of view, advertisers are always on the lookout for additional media platform and an opportunity that can help their brands and create more impact on their product. So this channel made a very interesting platform and gave more scope to the advertisers.

 

From the consumer market point of view he said they offer immense potential and are of utmost importance for all the brands. These markets have always been a challenge in terms of reaching out to audiences through current media platforms.

 

Some of their prestigious clients presently are Coca-cola, Lifebuoy, Nestle, Hitachi, Vodafone, Johnson & Johnson, Glucon –D and Idea.

 

Their distribution in the region is very strong and they intend to penetrate into Tier II and Tier III markets as well.

 

He also spoke about launching the new game show Khulja Sim Sim which would be a very exciting show. With regard to the sponsors he said that multiple brands would be participating in this show.

According to Anand Chakravarty, “Big Magic is a challenge which we plan to take up with full dedication.”

 

Big Magic is also strengthening themselves with another move. They have launched a special weekend programming Superhit Cinema in which it will air the movies. The variety entertainment channel has acquired multiple library movies from the rich and expansive library of UTV Motion Pictures. Some of the titles include, Fashion, Aamir, Jodha Akbar, Dev D, Kaminey, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Race, Life in a Metro, Wake Up Sid, A Wednesday and many more.

 

This move comes just after the completion of one year. RBNL believes that this will further strengthen Big Magic’s offering and promises to work excellently with the audiences cementing the channels leadership position in the region.

 

While regional content created around truly local insights fiction continues to be at the core of the channels programming strategy, this weekend movie show will work as an excellent destination for the whole family.

This will also create an excellent opportunity for markets of brands across FMCG, automobile, electronics, telecom, fashion brands, retail brands etc. Additionally clubbed with promotion on the regions no. 1 FM station 92.7 Big FM, which boasts of presence across 11 stations in the region, Superhit Cinema offers an integrated media offering to the marketers. There will also be an aggressive multimedia campaign featuring television, OOH, digital and cable across the Hindi heartland to ensure that audiences do not miss out on the exciting movies.

 

Superhit Cinema will be aired every Friday to Sunday at 4pm and 8.30 pm on BIG MAGIC!

 

That is the success story of Big Magic!