Wednesday 9 December 2015

How to Market TV Programmes?

TV Programme’s marketing requires special strategic planning and execution. Simply engaging a social media marketer or distributing printed brochures won’t help. This is because TV programmes have a tight schedule of pre-production, post-production, press release campaign and initial phase-release campaigning. The broadcast of programme is predecided and everything has to fit into this strict timeline schedule. This is why it is important to create the maximum impact in TV programmes’ marketing. Avinash Pandey, who has been involved in decades of TV Programme marketing with Star News earlier and now as COO of ABP News, gives the following suggestions about TV programme marketing

There is very little time slot before the release of a TV programme, which can be used for marketing. Hence, marketing strategy has to be aggressively designed. For this, it is important to create a strong visual and sound impact on the potential audience. This can involve building a huge sculpture, unipole ad, or organizing a musical evening with the actors and actresses or the main programme host or with a celebrity to market the programme. Big banners advertising the TV programme at the musical show is a necessity at such events.
Another strategy is to release trailers of the TV programme on Youtube and on TV channels. Releasing trailers on film shows in cinema halls is also a good idea. This can have a maximum impact on the potential audience of the TV programme. Remember to make the trailer only 2-3 minutes long. The name of the programme and its main focus, along with the people involved in it, with a few video clippings from the programmes, all must be shown in these 2-3 minutes.
A good strategy is to invite a press conference focused on the TV programmes going to be released. All the major press people must be invited at the conference. The people involved in making of the TV programme should address the questions of the press people. It’s a god idea to brief the press people before the conference about what the conference and the TV programme are all about, so that they can ask their questions in a much more organized manner. The respondents from the TVprogramme should not lose his/her cool while answering a tough question and answer it diplomatically.

Listing on Wikipedia, IMBD etc, giving details of the TV programme is another good idea. This will introduce the programme to a large number of audiences who use the Internet regularly. Blogs and Facebook pages can be created, where visitors can ask questions and a team of people from the TV programme making can answer their questions. Twitter is a good idea to market TV programmes with clippings from the show, 1-2 line marketing messages and directing the visitors to Facebook pages and to other Internet marketing sites related to the TV programme marketing.
Avinash pandey says that in his long experience with the Star News and ABP News, he has seen many TV programmes take to great heights of popularity because of a dedicated and well-designed marketing strategy. A good strategy with targeted-timeline is essential for TV programme marketing.  


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Tuesday 1 December 2015

How TV Programmes are Fairing in India?

It has been said in recent times that TV is now losing its charms to the Internet and soon TV may become a thing of the past. However, a closer look at the situation tells a different story. It is indeed true that the Internet has become extremely popular and every city has got internet connection now. But there is more to it than this. Avinash Pandey, the COO of ABP News and having worked with Star News earlier, says that TV still has a much wider reach in small towns and villages, where Internet is still not easily accessible. Moreover, in order to use Internet it is necessary to know a fairly good level of English language, which means the Internet user should be fairly well educated. However, TV Channles are broadcasting in every Indian language and education or knowledge of English is not a necessity for watching TV Programmes.

The viewership of TV programmes is still very high, especially of news programmes, panel discussions, serials and sports events. Internet has not been able to make a dent in the popularity of these programmes. Rather, Internet is now a complementary companion to TV programmes because these TV programmes can be streamed live through Internet. Avinash Pandey, who has many years of experience with Star News and ABP News, says that apart from live streaming and web TV, there is the powerful medium of Youtube. Most TV Channels upload their popular shows on Youtube and the viewers get to watch these shows free at their convenience. This greatly increases the following of these TV programmes. Hence, rather than becoming a rival, Internet is actually tuning out to be an ally for TV Programmes and they are becoming more popular because of the Internet.

Apart from this, there is another reason why TV Programmes cannot be overshadowed by the internet. TV provides a medium where motion pictures can be brought alive in a dramatic manner in one’s home. Motion pictures can be and are being uploaded on the Internet as well. However, their appeal is not as dramatic on laptop or an average size desktop or a small tablet as that of the TV Programmes on a large TV screen. This is the advantage that TV has over Internet. The latter will have to use large screen and a large retinue of professionals to make the motion pictures as alive and dramatic as the TVprogrammes, in order to give the TV a serious competition. And if this is done, then Internet will acquire the dimension of a TV Programme. So, it doesn’t make sense to spend so many resources on the Internet, when the TV is already there. Avinash Pandey says that in his days at Star News and now as the COO ofthe ABP News, he doesn’t feel any threat from the Internet and he is very optimistic about TV Programmes’ viewership in India. 

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Wednesday 25 November 2015

Avinash Pandey COO ABP Star News Reviews on Outlook of TV Advertisement in the Next 6 Months

Observers of TV advertisements have marked a significant rise in the revenue generated from TV advertisements in the first half of 2015. Despite a growing rise of Internet and an increasing investment in mobile ads by the marketing strategists, TV advertisements still remain the most potent form of advertisement. It is postulated that in the coming times, TV ads will still see a steep rise in their number as well as the revenue they bring on the products being advertised.

Avinash Pandey, with a long marketing experience in the TV industry through Star News and ABP News, says that advertisers still have faith in TV as a potent medium of creating an impact on the viewers. This is because the new media such as the Internet and mobile advertising have not yet reached all corners of India. In contrast, TV has a pan-Indian reach and its viewers continue to grow in number. As compared to the previous generation that used to have one TV in a family, today it’s not unusual to have 2-3 TVs in a single family. Thus, even in a family each member has the option to watch a different programme. Considering there are thousands being broadcast on hundreds of channels in India and 24 x 7 news channels constantly running, there is immense scope of TV advertisements growing several folds in broadcast time as well as the revenue they generate for the advertiser.

There is a sector of TV advertisements that is often overlooked. This is the political advertisements sector. The recently concluded Bihar election saw the all pervasive TV advertisements being exploited by the various political parties to their full potential. There are several elections coming in near future, including those in Assam and UP. Political events form a major venue for the TV to get landslide increase in revenue through the political advertisements. The various TV News Channels have a special stake in this sector, as the performance, interviews, press conferences and branding of various parties and their leaders are closely related to the TV News programmes, panel discussions and other news-related programmes being presented on TV.

Avinash Pandey the COO of ABP News says, “This is an immense opportunity for the TV News Channels to garner revenue through political advertisements in the coming months. Apart from this, other events related to popular programmes also present a great opportunity for the TV advertisements to grow in number as well as in revenue.” With the TV advertisements slated to grow in number and revenue, the TV as a potent force for the marketers remains a reality despite the growth of Internet and mobile and table industry.

Monday 16 November 2015

Avinash Pandey COO at ABP Star News Reviews on Brand Management for a TV Channel

A brand manager of a TV channel has to walk a tight rope. Because in today’s world, a TV channels compete not only with the print media and other TV Channels, but also with the New Media i.e., the internet. It is difficult to catch the viewers’ attention for along time. Avinash Pandey from ABP  Star News, who has been involved with marketing and management of this channel and also Star News in the past, gives some advises to the brand managers of TV Channels.

First,a TV Channel has to create a strong online presence. Says Avinash Pandey, ABP News has a strong following not only because of its TV coverage, but also because of its strong online presence. Same is true of Star News, with which Avinash Pandey was associated before he began his work with ABP News. TV Channels should have webpages,Facebook and Twitter profiles where they post regularly and build a consistent following. Apart from this, they should have YouTube profiles and web-streaming sites where audience can live stream their programmes.

The second rule is to get information about how the viewers feel about their coverage. Apart from getting a regular market survey personnel,it’s a good idea to follow comments on Facebook and see what the followers are saying about their programmes. Especially, post articles with links on Facebook, asking viewers questions and asking them to give their opinion. This is a very good index of how the viewers are receiving the programmes of the channel, according to ABP COO Avinash Pandey .

A third rule is to develop a distinct characteristic of your TV channel. What are your strongest areas – news reporting, panel hosting about current affairs, cinema, TV serials, sports, or what else? In what way do you like to present your programmes? How is it different from similar programmes on other TV Channels? Why would people remember and come back to your programme? It is important to ask yourself these questions, says Avinash Pandey, who has handled Star News and ABP News for a long time. Your viewer will watch your programmes and will follow them regularly if they remember it consistently for some of its distinct characteristic, which is different from other TV Channel. Avinash Pandey considers it a strong characteristic of a TV Channel brand manager.

Again,as in the case of any other branding work, so too in the case of TV Channel branding, Avinash Pandey recommends consistency in your branding characteristics. Wavering and continuously changing branding strategy throws off the viewers and they lose interest. Once they get used to a particular style, let them watch the same style daily. This creates a strong imprint on their minds, according to Avinash Pandey .His views are based on his experience from ABP News and Star News.

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