Digital Agencies
Reality TV plans media drive to expand viewership
NEW DELHI: Having tasted some success with selective advertising campaign in cinema halls during the festival season, Reality TV is now planning to unleash a mass media campaign in the early part of 2005. Aim: broadbase viewership.
“We have done some below the line campaigns when we launched. But seeing the success of the present one, we have drawn up plans to introduce a mass media campaign next year,” Zone Vision’s marketing manager Flecka Picardo told indiantelevision.com today over phone from London.
Since it first launched in 1991, Zone Vision has grown to become a leading international broadcaster and distributor of thematic television channels and at present controls Reality TV, Europa Europa and Romantica, which are broadcast to over 135 million paying subscribers throughout the world.
According to Picardo, the mass media campaign, including outdoors and cinema halls, would kick-off “sometime in April-May as it would depend a lot on the programming line up.”
What Reality TV is attempting to do is broadbase not only its viewership base, but also bring in more eyeballs from its present target audience that comprises people in the age group 16-44 from SEC A and B.
“I must admit that we have a more youthful audience, but our feedback (in India) has shown that lot of housewives and older people too come on to our channel to watch programmes in the afternoon,” Picardo said, pointing out that a mass media campaign would help in this direction.
As part of its ongoing initiative, Reality TV is executing a month-long cinema campaign in India, which is the first time that such an outlet has been chosen by the channel that claims its USP is ‘unstaged reality’ (may be, competition goes in for ‘staged’ reality shows).
This particular campaign has been conceived with the objective of promoting Reality TV among the key target audiences and covers multiplexes and cinema halls in four key cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune.
As regards the creative, it is a 60-second commercial reflecting the Reality TV branding and the core values that the channel represents — incredulity, bravery, astonishment, unbelievable, but true, heart warming and unstaged fare. In short: real people; true stories.
The campaign launch was kept in line with the festive season of Diwali as cinemas were and are still premiering some of their most popular films, thus giving Reality TV an opportunity to reach large audiences, Picardo pointed out.
The channel claims to have a fairly good distribution across India, which has made the channel promoters keen on reinforcing “the distinct nature of the channel in India and establish it as one that offers a unique entertainment value as with regard to the other channels in the genre of real life programming”.
Without giving any figures, Picardo said that India is an important market for the company as far as Reality TV is concerned and serious efforts have been made to promote the channel, including having India-specific programming fillers.
Picardo joined Zone Vision in March 2004 and has taken over as marketing manager for India and Asia Pacific. She has over four years of experience in the television industry having worked in CNBC India (formerly part of the Sony channel bouquet) and with MAX. After moving to London, she has worked with Asia Television Network.
Parent company Zone Vision was founded in London in 1991 by Chris Wronski and was originally formed to distribute television programmes to the Central and Eastern European market.
In addition, Zone Vision’s programme distribution arm, Zone Licensing, continues to acquire formats, series and specials from leading producers around the world.
BENGALURU: For years, creative teams have learned to live with ambiguity. Vague comments, last-minute changes, feedback that arrives without context, clarity, or conviction. It became part of the job – something teams worked around rather than getting it solved.
But as we head into 2026, that tolerance is wearing thin.
Creative work today moves faster, scales wider, and involves more stakeholders than before. Teams are producing more content across more formats, often with distributed collaborators and tighter timelines. In this environment, guesswork is no longer a harmless inconvenience. It’s a cost – to time, to budgets, and to creative mindspace.
The real problem isn’t feedback, it’s how it’s given
Most creative professionals you see today will tell you they’re not against feedback. In fact, they rely on it. Good feedback sharpens ideas, strengthens execution, and pushes work forward. The problem is ‘unclear’ feedback. When someone says “this doesn’t feel right” without context, they aren’t just revising – they’re basically decoding. They’re guessing what the problem might be, trying different directions, and burning time in the process. Multiply that by a few stakeholders and a few rounds, and suddenly days disappear.
In 2026, when teams are expected to deliver faster without compromising quality, interpretation is a luxury most can’t afford.
Scale has changed rverything
Creative projects used to be smaller and simpler. A designer, a manager, maybe one client contact. Feedback loops were short, even if they weren’t perfect.
Today, the same project might involve internal marketing teams, agencies, freelancers, brand reviewers, and regional teams. Everyone has a say. Everyone leaves comments. And often, those comments don’t agree. More people reviewing work means alignment matters more than ever. Clear feedback isn’t just about being nice to creative teams, it’s about keeping projects moving when complexity increases.
Guesswork quietly wears teams down
One of the less talked-about impacts of unclear feedback is what it does to people.
When feedback is vague or contradictory, creatives second-guess their decisions. They hesitate. They overwork. They keep extra time buffers “just in case.” Over time, confidence drops. Ownership fades. Work becomes safer, not stronger. Creative energy gets spent on managing uncertainty instead of pushing ideas forward. And in an industry already grappling with burnout, unclear feedback adds unnecessary mental load.
Actionable feedback is a shared skill
Clear feedback doesn’t mean controlling creative decisions or dictating every detail. It means being specific enough that someone knows what to do next.
Actionable feedback answers three basic questions:
What exactly needs attention?
Why does it matter?
What outcome are we aiming for?
This applies whether you’re reviewing a video frame, a design layout, or a copy draft. The clearer the feedback, the fewer follow-ups it creates. In 2026, teams that treat feedback as a skill and not an afterthought, will move faster with less friction.
Tools shape behaviour (whether we admit it or not)
The way feedback is delivered is often dictated by the tools teams use. Comments buried in long email threads, messages split across chat apps, or notes detached from the actual work all contribute to confusion.
When feedback lives outside the work, context often gets lost. When it’s disconnected from versions and timelines, decisions get questioned. When it’s scattered, accountability disappears. More teams are starting to realise that feedback problems aren’t just communication issues, they’re workflow issues. How work moves between people matters just as much as the work itself.
From Opinions To Alignment
One of the biggest shifts happening in creative teams is a move away from purely opinion-driven feedback. Instead of “I like this” or “I don’t,” teams are asking better questions:
● Does this meet the brief?
● Does this solve the problem?
● Does this align with the goal?
This change reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and helps feedback feel less personal and more productive. It also makes decisions easier to explain and defend. As creative work becomes more strategic, feedback has to support that shift.
2026 Is About Fewer Loops, Not Faster Loops
There’s a misconception that speed means moving through feedback cycles faster. In reality, the most creative teams aren’t just accelerating loops, they’re reducing them. Clear, actionable feedback upfront leads to fewer revisions later. Clear approval stages prevent last-minute surprises. Clear decisions stop work from circling endlessly.
In 2026, efficiency won’t come from working harder or longer. It will come from designing workflows that respect creative time and attention.
Ending guesswork is a mindset change
Ultimately, ending creative guesswork isn’t just about better tools or processes. It’s about mindset. It’s about recognising that clarity is an act of respect – for the work, for the people doing it, for the time invested and for the mindspace used. It’s about moving from “figure it out” to “here’s what we’re aiming for.”
Creative teams that embrace this shift will find themselves not only delivering faster, but also enjoying the process more. And in an industry built on imagination, that might be the most valuable outcome of all.
