Executive Dossier
‘The branded slots, big movies have fetched revenues and viewership for the channel’ : Mohan Gopinath – Zee Cinema business head
Being the oldest player in the Hindi movie genre, Zee Cinema enjoys a good brand loyalty. The movie channel’s strength has been its huge library of movies. Regular festivals and branded slots have also helped the channel to maintain its audience base.
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Richa Dubey, Zee Cinema business head Mohan Gopinath discusses about the dynamics of the Hindi movie channel market and the plans ahead for the channel he heads.
Excerpts:
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How has Zee Cinema evolved as a brand? In 2007, we created many branded slots like ‘Showman Show’ which was a Raj Kapoor and Subhash Ghai film festival. It ran for 22 weeks wherein we showed almost all the RK Films like Bobby, Prem Rog, Sri 420, Ram Teri Ganga Maili. We created ‘Bhakti Ki Shakti’ for mythological movies on every Sunday morning at 8:30 am. This year we had a kids’ film festival called ‘Dopahar Zee Cinema Par’ for which we roped in Darsheel Safary as brand ambassador for the slot. We showed children films like Life Ho to Aisi, Tarzan the Wonder Car daily at 12:30 pm for almost a month. There are other slots like ‘Shaniwaar Ki Raat Amitabh Ke Saath’ and ‘Cinema Hall’ that have been worked as differentiating factor for us. Besides the branded slots, big movies have fetched revenues and viewership for the channel. All these factors have taken the channel to a grander scale. |
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With movie acquisition taking the syndication route, how do you see the industry shaping up? |
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Have you syndicated any titles to other channels? |
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All the Hindi movie channels are adopting this new business model. Why have you kept yourself away? The newer films have shorter life span compared to the older ones. We are not discounting the newer set of movies but in older films there are some memories which you would want to recollect. Everything has its own patent time. Older movies have also done well. We have a different strategy and we would like to go ahead with that. We have done this since last so many years and established the brand. You can’t get better than a Big B. Ultimately the movies have to blend into good ratings and then monetize. |
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What is your strategy to combat the increasing prize of a movie? |
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In that case you have not been very aggressive towards purchases? And in terms of big ticket purchase, for this year we have Dhol, Dhamaal and Taare Zameen Par. So we have a happy mix of both. |
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What other innovations have you done in the channel? We are running a contest wherein we will ask a question during the Saturday film. We have invited answers from colleges across India. The college which sends maximum right answers will meet Imraan Khan, the lead actor of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. |
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Shaniwaar Ki Raat Amitabh Ke Saath developed its own set of loyalty. Why then did you think of revamping the slot? We wanted to take things forward to a much larger canvas. Along with Amitabh films we will also premiere other big films with big stars. We have titles like Phir Hera Pheri, Dhol, Dhamaal, Vivah, Taare Zameen Par lined up for this slot. |
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But conventionally big ticket film’s premieres are on Sunday in early prime time. Don’t you think a Saturday night premiere is too late for your viewers? The premiere time depends from channel to channel. There is no hard and fast rule on Zee Cinema. Vivah can also come on Sunday 12:30 pm or on a Saturday night. It is a family oriented film. |
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| Is the market ready to accommodate new players? Every market goes through a correction. At the end of the day every channel has a good strategy. What is required is a good three to four months of consistent viewership. I acknowledge the presence of every player. The competition will make us healthy. |
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