The Hindu Business Line : Discovery Channel sustains viewership

A CONSCIOUS mix of programmes with Indian content and contemporary themes has helped Discovery Channel to maintain a sustained viewership during 2004.

"Programmes with an Indian favour always tend to do well," said Mr Raja Balasubramanian, Brand Director Marketing, Discovery Communications India.

Discovery Channel, according to TAM data, has had a fairly stable viewership curve from January to early November 2004.

The channel has been able to garner good viewing during the afternoon hours.

Discovery Channel has had clear spikes when it comes to programmes with an Indian context and contemporary foreign programmes, Mr Balasubramanian said.

The Discover India series have faired quite well. Rivals, a series on rivals from the world of celebrity, has also been faring well.

The series include features on Arnold Schwarzenegger vs Sylvestor Stallone; Princess Diana vs Camilla Parker Bowles; John Lennon vs Paul McCartney; and Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna (Formula 1 racers).

Discovery's programming mix is quite similar across all time zones. The afternoon zone has a different set of viewers from the prime time zone.

"We do believe that the advertisers are convinced about the spike in the afternoon viewing of our channel," he said.

At Discovery offices, there is apparently an element of surprise about the strong afternoon viewership.

However, the prime time zone is a clear winner in terms of advertising revenues, though the channel will be able to leverage on its afternoon viewing strength.

Although, subscription revenue growth is largely dependent on the distribution infrastructure and the issue of under declaration on the part of cable operator, Discovery channel officials believe the channel is largely sheltered by the fact that it is part of the One Alliance bouquet.

The channel, which reached 31 million cable and satellite households in India, would largely continue with its programming mix of Indian and contemporary themes.

"At this moment our focus is to try and understand the viewing pattern across all time zones," Mr Subramanian said.

Discovery Channel is due to launch a programme titled `Virtual History' during the first quarter of 2005.

According to Discovery Channel, Virtual History is the first TV documentary to completely reconstruct the secret plot of kill Hitler, `a key moment in history that was never originally caught on film'.

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