The Hindu Business Line : Turner bets big on new platforms to boost ad revenue

While the company claims to have grown the revenue of its bouquet channels such as HBO, by almost 20 per cent last year, by getting a number of financial services companies (who preferred spending on news channels) to advertise on the channel, this year, the focus would be on integrating brands in and around the programming of various channels.

New advertisers

"HBO, for instance, caters to the SEC A-B viewers between the age group of 14-44 years. Since most of this section of audience is exposed to other channels such as news, many serious advertisers such as the financial companies preferred to connect with them by advertising on news channels. But we managed to break this perception and got a number of companies such as Deutche Bank, Accenture and SBI to advertise on HBO," said Ms Monica Tata, Vice-President (Advertising Sales), Turner International India.

"This year, we would look at packaging shows around brands. For instance, we may look at options such as getting a fairness cream brand to sponsor a film festival targeted at women on HBO, or even integrate the brand into the promo of a particular programme," she added.

Brand integrations

When asked about the kind of revenues it is looking at generating through these brand integrations, Ms Tata said that it was difficult to put a value, but she said that the company was definitely looking at a sizable revenue from brand integrations.

Ms Tata emphasised that the brand integrations would be done subtly, and would ensure that they don't hit upon the face of the consumers. "The brand integration would be as subtle as using the colours of a brand in a particular promo which befits the communication."

The company has also identified certain key objectives for its upcoming kids reality show Gali Gali Sim Sim (the Hindi version of Sesame Street) such as cognitive skills, health and hygiene and relationships, on which the various episodes of the show are being built upon. And, it is already in the process of talking to advertisers who share these visions and would therefore be willing to associate themselves with the show.

"If you look at Sesame Street, for instance, you will find brands such as Kellogs and Nestle talking about healthy food. The positive rub off these brands get out of it is their association with a programme that talks about kids' health," said Ms Tata.

The channel is also planning a series of school contact programmes closer to the launch of the show in August, during which also it plans to associate brands to talk about various issues such as health and hygiene. "In fact, a number of corporates spend on these kind of activities as part of their corporate social responsibility activities."