The Hindu Business Line : All eyes for Discovery

It may not be a new discovery for Discovery Networks India, but it sure is for the industry. According to Television Audience Measurement (TAM) all-India viewership data released for the first four months of 2007, Discovery Channel has garnered the highest viewership among all English channels, may they be in genres as diverse as movies, news, entertainment or music channels. And Discovery, which is riding high on the numbers and putting out a communication on it to all media buyers, says these include channels such as Star Movies, HBO, MTV, NDTV 24x7, Channel V, CNN-IBN, National Geographic and CNBC.

As Managing Director of Discovery Networks India Deepak Shourie takes you through the numbers, he emphasises that alternative television viewing is a reality whose time has come. Away from the soaps and movies, the Indian consumer seems to be settling in nicely with info-entertainment content that is big on visuals and deep in research. "We were waiting to communicate genuine data to media buyers. I believe in only putting out figures that do not need an asterisk to explain in the fine print," he says.

While Discovery Channel tops on the all-India front, in the Hindi-speaking market and one million-plus population cities, in the six metros it falls a bit short and trails MTV and Star Movies. In its glossy publication Reality Bites for advertisers, it has put out information on how 36 of the top 100 shows are on Discovery, that male viewers in the 15-44 age group watch it more frequently than they do English news, that it clocks 70 per cent higher share than the leading English news channels and that in the one million plus cities Discovery is preferred to English movies. According to the company, the three Discovery brands, with its programming in English and Hindi, reach 81 million subscription units in the country.

What is the strategy that has worked for Discovery and enabled it to broadbase its viewership? Shourie explains, "We've done it by understanding the consumer. When I joined Discovery I found people saying to me that their kids love to watch the channel. I was surprised, as Discovery has always had an adult viewership worldwide. We took a close look at the programming — 65 per cent of the content was nature and wildlife. So we decided to change our programming and as it is done worldwide, we introduced history, space, science and technology. We also started looking at bringing in local flavour into the channel and ensuring that we remain top-of-the-mind for both the viewer and the advertiser."

A scene from the channel's show Everest: Beyond the Limit

Helping Discovery along has been content that is unusual as well as popular. For instance Planet Earth has garnered the highest viewership, in the 8 p.m., Thursday slot amongst all international channels. It features diverse landscapes from across the globe and unusual footage of the rarely spotted creatures that live in these habitats. The latest in the offering is Everest: Beyond the Limit — a series currently on air that captures a gruelling climb during the April-May 2006 expedition by a group of people from different walks of life, including a double amputee who made it to the summit. Using cutting-edge filming techniques including high-altitude video technology and cameras mounted on helmets, it unravels the experience of an Everest summit attempt from start to finish.

The channel's efforts at localising content are aptly presented in its series, India @ 8 is the result of one such effort where Discovery tries to bring out the emerging face of the country with themes such as Colours of India, Spiritual Nation, Destination India and Wild India.

Discovery's other channel, Travel & Living, has also started sourcing India content. It began its India commission chapter with The Great Indian Wedding, and then aired the Indian Rendezvous. Currently on air is A Matter of Taste with Vir Sanghvi. The journalist journeys around the country exploring the origins, culture and traditions of Indian gastronomy.

"We are very selective about content and choose topics with vivid appeal. By understanding the consumer, matching, localising and marketing, today we have no inventory to sell," says Shourie, reiterating that Indian consumers are very evolved and it's the right mix that captures the eyeballs.

As a senior media planner of a Delhi-based ad agency points out, the advent of Travel & Living has helped both the channels get onto the prime band and its better distribution has helped the channels bring in the numbers and the advertising.

While Shourie expects a 35 per cent growth for the company year-on-year, he, however, was not forthcoming on Discovery's revenues. Though being the first channel to ever go pay in the country, he would not say what revenue it brought in. "There is a reasonable split between advertising and pay revenues. Of course, we would prefer more to come from advertising," he said, adding that Discovery is preferred for advertising high-end products.

While he was happy with the progress of his company, he is unhappy with the way CAS is being rolled out. "It is not being implemented properly. There are no back-ups, no call centres and we still do not know how many households in CAS areas have opted for it," he says, revealing Discovery has yet not been able to bill for it. At home, however, Shourie doesn't have much sorting out to do. He expects to offer even more interesting programming, and because of that and the recent TAM data, he expects advertising revenues to flow.

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All eyes for Discovery