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HistoryTV 18, completing a year of its launch, is focusing on strengthening its presence across broadcasting platforms. The joint venture company between A +E Networks and TV 18 Broadcast, which launched HistoryTV18, is also looking to launch more channels. Sanjay Dua, Chief Executive Officer, Network18 News Media Network, said, “We are focusing on consolidating our all India ratings and strengthening the distribution footprint for HistoryTV18 in India,” keeping in mind the ongoing digitisation process.
Dua said the factual entertainment genre had several challenges such as the category being underpriced in terms of advertising rates compared with the vast reach that it had. The channel is now trying to change this, he added.
Asked if the company was looking to launch additional channels from its partner’s global portfolio that includes Bio (The Biography Channel), Lifetime and Crime & Investigation Network in India, Dua said, “We are testing the content and work is in progress. We want to be sure before we launch them in the market. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are just adding more channels to create more advertising inventory. We do not want to do that.”
The company is also bullish about its regional language feeds, as the channel is available in eight languages, such as Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Urdu and Tamil among others. “Launching in regional languages has helped us increase the channel’s reach. With a target audience of over 15 years, the category is increasingly becoming more important for advertisers’ media spend plans,” he said, adding that there were several categories of advertisers that the company has not yet tapped. It is also working on a model that would help put local advertisements to monetise its regional language feeds.
The company said after the channel’s launch, the factual entertainment category grew by 29 per cent compared with 15 per cent in 2011. The channel reaches 72 million viewers. The company targets to be the number 2 channel in the genre, which it expects to achieve by the end of this fiscal.
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