Behl is banking on BIG TV’s present Pay per View (PPV) bouquet to deliver. The DTH player has recently spiced up its PPV offerings with live shows, exclusive concerts, et al, while other players have stayed with mere movie content in the segment. BIG TV, in fact, was the first player in the industry to come up with a monthly subscription plan for movies in their PPV bouquet, enabling customers to view them anytime during that month as opposed to charging separately for each featured movie being offered in that month. “The response for our PPV services has been very encouraging,” agrees Behl, confident about the imminent success of their strategy. After all, as per estimates, India’s PPV segment is estimated to grow at 16% annually to log revenues of $11.3 billion by 2012. Behl is hoping for the segment to emerge as a key driver of the DTH business not only in India, but the whole of Asia. His hopes are not misplaced. Independent market research has shown that India will remain a leading PPV market in Asia with superior growth prospects in the near future.
“Over the next few years, Reliance BIG TV expects PPV to contribute nearly 10% of its revenues,” says Behl. No wonder, Behl is now also planning to introduce sports and events content in its PPV bouquet. Having already bagged the rights for the commemorative concert for Michel Jackson – ‘Live In Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour’ – the company is also in talks with other Indian and international content providers to offer more such content on their platform. Behl says that they are also looking at adding more meat to their overall content strategy. BIG TV is lining up a slew of interactive features and a major revamp of its filmed entertainment content, besides bringing in whole new range of channels, which were not available to Indian TV viewers in India till now. Rumour has it that BIG TV will be offering the entire FOX bouquet to its consumers shortly.
The other strategy that Behl is deploying to beat rivals in the segment has been drawn from his experience while working with HUL’s Vim brand almost a decade ago. “Consumer Insight is the key. While with HUL, I visited my rural consumers and even washed utensils in their homes to understand customer psyche,” he says, adding that he is planning to conduct a similar exercise at BIG TV to find out what more services could the viewers want and need. Besides, the focus is also on providing the latest technology (ahead of competitors) to consumers. With this in mind, BIG TV had launched DTH services on the MPEG 4 platform (while others like Dish TV and Tata Sky are still sticking with the MPEG 2 platform).
However, some of the enthusiasm at BIG TV has not really translated into action. At the time of launch only, BIG TV had announced that it would be coming out with a DVR based set top box that would allow consumers to record and pause live TV. But it’s almost a year now (and Tata Sky and Sun Direct have already launched the technology) and there has been no news from BIG TV of the same. Quiz Behl on that and he is prompt with his reply. “We will be offering it shortly. We are looking at providing more options to customers to choose from,” he says. The plan is also to price the DVR competitively for which BIG TV guys are currently exploring all options to offer modified DVR sets at a cheaper price. The strategy may actually stand Ambani junior’s DTH ambitions in good stead - and allow him to prove his prowess in yet another consumer-centric business.
As for Behl, the uphill journey has only just begun and requires a great deal of hard work. But then, his almost child-like passion for everything has already become the stuff of legends at ADAG. Sources who work closely with him never cease to sing paeans about his involvement with everything big and small. “Unlike other CEOs who delegate more, he worked round the clock during the BIG TV launch, rolling up his sleeves with the rest of us to ensure it went smoothly,” says a team member on conditions of anonymity. Added to his deep well of marketing expertise and seeking spirit about consumer insights, this focused approach is precisely what has endeared him to Anil Ambani. This BIG man is certainly turning out to be one big asset for the ADAG camp!
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