Seeking to stand out
By Sathish on Dec 24, 2009 with Comments 0
There are six DTH operators in the country, but how varied are they? Essentially, all of them provide almost the same number of channels at digital quality which is hard for the average eye to differentiate. So how do these companies get customers to buy their product?
The Indian Direct-To-Home (DTH) TV market is an anomaly when compared to international markets. The more mature US and UK markets have just two major players. In India, the last five years has seen as many as six DTH operators enter the fray with more waiting to launch.
Add to this the impending launch of Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) and it becomes imperative for DTH companies to find a differentiator.
DishTV, the country’s first DTH service, set the ball rolling last month when it decided to totally revamp its brand image. It enlisted McCannWorldgroup for the rebranding.
Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, DishTV says: “We have now moved into a six-player market. This brings in the need to differentiate ourselves from other brands. We felt DishTV needed a more emotional positioning. Positioning based on functional attributes alone is not sustainable because the competitors will soon have the same thing. The differentiator is the emotional connect, we will be the first to do this in the industry,” he added.
“I believe that DishTV is the leader in the industry, but nobody knew that. So our role was in the communication of that knowledge. Tomorrow’s brand will stand for the values they plant in people’s heads,” says Prasoon Joshi, McCannWorldgroup’s Executive Chairman for India and Regional Creative Director for the Asia-Pacific.
While DishTV is leveraging the emotional connect of a family in watching TV, Sun Direct, the newest player in the market, hopes that bringing in HD content will drive its future growth.
High-definition
Tony D’Silva, Sun Direct’s Chief Operating Officer, says, “In the constantly changing viewership dynamics, to keep the viewers continuously happy we need to offer them new options. HD is another first from the Sun Direct stable. We believe HD is the future of television and as far as viewing is concerned, it is a visual delight.”
“There are 1.50 lakh HD TVs in the country. HD content is sure to expand with the growing sales of HDTVs in the country. By the end of the fiscal, we expect to be in at least 45,000-50,000 of the homes with HDTVs,” he added.
The company launched HD services and set-top boxes at a premium price range earlier in December, only a couple of weeks after DishTV rebranded itself. But according to D’Silva, HD is a premium product in the country and it is not a volume game.
“HD is targeted at the top end of the market. Though initially, our target audience will be premium users, with time it will keep expanding.
“Pricing has also been kept at a premium, but Sun Direct HD set-top boxes will be given free. Installation, activation and subscription charges for a year will be close to Rs 10,000,” said D’Silva.
Interactivity
Tata Sky’s response might seem muted but the company has stuck by its initial focus area. The company has kept its focus on interactive services. According to Vikram Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, its educational interactive services are the biggest differentiator for the company.
“The total viewing time of Tata Sky viewers is 180 minutes. Of this, about 17-18 per cent of the total viewing time is spent on our interactive services. This has reaffirmed our focus on interactive services,” says Mehra.
He added that the advantage with Tata Sky’s interactive services was that it brought the functionalities of a PC to the TV. “People who aren’t used to a PC find our interactive services useful. That’s why our interactive services are targeted at people who aren’t comfortable using a computer. This opens up a large market, not only in the Tier II-Tier III cities, but also in the larger cities,” he added.
The company’s Active Education service is now being used across 850 schools and Mehra hopes to get a similar response from housewives for its Active English service. “I’d say interactivity with a focus on education will be the biggest differentiator for us. Our Active Education service has received a roaring response and we aim to continuously develop more such services that would be useful for a large number of people,” says Mehra.
Speaking about the company’s plans on HD content, Mehra says, “HD will see more of a penetration in the larger cities whereas educational interactive services work for people across small towns and major cities. We are looking at the feasibility of HD content, but we will only bring it out when the time is right.”
The company’s two-pronged approach in targeting audiences also brings in Tata Sky+, which allows users to record shows. According to an analyst, “Tata Sky+ is most popular amongst people in the metro cities who don’t often have time to watch shows on TV.”
Technology, content
While the other players are promoting their distinguishing features, Airtel DTH has pushed its core features of technology, content and service to draw in more customers. Sugato Banerji, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel, says, “Airtel Digital TV has three pillars of differentiation, technology, content and service. We offer the highest standard of technology — a combination of the latest MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology, which translates into exceptional picture clarity and consistent high-quality audio.”
“Our next-generation interactive applications offer interactivity where customers can book movie tickets at PVR, browse shopping ideas, get updates on the latest city traffic situation and track their stock prices — from their TV sets. We have also invested in a back-up uplink site in Bangalore to give our viewers the advantage of the ALC satellite, besides providing larger dishes (20 per cent bigger) in high rainfall areas,” he added.
The company’s brand communication of vast entertainment has remained a year after launch, and Airtel DTH plans to keep this communication going forward. Banerji said, “We launched with the aura of the vastness of entertainment that would bring magic to the home and followed that up with creating differentiation on our technology pillar — the universal remote, the iTV applications such as widgets and finally the MPEG4 DVBS2 story. The key to growth will be our focus on technology and service.”
Commenting on Airtel’s plans to go HD, Banerji says, “At Airtel, we are constantly in touch with the consumer and conduct regular consumer feedback research. Additionally, we are also scanning technology developments in the TV and the broadcast categories. On the basis of our consumer research and technology scans, we bring in new models and add new features into the product on a continuing basis. HD will be another product on the technology roadmap. As a background, we expect HD to grow with the Commonwealth Games next year which is likely to be telecast in HD.”
With players such as BigTV and Videocon D2H already in the market (the latter has roped in Abhishek Bachchan as brand ambassador), analysts suggest the competition is set to go up another notch in the DTH segment. “Going forward, the two growth drivers for DTH would be HD services and interactivity. The companies that get this right should have an edge,” says a media and entertainment analyst. “But at the end of the day, there needs to be an individuality that companies need to carve out. India has a large population so there might be space for six players, but with DTH requiring heavy investment, mergers and acquisitions could be the next big thing in the industry,” he adds.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
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Filed Under: Airtel Digital TV • Dish TV • Reliance Big TV • Sun Direct • Tata Sky • Videocon D2H
