MUMBAI: Being just philosophical didn?t work for Life OK but balancing it with entertainment did. After one year of entertaining and preaching, the second Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from Rupert Murdoch?s Star Network now wants to expand its appeal.

The theme Life OK has chosen as it embarked on its second year journey is to be inspirational, and not just be philosophical and entertaining. In its first year since being launched on 18 December 2011, Life OK says it conveyed to its viewers that the channel is different and talked about real issues. 

Life OK?s biggest desire for 2013 is that it wants people to start relating to the channel through programmes that make a difference in that it wants people to start relating to the channel through programmes that make a difference  their lives. "The ambition for what the channel can stand for is a lot more than what we have done and hence there is greater onus on us to tell better stories, that inspire India," Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur told Indiantelevision.com.

Thakur says, "When the channel had launched, it was a risky proposition because they had decided that they won?t do daily soaps like "saas-bahu" drama. Our thought was that we will do shows which have philosophy. Initially we did shows where there was philosophy without entertainment but they didn?t work but when we started to manage the balance between the two, we got thumbs up from the people."

Life OK will also focus on expanding its programming in its second year. "It?s always good to build a base then do that. Our priority (this year) will be to build our weekend while continuing to maintain our differentiation," Thakur points out.

The GEC had given a public service stance to its market campaign for its 26/12 show, a terrorism-based thriller show. As a strategy for promoting the show, the channel had launched a public service campaign where it didn?t ask viewers to watch the show but instead sought to create public awareness about terrorism and the need for citizens to stay alert. The channel proposes to carry forward the public service message in its programme marketing campaigns in 2013.

For Life OK, it has been a dream run since its launch. The channel had opened with 87 GRPs on 18 December last year. It has stabilised at around 120 GRPs, with special episodes in its fiction properties like Mahadev giving it the desired spikes to 140 plus GRPs.

Thakur notes, "It?s the channel?s strategy to gain high-points so that one adds eyeballs. That will always happen in a new channel because we are experimenting with new things, putting new slots. You cannot expect viewers to watch a show because you have a decent show, but have to fight for viewership. We are taking a conscious strategy to have the high-point in shows."

Mahadev had reached the highest TVR of 8.2 when the channel aired a special episode on Kaali. In the 10-weeks since 7 October, Life OK?s had average GRPs of 131, with the highest being 142 GRPs and the lowest being 121.

As part of its launch strategy, the channel had started with 20 minutes of break-free content that used to air seven days a week. Starting with shows like Rajeev Khandelwal-hosted Sach Ka Saamna, UTV Television produced Saubhagyavati Bhava, mythological Mahadev and Meri Maa, the channel has experimented with various formats and genres.

Life OK believed in providing viewers something that?s related or relevant in real life and aired shows on domestic violence (Saubhagyavati Bhava), on corruption (Sach Ka Saamna) and on crime (Savdhaan India).

Mahadev is credited with the revival of the mythology genre on Indian television and has become the flagship show of Life OK. When asked if this will blur the positioning of the Hindi GEC, Thakur said, "I don?t think we ever intended to make Mahadev our flagship property. It has just become a run-away hit. The risk is there but opportunity is also there."

By definition, daily family soaps attract only a certain segment of women viewers to GECs but television viewership in India is a lot more, says Thakur. "It?s about younger people, males, and kids who are coming on to our channel." 

"We have almost 50-50 ratio of men and women viewership and that?s because of the content we offer. We also have kids coming onto the channel. Our portfolio has become more balanced from a gender and age point of view," Thakur claims.

Life OK was launched with a conscious strategy of targeting the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. But over time the channel has seen increased viewership in other states as well. The key markets for the channel now are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

On marketing front, unlike rival channels Life OK has been focusing on the post-launch events. The channel has been promoting the highpoints of Mahadev and the city-focused special episodes of Savdhan India on various platforms to invite viewers to the show. It has also been very interactive with viewers with various kinds of below-the-line activities in different parts of the target markets.

The channel has not done very well in terms of non-fiction or reality content. Thakur admits that Sach Ka Saamna, which was positioned against corruption, became preachy and failed to entertain the audience, and hence was rejected. In a similar way there were flaws in the Laugh India Laugh show. The show could have been promoted in a better way but the channel has realised the mistakes made and will be fixing them before launching another season of the laughter show.

The channel is planning to launch two new shows soon. "One of the shows is ?Savitri? which is a new genre - fantasy and supernatural. We are also planning to launch a reality fun-filled show titled Welcome. We are not replicating any genre of ours but in each we are making sure that the message of Life OK is delivered," Thakur concludes.