A day after Prasar Bharati deputy director general Vijaya Laxmi Chhabra struck an "unconventional" cricket marketing deal with Zee Telefilms, we requested an immediate interview and she showed no qualms about fixing one up for the very next day.
Fighting through numerous client meetings and bargains, Chhabra is a picture of professional satisfaction when she meets us finally, late in the evening.
"It has been a long but fruitful day," she offers proudly, while we nurse guilt feelings of having stretched her for another hour with a Q&A session. Determination and confidence personified is this senior bureaucrat who has a street-smart marketing brain ticking behind the officialese.
Over to Chhabra, in conversation with indiantelevision.com's
Bijoy A K.
You have completed six years heading marketing at Prasar Bharati. Looking back, what's it been like? Thus we realised our strength and started selling feature films. During those years, neither good films nor good money was coming from private marketing agencies. This changed when the marketing division seized the opportunity of unlocking huge revenue potential on DD through the direct marketing of the films. Presently, we are generating Rs 10 million each from every Friday - Saturday film. Feature films have contributed Rs 1.10 billion to the revenues of Prasar Bharati during the 2005 - 2006 fiscal. Rs 3 billion has come out of cricket. Then we took over the prime time segment from the private producers. The slot selling system was discontinued and we established this new system called Self Finance Scheme (SFS) in 2005. This way, we realised that we can generate three times more money than what private producers have been giving us through the old system. Presently, we have taken over 90 per cent of the prime time slots on Doordarshan and we are now in the process of establishing SFS in the mid-day prime time segment. The team has been doing a good job. The Mumbai marketing division contributed about Rs 5.6 billion to Prasar Bharati's recorded revenues of Rs 12.38 billion during the 2005 - 2006 fiscal. So yes, it feels very good while looking back. |
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How did the market respond when you started the self-marketing initiative? How did the organisation support you? In a government organisation, you really need the support of your seniors to conceptualise and implement new things. I was very lucky in this case. I got tremendous support and encouragement from my CEO KS Sarma and director-general Navin Kumar. They gave me full backing in all my ventures. Whatever I have done and achieved wouldn't have been possible without their support. My colleagues have also helped and facilitated me in all the different things we did, though there was bit of apprehension in those initial days. |
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What is the big idea for Prasar Bharati in 2006? Which are the new initiatives planned in terms of marketing and programming? Personally speaking, my heart bleeds looking at the kind of programmes the industry produces and consumes. I really miss those Tamasand Buniyaad days. I believe that viewership and money shouldn't be the only criterion that one should take care of while producing shows. But, at the same time, when I say good qualitative content, it also means commercially viable programmes. So speaking about the big idea for the new fiscal, Doordarshan wants to come up with really good qualitative programmes. Some good investments will be made in this sector. Lots of Indian classics are going to be produced this fiscal. On the marketing front, the plan for this fiscal is to introduce and establish SFS in DD's regional Kendras. When we have the necessary know-how and the expertise, why we can't just do it? Of course, it will be a challenging assignment for us. SFS is already activated in DD Sahyadri. We are yet to finalise the next set of Kendras for this initiative. However, I feel that, SFS will pick up fast in Kendras such as Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhubaneswar. |
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As decreed in the downlinking policy guidelines issued by the government, the revenue share for cricket -- between Prasar Bharati and the channel which holds the rights -- is 75:25 in favour of the latter. That means, Prasar Bharati will have to take a cut on returns from cricket, from now onwards. Hence, cricket will cease to be a major revenue driver for Prasar Bharati. How would you handle this challenge this fiscal? |
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What kind of new revenue streams will you be exploring this fiscal? |
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How much do you target to garner from the ongoing India-England ODI series and the upcoming Abu Dhabi series? |
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How did the Zee-DD deal to co-market the Abu Dhabi ODI series come through? This is crucial for us as the deal would help DD-1 to protect its market rates. If I don't market this property, we will have to take the money that the rights holder gives us without any questions. We have spent four years establishing good rates for DD-1. All these efforts will go waste if we don't have a presence in the marketing campaign. It is not surprising that Zee agreed to co-market the ODI series with Prasar Bharati. By associating with us, Zee is in a position to reap the benefits of our experience as an efficient marketer of cricket properties. And in its own right, Zee is a big name, and thus, we both will benefit from each other's expertise and experience. By selling the rights in one package through a joint rate card, we will be making more money. This is because, there wouldn't be any undercutting of the rates. |
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Will you be making efforts to strike a similar deal with Nimbus, which holds the five year India cricket rights? |
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In a 2003 interview to indiantelevision.com, you had reasoned Prasar Bharati's decision to create a separate marketing division by commenting that the yield per 10-second spot for DD hadn't increased. Now, standing in 2006, please explain to us the progress you have made so far through this new system. |
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Hasn't the reported improvement in your Tam ratings inspired you to hike your rates recently? |
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During an earlier conversation, you had mentioned to us the need for Doordarshan to promote its shows through publicity campaigns. How far have you progressed on this front? |
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Are there any unconventional marketing strategies you have initiated in the recent times? |
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How would you rate the performance of DD's regional Kendras in the FY 2006? |
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What do you have to say about dropping of popular programmes by DD's regional channels to adjust cricket telecast? |
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Have you started marketing the three World Cup Football matches (two semi finals and final), which you will simulcast with ESPN Star Sports? |
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Are you still part of the core team of All India Radio (AIR)? |
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What is your take on the FM radio scene, which is opening up now? How would AIR cope with challenge from the private sector? |