For Endemol India, it has been a roller coaster ride. The international content creator has established itself as a leader in the reality TV genre and has expanded into other strands of content. Now the gameplan is to speed up on the fiction front.

Endemol, which produced 1400 hours of content in 2010, is planning to scale up in several verticals including regional language, sports and food and lifestyle programming. The company recently formed a JV with Rhiti Sports, the company which manages Indian skipper MS Dhoni, for sports formats.

In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Endemol India managing director Deepak Dhar talks about the company‘s growth plans.

Excerpts:

What progress did Endemol make in India last year?
The progress has been 360 degrees. Initially, we were known for reality. Now it is not the only thing; we are known for other strands of non fiction also.

We have an array of fiction shows. We have moved into regional as well with Bengali and Southern language content. We have also gained from being in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space.

How does India compare to other Asian markets?
It is growing. The entire world is looking at us. Our parent is looking at what India can do. We did over 1400 hours of production last year. We have done well if you look at the state of our productions or business development. We have had double digit growth.

Could you shed light on how you are scaling up the fiction business?
We are seeing ideas that can be exploited in the Hindi GEC space. They can also go into the regional space, south, Bengali, Marathi. We are looking at slots that need newer storytellung. We are meeting with our broadcast partners to see what the synergies are.

We do a lot of non fiction and format work. In terms of scaling up, growth will come from fiction.

We will be making two to three announcements in the next few weeks.

What kind of shows are you looking at?
We are not focussing only comedy or only drama or only thriller. We are known for 360 degree entertainment solutions. Anything that fits the household will be our focus.

Are you looking at forming JVs with local production houses?
We are constantly analysing it. Now we are largely focussing on organic growth. We will look at inorganic growth, but at this point of time there is nothing serious.

In terms of margins, how are you faring?
Margins are always tough in this country, espcially in the broadcast and production sector. In our formats and even our fiction business, we have kept a healthy balance in our margins due to product efficiencies. In a year, we do around nine non fiction shows.

But in the fiction space aren‘t margins squeezed?
They are squeezed but again for us the emphasis is great
storytelling. We want to be happy with the stories being told and we will manage the margins. Comedy has its own space. In drama, emotions are integral to the Indian psyche. That will never go out of fashion.

How do you manage costs?
It is a challenge. Broadcasters are always looking to push costs down without the quality falling. Broadcasters, though, understand that to have a quality product the margins must be healthy. The production house must be given some breathing space.

Non fiction shows have a larger budget. You get a bang for 13-26 weeks and that is it. With fiction it is like running a marathon. You need to have the stamina to push the idea and engage the audience.

Balaji to some extent has lost dominance which has created a gap. How are ou tapping this?
We have already tapped into this. We are doing three fiction shows at this point of time. We will be adding two more within a month or so. We have stepped into this opportunity. We also look at the competition and what is on the horizon.

Fiction is where the horizon is. The margins can improve in this genre. People will look at us as an Indian producer and not just as a format producer. We will focus largely on fiction.

Indian production houses are known for doing one kind of show. We are not like that. We do things from ‘songs and dancing‘ to reality and action-based shows.

How were you able to broadbase youreself into fiction?
This has to do with the team. We have Gadgi and Kartik as the creative and business heads. They lend credibility and experience to Endemol‘s fiction slate. We believe that if you have the right talent on board, then the right discussions start flowing out.

Geet has worked. Mili Ye at one point really worked. But the story ran its cycle. These stories have been channel drivers for Star One and Star Plus; they will help us consolidate our next line of fiction.

In the non fiction area, you entered the food genre with two shows. What scope do you see in the lifestyle space?
Lifestyle is a niche space. However, we do not want to leave any space untapped. The opportunity might seem small. But an opportunity needs to be seen.

Documentary and speciality channels are growing in popularity in the West. You will see the same trend happening here. A new spate of speciality channels from science and technology to crime and thriller to food are bound to come in. This is a new space we will be busy with this year.

Is the approach here different from how you look at other areas like formats?
Yes! In lifestyle you will have to create original ideas; it is not about replicating an idea from the US. We don‘t want to simply pick up a format. it has to fit into an opportunity.