MUMBAI: Viacom18’s Hindi movie channel Colors Cineplex is strategically attracting eyeballs by offering cricket with road safety series and world television premieres of big movies of the year like Brahmastra and Dostana 2. The aim is to enter the top three movie channel list in 2020. 

The channel currently has a movie festival, Hindi movie premiere, south dubbed movies, movies review show with Atika Farooqui and now it has added a cricket league as an annual property.

Viacom18 Hindi mass entertainment and kids TV network head Nina Elavia Jaipuria says, “Our target is to ensure to get into the top three list. We want to make sure that we make Colors Cineplex a robust platform. It is by far the fastest growing movie channel on pay platforms and we want to continue with all the efforts that we are making on an everyday basis which has been consistent with the catalogue that we open up, with the kind of festivals, with the kind of engagement and entertainment that we have with Teetar mausi and with the kind of chat shows Atika brings to the table and with the kind of world television premieres. And then there will be the annual league of cricket that will ensure that we get an additional dose of viewers and footfall on the channel.”

The programming strategy of the channel focuses on partnering with movies for at least two festivals in a month. The channel partnered with Love Aaj Kal for loveria film festival from 10-14 February where it aired movies Monday to Friday at 7.30 pm and it also tied-up with Dabang for BangBang film festival from 16 -20 December 2019 at 7.30 pm.

The movie genre is the second biggest genre after Hindi GEC and the viewership on movie channels is growing with the curated world television premieres. Jaipuria says, “From Viacom18's perspective as a wholesome broadcaster and entertainer it is very important for us to be in the movie business. So, Colors Cineplex is the frontrunner and our representation in the movie genre. We are here to stay and invest in it and hope to see it moving from mid-tier to top five. The beauty of Viacom18 is that we have motion pictures in the house therefore there is absolute integration that works from that perspective from where we get our annual dose of premieres. We have a studio that makes it and we have a platform that broadcasts it. It's a very important genre.”

The channel is also excited about the premiere of road safety series. Jaipuria says, “We have been exploring the white spaces and India is obsessed about Bollywood, cricket and food, now with the launch of series we have two out of three on the same platform.”

She further says, “Both Bollywood and cricket evokes emotion that nothing else can. So it's a great fit for us to bring cricket on the movie channel. We have done Nidahas Trophy in the past on Rishtey Cineplex which was a great success and we are hoping to replicate that with the Road Safety Series this year. We want to make the series a winning annual property for us. We are leaving no stone unturned to make it larger than life with the legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara coming back on the field.” 

For the series the channel is selling its ad inventories on the cricket rates i.e., in lakhs per ten sec and not on the movie channel rates. 

“The movie market is title-driven and it's investment heavy. It's expensive to be in and we have to ensure that it makes business sense for the organisation and we get the deserving ROI on the business. I think that is the biggest challenge,” said Jaipuria.

Viacom18 Colors Cineplex head Rohan Lavsi says, “We will be the only channel who will do positive EBITDA in year one. We are very cautious about our cost and spending on catalogues and premieres. Even our FTA channel Rishtey Cineplex had a breakeven in year one. So in that sense we are very conservative.” 

Jaipuria further adds that they won't be leaving anything on chance. "Whatever rightful investment is required for the rightful deserving ROI we will continue to do. I am sure in year two and three it will start getting the right ROI. It is an expensive proposition but we are not shying away from our investment either making movies at Viacom18 motion pictures or in broadcasting them on the channel and buying movies as well.”