Big CBS Spark, who has recently repositioned and upped its musical quotient completed a year yesterday. In a highly cluttered music environment where music channels are striving hard to rake in the moolah, Big CBS Spark embarks on filling the void in the upmarket audience by offering the best of international content in India.
Big CBS, a joint venture between Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd and CBS Studios International, launched as international youth entertainment channel but later positioned itself as a music channel for the youth.
Radioandmusic.com’s Poonam Ahuja caught up with Big CBS Networks business head Vishal Rally for a special conversation on how does it plan to survive in the fiercely competitive music market, the channel’s business strategies and future plans.
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Excerpts:
Big CBS Spark transitioned into a music channel three months back. Has the transition helped better positioning of the channel and generated profits for the company?
Yes, the transition has helped as the music content has increased on the channel and so people are able to make a better connect. Big CBS Spark always positioned itself as a youth channel with the core TG being 10-24, but now people are able to relate to the channel as we are doing more and more stuff on Indian music scene.
The reason that we looked to the entire genre of English Entertainment music was that there is hardly any choice available in India that is offering good quality of international music. We also looked at providing a unique platform for independent artistes of the country, trying to make Spark an ultimate music destination.
What is the novelty factor that sets Big CBS Spark apart from the herd?
Frankly, as an individual if you want to watch latest international music content/videos there are not much options in the country. We offer the best of international music.
Since the launch we have been much focussed towards our TG. We are getting the best of the content related to music and connecting with the audience by giving them a platform to voice their opinion, focussing on their talent, letting them chose the kind of music that they want to air on the channel, doing local shows related to music, playing their songs and all this is our focus currently.
Do you think the new kit in English genre block ‘9XO’ from the boutique of 9X Media, will increase the competition further for Spark in airing the best of English and International music?
Essentially, 9XO is in the same genre as Big CBS Spark, so it will increase competition for sure. But international music is relatively untapped space at present in India. Spark as a channel offers not just international music but also fresh and original local content with properties like Indie Music and The Great Gig in the Sky. The channel is attempting to incorporate almost every genre of music so that it has something to offer to everyone. We bring in the best international music through various concerts that air on the channel for the viewers.
What would be the ratio of music and youth based content on the channel?
Currently, music would account to 70 per cent and non-music content would be 30 per cent.
What type of programming content/line-up is on the channel?
After conducting an extensive research study on various time slots catering to different age groups( what time of the day which age group (TG) prefers to listen to what kind of content) we have created music bands like Hip Hop MCs (for rap, hip hop music), Indie Rock Mania (for rock music and independent bands) and Hot Hitz.
As we had the music library of major labels, we pretty much had the content. Our concern was planning and finding out the right kind of audience. Besides music, the channel also airs shows like the Cheaters, Maximum Exposure, Smash Cuts, Oblivious and Real TV targeting the youth audiences.
The channel has tie-ups with which music labels nationally & internationally?
We have partnered with Sony Music and Universal and thus have the best of English libraries. We have access to national and international music libraries of both the labels.
What is revenue/business model adopted by the channel?
Currently the revenue is essentially through advertisements either in the form of regular ad spots or the properties that we have built up or sponsorships around that. Currently the revenue stream is purely on these lines.
How are you promoting the channel?
Especially for Spark, a lot of promotions happen digitally, as that is where most of our TG spends most of the time besides television. Overall at a network level we do stuff on radio, outdoors and TV channels.
How are you planning to get other advertisers or marketers?
As long as you have a product which is getting in the right kind of audiences typically you will get in advertisers. We very well know that there is a void that exists in the Indian market today and that is what we are looking to fill with the right kind of content, viewers and then the advertisers that would come in.
VH1 is a major music channel in international music and is a competitor to Big CBS Spark.
VH1 is definitely a competition for Spark and they also do good work. But our strategy is more on creating original content and connect with the youth and giving a platform to the upcoming artiste from the country. There are also plans of getting an international artiste in the country soon. Currently there is no tie-up with music fest but we would come up with such associations by the next quarter.
Any plans of coming with a singing talent hunt reality show?
As this is an off season for college students which is our core TG we would come up with a lot of local shows in June when the colleges reopen.
We plan to come up with a VJ Hunt and a lot of local and national music related content is expected in the coming months on the channel. These shows are going to be different than the currently running singing reality shows. One of the shows that we are looking forward to is India’s International Music Favourite where viewers actually choose their international music favourites by voting in categories like Best Lyrics, Best Songs, Best Genres etc. This property would be conducted on-air and online, and will start of really soon.
We will also come up with shows that will discuss the problems of teenagers like what affects them, their challenges post the college season starts. We plan to come up with one or two local shows every quarter. We are coming with programs that help us build connect with audience.
Are these shows a part of the channel’s strategy to play audience favourites?
Not completely. But yes, there are certain programs that are planned in such a way. International Music Favourite is a show where the audience decides which is the best international music to be on-air. On such basis we would dedicate an half an hour slot that would typically be decided by the audience.
The channel is available through which platforms?
Spark is available on all the major multi-system-operators (MSOs) like Hathway, Incablenet, Den and DTH providers like Dish TV, Airtel Digital TV and Reliance Digital TV etc. Tata Sky is the only platform where the channel is not available, as there are some bandwidth issues and we are in discussions to resolve it soon.
