Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
History is not all black and white
The channel has brought in former Miss World and actor Diana Hayden to make its shows more colourful and glamourous
History can also be colourful. And, the History Channel is trying its best to prove this fact. Apart from being more contemporary and topical, the channel is also trying to add glamour to its programming.
Towards this end, the channel has brought in former Miss World and actor Diana Hayden to host one of its driver shows – Biographies.
Dilshad Master, senior vice-president, content and communications, NGC Network, explains, “Daina Hayden is not just a glamour face for the programme. We chose her as we needed a person, who is intelligent and has travelled across the world. In addition, she has actually met a few of the personalities to be featured in the series.”
Hayden's experiences with these personalities will also be presented as anecdotes to make the show more interesting. The series is based on three themes – world leaders, sports stars and Hollywood darlings and divas.
The other purpose for bringing in Hayden is to make the series more India-centric. Even content-wise, the series is focusing on personalities, who are Indian or relevant to the Indian viewers. Few of the forthcoming episodes will feature members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, Mahatma Gandhi and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf.
The series will also feature special chat shows with Indian personalities from the world of politics, sports and entertainment on the last Friday of every month. In these special tête-à-têtes, Hayden will engage with stalwarts such as Natwar Singh, Salman Khurshid, Mahesh Bhupati, Gulshan Grover and Mahesh Bhatt.
Apart from this, The History Channel also plans to introduce India-centric episodes in other programmes. Master says, “The History Channel is an international channel and we do not intend to dilute our brand. But as and when, we get relevant India-specific content, we will introduce it in our other series.”
'Mystic Mystery' is another series on The History Channel, which will have a few episodes on India. The channel is also planning to start a new series – Great Inventions – in the coming months.
Nikhil Mirchandani, head – ad sales, NGC Network, says, “Apart from increasing the interest among viewers, India-centric programmes can also be sold as properties to the advertisers.”
The channel has been successful in getting three new advertisers on board – Canon, Hindustan Times and RK Marbles – apart from the regular advertisers such as Tata Indigo and Pepsi.
Mirchandani says, “When we started in 2004, we only had 10 advertisers on board. But today we have almost 75 of them on board. We think this is quite an achievement.” © 2005 agencyfaqs!