The Indian viewer today wants a movie watching experience and is willing to pay for it

The hazel-eyed marketing director of HBO, who worked at Nestle for seven years before joining the English movie channel, is a self-motivated person. From establishing the distribution network to promoting its credentials, Bajpai has been involved in every stage of the evolution of the channel in India. In a span of three years, and despite having arrived at the cable and the satellite scene of India a trifle late, HBO, which was launched in September 2000, has secured its place in the minds of the viewers as well as the advertisers. In fact, the English movie channel is not far from breakeven. "We would be looking at breakeven in the year 2004-2005 and we are very much on target," says a confident Bajpai.

In a freewheeling interview to Sumita Vaid Dixit of agencyfaqs!, Bajpai talks about how the core proposition of the channel, which is blockbusters coupled with innovative packaging of content, has helped it script a success story in the country..

Edited Excerpts

You may not have seen a huge, mind-blowing, launch-of-the-year kind of thing simply because that is not HBO style. We would like our work to speak for us. Having said that we did have a multi-media launch across metros. Our focus, however, was distribution. That was the biggest challenge at the time of launch. We made a multi-city distribution/ promotion plan, where we had road shows that talked about why HBO, a very successful brand globally, was coming to India and what it plans to offer. So we started from the basics unlike other channels that were launched with huge fanfare, but two years on are nowhere to be seen.

In fact, it was strange to see that most of the distributors already knew about HBO. In a market, which is essentially and completely movie loving, the acceptance was easy.

Distributors know their viewers would welcome a new blockbuster Hollywood channel. Our core proposition was so strong - blockbusters - that acceptance was not difficult at all. Even though we were not a Hindi movie or a regional channel, Hollywood blockbusters do have a universal appeal. It cuts across audiences. Be it The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Godzilla. When these were screened in India they were great successes and mind you they were in English prints.

Another development that worked in our favour was, at the time of launch of HBO, the cable and satellite industry was fairly well established. Distributors knew that the way forward was to go with channels that offered unique content.

We were with Turner for two-and-a-half-years and we received great support in establishing the distribution network.

The termination of the distribution tie-up with Turner was basically a strategic call. It was the decision of the international management of HBO. We tied up with Turner in a two-year contract. Now we are with One Alliance. One Alliance is practically a potent combination of few of the most powerful channels in the country such as Discovery, NDTV, AXN, SET Max etc. In fact, at the Indian Telly Awards held recently, One Alliance bagged the best distribution award.

HBO is a standalone when it comes to advertising. It is not bundled with other channels for advertising and neither is there any cross-promotion happening.

We were with Turner for two-and-a-half-years and we received great support in establishing the distribution network.

We came into India in the year September 2000 and in one year our viewership grew to 10 million households. That was completely because of HBO's core offering - which is bringing the best, biggest and the latest blockbusters. When we launched in India, we actually shook up competition. In the initial days of HBO, the channel had a line up of blockbusters every day. We started off with movies such as Mission Impossible, Godzilla, My Best Friend's Wedding etc. We had a string of blockbusters from September 2000 to December 31, 2003. Indians had not seen that kind of entertainment at their homes. HBO was the reason that competition was forced pull up its socks in terms of improving their content. In fact, I would say HBO has improved the level of watching Hollywood English movies in the country, with its sheer line up of blockbusters.

You cannot expect blockbusters everyday, 365 days of the year. Our tie up with the four biggest studios - Sony, Warner, Universal and Paramount - gave us access to innumerable movies; so the idea was to think of a clever way to package that content. It was by packaging the channel intelligently that we were able to broadbase viewership.

Packaging of the channel's content began to happen towards the beginning of 2001. One of the earliest examples was Oscar Marathon, a run up to the Oscar ceremony, where at 9.00 pm everyday for 31 days of the month of March we showed an Oscar winner movie. HBO was the first one to come with a property such as this. Then we moved on to the summer action marathon, where we had a line up of actions movies.

Our innovations over a period of time evolved to another level. The month of July became Julia's month where we showed the best of Julia Roberts movies, which we followed up with the Steven Spielberg showcase. Then we showcased movies inspired by classics such as Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility.

We were also the first ones to screen epic classic movies such as Ben Hur and Ten Commandments. Boogie Nights is yet another example. A recent example of innovation is the filmmakers series, in which we screened the best of the American, European and Asian filmmakers. I would say the 'HBO Japanese Connection' is our best innovation so far.

Another clever thing we have done is screen prequels close to the time of the launch of the sequels of certain movies. For example, when Matrix Reloaded was released, we showed Matrix and Animatrix, as prequel to Matrix. We did the same with Too Fast Too Furious and Lara Croft.

In short, HBO just does not offer the predictable stuff to its viewers; it showcases movies with imagination.

I would say it not just movie channels, but cinema halls, shopping malls etc.

We do not want to look at ourselves from this narrow perspective of English movie channels only. It could be the general interest special channels, competing programmes on other mass channels. For example, one could very well ask: Do I want to watch HBO or Jassi on Sony? That is a reality you have live with.

Before I answer that let me correct you: HBO is not a niche channel. HBO is a special interest channel. Niche has negative connotations. I am borrowing from Ravi Kiran (managing director, west/south) of Starcom, who had talked about special interest channels. Niche means only a limited number of people watch that channel. But that is not what HBO is. We are catering to an audience that likes Hollywood films. And those movies have a special place in their minds. Niche would be an HBO Original as part of the HBO offerings. But HBO as a channel is not niche but unique in its content.

Now to answer your questions, our main competitor had launched in 1995-1996 and HBO came in at a time when there were 80-plus channels in the country. We were the fourth or the fifth among the English channels. But today we have crossed 15 million households. Today we have more than 150 advertisers and around 200 brands. And we have seen a year on year growth of 25 per cent in advertising revenues, from the time of launch. (This does not include the 2003 figure because the numbers have yet to come in.)

We would be looking at breakeven in the year 2004-2005 and we are very much on target.

Apart from establishing a synergy between programming and below the line, we have tried to stand out despite not having deep pockets. Our press innovation is one such example. HBO was also the first channel to start with an SMS-based activity. We reminded our viewers about movies through SMS and mailers. Today SMS is a buzzword. HBO was the first to advertise on other like-minded channels outside the bouquet. Our PR has been quite strong too. Through movie-contests we have taken the brand HBO outside movie watching on TV sets.

All said, the most important factor remains innovative content.

You are as good as your last movie. So how do you retain that interest? How do you bring back your viewer? Packaging and innovations have helped broadbase the viewership for HBO. By coming out with these special themes we have kept the channel fresh even while it is vying for a position among hundreds of other channels. HBO features 52 blockbusters a year on Saturday nights. Which means there is never a repeat on a Saturday.

So the first point was appropriating the leadership position in terms of blockbusters and then keeping the channel top of mind by coming up with themes and innovative packaging. To make the channel distinctive, HBO introduced the 'Original' franchise, which no other channel can ape. Band of Brothers was one such example. And now we have Sex and the City.

Sex and the City has exceeded our expectations. Sex and the City is a series for the global urbanite who would want to watch the programme at his or her own leisure.

I was looking at the ratings of the second episode of Sex and the City in the week Taken premiered on STAR Movies. If I am not mistaken, Taken had a rating of .1 and Sex and the City got a rating of .6 (TAM: week ending October 18, 2003, six cities, C&S, SEC AB 25+). Now it may go up or go down, who knows!

Another little fact… Sex and the City has ranked among the Top 20 programmes across all English channels (TAM: week ending October 25, 2003, C&S SEC AB 25+) which include STAR World, AXN, ZEE English, ZEE MGM, STAR Movies and HBO. Interestingly, the programme's viewership is slightly skewed towards male audiences. My managing director had rationalised this observation in this manner. He had said that women would like Sex and the City for the glamour, to know more about the lives of women, and men would like Sex and the City for understanding the psyche of a woman.

We did a qualitative research soon after HBO was launched. One of the key insights was the Indian's love for action, which is why our core proposition of blockbusters have worked. We also found that women like action movies as well. A direct result of that research was 'Sheroes' where we featured movies such as Lara Croft.

Yet another instance of how understanding the Indian viewer has helped improve our content is 'HBO Time Out'. Women wanted to watch movies at their own pace; HBO Time Out was a product of that insight.

Today, the Indian viewer is quite savvy. We decided to bring the Band of Brothers in India based on the understanding that if there is an offering from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, produced for the first time for TV, which is going to have an almost simultaneous world premiere, then India is as ready for the offering as any other country. While we were aware that this series would not have a huge viewership, we knew there are discerning lovers of cinema.

When we see the country today, we get the feeling that India is ready to take it all! Look at movie watching, for example. Three years ago how many multiplexes could you count on your fingertips? Today the Indian viewer just does not want to watch a movie. She wants a whole movie watching experience with it and is willing to pay for it. Indian viewers want variety, which is why many of the low-budget movies - such as the Hindi-English ones - have been so successful.

Earlier the approach to movie watching was, 'Okay, we have time; so let us go and watch a movie'. Now it is a serious affair. The India viewer has many expectations. The simultaneous launch of Matrix Revolutions is one great example to show that the Indian market is ready on all accounts - quality, expectations et al.

While it is true that we get our captive audience in the traditional 9.00-11.00 pm time band, my take on this is that prime time is a factor of who is watching you. HBO's concept of prime time is to reach a wide array of audiences when they would like to watch our channel. So HBO 'Time Out' is her prime time, HBO Generation Me, which is a late afternoon/early evening band, is for students back from college, Sunday Treats is for the family that likes to watch the movie in the afternoon, since on Sunday evenings most families are out...

However, blockbusters are shown at 9.00 pm because the viewership you can generate during that time is the highest.