India contributes half of NGC's total revenues from the Asian market.

He is singularly devoid of the trappings of a media honcho. A trait that could partly be explained by the early start of his career as an entrepreneur, when he set up his own cable TV network in 1986. Then in 1993 he unveiled United Cable Network (UCN), which was first bought out by Business India, which in turn sold it to the Rahejas who rebranded it Hathway. At 35, Zubin Jehanbux Gandevia is managing director, National Geographic Channel (NGC), South Asia. In this candid interview to Sumita Vaid Dixit of agencyfaqs!, Gandevia talks about the changing pattern of television viewership in India and how he plans to make NGC a part of the Indian society.

Edited Excerpts

India contributes half of the total revenues from the Asian market.

We do not disclose our financials. But India is a very important market because it contributes a large number of eyeballs. While we get about 150 million eyeballs across the world, India contributes about 22 million. So in terms of sheer number of viewers, India makes a significant contribution. Not just that, India is the largest 24x7 market in Asia. China has only a block of NGC programming. While it may be a bigger market in terms of numbers, it is still just an hour-long block.

Let me put it this way. The physical investment you see is just the tip of the iceberg. The real investment is in the programming and that investment is made globally.

Globally, we believe that while content needs to be local, the presentation of the content needs to be global. We are not adamant about getting programmes from outside of India only because the Indian viewer is curious about the world outside. Having said that there is plenty of interest in India and there is content suitable and relevant from the global perspective. So when we look at India we just don't look at India-relevant programmes. It might not necessarily be about Indians or shot in India.

To give you an idea, there is this programme coming up called Four Weddings and Two Funerals. The programme is shot in Africa. It is about this African actor who is going to get married. But before he takes the viewers through his wedding, he takes them through four more weddings. And one of them is a Hindu wedding in South Africa. While it is not shot in India, it has a connect with the Indian audience. In the process, we are exporting India to the entire world. If you look at Gerry Martin (famous herpetologists), thanks to National Geographic, he is now known all over the world.

Another example. The programme $100 Taxi Ride has been shot in nine cities of the world and two of them are Indian cities, Mumbai and Chennai. Chasing Time also includes Chennai and Mumbai. There is a programme called Hot Science and one of the episodes is on India. So all the long-running series internationally have an India component. Earth Pulse, which has young eco-reporters going around the globe, has Kamal Sidhu as one of them. So India is an important part of our programming strategy. We have an understanding with NGC global that whenever there is a multi-country or multi-city programme, India will figure in.

Currently our strategy with Adventure One is to simply get it on air. Fortunately, we have a tremendous equity with the cable operators. Right now, we are talking to them to start playing the channel. In the meantime we are focussing our marketing energies on the mother channel. And it works perfectly for us because as we get over with the phase two of promoting NGC, Adventure One will be ready for consumer launch.

We see Adventure One as the extension of the National Geographic franchise. But there is one interesting difference. While NGC is about phenomenon, Adventure One is more people centric. Therefore, on NGC you can see our heroes and our experts. On Adventure One you will see people like you and me going out there and doing wonderful daredevil stuff. The other difference is that NGC is about startling reality like you have not seen before. Adventure One is more about experiencing the thrill of adventure without leaving your armchair.

The success of any channel is actually a combination of all these and some more. However, in the case of niche channels while it is important to get a threshold level of viewers, it is even more important to provide the right environment and this is where we believe that the National Geographic brand and product provide a compelling proposition to viewers and advertisers.

The first challenge was ensuring carriage in an already cluttered market. Due to our association with STAR, we have access to the best distribution team and the most demanded bouquet in the business. The results speak for themselves.

In addition to retaining our core loyal audience, we are now in the process of making the channel relevant to a wider set of viewers by building an awareness of our blue chip programming and localised packaging of our global programming by involving local adventures and heroes. One such example is Kapil Dev, who recently hosted the Science of Sport series on the channel.

In India, people have demonstrated immense faith in the National Geographic Society and the magazine. The National Geographic Society has funded research and exploration and reported the latest findings about the world through spectacular imagery, compelling storytelling and expert eyewitness accounts for the last 114 years. We currently have scores of grantees doing research in all corners of India from the north-east to the western ghats. When we launched NGC in India, it was seen as an expansion of the same values that the magazine and the society have stood for. It added a whole new dimension to the National Geographic audience while enlarging its reach.

NGC is available today in English and Hindi for 24 hours. In true National Geographic tradition, we have put in a lot of effort into ensuring the quality and accuracy of our translations and voiceovers.

The Hindi feed has really worked as can be seen from the rapid increase in our availability in the Hindi-speaking belt over the last year. Even more gratifying is the fact that in addition to helping us become commercially successful, the Hindi feed has helped in bringing the benefits of the National Geographic institution and the product to many more people. For our on-ground viewer outreach programme we have launched a multidimensional integrated programme called The National Geographic Way of Life. Our aim is to instil in people that very spirit that NGC stands for today - the spirit of exploration and adventure. Our aim is to reach out to at least 5 million Indians through this programme by 2005.

We want to go full steam ahead. We have just announced a three-pronged strategy The NGC Way of Life aimed at making NGC and the spirit of exploration and adventure a way of life for Indians across the country.

NGC is much more than a channel and this is not marketing jargon. We really want to make NGC part of the Indian society. And we believe we have the heritage and the means to do that. We would love it if other media arms enter India. We will then be able to successfully expand our business.