Surya TV pips Asianet in Kerala; media planners are still unimpressed

After more than three years of existence (it was launched in October 1998), Surya TV (part of the Sun TV Network) has finally managed to find its coveted place under the sun. It is the clear leader in Kerala, having inched past Asianet six months ago. But it is only in the last four weeks that a clear distance between the two channels has become evident. "We did not think of talking about our victory as we are busy consolidating ourselves in the market," SJ Clement, general manager - programmes, Surya TV, told agencyfaqs!.

His caginess is justified. After all, it is only now that planners are slowly waking up to the reality. "Asianet has had such a vice-like grip on the market that we were unable to acknowledge Surya TV as No. 1 until a clear leadership pattern was established. There is always the possibility of the erstwhile leader getting its act together and stage a comeback effortlessly. In fact, for a short while last year both the channels were running neck-and-neck and then Asianet reclaimed its lead. But of course, it is difficult to ignore Surya TV now," says a Chennai-based media planner.

According to the INTAM report for the week 18-24 February 2002, Surya TV has managed to corner 22.4 per cent of the market during weekdays, while Asianet has 15.92 per cent share. The gap during weekends is still narrow, with Surya TV at 16.65 per cent share and Asianet at 14.74 per cent. In terms of the Top 30 programmes, Surya TV has cornered 24 slots. Though Asianet is still present at the No 3, No 6 and No 7 slots in the Top 30 list, it is clearly Surya all the way.

However, the media planners' reservations about Surya TV become obvious when one looks at the Top 100 programme list. While Surya TV has 48 programmes on that list, Asianet is pretty close with 46 programmes. The rest are accounted for by DD-Kairali. In fact, in the Cochin market, which is a key market on the media planners' agenda, Asianet hogs the No 2 spot with its popular programme Sthree. Of course, the good news for Surya is that its Comedy Time has now relegated the programme, which had not so long back gripped the imagination of the entire state, to the second slot.

"People here are extremely sensitive. They had such a huge loyalty for Asianet that it was difficult to get them to even acknowledge that anything else could exist. They do not take to dubbed programmes very well, nor are they star-struck like the audiences of Tamil Nadu or even Andhra Pradesh," says Clemet.

It is this loyalty that makes media planners think twice before taking a decision in Surya's favour. "We have, however, not made very drastic concessions in our card rates. While our earlier effective rate used to work out to Rs 4,800 per 10 seconds, now that has stabilised at Rs 6,400," says RK Kalidas, general manager - marketing, Surya TV. Asianet has managed to stay on in the media planners' good books by offering flexible rates and a combination of ad packages.

Surya has also roped in some of the big film production banners in Kerala to make soaps for it and has bought out rights of popular novels to use them as storylines for its serials. On its roster are Seven Art International and Central Pictures, which are making serials for Surya - some of them being Porutham, Manasputhri and Vaava. It has also juggled with its serial timings to avoid a head-on clash with Asianet's popular programmes. For instance, since Surya News clashed with the Asianet News at 7.00 pm, it was shifted to the 6.30 pm slot. A popular serial is being aired at that particular time.

Again, since Surya picked up good ratings during movies, the channel decided to get into film-making. To get its plans off the ground, Surya has entered into a joint venture with Kerala Film Development Corporation early this year. It has released its first movie under this production partnership called Krishna Gopalakrishna.

Alongside, it has shelved its plans of launching a second channel, Surya News, for sometime. The future strategy will hinge on beefing up its line of soaps and devising live events for the Kerala market. © 2002 agencyfaqs!