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Experts Interview

Anooj Kapoor

If you Know What ‘Sab’ Stands for, He’s Done His Job

In His Two Decade long career, The Biggest Achievement for Anooj Kapoor, Executive VP & Business Head, SAB TV, Is the Turnaround of Sony SAB TV in just 3 years. And Getting Him on Board The Biggest Achievement for SAB

When Anooj Kapoor joined SAB TV as Business Head in 2007, the channel was struggling at 28 GRPs. Since then, in the span of three years, he has steered SAB to 119 GRPs by successfully positioning it as a family comedy entertainment channel. In an exclusive interview, Anooj tells 4Ps B&M about the channel’s giant leap in terms of TRPs, the strategic steps that led SAB to be a family entertainment channel, and the channel’s future plans.

Q:SAB TV has always tried to position itself as a family entertainment channel. How easy or difficult has it been for you?

Anooj Kapoor: Yes, we have always tried to position it that way because we believe in providing entertainment to all. It was certainly difficult to change the prevailing perception of the channel because the horizon of expectation of the audience was moulded from before and it took us some time to change that. But now, as you see, we have managed to do so with a 500% ratings growth in just over two years. We believe that anything can be achieved with conviction and hard work.

Q: How do you think family programming has evolved in the country over the past decade?

Anooj Kapoor: There has been no family programming per se before us. All channels were catering to different kinds of demands of the viewers; like, some were for women, some were stand up comedy shows, the latest one being reality shows and then kids shows for kids. We are the only channel whose offering is for everyone.

Q: Comedy serials have been your forte. What is the rationale behind the same?

Anooj Kapoor: We have stuck to the brand promise – Asli mazaa sab ke saath aata hai. None of our serials are negative and neither do they portray the harsh realities of life. After facing and dealing with harshness all throughout the day, all of us want to sit in front of the TV and watch feel-good programmes. Thus, we came up with programmes that fall under the category of light-hearted family entertainment shows.

Q:Do you think banking on comedy has worked for you?

Anooj Kapoor: The response has been overwhelming. From the time we started, our TRPs have jumped to 145 for the last week. That, according to me, is a huge jump and it establishes our grand positioning. We are looking forward to a very successful future.

Q: But a series of your promotional initiatives on various media has also played a critical role in this.

Anooj Kapoor: The idea was that SAB should spread smiles through every possible medium, even with its communication. So, even when we resorted to unconventional methods like SAB ke damadji, the only show of its kind by any brand on radio, we took utmost care to make our audience laugh.

Q: At the end of the day, everything boils down to the advertisers. How much importance do advertisers actually give to family channels while deciding their expenditure portfolio?

Anooj Kapoor: Being basically a family channel broadens the scope of a channel in terms of appeal to advertisers. Because it then does not get restricted to only men, women or kids; it rather appeals to all kinds and sorts of advertisers, allowing them access to families and family members in a better and happier frame of mind.

Q: Regional media has gained a lot of prominence over the past few years. Do you also plan to introduce tailor-made offerings for different regions?

Anooj Kapoor: Since our positioning and programming is unique, we, for sure, might explore a regional model as well. More than 60 hours of comedy content on a monthly basis has never been created in any part of the world. There has been a huge learning curve in creating light-heart content that can appeal to the entire family. We, for sure, will at the right time look at using this learning to go beyond Hindi. However, as of now Hindi remains our key focus.

Q:Social media is gradually becoming a rage. What are you doing to reinforce your presence in the particular domain?

Anooj Kapoor: We believe in using social media to engage with the fans of our shows beyond just the show. We strongly believe that “good word of lines” like word of mouth can help us grow in popularity. Currently, some of our shows already have a huge fan base on the social network. Taarak Mehta is about to touch a base of one lakh fans, which is unique in itself. Other shows are also growing and catching up in numbers.

Q:Do you intend to continue with the ongoing media mix of yours, or do you plan to change it sometime in the near future?

Anooj Kapoor: We are looking at a continuous presence at all family touch-points across all cities with a population of over one million to stay connected with our core audience on a regular basis. Our media mix would typically consist of TV, print, outdoor (billboards, digital screens, malls, multiplexes) and some transit media options as well.

Q:How are you planning to move forward from here?

Anooj Kapoor:In the coming fiscal, our original programming would be extended to all seven days from the current five; in addition, we will have four hours of fresh content everyday. Moreover, we also intend to make exclusive films to be premiered on SAB. These films will be made around the core brand promise and will definitely be a huge buzz driver in the coming years.