Asianet switches to dedicated channel for Gulf

Asianet, a Malayalam television channel with a footprint across the Indian Subcontinent, the US, Europe, Middle East and South Asia, has ceased to exist for the 4.5 million strong Keralite community in the GCC.

The channel has been replaced by the free-to-air Asianet Middle East 24x7, with more local programmes suiting the lifestyle of the overseas Indians.

The new channel provides a more cost-effective advertisement platform to the multinational advertisers in the region.

Speaking to Emirates Business about the new Middle East edition of Asianet, Bindu Menon, General Manger, Asianet Middle East, said: "Asianet has completed almost 10 years in the UAE. We were the first Malayalam channel to open an office in the Dubai Media City. Asianet has become a pay channel in India, and it will not be available to the Middle East audience. The new channel gives more flexibility and opportunity to the local advertisers, especially the multinational clients, who had to wait for advertising opportunities for our prime time programmes."

The company will explore more revenue streams and create more programmes to suit the local advertisers.

It is investing for a major production and studio facility in the Dubai Studio City. It will also recruit more staff to strengthen its 35 employees in Dubai Media City.

With a new state-of-the-art production studio in Dubai, initially 10 per cent of the programmes will be made locally, and the local content will be increased gradually, Menon said.

The channel, recently acquired by Star India, part of the Rupert Murdoch media group, has a major presence in the South Indian television market.

With the new channel, it will be easy for the local advertisers to advertise on prime time programmes, which will be restructured to the local Middle East weekend structure (Thursday and Friday) and advertisers will get more inventory to use on prime time.

Earlier the advertisers had to wait for a spot in prime time programmes and even for re-telecast of premier programmes such as Idea Star Singer, and the channel could not entertain all the aspiring advertisers.

With the new structure, more advertisers will be attracted to the channel because they do not have to pay the high Indian rate for sponsoring or advertising with local programmes.

Claiming that the channel has not been affected by recession in India, Menon said: "The relaunch coincides with a revival in the UAE advertisement market."

"The advertising market in the UAE is picking up and annual deals are being signed with many clients now.

"Due to recession some major clients had stopped annual deals, which are annual advertisement contracts. Now the annual contracts are back in the market, indicating a clear revival of market," she said.

"The UAE is the major source of advertisement for the channel's GCC operations because most of the advertisement decisions happen here. There are more audience in Saudi Arabia, but the advertisement decisions are made in Dubai.

"We did not have any real estate or construction advertisers and the crisis has not affected us much.

"Multinational clients, the main source of advertisement for the channel, had a concern about the timing of the prime time programmes. In addition, there was repetition of some product advertisements from both India and Middle East that was a cause of concern.

"Now local advertisers can associate with any of the 24 hour programmes on Asianet Middle East. Earlier they had only a few hours local programmes. The new dedicated 24x7 channel will structure its mainline programming schedule to suit the prime time, as per the Middle East time zone."

Currently, viewers of Asianet in the Middle East get the same programming schedules as that of the flagship channel in Kerala, which has been structured to suit the lifestyle of people residing in the Indian state.

Viewers will get the new channel by retuning the existing channel, and those who get it through E-Vision will continue to get Asianet Middle East.

Viewers in the Middle East can watch new blockbuster movies and all the weekend shows on Fridays instead of having to miss them on Sundays. The timing of other popular programmes will also be newly structured to suit the Middle East residents, Menon said.

She said while Asianet Middle East channel will continue to focus on Malayalam audience, the television market for other South Indian expatriates through the group channels such as Suvarna (Kannada), Sitara (Telugu) and Star Vijay (Tamil) would also be explored.

Focusing life in Gulf

Asianet, established in 1993 in the South Indian state of Kerala, launched its Middle East operations in 2000 to cater to the expatriates from Kerala. And the channel already had a powerful programming mix focused on life in the Gulf.

Programmes such as Gulf Round Up and City Lights give an overview of life in the Gulf. "We were also the first to commence dedicated programming for events such as Dubai Shopping Festival, thus serving as a cultural bridge," said Bindu Menon of Asianet Middle East.

With an estimated 4.5 million Keralites in the Middle East alone, Asianet is the leader in Malayalam television with two other Malayalam channels – Asianet News, dedicated to news and analysis; and Asianet Plus, an entertainment channel catering to the younger audience.

Asianet Middle East 24x7 will be launched officially at a gala function to be held in Dubai on April 7.

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