Raymund Miranda

This interview originally appeared in the MIPCOM 2010 issue of TV Asia Pacific.

 

Cutting Through the Clutter

 

Late last year, Universal Networks International (UNI) unveiled a rebranding of its global channels portfolio, following a multimillion-dollar investment in repositioning the services for worldwide audiences. That process has now been completed across the Asia Pacific under the leadership of Raymund Miranda, the regional managing director at UNI. Miranda views the refocused brands—Universal Channel, Syfy Universal, Diva Universal and 13th Street Universal—as “clutter-cutters” in what is an increasingly over-populated multichannel landscape in Asia.

 

TV ASIA PACIFIC: How has the response been from operators to the refreshed brands?

MIRANDA: All of the tracking that we’re seeing is showing that the rebrand has successfully defined the channels even further, which is very important, particularly because it is getting to be a more crowded market. To give you an example, Sci Fi in Japan became Universal Channel and its ratings grew by 180 percent. And that 180-percent growth has stayed consistent months after launch. 13th Street Universal in Australia has consistently remained one of the top six, top eight channels since launch among all subscription TV channels. We’re very pleased with the results.

 

TV ASIA PACIFIC: How much do you localize the services?

MIRANDA: There are distinct feeds for Japan and Australia—each of those is extremely local. The pan-regional feed, we find a way to make it work across most of the markets. And we have a separate feed for the Philippines, which seems to be standard for most of the channels because of the potential for local ad sales.

 

Part of the announcement Roma [Khanna, president of UNI and Digital Initiatives] made last year also had to do with global productions and investments by Universal Networks International. Those are on the channels and we’re very pleased with them: Rookie Blue, Haven, Shattered. There are a lot of local acquisitions, particularly in Japan and Australia. For the regional feeds, we’re doing these toe dips into shows like The Biggest Loser Asia [airing on Diva Universal], and we’re looking at another possible format, because those seem to work very well for the regional feeds. We’re always keeping an eye out for possible local acquisitions.

 

TV ASIA PACIFIC: What are the greatest challenges you face in launching new brands today, and in what ways is it easier?

MIRANDA: There has been a proliferation of channels, both Western and local. Back in the day, you still had a whole bunch of platforms that were just starting [and in need of content]. [There was the] ability to drive people to your platform through these channels [that had] content that was hard to match. Platforms recognized that and responded to it accordingly. You did not have the sort of speeds that are available on broadband connections right now, which allow people to download stuff or [use their] Slingbox or buy shows from iTunes.

 

There are more U.S. or European studios that are looking at Asia as the real opportunity for growth. And they’re correct for looking at it that way because Asia is still so under-penetrated. It really is about tempering those expectations and making sure that you’re prepared for getting into the market and giving it your all.

 

I see viewers being more discriminating when it comes to their expectations of the channels. And that’s also something that makes it important to have strong channel brand propositions and at the crux of all of that is access to strong content. That’s been my focus over the past 8 to 12 months now.

 

TV ASIA PACIFIC: What are the goals for the portfolio in the next year?

MIRANDA: Lock in the content proposition. I still want to bring that home. The second point is to refine and tweak the brands and the channel propositions in order to cut through potentially even more clutter over the next 12 to 18 months. Investing in marketing and research and understanding the consumer end of the platforms and the advertisers even more. The third point is really looking at getting deeper into the markets. Oftentimes people equate growth in the business with new launches into new countries, but there is a lot more to do. Asia is a much overbuilt business, so in a market with 800 or 1,000 operators, there’s still a long ways to go. And then HD is something I’m looking at. We already launched our HD channel in Japan. The jury is still out as to what the possible economic model is—some platforms are happy to pay extra, some aren’t. We’ll see how that goes. And there are still a lot of markets that we’re really looking at: South Korea, New Zealand, South Asia.