On the heels of securing carriage on Indonesia\u2019s leading pay-TV player, MNC Vision, for the recently launched HITS Movies service, Rewind Networks CEO Avi Himatsinghani talks about the opportunities that still exist for linear TV channels in Asia.<\/p>\n
TV ASIA:<\/strong> How has the rollout of HITS Movies gone so far? What is contributing to this? We went through every channel’s grid to see what we were up against. And we found that movies like Crocodile Dundee<\/em>, Private Benjamin<\/em>, Beverly Hills Cop I<\/em>, II<\/em> and III<\/em>, RoboCop<\/em>, were up against the likes of Harry Potter<\/em>, Terminator 3<\/em>, White House Down<\/em>, Big Bang Theory<\/em>, Next Top Model<\/em> and America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em> and a whole lot of first-run shows on other networks. And we still delivered. That is further testament to [our strategy]: when you put great stuff together with a clear proposition, it works!<\/p>\n I\u2019m now even more convinced about the playlist strategy and having a base of super-fan followers of a playlist. HITS Movies and HITS are playlists. Their clear propositions have allowed a very loyal, consistent base of followers to keep coming in and out of the playlist, recommending and requesting shows and movies they love. The more fans that come in, and the more time they spend, the better our ratings. If we consistently deliver on the selection and the curation of that playlist, they will keep coming back.<\/p>\n I realized that there is a reason these haven\u2019t worked on the pure SVOD plays. If they\u2019re available they are scattered\u2014some on one SVOD service, some on others. And they are so deep down on the pages, even if a thumbnail pops up, people will say, I\u2019ll watch that later, [for now] I want to watch Narcos<\/em> or House of Cards<\/em> or Bodyguard<\/em>. On demand works best for the latest top-of-mind content. Our curation works best on a linear playlist.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really excited about how we\u2019ve done. I\u2019ve spent 20-plus years in this ecosystem\u2014I haven\u2019t seen a brand come up from scratch in a fragmented world like this. It\u2019s not like we\u2019re a well-known brand from a global media house.<\/p>\n Our challenge now is to turn this success into value\u2014we have to launch onto more platforms in more markets. Right now we\u2019re in Singapore and Indonesia. I\u2019d love to get onto leading operators in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines. We have already invested in multi-territory rights and since we don\u2019t have deep pockets, these next few months are crucial for us. We have very good support from the studios; the selection of movies is looking great.<\/p>\n TV ASIA:<\/strong> What about HITS? Are you still expanding that to new markets? Last year we expanded in Taiwan\u2014now we are on both CNS and Chunghwa Telecom\u2019s MOD. We rolled out into Vietnam with K+ and VTVcab and we also want to expand further in that market. We launched in Myanmar and the Maldives. We\u2019re working on our launch in Sri Lanka soon. There are pockets [available]: we\u2019re still not on True or AIS in Thailand. We want to get onto platforms like myTV Super, nowTV and i-Cable in Hong Kong. So there\u2019s still work to be done on the flagship channel as well. We\u2019re not in Cambodia. We\u2019re not in Laos. Smaller markets, but we\u2019re still plugging away.<\/p>\n TV ASIA:<\/strong> You have two channels in the HOOQ linear bundle. How has the HOOQ experience been? Is it different from working with a traditional pay-TV operator? TV ASIA:<\/strong> What are your goals for the year ahead? TV ASIA:<\/strong> Have your marketing strategies evolved? On the heels of securing carriage on Indonesia\u2019s leading pay-TV player, MNC Vision, for the recently launched HITS Movies service, Rewind Networks CEO Avi Himatsinghani talks about the opportunities that still exist for linear TV channels in Asia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":5381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1055,160],"class_list":["post-5380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-avi-himatsinghani","tag-rewind-networks"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHIMATSINGHANI:<\/strong> True to our mission to deliver the best in one place, we put together 40 years of the best movies on a single service to see how powerful that would become in terms of viewer stickiness and consumer love. We actioned our plan and it has beaten my wildest expectations. The ratings and numbers in our debut market, Singapore, prove it. Every month since launch, we have been in the top three out of 15 international general-entertainment channels in the basic group.<\/p>\n
\nHIMATSINGHANI:<\/strong> We launched HITS in Singapore at the end of 2013 and progressively rolled out across the region. We\u2019ve had to bear the brunt of being a relative latecomer and had to be patient for shelf space and content budgets to open up. The consistency of our proposition and performance helped us get here. Today we are in 12 million homes across 10 countries. But there is still room to grow.<\/p>\n
\nHIMATSINGHANI:<\/strong> What I love about HOOQ is it\u2019s forward-thinking in its approach and has taken a bet in aggregating linear alongside SVOD to connect with a wider OTT audience. They’ve been very successful in integrating the free-to-air channels too. Early indications are that it’s been a good start. The way you have to promote linear on OTT is very different. On a traditional platform, we\u2019d give the partner a cross promo and say, please run it across your networks. That approach becomes less relevant on an OTT service, where it\u2019s all about discoverability and getting people to click and watch. There is a lot of learning for them and us. It\u2019s early days, but I\u2019m excited.<\/p>\n
\nHIMATSINGHANI:<\/strong> I think 2019 is a year where we\u2019ll explore taking our flagship HITS brand beyond our Southeast Asia-Hong Kong-Taiwan region. I\u2019d love to see how we can explore additional feeds of the service in markets like India, Korea and even Africa and Eastern Europe. I think it\u2019s a\u00a0good time to start exploring. We know the proposition of a curated playlist like HITS works, so it makes sense to take it into more markets.<\/p>\n
\nHIMATSINGHANI:<\/strong> We have no consumer marketing budget, so by that very nature, I have to figure out how we create maximum buzz in the marketplace. We\u2019ve established very strong working relationships with other media groups like WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, Discovery Networks, A+E Networks\u00a0and Blue Ant Media. At the end of the day, we may be independent networks, but we want to keep people in the ecosystem and get them to consume more television. So we\u2019re aggressively spending time on cross-promotion. As an independent player that is pretty scrappy and focused on how we\u2019re going to add more tune-in to our shows, that is the best way. We also have great regional marketing partnerships with brands and leverage some of these with our affiliate partners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"