Gurjeev Kapoor, the president of the international business at Star India, shares the strategies that have enabled the broadcast platform to export its content to 100 markets across the globe.<\/p>\n
TV DRAMA:<\/strong> What\u2019s driving Star India\u2019s international business? The structure of the international business ensures a holistic perspective and better returns.<\/p>\n TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How important is the program-sales side to your international business? We believe good storytelling can travel across cultures. Turkey is a great example. Our most successful series, Is Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon<\/em>, made history as the first ever Indian drama series to air in Turkey. It broke many viewership records by quadrupling the channel ratings in that slot for our partner Kanal 7. This paved the way for many more Indian series on local Turkish television and Turkey continues to be a big market for us.<\/p>\n Star\u2019s content syndication efforts have been [important] to putting Indian dramas on Latin American television. Our international best seller Saras & Kumud<\/em> (Saraswatichandra<\/em>) has driven viewership for our broadcast partners in leading markets like Chile and Peru, besides four other markets in the territory. Yours Truly, Paakhi<\/em> (Tumhari Paakhi<\/em>) is another show that has been received favorably in Peru. We are now looking at investing in dubbing a few of our [top] shows to derive maximum value.<\/p>\n TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Are you pursuing format-sales opportunities? TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How are you dealing with the pirate set-top boxes that people are using to get unauthorized feeds of your channels? We\u2019ve had some good results. We work very closely with DISH [in the U.S.] and have gone after Jadoo [an online platform] and others. We\u2019re very happy with how DISH has approached it. Piracy must be dealt with seriously. This is where we require the help of platforms. Piracy is sabotaging their business.<\/p>\n TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Amla<\/em> and P.O.W. Bandi Yuddh Ke<\/em> on Star India, both based on international formats, featured storylines that were quite unusual for the local drama landscape. Has Star been adjusting its programming strategy, and what impact does that have on your international business? While we didn\u2019t have the rights for Bandhi Yuddh Ke<\/em> internationally, Amla <\/em>and Sumit Sambhal Lega<\/em>, remakes of hit international shows, were fairly successful in the U.K. However, ratings cannot be the only measure of success. Satyamev Jayate<\/em> was launched with a social objective in mind. We believe in creating content that can inspire people and drive social change. Star Plus\u2019s Ted Talks India: Nayi Soch<\/em> is another offering in this direction.<\/p>\n TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How do Bollywood movies fit into your international strategy? It\u2019s a very big opportunity.<\/p>\n TV DRAMA:<\/strong> What are your big-picture priorities for Star\u2019s international business in 2018? LatAm is one market where we are gaining a lot of traction for our content and we hope that we will continue to entertain our audiences there. Saras & Kumud<\/em> has been hugely successful in seven countries in LatAm and our partnership with Latin Media Corp. has been instrumental in driving our growth in the region.<\/p>\n The Southeast Asian region continues to be an exciting market. All these years, people have loved our content in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Shows like Mahabharat<\/em>, Diya Aur Baati Hum<\/em>, Veera<\/em> and Chandra Nandini<\/em> have been received very well.<\/p>\n Europe and CIS countries are really excited about our new lineup of shows. Our partner Intellecta Srl has done a remarkable job in that market.<\/p>\n Our new lineup of shows like Love Ka Hai Intezar<\/em> (The Wait For Love<\/em>), Dhhai Kilo Prem<\/em> (Imperfect Love<\/em>), Tu Suraj Mein Saanj Piyaji<\/em> (Soulmates <\/em>season two) and Nimki Mukhiya<\/em> (The Accidental Mayor<\/em>) are generating a lot of interest. These shows have already captured the attention of audiences in India and are now on their way to winning audiences worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gurjeev Kapoor, the president of the international business at Star India, shares the strategies that have enabled the broadcast platform to export its content to 100 markets across the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":8851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[2330,1713],"class_list":["post-8850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-gurjeev-kapoor","tag-star-india","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> Good storytelling can traverse borders, and this forms the core of our international business. The power of harnessing synergies across the diverse teams has been key in placing Star India\u2019s content across 100 countries, including in major drama producing markets like the U.K., Turkey, Latin America and the U.S.<\/p>\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> This is an area where we were good but we want to grow exponentially. We\u2019ve looked at the markets where we can leverage our business. [Having] a holistic perspective for our presence in distribution and ad sales across geographies will be key to driving all of our content-syndication efforts. Program sales have been a driver in expanding Star India’s content footprint across the world. They have been instrumental in driving viewership for Indian dramas in general, especially in big drama-producing markets like Turkey and Latin America.<\/p>\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> Format sales are [important to] driving the next level of growth for the business. They allow good stories to root themselves in the local and cultural context and successfully drive relevance and viewership. While we have partnered with Eccho Rights to pitch the remake rights of three of our most successful shows, we also are in advanced talks with other partners in local markets.<\/p>\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> Piracy is a major issue facing the broadcasting and digital content industry. Faster broadband has made this more rampant. We are treating it as a very serious issue that hampers the growth of the business. We are collaborating closely with our partners to fight piracy.<\/p>\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> At Star, we have endeavored to be the platform for India’s best stories. Our goal is to bring original stories and some great stories from the world to the larger Indian audiences and both these shows did exactly this.<\/p>\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> The business of movies presents a great opportunity across the globe. We have a diverse catalog in our portfolio. However, good quality dubbing of movies presents some challenges. We are exploring dubbing opportunities in a couple of markets.<\/p>\n
\nKAPOOR:<\/strong> Star India is the leading broadcaster in India and will continue to invest in content that inspires people. Our new catalog has a mix of the best historical costume dramas and contemporary narratives that will cut across boundaries and resonate with audiences worldwide.<\/p>\n