How Discovery's Megha Tata wants to crack a "competitive and saturated market" like Tamil Nadu

Global factual entertainment giant, Discovery has rebranded its regional offering D-Tamil, the managing director - South Asia says, "previous logo lacked drama and entertainment".

Discovery Communications, a market leader in the factual entertainment space has announced a brand refresh of its real-life entertainment channel D-Tamil. The channel has redesigned its logo to appeal to the local audience in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu is a critical market in the Indian television landscape. It is so local that if a large network did not have a Tamil offering, however robust it is, it would not find takers. The distributors would turn the broadcaster down, all the more in the New Tariff Order (NTO) regime. It is almost that the Tamil channels carry the entire network in that vast market. That is where D-Tamil becomes critical for an International broadcaster like the Discovery which stands tall on the back of international factial entertainment content.

Megha Tata, managing director - South Asia, Discovery Communications India, has focussed on localisation from the time she joined the company. Bear Grylls's episode of 'Man VS Wild' with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an example of that. With D-Tamil, she wants to go one step further.

The channel is launching shows featuring local celebrities and dishing out family-friendly content. 'Acham Yenbathu Madamaiyada', an adventure reality series, and 'Suvai', a competitive light-hearted cooking show have been announced and Tata says there are more in the pipeline.

With the brand refresh that went live on 'Tamil New Year' (April 14), Megha Tata, in an interview with afaqs! speaks about D-Tamil and how she intends to drive revenue.

Edited excerpts:

Also Read: Megha Tata appointed as Discovery's Managing Director of South Asia

Also Read: "We'll bring back bigger, better, bolder content"