SET Max rides growing digital popularity

Hungama Digital is working on the channel's digital account.

With 13 lakh Facebook fans and 1.1 lakh Twitter followers, SET Max has moved way ahead of its counterparts in the Hindi movie genre in the digital space. UTV Movies is its closest competitor with 8 lakh Facebook fans and a few hundred Twitter followers. Zee Cinema and STAR Gold are next with 6 lakh fans each.

MSM-hosted movie channel SET Max also telecasts Indian Premiere League (IPL), which is the buzz creating property in the Indian television space. The channel has grown on digital in the last two years. In May 2011, the channel was at 1.5 lakh Facebook fans and 995 Twitter followers.

Hungama Digital is working on the channel's digital account.

SET Max has always focused on brand building rather than simply promoting upcoming movies, through campaigns such as the hugely successful Deewana Bana De. On digital too, the channel claims to be focusing on strengthening brand equity and building brand connect, apart from trying to keep strengthening the positioning of the brand.

Against this, from the channel perspective, there have constantly been campaigns around movies telecast on the channel. In late 2011, the channel shifted focus from just talking about movies on Max. "Our strategy shifted to position Max as a 'Hub' for everything related to Bollywood," claims the channel.

Engagement for the content depends on the library. Vaishali Sharma, head, marketing, SET Max, says, "Also, the Hindi movie genre needs to be updated about new releases and other news from Bollywood. We use many tools, like regular FB posts and Twitter handles."

The channel keeps creating microsites whenever there's an interesting engagement tool, along with games and mobile applications. It also posts videos and customises the promotional content.

Sharma adds, "We treat digital as an important medium that needs attention. We try to customise everything that we do on digital as a medium and not just the social media. The main focus is to understand what the fans like and want to speak about. And then, it's about creating the right tools to engage."

IPL works wonders for the channel since cricket as a property attracts a lot of attention. The channel too bombards the digital medium along with all other media platforms with a lot of activities around IPL and that has largely helped in the growth.

Sharma however adds that the non-IPL engagement is also very strong on the Facebook page. "Between May and now, in 2013 we have got around 3,00,000 extra fans."

A few recent campaigns also helped in the growth of the channels followers, including the one around the movie, Jab Tak Hai Jaan. While the movie was on air, people were asked to tweet and live tweets were run on the screen. The channel added 1500 followers during the period. Talaash also had a Twitter contest around it and the channel claims that it added about a few thousand followers between Thursday and Sunday during the week when the movie was aired.

Sharma explains, "Over the last couple of years, we have developed the learning of what people like and expect from the channel. The best thing is that this medium allows you to adapt to the daily learnings regularly, unlike any other media platform."

She mentions that while sometimes, a combination of media platforms work better for campaigns, in some cases like Talaash, a pure Twitter contest works well.

As for whether a movie channel needs so many campaigns, Sharma explains, "From a brand perspective, it is extremely important to be on social media. It's not a tool to build the brand alone, but it also has the capability to drive viewers to the channel."