Big Magic targets family viewing; launches weekend cinema slot

RBNL's Big Magic has acquired about 20 movies from the UTV Motion Pictures banner on short-term deals, renewable on performance basis. The channel also plans higher ad rates for the newly launched weekend cinema slot.

Introducing a weekend movie band called Superhit Cinema, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited's (RBNL's) Big Magic has acquired about 20 movies from the UTV Motion Pictures banner on short-term deals, renewable on the basis of the performance of the movies. The exclusive deal entitles the channel to be the sole telecaster of the titles in the Hindi heartland.

The acquired movies were released after 2008. These include Fashion, Aamir, Jodha Akbar, Dev D, Kaminey, Race, Life in a Metro, Wake up Sid, A Wednesday, Agyaat and Delhi 6, amongst others. The total value of the deal is estimated at Rs 1crore.

The channel already had a daytime movie band on weekdays, wherein movies from 1990s onwards were telecast. In an attempt to tap male audiences and target family viewing, the channel has launched weekend movie bands in the prime time slot. Superhit Cinema will occupy the 4 pm and 8.30 pm slots on Fridays and Saturdays.

Anand Chakravarthy, executive vice-president and business head, Big Magic, says, "We had a daytime band on weekdays, which was being targeted to housewives. We considered taking family viewing as a focus, and found that the weekend evening time bands were perfect. The titles are carefully selected keeping family viewing in mind, and the bunch of movies is a mix of action, drama, romance and comedy."

The channel has high expectations from the new slot and will also consider revision of the ad rates. Chakravarthy adds, "We are in process of formulating new rate packages for the advertisers. Considering the quality of titles, we will definitely charge a premium FCT rate, and not the regular one."

Big Magic has taken up an aggressive promotional drive across all media platforms. For the radio and television platforms, in-house banners like 92.7 Big FM and the three channels under the Big CBS joint venture are being used. About Rs 30-40 lakh has been invested to promote the movie band on 100 outdoor sites in the major cities of the region, such as Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhopal and Indore, including 100 wall wraps across the cities. The channel has also started contests on various social networking sites. The contests are related to the movies being telecast.

For the records, lately, many channels have taken to movie acquisitions to grab a larger share of the viewership pie. While Zee recently invested about Rs 200 crore to acquire several movies, MSM's Sony, too, announced similar acquisitions. Also, STAR Gold acquired movies for an estimated Rs 300 crore early this year.