Max leads Hindi movie channels

It has been a busy six months for Hindi movie channels. While Max has tried to latch on to its gains from the ICC World Cup with big ticket film purchases, Zee Cinema and Star Gold have tailored their strategies to fit in with the market reality and focussed on smart purchases.

With the help of Tam data (HSM C&S 4+), Indiantelevision.com takes a look over the performance of the Hindi movie channels across a six-month period.


As the movie channel genre gears up to witness fierce competition, the past six months (January to June 2007) has seen a tussle between Zee Cinema and Max for the leadership spot. While Zee Cinema started ahead, it was dethroned by Max in March. Star Gold comes in at the third spot, but lagging far behind are Filmy and B4U Movies.

The shuffle in the top slot, in fact, took place in March with Max seeing a swell in viewership because of the ICC World Cup. As the channel dished out live cricket content from the West Indies, it hogged a channel share of 49 per cent, majestically up by 17 per cent.

Zee Cinema, on the other hand, slipped to the second position with the share dropping from 33 per cent in February to 26.

Star Gold also couldn't survive the cricket wave and slipped from a 24 per cent share in February to 17 per cent in March.

However, in the months that followed, Zee Cinema got back in the game inching closer to the leader with a share of 32, as Max stands at 34 in June.


As expected, the ICC Cricket World Cup did help Max cannibalize shares from other channels in the genre. But as India exited, so did some viewers but still it was attractive enough for Max to garner a channel share of 40 in April.

Max business head Sneha Rajani is happy with the outcome that cricket delivered for the channel. She said, "Although the ICC Cricket World Cup was the last cricket property on the channel, it did well for us despite India's exit."

Zee Cinema inched up to a share of 29 per cent in April while Star Gold gained five per cent.

Post World Cup, Max's task was to hang on to the lead even as it transitioned from a hybrid to a pure movie channel. The culmination of the cricket phase was immediately followed by the Amitabh Bachchan Film Festival, titled Ab Tak Bachchan, in late April. The channel also extended its primetime by bringing it forward to 8 pm from its earlier positioning at 9 pm.

It was as if a war was on between Amitabh Bachchan Vs. Amitabh Bachchan on the two competing channels. Zee Cinema launched a Big B festival titled Shanivaar Ki Raat Amitabh Ke Saath.

In May, Max continued to lead over Zee Cinema but dropped its share to 37. Zee Cinema stabilised in the two months with a score of 31 and 32.

The gap has, in fact, narrowed in June with Max slipping to a share of 34.

Sharing insight into how the channel hopes to regain its lead, Zee Cinema deputy business head Mohan Gopinath said, "We have almost reached Max with the help of film festivals. In fact we are planning several more in the coming months. The whole idea of festivals is to let the viewers know about the movies they missed out."

In a highly title driven TV movie market, Max is looking to maintain its current postion by betting big on blockbusters. The channel has reportedly spent over Rs 2 billion to acquire a mix of big, medium and small movies from big banners like Eros International, Yashraj Films Dharma Productions and Mukta Arts, among others.

Max kicked off the promotional activity for these films with 'Saal ke Sabse Bade Blockbuster' and will be screening Namastey London, Cheeni Kum, Gandhi My Father, Eklavya and many more.

The channel shelled out close to Rs 650 million for 16 films from the Eros stable alone. Rajani opines, "We have not even shown half of the Eros movies that we acquired, but I am confident that all of them will do well for the channel."

As far as big titles are concerned, Max has only recently started showcasing this blockbuster library with Kaabul Express, Lagey Raho Mumnnabhai and Kabhi Alvida Ne Kehna.

Zee Cinema has not done major buys this year. The channel, instead, believes innovative programming is the route to achieve the lead.

"We have done a few buys but all depends on how innovatively you promote and screen them," said Gopinath.