MUMBAI: Sakal Group’s Saam TV recently went from being a full-fledged infotainment channel to a news channel with a focus on hyper-local content.
Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Saam TV executive editor Nilesh Khare said, “In mid 2017, the organisation decided to change the channel to news and information channel and we implemented the new content strategy from 15 January 2018. Our channel is stable on 21 per cent viewership market share for the past five weeks.”
Very soon, it will launch its news app and OTT platform in six months. It will be talking to WhatsOn, Hotstar and some other OTT players for the content. The channel has deals with Dailyhunt and Jio too.
The channel has synergised with the parent company to create its own content which is completely in-house. The presentation, pattern and the graphic are also done by the in-house team. The editorial team of the channel includes 38 reporters in Maharashtra.
Currently, the channel is focused on content and ratings and depending on the response to Saam TV, another channel launch could be on the anvil.
The channel has many national and regional advertisers on board which includes Cadbury, Zee, Honda and Sony. Sony is launching a new Marathi general entertainment channel Sony Marathi on 19 August and the first TV campaign has been launched on Saam TV.
According to the numbers provided by the broadcaster, the channel in its seven months of relaunch claims to have taken pole position with 21.34 per cent of the total viewership in the Marathi market with a target audience above 15 years in the time band of 6 am till 12 am.
Saam TV is followed by ABP Majha with 21.27 per cent share, Zee24 Taas at third position with 19.95 per cent viewership share, according to numbers provided by Saam TV.
The Marathi news market consists of more than half a dozen channels including ABP Majha, News18 Lokmat, Zee24 Taas, TV9 Marathi and Jai Maharashtra to name a few. It is a hotly contested market with several broadcasters fighting tooth and nail for the top position.
