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Rina Chandran

CHENNAI, Feb. 20

IT is billed as the biggest show ever in Tamil Nadu, and his first ever concert in his hometown.

The A.R. Rahman Unity of Light concert in Chennai on Friday is being promoted with unprecedented enthusiasm on billboards, in newspapers, at bookstores, in grocery chains — and on Vijay TV. For the Tamil channel, which has the exclusive telecast rights of the show, this is the second mega event in as many months that it has put its name to.

In December, the channel partnered Netru Indru Naalai, a live event featuring Tamil stars like Kamal Hassan, Simran, Rambha, Abbas and several well-known playback singers. The four-hour event drew a crowd of about 20,000 and 18 sponsors, said Mr Ajay Vidyasagar, General Manager, Star Vijay.

"It was almost embarrassing to have so many sponsors — but they all recognised that we were providing them a unique opportunity to do everything from product sampling to promos that could increase sales," Mr Vidyasagar said.

The "media orchestration" plan enables advertisers to be present across all media and marketing channels, he said. For `Netru ... ', Vijay kicked off the marketing of the event six weeks before, and assisted sponsors with ideas for branding activities. Bajaj, for example, ran a promo for test-riding the Pulsar before the show, and MTR engaged in a sampling exercise at the venue.

"Typically, the relationship of an advertiser with a TV channel is only a 30-second commercial," Mr Vidyasagar said. "The event gave brands an opportunity to do everything else — and that's a very attractive proposition." The exercise has cemented Vijay's relationship with advertisers, especially since the event was a "runaway success commercially, too," he added, without revealing the costs or the revenues.

Vijay TV telecast the show a couple of weeks later in two parts with a repeat, and that garnered TRPs six to eight times that of a regular daily soap, Mr Vidyasagar said. Besides, the event raised funds for The Banyan, an institute for mentally ill destitute women in Chennai, so it also helped the channel fulfil its corporate responsibility objective, he added.

Similarly, the Rahman show, part of his World Tour, is raising funds for the Mahesh Memorial Trust for victims of cancer. Besides Rahman, there are performances by well-known playback singers like S.P. Balasubramaniam, S. Janaki, Unnikrishnan and Hariharan and other artistes. More than 40,000 people are expected to attend. Major sponsors include Hero Honda, LIC, United India Insurance and Gold Winner cooking oil. The show will be filmed by noted director Mani Ratnam and telecast on Vijay in hi-definition format in April, Mr Vidyasagar said. The channel plans to put its name to a big live event every quarter; the spikes in advertiser and viewer interest and the enormous branding it receives act like a "tent pole", he said.

"Our programming philosophy is to have a daily staple of soaps and serials for the core consumer, the housewife, and a set of these tent poles every quarter," he said. "This is imperative for any brand, and it is a model that works very well for TV stations worldwide." Of course, the logistical challenges of a live event are huge, and there is the risk of mishaps, which may reflect badly on the channel. But the channel has been diligent and lucky so far, Mr Vidyasagar said. "And we're happy to do it in a manner that gives something back to society."

Since Star took over the operations of Vijay, the channel has focused on quality content and entertainment-based programming, rather than just blockbuster movies. This strategy has paid off, Mr Vidyasagar said, claiming that ad revenues have been growing steadily, especially since last November. "We are providing advertisers with a smarter, cleverer environment," he said.

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Vijay TV sees numbers in mega events — Looks to A.R. Rahman show for spikes in viewership

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