Company Name- Star Plus
Founder- Rupert Murdoch
Star Plus is an Indian pay television channel owned by the Star India Network. The programmes consists of family dramas and soap operas, reality shows (some of them are youth oriented), comedy shows, shows on crime and television films.
How it all started
Previously it was launched in English-language television channel, which includes International TV shows from US, UK and Australia and Zee TV being the Hindi Language counterpart, but after sometime it ended its relationship with Zee TV.
It then emerged as a Hindi language channel and Star world was introduced as the English counterpart. Star plus introduced a number of new Hindi drama shows in the year 2000 which made the channel reach every Indian home and in return it became the leader in the Hindi-language broadcasting zone.
Launching
‘Star Plus’ was launched on 21 February 1992, it was firstly an English-language television channel, which shows international TV shows from the US and Australia. After sometimes, it was transformed into a Hindi-language channel, with Star World becoming the network’s English-language counterpart channel.
It launched in the United States in November 2004. The high definition feed for the channel was launched on 15th April 2011. It carries the same feed as the normal channel with different commercials. The Star Television Network closed down their television operations in the USA, in January 2019. The issue was due to the promotion of star plus digital counterpart, Hotstar in the US. On an international scale, it is distributed by the Fox Network Group which is a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox.
Star Plus’s Marketing Strategy and Interesting Reasons behind Its Success
This brand is present on almost all the major social networking sites. It is a huge channel among all the communities of channels. They prepare the related contents by focusing on the shows, which are going to telecast by this channel. The channel has the capability to maintain a decent engagement with their followers, which is quite difficult for any fan page, when it is already a huge number of followers. The Social Media strategy like Face book, is able to involve more than 2.6 million followers. The brand is managing to engage people with their content, which are being posted on the page and it is the best part of this channel.
They post important information about their shows and make it interactive by asking questions and starting campaigns related to it. A link has provided on Instagram for viewers so that they can be connected with the shows and get updates easily. Star Plus page on Twitter- engaged numerous followers. Twitter helps get a glimpse of the upcoming shows by their cover pic.
Star Plus is present everywhere and means nearly on all social media platforms. The channel has huge popularity on G+ as well. The channel does full on promotion for their upcoming shows so that fans can get to see this on Twitter as well. The fourth platform is YouTube where the Star Plus has its own channel and one can easily subscribe the channel.
The marketing strategy has included miscall marketing strategy, which was a unique marketing approach to promote their daily soaps. In this strategy the users have to give a missed call on a number and in return they can hear the voice of actress related to that daily soap on the call. This method attracted most of the people all around the country. The brand believed that mythology and epics will work among the youth.
With Mahabharata’s marketing, the channel planed a technology that can appeal them, well beyond the metros. The channel has constructed a Mahabharat Museum to showcase selected weapon, jewellery and other objects that are used by the characters in the show. This was set up in the major malls before the launch of show. The museum also provided a 3D virtual tour of the sets such as the Hastinapur palace.
The senior vice president of Star Plus, Nikhil Madhok says that the show is relevant to the objective communication that is roped to the youth. The younger generation is relatively new to the epic in compare to older generation. The Shows has given a better chance to consider Star Plus a popular channel and its popularity and marketing has been done extensively.
Star Plus Campaign
Star Plus has launched a fresh campaign “Rishta Vahi Soch Nayi” to reinstate the while keeping the spotlight on half-a-billion women of India. The channel stated that, today’s women are opening up endless possibilities for themselves to follow the generation and this movement is gathering speed.
The brand has initially unveiled its brand promise of “Rishta Vahi Soch Nayi” in 2010 and has been consisting supporting it with newer ad films and campaigns. Then Star Plus has launched a new campaign ‘Nayi Soch’ through its brand initiative BCCI. This New TV campaign was unveiled on October 16 during the India- New Zealand ODI series where the cricketing heroes play messengers of this ‘Nayi Soch’.
In the campaign, India’s cricketers Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane proudly wear their mother’s names Saroj, Devki and Sujata, on their jersey instead of their own names or their father’s surnames, acknowledging the role of women- a thought supported and celebrated by BCCI through this campaign as well.
The campaign is built around the real life examples from the lives of these three cricketer icons and the philosophy how they are and what they are, in large part because of their mothers.
They keep on posting pictures, videos related to their shows and always update the post with their upcoming shows. The campaign communication attempts to question various societal stereotypes that hold women back, which is also a common thread in its new shows.
Conclusion
Star Plus is counted among one of India’s most viewed Entertainment channels along with Sony, Zee TV and Colours. Star Plus was at the top one upon a time but these days it is facing a tough competition from its competitor channels. Star Plus is a part of Star network, which is the biggest entertainment company in whole Asia.
The communication from the brand, its social media presence, and the various campaigns that it has promoted has been loved by people. They have also met social media disapproval and anger but the channel made very clear that the measure of the brand is the impact of channel in society, not the brand equity scores.
While several brands discovered a more purposeful approach along the way, Star Plus makes the case for a purpose that it believes in and backs it in an articulate manner.
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