From 19 October, Vasantham Central, MediaCorp TV12’s Tamil-language segment, will expand into a fully fledged free-to-air channel. It will show up to 65 hours of programming per week, up from 29 hours before.
Meanwhile, StarHub’s cable offering Vannathirai
Meanwhile, StarHub’s cable offering Vannathirai
(or VTV), began transmission in late September. The 24-hour Tamil channel offers classic movies, latest blockbusters, family and reality-based shows, and news.
Why the growing interest in Indian-language broadcasting? Lim Suat Jien, MD of TV12, said the channel had acted on the “invaluable feedback from Indians living in Singapore” who “want their own channel with a local flavour”.
Of its current viewership of 788,000 viewers, Vasantham only counts 184,000 Indians among its viewers, with the Chinese (46 per cent) and Malay (28 per cent) communities making up the bulk. With 324,000 Singaporean Indian citizens or permanent residents in Singapore and potentially another 100,000 Indian nationals on work and study passes, MediaCorp hopes to make up more ground in viewership from this segment.
The revamp should also bring in more ad revenue. Vasantham’s current broadcast hours cover slots in the late afternoon and evening. “The demand for primetime slots was limiting in the past,” notes Patricia Lim, MD of PHD Singapore. “With the revamp, we now have almost an entire day of timeslots to play with.”
Lim adds that the revamp opened up demographics that were previously unavailable - from foreign workers or expatriates to mothers and children.
Sapnal Angural, associate account director for MediaCorp, speaks of the “big potential” for Vasantham to expand its ad contracts with Government agencies including the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports and the Ministry of Defence. Other big clients of the channel include telcos SingTel and StarHub, Western Union and food brands KFC and Halal Foods International.
The launch of VTV, meanwhile, brings StarHub’s Tamil and Hindi line-up to eight channels, including Sun TV, Vijay, Star Plus and Zee TV, among others.
A spokesperson at StarHub noted that this was a chance for the cable operator to hit a niche audience but declined to reveal plans for advertisers. However, there are signs it is worried about competition for viewers. In a bid to attract sign-ups in time for the Indian holiday of Deepavali in late October, StarHub has slashed subscription rates for the first three months of its new channel by 50 per cent.
Cable TV, which relies less on ads than free-to-air, has generally been better at serving niche audiences, but the fact TV12 is following suit is significant. Last year it posted its first loss in five years under pressure from cable TV and online. The launch of Vasantham shows it is not giving up without a fight.
Why the growing interest in Indian-language broadcasting? Lim Suat Jien, MD of TV12, said the channel had acted on the “invaluable feedback from Indians living in Singapore” who “want their own channel with a local flavour”.
Of its current viewership of 788,000 viewers, Vasantham only counts 184,000 Indians among its viewers, with the Chinese (46 per cent) and Malay (28 per cent) communities making up the bulk. With 324,000 Singaporean Indian citizens or permanent residents in Singapore and potentially another 100,000 Indian nationals on work and study passes, MediaCorp hopes to make up more ground in viewership from this segment.
The revamp should also bring in more ad revenue. Vasantham’s current broadcast hours cover slots in the late afternoon and evening. “The demand for primetime slots was limiting in the past,” notes Patricia Lim, MD of PHD Singapore. “With the revamp, we now have almost an entire day of timeslots to play with.”
Lim adds that the revamp opened up demographics that were previously unavailable - from foreign workers or expatriates to mothers and children.
Sapnal Angural, associate account director for MediaCorp, speaks of the “big potential” for Vasantham to expand its ad contracts with Government agencies including the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports and the Ministry of Defence. Other big clients of the channel include telcos SingTel and StarHub, Western Union and food brands KFC and Halal Foods International.
The launch of VTV, meanwhile, brings StarHub’s Tamil and Hindi line-up to eight channels, including Sun TV, Vijay, Star Plus and Zee TV, among others.
A spokesperson at StarHub noted that this was a chance for the cable operator to hit a niche audience but declined to reveal plans for advertisers. However, there are signs it is worried about competition for viewers. In a bid to attract sign-ups in time for the Indian holiday of Deepavali in late October, StarHub has slashed subscription rates for the first three months of its new channel by 50 per cent.
Cable TV, which relies less on ads than free-to-air, has generally been better at serving niche audiences, but the fact TV12 is following suit is significant. Last year it posted its first loss in five years under pressure from cable TV and online. The launch of Vasantham shows it is not giving up without a fight.
