NatGeo fires new salvo in ratings war

The latest salvo is a series titled Seven Deadly Arts, which will be anchored by popular Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, a martial arts aficionado. "In less that two years, we have managed to create five big properties that have resulted in our reach going up by 25 per cent last year. The viewership for each of these shows has been record breaking. Mission Mars featured in the top 10 programmes on cable and satellite television," said Punnet Johar, marketing vice-president, NGC India. NGC is currently available in 24 million cable and satellite households in India -- a jump of six million from December 2002 -- and intends to further increase penetration. Seven Deadly Arts focuses on seven martial art forms: kung fu, karate, capoeira, aikido, muay thai, taekwondo and kalaripayattu. The idea of roping in Kumar was to make the programme more interactive and personal to the audience, explained Johar. "Martial arts is all about discipline, focus and one's inner self. We could not think of anyone other than than Akshay to host the series, as he's a well-known practioner himself," he said. An outdoor campaign and aggressive cross-channel promotions is in effect, sponsored by advertisers such as Samsung, Bajaj and Nokia. Initiatives have helped NGC combat the dominance of Discovery Channel in India. "Our programmes have established our leadership in the 'infotainment' genre -- with Mission Everest, we were ahead of competition for weeks in a row. We expect the same with the latest programme as well," said Johar. sm