So it’s strange to find such a natural-born entrepreneur taking up a role in the middle of one of the world’s biggest media organisations. Now, at the relatively decrepit age of 42, he is chief operating officer at Fox International Channels (FIC) Asia.
Not that he’d accept that he can no longer be an entrepreneur. Gandevia has arguably carved out his own niche within the Murdoch empire - when he arrived in Hong Kong in 2006 to become National Geographic Asia’s MD and executive vice-president, he had just two channels to look after. Now he has 11, encompassing not just nature, but drama and crime too.
“Our culture is like running our own business,” he says. “When you look at our individual markets, we attract a lot of entrepreneurs.”
He’s certainly not had chance to slow down. A high-profile relaunch of some of the group’s key channels last year was designed to boost subscriber numbers and make its channels stand out in the increasingly cluttered pay-TV space. And with online proving a growing challenge, there is plenty to think about in the future.
Upon arriving in Hong Kong in 2006, Gandevia was tasked with enlarging National Geographic’s scope in the region. It had a strong presence in Hong Kong and Singapore, but not in other Asian markets. The key was to localise its content - and this has become a recurring theme in Gandevia’s business ever since. “At the time, the two brands in FIC [National Geographic and Nat Geo Adventure] had regional feeds available in 10 markets and the content was international with no local identity,” he says.
The answer was to introduce localised feeds, allowing FIC to vary content and promotions in each market. “We invested a lot of time and money in these dedicated feeds,” Gandevia continues.
Like many of the big Western television brands, Fox’s Asian strategy now is to build a strong worldwide brand, but to localise content. This can mean it buys rights for programmes in some markets but not others. “For this format to work effectively, you need a globally recognised brand, which is what you offer to your affiliates and advertisers.”
He continues: “We fit the product across markets and cultures but it needs to be highly localised in terms of its presentation. For example, we choose the right type of natural history show at a time that works for that market. We also localise promotions - for instance, we will have a local artist speak about the programme, which we also dub into the local language. So the programmes are packaged to suit the market.”
Most of the company’s revenue comes from two streams, local and international advertising and local and international subscriptions. Most of the advertising revenue comes from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia, Malaysia and China. The Fox platform typically attracts advertisers with a strong brand identity. “Typically for us, it would be tourism, telecoms, cars, electronics. But we like to keep the channels clutter-free,” Gandevia stresses.
FIC now includes entertainment channels such as FX, Fox Crime and Baby TV. Last October it revamped FX to embrace an edgier positioning, screening racy US shows such as Californication, Family Guy and Mad Men.
The relaunch appears to be bearing fruit. No data has been released yet for Singapore, but in Hong Kong subscriptions to FX jumped 36 per cent by the end of January, and Fox Crime was up 24 per cent.
Gandevia doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. His future strategy is just as aggressive as the past few years. “You need more products to stay ahead. When I first came here, there were maybe only 50 cable channels, today there are 100, later there’ll be 200. But new channels have to be relevant. If you look at our products, they have a unique edge to them that nobody else has.”
After the channel relaunch last year, the big challenge is online. Here Gandevia insists FIC is aggressively spending on technology and marketing. “Our focus will be investing in new technology to drive down prices and use those savings to push into marketing and programming.”
For now, its ability to screen shows online is limited by the different rights packages it negotiates with content suppliers. As rightsholders become more used to selling online rights, this may change. There is also the opportunity to push content it has produced itself onto the web.
There are signs of some progress. This month Fox launched The Listener, its first show to debut globally and to be simulcast online.
Like many TV firms, FIC is also looking at mobile. Gandevia admits that nobody has cracked how to make money on the platform yet, but they are still “going after it”. The company has developed a lot of customised products for mobile: “games designed specifically to keep our brand in mind, customised wallpapers and icons, which again we are marketing as a package,” he says.
Other strategies include partnership solutions for channels such as Baby TV, which doesn’t allow advertising. This entails giveaways of Baby TV DVD sets with purchases of specific baby products.
For Gandevia, the more ways he can expose the region’s TV viewers to his brand, the better. “It’s all about building our brand,” he says. “We are making an emotional connection with the audience.”
Zubin Gandevia’s CV
2006 Chief operating officer, Fox International Channels Asia, National Geographic Channels Asia-Pacific/Middle East
2000 Managing director, National Geographic Channel India
1995 Senior VP business development, Star TV, Mumbai