Star Movies Action to replace Fox Action Movies

Star India aims to repeat the successful transition of Star One to Life OK with the launch of its second English movie channel

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 20, 2013

Taking the lead from the successful transition of Star One to Life OK that took place in December 2011, Star India is all set to transform Fox Action Movies into Star Movies Action on June 2, 2013. Dedicated to action lovers, the second English movie channel from Star will complement its existing English movie channel Star Movies that is already a market leader.

When Star One was taken off air for a month and replaced by Life OK, a success story was scripted. Where Star One was struggling with 40 GRPs every week, Life OK launched with 100 GRPs. Now the channel straddles the No. 5 or No. 6 position competing with SAB TV. With the closure of Fox Action Movies which was showcasing only martial arts movies and the launch of Star Action Movies that will showcase all types of action movies, Star India expects to repeat the same success story.

Star India has content partners like 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Walt Disney and Sony Pictures Television and has built a vast library of action movies that includes movies from a few other studios also. Star Movies Action has planned three mega movie premieres in its first month to mark the launch of the channel – 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter', 'Chinese Zodiac' and 'Taken 2'.

Kevin Vaz

Explaining the insight behind the strategy, Kevin Vaz, Star India's General Manager and Business Head, English Channels Cluster, Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies, told BestMediaInfo.com, “Action is the most consumable and popular genre in the English movie category in India. More than 80 per cent (TAM data: Genre-wise number of movies in top 100 airings, CS 15-34 Male, Sec AB, Jan-March 2013, 1mn+) of the top 100 rated movies are action movies. The action genre is an instant hit with this audience due to heroism, passion and the adrenaline rush that it embodies. With Star Movies Action, our objective is to cater to the growing demand for this genre by bringing the best of Hollywood action titles and fill the existing gap in the category.”

“With digitisation, we expect the English viewership to grow – as English content is aspirational – since more number of channels will be available on the TV sets. Thus Star Movies Action has potential to reach out to more people in the desired target audience,” added Vaz.

The channel is launching on SD feed to start with and will launch the HD feed later. It will be available on all major DTH platforms and cable networks, which will help garner subscription revenue. Since the channel has a clear content promise and precisely targets the premium male audience, it is getting very good advertising response.

Speaking on marketing for the launch of the channel, Vaz said, “We have allocated a substantial budget for the marketing and launch of the channel. We have targeted each and every communication platform to ensure visibility for this channel. This will certainly be the biggest movie channel launch that is sure to take the Indian audience by storm.”

A robust 360 degree campaign is planned to create buzz for the launch of Star Action Movies. While a strong TV plan across Star network is set to cause ripples in every genre from Hindi GECs, Hindi Movies, English Cluster, HD network and Regional channels, heavy promotion on print, cable and DTH platforms and the significant medium of digital has been amply beefed to catapult the launch.

A special channel anthem – 'A Hero Will Rise' – composed and sung by Pentagram, India's most famous rock band, has been made exclusively for Star Movies Action. An extensive plan on social media has also been developed to use Facebook and Twitter to connect with the audiences.

Showcasing the spirit of Star Movies Action, an interactive video has been made live at www.starmoviesaction.com.

Eleven Brandworks is the creative agency handling the launch of the channel while Mindshare is the media agency.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com