Fox Traveller turns one, reiterates 'this journey is fun'

Launches Fox Traveller HD as the channel completes one year of leadership in the travel and lifestyle genre

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | November 1, 2012

Travel and lifestyle channel Fox Traveller has completed one year after it dropped 'History' from its original name 'Fox History & Traveller' on October 30, 2011. During this one year, Fox Traveller has showcased some top international programmes like David Rocco's 'Dolce Vita', 'Poh's Kitchen', and Paul Merton's 'Adventures in India'. This year the channel has created unique and engaging local productions like 'What's with Indian Men', 'Twist of Taste', 'Freaky Traveller', 'It Happens Only in India' and 'Life Mein Ek Baar' that embody the channel's philosophy of 'This Journey is Fun'.

The local productions have helped strengthen Fox Traveller's position as India's leading travel and lifestyle channel with a growing genre market share of 44 per cent (source: TAM).

Keertan Adyanthaya

Commenting on the channel's first anniversary, Keertan Adyanthaya, MD, Fox International Channels, said, “We launched Fox Traveller to cater to the new-age, Gen X audience who love to experiment and gather new experiences. We are really excited with our success and promise to bring even more engaging and involving TV shows to our audience. We will continue to introduce unique, clutter breaking shows from India and abroad which will showcase adventure, food and travel from a fresh and invigorating perspective.”

Debarpita Banerjee

Talking about the achievements during the year, Debarpita Banerjee, Vice President - Marketing, Fox International Channels, said, “We are continuously acquiring best of international shows and making quality shows locally. We have managed great local productions in India which have become franchises. For example, 'It Happens Only in India' has gone into season 2 which will go into season 3. Vineet Bhatia has just gone on air with season 2. Also, we are the only lifestyle channel which is available in so many languages including English, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil.”

On the content mix, Banerjee said, “While international content remains the audience choice, there is a demand for local content too. Keeping that in mind we have a healthy balance between Indian and international content. While 'Food Safari' is a great success for us, Paul Martin's show is also very well accepted. The 60:40 ratio of international and local content has been received well by the advertisers also where they associate with the shows as per their target group.”

“We capture the whole philosophy of a traveller from the perspective that this journey is fun. To do this, we borrow from real life journeys. We take inspiration from what happens around us and put it on screen and hence it looks like fresh format. We also believe that if the insight is powerful, it will always connect with the viewer. So we are pretty confident that when we do something which resonates with the aspirations of the viewers, our job is done,” added Banerjee.

Talking about the road ahead, Banerjee, said, “We would continue bringing show that will keep the viewers glued to the channel. On the marketing front, we will continue to bring disruptive communications with special marketing initiatives like our recently concluded hunt of the freaky traveller. We will also focus on digital marketing to connect with the youth.”

On advertiser response through the first year, Banerjee said, “We have a whole list of new advertisers on the channel and their number is somewhere around 80-100. The advertisers who have been there with us have increased their engagement with the channel a lot more.”

Building on its promise to present only the best in television, Fox Traveller launched high-definition channel for Indian viewers on October 15, 2012. Fox Traveller HD with its separate schedule from Fox Traveller channel takes the viewing experience to a whole new level. India's most widely distributed travel and lifestyle channel, Fox Traveller's popular shows like 'Eat Street', 'French Food Safari', David Rocco's 'Amalfi Getaway' and 'Latin Angels' are now available in HD.

Earlier this year, based on overwhelming response from audiences in West Bengal, Fox Traveller launched a 24-hour feed in Bengali. Today, the channel reaches out to audiences in India and various South Asian countries including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The channel is available across DTH platforms in four languages – English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali.

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