Life OK ushers in third year with its first Bollywood award show 'Screen Awards'

After 11 years with Star and 2 years with Colors, Screen Awards moves to Life OK. The awards will be held on January 14, 2014

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | December 26, 2013

Having recently completed two years, Life OK has another trick up its sleeve. The GEC has just announced that they have acquired the rights to the Screen Awards which will be held on January 14, 2014. The awards will be telecast in January, though the exact dates have not been fixed as yet.

Screen Awards is one of the most prestigious awards for Hindi and Marathi movie industry. Started in 1994, the awards recognise upcoming talent as well as professional excellence. The recipients for the awards are chosen by a rigorous two step screening process that includes a Screen Selection Academy. Its members, among the finest professionals in the industry, send their recommendations to a select Screen Jury which is not bound by these. The 2014 screen awards would be the 20th Screen Awards - the last two being telecast on Colors.

"Now that we have completed two years in the industry and reached a certain number that we wanted to reach, we wanted to grow bigger in terms of reach. Our association with Screen would be one of the many new things you will see in the next 12 months," said Ajit Thakur, General Manager, Life OK.

George Varghese, CEO, the Indian Express Group, says, “The Screen Awards are known for their credible and unbiased approach towards celebrating excellence in Indian cinema, and are the most respected in the entertainment fraternity. For the 20th edition of the Screen Awards, we are proud to be associated with Life OK, and are committed to making it bigger and better than before."

Incidentally, Screen Awards started with the Star family and remained with Star Plus for 11 years. It was only in the last two years that Colors acquired the rights to telecast it. With Life OK buying the rights this year, the game seems to have a come a full circle.

Life OK, however, has steered clear of showcasing Bollywood movies on a regular basis. Their only slot for movies has been on Sunday afternoons. It is quite surprising then, that such a channel is hosting the Screen awards. But Thakur feels that the two mediums - of television and cinema merge quite well. What they are doing is appreciating the art involved in both.

"We do show movies on the weekend, but that is more for the surfing viewership. They may not return the next week. However, there is a synergy between our channel's principle and what Screen stands for. There is synergy between the overall brand thought and therefore we are confident that our viewers would be happy. And it would create a buzz to the viewers and do something bigger," pointed out Sushma Rajesh, Head of Programming, Life OK.

The channel plans to do a differentiated marketing approach for the awards. The on ground activities, which will start from the first week of January, will not be based in one single city but in 10 different cities, especially the UP belt, since award shows are consumed more in that region.

There are also talks of actually taking the award statue to different cities and involving more people, especially since there are some popular categories in the award.

Parinda Singh, Head of Marketing, Life OK pointed out that "Online will be a huge part of it. The youth watches it more than a movie etc. Between 15-30 plus are the highest consumers of an award show. The usual print and TVC will also be there."

The Screen Awards might be a game changer for Life OK which has consistently done well in the last two years since its launch. While this will be a statement for the brand to go to the next level, they also hope to get some new viewers and create an impact. Whether the Screen Awards will be their apt piggy-back ride though, remains to be seen.

Sohini.Sen@BestMediaInfo.com

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