Neeraj Vyas is the business head of the channel and speaks out about its recent rebranding.
Sony SB has a new brand strategy. It is moving from a comedy channel to one that tells stories that are relatable to all ages, and the tagline “Jo Roz chhoti dete hai, wohi rishtey toh bade hote hai”, aims to increase its emotional connection to its viewers. This position has been consolidated by the channel’s campaign.
“SAB has been positioned as a family channel for the past 3-4 years. This perception is something we continue to improve upon. It was initially comedy shows such as ‘Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah.’ However, the idea was to capitalize on this goodwill and become emotionally closer to consumers,” Neeraj Vyas is the business head at Sony SAB, PAL, and Sony MAX Movie Cluster.
Three brand films were also released by the channel to establish the new philosophy.
“Through these films, we want to establish that our content will work on relationships and emotions. We’re not claiming to change your world. All we are saying is that we’ll make small differences in your daily reality,” Vyas adds.
“We want to emphasize that we are beyond just the smile now. We are not just a simple expression of comedy. We want to create happiness, hope, aspiration, and value, while we continue to entertain you. We want to create content that is more relevant to the changing reality of the country and changing social structures of the world,” he says.
In 2017, it coined the tagline ‘Haste Raho India’. In the 2019 rebranding, it consciously moved away from its comedy avatar to position itself as a living room brand, with a new tagline, ‘Khushiyon Wali Feeling’.
“We see more merit in catering to a largely underserved segment in the family – kids, teenagers and older people. Most of the general entertainment channels (GEC) shows focus on women in the 20-40 age group. And, because 96% of India is still a single-TV household, a lot of viewing is forced co-viewing. So, we spotted a bigger opportunity here. We decided to make our palette richer and more diverse,” mentions Vyas.
The channel also had ‘Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah’ and ‘Maddam Sir’ comedy programs. Comedy became the mainstay of the channel and set it apart from other GECs in Indian television.
However, Vyas admits that comedy is the single most difficult expression to consistently deliver. As the channel set out to make more comedy shows, it realised that the writing and acting talent was diminishing, and it was not sustainable.
