SET India Pvt Ltd is targetting a 25 per cent growth in revenue in the current fiscal, encouraged by the fact that its channel MAX has captured the top slot among the movie channels in the February-April 2004 period.
The company is also targetting a 28 per cent reach in the next couple of years, said Rajat Jain, executive vice-president, SET India.
"We have left behind our close competitor with higher investments in quality programme acquisitions in the months of February to April -- according to the latest available data. There has been an average increase in our viewership, thanks to the cricket World Cup and a brand-building campaign that we undertook," he explained.
The company is also heavily banking on the Champions Trophy to be telecast in September this year. "We foresee huge opportunity that we can derive from the Champions Trophy this year. This time the programme will be a little better than it was last time, which will also feature Mandira," he explained.
SET has tasted huge success with Mandira last time, which it wants to cash in once again with a little more punch. Jain also said that the company is expecting to register increase in ad-revenue once the trophy gets on.
As part of its cricket telecast plan, the company has firmed up plans of taking Mandira Bedi on a tour where she would be playing cricket with local women in seven different cities. This is also expected to increase viewership among females.
The other aspect of this concept is that it is being launched in time to act as a build-up towards the Champions Trophy.
The company has also decided to focus on movies in 2004 as its core domain.
With this in view, MAX has also firmed up plans of adding another dimension to its entertainment line-up with the launch of Hollywood Hungama -- an initiative where MAX will bring to its viewers the passion of some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters dubbed in Hindi. It has finalised acquisition of 53 such movies for the year.