MUMBAI: It’s been almost a decade since the Halliwell sisters kept us Charmed with their Book of Shadows and the Triquetra. Now, the Beauchamp quartet is brewing to leave us spellbound in The Witches of East End, airing Sunday nights at 8 on Romedy Now, 26 January onward.
The series was acquired by the channel as part of its content acquisition across studios during the Los Angeles screening in May last year. Based on Melissa De Cruz's New York Times bestseller of the same name, The Witches of East End revolves round a family of witches. Freya, a wild-child bartender played by Jenna Dewan Tatum and her sister Ingrid, a shy librarian played by Rachel Boston are unaware of their supernatural powers until one of them gets engaged to a wealthy newcomer and their mother is forced to reveal that they are indeed powerful and immortal witches.
According to Times Television Network English Entertainment Channels CEO Ajay Trigunayat, acquiring the new series is in keeping with the conceptualisation of Romedy Now as a blend of movies and the best TV series from around the world. The channel’s content stems from its identity and key communication formulated post extensive consumer research, feedback, analysis and strategy.
The channel is betting big on the new series. “The demographic audience is SEC AB 15 – 44 years of age both male and female across eight metros. However, as recommended by TAM, we are also measuring the channel at CS4+ and CS15+ across eight metros since viewership data and analysis are very volatile since 2013 and continue to be volatile as of the beginning of 2014. The 8 pm slot shows promising PUT and we have an interesting FPC combination so that people will get to watch the shows in other timeslots as well on both week days and during weekends,” explains Trigunayat.
“Romedy Now reaches out to each and every urban – affluent audience across eight metros and we have given it a short concentrated communication burst across all Times Television Network channels (Romedy Now, Movies Now, Zoom, Times Now and ET Now) to build salience for the property and ensure high trial and we have received excellent consumer response as word of mouth, direct consumer interaction and social media.”
Apart from witches and witchcraft, Romedy Now plans to cast a spell on its audience with the classic David E Kelly court room dramedy – Ally McBeal and the Bradley Cooper-starrer – Kitchen Confidential.
Trigunayat calls Ally McBeal, “A compelling show about a strong independent young woman, her relationships, her career and her unusual experiences in the backdrop of a legal comedy-drama. The show has captivating characters which gives viewers more reasons to watch the show. It is likely to beat many new shows on popularity and is anyway new to a whole new generation!”
Romedy Now is leveraging the biggest English speaking platform, The Times of India, and extensively promoting the new series on the Times Television Network, supported by heavy engagement driving conversations in the digital space. “Using the core element of each show, we will engage viewers in a series of innovative contests and quizzes on our twitter and Facebook pages. Additionally, selectively used outdoor campaigns across select cities are being explored,” says Trigunayat, pointing out that while the channel has gained 35 per cent facebook fans since the announcement, it is too early to come to a conclusion regarding the overall consumer response.
Trigunayat is confident about getting advertisers for the new content. “The Witches of East End, Ally McBeal and Kitchen Confidential reinforce our brand promise of ‘Love.Laugh.Live’ and cut across age groups and gender. Any advertiser/brand looking for a platform for either Love or Laughter or a combination of both will find value in the series. We already have brands across categories on-board for example., J&J, Panasonic, Honda, Swatch, Airtel, BPCL, to name a few,” he says.
“Romedy Now is content neutral and the content mix will be dynamic at any given point of time,” is his parting shot.
