There is always the opportunity to amortise costs of both serials and movies as well,” said a person close to the deal on condition of anonymity. It also gives Star advantages of synergies of content exchange across serials and movies (Maa has a library of 700 movies) to dub and use across the network. On the advertising front, it gives media planners with national campaigns a great opportunity.
With Asianet and now Maa, they have a strong presence in the South and are truly a pan-India player. It was the only missing link in the Star bouquet. “Strategically and tactically, it’s a brilliant acquisition.
Maa Television Network’s four channels include Maa Gold, Maa Music, Maa Movies and Maa general entertainment. Telugu TV market is worth upwards of Rs 2,000 crore with the Tamil market leading at Rs 2,600 crore. Telugu viewership is fourth highest in the country with an average viewership of 1,400 minutes a week, higher than the national average of 1,100 minutes. Maa has 26% market share among Telugu channels, a revenue of Rs 350 crore and profit of about Rs 65 crore. A Ficci KPMG report of 2014 estimated regional TV channels accounted for 27% of the total television viewership in 2012. “As digitisation takes hold, it will be important for a network to have a strong presence in every package and Star is now very well positioned to do so.Īs the economy rebounds and advertising growth returns, the Telugu market will be a key component of any national offering to an advertiser.” The deal takes place nearly three years after the unsuccessful attempt by the Maa TV management to sell 30% equity to Sony Entertainment Television. “The acquisition gives Star a powerful national footprint and a strong presence in the fast-growing regional space,” said Jehil Thakkar, partner and head, media and entertainment, KPMG India.