AXN adopts new programming strategy

AXN has adopted a new programming strategy built around five programme slots - series, movies, adventure & reality, lifestyle sports and animation. The channel also announced a slew of new programmes in the reality genre.

by exchange4media Staff
Published: May 10, 2001 12:00 AM | 2 min read

AXN has adopted a new programming strategy built around five programme slots - series, movies, adventure & reality, lifestyle sports and animation. The channel also announced a slew of new programmes in the reality genre.

The month of May has been labeled as the “Extraordinary Month” and the programmes that will go on air are ‘Survivor’ series, ‘Survivor 2’: The Australian Outback, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Core Culture and Exploring the Unknown. Shantonu Aditya, senior VP franchise channels and distribution said, “AXN has always catered to the niche section of viewers interested in a thrill a minute programme that could give them the satisfaction commonly expected from an action flick or serial.” With its new programming strategy the channel has taken care to ensure that the programs would retain the niche value while appealing to a whole new section of thrill seekers.

AXN has already broken grounds with reality programming in South-Asia with programs like Survivor and Eco Challenge. This new strategy would surely dispel doubts on the feasibility of the reality genre in India and thus is poised to set a trend in the combative television industry.

AXN, which essentially targets 18 to 34-year-olds, currently reaches 18 million households in India, Aditya said, quoting AC Nielsen TAM data, an over 80 per cent growth from the 10 million penetration recorded in April last year.

Interestingly contrary to the general feeling that the channel had a largely young male viewership, 41 per cent of AXN's audience was female. This figured favourably with the norm in the west, which had a 46:54 female to male ratio.