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by ArabianBusiness.com staff writer on Thursday, 01 February 2007
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After making a name for itself with the production of the first series of Arabia's Cycle of Life, a natural history series on Arabia's natural world, which is currently being broadcast on Animal Planet, Dubai-based production house, Ocean World Productions has now been awarded a contract by a Kuwaiti channel called Bahry TV.
Ocean World will produce a quota of 100 hours of programming for the new, totally marine-focused channel. "Bahry TV will be the region's first channel totally dedicated to all things marine - from nature documentaries to travel shows, sports fishing, sailing, boating, maritime culture, heritage, even culinary seafood shows and reality style series, etc," says Jonathan Ali Khan, owner and director of Ocean World. "Most of the content initially is internationally sourced and the standard of programming is very high. We are responsible for the full conceptual development, production and sponsorship of our100 hour quota of regional documentaries, TV magazine format series and short fillers," he adds.
The channel will also give Ocean World a home for some of its flagship projects such as the first and the second series of Arabia's Cycle of Life, its own equivalent of Blue Planet called ‘Arabia's Underwater World' and a 36-episode eco-dive guide series called the ‘The Big Dive'.
"As such, we can create exciting branding opportunities and special promotions for sponsors interested in marine environmental awareness and CSR, marine and leisure products, projects, activities, events - and even coastal real estate and hotel properties. We can even take that content and evolve it beyond the channel into an educational tool as a DVD based programme giving longevity to the bond between programme and sponsor," explains Khan, who has seen many local broadcasters shut their doors to the idea of offering airtime for locally-produced programmes, especially those that focus on the Arab world's natural history.
Khan, therefore, seems keen to emphasise the business arrangement. "As a business model, we have agreed that all flagship projects will then be sold on to other world markets through a network of agents and brokers to channels such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and National Geographic Television. This gives Bahry TV a target for standards and an assurance of quality, the sponsors a chance to align themselves with a premium product and us the satisfaction of giving it all we have got. Everyone wins in the end, especially the viewers - and they will determine ultimately whether we are on the right track or not. What makes Bahry TV special in my mind, is their love and appreciation for fine content. Perhaps, the real deal clincher was that we will never see an SMS text message on this channel!"
Khan can't say the same for other broadcasters in the Middle East, despite his Arabia's Cycle of Life being picked up by Animal Planet and there also being speculation from National Geographic for the second series that is currently being filmed in high definition. "Arabia's Cycle of Life was a valuable experience for me as it taught me how to persevere against all odds," says Khan. "Working with small budgets pushes other motivating factors into the forefront and in my case, it was largely a desire to show international broadcasters that a certain standard and quality of content production could come from within this region. When you love a project so much, money is no object and certainly no restriction on what you are going to achieve.
‘I remember watching the multi-million pound Blue Planet series and then deciding to give up and open a restaurant. Just the three-minute sequence of the Marlin underwater sequence alone cost what my entire series budget was. It's hard to stay motivated when you know that people will watch Blue Planet and then judge everything they see after that by its standards. But there was an ironic pleasure trying to make something big out of a small budget, a challenge that sucks you in and you just do the best you can," adds Khan.
The first series was successful in that it showed the region and subsequently international TV markets that this region has talent and good content ideas. Now, Jonathan is filming for the second series. "The second series will endeavour to highlight some of Arabia's more unusual natural characteristics," says khan. "With the involvement of Yemen, Oman and the island of Socotra, we are going for endemics and will shape the series with a more discovery sense of exploration and research. I fully believe that our films are helping people to learn something about this region that they didn't know, and that is behind everything that I want to do."
One example of this is working with the WWF on their coral reef monitoring project between Qatar and UAE. "This gives us a chance to see first hand through the eyes of the latest coral studies as to what is happening to our reefs in the face of huge development projects and natural pressures. Something we are all asking about. Tackling questions about our environment and other such conservation issues is my main personal motivation. But I have been trying to turn that into a commercial viability rather than a liability," he adds.
Khan's reasons for this are strong. "In TV production, our primary focus is to develop television content with socially responsible and strong educational values, maintaining high standards of entertainment. At the same time, we need to ensure that it creates exposure opportunities for commercial sponsors and equity holders. This principle applies to many subjects and although Ocean World Productions is predominantly a natural history production company, we also develop heritage, cultural and anthropological concepts in line with TV channel interests. Our aim is to focus on regional Arab stories for international and regional TV markets, to be followed by synergistic educational campaigns using the TV films for DVD distribution to schools and educational authorities."
The production house recently teamed up with Dubai-based NGO, Emirates Marine Environment Group to use the DVDs for school presentations and summer camps. Ocean World has done something similar in Jordan with the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature.
The first series is now on general release on DVD, and available at Virgin Megastore, and other main outlets in Dubai. Khan, however, is less enthusiastic about the response from regional TV channels. "I am still disappointed in regional TV as a whole. There is still really very little scope for independent producers to make decent programming. Channels won't pay for the kind of logistics and production values that go into making a series of this kind - based on this kind of subject. If the programme doesn't lend itself to SMS on-air-messaging and other money spinning gimmicks, it just doesn't get a look in. I blame the media sales companies more than anyone, as the TV channels are allowing themselves to play into the hands of media sales," he says.
"There are channels that are virtually hostage to the media sales companies that service them and one could argue that it's no longer the Director of Programming or the channel itself that decides what gets on air. Priority is given to what can be sponsored easily. As a result, a channel can easily lose direction. I was actually told that a series on Arabia's natural world had no place on air on Arab channels and the only way to get it on air was to get the sponsor to pay for the airtime. I find that a really sad state of regional TV reality. I know airtime is valuable and expensive to cover for a channel, but most channels seem to think that making TV is just about making money," he adds, with a bit of bitterness.
Khan believes that Middle East broadcasters still have an immature view of content. "People want to see good wholesome content. In the UK alone, millions of people rushed home faithfully and excitedly to watch Blue Planet. Who would have thought that a series about fish and all things marine would have fostered such a huge mass public response. But it just goes to show that if you make that content really good, then you will get the public following, the sponsors and you will also sell the TVC spots. Good content can make money too, eventually," he says. However, Khan feels that there is still a lot of work to be done before this region generates the kinds of production budgets that the likes of BBC and Discovery have at their disposal. However, things are slowly changing and people are asking for better content. "Programming is the heart of television. In my view, people watch programmes, not channels. As more and more niche channels start up, we begin to see specialisation. In my view, specialisation allows for better focus and it will give independent production companies a chance to play a greater role in meeting the demand for all these channels. It also gives a greater scope for sponsors to own a chunk of airtime and that is where we need to focus our efforts - to put sponsorship at the production end of the equation too.
"In our view, sponsored television programming is now the ultimate in brand building and reinforcement mediums. With our concept of sponsored programming, dynamic marketing will bring viewers to the channel to watch fully branded programmes. Sponsors can also do more to help shape the content by establishing relevant links to the storyline, inserting product placement and generating sizeable exposure values through branding and TVC spots," he continues.
"The important thing is to achieve a careful balance and not get the sponsor in the way of the content. However, airtime exposure generates substantial penetration especially when linked to specific long running TV series - as well as benefiting from multiple repeat values over the period of transmission."
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