TV production to take big chunk of Grammy investment
GMM GRAMMY is splurging over Bt3 billion mainly on TV production for next year's line-up on One HD, its flagship terrestrial-based digital channel.
“Our key strategy for next year is cr?me-de-la-cr?me contents, particularly soap operas for the prime-time slot from 8-9pm,” Thakonkiat Veerawan, chief executive officer of GMM HD Digital TV Trading, the operator of One HD, said yesterday.
About Bt2.5 billion will be used to make soap operas, sitcoms, variety shows and news shows. The rest will be for licencing and administration.
For the whole year, the company has to prepare at least 10 quality soap operas. The cost per episode should be on par with the minimum production cost for the analog TV channel, or Bt1 million.
More importantly, the station had key strategic partners like Surang Prempree, or “Big Sister Daeng”, who was once known as the queen of soap operas.
Surang was a former executive of Bangkok Broadcasting and Television, the operator of the most popular channel, TV 7.
One HD has produced two soap operas with Surang and hired studios and production facilities at her Chan 25 complex.
For One HD’s prime time slots, advertisers will be charged about Bt100,000 per minute. Urban women are the key target audience.
Women living in the city can be influencers for other groups ranging from young teenagers to adults living in the provinces or even men.
Thakonkiat wants to put all of his effort into making One HD a success, so he decided to stop producing some TV programmes for the Army’s TV5 and MCOT’s Modernine TV, starting next year.
