Executive Dossier
‘We are now the number four C&S entertainment channel’ : Markand Adhikari – vice-chairman & managing director SAB TV
It was in 1985 that two Gujarati brothers set up Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd (SABTNL), making low budget serials for National broadcaster Doordarshan.
Twenty-one years on, they are counted among the most successful serial makers of India and have their own channel to boot.
The brothers, Markand and Gautam, launched their 24-hour Hindi entertainment channel, Sabe (Sri Adhikari Brothers Entertainment) TV, on April 23 2000 beaming digitally as a free-to-air channel on Asiasat 3 and immediately made a mark with melodramas like “Pratishodh” and “Lekin”, comedies like “Yes Boss” and “Abhi To Mai Jawan Hoon” plus thrillers, horror shows and a special kids band.
On 1 November 2000 Sabe TV hopped onto the gameshow bandwagon following in the wake of the popularity of Star India‘s “Kaun Banega Crorepati” hosted by filmstar Amitabh Bachchan. Roping in India‘s king of the stand-up routine Shekhar Suman as its anchor, an estimated RS 80 million was sunk into “Jab Khelo Sab Khelo” (JKSK). The show didn‘t exactly set the air waves on fire but it did help build the channel‘s recognition levels. JKSK will go off air by month-end after Suman‘s decision not to renew his contract, but the show has served its purpose says Markand Adhikari, the company‘s vice-chairman and managing director.
SABTNL continues to produce content for national broadcaster Doordarshan and markets airtime for these related programmes. Currently, it provides about 10 hours of programming per week for Doordarshan‘s Hindi and Marathi language channels.
![]() |
Sabe TV claims it now reaches over 15 million homes across India.
What is not so well known is that SABTNL has joint ventures in Sri Lanka and Indonesia for programming. Its Sri Lankan programmes are rated amongst the top five on the island, going by company assessments.
Sabe TV is a month shy of completing a year on air and indiantelevision.com caught up with Markand Adhikari for a lowdown on where the channel was headed.
Excerpts:
How is Sabe TV doing in terms of audience shares among C&S households?
We are now the number four channel in C&S homes with an 8.9 audience share, which is great going if you consider that we are less than a year old.
[TAM data covering 14 cities excluding the South for the prime time band 7:00 pm to 9:00 PM According to the figures provided, Star Plus leads with 28.4 followed by Zee (26.1), Sony (21.8) and Sabe TV (8.9). Then comes DD1 (7.7), DD2 (5.9) B4U Entertainment (0.9) and Sahara (0.4)]
The figures are rather confusing. Isn‘t Sony the number two channel?
Actually Zee is doing quite well now in the prime time slot. Its numbers have really picked up with some good shows on air.
Where have you reached in terms of advertising?
We have 25 companies advertising with us at this point. Our growth has been a steady one.
In which geographical markets has Sabe TV been successful?
We have been doing well in the Hindi belt in general but Uttar Pradesh in particular. Kanpur and Ludhiana to mention two cities where we are particularly strong. In the western region, in Gujarat and Maharashtra too, our growth has been satisfactory.
What time slots have notched up success for you?
As I mentioned earlier, our growth has been steady in the prime time band and we want to consolidate on that. The prime time afternoon band, 2 PM to 4 PM, is another area where we are doing well.
What of your gameshow “Jab Khelo Sab Khelo”? It is being wound up now with anchor Shekhar Suman leaving and all? Did it meet your objectives?
It certainly was successful in that it increased our visibility tremendously so it achieved its purpose. While the show ran we received a total of 12.5 million hits on phone and through the net. When the show started we had installed about 1,500 decoders across the country. We now have 3,000 installed. So we have certainly been successful with the show. And we have not lost that momentum either. Come April, we will be installing 500 more.
Did the show break even or was it a loss maker for you?
It was no loss for us because it increased our visibility as a channel. And at the stage where we are now that was required. We have not really looked at it in terms of how much money we sunk in and how much financial returns we got.
(Though Adhikari didn‘t provide any figures it is said that over RS 80 million was spent on the show)
Have you any other high profile show lined up to follow on what Jab Khelo Sab Khelo achieved?
We are working with film star Karishma Kapoor on a project which will kick off next month. We are planning road shows which will have high public interactivity. Again as a means to highlight our presence.
Have you anything bigger lined up with her. Like her on show for instance?
At this stage no. We‘ll have to see how this works out first and we‘ll take it from there.
What of new programming? Sony‘s next big thing which it hopes will rival Star‘s hit “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” is set for launch soon. They have lined up “Kusum” from the Balaji stable. (Balaji Productions has overtaken SABTNL as the top production house in the country). Do you have any such in the pipeline?
What we are showing on our 7 to 9 prime time band is all fresh programming. And even with a show like Alif Laila which has already had its run on Doordarshan we are commissioning 500 brand new episodes. Balaji is also doing programming for us.
Speaking of Balaji, isn‘t it a bit strange that you are outsourcing programming from your principal rival in the production business?
We don‘t look at it like that? We are quite clear that our channel should have good programming and we are ready to approach whoever will provide that?
Talking of Balaji, its CEO Sanjay Dosi was quite emphatic that Balaji wouldn‘t start a new channel because there might some conflict of interest. A perception that Balaji would devote their best creative efforts for their own channel. What is your opinion on this?
The very fact that we are taking programming from Balaji shows that we have separated Sabe TV and SABTNL as far as functioning goes. They are different entities with different requirements.
And as far as starting a new channel goes we went in for it because we wanted to grow beyond being just a production house. In this business you grow or you‘re dead.
How long do you think it will take for you to reach break-even point?
We are aiming for a three year break-even. That is mid 2003.
How much have you invested in Sabe TV?
We have factored Rs 125 crores (RS 1.25 billion) for this three year period.
You say that you are number four at present. Is that really enough if you consider all the channels that have cropped up? Except for the Big Three all the other channels appear to be scrapping for the crumbs. In this scenario how confident are you that Sabe TV will be able to create an identity of its own? Firstly keep in mind that we are less than a year old. And our strength which is programming is being reflected in the kind of shows on Sabe TV. We have a clear identity which is slowly coming through to the viewers. Anyone who comes to Sabe TV will see a clear trend in the way we organise our programming because we believe that the viewer should know what he can get from our channel. That is one reason we never went in for screening movies like the other channels have done. We are an entertainment channel and we are very clear on that.
But aren‘t the highest TRPs usually for blockbuster movies?
If people want to watch movies they are movie channels for that. As I said we are an entertainment channel and movies are not part of our script. People want something different and fresh and that will be our effort. To provide them that.
How is the distribution deal with Turner working out? Have the arrangements evolved to another level? There are some strong rumours that Turner is considering taking a stake in Sabe TV. Any comments?
The distribution deal is in place and we share a good relationship which is bound to grow. That is all I can say at this point. (Adhikari has been quoted as saying that the channel was open to “an alliance” involving the placement of 30 per cent stake with a strategic partner)
Executive Dossier
Game on, fame on as Good Game hunts India’s first global gaming star
New reality show puts Rs 1 crore prize and global spotlight on India’s gaming talent.
MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.
Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.
Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.
Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.
Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.
With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.
Digital
SpotDraft hires new CMO and CFO to fuel global push for its AI contract platform
Alon Waks and Amit Sharma join as SpotDraft accelerates growth across key markets
INDIA: SpotDraft has strengthened its senior ranks as it gears up for faster global expansion, naming Alon Waks as chief marketing officer and Amit Sharma as chief financial officer. The appointments follow the firm’s $54 million Series B round earlier this year and mark a push to scale across the Americas, EMEA and India.
The AI-powered contract-lifecycle-management platform has posted 100 per cent year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, counting Apollo.io, IPSY, Mixpanel, Oyster and Panasonic among its global clients. The firm processes more than one million contracts annually, with volumes up 173 per cent and nearly 50,000 monthly active users.
Waks, a veteran of Kustomer, Bizzabo, CreatorIQ, LivePerson and ZoomInfo, will steer global marketing and category positioning as legal teams adopt AI-driven tools. Sharma, who has led finance across scaling tech firms since 2016, will guide financial strategy, investor relations and market expansion.
Both hires aim to sharpen SpotDraft’s bid for a larger slice of the fast-growing legal-tech market, expected to exceed $63 billion by 2032. Co-founder and chief executive Shashank Bijapur said the company is focused on scaling go-to-market operations in the Americas, deepening leadership in EMEA, and accelerating AI capabilities for general counsels and legal-operations leaders.
Clients report shorter deal cycles and better alignment between legal and business teams. “What used to take weeks now happens in days,” said Abnormal Security senior legal operations manager Susan Koenig. DeepL head of legal operations André Barrow, said SpotDraft has helped reframe legal “from a cost centre to a generator of revenue”.
Executive Dossier
Outdoor Ads Get Smarter as LOC8 Shifts OOH from Visibility to Attention
AI, dwell time and real-world vision are rewriting the rules of what outdoor ads can do.
MUMBAI: Out-of-home ads were once the wallflowers of marketing seen by everyone, noticed by few. But in an age where attention has become the world’s most fought-over currency, even billboards are getting a brain upgrade. Enter LOC8, OSMO’s AI-powered attention engine, quietly reshaping the old OOH playbook by measuring not just who could have looked at an ad, but who actually did. The shift is subtle but seismic: impressions are out, impact is in and data, not gut instinct, is calling the shots.
In a landscape where marketers question every rupee spent outdoors, LOC8 is turning lampposts, flyovers and traffic islands into precision-mapped attention laboratories. By crunching dwell time, visibility zones, perceptual size and real-world obstructions, the platform is dragging OOH into a future where creativity meets computer vision and where the best ideas aren’t just eye-catching, but eye-measured. From automotive facelifts to FMCG novelty and real estate trust-building, the message is clear, outdoor has stopped shouting and started listening. Indian Television Dot Com explores more about it in an Interview interview with OSMO co-founder Nipun Arora.
On how OSMO is shifting outdoor advertising from a visibility-led medium to an attention-led one through LOC8.
Traditional OOH has long been measured by visibility and impressions i.e how many people could see an ad. OSMO, through its proprietary AI platform LOC8, is shifting that narrative more towards likelihood of being noticed. Using computer vision and machine learning, LOC8 analyzes real-world video data to measure visibility zones, obstructions, dwell time and perceptual size; bringing precision to how attention is quantified outdoors. It moves the focus from mere impressions to quality of impressions, making OOH a data-verified, attention-led medium comparable to digital in accountability.
On how marketers can use LOC8’s dwell-time, visibility and perception insights to craft more effective, emotionally resonant OOH campaigns.
LOC8 helps brands understand how people truly experience outdoor media how long they look, from what distance, and under what conditions. By quantifying dwell time, visibility duration, and perceptual size; marketers can plan campaigns that align with real human viewing behavior. This empowers creative and strategy teams to design emotionally resonant storytelling where messaging, visual hierarchy and placement are optimized for how people actually notice and process OOH creatives.
About what LOC8 has revealed through campaigns like Renault Triber and Namaste India on how categories such as auto, FMCG and real estate use attention metrics to drive outcomes.
Each category uses attention data differently but all share one common goal: to convert outdoor visibility into measurable engagement.
• Automotive | Renault Triber
For the new Renault Triber facelift, bold creative met data-led planning through LOC8. By analyzing on-ground video data, LOC8 measured real audience attention across placements factoring in visibility zones, obstructions, traffic speed and perceptual size. This enabled Renault to identify corridors that delivered maximum reach, saliency and engagement, optimizing media efficiency and ROI.
• FMCG | Namaste India
In OOH, innovation is the hook and assets are the bait. But bait often hides the hook. With Loc8’s attention metrics, we ensured the bait wasn’t a hurdle, rather it became the perfect stage for innovation to deliver its full impact! The insight proved that creative novelty, when validated by attention data, drives deeper engagement and measurable brand lift.
• Real Estate
For luxury and real estate campaigns targeting HNI/UHNI audiences, attention patterns differ especially between front and rear passengers, who are often the core audience segment for premium sites. LOC8’s ability to distinguish rear vs. front visibility plays a critical role here. It helps identify sites that offer longer viewing windows and stronger perceptual dominance from the rear seat where decision-makers are most likely seated making it a key differentiator for premium and trust-led categories. Together, these insights prove that auto optimizes for impact, FMCG for recall, and real estate for trust visibility showing how attention metrics adapt to category goals while ensuring measurable outcomes.
On how attention analytics will shape the future of brand storytelling and media planning as OOH becomes more digitised and data-driven.
As outdoor digitizes, attention analytics will inform not just where to advertise but how stories are told in public spaces. This evolution transforms OOH from a static broadcast channel into a dynamic attention ecosystem, where creativity is optimized through evidence-based insight.
On how LOC8’s data-led framework helps marketers quantify OOH impact and make outdoor a more accountable, ROI-driven medium.
LOC8 bridges the gap between intuition and evidence. By quantifying metrics like visibility duration, attention opportunity index, and visual saliency rank, it allows brands to benchmark site performance and justify investment. This data-led approach brings transparency, comparability and ROI measurement to a medium historically driven by perception.
On how OSMO ensures AI and computer vision enhance creativity rather than reduce it to numbers.
OSMO believes that technology should enhance creativity, not overshadow it. LOC8’s attention models reveal what naturally draws the human eye helping creative teams refine design cues, contrast, and visual hierarchy for greater impact. By merging art and science, LOC8 empowers creativity with intelligence.
About the creative best practices and design cues LOC8 has uncovered regarding what truly captures consumer attention outdoors.
LOC8’s visual cognition analysis has surfaced clear patterns across campaigns:
• High contrast and minimal messaging outperform cluttered designs.
• Motion cues draw significantly longer dwell times.
• The first two seconds are critical, creatives must establish focus instantly.
• Contextual alignment between the creative and its environment increases attention by over 30%.
These learnings offer a scientific foundation for creative effectiveness helping brands design OOH that’s visually magnetic and emotionally memorable.
On how attention metrics will integrate into omnichannel planning where OOH, digital and social work together for unified brand impact.
Attention can become the unifying KPI across OOH, digital and social to creates seamless storytelling continuity, where outdoor triggers digital engagement. The future of omnichannel planning lies in attention-led integration ensuring that campaigns don’t just reach audiences everywhere but truly capture and hold their focus.
-
I&B Ministry4 months agoMIB sets OTT accessibility rules, mandates captions and audio description
-
News Headline5 months agoFrom selfies to big bucks, India’s influencer economy explodes in 2025
-
e-commerce5 months agoSwiggy Instamart’s GOV surges 103 per cent year on year to Rs 7,938 crore
-
MAM2 years agoOpenAI joins C2PA steering committee
-
Digital10 months agoSquadstack AI helps Stage cut calls by 55 per cent and costs by 70 per cent
-
News Headline1 year agoTRAI puts a ‘stop’ to unsolicited calls and messages
-
iWorld1 year agoKuku TV transforms India’s OTT space with vertical microdrama boom
-
Brands4 months agoPage Industries posts steady Q3 growth, declares Rs 125 interim dividend

