MUMBAI: For English movie channels, the 11 pm slot has grown as large as the 9 pm slot in terms of viewership. Another trend emerging is late night viewing with also the 1 am?3 am slot showing positive viewership growth in the 15-34 upper social strata group.

The genre has started generating over 74 GRPs on a weekly basis since 2011, up from 50 GRPs a year ago. "Our launch has largely helped the English movie channel space to expand," says Times Television Network CEO for English entertainment channels Ajay Trigunayat, while providing these viewership numbers.

Library content is growing in importance for the genre. "Movies Now launched with a key consumer insight that 89 per cent of viewership is library led. The figure has now gone up to nearly 95 per cent this year. We feel that there is an opportunity to add more viewers to this fold," says Trigunayat.

Movies Now has followed the concept of creating month-long tent-pole properties since February. Says Trigunayat, " February: Final Stand, for instance, was a movie festival that celebrated victory against all odds like sharks?, natural disasters and aliens. In June, we did an ?Amazing 30? initiative where 30 must-watch blockbusters was shown. This strategy has worked for us."

Another strategy is consolidating viewership by building key slots such as Moviethon on Sundays that telecasts back to back blockbuster titles from 9 am to 9 pm. "We have always concentrated on creating properties with viewer connect," avers Trigunayat.

Like its other peer channels, Movies Now has also used social media heavily. "With 1.6 million FaceBook fans, we are the 10th largest brand page in the TV category. We have over 13000 followers on Twitter while competition is still catching up. We are also the most searched English movie channel on Google," he claims.

Movie acquisition cost, though, remains unreasonable. "There is an economic slowdown. So we are expecting correction in acquisition prices soon," avers Trigunayat.