Kairali TV is popular amongIndian expatriates in the Gulf. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Bloomberg News
Kairali TV is popular amongIndian expatriates in the Gulf. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Bloomberg News

Kairali TV to build on hit show with Gulf channel



Nafisa sobs quietly on screen. "Please help me to find my husband; he is somewhere in Kuwait," she tells the camera.

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She says she has not heard from him for several years after he moved to Kuwait to work. She fears he might be dead but is unable to travel abroad to look for him.

Nafisa is appearing on a programme called Pravasalokam, or "World of Expatriates", on Kairali TV, one of the most popular television stations in Kerala.

After 10 minutes on Nafisa's pleading, the camera turns to the anchor of the programme, Kunhi Mohammed, who makes a direct plea to viewers to help in tracing the missing man. The screen shows telephone numbers for viewers to call with information about Nafisa's husband.

Pravasalokam is huge in the Malayalam-speaking community. Now Kairali TV is planning to cash in on its popularity amongIndian expatriates in the Gulf by launching Kairali Arabia in the Middle East in a few months.

It already has an office and is developing programme-making facilities in Dubai.

"The time is right to launch the channel," says the head of Kairali TV's Middle Eastern operations, who asked to be named only as Shabeer.

"There is potentially a huge audience for [the] Malayalam-speaking community out in the Gulf, and by establishing a presence in the Gulf, we can be closer to our audience and make programmes … [that are] interesting to them."

Kairali Arabia is the fourth channel from Malayalam Communications, which listed Kairali TV on the stock market in 2001. Kairali Arabia will be the second Malayalam-language channel, after Asianet Middle East, launched in 2003, to cater exclusively to viewers in the Gulf.

Kairali TV is hoping to boost its profit - which last year stood at 146 million rupees (Dh10.8m) - by entering into further advertising deals once it starts its operations in the Middle East.

But the channel arrives in the region when TV stations face an increasingly tough battle for advertising revenue. More than 500 free-to-air TV stations are operating in the Arab world, competing for revenue in a market with one of the world's lowest per-capita rates of advertising spending.

Kairali TV is not alone in venturing from India into the Gulf, as the country's media companies are increasingly targeting the 7.5 million strong Indian population in the Gulf. An estimated 2.5 million of those are from Kerala.

A magazine called Facebook Family was also launched in Dubai recently with a focus on the Malayalam-speaking community. Pravasalokam started as a phone-in programme over a decade ago but has evolved into an hour-long reality-style show with relatives making direct pleas about their missing loved ones. The company says it has helped to trace hundreds of people whose families had lost track of them.

Pravasalokam is shown at 11pm every Thursday, ahead of the Middle Eastern weekend.

"The Middle Eastern base will ensure we have even a wider audience for the show and can make use of production facilities there," Mr Shabeer says.

Viewers in the UAE will receive the new channel through e-Vision and Pehla services that now carry Kairali TV. However, Kairali Arabia will replace Kairali TV.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
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