Business Plus

2004 was the year when Pakistani Media had its first whole sole business channel “SunBiz” followed by two other business channels i.e “Business Plus” & “CNBC Pakistan”.

Talking about “Business Plus”, which was the first satellite based business channel in Pakistan, was launched in late 2004. It started off with a little technical setup which kept on growing year by year. The channel tried to gave a whole new dimension to the Pakistani viewers but failed to capture a big market share because its target audience was very niche.

The channel gives an in depth analysis of the financial markets of Pakistan and also covers global equity markets. It has a variety of analyst that share their professional views and expert advice for the investors for both stocks and commodity markets.

Programs like “Hotline KSE” were launched by me in April 2005. I was the Producer and the Anchor of the show and it has been on air for nearly 5 years. The program focuses on the views of the small investors which had major contribution in market capitalization but were badly ignored by any other channel.
“Live Wire” is still the longest LIVE show of business plus that runs throughout the day during the stock market hours and covers all the important news regarding the stock market, economy and listed companies.

As far as the anchors of business plus are concerned, it is really important to understand that for every channel / program, the anchors play a very vital role in either making or breaking of the viewership of the channel / program. That has been always the weakness of Business Plus that they mostly invest in fresh blood hence risking their credibility who leave the channel after getting adequate training and recognition among the viewers.

Important steps that need to be taken by Business Plus to improve the rating and credibility in the target market are improving their PD by bringing in fresh and unique ideas, taking on board experienced and qualified anchors, investing more on technical aspects especially screen uplifting and more focus on business programs rather than current affairs.

By Syed Muhammad Danish.