ITV

Category: Comment

  • MIPCOM 2017 – Content Really is King!

    MIPCOM 2017 – Content Really is King!

    Eye-opening, international, new content for multi-platform that fully embraced digital and VR were my key takeaways from MIPCOM 2017. The world may be going digital but content will always be king!

    MIPCOM is an education and has the power to reinforce your own strategies as a business as well as support and network you to grow the future. As an individual, I was pleased to see how broadcasters and the industry are defining 360 degrees digital strategies as well as traditional TV protocol. With keynotes and sessions on how to stand out in the over the top (OTT) and mobile space as well as defining strategies for new digital commissions e.g., ViaPlay (Nordics), Vivendi’s STUDIO+ (France) and others, it was great to see how they are attracting new audiences.

    New partnerships are flourishing too as Sky Original programming and Amazon launched their co-production of Britannia, a TV series to rival Game of Thrones. Even Sean Mills, senior director of content programming, Snap INC and NBC Universal announced their JV to produce content for a digital audience. Facebook head of global creative strategy Ricky Van Veen director of video product Daniel Danker announced the launch of their video product, Facebook Watch as well as the launch and remake of a Norwegian teen video drama SKAM.

    The Palais, La Croissette and Riveria were basking in the sun as meetings, conversations and networking were taking place over lunch, crepes, bagettes, champagne and canopes. It was mind blowing to see the number of exhibitors and new content within the Palais from Zee Entertainment, BBC Worldwide, Discovery and new platforms and services like One Life Studios and Jukin Studios. I could be in a queue for lunch and meet Russian content distributors one minute and then sit outside in between sessions and openly chat with African distributors after which they invited us to parties on the Croisette. Every hour there, I gained a new learning or a new contact or a new view on the content marketplace.

    Spanish and Russian content were celebrated magnificently this year. TV Azteca CEO Benjamin Salinas Sada launched ‘Dopamine’ at the 25th anniversary celebrations and confirmed their international and new programming formats (https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2017101849301/mipcom-2017-grupo-salinas-aims-for-international-production.html#axzz4x5WNBzyd). In addition, there truly was a Russian content revolution where the spotlight was on the world premiere of Trotsky, an epic biopic of Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky, with his famously complicated romantic life featured as well as his political beliefs. NTV broadcasting and other Russian studios also showcased a wide array of high quality products. (http://pressroom.mipcom.com/press-release-en-2017/russian-content-revolution-set-to-shake-up-mipcom-2017-1004-5793).

    Diversity also was a huge theme this year. Sir Lenny Henry launched Diversify TV and the Diversify TV Excellence Awards evening celebrated those that had achieved brilliance in these groups (https://mipblog.com/2017/10/diversify-tv-excellence-awards-winners-mipcom-report/). The sponsors were A+E Networks, Viacom and Ebony TV and the evening paid tribute to international programming that provides a fair, accurate representation of ethnic groups, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) and disabled communities.

    In all of this, my own question as a British-born, international Indian was…where are you India? The traditional studios and broadcasters from Star India, Zee Entertainment, Eros and more were, of course, well represented and as humble as ever and welcomed meetings and future opportunities for content buyers and sellers. However, Baahubali, Dangal…the world was asking me where were you at MIPCOM! I know you very well and your content is beyond outstanding on many levels. I want to see more of the Indian industry there, coming to showcase, use and learn from MIPCOM and to then come back with more and more blockbusters. Although India has been the country of honour before at MIP, I look forward to hearing what you do next especially in the animation space (http://www.animationxpress.com/index.php/mipcom-2017/mipcom-2017-sees-signing-of-big-deals-in-india-and-asian-market) and I also look forward to producing the future with you (http://www.artsforindia.org/areas/cinema/)
    Baaaaaahhhuuuubbbhhhaaaaallllliiiii   !!!

    public://Sonal_Patel.jpgSonal Patel,  Digital Queen by Day; Charity Committee, Arts for India & Producing the Future.The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them. 

     

  • COMMENT: KNIVES, ARNAB, & THE OLD GUARD OF ENGLISH NEWS

    COMMENT: KNIVES, ARNAB, & THE OLD GUARD OF ENGLISH NEWS

    MUMBAI: The knives are out. The blades are being flashed around. And those involved in the street fight are drawing blood and bleeding as well. Only difference is that the street fighters are not the ruffian kind, rather they are gents who you watch on the TV screen or dressed up to the T in well pressed suits in boardrooms.

    What has got these reasonably well-behaved folks from the English news channel space all het up?

    Well, a possible shakeup in the pecking order courtesy a newcomer who likes a round – some say bouts – of fisticuffs – both on air and in the marketplace. Team Republic TV led by editor-owner Arnab Goswami is clear that it wants to own the English new genre – or create a new one combining both Hindi and English – by hook or by crook. After all, all’s fair in love and business isn’t it?

    So far he and his CEO Vikas Khanchandani have used tricks which older players have resorted to in the past – multiple LCN distribution on cable TV networks and allegedly pinching content which was recorded when he was in another channel’s employment.

    The courts will decide whether Arnab and team are thieves or not; we are not insinuating anything. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will clean up the multiple LCN mess by coming down hard on the errant distribution platform owners who have fallen prey to the smell of money – lots of it.

    But the affair Republic TV has thrown up a lot of deeper issues which could be thought about.

    When all members of a gymkhana or club have agreed upon a code of conduct, and a new entrant does not adhere to it, then should he not be told to fall in line when the infringement is brought to the establishment’s chairperson’s notice? Could the chairperson give the older members a patient hearing and heed what they have to say?

    Older players are an aggrieved lot. Yes, they admit that they have been bad boys in the past. But then they have mended their way, signed a truce and decided to follow the straight and narrow path. Should their old behavior be brought up to excuse that of the new entrant?

    And when they decide to protest by not coming to the club, should they be further threatened that they will be banned for longer if they do continue with their picketing?

    Of course the chairperson is BARC; the policeman/security is TRAI and the members are the NBA. No second guesses for who the new entrant is – Republic TV.

    Would BARC have responded the same way had it been the general entertainment channels which would have raised a hue and cry? Remember what happened to TAM!) After all the entertainment broadcasters contribute about four to five times more to BARC’s purse then do the news channels.

    Could broadcasting licence issuance by the ministry of information and broadcasting be linked to well-behaved and well-accepted distribution practices? If some one does not adhere to them, could the licence be suspended?

    Should news channels be measured alongside entertainment channels? This modus operandi has forced them to resort to entertainment or outshout-and-out-abuse-your-guest kind of programming (read entertainment again) which seems to appeal to TV soap viewers wanting to have big names of society and public life being squashed like flies on TV. Some have called this the dumbing down or bimbo-isation of news television.

    Is there a need for a new viewership currency or data points – which are more specific to the news genre – other than what BARC churns out? Could media agencies and brands resort to qualitative checks of content before signing cheques for ads on TV news channels? The most watched read/watched genre of content on the internet begins with a P. Do all major advertisers place their consumer messaging in that environment?

    Could distribution platforms have stricter penalties if they fall for green dollars, violating codes set up by regulators? The DTH guys would not dare to go for multiple LCN placement because what they do immediately comes to the public’s and regulator’s eyes – they are accountable for their quality of service. Fear of punishment can be a big deterrent.

    From an editorial perspective, questions are being asked as to how far will Arnab go? And then will the other channels show restraint or will they beat the same path? So far, it appears that some of them played follow-the- newcomer on the multiple LCN issue. Of course, they all did a volte face when the policeman/security guard waved around his night stick.

    Whatever be the case, it is quite sure that the NBA English news members will kiss and make up with BARC, the TRAI and each other. Sooner then later. (BARC and NBA are scheduled to meet today to pencil out points that will help them resolve the crisis.)

    Who knows Arnab may also find some sense in the NBA and its code of conduct and eat his own words and also house his channel under its protective roof? There was a time when another bespectacled news journalist was labelled the villain of TV news; today he is part of the establishment.

    After all, they all need each other. This is despite some media blogs and websites which have sketched the industry’s execs as shaking hands while holding a dagger behind each others’ backs.

    Industry old timers are betting that ratings released after week 22 will give a true reflection of what’s going on with English news TV viewership. The three to four weeks’ data prior to that is simply something to be kept aside as an aberration as it will continue to show Republic TV as the numero uno. After that it could well go into a free fall and the older players will continue with their leadership position, is their prediction.

    Republic TV executives are clucking that this is wishful thinking. Indian viewers have been waiting for the Arnab school of journalism like the Jews did for manna from heaven in the good old Bible, is what they have voiced. And that their channel will continue to top the charts for the foreseeable future.

    Only time will tell which prediction turns out be true.

    Until then, we will keep channel surfing with hope in our hearts that we will get to watch some real news.

  • Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Modern journalism began in the early 1600s, triggered, as any new vocation or market usually is, by technology, ie, the invention of the printing press. At first, a very crude community narrow-sheet was born, which was circulated to a few households in the vicinity. It took almost a hundred years of slow evolution for today’s broadsheet daily to acquire shape, with a large distribution footprint, photographs and advertising. It took another century for the next innovation in news journalism, the birth of radio broadcasting. But evolution was quicker after that, with television news appearing just a few decades after radio.

    Nearly 400 years later, around 1990, internet news disrupted the whole landscape. And that was a seminal turning point for mainstream journalism.

    Technology only changes the practices, never the principles of any established vocation – this was the irrefutable wisdom until the Internet turned a million axioms on their heads. Simply put, the principles of journalism – who, what, why, where, when, how, integrity of facts, stringent adherence to the truth, always giving the right of response to the accused/aggrieved – remained inviolable, even as the dissemination medium changed from ink on paper to sound on analogue waves to sound with moving pictures on electronic satellite signals. Technology could never change the principles, only the methods and practices, of telling a news story.

    But the Internet did the unthinkable, forcing mainstream journalism to modify its principles. I like to describe the pre-digital era of news as “the voice of God journalism” – the Gods, of course, were the all powerful editors. Since I won my editorial spurs in that bygone era, I too belong to that Tribe of Gods, where every morning, a bunch of stiff guys would troop into the conference room, with pencils and notepads, and decide the order of news stories for the day. It was such a unilateral exercise! “Let’s lead with Gandhi, then do that parliament debate … and just stuff a bit of sports and movies towards the end”. Done. The viewer was a complete “outsider”, her interests were peripheral, because “Gods” had the divine right to mandate the run order of news stories.    

    I grope for the correct adjective here. Archaic? Anathema? Anachronistic? Absurd? Perhaps all four of these, and a billion more, could be justifiably used if “the voice of God journalism” were to invade and dominate a digital newsroom today. Why? Because a digital newsroom is not a unilateral, linear, one way transmission of stories. In the nanosecond after you publish anything, readers and viewers pounce at it with their likes, hates, shares, comments, denials, corrections, updates, meme tweaks on WhatsApp, cartoon caricatures on Instagram, vociferous protests, loud applause etc etc etc … an intelligent or distasteful cacophony gets lit, and you have to respond to it, agree with it, deny it, debunk it, decorate it, ie do something, anything with it or to it, but you simply can’t ignore it. Because if you choose to be the unmoved, stoic, non-responsive “Godly” editor of the early 90s, you will be out of a job. Pronto.

    Let me illustrate with a simple choice that we had to make the other day. We were dealing with two big “demonetization stories” – one was a rather complex unraveling of the tax rules enshrined in the new Income Disclosure Scheme, wherein you would have to pay X% tax/penalty if illegal cash was deposited by Y date; and if you failed to do that, you would be liable for Z additional penalties. The other was a heart rending story of a 75-year old woman, the youngest sister of five brothers.

    For the last 50 years, she had kept 250 precious envelopes in her safe, containing cash given to her on bhai dooj. In her world view, that cash was a sacred gift from her brothers, not to be ever spent. Her heart was broken when her son forced her to open each envelope, take out nearly Rs 1.50 lac in notes of various denominations, and deposit them in banks. Her faith was rattled, shaken. What an astonishing human story, capturing the unusual pathos that demonetization has inflicted on ordinary people. In the unilateral, Godly days of yore, the tax rules would have played upfront, while the human interest story would be tucked towards the end, to be soon forgotten. But in today’s digital newsrooms, the story of this rudely disenfranchised 75-year-old woman would gain unrelenting velocity on social media, would whiz around cyber space, getting Facebooked, WhatsApped and Instagrammed, touching the hearts of a million people, instigating thousands of comments/shares/likes.

    No God could stem the viral force of this venerable lady’s touching story, which would simply obliterate the dry prose of tax rules, and reign supreme in the world of digital news.   

    public://unnamed_2.jpg The author is the co-founder and chairman of Quintillion Media, including BloombergQuint. He is the author of two books, viz ‘Superpower?: The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise’, and ‘Super Economies: America, India, China & The Future Of The World’. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them

     

  • Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Guest Column: The new gods of digital newsrooms

    Modern journalism began in the early 1600s, triggered, as any new vocation or market usually is, by technology, ie, the invention of the printing press. At first, a very crude community narrow-sheet was born, which was circulated to a few households in the vicinity. It took almost a hundred years of slow evolution for today’s broadsheet daily to acquire shape, with a large distribution footprint, photographs and advertising. It took another century for the next innovation in news journalism, the birth of radio broadcasting. But evolution was quicker after that, with television news appearing just a few decades after radio.

    Nearly 400 years later, around 1990, internet news disrupted the whole landscape. And that was a seminal turning point for mainstream journalism.

    Technology only changes the practices, never the principles of any established vocation – this was the irrefutable wisdom until the Internet turned a million axioms on their heads. Simply put, the principles of journalism – who, what, why, where, when, how, integrity of facts, stringent adherence to the truth, always giving the right of response to the accused/aggrieved – remained inviolable, even as the dissemination medium changed from ink on paper to sound on analogue waves to sound with moving pictures on electronic satellite signals. Technology could never change the principles, only the methods and practices, of telling a news story.

    But the Internet did the unthinkable, forcing mainstream journalism to modify its principles. I like to describe the pre-digital era of news as “the voice of God journalism” – the Gods, of course, were the all powerful editors. Since I won my editorial spurs in that bygone era, I too belong to that Tribe of Gods, where every morning, a bunch of stiff guys would troop into the conference room, with pencils and notepads, and decide the order of news stories for the day. It was such a unilateral exercise! “Let’s lead with Gandhi, then do that parliament debate … and just stuff a bit of sports and movies towards the end”. Done. The viewer was a complete “outsider”, her interests were peripheral, because “Gods” had the divine right to mandate the run order of news stories.    

    I grope for the correct adjective here. Archaic? Anathema? Anachronistic? Absurd? Perhaps all four of these, and a billion more, could be justifiably used if “the voice of God journalism” were to invade and dominate a digital newsroom today. Why? Because a digital newsroom is not a unilateral, linear, one way transmission of stories. In the nanosecond after you publish anything, readers and viewers pounce at it with their likes, hates, shares, comments, denials, corrections, updates, meme tweaks on WhatsApp, cartoon caricatures on Instagram, vociferous protests, loud applause etc etc etc … an intelligent or distasteful cacophony gets lit, and you have to respond to it, agree with it, deny it, debunk it, decorate it, ie do something, anything with it or to it, but you simply can’t ignore it. Because if you choose to be the unmoved, stoic, non-responsive “Godly” editor of the early 90s, you will be out of a job. Pronto.

    Let me illustrate with a simple choice that we had to make the other day. We were dealing with two big “demonetization stories” – one was a rather complex unraveling of the tax rules enshrined in the new Income Disclosure Scheme, wherein you would have to pay X% tax/penalty if illegal cash was deposited by Y date; and if you failed to do that, you would be liable for Z additional penalties. The other was a heart rending story of a 75-year old woman, the youngest sister of five brothers.

    For the last 50 years, she had kept 250 precious envelopes in her safe, containing cash given to her on bhai dooj. In her world view, that cash was a sacred gift from her brothers, not to be ever spent. Her heart was broken when her son forced her to open each envelope, take out nearly Rs 1.50 lac in notes of various denominations, and deposit them in banks. Her faith was rattled, shaken. What an astonishing human story, capturing the unusual pathos that demonetization has inflicted on ordinary people. In the unilateral, Godly days of yore, the tax rules would have played upfront, while the human interest story would be tucked towards the end, to be soon forgotten. But in today’s digital newsrooms, the story of this rudely disenfranchised 75-year-old woman would gain unrelenting velocity on social media, would whiz around cyber space, getting Facebooked, WhatsApped and Instagrammed, touching the hearts of a million people, instigating thousands of comments/shares/likes.

    No God could stem the viral force of this venerable lady’s touching story, which would simply obliterate the dry prose of tax rules, and reign supreme in the world of digital news.   

    public://unnamed_2.jpg The author is the co-founder and chairman of Quintillion Media, including BloombergQuint. He is the author of two books, viz ‘Superpower?: The Amazing Race Between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise’, and ‘Super Economies: America, India, China & The Future Of The World’. The views expressed are personal and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them

     

  • From reporting news to becoming news

    From reporting news to becoming news

    The journey from reporting news (as an anchor) to becoming news (if Twitter India trends are to be believed) could be many a journalist’s dream. But Arnab Goswami has traversed the path and reached that point in a short period of time. A decade to be precise. And, it’s certainly an achievement for which Arnab definitely needs a pat on the back — if not for anything else, though that list too is long.

    The very fact his resignation — announced by him on Tuesday at an editorial meeting, but the act was actually done over a week back — whipped up media frenzy with social media going on the boil is an indicator that Arnab is a true student of the Steve Jobs school of thinking: damn the status quo. In other words be a disruptor.

    If people say that Arnab changed the rules of the news game in India by resorting to in-your-face and being over the top (OTT), it won’t be wrong. If critics opine that he dumbed down viewers and made tabloid journalism mainstream, then they too won’t be off the mark. Simply because, he did both and in an unapologetic fashion. And, Times NOW and the owners of the news venture, who also control India’s biggest unlisted media company spanning print, radio, music and television, gained much in terms of eyeballs, if not revenue. But then how many electronic news ventures in India are profitable business entities?

    When people say Arnab and Times NOW changed colours to be popular after the present BJP-led government in New Delhi came to power in 2014, they are wrong. Arnab’s style, which began reflecting in how news was served up for viewers on Times NOW and later on ET NOW (he was made in-charge of both the news channels as President-News and Editor-in-Chief ), started gaining popularity much before the present government came to power.Simply because an increasing number of people wanted some spice. No wonder, Arnab declared with aplomb at a recent media conference in Delhi that the “era of polite (TV) anchors was over” and journalism of reporting news as it is without an opinion was “rubbish” as “facts are sacred but opinion is supreme.”

    The US experienced this news-views mish-mash when Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News decided to differentiate itself from legacies like CNN and BBC a few decades back and openly mixed news with views and opinion and even took political sides during elections. Arnab, however, says he’s on the side of the common man — if not on the side of a political thought or belief.

    If the likes of Prannoy Roys, Raghav Bahls, Vinod Duas and later the Rajdeep Sardesais, Vikram Chandras, Zaka Jacobs, Barkha Dutts, Sonia Singhs, Ravishs, etc followed the old school of traditional journalism in India, for good or bad, Arnab realised quickly the new age viewer has little understanding of such traditions as they consume video on the go more often than not where attention time span is short. So, in a way, Arnab also quickly learnt that Fox-isation is the way forward to be heard and be popular. Again, to quote, the man himself, one has to shout to be heard in this country.

    So, the popular quiz show KBC’s jackpot-winning question today could be: What will be the new venture of Arnab Goswami, if the Jains, owners of Times of India group of which Times NOW is a part, let him go ultimately?If Arnab specialises in understanding the new age viewer-consumer and his style is foxy (the pun is intended), then that’s the type of a product he’d like to be associated with in an entrepreneurial avatar — a product that addresses the digital savvy consumer, is world class, slick and, of course, spicy, sensational and very unlike the legacies.

    There would be many funders who would be ready to bet on Arnab at present. And, why not? He’s not only the darling of the masses (at least the English speaking ones), but also the present government.

    So if media gossip says, a certain tech-savvy South Indian businessman-turned-Member of Parliament of the Indian Parliament’s Upper House is putting in money in a fresh news venture with Arnab, it’s worthwhileto lend an ear. If you mix Rupert Murdoch and another Delhi-based TV journalist-turned-entrepreneur, then you have a recipe for an exciting dish. Remember, the government liberalised foreign investment norms in TV news ventures and upped the level to 49 per cent from the earlier 26 per cent earlier this year.

    Whatever Arnab does in the coming days, the nation would want to know (including a rumoured meeting with a media czar-turned-politician) and therein lies his success formula; his on-screen patronising attitude, love for the two S (spice and sensation) and jingoism notwithstanding.

  • From reporting news to becoming news

    From reporting news to becoming news

    The journey from reporting news (as an anchor) to becoming news (if Twitter India trends are to be believed) could be many a journalist’s dream. But Arnab Goswami has traversed the path and reached that point in a short period of time. A decade to be precise. And, it’s certainly an achievement for which Arnab definitely needs a pat on the back — if not for anything else, though that list too is long.

    The very fact his resignation — announced by him on Tuesday at an editorial meeting, but the act was actually done over a week back — whipped up media frenzy with social media going on the boil is an indicator that Arnab is a true student of the Steve Jobs school of thinking: damn the status quo. In other words be a disruptor.

    If people say that Arnab changed the rules of the news game in India by resorting to in-your-face and being over the top (OTT), it won’t be wrong. If critics opine that he dumbed down viewers and made tabloid journalism mainstream, then they too won’t be off the mark. Simply because, he did both and in an unapologetic fashion. And, Times NOW and the owners of the news venture, who also control India’s biggest unlisted media company spanning print, radio, music and television, gained much in terms of eyeballs, if not revenue. But then how many electronic news ventures in India are profitable business entities?

    When people say Arnab and Times NOW changed colours to be popular after the present BJP-led government in New Delhi came to power in 2014, they are wrong. Arnab’s style, which began reflecting in how news was served up for viewers on Times NOW and later on ET NOW (he was made in-charge of both the news channels as President-News and Editor-in-Chief ), started gaining popularity much before the present government came to power.Simply because an increasing number of people wanted some spice. No wonder, Arnab declared with aplomb at a recent media conference in Delhi that the “era of polite (TV) anchors was over” and journalism of reporting news as it is without an opinion was “rubbish” as “facts are sacred but opinion is supreme.”

    The US experienced this news-views mish-mash when Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News decided to differentiate itself from legacies like CNN and BBC a few decades back and openly mixed news with views and opinion and even took political sides during elections. Arnab, however, says he’s on the side of the common man — if not on the side of a political thought or belief.

    If the likes of Prannoy Roys, Raghav Bahls, Vinod Duas and later the Rajdeep Sardesais, Vikram Chandras, Zaka Jacobs, Barkha Dutts, Sonia Singhs, Ravishs, etc followed the old school of traditional journalism in India, for good or bad, Arnab realised quickly the new age viewer has little understanding of such traditions as they consume video on the go more often than not where attention time span is short. So, in a way, Arnab also quickly learnt that Fox-isation is the way forward to be heard and be popular. Again, to quote, the man himself, one has to shout to be heard in this country.

    So, the popular quiz show KBC’s jackpot-winning question today could be: What will be the new venture of Arnab Goswami, if the Jains, owners of Times of India group of which Times NOW is a part, let him go ultimately?If Arnab specialises in understanding the new age viewer-consumer and his style is foxy (the pun is intended), then that’s the type of a product he’d like to be associated with in an entrepreneurial avatar — a product that addresses the digital savvy consumer, is world class, slick and, of course, spicy, sensational and very unlike the legacies.

    There would be many funders who would be ready to bet on Arnab at present. And, why not? He’s not only the darling of the masses (at least the English speaking ones), but also the present government.

    So if media gossip says, a certain tech-savvy South Indian businessman-turned-Member of Parliament of the Indian Parliament’s Upper House is putting in money in a fresh news venture with Arnab, it’s worthwhileto lend an ear. If you mix Rupert Murdoch and another Delhi-based TV journalist-turned-entrepreneur, then you have a recipe for an exciting dish. Remember, the government liberalised foreign investment norms in TV news ventures and upped the level to 49 per cent from the earlier 26 per cent earlier this year.

    Whatever Arnab does in the coming days, the nation would want to know (including a rumoured meeting with a media czar-turned-politician) and therein lies his success formula; his on-screen patronising attitude, love for the two S (spice and sensation) and jingoism notwithstanding.

  • Saying traditional TV is dying in India is premature

    Saying traditional TV is dying in India is premature

    On a recent road trip to Ladakh with friends we stopped at a nondescript roadside ‘dhaba’ (makeshift eatery) near the Himachal Pradesh and J&K border for tea and to stretch sore limbs. As tea was being boiled, stifled giggling from inside the hutment attracted me. While trying to see if my smart-phone was working so I could check-in on FB, I peeped inside. A group of local kids were enjoying a soap opera on television; courtesy DD FreeDish, a free-to-air DTH platform. My mobile phone, in the meanwhile, showed no signs of life with a No-Network message flashing.

    This, and many other such examples in India’s hinterland, highlight a fact loud and clear: India may be going digital, but Bharat (as non-urban hinterlands of India is referred to by some sociologists and marketers) still roots for the traditional. Such instances also tell us that in a country as diversified, complex and challenging as India, traditional habits, like TV watching, are there to stay despite technological disruptions like streaming video and smart-phones.

    Globally, death of traditional TV viewing has been predicted for past few years. But data and analytics from more mature and developed markets and even some East Asian nations – where digital is a big draw – show that TV as we know it is not going away anytime soon.

    A US Department of Labour Survey, released early 2016, states that watching TV was the leisure activity that “occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), for those aged 15 and over.”

    BARB (UK equivalent of BARC India) data shows that average daily video viewing by all individuals is 4hrs 35mins and that TV accounts for 94 per cent of all video advertising time. Over the last decade, despite several “disruptive” technological developments, time spent watching TV has hardly dipped, as was being forecast. More importantly, TV continues to have largest reach of all media: it reaches 71per cent of population in a day, 93per cent in a week, and 98 per cent in a month.
    And, these are markets with near total saturation of TV homes, and a highly developed and widespread digital eco-system.

    What about India?

    Appetite for more TV content is only bound to grow given that only 153 million homes in India have TV out of a total of about 250 million (a penetration of about 60 per cent). Rise in disposable incomes, increasing fragmentation of families and continued challenges of Indian infrastructure are bound to push TV viewing higher.

    All-India BARC data for 47 weeks appear to validate that. Average daily TV viewing stands at 3 hours 16 minutes, showing headroom for growth, compared to more mature TV markets that have higher TV penetration rate of 97+ per cent.

    India has close to 900 licensed channels and while Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) agrees some of these licensees may not be on air, but scores of applicants are in queue too — another indicator of growth in appetite for TV.

    But, what about the perception that traditional TV viewership is losing out due to growth of digital platforms?

    Let’s look at BARC India data for a recent TV event, the Rio Olympics. TV viewership for Rio 2016 grew 2.65 times as compared to London 2012. While 16 million unique viewers watched the broadcast of London Games in India, the corresponding figure for Rio Games is 43 million (using the same viewership base – 1million+ towns). If one looks at the all-India (Urban+Rural) base, Rio 2016 set another high of 203.8 million unique viewers.

    This brings us to cricket, India’s fav sports (apart from politics). BARC data shows that a new viewership high was achieved during an India-Pakistan ICC T20 World Cup match in 2016, which generated a whopping 80.5 million impressions across Star Sports Network and DD National. And these numbers came on the back of not just a larger number of people watching TV, but also considerable higher time spent on TV.

    When asked about linear TV’s impending death in India owing to digital’s growth, Colors CEO and President of the Advertising Club (of India) Raj Nayak waved away the analysis asserting, “I am ready to stick out my neck on this. People who say that traditional television is dying don’t know what they are talking about. TV has been growing and there is still big headroom for its growth in India.”

    India may be adopting mobile phones faster than the US or other western countries, and a major percentage of them are smart-phones. Still, challenges for digital players are big and many ranging from costly data, indifferent bandwidth speed and getting the right content mix for a country that has 22 official languages and over 700 dialects.

    At Vidnet2016, an OTT conference organised by indiantelevision.com recently, Hotstar chief Ajit Mohan admitted that high cost of data is a major hurdle for expansion of streaming services like Hotstar and others like Voot, dittoTV, BoxTv, Arre, Savvn, Hooq, Viu, SonyLiv, etc.

    Data pointing to greater consumption of TV is one side of the picture. Globally, studies and data also indicate that TV remains a highly effective form of advertising.

    A study by the Institute of Practitioners of Advertising (UK’s equivalent of India’s AAAI) shows that TV continues to guarantee best commercial outcomes of campaigns for things such as sales, profit, market share, etc. Echoing similar sentiments, Colors’ Nayak added, “Digital advertising does not have the same impact that TV (advertising) has… Even Amazon, Google and other e-commerce companies have to use TV to make an impact.”

    US-based eMarketer (started in 1996 to study digital trends and considered one of the most widely cited research providers in the media) admits that despite a drop in TV watching time, in general, it hasn’t stopped marketers from pouring significant amounts of money into television advertising.

    Without discounting the strides being made by digital players in India (and they seem to be mushrooming all over like dotcoms during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s), traditional TV’s importance and reach still outstrips that of digital.

    Pointing out that digital does offer consumers choices of watching TV (government lingo for video consumption) at different time and in different formats, a senior government official, having worked at MIB, on condition of anonymity admitted that TV is not going away from India. Rather, the size of India will help it retain its pre-eminence as opposed to other media.

    GroupM too testifies to TV’s strong presence in India compared to other segments of media like print, OOH and digital. In projections made in January 2016, which are re-visited mid-year to do any course corrections if necessary, the company said television was estimated to grow by 17.6 per cent to touch Rs 27,074 crore (Rs. 2,7,0740 million) this year against Rs 23,022 crore (Rs. 23,02,20 million) last year as far as advertising spends go.

    Colors’ Nayak aptly sums up the issue: “There is no doubts that digital will see growth at a phenomenal pace especially with Reliance Jio addressing the bandwidth and speed issues, but digital must be seen as another platform for delivering content and that’s it. There will be lot of content consumption on digital platforms, but it will not be at the cost of (traditional) TV viewing.”

    Like Nayak, I too am ready to bet my bucks on linear or traditional TV in India. Digital has to travel many more miles in India before it can be a replacement for TV, which is still far off from near-saturation point or even plateauing off.

    (Author is Consulting Editor to indiantelevision.com)

  • Saying traditional TV is dying in India is premature

    Saying traditional TV is dying in India is premature

    On a recent road trip to Ladakh with friends we stopped at a nondescript roadside ‘dhaba’ (makeshift eatery) near the Himachal Pradesh and J&K border for tea and to stretch sore limbs. As tea was being boiled, stifled giggling from inside the hutment attracted me. While trying to see if my smart-phone was working so I could check-in on FB, I peeped inside. A group of local kids were enjoying a soap opera on television; courtesy DD FreeDish, a free-to-air DTH platform. My mobile phone, in the meanwhile, showed no signs of life with a No-Network message flashing.

    This, and many other such examples in India’s hinterland, highlight a fact loud and clear: India may be going digital, but Bharat (as non-urban hinterlands of India is referred to by some sociologists and marketers) still roots for the traditional. Such instances also tell us that in a country as diversified, complex and challenging as India, traditional habits, like TV watching, are there to stay despite technological disruptions like streaming video and smart-phones.

    Globally, death of traditional TV viewing has been predicted for past few years. But data and analytics from more mature and developed markets and even some East Asian nations – where digital is a big draw – show that TV as we know it is not going away anytime soon.

    A US Department of Labour Survey, released early 2016, states that watching TV was the leisure activity that “occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), for those aged 15 and over.”

    BARB (UK equivalent of BARC India) data shows that average daily video viewing by all individuals is 4hrs 35mins and that TV accounts for 94 per cent of all video advertising time. Over the last decade, despite several “disruptive” technological developments, time spent watching TV has hardly dipped, as was being forecast. More importantly, TV continues to have largest reach of all media: it reaches 71per cent of population in a day, 93per cent in a week, and 98 per cent in a month.
    And, these are markets with near total saturation of TV homes, and a highly developed and widespread digital eco-system.

    What about India?

    Appetite for more TV content is only bound to grow given that only 153 million homes in India have TV out of a total of about 250 million (a penetration of about 60 per cent). Rise in disposable incomes, increasing fragmentation of families and continued challenges of Indian infrastructure are bound to push TV viewing higher.

    All-India BARC data for 47 weeks appear to validate that. Average daily TV viewing stands at 3 hours 16 minutes, showing headroom for growth, compared to more mature TV markets that have higher TV penetration rate of 97+ per cent.

    India has close to 900 licensed channels and while Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) agrees some of these licensees may not be on air, but scores of applicants are in queue too — another indicator of growth in appetite for TV.

    But, what about the perception that traditional TV viewership is losing out due to growth of digital platforms?

    Let’s look at BARC India data for a recent TV event, the Rio Olympics. TV viewership for Rio 2016 grew 2.65 times as compared to London 2012. While 16 million unique viewers watched the broadcast of London Games in India, the corresponding figure for Rio Games is 43 million (using the same viewership base – 1million+ towns). If one looks at the all-India (Urban+Rural) base, Rio 2016 set another high of 203.8 million unique viewers.

    This brings us to cricket, India’s fav sports (apart from politics). BARC data shows that a new viewership high was achieved during an India-Pakistan ICC T20 World Cup match in 2016, which generated a whopping 80.5 million impressions across Star Sports Network and DD National. And these numbers came on the back of not just a larger number of people watching TV, but also considerable higher time spent on TV.

    When asked about linear TV’s impending death in India owing to digital’s growth, Colors CEO and President of the Advertising Club (of India) Raj Nayak waved away the analysis asserting, “I am ready to stick out my neck on this. People who say that traditional television is dying don’t know what they are talking about. TV has been growing and there is still big headroom for its growth in India.”

    India may be adopting mobile phones faster than the US or other western countries, and a major percentage of them are smart-phones. Still, challenges for digital players are big and many ranging from costly data, indifferent bandwidth speed and getting the right content mix for a country that has 22 official languages and over 700 dialects.

    At Vidnet2016, an OTT conference organised by indiantelevision.com recently, Hotstar chief Ajit Mohan admitted that high cost of data is a major hurdle for expansion of streaming services like Hotstar and others like Voot, dittoTV, BoxTv, Arre, Savvn, Hooq, Viu, SonyLiv, etc.

    Data pointing to greater consumption of TV is one side of the picture. Globally, studies and data also indicate that TV remains a highly effective form of advertising.

    A study by the Institute of Practitioners of Advertising (UK’s equivalent of India’s AAAI) shows that TV continues to guarantee best commercial outcomes of campaigns for things such as sales, profit, market share, etc. Echoing similar sentiments, Colors’ Nayak added, “Digital advertising does not have the same impact that TV (advertising) has… Even Amazon, Google and other e-commerce companies have to use TV to make an impact.”

    US-based eMarketer (started in 1996 to study digital trends and considered one of the most widely cited research providers in the media) admits that despite a drop in TV watching time, in general, it hasn’t stopped marketers from pouring significant amounts of money into television advertising.

    Without discounting the strides being made by digital players in India (and they seem to be mushrooming all over like dotcoms during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s), traditional TV’s importance and reach still outstrips that of digital.

    Pointing out that digital does offer consumers choices of watching TV (government lingo for video consumption) at different time and in different formats, a senior government official, having worked at MIB, on condition of anonymity admitted that TV is not going away from India. Rather, the size of India will help it retain its pre-eminence as opposed to other media.

    GroupM too testifies to TV’s strong presence in India compared to other segments of media like print, OOH and digital. In projections made in January 2016, which are re-visited mid-year to do any course corrections if necessary, the company said television was estimated to grow by 17.6 per cent to touch Rs 27,074 crore (Rs. 2,7,0740 million) this year against Rs 23,022 crore (Rs. 23,02,20 million) last year as far as advertising spends go.

    Colors’ Nayak aptly sums up the issue: “There is no doubts that digital will see growth at a phenomenal pace especially with Reliance Jio addressing the bandwidth and speed issues, but digital must be seen as another platform for delivering content and that’s it. There will be lot of content consumption on digital platforms, but it will not be at the cost of (traditional) TV viewing.”

    Like Nayak, I too am ready to bet my bucks on linear or traditional TV in India. Digital has to travel many more miles in India before it can be a replacement for TV, which is still far off from near-saturation point or even plateauing off.

    (Author is Consulting Editor to indiantelevision.com)

  • Are we headed for a sports broadcasting ‘Duopoly’ in India?

    Are we headed for a sports broadcasting ‘Duopoly’ in India?

    As a nation, India has evolved significantly in sports broadcasting. With unbounded technological progress nipping away at our heels, a digital evolution was a long time coming, especially in the Indian subcontinent. The sporting world has all its eyes on the recent SPN̶̶-ZEEL deal, an acquisition that will leverage, consolidate and crucially enhance the relationship between right-holder, broadcaster and the fan. Truly, India has launched itself to transforming into a sporting nation to reckon with. 

    Content and consolidation will drive and scale up distribution and reach for both – network(s) within India and the subcontinent. 

    This acquisition is a major win and a penetration peak for SPN. It can now break into hitherto untapped territories and consolidate content from a far-‘reaching’ perspective. The world is in a frenzied state of “digital data drive” and this drive is only going to escalate. Our broadcasting output is changing every day. Last two decades has seen Single TV households changing their viewing environs from terrestrial TV to cable and satellite. The big daddies of the DTH universe are all moving towards consolidating the reality of second and third screen-driven ecosystems.

    Taking stock of things, Star India has the telecast rights of BCCI, ICC, Cricket Australia, English Cricket Board, Formula 1, EPL and tennis Grand Slams like Wimbledon and the French Open. In addition to this, Star has significant rights to the local sports leagues like ISL, PKL, PBL, HIL and IPTL. 

    SPN, on the other hand, proudly holds the rights to FIFA, UEFA, Euro, NBA and UFC on the international circuit. Through this landmark deal with TEN Sports, SPN now has an open-door all-access pass to the media rights of numerous golfing events as well as the rights to the cricket boards of African countries, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan. In the tennis world, they own the first and the last Grand Slams of the year – Australian Open and the US open, respectively. However, in India, IPL remains their biggest marquee acquisition despite being up for renewal post the 2017 season.

    The sports broadcast gladiatorial arena thus will soon witness a veritable battle between these two. With two key players running neck and neck towards the finish line, it’s a race that changes the environment and brings about a scale-up in distribution and revenue.

    The network that makes itself more accessible, more consumable and creates, builds and sustains real-time conversations while enhancing fan experience will emerge as the monarch in a currently duopolistic condition. The focus on Digital India, the technological and revenue-right prowess of the two key network players should reveal some of the answers in the times to come. Data will play a pivotal role in making sports content more consumable and build real-time conversations around enhancing fan experience and build higher level stickiness and relevance. 

    This phenomenon is aptly called ‘Datagiri’ – big data is the big dada, and it will outpace the traditional broadcast model soon enough. With live sports streaming and on-the-spot digital consumption through various media platforms such as Hotstar and Sony Liv may look to rise to the top with the Usain Bolt speed, a certain aggression and a prepared relevantly stronger digital interface.

    The digital ecosystem experiences an amplification of connections at an exponential rate. Every day, there is a new surge in distribution and a revamping of the “traditional” model since consumers are establishing newer ways and means of connecting with their favorite sports. After all, the name of the game is “enhanced fan experience”. The Rio Olympics displayed this very digital omnipresence – it was up to the fans to consume sports data, whenever, however, and in whichever way suited them best. The power was at the consumer’s fingertips.

    Some questions though surface strongly — Will data-driven content-providers compete with the traditional broadcast platforms? Will telecom players drive and build the next billion sports consumers? Will the definition of the 1st screen economy change?  These are just some of the questions that will be answered in times to come. 

    In summary, it promises an exciting time for the Sports Fan. The sports fan will share its limelight with no one; he or she will be at the centrestage of the best sporting live action. It will be served on a platter for his or her gluttonous consumption – peppered with analytic appetisers and tantalizing trivia, thus cinching a momentous union between networks, right-holders and sports fans. 

    (The author is the business head of ESP Properties. The views expressed are entirely his own and Indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to them)
     

  • Are we headed for a sports broadcasting ‘Duopoly’ in India?

    Are we headed for a sports broadcasting ‘Duopoly’ in India?

    As a nation, India has evolved significantly in sports broadcasting. With unbounded technological progress nipping away at our heels, a digital evolution was a long time coming, especially in the Indian subcontinent. The sporting world has all its eyes on the recent SPN̶̶-ZEEL deal, an acquisition that will leverage, consolidate and crucially enhance the relationship between right-holder, broadcaster and the fan. Truly, India has launched itself to transforming into a sporting nation to reckon with. 

    Content and consolidation will drive and scale up distribution and reach for both – network(s) within India and the subcontinent. 

    This acquisition is a major win and a penetration peak for SPN. It can now break into hitherto untapped territories and consolidate content from a far-‘reaching’ perspective. The world is in a frenzied state of “digital data drive” and this drive is only going to escalate. Our broadcasting output is changing every day. Last two decades has seen Single TV households changing their viewing environs from terrestrial TV to cable and satellite. The big daddies of the DTH universe are all moving towards consolidating the reality of second and third screen-driven ecosystems.

    Taking stock of things, Star India has the telecast rights of BCCI, ICC, Cricket Australia, English Cricket Board, Formula 1, EPL and tennis Grand Slams like Wimbledon and the French Open. In addition to this, Star has significant rights to the local sports leagues like ISL, PKL, PBL, HIL and IPTL. 

    SPN, on the other hand, proudly holds the rights to FIFA, UEFA, Euro, NBA and UFC on the international circuit. Through this landmark deal with TEN Sports, SPN now has an open-door all-access pass to the media rights of numerous golfing events as well as the rights to the cricket boards of African countries, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan. In the tennis world, they own the first and the last Grand Slams of the year – Australian Open and the US open, respectively. However, in India, IPL remains their biggest marquee acquisition despite being up for renewal post the 2017 season.

    The sports broadcast gladiatorial arena thus will soon witness a veritable battle between these two. With two key players running neck and neck towards the finish line, it’s a race that changes the environment and brings about a scale-up in distribution and revenue.

    The network that makes itself more accessible, more consumable and creates, builds and sustains real-time conversations while enhancing fan experience will emerge as the monarch in a currently duopolistic condition. The focus on Digital India, the technological and revenue-right prowess of the two key network players should reveal some of the answers in the times to come. Data will play a pivotal role in making sports content more consumable and build real-time conversations around enhancing fan experience and build higher level stickiness and relevance. 

    This phenomenon is aptly called ‘Datagiri’ – big data is the big dada, and it will outpace the traditional broadcast model soon enough. With live sports streaming and on-the-spot digital consumption through various media platforms such as Hotstar and Sony Liv may look to rise to the top with the Usain Bolt speed, a certain aggression and a prepared relevantly stronger digital interface.

    The digital ecosystem experiences an amplification of connections at an exponential rate. Every day, there is a new surge in distribution and a revamping of the “traditional” model since consumers are establishing newer ways and means of connecting with their favorite sports. After all, the name of the game is “enhanced fan experience”. The Rio Olympics displayed this very digital omnipresence – it was up to the fans to consume sports data, whenever, however, and in whichever way suited them best. The power was at the consumer’s fingertips.

    Some questions though surface strongly — Will data-driven content-providers compete with the traditional broadcast platforms? Will telecom players drive and build the next billion sports consumers? Will the definition of the 1st screen economy change?  These are just some of the questions that will be answered in times to come. 

    In summary, it promises an exciting time for the Sports Fan. The sports fan will share its limelight with no one; he or she will be at the centrestage of the best sporting live action. It will be served on a platter for his or her gluttonous consumption – peppered with analytic appetisers and tantalizing trivia, thus cinching a momentous union between networks, right-holders and sports fans. 

    (The author is the business head of ESP Properties. The views expressed are entirely his own and Indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to them)