ITV

Category: Special Report

  • Dubbing to ride on ‘Firangi’ content

    West is best,” said Edward Said. It seems Indian broadcasters have taken a cue from Said and are ready to experiment heavily with international content in 2008.

    Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd, for instance, is taking the bold step of launching an entertainment channel that will fill entirely with dubbed international content. Its logic: “40 per cent of the TV viewing population continuously watch dubbed content”.

    Firangi is set to launch on 25 February, importing content from across the world -Germany, France, Spain, Argentina, Mexico and Israel.

    Firangi is not alone in this experimentation. UTV has also put a high dose of dubbed content on its youth-centric Hindi entertainment channel Bindass.

    Says Bindass GM acqusition Manasi Sapre, “Dubbed entertainment has emerged as a strong alternative to live action productions in the past few years. It allows audience to sample international content of great quality in language they understand and enjoy.”

    Sapre has research to back this up. A recent research “Understanding the Psyche of Hindi Serial Viewers,” done by Starcom India and Hansa Research, reveals that 2/5th of viewers of Star Plus and Zee TV find Hindi soaps repetitive and boring.

    What‘s more, 64 per cent of TV viewing audience prefer dubbed content as it provides a diverse palette of soaps and dramas.

    A whopping 69 per cent think that dubbed shows are very entertaining, while 70 per cent think that it is an opportunity to watch more actors. And 72 per cent watch it because it teaches a lot about the cultures of other countries.

    Though Indians still lap up localised content, some observers believe that a viewership is surfacing for pure global content dubbed in Hindi.

    Another reason for the mushrooming of international dubbed content in the TV space is its easy and low-cost model as compared to full-fledged production of shows.

    Sugar Mediaz director Darrpan Mehta, who himself is a voiceover and dubbing artist, says, “It is a wonderful low-cost model. For example, acquiring a show from various parts of the world and putting it up as a dubbed content is very cheap vis-?-vis producing the entire show. Production of a show costs lakhs, but a 30-minute dubbed content will cost around Rs 50,000.”

    Sample this: UTV‘s Bindass has four original shows – Hassley India, Shakira, Sun Yaar Chill Maar and Third Degree, while it has around six international contents which include The Benny Hill Show, Japanese Pro Wrestling Show, Gotcha, Motorrad Cops, Whacked Out Sports and Challenges of Fire.

    Even flanking Hindi GECs Zee Next and Sab TV have a portion, however small, of international dubbed content.

    Zee Next has two dubbed shows Fresh Prince of Bel-air and Different Strokes while Sab TV has a slot called International Chaska that features its internationally acquired shows dubbed in Hindi. The channel is currently showing America‘s Funniest Home Videos and will be airing Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover, Lost and Alias in Hindi.

    With new channel launches and more such channels in the wings, there is a huge dearth and a consequent need of good content which can work in India. With the floodgates opening for the dubbing industry, there is a rush for these post-production houses, dubbing artists and script-writers.

    Market:

    Though the dubbing industry is still at its nascent stage, it is a growing market.

    Says Sapre, “For television, the dubbing content market is pecked at Rs 150 to 200 million. But it is growing, considering the tremendous potential of this form of entertainment.”

    Over the last 5 years, the dubbed content market has grown 10 to 15 per cent per annum, and is expected to grow further. Entertainment (TV and film) has reached new territories and all this has been due to dubbing. For example, without being dubbed in Bhojpuri, Spiderman would have never reached that part of India.”

    Outside of the US, India is one of the largest markets Disney has invested in for local production. In addition, Disney Channel and Jetix have over 6,000 episodes of dubbed content (three languages included). Disney Channel India has close to 25 per cent local content on-air today.

    Disney-ABC International Television works closely with Indian broadcasters to provide dubbed content in local languages that appeal to local audiences.

    Firangi has inked deals with major content providers like Mexico-based Tellewise, Germany-based Seven One and France-based Marathon. Other providers include Dou Media and Telemundo, which is a US company that will offer content in Spanish. In addition, the channel has tied up with Brazil-based Globosat for Pages of Life and America.

    For the dubbing and the post-production work, the channel has roped in Mumbai-based Clastem Productions.

    UTV‘s dubbing department has long-term exclusive associations with channels like Hungama, National Geographic Channel, History Channel, Bindass, Bindass Movies, Nick and Disney. It does more than 1,000 hours of dubbing every year.

    Content

    A general perception percolating through the popular psyche is that dubbed content is nothing but “Angrezi Hindi” or “Anglicized Hindi.” Viewers identify dubbed content only with the tele-brands that sell peculiar products in a peculiar language.

    Says Mehta, “We are on the way to becoming a mega industry. It is a dichotomy actually; it is a booming period for volumes, but there is no focus yet on quality. If I see from an entrepreneur‘s point of view, it is a big business opportunity for a huge market coming up.”

    Agrees Sapre: “Dubbed content is no longer looked down upon. It is important not to just translate but to localise fully, using the nuances of the local language and get the soul of the content correct. Not only viewers but also international licencors are extremely happy with the treatment we have accorded to their classic shows and blockbusters on Bindass.”

    Adds Mehta: “Earlier, there used to be a verbatim translation, which really took its toll on the quality of the content. But now it is transcreated so as to do justice to the ethos of the language, culture and sensibility.”

    Cost-cutting from TV production houses is a big obstacle. Says Mehta, “Since the production houses which do dubbing always go for cost cutting, they do not place high value on a premium artist. As a whole, they compromise on the voice quality.

    A lead dubbing artist in a full-length film can earn anywhere between Rs 30-35,000 to Rs 3,00,000, depending on the amount of work he gets to do. For animated series on kids‘ channels, a character gets around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per episode.

    “Even for a theatrical release, the dubbing production houses use a premium voice but for the home video and satellite screening, a low-cost dubbing artist is used to cut costs.
    All the films are re-dubbed for TV release and the home video release.”

     

     

    Does dubbed content work only for thrill and action genre shows?

    Says Clapstem Productions promoter Girish Malik, who is also a creative consultant of Firangi: “Not really. It used to be. Actually nobody has tried drama. Shows of countries which have the same sensibility like ours have not been dubbed in India. Firangi will bring diverse stories from different countries like Israel, Latin America, Germany and Argentina to India.”

    He believes Firangi‘s model will succeed. “It is Indian mentality to be curious to know what is happening outside one‘s house. This very interest will drive viewers to see Firangi‘s dubbed content. On the subconscious level, it is a voyeuristic pleasure that many Indians have.”

    But what about the “sex and nudity” scenes immensely found in international content?

    Defends Firangi business head Rajeev Chakrabarti: “We are completely aware of the sensibility and ethos of India. We at Firangi do not just translate and lip-sync for the characters. With the exception of shooting, we do the entire post-production work, which involves scrutinising sex and nudity.”

    Licencing

    Dubbing artists in India believe that though dubbed content is cheap in India, the scene will change once broadcasters give them licencing rights.

    “If an artist lends his voice for any show in India, the broadcaster can use the voice for infinite number of times. But it is not so in countries abroad. Even India Copy Right Act 1952 guarantees copy right to any individual voice artist. Voice artists do not get any royalty in India unlike other countries,” says Mehta.

    It is only in the advertising industry that voice artists get royalty each time the voice is used. Dubbing artists are paid a flat fee and get no access to royalty.

  • English movie channels bank on digitalisation for growth

    English movie channels have seen an almost flat ad revenue growth in 2007. The challenge has also been to innovate programming slots even as viewers have spent less time on these channels. The bright spot, though, is the signs of maturity that the genre is showing. New players like Anil Ambani’s Reliance and NDTV Imagine are also eyeing this space.

    Star Movies is the clear leader in the segment with a share of 47 per cent, according to Tam data (C&S 15+) for 2007. HBO follows with a share of 30 per cent. After that come Pix and Zee Studio with shares of 13 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

    More interesting, though, is the time spent on English movie channels. Data shows that time spent has fallen with HBO showing the worst dip. Its share has gone down from 4.68 to 3.05 minutes each week. Star Movie’s share has also dropped from 5.9 minutes each week to 4.91 minutes.

    Players attribute the fall partly on the distribution scenario as more channels have jostled for space on clogged cable networks. This has meant higher carriage or placement fees. Then, of course, there is competition from other genres.

    In terms of the top films of the year, HBO’s King Kong with a rating of 0.75 topped the list. Star Movies’ The Mythhad a rating of 0.47. HBO’s Hindi dubbed King Kong took the third spot.

    Facing an intensely competitive environment, it is crucial for players to understand their audiences better. The aim in some cases is to boost the non-primetime area and look at areas like presentation. Differentiation through innovation is also important.

    Keeping all this in mind, Star Movies undertook various initiatives. It revamped the late night movies to cater to the male audience. It also focussed on the Sunday afternoon slot. Films that air are chosen so that the audience enjoys a relaxed weekend. Star VP marketing and communications Prem Kamath adds that the channel also re-looked the evening slots.

    “The aim has been to bring in more family movies. In addition to that we also constantly feature film festivals like our X Men Trilogy during the year end, the Star Wars marathon, 15 nights of Bond to name a few.”

    Kamath attributes the channel’s leadership to the focus on striving for variety without compromising on quality of offerings. So you have a serious film like Crash and blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean 2, X Men 3.

    And what of HBO? The channel’s tagline for the year was Big! New! Most! HBO South Asia country head Shruti Bajpai expresses satisfaction in terms of how the plans were achieved. For this channel too it is a combination of raters like Mission Impossible 3, The Da Vinci Code, Batman Beginsand King Kong and critically acclaimed, path breaking movies like Brokeback Mountain and Syriana.

    A lot of focus went into seeing that different viewer segments were tuning in at different slots. So Midday Matinee every weekday at noon was introduced. Wicked Hour which is every weeknight after the 9 pm movie was also launched. “In addition, HBO also caters to the youth with Whazzup every weeknight at 7 pm, a special family treat for the whole family in Family Sunday, an action packed entertainment package for the guys in “It’s a Guy Thing”.

    HBO also revamped its on air look. The aim was to make the channel brighter and racier. Bajpai goes on to explain that there are new features like an On-air EPG of sorts, which offers the viewers a sneak peek of the upcoming titles in the next few days and a Countdown clock indicating the time left to watch the next film. Bajpai attributes the dip for the genre in part to the fact that more channels are entering other genres.

    “According to me there are only two real players in this genre (Star Movies and HBO) and there will always be a toss up of who is number one and who’s not. This is all a part of the game and we welcome it as it helps us stay on our toes. Ultimately the viewer benefits the most as he/she gets to see the best from the best,” she concludes.

    Still with more players coming in, there are signs that the genre is starting to mature. The feeling in the industry is that English movie viewing for non-blockbuster content is now starting to grow. A case in point is Pix. It launched in April 2006. The channel’s business head Sunder Aaron says that the aim last year has been to get films that push its tagline of telling good stories. For the channel it does not matter when a film is made. The aim was also to differentiate itself through local content. Therefore in association with noted Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj it started an initiative called Gateway. This gives an aspiring filmmaker the chance to make a movie with Amritraj.

    The shows go on air next month. Aaron notes that the response has been better than the channel expected. “We have had one thousand entries to the competition, and you would be impressed by the quality and variety. We had a similar response to the Pix Short Film Festival. We have got a couple of other initiatives and programmes in development, so we are eager to continue with our strategy at this point, particularly because the Pix viewers are responding well.”

    The channel has more local ideas on the table which it will roll out later this year, he adds.

    Zee Studio did two major innovations last year. One has been subtitling which even some rivals concede was a good move. That is because it builds more comfort with viewers. The other has been to show foreign films. This has been an area that has been ignored for a while by the English film channels. Zee Studio did, among other things, a festival with Palador. Films like the Mike Leigh classic Secrets and Lies as well as Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai aired.

    Ad Revenue stagnates in 2007:

    Data available withIndiantelevision.com shows that ad revenue plateaued for this genre last year. Star Movies made around Rs 770 million compared with Rs 740 million in 2006 and Rs 671 million in 2005.

    HBO followed a similar revenue trend. The channel is estimated to have made around Rs 560 million last year. This was a slight increase over the Rs 557 million made in 2006.

    Like Star Movies, 2006 was a better year for HBO on the ad revenue growth front as it only made Rs 436 million in 2005.

    For Zee Studio ad revenue was Rs 238 million in 2007.

    Pix, on the other hand, made around Rs 60 million in 2007.

    Mediaedge:cia’s Manas Mishra notes that besides Star Movies and HBO, the other two players are starting to find their own level. Since Pix caters to an evolved movie viewer aged 25+ it makes sense for certain brands to consider it. He also opines that Zee Studio has managed to get viewers from outside the core English movie viewing demographic on account of the subtitling. As a result, it can become more diverse in its offerings with foreign language fare.

    Digitisation to boost subscription earnings:

    The key for these players is the spread of digitisation this year. With Bharti and Reliance launching direct-to-home (DTH) platforms this year, English movie channels are expected to get a boost in terms of subscription revenue. A channel like HBO, after all, is purely subscription driven abroad. The hope is that the dependence on ad revenue which is anyway small will decline.

    New players eye the space:

    Digitisation means place for new channels One of them will come from Reliance. UTV and NDTV Imagine are also entering. The focus for the last two is world cinema. NDTV will be doing a World cinema initiative called NDTV Lumiere. This will span not just the launch of a channel but also release films into theatres, home video as well as provide space for on-ground activation. The aim is to bring in a culture of world cinema.

    Just how important subscription revenue will be can be gauged from the fact that NDTV Imagine CEO Sameer Nair says that the focus of NDTV Lumiere is entirely digital and it is not a question of counting TRPs to appease media buying agencies.

    Aaron seconds this view. With the economy growing so rapidly, and the number of cable and digital television (DTH, IPTV, digital cable etc.) households increasing as well, the pie will undoubtedly continue to grow, he says.

    By how much is the question. Positioning will also be key for new entrants. It is not just a case of buying titles and putting them on air; understanding, addressing and attracting English viewership is also important.

    There is also the issue of digital cable penetration. If it spreads across the country, then many channels can come in. In case that doesn’t happen, then carriage fees will stay a big obstacle.

    Pricing issues on addressable platforms also have to be sorted out. Bajpai says that even DTH is still in an “everything for everybody” format and “one pricing system for all channels” kind of model. “Once these things change, the benefit will start becoming more apparent. Broadcasting business, after all, needs to be viable,” she adds.

  • Big fight is in Hindi GEC middle rung

    Think television and what commonly springs to mind are Hindi general entertainment channels (GEC) like Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony, etc… That list keeps getting longer with ever new entrants in the space.

    This has forced existing channels to pull up their socks and gird for the fight that is only going to get more fractious. At present though, the sorting is like this: Channels number 1 and 2 are head and shoulders above the pack. Much lower down in the second tier are another two contenders slugging it out. Then come the also rans (at least for the present), each trying to make an impression.

    These are some observations that can be highlighted after analyzing the performances in the Hindi GEC arena over the last six months (July to December 2007) based on data provided by Tam (C&S 4+, HSM), both relative market share and GRPs.

    Star drops but still leads; Zee closes gap, slips back

    There is still no argument. Star Plus, as has been the case for the last seven+ years, holds firmly onto pole position, despite Zee TV‘s best efforts at tipping the ratings scales in its favour.

    Looking at the channel shares, Star Plus garnered 36 per cent in July and was consistent till September. But it picked up strongly to reach 39 per cent in October. Nach Baliye 3 had a big role to play in strengthening Star Plus‘ position.

    Star India VP marketing and communication Prem Kamath says, “Zee TV saw an increase in the ratings post Sa Re Ga Ma Pa launch, which had narrowed the gap between Star Plus and Zee. Though there are a number of other things that have happened in Star Plus which have pushed the channel back to its place.”

    Relative channel share
    Channel Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
    Star 36 36 36 39

    39

    		 38
    Zee 29 29 32 32 30 29
    Sony 14 15 14 11 11 11
    Star One 7 7 7 6 6 7
    Sahara 9 9 9 8 8 8
    Sab 5 4 3 3 4 3
    9X 0 0 0 0 2 4
    Source: Tam (c&s 4+, HSM)

    “Last four to five weeks‘ data clearly say that Star Plus is considerably ahead of Zee. Several initiatives that we launched further strengthened our position. A weekly fiction based show called Sangam was launched in August. With Sangam, we extended our prime time to 7 PM, followed by Santan at 7:30 PM Santan is doing extremely well in its time band with 2+ rating. Bidaai, which launched in the 9 PM slot is fetching good numbers. All the newly launched shows cumulatively have consolidated our position in the genre,” says Kamath.

    On the other hand Zee TV started with a market share of 29 per cent, peaked and at 32 per cent in September. After staying consistent in October , it again fell to 30 per cent and 29 per cent in November and December.

     

    Says Joy Chakraborthy, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) president and revenue, “This year Zee TV has done phenomenally well. Every inventory was utilised. We got more campaigns than any other channel. We have traded well and that speaks well of us.”

    The year brought good fortune for Zee TV as programmmes like Banoo Main Teri Dulhann and Sa Re GA Ma Pa could put down the Super Ks of Star Plus in terms of TVR, on several occasions. Its other shows like Saat Phere have also enjoyed steady eyeballs.

    Queried about Zee‘s drop in channel share, Chakraborthy says, “Dips in GRPs do occur when a show ends. But that is marginal. Our FPC is designed strategically and it offers variety of programs across categories. That has helped us in getting and retaining advertisers.”

    “We would love to overtake Star. Our sales have hyped and we are anyways ahead of them in weekday prime time GRP (Monday to Friday) 7-10 PM,” avers Chakraborthy.

    GRP January 2008, week days – all day
    Channel Week 1 Week 2
    Star 368.16 344.83
    Zee 273.7 271.84
    Sony 90.46 77.17
    Star One 72.71 75.51
    Sahara 64.49 66.45
    Sab 25.11 29.08
    9X 40.17 37.75
    Source: Tam (c&s 4+, HSM)

     

     

    GRP January 2008, weekdays – Prime Time
    Channel Week 1 Week 2
    Star 226.65 192.42
    Zee 169.04 170.84
    Sony 52.51 46.77
    Star One 37.05 41.93
    Sahara 27.13 27.74
    Sab 12.08 12.59
    9X 15.47 17.02
    Source: Tam (c&s 4+, HSM)

     

     

     

    Third position at stake

    While Star Plus and Zee TV are currently out of reach for the ‘best of the rest‘, it leaves a lot of room for other channels to slug it out for third position.

    The three channels in this turf would be Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Star One and Sahara One.

    The momentum is clearly with Star One and today it is laying claim to being the number three GEC. It almost stayed cosistent at seven per cent till September before falling down to six per cent in October and November and increased its pie by one per cent in December.

    However what has been spectacular is that the channel saw a phenomenal increase in the GRPs of the first two weeks of this year.

    Kamath says, “We launched Dil Mil Gaye, which has touched a TRP of 2, Annu Ki Ho Gayi Wah Bhai Wah, Choona Hain Aasman, we are launching Pari Hoon Main in the next week, which kind of completes our week day prime time. In the week end we have launched Bol Baby Bol which again has a TRP of 2. We have tasted fair success with Chak De Funjabi. There are lots of vacant time bands in Star One which has not been programmed. There are couple of other shows which will make Star One as the big player in the space.”

    Relative channel share
    Channel Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
    Star 36 36 36 39

    39

    		 38
    Zee 29 29 32 32 30 29
    Sony 14 15 14 11 11 11
    Star One 7 7 7 6 6 7
    Sahara 9 9 9 8 8 8
    Sab 5 4 3 3 4 3
    9X 0 0 0 0 2 4
    Source: Tam (c&s 4+, HSM)

    From a year-long look, the biggest downslide has been witnessed by SET of course. The times when it held the second position in the channel stakes are but a distant memory today.

    Not for lack of trying though. It has launched a variety of new shows like Amber Dhara, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 2, Khwahish and Kuchh Is Tara but none have really clicked. Even Ekta‘s famous K factor failed to spark any TRP magic. The network went heavy with movie acquisitions, changed the network packaging, but to little avail.

    So much so that its GRPs in the first week of January 2008 came down from 90.46 to 77.17 in the second week of 2008, which is just 1.66 points ahead from Star One. If Sony doesn‘t arrest the slide, and soon, Star One could soon be the clear number three in the Hindi GEC space.

    That brings us to the third player in the tier two category – Sahara One.

    The channel has held steady even though it has seen its fair share of rise and fall in GRPs.

    When reality ruled Star Plus, Zee TV, SET and Star One, this channel was not behind either. Sahara One opened its cards with Biggest Loser Jeetega. It then unveiled its second big reality property, Jhoom India, which ended its run last week.

    Looking at the Week 1 and Week 2 data of 2008, we find that Sahara One‘s GRPs have remained consistent during weekdays.

    9X gives an impressive start; cannibalises Sab

    November also saw the launch of 9X. It started well with two per cent relative market share and jumped to four per cent in December.

    If observed carefully. The channel which got directly effected by 9X was Set‘s sibling Sab. Sab‘s market share is down from five per cent in July to three per cent in December.

    The GRPs for the first two weeks of January show that 9X has crossed the first hurdle and is now ahead of Sab.

    Sab has been experimenting to establish its prime time slot since long. Presently it has Left Right Left and Jersey No 10 as its stable shows.

    It is struggling to fill up its prime time with a variety of shows. In the process it also discontinued Sab Ka Bheja Fry, a comedy show which was launched targeting the male viewers.

    A lot of activity can be predicted with the landscape getting crowded with new entrants.

    “This will only increase the cost of production, carriage fees and placement. However the competition will help us grow. The GRPs will increase and advertising revenues will increase as more viewers will sample the shows,” says Chakraborthy.

    Whether up on the channel share scale or not, all channel programming teams agree on the need to present clutter breaking concepts to court viewers. That no channel is really walking the talk is another matter of course.

    According to some media planners, the viewership from GECs has shifted to news channels and movie channels which means that an advertiser will get a better viewer profile on news and movie channels.

    Still, there is experimentation going on. Let‘s us see which property clicks for which channel.

  • Viewers looking for FM feel in visual space?

    The viewer‘s verdict for music channels for the year 2007 is out. The long established players like MTV and Channel [V] are losing on the front of relative shares while new kid on the block 9XM has shown an unprecedented growth from the second month of its launch.

    Indiantelevision.com‘s analysis of music channels using Tam data (HSM, CS 15 – 24 years, all day parts) during the one-year period beginning January 2007 reveals that 9XM is way ahead than MTV and Channel [V].

    Launched in October 2007, 9XM, with its tagline Haq Se, had secured a relative share of 43 per cent by December. In comparison, MTV stood at 20 per cent while Channel [V] had 11 per cent.

    Music Channel‘s Relative Shares
    Channel Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
    9XM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 34 43
    MTV 32 29 31 32 29 30 31 31 32 29 21 20
    Channel V 15 14 13 11 11 14 13 11 13 16 11 11
    Music India 12 15 12 14 19 20 18 17 16 17 11 7
    B4U Music 12 11 11 11 9 10 10 13 13 11 6 5
    Zee Music 8 11 11 11 12 7 10 12 9 7 5 4
    ETC 15 12 12 9 9 10 8 8 7 6 4 4
    YO Music 3 3 6 7 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 3
    Enterr10 4 4 4 4 3 2 4 3 5 5 4 3
    Lemon 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0
    Source: TAM, TG 15 – 24, HSM, Jan-Dec 2007, All Day Part

    From January to October 2007, MTV was on top of the music channel heap with an average relative share of 30 per cent while Music India and Channel [V] were tossing for second and third position with 15.8 per cent and 12.8 per cent respectively.

    The whole scenario changed dramatically with the launch of 9XM in October. By the second month of launch, 9XM had 34 per cent whereas MTV was reduced to 21 per cent and Music India and Channel [V] had 11 per cent each.

    In December, it was thumbs down for other channels like Zee Music (4 per cent), B4U music (5 per cent), ETC (4 per cent), Enter10 (3 per cent) and Yo Music (3 per cent). Wooden spooner Lemon‘s share is so insignificant that it has not even registered on the GRP scale.

    On the new market scene, INX Media‘s music entertainment channel head Vikas Varma says, “I think the qualities of youth are what our channel targets, not necessarily as the demographic youth. That is why we are getting the unprecedented ratings.”

    It is to be noted that 9XM has no VJ‘s, only some animated characters. The USP of the channel is current Bollywood songs. However, the verdict among the media pundits is that 9XM is playing only songs; it is more like an FM station in the visual space.

    The ratings have not got in much by way of ads as yet though so how is it going to generate revenue? Avers INX Media revenue management, advertising sales and new media group director Probal Gaanguly, “We are offering ‘Club INX‘ partnerships to sponsors. Very soon we will officially announce the tie-ups. An exclusive platform will be provided to them.”

    MTV India vice president ad sales and marketing Aditya Swamy has a different story to tell: “Our ad sales and revenue has gone up. We have established the youth based music channel in India. Roadies, Konees (animated characters) etc are our initiatives; it is not fair to compare it with a channel like 9XM. We are a youth brand.”

    Channel [V] head honcho Amar K Deb sings a similar tune. “Channel [V] has won awards for many initiatives we have taken. We have our hands full and our competition is not with 9XM. It is anyways too early to comment on the future,” avers Deb.

    Music India that started life without ad breaks, gave in to the lure of commercials in 2007. 9XM appears to be going the same route, with a few ads visible on the channel intermittently since the beginning of the year.

    If indeed all that the Indian viewer is interested in is uninterrupted songs sans ads, it will be interesting to watch how the year unfolds for 2008.

  • A battle to connect and speak the language

    Want to woo the kids? Infuse those lifeless characters with some animation, mix of fun, action, comedy, a lot of interactivity and of course speak the local lingo. it‘s been all about that the last six months for the players in the kids channel space who were busy shuffling lead positions among themselves.

    The second half of 2007 was full of activities with every channel was busy promoting their properties though ground activities. While the broadcasters were on their toes throughout, kids were not behind either to grab what was on offer.

    Based on relative market shares provided by TAM (C&S 4-14) we bring to you some exciting findings in the genre which until a few years back was starved for attention and evaluate their performance over six months (July to December 2007) in HSM (Hindi speaking markets) and Southern market separately.

     

    HUNGAMA TV OVERTAKES CARTOON NETWORK; NICKELODEON SEES GROWTH

    Turner and Disney went toe-to-toe in the HSM and Viacom‘s Nick saw a consistent growth by “practically re-launching the channel”.

    As things stand today, Disney, with its three channels – Hungama, Disney and Jetix – having a combined relative share of 43.5 per cent, is ahead of the two Turner kids genre siblings Cartoon Network and Pogo, which together hold 39.5 per cent.

    The undisputed numero uno in the kids genre is Hungama TV, whose average relative share of 26.17 per cent is ahead of long time leader Cartoon Network‘s 23.67 per cent share. Hungama TV took over the top slot from Cartoon Network in the month of June and has consistently held on to the first position ever since then.

    Channel July August September October November December
    Hungama TV 26 24 27 25 28 27
    Cartoon Network 22 23 24 25 25 23
    POGO 17 16 15 17 15 15
    Disney Channel 16 13 10 9 9 10
    Nick 13 18 17 17 15 18
    Jetix 6 5 5 7 7 7
    Source: TAM Peoplemeter System TG: CS 4-14 yrs Market: HSM
    Period: July ‘07 to Dec ‘07 All day

    Walt Disney International (India) SVP and MD Antoine Villeneuve said, “Hungama TV is all about madness. It has done well due to three reasons. Our positioning ‘Mad Fun‘ is clear, second our programming is relevant to our positioning and third, with the help of that, we have established a strong connect with our TG.”

    Connection seems to be the mantra for almost all the Kids‘ channels. Well, why not? They have to woo the young and that cannot be done without interacting with them. The adopted baby of Disney, Hungama TV seems to have done it best.

    The prize for most improved performance, however goes to Viacom‘s Nick, which a year ago was way behind the rest with a lowly 8 per cent share. In the second half of 2007, it‘s been a completely different story though. Nick, with an average relative share of 16.33 per cent, holds the overall third position ahead of Pogo‘s 15.83 per cent.

    “Cartoon Network and Pogo have never looked at short-term measures or results, even when it was the only kids‘ channel in India. As far as ratings are concerned, we have always played it fair and looked at long-term ratings rather than just a few weeks. Therefore, if you look at our 2007 overall performance through the year, even with seven kids‘ channels in the country,Cartoon Network and Pogo continue to be #1 and #2, garnering almost 50 per cent of channel shares,” asserts Monica Tata, Turner International India vice president, advertising sales and networks, India & South Asia.

    Turner infused a range of locally produced content in both its channels. “Localisation has been a critical mandate for us and Cartoon Network was the first to acquire Indian animation and to date offers the largest bouquet of Indian animation. We have acquired 16 home grown animations and all have been a huge hit with Indian kids. These include Pandavas – The Five Warriors, Sinbad – Beyond the Veil of Mists, Ramayan the Legend of Prince Ram, Alibaba & Forty Thieves, The Adventures of Tenali Raman, The Adventures of Chhota Birbal, Jungle Tales, Vikram Betaal, The four part Krishna series, Akbar-Birbal, The Legend Of Buddha, and Bal Hanuman,” adds Tata.

     

    However Nick remains the channel of the year with a consistent growth, without a substantial dip, across 12 months. Its relative shares rose from 8 per cent in January to 18 per cent in December.

    Nick India VP and GM Nina Elavia Jaipuria says, “This year we have practically relaunched the channel. We have seen a phenomenal growth in the last year. We are the fastest growing channel in the genre.”

    Personal connect was important for the channel, accepts Jaipuria. “Our initiative of Nick channel Hindustani helped us in building affinity with the kids. Interactivity is very important to get closer with kids and we did that through our innovative contests like Chaddhi Baddi contest, Masti Dosti, Nick Ninja. We celebrated festivals like Raksha Bandhan in our own Nick style. We did movie marketing for Dhamaal and Hanuman Returns. Through merchandising we are presence across nine product categories.”

    On being queried on the top performing properties on the channel Jaipuria says, “Nick Home Cinema, Keystone, Sponge Bob have been the channel drivers. Apart from that, the 360 degree promotions across 38 major cities in HSM has helped us to get connected with these kids.”

    If interactivity is what worked wonders for Nick, then it did the same for Hungama TV as well. Hungama TV‘s nationwide ‘Captains‘ search is an example of that. These ‘Captains‘ are the board of Kid directors for the channel and every program is planned taking their inputs into consideration. The channel‘s focus is to develop properties which deliver consistently.

    That was not all, Disney‘s High School Musical 2 was exploited to its maximum. There were local songs composed and a nationwide dance contest conducted to establish this ‘Connect‘. However, on the performance charts, Disney came down from 16 per cent in July to 10 per cent in December.

    Jetix, the third child of Disney is still clutched in single digits in the HSM.

    SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE TO CONNECT; CHUTTI RULES WHILE CARTOON NETWORK PICKS UP

     

    Moving down South, no channel could stand the heat of Sun‘s Chutti TV. It holds position with 25.83 per cent average relative shares with Disney‘s Jetix coming in at Number 2 with a 24.17 per cent average.

    Channel July August September October November December
    Jetix 26 23 21 24 25 26
    Chutti TV 23 28 29 26 24 25
    Cartoon Network 21 18 19 18 22 24
    POGO 20 21 22 23 20 18
    Nickelodeon 4 4 3 4 4 3
    Disney Channel 4 3 3 3 2 2
    Hungama TV 2 2 2 2 3 3
    Source: TAM Peoplemeter System TG: CS 4-14 yrs Market: South:B‘lore/Chennai/Hyderabd/AP/TN/Kerala/Karnataka
    Period: July ‘07 to DEC ‘07 All day

    The southern TG was earlier starved for local regional content but after Chutti‘s advent others have forayed into the local regional content.

    The southern data saw a continuous zig zag fight among two channels Jetix, which is still going strong, and Chutti TV which directly jumped to the relative share of 26 in December from a single 2 per cent in the month of April.

    “Being a part of a large network, we understand the pulse of the market and provide the kids with a variety of programmes that not just entertains them but also educates them. Along with the kids, even parents would want to watch,” says Chutti TV channel head Kavitha Jubin.

    Villeneuve avers, “The southern market is very diverse. Therefore it is important to consider the local languages. We have Jetix running in Telugu and Tamil since launch and that is driving the channel.”

    Language disconnect of course explains why HSM leader Hungama TV‘s measly 3 per cent in December was the highest it has managed over the last six months.

    Cartoon Network, meanwhile, has picked up gradually from a relative share of 21 in July to 24 in December whereas Pogo saw a dip from 20 per cent to 18 per cent in December.

    An Interesting point of note though is that in the southern market, it was Cartoon Network that had all the top 10 shows in its kitty.

    “Even the highest raters on kids‘ channels – shows that rate 2+ TVRs – have exclusively been on Cartoon Network and Pogo in 2007. We announced an array of homegrown productions in 2007 spanning 7 different genres like action animation, quiz, a detective series, a family sitcom and a science show. We work with various Indian production houses, giving Indian talent a platform to showcase their creations. Cartoon Network and Pogo offered the largest bouquet with over 150 hours of original productions in 2007 and plan to take it up to 200 hours in 2008,” Tata says.

    And while the channels battle it out for bragging rights the kids, ‘they are a loving it‘.
     

     

  • ‘We are identifying short term tasks and medium term tasks to get to a new, bigger Star’

    ‘We are identifying short term tasks and medium term tasks to get to a new, bigger Star’

    It’s the festival of lights. And for many the festival of noise courtesy exploding fireworks. In the hope of reducing the number of those belonging to the latter tribe, we, at indiantelevision.com, decided to put a display of firecracker articles for visitors this Diwali. We have had many top journalists reporting, analysing, over the many years of indiantelevision.com’s existence. The articles we are presenting are representative of some of the best writing on the business of cable and satellite television and media for which we have gained renown. Read on to get a flavour and taste of indiantelevision.com over the years from some of its finest writers. And have a happy and safe Diwali!

     (Written by: Thomas Abraham in 2007)

    Two men under whose collective leadership rest the fortunes of Asia’s most powerful media conglomerate. In a way, there is a commonality in how both have risen to the top at Rupert Murdoch’s Asian media arm – from the blue as it were. It was just under ten months ago that Paul Aiello, a one time investment banker, was pitchforked into the hot seat of a company riven by internal power politics and stalled growth stories in the key markets it was operating in.

    Three months later, Aiello opted for another dark horse in then Star News CEO Uday Shankar, giving the newshound turned corporate honcho operational charge of India’s lead broadcast network and the difficult task of setting things right there.

    In conversation with Indiantelevision.com’s Thomas Abraham a day after Shankar was elevated to Star India CEO (on 25 October), the two offer their most detailed overview yet, of the media conglomerate’s plans for this market and the region as a whole. Excerpts:

    These are exciting times for the industry with the economy booming and the sector seeing 20-25 % growth. How does Star view all this? What are the key factors that will drive its growth? What could work as impediments?
    Aiello: I continue to be extremely excited about the market and its growth, even though there are numerous uncertainties. You can argue that there are regulatory uncertainties, uncertainties created by increased fragmentation in viewership and increased competition. But these things are to be expected in a highly dynamic market place.

    The challenge for us is not about focusing on what Star is. It is really about what should the next Star be? What should Star be in the next five to ten years from now? That requires a lot of internal focus and development of strategies. 

    So whether it’s about our core broadcast business where we must deal with increased fragmentation, regionalization… all the phenomena that everyone looks at, we need to be there. As well as looking at the overall growth in the media market and knowing that there are other areas that we’re not in as Star; but areas where we have tremendous capabilities within News Corp and in Star, that we should move in to and make sense of.

    So we’ve been through a strategic review process and now we are coming out of that and are identifying the short term tasks and the medium term tasks to get to a new and bigger Star.

    If you get detracted by a noise event like a new show that someone else has come up with in the last one week or some uncertain ruling or regulatory decision, you can get paralysed and miss what is the more important strategic initiative on where you want to be.

    It is really important to keep that strategic vision because then you become really disciplined to stand by what the vision is and do the execution of the steps necessary, whether it is people moves or moving into new areas of business.

    So which are the new areas?
    Aiello: Certainly we need to expand the footprint of our core business of our channels. In the next six to nine months, we are going to be launching more channels.

    Five channels?
    Aiello:     Five, six channels, yes. That is one manifestation of the extension of our core business. But we are looking at many other ways to build our business.

    Like for example?
    Aiello: News Corp has tremendous capabilities when it comes to films.

    Everybody was waiting for that. Are you going to go the Sony Pictures route? Will you be getting into movies big time and will that be under your mandate?
    Aiello:     It is something for not just me to decide, but Fox to decide. We work very closely with our sister companies at New Corp. Let us see what we can do together if such opportunities make sense.

    News Corp is pretty strong in new media, internet as well.

    MySpace?
    Aiello: Yes, MySpace, Fox Interactive Media.

    Ajay Vidyasagar will be on that I am told.
    Aiello: Ajay is very involved in our new media strategy.

    If Ajay will be overseeing that side of the business, there are also the content challenges that lie ahead. How will all this be managed?
    Shankar: Ajay did an amazing job in the last eight-nine months when there was a creative management vacuum when people had left and gone away. Now we have ramped up our content team. So there is Anupama (Mandloi), there is Vivek (Behl), there is Monica and two or three others who have come in. We’ve also created a structure which is more channel focused. So there is a general manager of Star Plus, who’s Keertan (Adyanthaya). There is a GM of Star One, that’s Ravi (Menon). So the day to day channel management activities have become pretty much independent and self contained.

    So, for any of the other senior management, including myself, we don’t have that kind of daily interface. Our task has moved on to doing strategic and long term planning for the channels. Our internal understanding is that Ajay is going to primarily spend his time in building the internet business. And that’s in collaboration with MySpace wherever it’s possible. And internally, we will do a whole lot of other things.

    Where MySpace might not be a partner?
    Aiello: That’s right. Star will have its own new media strategy. At the same time Star will work with MySpace, Fox Interactive Media, in as many places as it makes sense. 


    The times of 50-on-50 top shows is history and we could soon well have a situation of three to four networks fighting it out for top honours. How do you see that panning out? 
    Shankar: I really feel that in this market, in the entertainment space, for a long time will continue to primarily be a two player market. Maybe there might be a third player who will have a little bit of traction. Who that first, second or third player is may change, in two or even in five years time. But I still think that for many years, that is what is going to be the situation.

    The big difference will be this. Typically in broadcasting globally, two key players will be the ones making money. In this market, in GEC, simply because of the size of the universe, it is possible that if people have a disciplined content approach, even the No. 3 and the No. 4 can make money.

    And our advertising space is becoming so segmented. Not everybody has to take big corporate advertisers. Not everybody has to target the same clients.

    What it requires is for people to clearly identify their TG, their target geography and smartly design unique or signature content for these TGs. My big problem is that in category after category you see, people are just cloning the leader.

    The fact is that it has worked because of the very size of the market. News is a classic example of that.

    Shankar: It has worked. But the returns are diminishing. If you see sustainable leadership in whichever category, somebody has been able to challenge the leader’s content model. Star News did whatever turnaround it could manage because it did not follow the Aaj Tak route of live breaking news. It went into appointment viewing and other kinds of signature programming.

    Now what you see is that everybody is chasing one or other player. The same thing is happening in music. You are seeing more and more commoditization of content and less and less differentiation. That is a big challenge.

    I think distribution is a huge challenge for this market; copy content is a big challenge. And the third, I am not saying necessarily in that order, huge challenge is the shortage of original quality talent; which nobody is really talking about. It is the same talent that is going around.

    If you are smart, you change three jobs in two years, your salary will go up four times, and you will get three more promotions. That does not mean that the person’s maturity has gone up or that person’s quality of skills have increased.

    Aiello: This is an issue that applies not only of India, but practically to all of Asia. You have to get fresh new talent. It is critical nurturing them and taking risks in developing them. 

     

    So the three biggest challenges over the next three years are distribution, commoditisation of content and talent management?

    Shankar: In distribution, if you were to further focus, the two challenges would be, 1) to strengthen the cable infrastructure to allow more and more channels to be delivered to the end customer, 2) is to create a regulatory environment where premium content is encouraged by monetizing.it.

    Not everybody has to pay Rs 500. There should be a good, decent family package available for Rs 75; but, somebody who wants to pay Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 and get great content, should have access to that. It is not to make an argument that people should pay through their noses; but people should have a choice.

    What is your view on Trai’s mandating pricing in non-Cas areas? I am told that broadcasters, as in the IBF, are debating challenging it legally. 

    Shankar: If there is a regulatory order, then everybody will have to comply with that. Obviously we have no choice.

    But this kind of price cap in non Cas areas, in an Indian environment where there is so much of opacity in declarations of subscriber base, is going to be extremely counterproductive for this industry. Because you’re operating in a situation where the cost of distribution has become a very important line item for all broadcasters. Except for one or two channels like Star Plus, everybody else has to shell out a large sum of money on distribution.

    The problem is that this kind of artificial cap on value, when the input costs are not being controlled, is very, very counterproductive. A whole bunch of broadcasters and many of the niches are going to become uncompetitive because of distortions in the distribution space. I think this is going to be highly detrimental.

    Yet you have all these new launches, new networks coming up.
    Shankar: Three reasons. People have faith in the Government, in God and the Regulator. 

    ‘You have to get fresh new talent. It is critical nurturing them and taking risks in developing them’

    It’s ‘karma’ then?
    Shankar: Seriously, if you look at it, there are niche channels where 30-40 per cent of their opex is the distribution fee. It is clearly unsustainable.

    This is a market where the talent costs are going through the roof because of the supply side shortage. It is a market where new competitors are coming, so your content costs are going up. Because clutter is going up, your marketing costs are going up. And your distribution costs are going completely out of whack.

    There is not even a logical relationship. Last year what you spent has no bearing on what you will have to spend this year. And in this market what you spend has no correlation to what you spend for similar deliveries in an adjoining market. This is clearly an insane situation.

    Aiello: That is not to say that some of these people will not succeed.

  • Virtual library of cultural assets coming up in DD

    With just five permanent staff members working out of a temporary accommodation, Doordarshan Archives is digitally archiving intellectual property wealth that took roughly Rs 7.5 billion to create, and is steadily moving towards online selling of DVDs and then, video on demand.

    The picture can be bewildering seen from any angle, whether it is the temporary office space, human resources or technology, or the sheer value of the property that is going on the digital archives server, with meta data tags attached to each piece of DD production.

    Kamalini Dutt, director (archives) tells indiantelevision.com that a value could perhaps be put, but then truly speaking it is invaluable.

    An old tape being cleaned of fungus and dust in the DCB machine using hi-tech precision machines

    “I have got, for example, footage of a 35-year-old sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan in black and white, then I have a 45-year-old Khan playing sarod and now I have a 55 or 60-year-old Amjad Ali Khan… so it is really the life journey of a maestro,” Dutt says.

    Likewise, there are programmes of all the vocal, instrumental, dance, painting, sculpting, theatre maestros, everything (barring those destroyed due to time loss) that DD has gathered since the early 1960s, when DD productions started.

    No wonder that when the DD Archives team made a recent presentation at Golden Prague festival where classical music programme across the world were presented, there was a massive curiosity level from world experts.

    “They all asked about where these things were available and how they could access this,” said Dutt, initially the lone crusader for digital archiving in DD, before she was joined by Director (IPR) Ved Rao.

    Insiders in the archives project – all infected with the virus called ‘save our cultural heritage programmes‘ – say that between the two of them, Rao and Dutt have been responsible for this project that involves state of the art technology.

    These include the latest, digital restorer machine that can restore programmes from any format used in the past to the format presently being used in DD, and record them digitally to be made into printable master copies.

    The process takes an enormous amount of time per programme, starting with creating the meta data tag.

    Old legacy tapes even in such conditions are cured and then digitised for archiving

    This is a form that is filled up first by hand, mentioning everything about a programme, from the title to the gist of it, the producer‘s name, time, format, when it was created, right down to the stack where it is stored.

    Another set of persons are making hard copy of transcripts, some others giving new sub titles, mostly in English which creates more value for a programme by enlarging the audience for it.

    There is a specific room Rao shows around the system, where there are computer stacks, which can be shifted on rails and gives great flexibility to storage space, a room where 18 Celsius temperature and a specific humidity level is maintained at all times.

    Rao, however, often sounds despondent: “Many centres have not sent their legacy tapes,” she laments, and adds that of the oldest programmes, only 170-odd hours could be preserved.

    Rao says Dutt has issued a dictum that whatever is left or the old as well as whatever is being created new, “not an inch of tape can be thrown away”.

    “We have told them, you do not have to store, just send everything to us and we shall store them.”

    The staff strength is also bewildering: just five permanent ones.

    Says Dutt: “We are just five. We are using the services of old, senior and retired DD hands who had been editors and programme executives and they are being outsourced the work for editing and other such work, because they have knowledge of that.

    Experts on arts working at meta data centre for previews of old tapes

    “But for computerised work, we are outsourcing the work to youngsters, who are good at handling computers and more adept at using software.”

    The talk veers back to value, and Dutt says that DD gives roughly RS 250,000 to RS 400,000 to an independent producer for a 30-minute programme, so one can calculate that 250,000 programmes on archiving at the moment could have cost roughly RS 7.5 billion to create, but that is not the real value.

    Dutt explains: “As a programme sits in my library and gets older, it grows in value. For instance, where will we ever get another Bismillah Khan? So, truly speaking, the value of those programmes we have on Khan sahib could be enormous.”

    Many of the programmes have in fact been made into DVDs, and sold at RS 395 per copy, and the hottest selling have been shows by MS Subbulakshmi, Beghum Akhtar, Sufiana Music and Bismillah Khan.

    CD copies come for RS 295 and audio tapes for RS 195 a piece, and these are available at all DD Kendras, as well as other places.

    Ved M Rao, Director, IPR, with Afghan delegates at the compacter section

    Dutt informs that almost all the top music companies, including Music Today, had come seeking collaboration when this RS 30 million a year project or archiving started and when RS 7.5 million out of that was apportioned for creating DVDs and selling them.

    “Surprisingly for some of my colleagues, though not surprising to me, we have made a profit on that,” Dutt says.

    Rao adds that some of the best selling products have had three or four print runs of 3,000 copies each run.

    Dutt says about the collaboration: “We did not want that, we wanted our own exclusive stuff, which could be repurposed for any specific use, and we are thus competing with private channels offering flexi time to viewers.

    Though Dutt, a diminutive powerhouse of an official, did not set a date to it, the next step, she said, would be making available such programmes for DD‘s VoD set up that is likely to come up soon.

    Soon, DD would be creating a website for this archive and the selling of DVDs online would be taken up, Dutt informs, but says that selling other footage would not be possible because of DRM (digital rights management) problems.

    Typically of a pubcaster mindset, DD is not just raking in moolah for itself, but offering the benefits of the sales to the creators as well, including the artists, and Rao as Director IPR, is working out the value of programmes and the creators‘ shares with them.

    The idea is to have a virtual library with meta data tags on each programme, which then can be used commercially, instead of storing programmes that are used once in three or four years.

    “See, all these were made with public money, so why should we just keep it and not make it available to them at an affordable price and let them enjoy a higher level of aesthetic experience,” Dutt says.

    However, though there is a large market, Dutt admits that it is this issue of higher level of aesthetic experience that keep the market contained within some elite sections who have the taste, exposure and desire to experience that aesthetic, but that elite happens to be global and expanding, as the eyes on India expands exponentially.

  • DVD market on the cusp of change

    The DVD market in India is witnessing major change. The prices of both hardware and software has become highly competitive and a host of online rental players have emerged. But what impact will low prices have on the rental business and what pricing strategies are home video firms employing? This story offers a look at the current situation of the home video market in the country.

     

    First off, there is no denying that the DVD revolution is possibly the biggest thing that could have ever happened to movie buffs.

    Today, six cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata account for 70 per cent of the DVD player penetration in the market.

    According to Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci ), a PWC report states that there is a huge upspring in plasma TVs and home theatre surround sound systems, which has boosted the demand for home video products like DVDs and VCDs.

    The home video market in India – largely the rental market – was estimated to be about Rs 4 billion in 2005. Over the past two years, it has grown by about 15-18 per cent per year. The share of the home video market is estimated to be six per cent of the total film-based entertainment business. This is expected to grow to about 14 per cent by 2010, driven by the shorter-release windows in the theatrical business.

    India has approximately 15 million DVD players and this figure is expected to touch 70 million by 2010, which translates into a vastly untapped video rental market.

     

    The present market scenario

    The global broadcast technology market is worth $11 billion and is set to grow at 11 per cent with the pace being set in Europe, Middle East and Africa. This fact was highlighted at Broadcast Asia 2007, which is Asia’s biggest industry event held in Singapore from 19 -22 June 2007.

    The country has over five million home video and DVD subscribers and current penetration levels are expected to grow 31 per cent, according to the PWC report.

    The home video market is going to almost double from Rs 830 crore in 2007 to Rs 1,700 crore in 2010. The drastic cut in the price of DVDs has allowed DVDs to be sold through supermarkets as well. In the international scene, the total market has grown to an estimated 8.8 million subscribers at the end of 2006, with total estimated rental revenue of over $1.2 billion.

     

    Adams Media Research and Netflix internal estimates project that the total market will have more than 20 million online subscribers in the next four to six years. The DVD rental business is in the season of mergers, the latest to happen is the biggest fund raiser in the rental space Seventymm has acquired 100 per cent equity of the oldest rental service agency Madhouse.

     

    Moser Baer in the entertainment basket

    One player that is looking to change the dynamics of the home video market is Moser Baer. Its entry into the home entertainment market was marked by its move to slash the prices of DVDs and offer regional titles. This positioned the company among the top contenders and the biggest guns of retailers entering this market.

    Its set to change all the dynamics of the entertainment market and the problems conflicting the industry like high prices of DVDs which had given the rise of steadily flowing of piracy and high fragmentation in this business.

    Companies are releasing video content in DVD and VCD formats to ensure the highest quality standards, but also to significantly reduce costs. Moser Baer‘s fully licensed titles will be available at Rs 28 for an Indian film VCD and Rs 34 for an Indian film DVD – price points that we said before, will not just redefine the Rs 650 crore ($150 million) home entertainment business in the country, but also put it on the path to a four- to five-fold growth in the next three years. Of this, Moser Baer aims to have at least 50 per cent market share.

     

    One of Moser Baer‘s recent releases

    Pricing strategies: Moser Baer will also be releasing non-film titles in the following areas at different price points, including VCDs at Rs 49 and DVDs at Rs 69. Two VCDs will be priced at Rs 89. All English movie titles will be marketed (VCDs at market price of 49 and DVD of Rs 69). The company is also planning to launch single VCDs of songs in the range of prices starting from Rs 20 in all key languages.

     

    Distribution: Moser Baer is also setting up exclusive branded outlets (owned or through franchise) at about 300 locations, in addition to alliances with large format stores established by various retail ventures in the country. They have established a network of carrying and forwarding agents in all the states of India.

    Other players slashing prices: Shemaroo & Eros

     

    Other players in the market include the veteran Shemaroo. The firm recently introduced three new pricing categories for some products starting at Rs 66. Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada says that the last time DVD prices were reviewed was in 2004. He adds that the firm anticipated the competition in terms of prices and more players a few years back which is why it has sought to diversify itself.

    More price cutting has come from Eros International which has slashed its entry price on DVDs, cutting it down from around Rs 150 to Rs 99 to keep in tune with the dynamics of the market.

    One of the films in Shemaroo‘s low price catalogue

    Eyeing the potential of this sector, Reliance Entertainment, Nimbus and Percept are among the other players looking to enter the home video space with competitively priced products. Reliance is investing $ 100 million in its home video division Bigflicks. This has both an online and an offline component.

    The online component will mainly target NRIs. The offline component will consist of retail stores across the country. By the end of this financial year there will be 100 stores in 10 cities. In three years there will be around 500 stores in 50 cities. They will function as neighbourhood stores. They will offer DVDs for rental and sale. While the pricing strategy has not been decided upon Bigflicks COO Kamal Gianchandani says that it will be competitive.

     

    No drastic price reduction: Excel Home Video

    This animation film has done well for Excel

    For some of the other existing firms it is still a ‘wait and watch‘ strategy on the pricing front. Excel Home Video which focusses on Hollywood is not going in for huge price reduction anytime soon. Excel Home Video MD M N Kapasi says that it is not a question of high price or low prices.

    “So far the introduction of low price discs has not affected our business. We will reduce the price of our products marginally to push up volumes but it will not be a drastic reduction.

    “Demand is a function of content. You can have cheap hardware but if the software is not there a firm will not find takers. At the current price level of our DVDs and VCDs we are satisfied with the volume of business. We will be doing a study now to find out what the consumer expects. Is it a low price or is it quality they seek? Depending on that we will take a decision on how we go ahead.”

    No need to plunge prices: Sony Pictures

     

    Sony Pictures which has a home video unit is also adopting a wait and watch strategy. The firm feels that its price points are reasonable and with that price point it claims to compete successfully and at the same time make profits.

    A spokesperson says that there is no sudden need to plunge the prices when consumers are willing to make a price value comparison on a particular film. At a super low price one will bleed. It is worth noting that Moser Baer has an advantage. Since it is a disc manufacturer it can bring prices down more effectively than the competition.

     

    The webslinger has proven to be a winner for Sony Pictures on the home video front as well

    It is expected by the industry that the advent of low priced DVD players and some software at a reasonable price will help convert VCD buyers to DVD buyers thus helping to educate the consumer about the better quality and features of DVDs over VCDs. VCDs are still likely to sell in large volumes for some time though, as DVD hardware penetration in rural India is still not very high.

     

    Moreover, with the advent of lower cost DVDs, new distribution channels are likely to open up, thereby expanding the availability of DVDs more than they currently are. Several players are betting on home videos becoming a FMCG product being sold through multiple retail points like super markets and departmental stores apart from traditional music and video stores. Also, with the expansion of organised retailing in India, over the next few years, home videos are likely to get wider distribution reach.

    However, the key issue is what impact will low pricing of DVDs have on the rental business?

    As of now the rental business whether online or offline is yet to see the full impact of the low cost DVDs. It might not get affected in the short term as most of the renting happens for new Hindi and international releases mostly priced between Rs 299 – Rs 599 for DVD and Rs 149 – Rs 299 for VCD. The price reductions are usually introduced for older movies, classic titles. However, if prices for international and newer Hindi products also fall drastically in the next three years, as has been predicted by Moser Baer, then the rental business will certainly get affected.

     

    Industry players however don’t feel that low cost DVDs will have a major impact on cinema revenues. That is because theatre viewing is a different experience with the family as an outing. Video cannot replace that experience. Further, several films have a great impact on the big screen, compared to the small screen.

     

    Theatrical business will generally not be hit as there is a hold back period of 2-10 weeks before the original home video can be launched legally by the home video rights owner. Normally, the film completes its theatrical run by then.

     

    The Online DVD rental markets

     

    Coming to the fast expanding online DVD rental business that poses competition to the DVD market, include players such as Madhouse, Seventymm and Clixflix among others.

    Reasons for splurge in the Online DVD market

     

    • Internet penetration in India is growing not only in the urban areas but also in B and C class cities which has made possible the entry of this market in rural and small areas. The number of individuals who accessed the internet has increased marginally from 10.8 million to 13.0 million in 2006.

    • Local rental stores provided the customers with only limited editions of popular bollywood flicks, nothing besides that.

    • Cheap content and poor quality makes it hard for the consumer to get good quality DVDs at rental stores.

    • The organised movie rental business has checked the rampant problems of pirated versions.

    The leading players include:

     

    Madhouse (www.madhouse.in)

    Madhouse, which rents out original and legal disks, is among the earliest players in the sector. It claims to be the first rental service Indian company to offer movie rental services accessible via a multi-channel model. This includes customer interactions through the web, SMS, phone and kiosks. Founded in December 2004, Madhouse is headquartered in Delhi. The rental service was launched in the tri-city region of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali in May 2005.

    Madhouse was acquired by Seventymm this year.

    Seventymm (www.seventymm.com)

    With a funding of Rs 100 million from US based Draper Fisher Jurveston and 32 crore funding from Matrix Partners Seventymm is currently based in Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Mumbai. It was launched in 2005.

     

    Cinesprite (www.cinesprite.com)

    Cinesprite.com, which was launched in 2006 with nearly 10,000 titles, is a DVD rental site that offers subscription plans ranging from one to 12 months with an activation fee of Rs 150 and Rs 250 depending upon the package the viewer chooses.

     

    Moviemart (www.moviemart.in)

    Movie Mart, a new comer in this space was launched this year. The website is also a subscription based DVD movie rental service providing its members access to a library of motion picture, television and other film entertainment. The member can choose from their subscription packages and also offers unlimited validity period for four DVDs at a time at a price of Rs 999. These prices are key in combating the falling prices of software.

     

     

    Catchflix (www.catchflix.com)

    Catchflix online rental service was launched in may 2006. It covers Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi- NCR, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad. It offers a 50 DVD package at a cost of Rs 2899.

     

    Clixflix (www.clixflix.com)

    Launched in October 2004, Clixflix plans to expand nationally. It offers a package of six DVDs a month at Rs 399 and unlimited DVDs at Rs 799. This is a Mumbai based rental agency.

    Bigflicks (www.bigflicks.com)
    This is Reliance‘s online video service and will mainly target the NRI market. It has launched its on-demand movie download service. It offers films in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and Kannada that will be available for either download to own at a fee or for free streaming. The firm says that its USP is that it is the first and only online movie library with the largest regional content. The download price ranges from $2 – $15.

    BigFlicks.com will offer 2000 titles in the first year and there will be revenue sharing arrangements with the content owners. The site is also looking at acquiring Indian television content apart from looking to connect with subscribers in America, UK, Canada, Middle East, Australia and South East Asia. The site aims to have an easy interface and navigability. It offers downloading speed with bit rates of 1500 kbps.

     

    Conclusion

    Thus, it is not surprising to see why online DVD rental chains and retail majors have forayed into sales and distribution tie-ups apart from acquiring copyrights from content DVD manufacturers. The market is booming and online DVD rental companies are looking to expand through tie-ups with retail chains.

    The Indian entertainment industry is worth about $5.2 billion out of which the film industry alone is worth about $1.5 billion. Even though the online DVD rental players have a tiny market share presently, they are planning to grow rapidly and expect to reach $100 million within the next five years. DVD content owners are experimenting more with packaging to make the product more attractive as well as providing added value features.

  • GEC 2 to woo migrating viewers

    The declining importance of the conventional Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) on Indian television has thrown up considerable challenges for all broadcasters.Confronting the gradual fall of this reigning genre as drifting audiences move towards niche specific offerings, most channels are looking to aggregate viewers one way or another. In this attempt, most broadcasters are looking to pull back migrating audiences by dissecting the GEC space into sub-genres and giving rise to the second GEC.

    This phenomenon has given rise to a host of niche entertainment offerings through the support structure of a ‘flanking‘ channel. Here‘s a look at how industry experts perceive this growing trend within the dynamic television space of which GEC occupies 27-28 per cent of the total ad revenue pie.

    The Scrum

    The leading Hindi entertainment player in the country Star Plus was among the first to enter the fray with the launch of sister channel Star One in 2004. Sony was also looking to tread the same path with its acquisition of Sri Adhikari Brothers‘ Sab TV in 2005.

    Action will start again two years later as Zee TV will unveil its sibling Zee Next, while Sahara is also poised to introduce a sister entertainment channel Firangi.

    Sab TV business head Anooj Kapoor admits that a ‘fatigue‘ factor has set in to the GEC space as the main programming formula across frontline GECs is on the Saas-bahu theme.

    Thus, entertainment networks are looking at a second entertainment channel to provide different genres of drama.

    While some players are more willing to play around with new concepts, others prefer to play it safe with serials. Sab TV, for instance, is putting up a varied fare of youth focussed shows. Sahara‘s Firangi is also willing to give International dubbed a shot.

    Star One, on the other hand, is betting on soaps as the main driver. “Soaps will always be the staple of this country and Star One will continue to focus in that direction. While there would be add-ons and new shows, soaps will be the main driver,” says Star India president content and new media Ajay Vidyasagar.

    From a media agency‘s perspective, GECs are adding second channels as an attempt to prevent audience migration. Says Mindshare MD R. Gowthaman, “Audiences are getting segmented into distinct types and channels are catering to their specific needs. Meanwhile, GEC is losing its reach potential and broadcasters are using the route of a flanking channel to avoid losing their share to the competitor.”

    Experimentation platform & Low risk factor

    Rather than a mere add-on to the channel bouquet, the concept of a flanking channel serves a larger purpose of ‘experimentation at a lower risk,‘ which would not otherwise be possible on a flagship GEC. In order to service a segmented audience, the conventional GEC has been forced to slice up and dish out modifications of the same genre.

    Starcom MD India – West and South Manish Porwal said, “The trend over the last three to four years in the GEC space indicates that the genre has been de-growing by 10 per cent, besides GEC programmes are also losing their importance. Networks have sensed the challenge and are creating niche platforms of special sub-genres within GEC to allow for experimentation.”

    According to media planners, this is a cyclic trend seen across mature markets. It allows networks to provide viewers with more choices within a genre.

    The model also allows networks to take risks since the second channel is not a key revenue driver. Agrees Kapoor, “A second entertainment channel provides a platform for innovation and experimentation without the fear of greatly affecting business revenues of the network. It allows you to take risks, which can‘t otherwise be taken on the flagship channel.”

    Hit & miss approach

    In this scramble to appease audiences, channels are attempting to fathom where their viewers are navigating to.

    Star One was conceived as an upscale channel for metro audiences. Now it is attempting to broadbase the channel and is looking to tap the top 20 cities across the country.

    “We do not want to be known as an urban niche channel. Star One is eyeing the Hindi heartland as a differentiated mass entertainment brand,” says Star India VP Prem Kamath.

    Ahead of several entertainment channel launches, Star One is infusing a host of fresh shows to combat the growing number of players entering the game.

    Kamath, however, does not agree that the channel‘s attempt to expand its presence beyond the top metros is a response to mounting competition.

    “The launch of new shows is a natural process to rekindle the content flow. That is what we are doing on Star One,” Kamath says.

    Sony also has repositioned Sab with the march of time. When it acquired Sab, it wanted the ‘male skewed comedy‘ channel to strengthen the network‘s position in the Hindi heartland. It soon dropped the ‘Only smiles, no tears baggage‘ to give way to light humour.

    But sensing opportunity in the youth segment, Sab in 2007 went through a brand surgery and the channel was repositioned as an urban aspirational brand in the 15-35 age bracket.

    ZeeNext will be pursuing still younger audiences (15-25 year olds) and has the tagline ‘Dil Wahi, Dhadkan Nayi‘. While the genre will largely remain the same as Zee TV, the upcoming channel is looking to tap into a more progressive segment of its female dominated audience base with more contemporary themes.

    “We would like to offer our loyal audiences shows that give a younger treatment to the traditional stories. Zee Next will carry the attributes if being young, fresh and contemporary channel,” said Zee TV business head and Zee Group director Punit Goenka.

    Sahara, on the other hand, is looking to adopt a differentiated approach to entertainment with its offering. Firangi business head Rajeev Chakrabarti prefers to label it as a World television channel in Hindi rather than a GEC per se.

    Chakrabarti says that the content would be spread across a variety of genres, one of them being GEC. He, too, agrees with Kapoor‘s stance that fatigue has cast a shadow in the overall GEC space. Firangi‘s attempt, thus, is to go beyond that and expose viewers to contemporary relevant content, he adds.

    However, some media analysts say the drive is not just to get in a flanking channel. Says Lodestar Universal CEO Shashi Sinha, “This trend need not be thought of as a flanking channel concept. Broadcasters are realizing that audiences differ in their mindsets as some groups are more progressive than others.”

    Spot the drifters?

    Although it is difficult to pin point which segment of the audience is abandoning GEC in favour of other channels, it is evident that the ‘youth‘ seem dissatisfied.

    According to Sinha, the youth segment represents a fleeting audience base that are fickle and disillusioned. But the upside to this is that India is increasingly becoming a younger country, posing a massive opportunity for channels.

    The attempt to win over these viewers is steeply rising among all television players even though youth television habits are often categorized as ‘snacking consumption.‘

    During the repositioning this year, Sab came out with the “Buddha Tera Baap” campaign. Kapoor states, “Research suggests that 60 per cent of the population is below 35 years and for the network it made logical business sense to design programming for that age group. Besides, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) already offers full family viewing.”

    It works well as a network offering and as India progresses towards a two TV household it is advantageous to have differentiated entertainment channels for housewives and younger viewers, he adds.

    Challenges Ahead

    With each network looking to consolidate its position in the GEC space and garner the most eyeballs, the space is likely to give way to more clutter.

    However, Sinha believes that there is enough room for more players and foresees no major cannibalization. “In fact, new segments will be created and the GEC market will grow.”

  • Max leads Hindi movie channels; Zee Cinema speeds up

    It has been a busy six months for Hindi movie channels. While Max has tried to latch on to its gains from the ICC World Cup with big ticket film purchases, Zee Cinema and Star Gold have tailored their strategies to fit in with the market reality and focussed on smart purchases.

    With the help of Tam data (HSM C&S 4+), Indiantelevision.com takes a look over the performance of the Hindi movie channels across a six-month period.

    As the movie channel genre gears up to witness fierce competition, the past six months (January to June 2007) has seen a tussle between Zee Cinema and Max for the leadership spot. While Zee Cinema started ahead, it was dethroned by Max in March. Star Gold comes in at the third spot, but lagging far behind are Filmy and B4U Movies.

    The shuffle in the top slot, in fact, took place in March with Max seeing a swell in viewership because of the ICC World Cup. As the channel dished out live cricket content from the West Indies, it hogged a channel share of 49 per cent, majestically up by 17 per cent.

    Zee Cinema, on the other hand, slipped to the second position with the share dropping from 33 per cent in February to 26.

    Star Gold also couldn’t survive the cricket wave and slipped from a 24 per cent share in February to 17 per cent in March.

    However, in the months that followed, Zee Cinema got back in the game inching closer to the leader with a share of 32, as Max stands at 34 in June.

    Channel Jan-07 Feb-07 Mar-07 Apr-07 May-07 Jun-07
    MAX
    32
    32
    49
    40
    37
    34
    Zee Cinema
    34
    33
    26
    29
    31
    32
    Star Gold
    24
    24
    17
    22
    23
    25
    Filmy
    8
    9
    6
    8
    8
    7
    B4U Movies
    2
    2
    1
    1
    1
    1
    Relative shares C&S 4+ TAM

    As expected, the ICC Cricket World Cup did help Max cannibalize shares from other channels in the genre. But as India exited, so did some viewers but still it was attractive enough for Max to garner a channel share of 40 in April.

    Max business head Sneha Rajani is happy with the outcome that cricket delivered for the channel. She said, “Although the ICC Cricket World Cup was the last cricket property on the channel, it did well for us despite India’s exit.”

    Zee Cinema inched up to a share of 29 per cent in April while Star Gold gained five per cent.

    Post World Cup, Max’s task was to hang on to the lead even as it transitioned from a hybrid to a pure movie channel. The culmination of the cricket phase was immediately followed by the Amitabh Bachchan Film Festival, titled Ab Tak Bachchan, in late April. The channel also extended its primetime by bringing it forward to 8 pm from its earlier positioning at 9 pm.

    It was as if a war was on between Amitabh Bachchan Vs. Amitabh Bachchan on the two competing channels. Zee Cinema launched a Big B festival titled Shanivaar Ki Raat Amitabh Ke Saath.

    In May, Max continued to lead over Zee Cinema but dropped its share to 37. Zee Cinema stabilised in the two months with a score of 31 and 32.

    The gap has, in fact, narrowed in June with Max slipping to a share of 34.

    Sharing insight into how the channel hopes to regain its lead, Zee Cinema deputy business head Mohan Gopinath said, “We have almost reached Max with the help of film festivals. In fact we are planning several more in the coming months. The whole idea of festivals is to let the viewers know about the movies they missed out.”

    In a highly title driven TV movie market, Max is looking to maintain its current postion by betting big on blockbusters. The channel has reportedly spent over Rs 2 billion to acquire a mix of big, medium and small movies from big banners like Eros International, Yashraj Films Dharma Productions and Mukta Arts, among others.

    Max kicked off the promotional activity for these films with ‘Saal ke Sabse Bade Blockbuster’ and will be screeningNamastey London, Cheeni Kum, Gandhi My Father, Eklavyaand many more.

    The channel shelled out close to Rs 650 million for 16 films from the Eros stable alone. Rajani opines, “We have not even shown half of the Eros movies that we acquired, but I am confident that all of them will do well for the channel.”

    As far as big titles are concerned, Max has only recently started showcasing this blockbuster library with Kaabul Express, Lagey Raho Mumnnabhai and Kabhi Alvida Ne Kehna.

    Zee Cinema has not done major buys this year. The channel, instead, believes innovative programming is the route to achieve the lead.

    “We have done a few buys but all depends on how innovatively you promote and screen them,” said Gopinath.

    Top Ten movies from January – June 2007
    Tam (HSM C&S 4+ TAM)

    Speaking of titles, Zee Cinema hogged the top ten charts across the six month period with six of its films featuring in the list. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Ghar Ho To Aisa and Phir Heraa Pheri were aired in May and June.

    Though Star Gold has been strolling along in the third position in terms of shares, it garnered the maximum eyeballs when it showcased Krrish, topping the six month top ten movie charts with a whopping 4.1 TVR. Star Gold’s telecast of Chup Chup Kealso featured in the charts.

    From the Max stable, old timers Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaengeyand Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham came in to the top 10 charts delivering a TVR of 1.97 and 2.23 respectively.

    How does the fight for winning the ratings battle shape up?

    “You can’t escape from the fact that every movie channel is very title driven. There will be weeks when competition increases and the competitor may show stronger titles. Zee Cinema had good weeks in the past and I am sure they will have a couple of good weeks ahead, but we will remain on the top,” said a confident Rajani.

    Not perturbed by the jolt Zee Cinema received during the two cricket dominated months, Gopinath said, “People in India are very sentimental about cricket, therefore it is bound to benefit the channel. However, we are back and hope to take the leadership spot.”

    Zee Cinema has branded different time slots to generate appointment viewership. The channel recently introduced ‘Bhakti ki Shakti’, a Sunday morning slot for mythological movies, which according to the channel is doing well.

     

    Apart from the two movies in the top 10, Star Gold has managed to perform consistently except in April but has always stayed in the third spot.

    When most movie channels are banking on the weekends, Star Gold has introduced a Monday prime time band for screening its library of comedy flicks. These include Bheja Fry, Darwaza Band Rakho and Ek Chalis ki Last Local with more to follow.

    Additionally, Star Gold is running a Bond festival for the first time called ‘Main hoon Bond’ by dubbing these films in Hindi.

    Filmy is still struggling to achieve a share in the double digit. The channel from the Sahara stable has crossed the experimentation phase and is now is ready to offer films with a blend of other programs in comedy and reality format. It has introduced the Rajnikant film festival and has its fingers crossed for the upcoming reality show Bathroom Singer.

    Speaking of the channel’s differentiated strategy, Filmy business head Shailesh Kapoor said, “We are still new as compared to other channels. Even then we have proved ourselves. In terms of acquisitions, distribution and revenues we have grown. Now the real phase starts when we slowly unveil comedy and reality shows on our channel.”

    The channel saw a fall in shares to six in the month of March. Senior executives have blamed it on distribution which they claim to have corrected now.

    Completely isolated from all the action in the movie space is B4U Movies which has not managed to surpass a share of two over the six-month duration.

    What’s interesting, heightened activity is expected to take place in the coming months with Hindi movie channels from the Reliance Group, Viacom 18 and UTV slated for launch.

    Will there be a scarcity of content causing a threat to existing players?

    Rajani says, “There will certainly be a crunch of movies. I think there are very little movies available in the market for purchase for the next two years. Almost every major title has been tied up with some or other channel but I am sure the channels that are coming up must have planned something for themselves. There is certainly a dire need of more content. But we are not at all threatened.”

    Gopinath adds, “There is enough space available and I don’t think it will lead to any scarcity of content.”

    “Bollywood has a mass appeal. That means more viewership and advertisers. GRPs of movie channels are increasing by 20 to 25 per cent every year and that gives a lot of scope for an advertiser,” avers Kapoor.