R iding high on the claim of carrying ‘exclusive’ and ‘breaking’ stories, news channels are rating their success stories. The route is not through digging a story from the rubles of Nandigram or Singur but the passing game of the pot of gold begins with high end stories on the World Cup, Shilpa Shetty winning the Big Brother title or being kissed by Richarsd Gere and the great Indian Abhi-Ash wedding.
Indiantelevision.com’s analysis of Hindi news channels using Tam data (HSM, C&S 15 + years) during the six-month period beginning January 2007 throws up some interesting insights into the genre while the battle among the players intensifies.
The reigning Hindi news channel in the category during this period is TV Today’s flagship channel Aaj Tak. The channel has held on to its top position. With a six month average of 21.3 per cent (Tam C&S 15 + years, HSM), it has topped the chart with a share of 23 in January. But it has yielded ground in June and has shared the top slot in this month with a 19 per cent share.
Meanwhile, Aaj Tak’s sister concern Tez has managed to be consistent in its performance with an average of 4 per cent for the period.
Second in the ratings game performance is Star News which has been consistent and stable across the period. Securing the second spot in the January to May period, Star news has gripped the market with 17 per cent share. However, in the month of June, it soared to the very top, sharing position with Aaj Tak. Star News clocked a six month average of 16.8 per cent.
But a closer look at the half-yearly score card (January -June 2007) of news channels across the Hindi speaking belt reveals grave concerns for some players.
One that has seen the slide is NDTV India. From January to June, the relative market share has been dipping considerably. From a 13 per cent market share in January, the channel reached 9 in June, while the six-month average stood at 10.8 per cent, which does not even place the channel among the top three.
Explains NDTV group CEO Narayan Rao, “It is a short term passing phase. In the long term for any news channel it is credibility and authencity that matters. Whatever the situation is, we never opted to go down a certain route. We still have the same philosophy as we had when we conceived the channel.”
The channel had the guts to stay out of sensationalism which was grabbing eyeballs. “News can be of any kind. It depends on the channel’s ideology to present the same story without sensationalising it. We strive to get the hard core stories. Dibang who was our managing editor, on his special request, is now sent on special assignment. He will travel across India and bring core issues into light,” Rao says.
NDTV’s hope is that sensationalism would ease out in the long run. Says Rao, “Undoubtedly the differentiating factor is how we package the content. We never want to titillate the viewer but rather have a impact on him. On 14 and 15 August, when all the news channels were showing the footage of the gory fake encounter in Allahabad, we edited the video and showed it only for a limited number of times. This makes a difference in the long run.”
As a rule, somebody’s loss is somebody’s gain. Giving tough competition to the other news channels, India TV has upped its status in the ranks. Holding 11 per cent share in January (Tam C&S 15 + years, HSM), the channel jumped up to 16 cent and 15 per cent in May and June to clutch the second position in the respective months.
Is Hindi journalism in the electronic media going the tabloid way?
A media observer says, “The division is like the caste system in India. When the bigger channels show anything exclusive, people say the channel deserved it. Yet, people call it ‘tabloidisation’ when a smaller channel shows anything of that sort.”
The news is not so good for Zee News. A matter of concern is that Zee News has not been able to go beyond the third spot. In the January to June period, Zee News’ has been hovering around 13 to 11 per cent (Tam C&S 15 + years, HSM). However in the month of June, the channel lost its long held third position to IBN 7.
IBN 7, a later entrant into the space, has been working hard to get into the top league. The channel leaped into the competition in the months of May and June with 12 per cent each, prior to which it accounted for merely 9 per cent of the market in the month of January.
Says IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh, “We were the first to expose the Nithari case. It was us first who brought to light the first case of cannibalism in India.”
“These days hardcore news is disappearing from the channel. It is not that all the news channels are here to do moral lesson stories. The news stories are selected on the basis of popularity. However, we at IBN 7 have always invested in the hardcore stories. This is the USP of the channel,” he explains further.
The other channels in the fray have not been able to stand the heat of the competition in the Hindi speaking belt. Whatever the reasons may be, the Hindi heartland fails to be satisfied by the likes of DD News, Sahara Samay Rashtriya and Janmat (now re-positioned as Live India).
The figures of the government run DD News tells a sad story. Starting as low as three in the month of January, DD News could only manage a mere four per cent in June.
Lagging further behind is Broadcast Initiatives’ Janmat with an average of 1.83 per cent over the six month period. Following its recent re-positioning from a ‘views’ channel to adopting the live news approach, the challenge ahead will be to make its mark in the market.
Sahara Samay Rashtriya has also been losing its existing hold in the market with a share of 7 per cent in January, slipping down to 5 in the month of May.
Currently obsessed with the three C’s – crime, cricket and cinema – another C (for comedy) has become the new found love of Hindi news channels.
Meanwhile, the deadly Content Code proposed by the information and broadcasting ministry is threatening to whack news channels going astray. Facing much opposition from these channels, the restrictions of the Content Code might, in fact, turn the tables of the numbers game or even determine whether tabloidisation or credible and authentic journalism is what will rule the roost.
Once the ‘big brother’ steps in, it will be interesting to see the strategy each news channel churns out to outdo competition and be ahead of the game.
But that is another story we will have to wait for as the government is coming under increasing pressure to bow down on the Content Code.
Graphs by Roshnni
Explaining toIndiantelevision.com Nick India VP and GM Nina Jaipuria says, “We have made a conscious effort to do what we promised at the beginning of the year, that is to connect to our loyal audiences and to acquire new audiences via our on-air and on-ground activities. This has helped increase the affinity of kids to the channel. On the ratings front, we have witnessed 67 per cent growth in TVRs which makes us the fastest growing the category across Hindi speaking markets. We have also grown by 54 per cent in reach, while the reach of the category as a whole has stagnated at 64 per cent from January to June 2007.”
Coming back to the two top networks, Disney did overthrow the long standing player at the helm Turner in February and June, but what’s intriguing is that the fortunes of Disney appear to be mostly tied into the fate of its adopted baby Hungama TV which peaked during these two months clocking a share of 24 and 25 respectively. In North India Jetix has been slipping from a share of 7 to 5, while Disney Channel has been fairly consistent with an average share of 15.5. Hungama TV has emerged as the chart topper in the Hindi markets in the month of June.
When queried on the pitfalls that the channel encountered, Bhosle elaborated that her attempts at a pre-school block in August 2006 did not take off well, even though she re-tried this strategy in June this year as well. Additionally, action anime and Bollywood flicks were not received well by her audiences. “Besides kid’s centric Bollywood films are too few and only provide one-off spikes. I would rather focus on building properties that will consistently deliver,” she adds.
Turner International India VP advertising sales and networks, India and South Asia Monica Tata says, “Cartoon Network and Pogo have never looked at short-term measures or short-term results, even when it was the only kids’ channel in India. As far as ratings are concerned, we have always played fair and looked at long-term ratings rather than just a few weeks.
Steering our analysis towards South India, we find that the new Tamil kid from the Sun stable has rattled up the market, especially eating into a substantial chunk of both Cartoon Network and Pogo’s audiences.
Making up for its dipping numbers in the North is Walt Disney’s Jetix which held on to its position in the South. Jetix garnered a share of 26 and 27 for May and June, despite the onslaught of FTA newcomer Chutti TV that gobbled up a share of 21 for the two months after launch.
Bracing up for the months ahead Tata concludes, “We have always led from the top and not shifted or changed our strategies in reaction to competition. Our vision is to be a major kids’ lifestyle brand in the next few years. And we have been working very hard this past year to move aggressively and rapidly towards that vision. We are no longer taking baby steps but extending the brands across various platforms to ensure that we reach out to kids at every possible access point.”
Star‘s decline has been due to a confluence of several factors – from a saturation of its top saas-bahu sagas Kyunki… and Kahaani, to niche channels eating into the share of the genre. “Star‘s dipping numbers are due to the gradual decline of its top programmes along with Zee‘s steady growth,” states an industry observer.
Zee, of course does not want to jump the gun in uncorking the bubbly just yet. Zee TV business head and Zeel director Punit Goenka tells Indiantelevision.com that the channel‘s gradual climb is what they have been working hard on for some time. Goenka also credits the rise and rise of his channel with the success that its long running musical show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 has been enjoying. Says Goenka, “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge has indeed given us a big boost over the last two and a half months.”
ICI Paints had promoted its Velvet touch range of paints during the release of big-budget releases like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Salaam-e-Ishq wherein along with distributing promotional merchandise, a contest was also run. Winners had the opportunity to get their homes painted in ICI Deluxe Velvet touch paints. 
CalvinKare‘s Spinz range of deodarants are positioned around the theme of dance and youth. In their recent activation, patrons for Jhoom Barabar Jhoom were asked to match steps with two dancers dancing to the title of songs from the film. P9 Integrated, which executed the campaign, says the response was excellent. CalvinKare product manager Sanghamitra Rath agrees, “We‘ve used cinema activation for the first time and the response has been very good. We‘re using this campaign in different metros across the country.”
Furniture line Godrej Interio recently involved themselves in multiplex activation, wherein the complete range of Godrej Interio office and kitchen furniture was put up on display. An official from Godrej Interio stated, “We‘ve tried to make the best out of a big film‘s release. Our target audiences are present here in the multiplex and they would be interested in checking out our new range of furnitures.”
Multiplexes are also high catchment areas for the product sampling. “Audience profiles are such who are more open to trying out new products, giving feedback and information on user preferences and telling us about their consumption habits. Moreover they have the purchasing power,” says Thakar. “Therefore extensive database collection is done due to our interaction, which further adds on the measurability of the medium,” he adds.
Mobile music consisting of ringtones, caller ringback tones, music clippings ringtones, music video downloads, movies and scene downloads has emerged as the most prominent segment in the digital music industry and is a major money making business today. Gangal further adds, “Physical and digital formats are way away from each other. Some tracks are just meant for the digital market. But as far as revenue from them is concerned, they are neck to neck. There isn’t much gap there.”
Today, almost every handset is capable of playing polyphonic or actual music. Cell phones ranging from Rs 2000 – Rs 5000 sell the most in India and thus can avail just the mono or polyphonic tones. Video and song downloads does not come into the picture here. But, mobile music is developing faster due to higher penetration of phones compared to portable players or broadband, and also, due to ease of payment. Almost all operators today have launched an ‘Easy Music’ facility that allows subscribers to choose their favourite music from a huge catalog and download it onto their mobile phones or even iPods at affordable prices. This has helped the mobile music market boom to unexpected levels.
Presently, the techno-savvy generation is making use of mobiles in all the possible ways to get the best out of it. By the end of 2007, it is expected that India alone will have around 250 million handsets. Global companies like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung are striving neck-to-neck to come up with handsets loaded with FM radios, MP3 players and a good memory capacity as buyers are showing an edge for such features in their cell phones.
That statement could well be the start of a whole new wave of media jostling for space with the big daddies of traditional media. It was really the success of YouTube that set the ball rolling for ‘user generated content’. Supported by the millions of video clips put up on the site daily and with mind boggling traffic, YouTube has gained a mythological community-driven status today.
The single most important question: is all the content out there purely put out by users for gratification, a shot of fame or to display talent or will we be able to generate revenue out of this content and distribute it equitably between you – the content generator – and the distributor. Monetization of UGC will be an important key in aiding both growth and quality of the content. (Would you pay to watch a cat play piano? Would the cat owner get a share of the money you pay? No! the cat gets nothing.)
This is the premise that music channels like Channel [V] and VH1 have used to create music programming and a music video respectively. Channel [V] had an enthusiastic bunch of bloggers who got together to shoot the Big [V] concert which was later telecast as a series. Says Channel [V] head Amar K Deb, “‘Made by you’, the blogumentary that spawned a series of music shows was a first of its kind experiment. But it fit in perfectly with Brand ‘V’. People want to participate in our shows, be a part of the process. By definition, television is perceived to be a passive medium but with UGC it takes on a more interactive format. Whether it’s our promos or music programming, our viewers want to contribute.”
While the response to the Nokia and VH1 partnered Shot by Youinitiative was impressive, the quality of video clips or pictures sent weren’t always up to the mark bringing into question the quality of user generated content meant for traditional media.
Web 2.0 is a social experiment and like any other experiment it could fail. But it’s an experiment that has allowed scores of anonymous faces, voices and all kinds of talent to crop up and have their moment in the sun. By extension that also means that a lot of content out there is downright nonsensical. The pay per click or pay per download model would perhaps ensure that a lot of this material is either filtered or relegated to the ‘back pages’.