ITV

Category: Specials

  • Sun continues to shine on its namesake broadcaster

    Sun continues to shine on its namesake broadcaster

    BENGALURU: Television penetration is high in South India about 95 per cent as compared to the national average of about 65 per cent. A little less than forty per cent of television viewership in India is from South India. According to a Sun TV Network investor presentation, the addressable television advertisement market for South Indian television broadcasters, which comprises national, regional and local level advertisers, is pegged at Rs 6,000 crore.

    The four major South Indian languages are (in order of populations of the major territories they are spoken in) Telugu in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Tamil in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kannada in Karnataka and Malayalam in Kerala. Besides, there is a global diaspora from South India that speaks one or more of these four languages. The largest regions in terms of population is Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In terms of television households, Tamil Nadu leads because of its higher television penetration, followed by Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala in that order. There are about 225 channels spread across the four South Indian languages that beam into India, besides many more that beam South Indian language content into other geographies.

    Networks, be they regional or pan-India, have been trying to attract as many eyeballs in these regions to their channels as they can. The focus in new channel launches seemed to be Telugu and to some extent Kannada in 2018. Though channels were launched in Tamil and Malayalam languages by major networks, it seemed more as efforts to enter these spaces, rather than to consolidate further.

    Among the major networks, Star India, Sun TV Network, Viacom18/ETV and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) have channels that cater to the viewership pleasure of speakers of at least three of the four languages. All of them would like to lead in each of the four languages. The Sun TV Network has channels across genres such as GEC, movies, music, kids and comedy in all the four languages. The network also has news and ‘life’ channels in Tamil and Telugu.

    As things stood, until 2018, only Sun TV Network and Star India had major channels in all the four languages. Zeel launched its Malayalam GEC Zee Keralam on 19 November 2018 and completed its quartet. The network had catered to only the Telugu, Tamil and Kannada audiences until then. With the launch of Zee Keralam, Zeel had five channels for South Indian viewers – Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada, Zee Tamil and Zee Cinemalu, a Telugu Movies channel.

    The major GECs from the Star India stable included Asianet for Malayalam, Star Vijay for Tamil, Star Suvarana for Kannada and Star Maa for Telugu. Besides, Star India has been wooing sports viewers in South India -it now has 3 sports channels in South Indian languages – the last one to be launched near the end of 2018 – Star Sports 1 Kannada. Earlier, on December 7, the network had launched Star Sports 1 Telugu to join Star Sports 1 Tamil. The launch of Star Sports 1 Kannada took the Star Sports channel count to 15 with 10 standard definition and five high definition channels.

    Another national network, Network18, through Viacom 18 and ETV, has also been making rapid strides to catch up with its peers in the South Indian space. Earlier in the year, on February 19, Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd (Viacom 18) had launched Colors Tamil. The company followed it up by launching a Kannada movies channels – Colors Kannada Cinema. Viacom 18 also started the Kannada feed of two of its kids’ channels – Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon Sonic. Through the ETV brand, the Network 18 group launched ETV Pus HD, ETV Life HD and ETV Aburichi HD, ETV Cinema HD were launched on December 27, 2018.

    As many as nine HD channels were launched by two pan India networks in South India. Seven of the new HD channels were Telugu– five GEC and two movies and one each GEC HD channel was launched in Kannada and Malayalam. Network 18 through Viacom 18 and ETV launched five, while Zeel launched four HD channels. Zee Kannada HD was launched on 3 November 2018, while Zee Telugu HD and Zee Cinemalu HD were launched on 1 January 2018. Zee Keralam HD was launched on 5 December 2018.

    2018 saw elections in a number of states in the country. It also saw launch of regional news channels in the south. NewsX Kannada, a Kannada news channel was launched in 2018, while in the Telugu News space, Thota Chandrasekhar who holds positions in actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, launched 99 TV on 11 July, 2018. The Jana Sena Party also reportedly supports another Telugu News channel that started test runs on 24 October 2018 -Prime9 News.

    According to a Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) presentation in April 2018, television viewership in 2017 grew by 32 per cent as compared to 2016. In South India, viewership of Kannada content led the growth, followed by Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam with 63 per cent, 33 per cent, 30 per cent and 16 per cent growth respectively. Comparatively, viewership of the largest language – Hindi, grew by 27 per cent.

    The Sun continues to shine on Sun TV

    BARC data for top 10 channels across genres NCCS All India 2+ reveals that the Sun TVv Networks flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV is the most watched channel in the country. In 2018, Sun TV headed BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for 48 of the 52 weeks of 2018. It was only during some weeks of the eleventh edition of the Indian cricketing bonanza IPL that channel lost its prime position in BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for four of the seven IPL weeks.

    Among the 4 languages, it was Sun TV that topped BARC’s weekly ratings in Tamil, Star Maa that generally topped the weekly ratings in Telugu, Colors Kannada that topped the ratings in Karnataka and Asianet that topped the ratings in Malayalam during 2018.

    Since week 1 of 2018, BARC has also started putting in the public domain weekly ratings of news channels in these languages – and there are more than forty of them spread across the four languages. Polimer News in Tamil, TV9 Telugu in Telugu, TV9 Kannada, and Asianet News in Malayalam were the regional news toppers according to BARC’s weekly list of top 5 news channels in each respective language during 2018.

    From the financial aspect, the Sun TV Network has been one of the most profitable media and entertainment companies in India. The company has been rewarding its shareholders with dividends for at least three of the four quarters of a fiscal. Financial year 2018-19 or FY 2018-19 (period between 01 April 2018 to 31 March 2019) seems to be no different – the company has already rewarded its shareholders with dividends for the two quarters for which it has declared results so far.

    Despite not having a number 1 position in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 channels in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, the network’s channels have a huge combined viewership. The company claims in his investor presentation that about 29 per cent of the estimated Rs 4,500 crore television ad revenue and 60 per cent of subscription revenue of the four South Indian spaces accrues to it. The Sun TV Network’s revenue for FY 2018-19 was Rs 2,862 crore, profit after tax (PAT) was Rs 979 crore (36 per cent margin). Sun TV Network’s ad and subscription revenues for fiscal 2018-19 were Rs 1,172 crore and Rs 1,116 crore respectively.

  • Star India awaits cricket bonanza in 2019 after solid sports growth in 2018

    Star India awaits cricket bonanza in 2019 after solid sports growth in 2018

    MUMBAI: Uday Shankar, who was recently promoted to president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and chairman of Star and Disney India after the Fox-Disney units combined, has disrupted the Indian sports broadcasting business in the last couple of years. From scooping the media rights of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) to bolstering his sports networks’ regional offerings with the launch of Telugu and Kannada language, Shankar has thrown caution to the wind on more than one occasion in his bid to change the rules of the high-stakes game. Shankar’s grand vision and appetite for big bets has now placed Star India in a rather enviable position with a stranglehold over cricket properties this World Cup year.

    Tightened grip on Indian cricket

    Star wasted no time in setting the tone for the year as it appointed Gautam Thakar as the new Star Sports CEO on 15 January 2018. Thakar was roped in to fill up the void left by the exit of Nitin Kukreja, Shankar’s blue-eyed boy, who left the organisation in March 2017.

    The broadcaster tried to alter the IPL timings (8 pm game to 7 pm and the 4 pm match to 5.30 pm), a controversial development which was confirmed to Indiantelevision.com by then IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla. Despite the IPL governing council on board with the idea, opposition from team owners stalled Star’s plans.

    In February, Star won the rights for IPL’s audio-visual production as well as the BCCI domestic circuit for 2018-19, further tightening its grip on Indian cricket.

    In April, Star kept its foot on the pedal as it retained the BCCI rights, conducted via an e-auction for the first time, until 2023 for mind-boggling Rs 6,138.1 crore. Star came out on top after a fierce bidding war, which lasted three days, against Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI).

    The broadcaster paid Rs 60.1 crore per match for the 2018-23 home rights across five years which, a 50 per cent increase from the Rs 40.1 crore it shelled out for the 2012-18 cycle with a bid of Rs 3,851 crore for 96 matches.

    Kicked off IPL with a bang

    Star couldn’t have asked for a better start to its IPL reign, firing on all cylinders. The IPL final, aired live on 17 channels across eight different languages, powered the network’s growth by 34 per cent with 52.9 million average impressions. The title decider was produced with 11 live feeds across the TV network and Hotstar.

    Super streamer Hotstar, then led by Ajit Mohan, hit a world record for concurrent online viewing with 10.7 million viewers for the final. The final witnessed a sudden hike from eight million to 9.1 million and then to 9.7 million before hitting the 10.7 million mark.

    The television viewership for the tournament was 1.4 billion impressions with a growth of 15 per cent. With a total of six regional languages contributed to 22 per cent of the overall viewership.

    According to industry sources, the network clocked close to Rs 2000 crore in advertising revenue for the first season.

    For the first time, IPL was also aired on public broadcaster Doordarshan. According to the agreement, Doordarshan could telecast a select number of matches with a 60-minute delay along with some highlights.

    Another potential Star-Prasar Bharti face-off

    It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the broadcaster. In October, MIB proposed to amend the Sports Act 2007, which will provide ‘sports events of national importance’ on Prasar Bharati-owned, free-to-air Doordarshan Network an extended reach via private direct to home and cable TV Networks.

    The MIB has now proposed to amend the act to make such events available on DD through all mediums of distribution. This may result in preference changes of the consumer and would not subscribe to costly private sports network channels. This will also give the distribution platforms an opportunity to negotiate harder with the sports broadcasters.

    The move to amend the Sports Act 2007 has been necessitated due to a Supreme Court verdict which held that the public broadcaster Doordarshan cannot air events of national importance on private distribution platforms.

    In the same month, MIB issued a notice for receiving feedback/comments from general public/stakeholders on the draft bill, 2018. In a recent update, the ministry has extended the deadline to give feedback on the draft sports broadcasting signals (Mandatory sharing with Prasar Bharti) (Amendment) Bill 2018 till 15 January 2019. The earlier deadline was 31 December 2018.

    A move of this nature could adversely impact the revenues of sports broadcasters, particularly Star given its big bets on Indian cricket.

    Bolstered regional play

    Star India launched three channels in 2018, in line with its commitment of fostering a multi-sports culture in the country. Star Sports 3, a multi-lingual channel, was launched on 15 September and the first big event to air on it was Indian Super League (ISL) Season 5 in Hindi.

    Star Sports launched its third regional channel Star Sports 1 Telugu after Star Sports 1 Hindi and Star Sports 1 Tamil. The channel went on-air on 7 December.

    The broadcaster added a fourth regional channel, Star Sports 1 Kannada, on 29 December. Star India’s attempt at securing an exclusive sports channel for its Kannada viewers didn’t see the light of day for the 11th season of IPL. Regulatory hurdles made the broadcaster switch the Kannada feed to Suvarna Plus.

    According to FICCI- Re-imagining India’s M&E sector 2018, the sale of broadcasting and media rights is the biggest source of revenue for most sports organisations, and can account for 55 per cent to 70 per cent of total revenues. The global sports media rights is expected to breach the US$50 billion barrier in 2019 and could reach US$54.3 billion by 2021.

    2019 cricket bonanza

    2019 is loaded with marquee cricket events with Star India owning rights to most of them. The summer has four key series or tournaments – New Zealand versus India, India versus Australia followed by the 2019 IPL and the all-important ICC World Cup 2019. Barring two series, Star is bound to be the home for Indian cricket lovers this year. That’s not all. The broadcaster intends to further dominate the regional language market play with the launch of three additional sports channels in Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam. 

  • Modern brand marketing methods not just digital-exclusive

    Modern brand marketing methods not just digital-exclusive

    MUMBAI: The use of the internet and other digital media and technology to support 'modern marketing’ has given rise to the concept of digital marketing, and we at Tanishq believe that the focus has always been on building a 360-degree marketing plan, with seamless integration of products, services and communication. We try to not look at traditional and digital as two separate entities. Although digital ad spends have shown a considerable increase in comparison to traditional media, the base however, continues to be relatively smaller. Regardless, we have intensified the number of digital assets and we are also leveraging new-age tools at disposal like geo-targeting, virtual reality, online-to-offline attribution modelling etc., basically all tools that help us ensure maximum accessibility of the brand, for the consumers.

    Most categories and brands are focusing on a multichannel media approach and that has reflected a lot in the festive season as well. With regards to the ad spend share for FMCG brands, we have noticed a reduction in their focus from traditional mediums like TV and seen them re-direct their path to the digital front with customised campaigns across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and other social channels.

    With the upcoming concept of omni-channel marketing, a smart digital strategy becomes all the more critical. No more can we focus only on one medium, especially if buyers themselves are branching out through new arenas. A diversification in mediums is essential when it comes to communicating our brand messaging.

    Brands today are evolving with its consumers, and are looking towards transforming mass online marketing to one-to-one interactions to engage with the consumer. As a result of this, we are already on our way to developing a big-data driven approach to create moments of delight for our consumer through an intelligent recommendation system, not to mention taking the in-store experience online through AR/VR tools. Basically we want to be present with the customer, when the “intent rich” digital discovery moment occurs.

    (The author is  associate vice president, marketing, jewellery division at Titan Company. The views expressed here are her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)   

  • Expectations from the brand and marketing industry in 2019

    Expectations from the brand and marketing industry in 2019

    MUMBAI: The world of marketing is perpetually changing with constant innovative practices in the field of social media and automated ad tech. As broad-brush marketing techniques have dwindled, brands are battling to maintain their originality and meet customer expectations in an ever-evolving technologically advanced world. From multimedia content creation to influencer marketing, 2018 saw some excellent marketing trends adapted by brands across various verticals.

    The next big leap is the application of artificial intelligence and voice search for personalised advertisements and better data analytics. AI and voice searches have grown from niche to buzzword to mainstream and brands are entailed to incorporate them in their marketing strategies.

    With numerous emerging trends, the B2B marketing landscape has become more competitive. From email marketing to landing pages and content recommendations, personalisation isn't limited for B2C brands anymore. What a brand stands for has become very relevant for B2B organisations as well. Companies working in B2B space now understand how content outreach and online advertising can help them strengthen their customer base and create brand awareness. However, they are still in transit to use more digital tactics to drive ROI and growth. Marketers are continuously looking for more exciting ways of story-telling and more innovative content formats to lure their B2B prospects.

    Advertisements are no longer the pool for the same kind of talent. Brands have gotten smarter about the content they publish on various platforms. They know that to allure a better reaction from the audiences, they need to give an experience tailored according to consumers' dialect.  Everything brands do, need to help them achieve their goal, target their ideal audience and get the most out of the content as possible.

    Ephemeral content and stories have soared in popularity as they display quick content with different features such as polls, GIFS, boomerangs, etc. Viewership of digital videos, both on over-the-top and social platforms, continues to be more captivating than television. Besides, with brands investing in influencer marketing, Instagram and Snapchat are increasingly gaining ground. Mobile spending across all the sectors has increased because it provides more targeted ad campaigns.

    With new marketing trends continuing to evolve, the pressure on marketers for optimising the digital strategies has increased. Advertisers want to engage consumers with more relevant content and thus, are spending on platforms providing a direct and real-time connection with the consumers. Communicating with customers on a one-to-one basis encourages them to engage more with a brand's product or service.

    Team Pumpkin has grown well and healthy in terms of revenue and bagging new clients in 2018. The New Year is looking more promising. I believe that we need to connect deeply with other people, not just within our agencies, but with the people who are going to buy what we are selling. We aim to provide integrated communication solutions to maximize our client base and expand our footprint nationally.

    (The author is co-founder and CBO, Team Pumpkin. The views expressed here are her own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them) 

  • 2019 OTT TV trends in Asia and India

    2019 OTT TV trends in Asia and India

    MUMBAI: 2018 wrapped up as a fascinating year for OTT TV in Asia, with global content owners, Pay TV operators, and OTT players all ramping up their direct-to-consumer OTT offerings. With falling smartphone prices, OTT content market saw a boom in India as players across the spectrum set up shop. Original content was a game changer over the last few years, with OTT players outdoing the Bollywood big studios in their budgets. Netflix is investing Rs 500-600 crore per year into original content in India whereas Amazon Prime has announced that it would be investing around Rs 2000 crore in the same. In contrast, the budget of a Bollywood blockbuster like Padmaavat (2018) was merely Rs 200 crore.

    As content owners and pay TV operators launch — or even revamp — their direct-to-consumer OTT TV services, it’s an ongoing race to establish a business model that includes the right content, pricing, and user experience. Here’s my take on the top six trends that will shape OTT TV in India this year.

    1. Focus on the viewing customer

    While previous years have been dominated by conversations about tech or monetisation, 2019 will be dominated by a focus on the customer and enabling their access to great content. Disney’s Kevin Mayer puts this succinctly in a recent interview: “Having a better relationship with our consumer puts us in control of our own destiny.”

    2. Enabling access on every device

    Consumption trends are plotting a chart upward and to the right. Not all of this consumption is sensitive to copyright ownership, but it’s clear that video viewers have multiple devices and an internet connection, which facilitates increasing consumption. However, there’s a great deal of friction preventing these viewers from watching the content they want or even being offered the option of paying for the content they watch.

    3. Consumers want flexible payment options

    According to our OTT research, consumers have varying views across the region about whether they’re willing and happy to pay with their time (through watching advertising) or their money (subscriptions).  In 2019, we’ll see platforms using their understanding of their consumers’ preferred content to deliver premium experiences. Business model choices also need to be flexible for the consumer. In India and Asia, OTT providers could take a cue from the FMCG marketing playbook by offering sachet pricing. OTT TV providers can also offer small, low-priced subscription plans that are valid for a weekend or a week. The aim here is to enable users to sample the content and eventually convert the consumer into a more long-term subscriber.

    4. Does OTT advertising remove friction?

    Advertising paying for TV content is a contract the viewer is already familiar with. The benefit for the viewer is that they ‘pay’ with their attention. And they should receive more relevant, well-targeted ads than they would on a broadcast channel.

    Because of its highly targeted nature, ease of measurement, and tendency to have higher ad completion rates, OTT advertising is opening up new revenue streams for OTT TV providers — while also offering a highly engaging environment for brands. For advertisers, who tend to go where their audiences are, OTT TV is a beautiful mix of engaging content and addressability. It’s encouraging that agencies are seeing ad rates hit a plateau in the traditional, linear channels, while CMOs are excited by the high viewability of OTT TV services.  

    5. The content viewing experience guides OTT strategy

    According to Brightcove's OTT TV research with YouGov, trials and promotions tend to drive users to sign up for OTT services, but it’s the content itself that drives retention. We see many OTT providers not just investing in content, but also making their content work harder with content discovery and recommendation features. The research also sheds light on the importance of accessing content on mobile, which forces OTT providers to consider how their mobile OTT app could or should enhance the viewing experience. Features like offline download, which allows users to watch content when they’re not on wifi or a mobile network, and video continuity, which allows users to continue where they left off or ‘travel’ in between devices, remain desirable. All of these features are designed to increase stickiness to the service, as they allow for increased view times and encourage binge-watching habits.

    6. Pay TV operators experiment with OTT solutions

    Asia Pacific pay TV annual growth is slowly grinding to a two percent compound annual growth rate — from 267 million subscribers in 2018 to 288 million subscribers by 2023. Such low growth means that pay TV operators need to adapt to changing viewer habits by exploring the extension of their pay TV service to OTT TV services. Skinny bundles are an emerging product offering in Asia, with HOOQ launching skinny bundles in Indonesia that are targeted to tap into the 90 percent of Indonesia’s population who do not already access pay TV services. These kinds of content offerings acknowledge the difference between the buffet of the pay TV mega bundle and the a la carte personal choice of OTT TV. Understanding the context-driven difference in consumer preferences will allow pay TV operators to thrive in the OTT space.  

    Finding success in OTT TV services ultimately comes down to the viewing customer. For any global regional broadcaster or direct-to-consumer OTT service to thrive in this highly competitive environment, they must offer the desired elements to consumers.

    (The author is head of media sales, Asia, Brightcove. The views expressed here are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)  

  • TRAI tariff order, disruption posed challenges to DPOs in 2018

    TRAI tariff order, disruption posed challenges to DPOs in 2018

    MUMBAI: Distribution platform operators (DPOs) in India trod a tricky terrain throughout 2018. Both DTH and cable operators continued to face the heat of Jio FTTH, the rapid growth of over-the-top (OTT) platforms and the uncertainties posed by the implementation of the new tariff regime towards the end of the year.

    OTT platforms and challenge of cord cutting

    With the fall in data triggered by Jio, OTT went beyond male, metro, and millennial which posed a potential threat to the cable and DTH industry. As online viewership increased rapidly, traditional distributors were exposed to the threat of cord-cutting.

    What bothered cable operators more than independent platforms was traditional broadcasters driving the B2C lane. Almost all the major broadcasters strengthened their presence on digital, offering catch-up TV along with original content, thus allowing them to bypass revenue sharing with traditional distributors without having to worry about the tariff order or down-linking permission from the government.

    KCCL CEO Shaji Mathews pointed out that broadcasters are trying to develop OTT platforms in such a way that their dependence on cable and DTH is reduced. He also added that they are developing it to push for additional viewership and to have an alternative medium.

    Jio’s FTTH foray

    After leading the wireless data revolution, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Infocomm returned with another blockbuster offering last year – Jio GigaFiber. The grand entry in the fixed-line broadband sector was not only a challenge for broadband service providers but for cable, DTH players also as the FTTH service is bundled with additional benefits including TV service. Given that the Jio FTTH service will come at a lower cost as compared to market rates, another price war is likely to be unleashed by India’s richest man. In addition to that, the higher amount of data at better speeds will convert more people into binge-watchers of online content increasing the risk of cord-cutting.

    Jio’s entry in India’s low-penetrated FLBB sector has created opportunities for larger MSOs as the former quickly realised the difficulty of last-mile connectivity.

    “If you talk about Jio coming in the industry, we are very much positive towards it that they have recognised our structure – broadcaster, distributor, MSOs, LMOs. Since they have recognised it and tied up with major players like Den and Hathway, it’s a win-win situation for industry also,” Maharashtra Cable Operators Foundation member Asif Sayed said.

    According to Mathews, it is not the first time that the cable industry has been subjected to disruption. The advent of DTH too was rooted in disruption. According to him, the cable industry is well equipped to face the impending Jio onslaught.

    DD FreeDish growth

    Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati’s free-to-air (FTA) platform DD FreeDish too became a cause for concern for the distribution industry. The new tariff framework caps monthly cable or DTH bill of television households at Rs 130 (plus taxes) for the first 100 FTA channels. However, DD Free Dish offers the same free of cost. Doordarshan director general Supriya Sahu believes DD FreeDish is not only used by a marginal section of the society but is also evolving as an alternative option which clearly indicates that it could be a potential threat for DPOs. As per consulting firm EY, the number of DD FreeDish subscribers is expected to reach over 40 million by 2020.

    DPOs forged new alliances

    With the threat of disruption looming large, cable and DTH operators adopted new strategies to survive. Major DTH players as well as MSOs signed content deals with popular OTT platforms and rolled out hybrid set-top boxes as a counter.

    Essel group-promoted Siti Networks unveiled “SITI PlayTop” with YouTube and YouTube Kids in-built, its first hybrid set top box, in September 2018. Another leading MSO, Hathway, launched two new products – an OTT set-top box and a cable hybrid box. Mumbai-headquartered MSO IMCL’s group company ONE Fiber also introduced an OTT device. DTH companies too got in on the act. In the first half of 2018, Harit Nagpal-led Tata Sky entered into a strategic partnership with streaming giant Netflix. India’s largest DTH operator Dish TV announced the national launch of its OTT platform and DishSMRT Stick – a streaming device to make any TV smart. Jawahar Goel’s company has also planned new consumer-friendly initiatives including the launch of Hybrid connected box and integration of voice assistance in next-generation smart STB.

    Added focus on broadband

    Realising the importance of online video in the entertainment sector, MSOs and some LCOs with their existing resources focused on broadband business to further cement their positions. Cable operators with a reach of over 100 million households can easily upgrade fixed line coaxial cable to carry high-speed broadband. Fastway CEO Peeush Mahajan said his company expanded its broadband service in new locations in 2018 and the MSO’s focus will be expanding further in as many as areas possible this year. Even DTH operator Tata Sky rolled out broadband service in 15 cities as it remodeled itself as a video and broadband company.

    KCCL’s Mathews said that most major MSOs have now started investing in broadband and FTTH. He also added that the implementation of fixed-line broadband has been hampered because of various governmental issues like lack of coordination between the various ministries on issues like license fee and difficulties in acquiring licenses.

    VAS remained key

    While the ARPU growth was on the lower side across the ecosystem, DTH operators invested in various value-added-services to drive growth. Dish TV launched VAS services for both DishTV and D2H brands such as ‘Bhojpuri Active’, ‘Fitness Active’ among others with an objective of delivering quality content to consumers across regions in their language. Tata Sky too expanded its regional services with the launch of VAS like Tata Sky Telugu Cinema and Tata Sky Tamil Cinema. At the end of year, it also launched Tata Sky ShortsTV, a service dedicated to curated short stories and films.

    DTH sector’s sluggish growth

    The growth of direct to home (DTH) subscriber base of private players in India was the slowest over the last five years for the nine month period ended 30 September 2018 (TQY 2018, TQY period, three quarters of the year under review) as per TRAI. The good news was that the quarter ended 30 June 2018 (Jun-18, last or previous quarter) saw a reversal of fortunes. From a loss of about 30,000 (0.003 crore, 0.3 million, 0.3 lakh) subscribers in the quarter ended 31 March 2018 (Mar-18), DTH subscriber growth was positive 18.4 lakh (0.184 crore, 1.84 million) for the quarter ended 30 June 2018 (Jun-18). However, in the case of the quarter ended 30 September 2018 (Sep-18), subscriber growth has once again nose-dived to just 8,000 subscriber additions.

    New tariff regime

    The most crucial development of 2018 was TRAI’s win against Star India in the Supreme Court with regards to the new tariff order. With the radical change in the overall ecosystem, the organisations sounded cautiously optimistic. The new rule is expected to bring transparency in the value chain along with creating a level playing field for all stakeholders.

    While broadcasters and DTH platforms are likely to be benefitted, LCOs seem highly concerned about what’s in store for them. LCOs feel the 80-20 revenue share will work for DTH operators but not for MSOs. They prefer a share cap for LCOs instead of taking it out from the 20 per cent that MSOs have. While the deadline to implement the order was 28 December 2018, TRAI offered respite to the sector handing an extension until 31 January 2019 to ensure a smooth transition.

    With less than a month to go, DPOs have also started updating new channel prices and packages on their websites to inform consumers. Many large MSOs like Hathway, DEN Networks and Siti Cable have come up with "suggestive packs" bundling popular channels of all major broadcasters. Moreover, as TRAI has withdrawn its appeal before the Supreme Court to reinstate the 15 per cent cap on discounting of channel bouquets under the new regime, DPOs say now the order lacks value. As broadcasters now can give a discount of 50-60 per cent on bouqets keeping the a-la-carte channel price high, DPOs will not be in a position to package their products.

    Given the fact that there will be some time needed for consumers to adjust to the new structure, broadcasters may call for a rating blackout for at least six to eight weeks. However, it will not be the first rating blackout. When the industry went from analogue to digital distribution, the ratings were held back for around nine weeks. Though initially there was chaos, later both cable operators and DTH platforms reaped benefit from digitisation. “TRAI tariff order implementation provides transparency in the system and gives more choice to the consumer. Dish TV has been prepared to implement the new tariff order and stands to benefit with faster and healthier growth,” India’s largest operator Dish TV feels.

    Standing at the next revolution in TV industry, time will tell how the new regime will pan out for stakeholders. 

  • Infotainment went the local way in 2018

    Infotainment went the local way in 2018

    MUMBAI: In 2018, the one common phenomenon that the whole television industry witnessed was the hijack and capture of part of its territory by OTT platforms wooing audiences with original content. That was the time when TV space woke up to secure its presence and fill in the gaps with localised content where it required the most. One of the genres that decided to focus on localising content was infotainment.

    There were days when only syndicated content was the staple of the broadcasters to survive in the market. The year 2018 finally saw their efforts paying off as viewers stayed glued to their TV screens. Original content broke all the walls by wanting the audiences to have more of it. However, the FICCI M&E report 2018 estimated  that BARC’s enhanced rural panel weightage would reduce the viewership of genres like infotainment. The factual genre occupies only about one per cent of total TV consumption.

    Players like Discovery, History TV18, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Epic TV and Sony BBC Earth rolled up their sleeves with the intent to stay out of the box by offering self-produced content, keeping in mind the evolving taste buds of the Indian audiences. It is usually tricky to change audiences’ viewing habits when they have forever been fed with a plethora of syndicated content. But during the year, there came a time when Sony BBC Earth leapfrogged Discovery in terms of ratings, that was ruling the infotainment genre for almost a decade, within a year of its launch. The channel increased its market share from 22 per cent to 26 per cent in the six metro cities.

    It was a tough competition for both Sony BBC and Discovery channel that fought sportingly to win the battle and emerge as the dominant player in the market. Speaking about being on the leadership front, Discovery claimed to enjoy a 23 per cent market share in the All India Urban (2+) area.

    In an earlier interview, Sony Pictures Network English cluster business head Tushar Shah told Indiantelevision.com that the category which is supposed to be informative along with entertainment in it is missing the first half. But for Sony BBC Earth, the rise from the sixth position to the top has been quick. Sony BBC Earth stood at 5 per cent market share at launch and took up 22 per cent within a year backed by a strong distribution network, strategic content line-up and strong marketing innovations.

    One major move was the shift of Epic from a general entertainment channel (GEC) to infotainment. It proved to be a success as the channel’s market share scaled up from 3 per cent to 15 per cent. History TV18 also dived into serving local content.

    The genre wasn’t just about the hindi speaking market, in fact, it observed an upward arc due to regional support as well. Broadcasters found Tamil and Telugu as viable regional languages to launch into. Discovery and National Geographic channels are the only exceptions having Bengali language in their kitty. Epic TV is the only one with Hindi language. It is also the only channel that has all India-centric content while the rest of the players have a mix of syndicated content and home-grown shows. If you take into account Discovery Tamil, the channel's share of the pie grew by four per cent. That placed the Discovery network miles ahead of anyone else with a national market share of a massive 42 per cent.

    As far as Adex is concerned, the year 2017 led to a growth of 1.8 per cent, whereas it led to 1.9 per cent during FY18. Moreover the growth in the year FY17-18 was witnessed to be 2.38 per cent and the lifestyle genre dropped down to 2.24 per cent.

    While local content will continue to be a major part of broadcasters' move for 2019 as well, we can only wait and watch what new innovations will they launch to engage a larger section of the audience.

  • Indian M&E saw mix of regulations change the game in 2018

    Indian M&E saw mix of regulations change the game in 2018

    MUMBAI: If TRAI’s tariff regime for the Indian broadcast and cable sectors did not occupy top mind space of the industry in 2018, the year just gone by could also boast of some other major regulatory exploratory moves that could have deep impact on the sector in the near future; especially those relating to data protection, digital communication policy and online content that, according to some critics, is on a freeway with no checks and balances.

    Though many would say that the Indian media sector continues to be a challenging market (a polite euphuism for high level of regulation) offering tantalising opportunities because of sheer numbers on offer, Indian policy-makers have always had to counter such perceptions and, like their peers in many other parts of the globe, have at times found themselves outpaced by technology.

    Increasing protectionism aka economic nationalism around the world, led by the likes of US, the UK and China, resonates very well with Indian politicians and policy-makers too. And, such a trend is led more by regulations.

    Year 2018 has seen an interesting mix of regulations (some are still in the formative stages) for the Indian media and entertainment sector. Here we try to capture some of the annual highlights.

    Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

    Broadcast carriage regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s new tariff regime that had been embroiled in legal tangles hogged the limelight throughout 2018 with judicial directions clearing some hurdles. The last part relating to the 15 per cent discount cap was also dismissed as withdrawn in the Supreme Court.

    Issued early 2017, tariff regime aims to do away with bundling of TV channels and offering them on a la carte basis to consumers, apart from other directions like caps on discounts to consumers and distributors of content. The regulation’s main aim was to empower further a consumer who has primarily grown up on a diet comprising free meals. I-should-have-access-to-200-TV-channels-and-best-content-but-will-pay-a-nominal-monthly-fee attitude has over the years definitely spoilt the Indian consumer and part of the blame does lie with the industry that has been subsidising costs in a mad race for numbers.

    Now that TRAI wants to break those shackles of the consumer, industry stakeholders also have been pushing back against changes in the status quo. If content aggregators or broadcasters are to be blamed for subsidising costs, distributors, especially LCOs, too should be blamed for refusing to change with time and technology that have now brought them to the precipice where saying no to technological changes and upgradation could only hurl them towards closure. Lack of proper awareness and education of consumer too has created a vote bank of sorts that wants to consume global dishes at Indian rates.

    TRAI could be blamed for many things, but certainly not for lack of transparency. One of the most transparent regulators in the country, not only does it hold wide ranging discussions with stakeholders and industry, but has made some good recommendations too. For example, the regulator’s suggestions on ease of doing broadcast business, a new DTH policy and even use of foreign satellites or Open Sky Policy are not only radical but progressive and industry-friendly.

    However, many such nuggets are not implemented by nodal ministries like the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Department of Telecoms and Department of Space.

    In 2019 it is to be seen the stand TRAI takes on issues like proposed changes in audience measurement, OTT platforms (excluding video content) and the fast disappearing boundaries between telecom and traditional media companies as business interests converge.

    Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

    For MIB the year 2018 has been a roller-coaster ride with a former minister making more news than policies it has framed and rolled back. Whether it was a purported crackdown on social media and online journalists or handing out diktats to Indian TV channels to shift to Indian transponders or face the music or planning a social media hub within the ministry to track Indians’ digital footprints, TV-actress-turned-politician Smriti Irani has been in the limelight too often… till a Cabinet reshuffle saw her relinquish her MIB responsibilities to her junior minister Rajyavardhan Rathore in the first quarter of the year.  

    Irani waded into controversies because of her largely perceived unpopular move to create a panel in April 2018 to explore regulations for online media/news portals and online content. It did not help her or the government’s cause as this announcement, though being hinted at for several months, came close on the heels of a widely protested move to cancel accreditation of journalists if found peddling fake news, while the government did not define clearly what constituted fake news.

    Though the order was rescinded at the behest of the PM’s Office, the move had antagonised not just online journalists, but also social media players (many of whom are backed and funded by government’s sympathisers) and video-on- demand portals. That the responsibilities have been now passed on to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) tells how hot a potato it had been — and still continues to be with the latter being able to only partially address some of the issues.

    It would be an understatement to say that the past two years have been a difficult period for the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) sector what with after-effects of demonetisation of high value currency notes late 2016 and a new tax regime of GST rolled out last year. The story remains the same for ease of doing business in the sector as well.

    MIB is still to focus on the recommendations made by TRAI on 'Ease of Doing Business in Broadcasting Sector’ and implement them in letter and spirit. A unilateral decision by the previous leadership of MIB to impose a processing fee of Rs 100,000 per day/channel on temporary live uplinking of events (such as sports) and the same amount for seeking minor amendments (like change in name, logo, etc) is still causing heart burns.

    What was the rationale behind such moves to review processing fees? Allegedly non-revision for several years and that such a move could bring in some revenue for the government. But, should a government use licensing/permission fee as means of revenue maximisation? Probably, no.

    Towards the end of 2018, a proposal to amend the mandatory sports sharing rules to allow all distributing platforms to re-transmit sports programmes on Doordarshan’s terrestrial network where the rights lie with a private sector TV channel is unlikely to please those broadcasters who have invested billions of dollars in getting premium content for the Indian region. Giving up exclusivity would hurt the business, the sports broadcasters have chorused. It is to be seen how the MIB reacts to criticism of such a proposal.

    A revision of the DTH policy too is hanging fire as is an overhaul of the film certification processes as suggested by the Shyam Benegal committee. Interestingly, clearances for new TV channels too slowed down in 2018.

    Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity)

    For the Indian M&E sector, Meity gained importance in 2018 as proposals to regulate OTT platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, etc fell in its lap as has the proposal to frame content guidelines for the country’s burgeoning digital sector.

    If online video distribution is growing in India, so has the demand for content regulation. Even as Indian policy-makers struggle to understand the business model(s) for digital players, the cry for regulation to suit Indian sensibilities (or lack of it) too has increased. Netflix Indian original Sacred Games is still fighting out a legal case, while informal warnings have gone to other Indian OTT platforms too to tone down edgy programming being streamed.

    Bouncing amongst several government organisations (MIB, TRAI and Meity), the issue of online content regulation was a hotly debated topic in India with a large section of the industry pushing for self-regulation like those prevailing for TV content.

    If not in 2018, some sort of content regulation for online video will definitely come. With general elections round the corner in Q1 of 2019, Meity has preferred to sit over the issue of online content regulations.

    In response to a question asked by Congress Party’s Dr AM Singhvi few days back, the government informed Rajya Sabha or Upper House  that it has no proposal to introduce a legislation to codify web media and news portals or to introduce legislation for mandatory registration of web news portals. So, it’s truce for the time being.

    Department of Space

    Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) over the years has done some incredible work, including making the country an important player in the realm of global space industry. But in its zeal it has also ended up with several conflicts of interest — most importantly being a player and a gatekeeper or a regulator too.

    Thus, despite PM Modi’s government claiming it has eased norms for doing business in India, the foreign players in the space sector will always say otherwise. Year 2018 was no change from previous years as DoS and ISRO continued to push for increased reliance on Indian satellites for delivering broadcast and telecoms services while having inadequate capacities to match ballooning domestic demand.

    That satellites can play a critical role in deployment of broadband in remote places in India makes it imperative that a collaborative outlook on Indian and foreign satellites is taken. However, a new space policy, drafted in 2018 and likely to be brought in Parliament sometime in 2019, has left most foreign players and investors with an uneasy feeling as early readings suggest restrictive norms.  

    Department of Telecoms

    One of the biggest telecoms market in the world, India’s total subscriber numbers are a shade over 1191.40 million, while the wireless segment clocked a subs base of 1,169.29 million end of September 2018 as per data collated by TRAI. And, this humungous growth in mobile tele density has been fuelled by cheap feature phones and data packages at throwaway prices, though the internet infrastructure continues to be patchy.

    And, one of the biggest policy decisions of 2018 has been the formulation of the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), 2018 that seeks to unlock the transformative power of digital communications networks to achieve the goal of digital empowerment by attracting investments of about $ 100 million over the next few years.

    The NDCP 2018 aims to accomplish the strategic objectives by 2022 of broadband for all, creating four million additional jobs in the digital communications sector, enhancing the contribution of the digital communications sector to 8 per cent of India’s GDP from 6 per cent in 2017 apart from several other aims.

    The NDCP will aim to have more synergies amongst various government organisations, stopping just short of creating an over-arching communications regulatory body for broadcast, telecoms and digital realms.

    In some ways every new beginning comes with a mix of hope and fear, but India’s telecoms, broadcast, cable and digital sectors do have many upsides to look out for in 2019. That is, if policy-makers do uphold their part of the bargain of easing norms for doing businesses even while empowering the consumer and making the country an investor-friendly destination.

  • What were the merger trends for marketing in 2018?

    What were the merger trends for marketing in 2018?

    MUMBAI: The year 2018 will be known for a lot of things. It has been one of the most imperative years for the advertising and media industry. This year broke shackles and ideologies of how people traditionally perceived the industry. I think it is safe to say that the marketing books hereon will have a dedicated page for everything that occurred in 2018.

    I am optimistic about 2018 being one of the best years for A&M industry (so far). Why, you ask? Because this has been one of the most momentous year for mergers and acquisitions. While news about mergers came in from all sectors of the media, the A&M world tasted its first big bite of consolidation this year.

    We’ve all read and heard about the four extensive types of mergers, but it was only in 2018 where we witnessed all of them! The traditional case of two big networks (agencies) coming together, big agencies merging their businesses with small agencies, two small agencies coming together to take on big network agencies, and the most recent trend: consultancy firms opening agencies or merging with one.

    Let’s start with the advertising giant WPP, where we saw a lot of action happen this year. One of the bigger mergers this year happened within the WPP group, where Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson were united to form Wunderman Thompson. The merger will help the group as Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson share many core clients, who will now have simpler access to the expertise of both agencies. Additionally, WPP’s GroupM, the leading global media investment group acquired an Indian digital agency, The Glitch. With this acquisition, The Glitch continues to work as an independently positioned brand, while taking advantage of GroupM’s larger infrastructure and ecosystem. 

    With a promise to simplify the business, WPP’s Chief Executive Officer merged one of its largest agencies, Y&R with VML, that left the ad industry gasping for breath. The disappearance of the 95-year-old Y&R brand, which had been part of the WPP empire since 2000, was a moment to pause and reflect on the pressures that the industry in general and ad agencies, in particular, are facing from changing client demands.

    Similarly, international advertising agency M&C Saatchi acquired Manish Bhatt-led Scarecrow Media, where the new entity is called M&C Saatchi Scarecrow. This is M&C Saatchi’s full-fledged attempt to get a stronger foothold in one of the most competitive ad markets in the world, India. Advertising agencies are finding ways to navigate through an increasingly volatile landscape. One of those ways is consolidating the hundreds of agency brands under their roofs and merging the entity with another agency. 

    After years of headlines about consultancy companies eating ad agencies’ lunches, the two groups are increasingly starting to look alike. The consultancies are rising fast by gaining a foothold in the marketing department and wooing chief marketing officers with their vast array of data analytics solutions and strategies to solve big business problems that traditional agencies can no longer solve. Increasingly, we are seeing a lot of consultancies merging their business and resources with agencies to deliver better solutions to clients. The trend of consultancies and agencies coming together is shaking up the marketing industry. In 2018, we saw the likes of Accenture Interactive, PwC Digital Services, IBM iX and Deloitte Digital emerge as winners for brands as they are looking for areas to cut costs and drive better performance.

    Right now, we’re at a point where the industry cares less about agency labels than ever before. This is an industry where so many people worry about whether something is an ad agency, a digital agency, a PR agency, or a consultancy. This may be the first time where the labels of agencies don’t really matter.

    If your merger translates to 1+1=2, the merger makes no sense because there is no added value to it. However, only if your merger translates to 1+1 >2 (greater than 2), the time, effort and money that you put into the merger will be beneficial for both parties involved.

    At the end of the day, I think consolidation is the way to go because it helps in playing on each other’s strength and delivering better results collectively. If agencies find the right partner to complement their existing skill set, it is only beneficial for both the parties. More importantly, the agencies and clients need to evolve with the changing time because their customers are evolving at a faster pace than them.

    (The author is chief executive officer and co-founder, White Rivers Media. The views expressed here are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)

  • Marketing in 2018: Led by revenues, ditched creativity

    Marketing in 2018: Led by revenues, ditched creativity

    MUMBAI: Long gone are the times when advertising and marketing industry in India was a small-scale business with just a few creative heads scratching their brains and churning out a minuscule number of campaigns. With the growing disposable income and aspiration to own premium goods and experience quality services, customers in India are willing to explore more, thus prompting sellers to market their products better.

    2018 was, in many ways, a cornerstone year for brands and agencies alike as they tried to peg more and more consumers to their base. The impact of demonetisation and GST gradually faded, thus allowing the brands to spend more than the previous year on marketing their products. As revealed by Zenith’s Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, the ad spends for India in the year 2018 are expected to close at Rs 62,699 crore. This number is around 10-12 per cent higher than what 2017 saw. And 2019 looks even better. The same Zenith forecast reveals that total adex for India will see an increase of 15 per cent and climb up to Rs 72,169 crore in 2019.

    As per Ethinos Digital Marketing MD Sidharth Hegde, most brands tend to spend between 7-15 per cent of their total revenue on marketing and advertising. “This percentage of spends is likely to continue, however, large brands are looking to insource a lot of the marketing and advertising that will help them save large amounts of funds that would now be going to external agencies,” he says.

    Hegde also gives a breakdown of the expenses, “In 2018, the average firm was expected to allocate 42 per cent of their marketing budget to online, and this rate is expected to grow to 45 per cent by 2020. Social media advertising investments will continue to grow, with a 17 per cent compound annual growth rate from 2016 to 2021, and is expected to represent 25 per cent of total online spending in 2018. Investment in paid search, display advertising, social media advertising, online video advertising, and email marketing is predicted to account for 46 per cent of all advertising by 2021.”

    It is clear from his predictions and is obvious otherwise as well, that digital is, in fact, seeing massive growth in India. Dentsu Aegis Network chairman and CEO – south Asia Ashish Bhasin seconds this thought and describes 2018 as the year that will be remembered as “when digital became an integral part of the marketing mix”.

    Bhasin notes, “I think this (2018) was the year in which digital came to the forefront. From being a nice-to-have part of strategy it became an integral part of the marketing mix. This was partly helped by the JIO effect as it brought down the prices of data and increased the bandwidth available. Also, the falling prices of smartphones made it happen.”

    He further adds, “And I take that by 2020, one-fourth of the advertising market will be digital. In 2022, the number of Indians reached by internet will nearly be the same as those reached by television.”

    Mirc Electronics Limited (Onida) head of marketing Pratyush Chinmoy says, “One clearly visible trend (in 2018) was companies increasing their digital pie in the overall marketing spends, in recognition of shifting consumer touchpoints. Many industry leaders also saw impressive growth in video marketing, OTT media, with the consumer from all walks of life, consuming data at a much faster pace than ever before helped by telecom price decreases.”

    But does that mean digital will overpower the other ‘traditional modes’ of advertising? Ashish Bhasin doesn’t think so. He quips, “When the tides are rising, all the boats rise along. In India, we are currently in a position where all the media are growing; be it print, TV, or digital, and it will remain so for the next 5-10 years. So, it is not digital vs print or print vs TV, or TV vs digital, it is digital and TV, and print, and OOH for India.”

    An IBEF report also supports this claim of Bhasin. According to its September 2018 report on Media and Entertainment, in FY 2018, TV advertising was the largest contributor to the country’s advertising revenue, generating Rs 223.5 billion closely followed by print that generated revenue of Rs 210.6 billion. Digital advertising generated revenues worth Rs 116.3 billion.

    Chinmoy also shares a similar brief based on some internal data, “In a period of Jan ’18 to Oct ’18, leading brands have spent around Rs 270 crore. Television has continued to gather a major pie, with print coming in second. In 2019, the spends are expected to slightly increase by a factor of 10-15 per cent.”

    He also adds, “While OTT caters to a subset of the television audience with a different offering altogether in terms of content, it has still a long way to go to catch up with television spends.”

    JHS Svendgaard Laboratories MD Nikhil Nanda adds an interesting insight, “As far as marketing trends are concerned, digital is growing fast but television and print still remain as traditional and dominant mediums. Content has been ruling the market and OTT. Disruptive marketing and radio are picking up faster than digital.”

    N Chandramouli, CEO of TRA Research has the same input. He notes, “There is no TV or OTT for the consumer. They only know the screen. None of the advertisements in such platforms are getting consumed and only the skip button catches their attention. Smart brands are focusing on consumer basis for transactions and what urges it fulfils in them, rather than present product benefits. Brands must see it as an integrated consumer experience, not as how it is delivered.”

    But Hegde differs slightly as he mentions that according to TDG Research, ad spend on OTT is projected to hit $40 billion by 2020, which is nearly half of the $85 billion in forecasted total TV ad revenue. “Also, with the influx of cheap and easily available internet, more and more users are bound to ditch the traditional TV for OTT services,” he says.

    2018 was a grand year for many agencies as many national and international honours fell upon them, the grandest being creative and impactful campaigns that were churned out in the past year; the most impressive being Piyush and Prasoon Pandey getting the prestigious Lion of St. Marks honour at the Cannes. Yet the industry feels 2018 was not a very impressive year when it comes to creativity in marketing campaigns.

    Chandramouli says, “2018 has not been an impressive year in brand creation. In the wake of a slow sales year, most of it has been attempts at selling. This, unfortunately, was based on a wrong premise because the consumer is dramatically changing.  If you sell, they don't want to buy.”

    Ashish Bhasin shows more or less the same emotion, “I think it has overall been a good year but not a great year in terms of creativity on TV because there haven’t really been any breakthrough campaigns that stood out at the national level.”

    He adds, “I think this is because the creativity in digital has significantly improved and for digital creative films from India have been getting digital identification. I think the first example that is a big name is the ‘Powerless Queen’, which was done by WatConsult, which internationally won some 15-20 awards, which we really hadn’t seen earlier for a digital campaign. We have seen print campaigns win, TV campaigns win but I guess it is a sign of coming times more creative efforts will be put in digital and we will see more of that in 2019.”

    Nikhil Nanda, however, differs in his observation. He notes, “Creatively, storytelling took the driving seat and advertisements showing the brand or products were more subtle. Whether it was an ad meant for digital/social channels or OTT alone, the more impressive the story, the better it was for the brands. Also, social causes and emotions took centre stage. Case in point: Colgate strong teeth campaign with Deepika Padukone and her mother. Campaigns in 2019 will be strongly inclined toward emotional and adopting better health habits storytelling.”  

    While 2018 was a pretty impressive year with its highs and lows, marketing agencies are now looking up to 2019 with a twinkle in their eyes. Big events like general elections and cricket world cup will be ruling the year and thus there will be a great influx of money as well.

    Bhasin believes that 2019 will see around 12 per cent growth in ad revenues. He believes that India is all set to reach the $10 billion mark in advertising in the coming year. This sentiment comes after taking into consideration some facts. Bhasin notes, “Advertising is very susceptible to sentiments. If a stable government, which is considered pro-business, is in power then the sentiments of the brands and marketers improve. They tend to spend more. Otherwise, advertising is the easiest expenditure to cut. I am hopeful that we will show good economic growth and will have a good monsoon, so we have a good performance.”

    While Bhasin is hopeful, Chandramouli sees 2019 as a difficult year for brands and marketers. He says, “2019 is a slippery year ahead, with brands not investing in new things.  So, the way to go for brands is to understand the consumer basis for trust and their innate sense of desire. Other than a few who will stand out using consumer insights and buying propensity understanding, many brands will continue to waste their money on campaigns irrelevant to the consumer. Brands that only try to sell will not get bought. Those that help the consumer buy, will be loved.”

    Another trend that might rule the advertising and marketing industry in 2019 will be of consolidations. Bhasin notes, “I think there is a process of consolidation that has started in advertising globally. We saw one of the oldest agencies JWT being merged into Wunderman this year. Even in India, there are six groups that control about 85-90 per cent of the advertising market. I see that this process of consolidation will only go bigger.”

    He further adds, “The legacy agencies will come under pressure now. The groups that have been formed in the new age and are more digital-savvy, who have more proportion of the business coming from the digital will do well. Big names that have been in the market for 100 years will suddenly now start feeling the pressure and start feeling the heat. We saw the beginning of that in 2018, we will see more of that in 2019.”

    All in all, 2019 looks like a great year for the brands and marketing agencies as it comes with its own shares of challenges and opportunities. The industry is very positive about the revenues but a little work on the creativity side is required to make 2019 a year better than the gone by.