Category: Specials

“Thanks to fruitful elections, balance sheets look better in 2014”: Rajat Sharma

The news industry has taken a full circle – from providing welfare information to entertainment to astrology to cricket to sensationalism and now almost pure news taking back the centre stage. In a recent phase, news channels were dominated by frivolous content and Hindi news channels stood as the main suspects. The industry has worked really hard get over it to regain its lost respect. I can now safely say that “NEWS IS BACK”.

While the news channels have proved themselves as an effective platform for promoting culture, movies, sports and many other activities, at the same time they have played a pivotal and decisive role in tackling core issues like corruption, rape, terrorism and inflation. Relentless coverage of Delhi rape case, Anna Hazare’s Lokpal agitation, 26/11 etc. to name a few stand a testimony to that fact.

Despite the fact that news channels comprise an enormously important element of the socio-economic and geo-political ecosystem of the country, most such channels are facing monetary issues – characterised by negative pressures on the revenue toplines and ever increasing costs. The current year though may prove to be an exception and the respective balance sheets may look better than explained, because the industry has seen a relatively long and fruitful election season.

The carriage fees regime stemming out of the analogue pipeline (despite a couple of phases of digitisation already complete) still plagues the industry. However, with the recent developments over the last couple of years, we hope that the actual correction (from digitisation) will start happening in the near future.

The increased bandwidth due to transition to the DAS regime, will not only push the carriage fee down, but also bring in the transparency that shall further help proper monetary compensation for the operators so that the pressure can further reduce on broadcasters. This will help boost the profitability and further the cause of more investments in developing quality content that will be dished out with better audio/video quality.

What could have been another blow to the industry, which is already reeling under multiple pressures, a 12 min/hour advertising cap that was introduced by TRAI for all the channels. We are happy that after a series of discussions with TRAI and TDSAT, High Court has finally put a stay on the same.

I think it’s time now that broadcasters should unite and work towards the growth of broadcasting industry that not only provides employment to thousands but is an important pillar of India’s democracy. In an example of this unity, IBF & NBA along with other industry stakeholders, have created BARC as an alternate to TAM which we are sure will be a transparent and incorruptible currency.

(These are purely personal views of India TV chairman and editor in chief Rajat Sharma and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

December 16, 2014
2014: The year of bold steps

The year 2014 will go down in history as the year of bold steps. Whether it was the postponement of digitisation, the introduction of many a forward-thinking and hard-hitting paper and regulation by government regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the industry’s punts at experimenting with big ticket shows, the completion of the acquisition of the Network18 group by Reliance Industries and the departures that followed thereafter, the push by YouTube into creating a platform that could disrupt audiovisual content viewing, followed by the drive by broadcast networks to build their own independent digital platforms, the increasing importance of social media for television, the introduction of Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) deals by Star India in a bid to force the industry to speed up digitisation, big 4K announcements by Videocon and Tata Sky, the rise and rise of Life OK and SabTV, or the slow descent of Sony (once amongst the top two Hindi general entertainment channels -GECs ) to the number sixth spot, the continuing stranglehold of Star Plus over the Hindi GEC viewer, the industry’s total disillusionment with existing TV rating provider TAM India, and the swing towards the new industry-backed BARC, the news and niche TV channels’ battle with the the government imposed advertising cap of 10+2 in the courts, the launch of three specialised Hindi general entertainment TV channels, a gradual increase in carriage fee payouts to the cable TV sector by smaller channel owners – all these and many were formed the highlights of the television business in 2014.

To start with, the government took a firm decision to push ahead the analogue cable TV sunset date to 2016, seeing the state of progress by India’s 60,000 cable TV operators and seven-odd so called national multi system operators (MSOs). Of course, digitisation delay led to a lot of carping by many in the trade, but then it was back to business as usual very quickly. For some, no change was more comfortable than having to reinvent thinking, processes, and also business models – which was proving painful. Those who had pressed their foot on digitisation’s accelerator eased off a bit as they had been given some breathing space.

The new government

2014 was the year of the big change, with the Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweeping the ‘election of the century’ and coming to power. In the new government, the mantle of Information and Broadcasting Ministry was given to Prakash Javadekar, who in his five months tenure made numerous public appearances, making major announcements. Before, the portfolio was passed on to Arun Jaitely in November, Javadekar had made some crucial changes, that of pushing the deadline for digitisation of phase III to December 2015 and of phase IV to December 2016. The move was done in order to help the indigenous set top box (STB) manufacturers’ boost their businesses as well as allow the MSOs and cable TV operators’ enough time to do it right.

The year saw the tech savvy Prime Minister announcing his dream of seeing a ‘Digital India’, which was followed by numerous campaigns. It was also the year, when the Media and Entertainment sector envisaged of becoming a $100 billion industry by 2020.

Cable, DTH and Distribution

In the cable TV sector, while the tiff between the last mile owners (LMOs) and MSOs over ownership of consumers, billing and revenue share continued like in 2013, some unity could be seen amongst the MSOs with regards to voluntary digitisation after the I&B decided to push digitisation to a later date. The LMOs on the other hand united in several parts of the country to form cooperatives in a bid to get some financial muscle to be able to digitise apart from strengthening their customer base. The year saw not only Hinduja’s headend in the sky (HITS) project taking strides, a new model of distribution: Cable Virtual Network Operator (CVNO) too came up in a few cities like Mumbai and Kolkata.

Another major development towards the end of the year was the decision of Star India to apply the RIO deal approach with the MSOs. The move while aimed at bringing in addressability and packaging in the DAS markets, saw a number of MSOs coming up with either different packages or putting the network’s channels on a-la-carte.

With the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) not showing much signs of improvement, a number of MSOs have started shoring up their broadband offering to customers. The year also saw Den Networks launching its broadband service in Delhi, with plans of expansion in the coming year.

The direct to home (DTH) operators too were seen taking some bold steps with Dish TV launching a sub-brand Zing for the regional markets and Tata Sky and Videocon d2h announcing that they would be introducing 4K set top boxes in India. Not only this, DD Freedish too decided to seed MPEG4 STBs along with MPEG2 boxes in interior areas.

The icing on the cake was TRAI’s regulation on unbundling, which saw distribution giants, MediaPro and TheOneAlliance parting ways. A lot of other broadcasters too were seen setting up distribution initiatives of their own.

Advertising

The 16th Lok Sabha elections were not only fought on the ground, but political parties laid siege to the airwaves as well. This general election was the first among many, where media was so extensively (and blatantly) used by political parties. Far from fighting shy of marketing themselves, the main players – Congress and BJP –spent nearly Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore each on publicity campaigns. An additional Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 crore was spent on related activities such as banners, hoardings, organisation of public meetings and transportation of key campaigners, among others. Not surprisingly, media agencies had estimated around 2 to 2.5 per cent of overall advertisement spends this year to come from elections.

The year also saw the growth of the e-commerce sector as they intensified their battle. As investments rolled in, the market spends increased to woo customers. And with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his maiden budget announcing that manufacturing units will be allowed to sell their products through retail including e-commerce platforms without any additional approval, paving a path for the foreign direct investment (FDI) in the manufacturing sector, the upsurge is expected to continue.

News Broadcasters

The first half of the year went in covering what seems the country’s biggest election. From exit polls to election result day, one thing was clear that it was a battle of individuals and not parties. And one man leading it all was none other than, BJP’s Narendra Modi.

The news channels went all out to outdo each other as far as presentation was concerned vis-a-vis live graphics and coverage. As per industry sources, the channels had earmarked Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore for the day, but spent a lot more. And with youth stepping out to vote, the channels went all out to social media to gather the pulse of the nation. Channels tied up with Microsoft and Google as well.

The second big thing, which shook the industry, was when India’s largest company Reliance Industries announced its takeover of India’s largest media companies–Network 18.

In May, RIL said it would invest about Rs 4,000 crore through Independent Media Trust, of which RIL is the sole beneficiary, to acquire 78 per cent stake in NW18 and about 9 per cent stake in TV18. Founder Raghav Bahl continues to be on the board as a non-executive director.

The announcement saw senior level exits from the network. The CEO, CFO, COO quit in the days after it. The network’s news channels too saw famous faces like Rajdeep Sardesai moving on.

The move did make many ask: Is this the death of media independence? But Reliance managers took quick initiative to assuage any such doubts, essentially keeping a hands-off approach from the news network.

Programming

The television industry saw two major appointments – Uday Shankar taking over as president of Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) and NP Singh being elevated as Multi Screen Media (MSM) CEO. Then his predecessor Man Jit Singh was given a US posting and global responsibility in Sony’s home entertainment division.

As for the programming, the number one channel as per TAM TV ratings, Star Plus intensified its youth turn by launching shows like India’s Raw Star, Airlines and Everest.

Zee experimented with content through its new channel, Zindagi, with a slate of programming from across the border – Pakistan . A relief from daily melodramatic soaps got another boost as the country’s first genre-specific Hindi entertainment channel, Epic, finally got a nod from the MIB after more than a year-long wait. MSM too launched two new channels – Max2 and Sony Pal – to add a little more flavour to its pack.

As industry awaits Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to give out ratings, the body held roadshows across the country to share its updates with all constituents across the entire broadcast value chain, and, equally important, to receive feedback and suggestions.

Sports

The year saw India embracing a number of sports leagues apart from cricket, like football, tennis, kabaddi and basketball, that too in different formats. The Pro Kabaddi League, an initiative to revive India’s contact sports was a success and a surprise, not just on television but also at the stadiums, as Indian families cheered the country’s lost sport. Bud sadly enough, advertisers decided to play a wait and watch game and missed the bus. It was initiated by Mashal Sports and broadcaster Star Sports.

The Hero India Super League, an IPL styled football domestic tournament was a hit too, on television, social media and fans flocking to the stadiums. Conceptualised by Star Sports, IMG-Reliance and All India Football Federation (AIFF), it garnered a strong advertising support in its maiden year. While bigger brand like Hero, Puma and Amul came on board for the league as title and associate sponsors, individual franchises too drew support from brands. With advertising and sponsorships stakes high in the Indian Premier league (IPL), these formats have allowed brands with smaller advertising budgets to have a play in the sports television business.

While the industry did take some bold steps in the year, it hopes to reap the benefits in 2015.

December 13, 2014
2014 was the year of innovations in digital advertising: CVL Srinivas

From a media perspective 2013 was the year of the perfect storm and something tells me that there is lots waiting to unfold in 2015. Was 2014 the lull before another storm? The major event that dominated 2014 was of course the general election and the wave of optimism and hope that has been spreading ever since the new government came to power. Not only was this the most bitterly fought election from a media standpoint; it was the most well orchestrated win combining strategy with clever tactics. Advertising was only one part of the strategy. 2014 will go down in history as the year that gave a new meaning to marketing of political parties. We now realise that the general election was only the beginning. With a slew of schemes, clever branding and initiatives that touch the common man, the government is turning out to be a very savvy marketer. One hopes the product lives up to its promise.

The extension granted to TV digitisation was a bit of a dampener for the broadcast sector. There has been some indication that the phase III licensing for radio will soon go through. Meanwhile, India became the second biggest market for Facebook, the overall Internet penetration crossed 200 million and mobile Internet became the most dominant force of change. And yet we have bandwidth issues, call drops and sometimes feel like going back to the old faithful ‘landline’. As a nation we need to play catch up in digital infrastructure and going forward I hope this is given the highest priority.

As for the advertising industry, 2014 saw a 12.5 per cent growth (as per GroupM TYNY estimates) as against a global ad spend growth of 4.5 per cent. Apart from political advertising, if there was one sector that stood out was ecommerce. This sector will end up with more than 50 per cent growth over last year closing the year at Rs 2500 crore of ad spend. The upsurge in this sector is expected to continue. FMCG (which remains by far the biggest sector in terms of ad-spend contributing about a third of total advertising) continued to invest in advertising despite supply side pressures, poor volume growth and an uncertain monsoon season. We expect FMCG to end the year with 12-14 per cent growth. Auto has seen a revival both in terms of sales and ad spends. The sector is expected to see a 15-17 per cent ad spend growth in 2014. With petrol/diesel prices coming down, we expect more action in the months to come. Telecom brands are back after a lull, adding to the overall positive trend. All in all it was a good year, although anything less than 15 per cent ad spend growth still seems low for our market. As expected digital advertising grew at 35 per cent, while TV continued to do well with approximately 15 per cent growth. Regional language dailies helped grow the print sector. Cinema turned out to be the dark horse, with 25 per cent growth though on a relatively small base. Unlike the past few years, we had a clear blip during the festive season this year across all media.

2014 saw a great deal of innovation in digital media advertising. GroupM and our agencies have been at the forefront of many exciting developments. Digital video has emerged as one of the biggest growth drivers of digital ad spend. Mashup, our digital video content unit has seen a lot of traction, we have made over 1500 pieces of digital video content in the past year. Across the industry, we saw many memorable campaigns launched first on digital media. More brands have taken to social media platforms to keep the conversation going, social listening is emerging as a key input for advertising and media planning. We have worked with clients (like Nestle) to establish social command centers that have given our media and content planners real time insights. Mobile as a medium continues to grow and will soon account for nearly 20 per cent of the digital ad spend. Madhouse is our mobile center of excellence that is now in its third year of operation. Another emerging trend is audience planning, where digital inventory is combined with data to ensure better ROI for brands. GroupM’s Xaxis is a platform that is at the forefront of innovation in this space.

We have lots to look forward to in 2015 including the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Here’s wishing you all a Very Happy New Year.

(These are purely personal views of GroupM south Asia CEO CVL Srinivas and indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views.)

December 13, 2014
The Content Hub: How formats are created?

MUMBAI: On the day first day of The Content Hub masterclass, The Format People CCO and partner Justin Scroggie, spoke about how ideas are generated and then turned into formats for television.

Defining a format as a series that travels and something that can be adapted in another territory, Scroggie emphasised that certain elements in a format determine how effective it is. In the making of a television programme, the order of television elements, both original and common, have to be in such a way that a distinctive narrative progression is created. These elements could be: set, cast, rules, prize money, audience connect or any other element that make up a television show. Scroggie cited the reality show, ‘Canada’s worst driver’ as an example where the element of ‘elimination’ came as a twist wherein the contestants wanted to get eliminated instead of the avoiding it. He elaborated that the level of originality depends on the order of these elements and how one can give the audience something new. There needs to be a precise beginning, middle and end to each format. According to him, formats need to address three important things – people (who are involved), action (what they have to do) and motivation (why they have to do it). The audience needs to know the genre and core subject of the show.

“In order to generate good television ideas, one should start of by watching television content, in a genre that is unfamiliar to you,” he said. By watching television shows that one is not used to, he/she becomes aware of what else is happening around the realm and it helps in developing better ideas. “The wider your own television experience is, the more broadly you will be able to think”, he added.

Scroggie believes that television influences the way in which people behave, speak and think.

There are several methods from which good content and format can be created. “When we start thinking of ideas, we tend to go down the familiar path. That is how our brains are designed. We need to find ways to trick our way out of that”, he informed.

He went on add that, one can simply begin with a phrase, proverb, movie title or lyrics as a starting point for an idea. For example, one can take the idea of the film title, ‘Frozen’ and formulate a dating show wherein the guy ‘freezes’ upon meeting his date and how he overcomes the same. Ideas can also be generated by changing the angle of a simple show. For example, one can take a simple cooking show and look at it from another angle, that could possibly also highlight domestic problems between married couples. Scroggie added, “When you take a married couple and put them in a kitchen, particularly ‘her’ kitchen, there are bound to be difficulties”.

Another method of creating ideas would be to take an existing show and reverse it. “Things can basically start from anywhere. By reversing ideas, it will help you open up fresh and new stuff”, he commented.

‘Secret Millionaire’ is one such show, that starts with the contestant having a million dollars at the beginning and then starts losing it as the game progresses.

A lot of formats follow a set of narratives. “Audiences like stories with a familiar shape to it, that’s why even movies follow a familiar shape of a beginning, middle and end. Shows have different narratives that add to the value of the show.” he added. Similarly for television, narratives can be applied to the basic themes. One needs to understand these narratives in order to come up with successful formats.

Narratives can be in the form of a make-over as showed in programmes like ‘American dream builders’, ‘Shamba shape up’ and “Let me in” or follow a campaign narrative, like the show ‘Dream school’. There is also the swap narrative format.

According to Scroggie, successful formats are majorly designed along the lines of the ‘fish out of water’ narrative where you put a person or group of people in an unfamiliar situation, out of their comfort zone. “It is a common narrative where you see the outcome of putting people in an unfamiliar situation,” he stated and added, “Narratives that are experimental are also picking up fast these days. Unlike most reality shows that are scripted, experimental narrative has a lot more honesty to it. People want to see open-ended shows where nobody really knows what is going to happen next”.

Apart from that, a creator or writer of a show should try and break rules that could possibly bring about twists in the show. One should also keep an emotional connect with the audience. “You should be clear about the kind of reaction you want from the audience. It could be a feeling of happiness or anger”.

Last but not the least, titles play an important part in grabbing attention.

December 6, 2014
The Content Hub: Thinking digital

MUMBAI: Digital has become the core of any strategy today. And highlighting the same were the digital content creators at indiantelevision.com’s ‘The Content Hub,’ where the makers shared their valuable insights on the success stories and how they manage making money in this competitive market.

Sharing their views were Viral Fever and TVF Media Labs founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar, Rajshri Entertainment MD and CEO Rajjat Barjatya, Viacom18 Media – MTV and MTV Indies EVP and business head Aditya Swami, Qyuki Digital Media co-founder and MD Samir Bangara, Zenga Group MD and CTO Shabir Momin, YouTube head of content operations India Satya Raghavan and Multi Screen Media EVP and head – digital business Uday Sodhi.

Moderated by CNBC-TV18 editor, storyboard Anant Rangaswami, the discussion began with Rangaswami raising the point of how each digital creator makes money differently in the business.

According to Sodhi, while ‘digital only’ may not be the viable way of going about it right now, for popular sports it will turn around. “Look at television or any other entertainment, sports is a critical part where money goes from advertisers and from an eyeballs perspective. Why the same pattern is not followed on digital? It will happen, but how it grows and how much money it takes, only time will tell,” opined Sodhi.

Rangaswami believes it is an interesting curve and content can make money on digital. Agreeing to him, Kumar shared that in the financial year 2012-13, also the first year of TVF online network, its total turnover was equal to one day of shooting cost of an MTV promo and this financial year its total turnover is the cost of one promo of MTV. “The growth has been really phenomenal. Once upon a time, we were doing 10-15 thousand views on YouTube and the brands feature were also very less. That time there was this whole idea that a brand or a client could own a piece of content after giving you money. But cut to now, we have shows on MTV or our channel or AIB and you can see a lot of brands being open to that.”

For Kumar, it is a pretty much age old television model where for example Cadbury takes a lot of money for KBC, because it is watched by a lot of people.

According to Bangara, the big opportunity is the content marketing opportunity. “If advertisers and brands let creators do what they need to without putting restrictions, then it will work much better. Because audiences online are very different than audiences consuming content on the traditional platforms.”

The traditional media players believe that production value equals quality. “In the online space, production value is not directly proportionate to popularity. The concept drives engagement and therefore you don’t need expensive budgets to ride your films on digital platforms,” said Bangara.

Rangaswami further delved to find out whether is it easier to sell branded content on digital than on television? Contradicting his statement, Swamy feels that the future of TV is TV and from a reach and growth perspective, there is huge growth and spread still on television. “On branded content, the way we make this work is that it is the combination of bringing the screens together. If you go to see TV and digital separately, the challenge will be much harder. But a lot of branded content that we do, we bundle the whole thing. For example, take the premium content like ‘Coke Studio’ series that we produce, we produce it as a broadcaster, give it legs on television and it kind of survives on beyond TV as well.”

Going forward, Rangaswami highlighted the different needs of monetisation of content. Barjatya revealed that Rajshri has 20,000 hours of content that it has aggregated with Mukta Arts. “That brings in the revenue. But we also do a lot of experimentations. We have a channel in the entertainment space, bollywood news space, hollywood news space, television space, channels in kids, food and devotional space. These I think will grow going forward.”

But, according to Barjatya, money still needs to keep coming in and that can come only through blockbuster movies, which the company has acquired over the last couple of years.

According to Raghavan brands are experimenting, content creators are experimenting and the entire ecosystem is experimenting. He pointed out that the difference the industry is noticing in the last few years is that advertisers are ready to put their money on content because they believe that the creator of the content or the participant will be able to create the content and distribute it as well. “Till now what was happening was that they wanted to own the delivery itself which is why a lot of brands created good stuff but later fell off the clip. Now, they are trusting a lot on the creators. That’s where the point of money floating to content creators and to networks is multiplying.”

Further adding to this, Momin felt that success on the digital platforms is not counted only by achieving the million views mark. “People get onto the digital platforms for multiple reasons. A movie production house comes to the digital platform not to make money or for ad sales but they are now looking at increasing their eyeballs reach.” He believes that there are other serious players who are trying to make this as a profession. “Branded content is becoming content and that will always be there because they are the ones who are pumping in a lot of their money but if you look at the industry overall , it is the rate of creating content which is growing,” said Momin.

December 6, 2014
The Content Hub: Broadcasters need to encourage new concepts

MUMBAI: While the common consensus was that there is a lull in the content that we see on television today, a few freelance scriptwriters present at The Content Hub claimed that this was not due to a dearth of good writers. According to them, there, in fact, is a lack of good producers.

Indiantelevision organized a three-day initiative that brought together writers, creators, producers, artistes and broadcast executives to discuss, understand, educate and engage those involved in the content creation process – both for TV and digital.

Putting forth the creator’s perspective, Balaji Telefilms creative director Nivedita Basu said, “Well, we need to be in the realms of what the Indian audience wants. When you talk about pushing the envelope so drastically, we need to be careful of not venturing too differently.”

Basu, who has been working with Balaji since the late 90s, feels that the saas-bahu sagas are the ones that bring in the money. “I am a huge fan of daily soaps but I am ready to experiment with new concepts as long as the audience relates to it,” she said.

A budding screenplay writer, Ilashree Goswami, on the other hand, feels that there is not enough support from the producers when it comes to fresh concepts. She stated, “There is a misconception that we lack good writers. Producers and channels need to support and encourage writers with fresh concepts.”

The Format People CCO and partner Justin Scroggie provided a different perspective when he said, “Broadcasters need to see if shows sell. Creators need to be clear about what kind of show it is, in terms of genre.”

Speaking on how channels can help in making a show popular, Basu explained, “Promotions matter a lot too. Kudos to Sony for promoting Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar so well. I hope this show turns the channel around and becomes the next Bade Acche Lagte Hain. We, as producers, also can’t experiment if the channel is not supportive.”

December 6, 2014
Are film promotions on TV losing novelty?

MUMBAI: Television has carved a niche for itself in India. There are many different kinds of shows ranging from fictional, non-fictional, reality and seasonal programmes. While the film fraternity used to earlier view television as a subordinate to movies, today, it is hard for the fraternity to imagine its existence without television. Over the years, television shows have become the most sought after platform when it comes to film promotions. Films are being promoted radically on every show and by doing so, the audience gets a chance to formulate opinions about an upcoming movie. The films get noticed and it builds curiosity amongst the viewers. But is this trend wearing out?

Speaking on how the promotion of films influences the audience, producer of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Asit Kumar Modi says, “Film promotion on television shows is very common. These days, everybody needs media publicity. So, a film will definitely benefit by being on a popular show on TV. At the same time, the TV show will also have celebrities for an episode or two. It’s a win-win situation.”

Having a similar opinion on the impact of film promotions on television, producer of Diya Aur Bati Hum, and Punar Vivah, Sumeet H Mittal opines, “I believe it works to the advantage of both the show as well as the film being promoted. For the television series, it gives the audience a twist to look forward to while in the case of the film being promoted, it helps to reach an assured mass audience.”

With the stupendous success of ‘Happy New Year’ (HNY), one has to agree that marketing strategies are vital for a film to get the right kind of attention. The baadshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan promoted HNY on platforms like ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC), ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ and went a step ahead by even launching a reality show, ‘Dil Se Naachein Indiawaale’ on Zee TV.

Founder of Director’s Kut Productions and director of many popular hit television shows, Rajan Shahi, expresses, “In terms of film promotions on television, I feel that the novelty has gone away. Few years back, it was a rarity to see a Bollywood celebrity on television. The audience used to look forward to it. It was something new and generated lots of curiosity. These days, every film is being promoted on every show, on various channels. It is not as exciting as it used to be before. The audience has understood that these are all promotional tactics.”

Well, the fact is – trends are temporary. The audience today is wise enough to understand that a celebrity appearing on a show is just part of the movie’s promotional campaign. Whether or not this promotional mechanism will be equally popular in the next few years would depend on what new marketing strategies film makers come up with.

December 5, 2014
The Content Hub: Talent shows and drama series drive the global format business

MUMBAI: “Format business is a major industry. Today, the production value of format business is well over 20 billion euros,” said The Format People CCO & partner Justin Scroggie during his keynote at ‘The Content Hub’ organised by indiantelevision.com.

It is unquestionable that television formats have indeed become essential components in the international television market. Largely licensed by television networks, TV formats describe the overall concept of a show and its premises. Investors around the world are now looking at television as an attractive business.

“Over the past nine years, American Idol has generated US $8 billion on its own,” he said.

Scroggie also discussed about the major global trends and television formats in the international landscape as part of his keynote presentation. According to him, the original drivers for the format business are game shows. “Game shows are flexible, relatively short, scalable in terms of cost and renewable. They are repeatable and above all, they are adaptable in various cultures,” he opined while highlighting that despite all this, game shows are struggling these days.

So why is this happening? “Everybody is looking for the next big game show breakout and nobody is finding it,”Scroggie explained. Citing the example of the popular game show Who wants to be a Millionaire, Scroggie said that big money prizes are not delivering the kind of drama as the audience is too familiar with it now.

In addition, with the advent of reality and talent programmes, game shows are not delivering the same level of drama, strong characters and emotional connect which the audiences are expecting. According to Scroggie, talent and reality shows are driving the international format business.

“Got Talent entered the Guinness book of world record as the world’s most successful reality television format. It has been adapted in 63 countries,” he informed. There are many successful talent show formats like ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and ‘Masterchef’ that have been adapted globally. “However trends don’t happen in every country at the same time,”Scroggie added. While Canada does not have many talent shows, China currently has more than 90 talent shows on air.

At this point, Scroggie also said that talent shows are also getting saturated. “Having learnt the grammar of making international talent programmes, more and more countries are making their own versions so that they don’t need to buy international formats,” he explained.

Scroggie believes that the fastest growing area of format business is scripted formats which include drama series that can be adapted and remade in other countries. Homeland, for example, one of the highly successfully television shows in the US, is actually an Israeli format.

“The best dramas are those that travel and have something about them. They can be adapted into the story and emotions of any country,” he said.

Scroggie also spoke about telenovelas, such as ‘Everest’ on Star Plus that drive scripted formats. He believes that today we can find quality drama content written by top talent starring A-listers. Serialised dramas like family, crime and politics also work.

In the last part of his keynote, Scroggie explained how the barriers between viewers and shows are breaking down. “Television is a passive medium and the audience wants to interact with the people they see on screens,” he added. Scoggie feels that web series is picking up and is easy to watch. While social experiments are popular, they are also risky as they involve real people in a live and reality drama.

Scroggie, whose organisation deals in format creation, consultancy on formats, branding and in-house training also delved on why UK is a leader in format sales.

“UK broadcasters are only allowed to keep 15 per cent of the rights on the show. The creators of the shows retain 85 per cent. This has created a huge incentive for producers to sell their formats to broadcasters,” he stated.

While UK, US, Netherlands, Israel and Brazil are doing well in the format business, Scroggie feels that Turkey and China are potential countries to also look out for in the future.

“With your help, let’s add India to the list,” he concluded.

December 5, 2014
The Content Hub: Few breakaways from herd mentality

MUMBAI: The fiction show space in India is going through a changing scenario. While there is experimentation, several shows address similar themes. Discussing about the same at indiantelevision.com’s, ‘The Content Hub,’ were Hats Off Productions founder JD Majethia, Balaji Telefilms creative director Nivedita Basu, Epic Television Networks creative head Ravina Kohli, MTV programming head Vikas Gupta, writer and producer Ila Bedi Dutta and author and scriptwriter Gajra Kottary. The session was moderated by IPR Times Group head of content and operation Monisha Singh Katial.

The discussion began with Katial questioning whether the fiction space was experiencing a lull period. Basu who joined Balaji after a sabbatical, said that the reason why she rejoined was because the fiction space was still evolving. However, Kottary felt that there is a lull in terms of the fact that everything looks the same.

Kohli too agreed that there is a herd mentality, but Epic isn’t competing in the GEC space, since it is a different channel. “Usually people evaluate shows by seeing if others will like it. We believe that if we can watch a show, we will go ahead with it rather than make it for an audience that we don’t even know,” she informed.

Gupta said that due to age group differences, looking at a show from an age group perspective wasn’t easy. “I may be older but I am creating shows for the age group of 15 to 20. And research is showing us that 30 is the new 18,” he explained.

Writers on board said that most of them have had unusual stories to tell, but broadcasters pick up shows depending on their research. “When a creative person comes up with a good show, which receives appreciation, but not the ratings, then the broadcaster pulls the plug on it. He loses conviction in experimenting and goes back to the tried and tested shows,” opined Majethia. He mentioned that Sarabhai vs Sarabhai which was telecast once a week never got the desired ratings and when Star One put it as a repeat daily, the ratings shot up.

Through the discussion, Kohli added that it isn’t possible to sustain creativity day after day, which was agreed by Majethia, who said that the current shows are squeezing writers so much that they lose the creativity and passion that they began the show with.

While Basu said that it was encouraging to see the type of content that Epic and MTV are creating, Balaji’s experience has been quite different. “Channels want success. We at Balaji have also tried doing mature shows such as Kehna Hai Kuch Mujhko but our experiments have failed miserably and so we were asked to go back to doing dailies,” she said.

The issue with having a single episode a week shows is that the audience doesn’t usually come back like it does for a daily because it has been trained that way, said Majethia. According to him, the way to do this was to have Monday to Thursday shows and Friday to Sunday shows because it is easier to remember weekends than once a week.

Gupta said that the audience looks forward to weekend shows being larger than life. He said that while experiments have happened such as MTV’s own show about a gay love story, not every viewer is ready. While earlier shows catered to urban settings, with increasing TV penetration shows have also gone backward. He also highlighted a point saying, “There isn’t a lull in fiction, there is a lull in fiction success. Everyone tries something new in fiction almost every year.”

Over the years, there has also been an increasing competition among GECs, unlike the limited channels earlier. Kottary also spoke about one of her shows which was broadcast on Zee TV in the early 2000s which was about a 34 year old lady doctor falling in love with a younger man. This according to her was much ahead of its time and yet worked for three years.

Basu, who has also worked on the Indian adaptation of 24, said that though a lot of efforts went behind it, but it didn’t garner the expected ratings. She then proposed a question asking which of the two channels, Zindagi and Sony Pal that launched with different content, could be called a success? Majethia to this said that Zindagi has spent little on buying the shows while Pal has invested heavily in producing original shows. “Zindagi is a success because it is a finance driven model,” he said.

Basu with her bag full of ideas, said that channels have been typecast. So a comedy show will be sent to Sab, while a youth oriented show will be sent to MTV, to which Gupta said that this level of segmentation is healthy.

Whether writers, producers and channels are really pushing the envelope was a question raised in the session, to which most people replied with a positive note, while Kottary said that she doesn’t feel they are really pushing it, but it was possible.

December 4, 2014
The Content Hub: Education in comedy doesn’t exist in India

MUMBAI: With the soaps and dramas ruling the Indian television screens, comedy to some extent has taken a backseat. A session on ‘Comedy Fix’ moderated by Indiantelevision.com’s founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari and panellists Neela Telefilms director Asit Modi, Optimystix Entertainment producer Vipul D Shah and All India Bakchod (AIB) co-founder and member Tanmay Bhat sought to find if the TV industry is seeing a dearth of writing talent.

Modi said that in the field of comedy there is not only shortage of writers but producers as well. “Our industry is not ready for new writers. We have a closed mindset when it comes to new writers and tend to only work with a particular set of experienced ones. We don’t give an opportunity to explore,” he said.

Bhat went on to reason why new writers are not accepted by the industry and what today’s writing lacks. According to him the current state of television writing is very generic. “Right from actors to producers to writers, I have seen ‘just-get-it-done’ kind of attitude where originality doesn’t matter but copy pasting does. In my early days, when I used to meet television writers one common thing that I noticed amongst them was that they all had a set pattern of writing in a number of shows,” he elaborated.

All the panellists felt that in today’s time everything is scripted and agreed that the attitude towards writing is very poor which needs to be changed.

Shah highlighted right from the beginning there were no new writers created for TV but the ones making the films ended up writing for the small screen too. According to him, it is difficult to get innovative story writers because it is demanding. “Today, television writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, has a set of dos and don’ts because a channel can demand a change in the plot anytime and we as writers have to be also on our toes to fix it.”

He went on to say that western formats can never be adopted in India. “Our humour is completely different from the genre abroad. We can’t present dirty comedy here because it will never be accepted. So, to bring the humour, which can be accepted by Indian audiences, we have to create our own talent, which is again very difficult.”

According to Modi, whose Taarek Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah has been running successfully for more than six years, writing a daily comedy is not only a challenge but a task. It is not only the writer’s responsibility to make the show going but the entire teams. “You not only need a good writer but a good performer also. And after getting a good performer/actor, one needs a good producer who can bridge the gap.”

Showing the silver lining in the cloud, Bhat said that thankfully now humour has started getting the respect it deserves. According to him, comedy education doesn’t exist in India. “We compare ourselves to the shows in the US. But we also have to look at the kind of education and training they have gone through. All writer/comedians one sees in their shows have all gone through a certain level of training. This doesn’t exist in India.”

The panellists agree that Indian television has always accepted family comedies and this is what will continue in the future as well. From shows like Dekh Bhai Dekh to Khichdi to Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai, they all have catered to the masses.

Is there fatigue coming in comedy? “No, not at all,” said both Modi and Shah. “There will be always space for comedy. Shows like Comedy Nights with Kapil, Comedy Circus, are making everyone laugh today. And everyone loves to laugh, so comedy is and will always be audience’s first choice,” added Modi.

Wanvari further delved to find out that apart from family comedies if there is a room for sitcoms on television? “It will change, because comedy has just started its journey. I am seeing a lot of scope as more comedy channels are being launched. In comedy more than the story, character development is important. So once the characters are developed, the task will be simple,” said Modi.

According to Shah, whose Comedy Circus ran for seven and half years, a show never feels the fatigue. “Yes, at times a few episodes works and a few don’t. Comedy sometimes backfires as well. But overall as a genre, there is no fatigue coming in,” he further said.

Coming from a digital background, Bhat feels that television needs to start catering to the youth a lot more. “They are still catering to the families and not the youth. So, young people will stop watching television at some point of time unless channels keep re-inventing.”

As for Bhat, re-invention should start from the writers’ room. “I don’t see enough young people picked up from the colleges and groomed. It is essential to grab someone at 16 and groom them to get good comedy in place. Any college kid would want to write for television but there are no platforms.”

December 4, 2014