Mumbai: Essel group chairman Subhash Chandra opened up about the latest corporate developments in an interview with Zee Business’s managing editor Anil Singhvi on Wednesday. He spoke about the Mayaverse, Zee Group’s digital ambitions, Zeel-Sony merger, Yes Bank Dish TV issue and other matters.
When asked about new trends such as metaverse, crypto and NFTs, Chandra said, “I call it Mayaverse, as the era of internet belongs to Mayaverse.” During the conversation, Chandra hinted that the group will be coming up with something new very soon – this time on the technology front.
He said, “we never started any business for money, we always tried to do something new by means of business.”
He also revealed Zee group’s plans to add one billion users in the next three years. Zee Media’s digital platforms have 300 million active users and the group will focus on monetising digital content going forward.
Channel’s performance
Talking about Zee Media’s performance, Chandra noted that 58 per cent of the viewers watching Zee Media’s international channel WION is a foreign audience.
He also stated that WION has more followers on YouTube than the BBC and plans to add another 500 million viewers in the next five years.
Speaking about the corporate developments at Essel Group, Chandra said that it has reduced 92 per cent of debt at the promoter level and the rest of the debt will be cleared within one to two months. He also admitted that venturing into the infra business was a ‘mistake’.
The conflict between Dish TV-Yes Bank
On the boardroom conflict between Dish TV and Yes Bank, he commented that the previous management at Yes Bank ‘did fraud with us’ and that many people in the media lack the right information regarding the matter between Yes Bank and Dish TV. Coming to the ongoing merger between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited and Sony Pictures Networks India, he said the merger is moving in the right direction and after regulatory approvals, the merger will be completed.
The media mogul is hopeful for a bounce-back with more ‘strength’ and ‘power’ and observed that the environment is quite positive in the country under PM Modi’s leadership. “We are continuously working on many fronts,” he said.
MUMBAI: Aaj Tak has got the lion’s portion of the market share at 24.9 per cent, according to the BARC data provided to TV Today.
According to data available with TV Today, the news channels that have made it to the top in the Hindi News Channels Category are TV9 Bharatvarsh (22.8 percent), Republic Bharat (19.4 per cent), Zee News (15.7 per cent), Zee Hindustan (7.2 per cent), News Nation (7.0 per cent), DD News (2.0 per cent), India News (1.0 per cent).
The much anticipated Broadcasters Audience Research Council (BARC) viewership data for news channels are finally out after a hiatus of 17 months. The news genre has got its viewership stats back today. The data is available for weeks 6-10.
The advertising and marketing industry has been looking forward to the return of the ratings as much of the annual deals are done in the March-April period and a lot is riding on the ratings. These are the first Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India ratings in nearly 2 years and all the players in the segment will know where they stand on the viewership table.
Earlier last week, News broadcaster NDTV, which owns and operates NDTV 24×7 and NDTV India, had pulled out of Barc India’s rating system citing that the broadcaster doesn’t find it feasible to subscribe to BARC India’s rating system “till it is reconfigured and becomes far more transparent.”
Mumbai: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) has updated its policy for the release of a channel’s viewership data in March. As per the new policy, Barc can facilitate the suspension of individual channel data for a minimum period of six months on request from the broadcaster.
“The ratings for the suspended period will not be released publicly at any point in the future, even after the recommencement of the ratings,” as per the policy.
Barc will also exercise its right to suspend the ratings of a channel in case of payment issues, non-renewal of subscription, or any other breach by the subscriber. The ratings of the suspended channel will only be released six months after the resolution of the issues that resulted in the discontinuation of services. The ratings during the suspended period will not be released publicly after recommencement of the channel ratings.
However, Barc may continue to monitor and deliver playout monitoring of the channel to other YUMI subscribers without the viewership data.
Barc India has stated that it requires a minimum period of four to eight weeks to perform the required technical checks and data validation before releasing a channel’s data publicly. Barc has also requested broadcasters to keep a significant lead time for the watermarking process which may take between eight to 12 weeks time.
A channel can avail channel level viewership data provided by Barc but data that is provided prior to the public release of ratings of the channel is confidential and may be used for internal analysis only. Barc follows that Saturday to Friday week format and releases data publicly via the YUMI software every Thursday.
Barc will no longer release data starting from midweek and broadcasters must inform Barc about the date from which the data is required to be released ten working days prior to the week of release. If Barc does not receive a request to release channel data in YUMI within 12 weeks of being watermarked, Barc India may stop monitoring the channel and capturing the viewership of the channel.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zee) chief creative officer – special projects Shailja Kejriwal, and her brainchild Zindagi channel have had an equally unpredictable, yet exciting journey in the world of media and entertainment. As a visionary storyteller, Kejriwal, to her credit has critically acclaimed content brands and initiatives like Zindagi, Zee Theatre, Star Bestsellers, and an unconventional series of short films called “Zeal for Unity” on one hand, and the TRP-churning, K-series of Indian family dramas on the other.
Zindagi launched on television in 2014 with the Pakistani soap opera “Aunn Zara,” which ended in just 20 days, a rather ‘blasphemous’ occurrence in the pre-OTT days when TV serials ran into as many 2000+ episodes. With real characters who didn’t wear make-up to bed and finite storylines, the channel came in like a breath of fresh air. Becoming an instant hit, it went on to launch Pakistani stars like Fawad Khan, Sanam Saeed, and Mahira Khan with the popular dramas “Zindagi Gulzar Hai” and “Humsafar.”
However, post the 2016 Uri attack, Zindagi had to pull the plug on all Pakistani content. Eventually wrapping up on TV, it became a digital-only channel. Starting out on the Ozee app, and later as Zindagi Digital, the channel finally launched on Zee5 in 2020. In the same year, Zindagi began its Originals innings with Asim Abbasi–directed web series “Churails” (2020). It was followed by “Ek Jhoothi Love Story” – a romantic comedy directed by Mehreen Jabbar, the critically acclaimed series “Dhoop Ki Deewar” featuring Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly, “Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam” – a desi noir anthology helmed by British Indian director Meenu Gaur, and most recently (11 March) Kashif Nisar’s “Mrs & Mr Shameem” – featuring Saba Qamar and Nauman Ijaz.
Kejriwal’s constant endeavour through all the challenges has been to keep brand Zindagi alive and thriving. In a freewheeling interaction with IndianTelevision.com, she talks about “Mrs & Mr Shameem,” Zindagi’s digital journey, programming for the South Asian audience and diaspora, creating content from out of Pakistan, and her content philosophy.
Content, cause and creativity
‘Short-run programming,’ ‘Hindustani content,’ ‘content for cause,’ ‘alternative mainstream,’ while the content on Zindagi has been classified as all of these and more, the idea behind the brand is simply to tell stories that have a purpose, and hence says Kejriwal, the brief is always ‘why is this story being told,’ and ‘how it will impact those watching it.’
“There has to be a social comment in our stories; something which provides a different point of view. I believe that in today’s times when everything around us is changing, storytellers have to explore new ways of telling stories, new ways of talking about love and relationships,” she tells.
Zindagi’s latest release “Mrs & Mr Shameem,” for instance, questions ‘who is the ideal man,’ ‘does he always have to be aggressive,’ ‘can he be like Shameem who is seen as effeminate?’ “What I also like about Shameem’s character is that he doesn’t feel like a victim of this perception of him being ‘less of a man.’ I loved the positivity in the show, and the fact that it is inclusive,” she adds.
Programming for the South Asian audience
Programming for the South Asian audience
Zindagi began in 2014 with a clear roadmap of ‘curate, create and collaborate.’ The channel’s TV days comprised the ‘curation’ phase wherein it got a lot of Pakistani content to see how people liked/consumed it, and the response, shares Kejriwal, was phenomenal.
“I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t tell me that at least one person in their family watched Zindagi,” she says, adding that, “We also kind of expected that because a) Our shows were fresh, finite and meaningful, and b) there was a lot of curiosity about Pakistan among Indians. While our shared history, language and geographies were an important reason behind it, primarily it was the fact that we’ve not had any visual reference of Pakistan since the 80’s, except the news media. On the other hand, Pakistanis have grown up watching us through our films.”
The phase Zindagi is in right now on Zee5 is phase two of ‘Creation.’ Moving a step ahead from launching Pakistani actors, the channel began involving writers and directors in creating content for its South Asian audience. That’s when the ‘Originals’ happened. The third phase of collaboration where it hopes to be in the coming years will invite talent from both sides of the border to work together.
Zindagi’s digital journey
According to Kejriwal, the biggest advantage OTT as a medium offers is the freedom to tell stories that could not have been told on television.
Sharing some snippets from what she calls “a fantastic journey on digital.” “It gave us the chance to work with a new wave of filmmakers like Asim Abbasi and Meenu Gaur. Even though Gaur is not into making Pakistani dramas, her work has a distinct South Asian approach that reciprocates with our TG. OTT provided us the platform to experiment and create content that is truly international in its making, and aimed different cohorts,” Kejriwal notes.
“So, while ‘Churails’ caters to the upmarket or niche and younger audience, ‘Dhoop Ki Deewar’ is meant for family viewing in tier 1 cities. ‘Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam’ is a metro-centric content piece. ‘Ek Jhoothi Love Story’ and ‘Mrs & Mr Shameem’ are suited for family viewing for audiences across tier 1 and 2 cities,” she further adds.
Kejriwal says that she is most excited about bringing back Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed with a new show and a completely new genre and concept of ‘magic realism’ – a first on Zindagi. “We could not have done this on TV where people are used to seeing them in a ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai.’ That’s the fun of creating for OTT,” she states.
And there’s the math too! “We programme for the South Asian audience and South Asian diaspora. When we talk of OTT, we don’t talk of India alone, but the global market. There is a huge Pakistani diaspora that does not have a truly dedicated OTT platform of its own. Therefore, it becomes a low-hanging fruit for us. Our shows have a tremendous fan following among them,” she asserts.
Back to TV?
Kejriwal observes that even though OTT allows the freedom to experiment, the audience is becoming increasingly concerned about not getting lost in discovering content and surfing through it.
“Content discovery can be an overwhelming task, and I propose to make the discovery of Zindagi simpler. That’s where television comes in for me,” she notes. “This is not to take away from the medium, but while the independence OTT gives is amazing, the loyalty on TV is great. OTT has kind of consolidated our viewership across demographics. I hope that 2022 will also see me going back to my loyal audiences on TV.”
Mumbai: The e-commerce sector’s ad volume share is growing on television at 20 per cent every year since 2019, as per data by Tam Media Research (TAM). E-commerce ad volumes registered the highest growth in the third quarter of 2021 outshining the festive period.
E-commerce category media/entertainment/social media contributed the highest share of total e-commerce ad volumes at 31 per cent. This was followed by e-commerce-education at 16 per cent and e-commerce-online shopping at 14 per cent.
The top three advertisers in the e-commerce category were Amazon Online India, Think & Learn, and Whitehat Education Technology. Amazon Online India was the only advertiser with double-digit share in overall eCommerce ad volumes at 11 per cent. Amazon Online India was also a new entrant among the top ten advertisers on TV (all sectors/categories) for the year 2021.
E-commerce advertisers preferred genres such as news, films and general entertainment to feature ads as they accounted for 31 per cent, 21 per cent and 20 per cent ad volumes share, respectively. Feature films and news bulletins were the preferred programmes among advertisers. A time band analysis for e-commerce sector advertising on TV showed that the primetime band saw the highest share of ad volumes at 31 per cent followed by the afternoon time band at 21 per cent.
Mumbai: This year, the contender channels such as Shemaroo TV, The Q, and Azaad TV will be able to make a bigger dent in the FTA market due to the absence of big broadcasters’ Hindi general entertainment channels on Prasar Bharati’s DD Free Dish.
The public broadcaster recently concluded its fourth annual e-auction for vacant MPEG-2 slots available on DD Free Dish. Hindi GECs like Shemaroo TV and The Q were once again able to secure slots for Rs 15.45 crore and Rs 15.4 crore, respectively.
“Last year, the bidding process was highly competitive and we were the highest bidder in the Hindi GEC bucket at Rs 16.5 crore,” said The Q chief operating officer Krishna Menon. “We had a strategy in place and were sure that we had to be available on DD Free Dish come what may. This is because the kind of content we create is for the tier II, III and IV heartland audience and it is important for us to be present there.”
Hindi GEC The Q became available on the DD Free Dish platform for the first time last year and saw its revenues grow by six times. The channel has launched a Marathi free-to-air channel this year. “We took a conscious call that The Q Marathi will not be on Free Dish even though it is a free-to-air channel,” Menon told IndianTelevision.com.
Prasar Bharati’s free DTH platform caters to a TV audience of 40 million, many of whom are not willing to pay for content. This means that the channels which are allotted a slot on DD Free Dish have access to a whole new audience that remains untapped by the pay distribution operators.
Enterr10 Television Network’s Hindi GEC Dangal crossed the 200 gross rating points (GRPs) threshold and became the top channel on TV for several consecutive weeks. This happened after Star, Sony, Zee and Viacom18 had pulled their FTA channels from Free Dish in 2019 and implementation of the new tariff framework (NTO). Dangal experimented with fresh content and was able to garner a significant share of viewership among free-to-air audiences.
However, in 2020, when leading broadcasters returned to the free DTH platform, the share of Dangal fell to 65-75 GRPs due to the intense competition in terms of content. “It’s not just enough to be available on Free Dish, even though that gives you a huge boost. Content is just as important. While Dangal had the best content among newcomers, if you compete with Star Utsav, they are working with completely different kind of budgets. When ‘Anupama’ (Star Utsav’s popular show) was available on Free Dish, it was unbeatable, but when the big broadcasters exited the platform then Dangal shows like ‘Mahima Shani Dev Ki’ and ‘Dwarakadhish’ were shattering records,” said industry observer Shrutish Maharaj.
“It is a big boost for any FTA channel to be available on DD Free Dish from a potential viewership point of view but translating that into actual viewership will largely depend on content,” said Maharaj, adding that, “There will surely be an upswing for the newcomer channels but the quantum of upswing will be interesting to watch. Unlike 2019, there are more FTA channels in the GEC space and it will be interesting to see their journey in the wake of the latest developments.”
“The upswing in GRPs also increases the bargaining power of broadcasters’ because of concentration of viewership in fewer channels in the FTA space,” he remarked. “Earlier, broadcasters were fighting for a piece of the same business and some channels were flexible with their ad rates to attract a share of ad volumes. This led to FTA advertising becoming a buyer-driven market. But a channel with a significant share of GRPs would be able to hold on to their ad rates in spite of the competition.”
“Now that big four are going away, I’m sure that newcomers like Shemaroo TV, Azaad TV and The Q will benefit and take this opportunity to invest in content,” Maharaj further said. “The network broadcasters have not completely exited the free DTH platform as their movie channels are still available on Free Dish. The impact this strategy will have on the FTA viewership is a wait and watch.”
Mumbai: The pay TV subscription market excluding online video subscription hit $228.5 billion globally in 2021, according to Motion Pictures Association (MPA) Theme Report. This is a decline from 2020 when the pay TV subscription market was at $233.1 billion. Cable remained the largest subscription market in terms of revenue. Online video subscription became the second-largest subscription revenue market in 2021, surpassing satellite TV, as a result of a $17.9 billion or 26 per cent increase, the report stated.
The global total of online video subscriptions (1.3), such as Netflix or Disney+ increased by 14 per cent or 164.1 million when comparing 2021 to 2020, found the report. This was less than the number of online video subscriptions added in 2020 which was 232.1 million. The number of cable subscriptions decreased by one percent in 2021 to 526.5 million.
The global box office market was $21.3 billion in 2021 up by 81 per cent compared to 2020 due to theatre re-openings following the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns but remained well below pre-pandemic levels. The international box office market, excluding the US and Canada, stood at $16.8 billion, increased by 76 per cent and accounted for 79 per cent of the global market.
The home/mobile entertainment market which includes content released digitally and on discs reached $78.5 billion globally, an increase of 14 per cent compared to 2020. The digital market was the driver of growth, according to the report.
When pay television subscription is added to the total combined global theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market, the value increases to $328.2 billion, a six percent increase compared to 2020, matching 2019’s record high.
Pay television subscription accounted for 70 percent of the total combined theatrical, home/mobile entertainment, and pay TV market, with the digital market (22 per cent), theatrical market (six per cent), and the physical market (two per cent) making up the rest.
Mumbai: With 2543.24 AMA against last week’s 2483.04, Sun TV was once again at the top position in Broadcast Audience Research Council’s (Barc) most-watched channels list for the ninth week of 2022 (From 26 February to 4 March). The Tamil GEC was followed by Star Maa and Star Utsav at 2464.32 and 2452.35 (‘000s), respectively.
Star Plus, Dhinchaak, Star Vijay, Dangal, Star Pravah, Sony SAB, and Zee Telugu grabbed the remaining slots.
Maintaining hold over the Mega Cities and South, Sun TV registered average ratings of 454.41 and 2532.02 in the two markets, respectively. Star Plus, Colors, Star Vijay and Sony SAB were other top performers in the Mega Cities. The remaining four slots in the South market were grabbed by Star Maa, Star Vijay, Zee Telugu, and Zee Kannada.
Among the regional markets, Maharashtra/Goa was led by Star Pravah at 1451.78 (‘000s), West Bengal by Star Jalsha at 1293.2, Odisha by Tarang (490.2), Karnataka by Zee Kannada (1329.94), and Rajasthan and UP/Uttarakhand by Star Utsav at 265.74 and 429.28, respectively.
Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company SVP and CFO Christine McCarthy said that Disney+ Hotstar owes a large part of its success to live cricket, but the Indian streaming giant’s entertainment content is underappreciated. The Disney executive was addressing the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference 2022 on Tuesday.
“India is a big market. There’s a lot of focus on the IPL. Disney+ Hotstar users enjoy the current IPL sports program on the platform. But they also enjoy a lot of other sports programming, whether it’s other cricket rights, other international sports. Something that’s very underappreciated is the amount of general entertainment and the quality of that entertainment and viewership in the Indian market,” McCarthy told Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne.
She further added, “In 2021, of the 15 top viewed series on direct-to-consumer, nine of those came from Disney+ Hotstar. So, there’s content that people are going to view just like here in the United States, a lot of people view sports, sports is something that’s a very popular type of content to consume, but they also consume other types of content. And, so, when you think about the number of hours and the quality of the content that is being produced in the Disney+ Hotstar originals, that’s something we’re very proud of. And we think that that will continue to make that business one that consumers will engage in.”
When asked if Disney+ would be able to achieve its 2024 guidance, McCarthy stated, “I know some people were skeptical on our last earnings call when we said that we could still make our guidance and this actually related to something in India regarding the IPL. But we feel good about where we are with that 230 million to 260 million Disney+ subscribers by 2024.”
The Disney executive also said that the company is not only looking at subscriber growth but also profitability. “And we like those two because we think it injects the right kind of tension for really managing the business. We’re driving towards that, and we feel really good because of the content that we have; the brands we have, the intellectual property we have to work with. And once again, we’re learning more.”
Mumbai: 2021 has bounced back with a substantial double-digit spike, delivering an all-time high of 1824 million seconds of ad volumes during the year. This translated into a 22 per cent and 18 per cent growth over 2020 and 2019, respectively. The Top 10 advertisers accounted for 780 million seconds of ad volumes, and the next 40 accounted for 340 million seconds. The data was shared by Barc India, which recently launched its Think Report, 2021 – A Voluminous Year (Yearly Ad Volume Report 2021) analysing television advertising volumes for the past year.
According to the report, FMCG brands continued to lead in share across categories and Hindi channels continued to dominate across languages. New advertisers and brands consistently jumped in throughout the year, thus playing an important role in the advertising volume growth witnessed throughout 2021. 2020 was a subdued year for television advertising, leading to a decline in total ad volumes across the year despite the record stay-at-home rise in viewership.
“2021 certainly brought in much needed cheer to the broadcast industry. The year started off on a positive note and also ended on a high with the festive quarter,” remarked Barc India head – client partnership and revenue function Aaditya Pathak. “Year on year, despite pandemic impediments, television has repeatedly proved effective for every penny spent for advertisers and brands. 2021 saw over 9000 advertisers turn to television with a significant number of new entrants. Overall, 2021 was a positive year for the industry as a whole that witnessed growing value for both advertisers and broadcasters.”
Advertisers & Brands Count
TV had a total of 9239 advertisers and 14616 brands advertising on the medium in 2021, of which, 49 per cent i.e, 4483 were either new advertisers or returning ones. Similarly, for brands, 51 per cent i.e, 7470 were new or returning brands.
Categories
The FMCG category continued to lead with an enormous share of 1117 million seconds of ad volumes in 2021, followed by e-commerce with 185 million seconds and building, industrial, & land materials/equipment with 60 million seconds. Television also understandably continued to be an important medium for the corporate brand image category which registered two times growth over 2019, with 24 million seconds.
The e-commerce category had a total of 587 advertisers in 2021 of which 65 per cent were new entrants or earlier advertisers returning to TV in 2021, registering a growth of 51 per cent over 2020 and 26 per cent over 2019. Media/entertainment/social media, education, online shopping, matrimonials and financial services were the top five sub-categories within e-commerce. Ad volumes for education grew by 461 per cent and financial services by 153 per cent over 2020.
Languages
While Hindi continues to play a dominant part of the language mix, regional language channels recorded strong growth as well across 2021. Ad volumes for Bhojpuri language channels doubled over 2019 and Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Assamese language channels posted over 40 per cent growth over 2019. South language channels (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada) grew by 26 per cent over 2020.
2021 – Quarterly Analysis
Q1 2021 kickstarted on a positive note having registered 24 per cent growth over 2020 and 21 per cent growth over 2019. Despite the sporadic and partial lockdowns on account of the second wave of Covid-19, ad volumes for Q2’ 21 were relatively higher at 417 million seconds as compared to Q2’19 which recorded 399 million seconds. Q4’21 brought in cheer for broadcasters with a bumper festive season that recorded 489 million seconds of ad volumes, the highest quarter ever. New advertisers continued to flock to television for effective communication with Q4’21 welcoming 2156 new advertisers or earlier ones returning to the medium, the highest for the year.
After a marginal decline in Q2 2021 on account of the lockdowns, regional language channels experienced steady growth in Q3 and Q4.
SD and HD Channels
Ad volumes for HD channels in 2021 grew by 11 per cent over the previous year and SD channels grew by 22 per cent in 2021 over 2020 and by 20 per cent over 2019.
TV Commercials
TV commercials with an average commercial duration of under 30 seconds, were most favoured by advertisers while spots more than 60 seconds were least preferred. The average commercial duration has been reducing Y-O-Y. The prime-time band, i.e, 20:00 hours to 24:00 hours enjoyed the maximum share of ad volumes at 27 per cent. The share of ad volumes for the four time bands, viz 08:00 – 12:00 hrs, 12:00-16:00 hrs, 16:00-20:00 hrs and 20:00-24:00 hrs, continued to stay the same since 2019. TV commercials in local languages on regional channels are consistently increasing since 2019.
IPL 2021
IPL 2021registered a total of 1680 thousand seconds of ad volumes with 119 advertisers and 228 brands in all. There were 59 new advertisers and 158 new brands for the season. The top 10 advertisers for the season contributed 35 per cent of the ad volumes.
Tokyo Olympics
With 466 thousand seconds, ad volumes for the Tokyo Olympics were almost at par with the Rio Olympics that was held in 2016. There were 34 advertisers and 61 brands that advertised during the Tokyo Olympics. Significantly, 31 per cent of the ad volumes during the Tokyo Olympics featured olympians.
