Mumbai: In his company’s annual report, DTH operator Dish TV group CEO Anil Kumar Dua has maintained that the bigger picture remains intact in a market where the consumer is spoiled for choice. The popularity of DTH as an all-encompassing, budget-friendly option is well maintained despite the many emerging alternatives in the market. “Dish TV appreciates the changing tastes and preferences of consumers and is on track to leverage these emerging trends considering that technology-driven evolution and related growth of the sector is inevitable.”
He noted that the DTH industry is maintaining its popularity at a time when the media and entertainment space in India is witnessing a change in the landscape with a growing number of content delivery platforms and viewing options available to consumers. “Consumers have been spoiled for choice with over 850 channels in the linear space and 40+ big and small OTT platforms laden with movies, TV shows, web-series, time-shifted content, etc. Entertainment watching has spiked to almost 4.5 hours per day per user as against 3.6 hours in 2018,” he added.
He further highlighted that, “Competition has also increased from free-to-air government-run distribution platforms and telcos. The fall in subscriber numbers is due to top-end subscribers alternating between DTH and streaming content, and bottom-end subscribers often choosing free-to-air DTH over pay DTH.”
He said that fiscal 2022 was certainly not the smoothest year for Dish TV. “Challenges, both on the corporate and business front, kept us engaged but never to the extent of losing focus on business. Notwithstanding difficulties, the company continues to keep up with the times and remains optimistic about its capabilities to stay as one of the most relevant players in the content delivery space in India. The company is actively looking beyond its contemporary offerings of hybrid boxes and OTT platforms and is exploring new possibilities that would make its service bouquet more appealing to an even wider set of audience.”
“Our company is expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s strong focus on vaccination, rural electrification, rural income, make in India, road and highway construction, and housing for all, all of which are expected to be instrumental in increasing the share of pay television viewers by helping create overall rural infrastructure and employment in the days to come,” he added.
Dish TV, he said, has played a significant role in changing the Indian television landscape through the use of DTH technology. “Dish TV is the only media company that is CMMI-certified. Our company has constantly strived to take television viewing to the next level as it supports various futuristic features, providing consumers with easy accessibility and a wide variety of digital content. Its vast distribution network is spread across the length and breadth of the country. Our company enjoys strong brand equity with a large number of SD and HD channels, value-added services, and multiple offerings spanning across price points. Customer centricity being at the heart of its operations, the company strives to offer superior quality at competitive prices.”
“The home-grown OTT platform of Dish TV India has been steadily growing its reach and crossed the 50 million downloads mark at the end of the fiscal, doubling its subscribers during the year. The platform debuted several new web series to gain strength as an OTT platform with a strong semi-urban presence in addition to meaningful tier-1 visibility. The platform is poised to become the medium to carry Dish TV India to the next level by being a critical connection between the company and its younger audience.”
He also said that during the fiscal, subscription revenues were lower as compared to the last fiscal, primarily due to volatile viewing habits, the emergence of the second and third waves of the pandemic in the country, high inflation, and conservative spending.
While the fiscal started with a renewed sense of optimism, he added, the optimism, however, was short-lived as the first quarter itself witnessed the worst of the pandemic attack, bringing, once again, life to a grinding standstill, both for businesses and individuals. “Fortunately, learning from the first curve of the pandemic kept the business organised and we were determined to serve the community, not only by fulfilling our obligation to entertain but in every other manner we could. Dish TV extended its support to encourage vaccination amongst individuals by offering a day’s worth of complimentary television viewing for anyone who got vaccinated and uploaded their vaccination certificate. A day of extra subscription was also credited to all hospitals and medical facilities with a DTH connection as a mark of gratitude and support.”
“As post pandemic normalisation dawned in the latter part of the second quarter, consumerism picked up though rural demand remained largely depressed. The third quarter witnessed higher marketing spending in anticipation of higher demand, but consumer spending fell below par once the pent-up demand was exhausted. Overall, the cloud of Covid-19 obstructed any meaningful increase in consumer confidence and spending.”
“With the worst of Covid behind us and normalcy expected, India is set to remain one of the fastest-growing economies in the world in FY 2022–23. Strong fiscal, monetary, and budgetary interventions initiated by the government are expected to keep the country on track to becoming a five-trillion dollar economy. The government is focused on making India a digital economy with technology-enabled development, energy transition, and climate action for a more sustainable future. Though India continues to tread the growth path, inflationary pressures led by global supply chain bottlenecks and the ongoing geopolitical conflict pose a challenge to this forward march. Mounting inflationary pressures have necessitated a gradual and controlled rate hike that could be mildly recessive in the medium term but will certainly have a longer term progressive upside for the economy.”
