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Tag: FICCI-EY

  • TV segment grows by five per cent to reach Rs 720 billion in 2021: Report

    TV segment grows by five per cent to reach Rs 720 billion in 2021: Report

    Mumbai: The television segment grew by five per cent in 2021 to reach Rs 720 billion, according to FICCI-EY media and entertainment report 2022 unveiled at the Dubai Expo on Monday. TV advertising revenues stood at Rs 313 billion and distribution revenues at Rs 407 billion at the end of 2021, the report further stated.

    According to the report, television advertising grew by 25 per cent in 2021 after recovering from a 21.5 per cent drop in 2020, and two per cent short of 2019 levels. The recovery was mainly volume-driven, though certain pockets like regional entertainment, news and sports did witness rate growth towards the end of 2021.

    Hindi language pay TV viewership declined resulting into increased cost-per-rating-point (CPRPs) for advertisers while CPRPs for regional channels remained constant in 2021. Due to this, many advertisers increased their share of spends on regional TV products and regional channels received 26 per cent more ad volumes than national channels in 2021.

    TV subscription revenue continued to decline for the second year in a row showing degrowth of 6.2 per cent. This was mainly driven by the reduction in six million pay TV homes and a fall in consumer end average revenue per user (ARPUs). The connected TV base in India increased to 10 million sets. The time spent on TV fell by eight per cent from 2020 levels and was slightly lower than 2019 levels for Hindi speaking markets (HSM).

    The number of pay channels increased by 21 whereas the number of free-to-air channels decreased by 26 in September 2021, which “reflects a move by broadcasters to build stronger subscription revenue products through bouquets,” according to the report. The total number of TV channels declined marginally to 906 from 911.

    “While television households will continue to grow at one per cent till 2025, we expect growth to be driven by connected TVs which could cross 40 million by 2025 and free television which could cross 50 million, thereby stressing the core pay television market,” said the report.

    E&Y estimates television revenues to grow to Rs 826 billion by 2024. The estimates are subject to the implementation of ad caps and regulatory restrictions on pricing, it noted. Going forward, E&Y predicts that local cable operators (LCO) would operate a hybrid business model i.e., provide a linear TV wire plus a broadband connection to offer efficient content services, broadband connectivity, smart home services, and locality/community services.

    “India has always been a different kind of media and entertainment market. High on volume and low on ARPU, yet up top with the rest on technology and ahead of the pack when it comes to digital adoption,” commented E&Y media and entertainment sector leader Ashish Pherwani. “We love quantity and bundles; but we pay for value. We are amongst the top smartphone markets; and have a large feature phone base. We subscribe to global OTT platforms; yet binge on Youtube and watch free satellite TV. And we are thirsting for curated knowledge and escapism while creating millions of pieces of content each day ourselves.”

  • Print faced setback in advertising & circulation in 2020, could re-grow this year

    Print faced setback in advertising & circulation in 2020, could re-grow this year

    NEW DELHI: Who could have known that a microscopic organism would disrupt the global economy and adversely impact businesses across the board in a single year – but the Coronavirus did. And the media industry was no exception to its rampage. In 2020, print media de-grew 36 per cent, and this unexpected plummet came at a time when the industry has been ceding ground to digital media. 

    Advertising and circulation impacted

    A recent FICCI-EY study report indicates that advertising revenues for newspapers in 2021 fell by 41 per cent in 2020. Subscription revenues for print media also plummeted by 24 per cent last year. Compared to regional newspapers, it was English newspapers that witnessed a more pronounced decline. 

    Advertising revenues of English news publications fell by 52 per cent in 2020, while revenues of Hindi and other regional language contents dropped by 35 per cent. 

    As the world limps back to normalcy, industry experts believe that advertising and subscription revenues could increase in 2021. According to the study report, advertising revenues will grow by 25 percent in 2021, thus elevating the revenue share to Rs 152.1 billion. The subscription revenues are also showing signs of revival, and it is expected to grow 25 per cent in 2021 and exceed 2019 levels by 2023. Meanwhile, magazine revenues that were halved in 2020 may not recover until 2023. 

    Print companies adopting measures to stay financially afloat

    To combat the ongoing crisis, print media companies have implemented significant cost reduction measures to achieve between 25 per cent and 40 per cent efficiencies, and this trend is expected to continue in the upcoming years as well. 

    Some of the noted cost-cutting measures adopted by print media include shutting down unprofitable editions, downsizing the employee base, curtailing the rental of leased properties, and giving work from home options to certain employees. Some publications pulled the plug on low-cost subscription packages, while a few others implemented salary reductions and abeyances. 

    Even though most of these measures are reversible when the business environment picks up again, industry experts believe that some of these reductions may be here to stay and could eventually enable print companies to stay financially afloat. 

    Print ad revenues rely on FMCG, auto, and education

    Further, the report suggests that the top five categories that contributed to print ad revenue in 2020 were FMCG, auto, education, retail and real estate, and home improvement. These five categories contributed 59 per cent of ad revenues, up from 50 per cent in 2019. 

    Almost all categories showed de-growth as advertisers fear that print media circulation has not returned back to pre-Covid levels. 

    Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, digital hands of print media gained massive popularity in 2020. Online news viewership has surged to 454 million unique visitors in 2020, much greater than 394 million unique visitors in 2019. Many print companies have now started to give importance to digital news publications as well, and they are focusing on products like websites, apps, and e-papers. Amid these positive signs, monetisation remained an issue with most print companies, as they generated only five percent of their revenues from their digital handles. 

    Contribution by ad-volumes

    Amid the Covid pandemic, Hindi has continued as the largest contributor to ad volumes with the largest reach of any language in India, growing its share by four per cent. In 2019, the ad volume generated by Hindi newspapers was 37 per cent, and it grew to 41 per cent in 2020. English language publications had slight degrowth in 2020 and have lost two per cent volume share since 2018. 

  • FICCI-EY report sheds light on priorities & challenges for CMOs in 2021

    FICCI-EY report sheds light on priorities & challenges for CMOs in 2021

    NEW DELHI: 2020 was a very challenging year for marketers and business owners, as the Covid2019 pandemic literally reshaped the way in which they functioned in the past. And now, a new FICCI-EY study report has shed light on the priorities and challenges for marketing heads in 2021. 

    Marketing spend efficiency: The foremost priority

    The study report suggested that marketing spending efficiency will be the most important priority for CMOs in 2021. 80 per cent of the CMOs who took part in the survey highlighted marketing spend efficiency as one of their top two priorities for 2021 given the impact of Covid2019 on marketing budgets. 

    Considering the rising popularity of OTT platforms, 65 per cent of the respondents are working towards finding a balance between television and OTT spends. Over 50 per cent of the respondents suggested that they are planning to revive offline engagement opportunities with customers. 

    Challenges faced by marketers in 2021

    The survey report suggested that the key challenge faced by marketers is self-reporting by walled gardens on ad performance, as it demonstrated a clear need for a layer of assurance on digital spends. Most marketers face a dilemma while evaluating lead quality before additional amounts are invested, and many of them are using a trial and error mechanism to evaluate the same across platforms, formats, etc. 

    A majority of the participants who took part in the survey revealed that digital ad fraud remained an issue for most of them. 41 per cent of the marketers trust their digital ad agencies or the platforms to manage ad fraud for them. 31 per cent rely on using third-party tools to detect ad frauds. 

    Respondents in this survey also talked about how their organisation accesses the state of future-readiness in terms of digital maturity. 92 per cent of respondents were actively monitoring their digital readiness, while 53 per cent of respondents are dependent on their digital agency partners to know more about leading practices in their digital transformation journeys.

    Six per cent of the respondents revealed that they are growing at their own pace, and made it clear that the state of future-readiness in terms of digital maturity does not interest them. Two per cent of the marketers admitted that they are not aware of the state of future readiness in terms of digital maturity. 

  • Over 10 mn paid for OTT video subscriptions in 2019: FICCI-EY report

    Over 10 mn paid for OTT video subscriptions in 2019: FICCI-EY report

    MUMBAI: The Indian media and entertainment industry has moved beyond the era where consumers are not willing to pay for premium content online. Although the number of paying consumers remains low compared to overall users, the growth is visible, according to FICCI-EY 2020 report. In 2019, over 10 million subscribers paid for 21 million OTT video subscriptions for the first time. Overall digital subscription also grew over 100 per cent to reach Rs 29.2 billion.  

    Video subscription revenues grew 111 per cent in 2019 as premium content – originals and sports – went behind the paywall and amounts paid by telcos on behalf of their customers to content owners increased significantly. Audio subscription grew comparatively slower at 18 per cent in 2019 as platforms are still in the customer acquisition phase and several free products are available. However, the percentage of paying subscribers to total OTT consumers remained less than five per cent and one per cent for video and audio, respectively.

    One of the key drivers for the growth of video subscription is a cricket-heavy 2019, with Hotstar creating an annual sports pack at Re 1 per day. The report also mentioned that increased television subscription prices due to the implementation of the NTO in February 2019 led to certain viewers, mainly English content viewers, preferring to subscribe to relatively more affordable OTT services. Moreover, over 1600 hours of original content were created for OTT platforms across films and episodic content, which led to increased demand.

    There were several moderations in subscription packages also. Free/trial access to leading OTT platforms was provided by telcos and MSOs, bundled with data or television subscriptions, of between one and six months. Major players including Netflix introduced several sachet packs.

    The entry of Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc. boosted the growth of audio streaming subscription during 2019 along with increasing smartphone penetration in India. The number of music streamers has increased to 180-200 million from 150 million in 2018.  However, paid subscribers remained below per cent, due to the prevalence of free options across all the large streaming platforms as well as music availability on YouTube. 

    The report predicts that overall digital subscriptions will grow at a CAGR of 30 per cent until 2022.