ITV

Tag: Hotstar

  • Hotstar launches ‘Koi Yaar Nahi Far’ this VIVO IPL 2019

    Hotstar launches ‘Koi Yaar Nahi Far’ this VIVO IPL 2019

    MUMBAI:  Hotstar is poised to elevate the experience for the upcoming VIVO IPL 2019, India’s largest sporting extravaganza. With the motto of ‘Koi Yaar Nahi Far’, the streaming giant is rolling out a first-ever social cricket-watching experience for the new season which kicks off on 23 March 2019.

    This year, with ‘Koi Yaar Nahi Far’, Hotstar will bring people together irrespective of their location. Viewers will get the opportunity to invite their friends and family to Hotstar, enabling them to watch the matches and participate in the Watch N’Play game together. Fans will be able to compete and see where they stand against their friends and family through the new social leader board. 

    They will also be able to make their voices heard by chatting about the match or their Watch N’Play experience, not only with their friends and family, but also with experts and celebrities. In interesting product integration, winners of the Watch N’Play games will be able to redeem their points, courtesy the exclusive partnership with Amazon Pay. The campaign TVC showcasing these features rolls out on 8 March 2019.

    As a global first, Hotstar is offering ad targeting for live sports at a scale like never before, making the 12th edition of VIVO IPL an exciting affair for all involved. Advertisers will be able to target 24 different cohorts during the live streaming. Additionally, through contextual branded cards showcasing offers, mini-games, and polls, brands have been provided with a unique opportunity to engage viewers at scale during a live game and be a part of their moments of joy for the entire tournament.

    The streaming platform has also partnered with Swiggy to ensure that users don’t miss a single moment of the cricketing action this season. Favourites from the Swiggy Pop menu can be ordered directly from within the Hotstar app, making it extremely convenient for cricket fans across the country.

    “In India, cricket is a very intrinsic part of our fabric and IPL over the years has become one of the largest sporting events globally. Last season alone, an astounding 202 mn viewers watched VIVO IPL on Hotstar, and we expect this number to grow tremendously this year,” said Hotstar chief product officer Varun Narang. “The joy of watching cricket is multiplied manifold in the company of friends and family, something that’s becoming increasingly difficult to do today. We wanted to introduce something special to protect that ethos, and added the interactive, social layer to enhance the cricket watching experience. With a strong technology backbone, and an engaging experience for the viewers coupled with disruptive marketing solutions for brands, we are extremely excited to bring VIVO IPL on Hotstar like never before.”

    Furthermore, with the intent to take this experience deeper and wider into India, the matches will be streamed across 8 languages, targeting an unprecedented reach of 300 million viewers.

  • Hotstar’s Varun Narang on driving consumer engagement for IPL 2019

    Hotstar’s Varun Narang on driving consumer engagement for IPL 2019

    MUMBAI: The nature of sports broadcasting has witnessed a dramatic shift over the years with fan engagement now playing a pivotal role in the strategy matrix of major channels. Technology has enhanced the core product on TV by enabling broadcasters to provide more statistically-driven insights.  

    Star India has been at the forefront of this change, offering technology-driven content on both TV and digital for some of its marquee sporting properties like the Indian Premier League. The Select Dugout feed for fanatics on TV and Watch’N play on its OTT platform Hotstar are prime examples.

    India has more than 790 million sports viewers, with 740 million of those being cricket watchers. IPL 2018 drew a humongous 700 million plus viewers to the Star Sports Network, with 22 per cent of those being contributed by Hotstar.

    The super streamer saw a concurrent viewership of 10.7 million for the finals between CSK and SRH, a record of sorts in the world of live sports streaming.

    The company has set its sights on shattering more such records this season as it looks to up the fan engagement levels through innovation. Those running the streaming service believe that two aspects in particular hold the key to keeping fans hooked for longer durations during sessions.

    “It’s been quite a phenomenal journey over the last few years for the platform. We are super excited for the upcoming IPL season starting 23 March. We want to make IPL even more compelling and addictive. We think that gamification as well as social are two big areas that will make the enjoyment of sports even more than it already is,” highlighted Hotstar chief product officer Varun Narang.

    Star India has not just been quick off the blocks in adapting to the digital environment but also managed to gallop ahead of competition by benefiting from the Jio-led telecom revolution.

    India is one of the fastest growing 4G markets in world today. The number of 4G users was five times the number of 3G users at the end of December 2018, according to Amazon Web Service (AWS).

    Improvement in internet connectivity, gradually declining data costs and increasing penetration of smartphones has led to rapid growth in online and on-the-go consumption of live sports content in India.

    “We thought that how can we make it more fun from a gamification perspective as hundreds of millions of fans are not in the stadium. We built a game (Watch‘N play) that was based on some principles and tens of millions of users played and enjoyed it. We are super thrilled to take the next step and are looking for really cool filters that are built around IPL games. We looked at the entire spectrum including fantasy leagues, percentage of engagement in fantasy leagues with NFL which is the largest fantasy league in the world,” Narang stated.

    Fantasy sports has emerged as a big winner in recent times due to the growth of digital infrastructure and the emergence of new sports leagues. Fantasy sports is increasingly gaining more traction in India, with the number of fantasy sports operators having risen from 10 in 2016 to 70 in 2018. That number of users on fantasy sports platforms is expected to cross 100 million by 2020.

    Star has demonstrated its success from cricket broadcasting in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) as well.

    “It’s a sport which is well known in India and is played by almost everyone in their childhood. So the challenge was how to make it exciting to watch and then over time finding the right partners for the league to ensure that you have momentum in growing the sport. So one of the trusts is the franchises, until two years ago we had eight franchises and now we have 12. When we brought the next set of franchises, we wanted them to know how to build a brand which will engage the fan and broaden the sport,” pointed out Star India president – new strategy and head of PKL Ipshita Dasgupta

    According to her, the fact that 65 per cent of the Indian population is under the age of 35 and 50 per cent is under the age of 25 is extremely crucial.

    “I think going from zero to 300 million viewers in the space of four years, there are so many things that can be attributed to this. The thing that we added to that is involving kids and schools into Kabaddi, that was a big difference. Having kids play and making Kabaddi aspirational for children is important. We are one of the longer leagues which is substantial compared to others. To build a sport you need to have coaches, players making money, teams which can build brands – all of these things play a huge role,” she further added.

    With the 12th edition of IPL just around the corner, Star Sports and BCCI unveiled the campaign #GameBanayegaName which focuses on IPL as a platform where one’s ‘Talent’ (Game) precedes one’s name.

    The TVC opens with a split screen battle between young players in a maidan on one side and established IPL stars on the other to grab screen space. After an entertaining tussle, the film ends with IPL stars acknowledging the maidan players talent and inviting them to show their game. The TVC is a reflection of the core spirit that IPL resonates, a platform for young talent to showcase their game and an opportunity to make a name.

    The film is being released simultaneously in 7 languages – Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi across all platforms, TV, radio, and digital.

  • Dhoni’s ‘zidd’ in new Hotstar Specials show teaser gets fans intrigued

    Dhoni’s ‘zidd’ in new Hotstar Specials show teaser gets fans intrigued

    MUMBAI: OTT platform Hotstar  has recently launched its original stories platform called ‘Hotstar Specials’. Ace cricketer MS Dhoni’s maiden production collaboration ‘Roar of the Lion’ is going to be the first big release on the platform.

    Hotstar has released an intriguing teaser for the show on its platform, which is creating a lot of excitement amongst the audience. With this special, Dhoni is expected to tell a story that not even his closest friends know. “What is it all about? His toughest moment as a sportsman, cricketer, captain, husband, father or more?” asks Hotstar with this teaser.

    Hotstar

    On his association with Hotstar Specials, MS Dhoni said, “I am excited to see my first production collaboration come to life. The story and the narrative are unique, and we believe it has found a perfect home in the bold and non-conforming Hotstar Specials.”    

    Hotstar Specials will showcase exclusive, authentic, big and bold stories created by the biggest storytellers in the country. Featuring some of the most unconventional stories, every show will be available in seven languages, i.e., Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

  • Hotstar and Applause partner for the first slate of Hotstar Specials

    Hotstar and Applause partner for the first slate of Hotstar Specials

    MUMBAI: India's leading OTT, Hotstar recently announced its foray into digital content for a billion screens with Hotstar Specials. For its initial slate of soon to be launched Specials, it has partnered with Applause Entertainment, the content studio from the Aditya Birla Group. The four shows in the initial slate are – Criminal Justice, The Office, Hostages and City Of Dreams. 

    With over 15 crore monthly active users and growing, Hotstar is the country's biggest OTT by a distance. Earlier this year, it announced its next big leap in content with Hotstar Specials helmed by India's leading creative talent. The four shows that will be rolled out as Hotstar Specials mark the coming together of some of India’s most talented entertainment professionals.

    Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vishal Furia’s Criminal Justice, the Indian adaptation of the hit British series, will feature Vikrant Massey, Pankaj Tripathi, Mita Vashisht, Anupriya Goenka and Jackie Shroff in leading roles. Rohan Sippy & Debbie Rao and Vivek Bhushan have helmed the Indian adaptation of the international cult comedy The Office, which features an exciting ensemble cast. City Of Dreams has Nagesh Kukunoor directing Atul Kulkarni, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Eijaz Khan, Priya Bapat and Siddharth Chandekar in a political drama, set in Mumbai. The widely acclaimed international thriller, Hostages is directed by Sudhir Mishra with Ronit Roy, Tisca Chopra and Parvin Dabas playing pivotal parts.

    Hotstar Specials will be available in 7 major Indian languages leveraging the platform's unmatched reach across the country and will also be accessible to Hotstar's global audiences.

    Speaking about the partnership Sanjay Gupta, MD Star India said "With Hotstar Specials we hope to create the biggest Indian stories delivered to a billion screens. To bring this vision alive we are proud to partner with Applause Entertainment on our first set of Specials."

    Added Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment, “Hotstar is the leader of the streaming services in India and a perfect partner for us. We hope to entertain their audiences, to contribute in a small way to help achieve their business objectives and to ink a deeper, longer-term creative relationship with them.”

    Over the past year, Applause Entertainment has developed a robust and varied pipeline of shows, and is constantly improving on processes and systems to be able to deliver high quality creative output at scale.

    Hotstar Specials are slated to launch starting March 2019, on the back of VIVO IPL which will stream exclusively on Hotstar.

  • IPL 11 saw 61% growth in ad volume from season 1

    IPL 11 saw 61% growth in ad volume from season 1

    MUMBAI: The cash-rich Indian Premier League has witnessed tremendous growth over the years from its inception in 2008. The growth is in terms of different aspects like advertising revenue, sponsorship revenue, number of eyeballs and brands attraction etc.

    According to TAM data, commercial ad volumes grew by 61 per cent in IPL 11 compared to IPL 1 i.e. from 31 hours in season 1 to 50 hours in season 11. Total of 151 brands advertised across 64 different categories during the last season.

    To make the data comparable, one channel each of the respective broadcasters is taken into consideration for both the seasons. Sony Max is for IPL 2008 and Star Sports 1 Hindi for 2018 season.

    Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the 12th season of the cash-rich league will commence from 23 March 2019. Franchises, brands, broadcaster and most importantly the fans were left delighted when the board announced that the 2019 edition will be played entirely in India.

    The 11th season of the cash-rich league enjoyed humungous reach both on TV and OTT platform of Star India. Brands have long recognised the power and popularity of cricket in India and IPL with its undisputed reach and combination of cricket and entertainment is a zero risk property for brands.

    On-screen advertising, the digitally embedded elements fed by broadcaster during the live telecast of match saw a good spike in the number of brands and categories. Total 51 brands advertised in IPL 11, which is 38 per cent more than IPL season one’s 37 brands. There was a 67 per cent rise in categories from 18 in IPL 1 to 30 in IPL 11.

    Top three categories which dominated the top 10 list across the last three years in cricket genre are perfumes/deodorant, cellular phones-smart phones and cellular services. Experts believe that the event by itself is both a massive opportunity for brands and equally a challenge of sorts to stand out in the storm of brands advertising in it. The shorter format further pushes the challenge.

    Some of new brands that associated with the IPL last season were AMFI, Asian Paints, Berger Paints, Blue Star, Ceat Tyres, Crompton, Dollar, Ford, Haier, Luminous, Pedilite, Sleep Well, Vanessa, Vimal Pan Masala and Voltas joined the existing ones like Vivo, Colgate, Amul, Dream11, Elica, Kent, Parle Agro, Polycab to name a few.

    The season witnessed 21 hours of on-screen advertising with action replay, pull-through and push back the top three on-screen branding units during the play.

    Talking about in-stadia advertising, 441 hours of in-stadia advertising was registered during IPL season 11. Top three on-screen branding units during the season were t-shirt, backdrop and perimeter board. Compared to the first season, in-stadia ad volumes increased almost by twofold from 224 hours to 441 hours in IPL 11.

    Instadia advertising saw a growth of 8 per cent in the number of brands i.e., 106 brands in IPL 1 to 114 brands in IPL 11.

    To appreciate the spike in brands and advertisers for IPL, Star India in its first year introduced the Re.imagine Awards to recognise and encourage the creativity and innovation in the use of integrated media in advertising campaigns aired during Vivo IPL on Star Sports and its OTT platform Hotstar.

    Not just cricketers on the pitch but brands, marketers and advertisers have gradually upped their game to keep the viewers engaged during the sporting extravaganza.

    In the upcoming season of IPL, a lot of diversified brands will be seen participating. The important thing is how they weave the story into a much more deeply integrated marketing plan. Now, it is about integrating the storyline through both ATL and BTL campaigns.

  • ESP Properties: Sports and entertainment trends 2019

    ESP Properties: Sports and entertainment trends 2019

    MUMBAI: ESP Properties, GroupM’s sports and entertainment marketing agency announced its Top Sports and Entertainment Trends for 2019 on 26 February 2019.

    ESP Properties India business head Vinit Karnik said, “2019 will be a year for sports and entertainment. With Cricket on our minds for more than half the year, brands would want to revolve their game around the sport and the athletes. While e-sports is also becoming big, it has come a long way, and it is only expected to get bigger. With almost 20 per cent of share of spend expected in digital, ad spends in sports and entertainment marketing is expected to grow and evolve.”

    Cricket to dominate media and mind measures in 2019

    Cricket is in full swing in H1 2019 with Team India moving bases from Australia to New Zealand post the ODI series and following it up with hosting Australia in February to play ODI’s & T20’s. Then comes Vivo IPL and ICC Cricket World Cup, making Virat Kohli and his boys the talk of the town for the first six months in 2019 and literally monopolizing consumer eyeballs and advertising money. 2019 will break all records of cricket consumption on TV and Digital. With the ICC World Cup in England & Wales and considering our love for London, Indians will break all worldwide records of traveling overseas to watch sports and boost the sports tourism economy. With such a start to the year dominated by cricket, emerging leagues may have to reset themselves to make their presence felt and stay relevant.

    Embrace the athlete, embrace their stories

    One of the biggest marketing trends of this year is storytelling and we expect talent to unlock maximum value in 2019. Sporting landscape, led by cricket, will see the true value of talent beyond the top cricketers being unlocked. Audiences not only want to be taken on a journey, but they also want to connect with brands. Brands which can use Athlete and their storytelling power will garner massive interest from fans and advertisers owing to mass media exposure via TV and one-to-one engagement through social communities, rediscovering their true value. Federations and leagues will carefully evaluate talent contracts in terms of talent usage rights for self, sponsor activation and scope of the engagement. With social media becoming the primary engagement platform, the right balance between personal and public imagery will be most talked and debated in 2019. One can’t rule out a policy for talent on national duty for social media engagements and media appearances. This space will be super exciting in 2019, hence watch this space closely…

    Definition of ‘sellable’ content to be rejigged by newer monetization models

    Experimental content is facing challenges to release in large scale formats like cinemas. With newer digital platform and content taking center stage, storing telling will be redefined with a lot of experimentation and fresh feel. For example, content series like Lust Stories and Love, Per Square Foot has managed to harvest a completely new group of audience via digital only release. This trend is expected to continue with many more such content prices seeing a ray of hope to see the light of day.

    Broadcasting platforms to lean on data-driven insights and player access to engage and build fans

    While traditional broadcast passed on Gold Standards of Content from linear to non-linear platforms, best practices in Consumer Engagement will move from non-linear to linear platforms. For example, Watch ‘n’ Play on Hotstar during Vivo IPL 2018 has redefined Consumer Engagement norms for the traditional linear broadcaster(s) to follow. Moreover, increasing insistence on player access as a ‘Sponsorship Right’ in the sporting ecosystem is bound to blur lines of personal endorsements. With professional sporting ecosystem in India being over a decade old, advertisers have started looking at ‘Sponsorship’ as a one-stop solution to media exposure and talent access.

    Mobile Gaming to take center stage in the competitive CPU dominant Professional E-Sports World

    Globally, professional E-sport competitions are primarily held on a computer and consoles and mobiles take a backseat. In India, we’re witnessing a different trend where tournaments being held on the mobile, courtesy – PUBG on mobile with DAU of approx. 10mn+ which is more than any other game in the world across any platform is already giving gamers in India almost half the prize money of an E-Sports League India and this is only going to further grow. There will be so many more mobile E-Sport tournaments which will be seen in the coming future.

  • Monday gets happier with ‘Pyaar ke Papad’

    Monday gets happier with ‘Pyaar ke Papad’

    MUMBAI: Have you spent a Monday binge watching a rom com with a twist? For the first time on Indian television, Star Bharat is taking the initiative to launch the first five episodes of its one-of-a-kind rom-com show ‘Pyaar Ke Papad’ on Hotstar. The episodes will be available to viewers from 18th February from 7:30 pm. Every viewer, premium or not, can cherish this unique Sasur-Damad Jodi and have a week worth of entertainment in 2.5 hours exclusively on the Hotstar app.

    Pyaar ke Papad is a funny narration and humorous banter between a bechara damaad who is determined to win his khadus sasur’s heart and thereby his daughter Shivika's hand for marriage.

    Produced by Panorama Entertainment, the show boasts of an interesting cast of Akhilendra Mishra (Trilokinath), Swarda Thigale (Shivika) and the debutant Aashay Mishra (Omkaar). Set in the city of Kanpur, where religious beliefs and modern relationships are finding a middle ground to happiness, this show is a rib-tickling journey of Omkaar's first love and the fate attached to it.

  • For creative agencies, Vivo IPL is India’s SuperBowl

    For creative agencies, Vivo IPL is India’s SuperBowl

    MUMBAI: For 11 years now, the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) has entertained the country as no other sporting event has. Not just the cricketers on the pitch but brands, marketers and advertisers have gradually upped their game to keep viewers engaged during the sporting extravaganza.

    In a bid to bring the advertising culture to the forefront of Indian sports broadcasting, Star India built a platform called the Re.Imagine Awards to recognise and encourage the creativity and innovation in the use of integrated media in advertising campaigns aired during Vivo IPL on Star Sports and its OTT platform Hotstar.

    This initiative by Star gets all the marketers, media and creative agencies to join hands, thereby pushing all stakeholders to innovate the advertising experience.

    First year of Re.Imagine Awards was a major success, with all the big brands and agencies participating. Over 300 campaigns by 120 brands vied for the awards. Brand Factory, Amazon, Dr.FIXIT, Sprite, Peter England, Swiggy, Tata Sky, Vivo and Fevikwik were some of the brands that jostled against one another to bag top honours.

    Brands have long recognised the power and popularity of cricket in India. However, with the video proliferation and regional language market expansion, more avenues seem to have opened up for the marketers to position their products.

    “The Re-imagine awards are quite unique. The fact that it focuses on one event (Vivo IPL) and the work generated and aired in it makes it interesting. Especially since the event by itself is both a massive opportunity for brands and equally a challenge of sorts to stand out in the storm of brands advertising in it. The shorter format further pushes the challenge bit. Another special feature of Re-imagine is the judging criteria of both creativity and integration," Lowe Lintas CCO Sagar Kapoor said.

    In 2018, winners of Re.imagine awards were Fevikwik for Khushiyon ke chand pal and Swiggy for No order too small. After its campaign during Vivo IPL matches, Swiggy’s ad recall increased by 62 per cent. The food delivery app saw 25 per cent growth in orders across India and 42 per cent spike in Google searches. The campaign also helped in uplifting the perception of the product proposition of fast delivery by 18 per cent.

    Swiggy ran a series of integrated campaigns throughout Vivo IPL season such as Match Day Mania, various TVCs and in-game innovation. Vivo IPL-themed advertisements explored relatable scenarios that have made Swiggy a household name today.

    “Many brands plan exclusive and relevant campaigns for IPL/cricket. This year too we will see the same. However given the reach of IPL as a platform, regular advertising works as well,” said Havas Media group CEO – India and South East Asia Anita Nayyar.

    "IPL with its undisputed reach and combination of cricket and entertainment is a zero risk property for brands. There have been many a brand launches using this platform over the years and brands earmark specific budgets for the event,” she added.

    Ogilvy, Madison, IPG, GroupM, DDB Mudra, Lowe Lintas, and Havas Media among others were some of the high-profile creative agencies that were a part of the Re.imagine awards last year.

    The 11th season of the cash-rich league enjoyed humungous reach both on TV and OTT platform of Star India.

    Building on the success of Vivo IPL 2018, the host broadcaster seems to be carving open more avenues for brands and marketers to collaborate for the latest edition.

    For instance, Star is putting together custom integrations and ad-tech solutions for television and digital respectively. This initiative of the broadcaster has been devised keeping in mind start-up companies that intend to use cricket as their preferred choice of vehicle for maximum impact.

    The American SuperBowl continues to remain one of the most awaited sporting leagues around the world from an advertising perspective. Agencies and brands create customised ads for the SuperBowl, spending millions of dollars on their campaigns to conjure up an iconic moment of marketing.

    In a conversation with Indiantelevision.com last year, Star Sports CEO Gautam Thakar had said, “In the US, as you know SuperBowl has been on for a long time and this has built-up. It is like high points of the year and there is a lot of social viewing and from the advertising perspective, people actually take pride in what they have created and are very expensive. Some of the ads only air at the time of SuperBowl and they spend millions of dollars doing that, but it breaks through the clutter and gets them virality.”

    Kapoor and Nayyar believe that Vivo IPL is the SuperBowl of India.

    “Besides being a big property, IPL is great for its very content. People do not watch IPL for ads but they will definitely watch our ads more because of the IPL. So it remains one of the most exciting platforms to land our brand messages,” Kapoor added.

    Thakar had pointed out that broadcasters can play a limited role but ultimately marketing professionals need to drive the agenda of matching the Vivo IPL advertising to the SuperBowl standard.

     “We had Re-imagine awards for IPL, it was the first time we were doing it but the idea behind that was to spur the marketing community to think of the IPL in a different way and create advertising for the IPL. We will do the awards every year now to showcase what is the best advertising. In our own little way we are trying to enable it but ultimately the marketers need to embrace it,” he added.

    As the 2019 Vivo IPL season inching closer by the day, Star India has announced the latest edition of the Re.imagine awards. The competition is bound to heat up as gurus and creative geniuses aim to deliver for cutting-edge, ground-breaking and pioneering campaigns. The audience can look forward to some unique and interesting campaigns this year as well in addition to the high-octane action on the field.

  • Delhi HC dismisses PIL on OTT content regulation

    Delhi HC dismisses PIL on OTT content regulation

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea that sought for framing of guidelines for the working of OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar, according to a Press Trust of India report.

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told the bench that online platforms do not need a licence to operate after which the petition was rejected.

    According to a PTI report, the petitioner NGO Justice for Rights Foundation claimed that the platforms show "uncertified, sexually explicit and vulgar" content that aren't for for public viewing. It mentioned shoes like Sacred Games, Game of Thrones and Spartacus as having vulgar, profane, sexually explicit, pornographic, morally unethical and virulent content which often objectify women.

    The petitioner also wanted the court to get the ministries to frame guidelines for the platforms and their content and even make them remove such restricted content.

  • New TRAI’s tariff regime unlikely to reduce TV bills for most subscribers: Report

    New TRAI’s tariff regime unlikely to reduce TV bills for most subscribers: Report

    MUMBAI: The network capacity fee (NCF) and channel prices announced by broadcasters and distributors as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new guidelines could increase the monthly bill of most subscribers of television channels as per the CRISIL report.

    TRAI’s new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable services industry is intended to usher in transparency and uniformity, and will afford far greater freedom of choice to viewers.

    More than 90 per cent of TV viewers flip 50 or fewer channels, and the new rules will let them subscribe to what they want and not be saddled with channels they are not interested in.

    The regime, which came into effect on 1 February 2019, will benefit popular channels and hasten adoption of over-the-top (OTT); or content providers who stream media over the internet, such as Netflix and Hotstar) platforms, and will be a mixed bag for viewers and distributors.

    Ratings senior director Sachin Gupta said, “Our analysis of the impact of the regulations indicates a varied impact on monthly TV bills. Based on current pricing, the monthly TV bill can go up by 25 per cent from Rs 230-240 to ~Rs 300 per month for viewers who opt for the top 10 channels, but will come down for those who opt upto top 5 channels.”

    The new regime could drive consolidation in the broadcasting industry because content will clearly be the king and key differentiator. Subscription revenues of broadcasters would rise ~40 per cent to Rs 94 per subscriber per month compared with Rs 60-70 now. With viewers likely to opt for popular channels, large broadcasters will have greater pricing power. Conversely, broadcasters with less-popular channels will find it tough to piggyback on packages, and the least popular ones will hardly have a business case and could go off air.

    For distributors (DTH and cable operators), the new regulations are a mixed bag. While content cost will become a pass-through, protecting them from fluctuations, they may lose out on the benefits of value-added services such as bundling content across broadcasters, customisation, and placement revenue.

    Currently, most distributors are charging NCF at the cap rate of Rs 130 per month. Similarly, broadcasters have priced subscription for the most popular pay channels at the cap rate of Rs 19 per month.

    But these are early days and the situation may evolve with prices charged by broadcasters and distributors declining depending on market forces, viewership and competitive intensity.

    Ratings director Nitesh Jain “In all this, OTT platforms could emerge as the big beneficiary because many viewers could shift because of rising subscription bills. And low data tariffs also encourages viewership on OTT platforms.”