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Tag: Lockdown

  • Gemius Design Studio wins multiple business accounts during lockdown

    Gemius Design Studio wins multiple business accounts during lockdown

    NEW DELHI: Gemius Design Studio, a Surat-based creative agency, has bagged Nine account mandates amid the Covid2019 pandemic in the past three months i.e. April – June 2020. The agency shall be responsible for amplifying the digital presence of the brands through 360 Marketing and Branding solutions for the following brands – Muwin, Appario, Myra, Surat City Traffic Police, Samara Tea, Mantone, Mustin, Varanga, and Panchhi.

    Considering the current situation, we all have shifted to contactless and digital mediums for every possible thing thus making it mandatory for a brand to have a strong Digital Presence. Good word of mouth and an immediate need to go digital helped Gemius onboard these clients.

    As a creative agency, working with brands from various industries it is necessary to adapt the changing situation and come up with innovative yet relatable ideas. All the brands now have become more active, focusing more on performance-based marketing.

    Gemius Design Studio co-founder & creative navigator Anushree Pacheriwal says, "Gemius has always been known for the concepts and creative strategies. We have been striving to come up with ideas and strategies which can attract consumers of our clients and ensure we get the right kind of business opportunities. During the lockdown and even now, we are striving for the same and with all the new accounts on board, we are working aggressively on innovative and path-breaking ideas to capture the market".

    Gemius Design Studio  studio manager Arunima Jain added, "When multiple clients come on board, operations become a challenge. The team has been super excited to plan all the campaigns, ideas and strategies. As we have started rolling out communications for a few of the brands, the result speaks for itself. We are all hands-on deck for the time to come and are totally pumped up for the days ahead".

    Gemius Design Studio co-founder & captain  Saurabh concludes saying, "The team and the leaders are putting in endless efforts to ensure our work quality remains consistent with all the work we are doing. Not just in today's time but in general, Honesty and Consistency are the two key things one should adopt to deliver the right kind of services. We always bank by these qualities and ensure that no matter the situation or the challenge we are facing, we deliver to the promise we have committed. These have surely been trying times with the COVID situation taking us all on a roller coaster ride but we have been able to sail through. Gemius is also celebrating it's 6 years on 15th July, 2020 and we can proudly say, so far so good!".

    Ever since the inception of the dynamic agency in 2014, it has been making waves in the industry with an admirable passion for creativity, hard work and the ability to think out of the box. Marking their 6th Anniversary this July the creative agency shares a small tribute to their journey so far HERE.

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  • Godrej Appliances aims to reach 80% capacity by July 2020

    Godrej Appliances aims to reach 80% capacity by July 2020

    NEW DELHI: Home appliances player Godrej Appliances today launched new products and aims to reach full production facility from August onwards.

    The company shared that the pandemic has impacted badly the sales figures and the company reported a revenue loss of 40-45 per cent. April was a complete washout as there was no business.

    Godrej Appliance business head and executive VP Kamal Nandi said, “Sales in May were at 30-35 per cent on average, while in June it is already at last year's level. 95-97 per cent market has begun which is encouraging for the industry we will reach 80 per cent capacity in July and full capacity from August. Godrej Appliances said sales in May was at 35-40 per cent of last year, while in June it is already at last year's level. Industry too has reached 90 per cent of pre-Covid2019 level sales. We expect sales will improve from July onwards and will be better than pre-Covid2019 till the festive season. We expect to reach 80 per cent capacity in July and full capacity from August."

    He also shared that the last two months saw a demand for cooling products.

    Nandi explained that the self-reliance campaign by the government will boost confidence among manufacturers, “The #MakeinIndia, and vocal for local will bring opportunities not only for local players to establish but will help big players as well in terms of doing business and it will enhance manufacturing, which will lead to more demands.”

    He added that manufacturing, logistics and services were affected in the lockdown. Godrej Appliances faced issues on the service front as customers are not allowing mechanics to enter their homes. So, it is helping customers to do the product services by themselves, and at the same time re-building confidence among customers.

    Nandi said, “The company has plans to expand into newer categories for products which are in demand right now and there will

    be no immediate price hike since commodity prices are stable but any duty changes by the government will have an impact.”

    Since the Covid2019 pandemic placed restrictions on large scale gatherings, Godrej Appliances has been the first in the industry to swiftly adapt to launching new products in a virtual format. These zone wise segregated launches were designed to engage with 5000+ trade partners from the comfort of their home.

    Godrej Appliances national sales head Sanjeev Jain said, ‘’At the beginning of the lockdown, we took the herculean task of enabling our network of trade partners to reach customers digitally. We have been breaking barriers across all fronts – from product cataloging and showcasing, multiple cashless online payment facilities to initiation of video-assisted remote selling initiative. By exploring alternative ways to communicate and engage, we were able to offer fantastic opportunities to our trade partners. We plan to launch new products across the year across different segments."

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  • Most searched recipe trends during lockdown include a mix of baking and culinary delights : Foodfood

    Most searched recipe trends during lockdown include a mix of baking and culinary delights : Foodfood

    MUMBAI: Food trends in India during Covid2019 lockdown threw up some very interesting results, a detailed report by Foodfood, India’s favorite food and lifestyle channel. With India locked down for two months, there was a rise of people experimenting with their passions and interests and among them cooking took first place. This was many times a necessity and many other times an indulgence. 

    According to social media and google search analysis done by Foodfood, most searched recipe trends included a mix of baking and culinary delights that the country was cooking during the lockdown period of April and May. The top most searches were Cake, Dalgona Coffee, Samosa, Jalebi, Dhokla, Chicken momos, Panipuri among others. While 'Dalgona coffee recipe at home' spiked 5,000 per cent, searches for 'chicken momo recipe' grew 4,350 per cent and searches for "mango icecream recipe" saw 3,250 per cent rise on google search.

    Chef Sanjeev Kapoor said, “It has been our attempt with our shows and our channel (Foodfood) to help people discover their passion for cooking and this lockdown been proven that – Har dil mein chef rahta hain. During my innumerable live on social media during lockdown, I have interacted with people who have become overnight stars with their cooking recipes on the internet and are discovering their cooking talent.” 

    What’s interesting is the rise in search has been mainly driven by metro cities including Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkotta, Hyderabad and Chennai accounting for more than 25 per cent share. States that lead the search include Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka. The first weeks of lockdown saw an increase in buying of staples and spices including rava and maida which were flying off the shelves as people were experimenting with delicious treats rather their normal fare. 

    Devendra Chawla, CEO, Nature’s Basket & Spencer had said “As people get adjusted to restricted living as the new normal and lack of options to eat out, consumers are increasingly taking on the chef role, a trend which will continue post lockdown too” 

    Some of the other trends during lockdown were: 

    Baking 

    Everyone with an oven was baking and who didn’t have an oven were baking in pressure cooker. Whether it was cakes, cookies or even breads, people were trying one thing after the other. 

    Banana Bread 

    With bread supply disrupted, people started making bread at home and Google saw a surge in search of banana bread recipes. Many variations of like banana cake, banana muffins and banoffee pies also made it to list but Banana Bread ruled the roost! 

    Quarantine Snacking

    “Quarantine snacks” became the top trending snack search as more and more people stayed inside and experimented with their pantries. In an interview with Bloomberg Quint, Future Group President Food & FMCG Kamaldeep Singh had said, “The definition of basic necessity has changed in a couple of weeks from basic foods to snacking and munching items.” Infact recipes like Samosa, Chinese Bhel, Khaman Dhokla has seen a 300% increase on the searches on websites of Sanjeev Kapoor and Foodfood. 

    Street Food 

    With Street food a strict NO and all options gone, renowned chefs and food bloggers took to Instagram to share their versions of some of the best chaat preparations at home. Aloo Chaat! What’s more, Google insights reported that recipe searches on Youtube increased by 20% for street food recipes! And, the top most-searched recipe was Pani Puri recipe with an increase of 107% search rate. Other recipes that have been widely searched in street food include Baked Potato Chips, Paneer Shawarma Mexican Paneer Fajita (Source Foodfood website). 

    Comfort Food- One-Pot Meals 

    Khichdi and biryanis have been our comfort food for as long as we remember, and also double up as a gourmet dining experience when we want it to be. Making it quick and easy or a time consuming fare, these recipes can be as easy or as tedious as we want them to be. Keywords like easy, quick & tasty have been associated with rice recipes and searches have delivered pulao, fried rice etc. Google insights has reported with restrictions in availability of ingredients people are looking for alternative ingredient options to savour their favourite dishes without missing out on taste. A 200% growth in searches with the word, “without” has been recorded in the Food & beverages category. 

    Handmade Pizzas

     With kids at home and no pizzas to order, home-made pizzas has been one of the most successful attempts families are making with kids involved. Many chefs have given out recipes and videos and to make easy pizzas at home starting from the dough with variations including sour dough combinations. Live on Social media showcasing handmade pizzas have garnered huge views and been very popular across the board. This pandemic has taught us many things and most of self-reliance to a lot of men and women about cooking who weren’t cooking before. Now nobody is afraid to step into the kitchen and learn how to make things from recipe videos. Women were cooking and experimenting way before this pandemic have learnt to share their art and passion.

  • Minor changes in Across Genres lists as GECs continue to lose ratings

    Minor changes in Across Genres lists as GECs continue to lose ratings

    BENGALURU: Overall television consumption increased slightly in Week 22 of 2020 (Saturday, 30 May 2020 to Friday, 5 June 2020, week or period under review) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data as compared to the previous week (Week 21 of 2020). BARC data reveals that TV consumption in terms of weekly impressions increased to 16.4 billion during the week under review from 16.3 billion in the previous week. However, on analysis of BARC data for top 10 or top 5 channels of various genres/languages in the public domain, it seems that GECs’ continued to lose viewership, if not the GEC genre across languages, then at least the top 5 or 10 GEC channels of most languages had lower consumption in Week 22 of 2020 as compared to  Week 21. The top 10 Hindi GECs’ on all platforms, on the Pay and Free Platforms as well as in Urban and Rural India had lower weekly impressions in Week 22 of 2020 as compared to the preceding week. The Top 5 Hindi Movies channels in Urban and Rural India saw viewership increase slightly, as did Hindi Movies on the Pay platform. The Top 5 Hindi Movies channels on the Free Platform saw a dip in viewership during the week under review as compared to the previous week.

    News channels and movies channels seemed to be the biggest gainers, and of course, in the case of the Top 5 Kannada channels for which production of new content had begun on June 1, 2020 also gained viewership. It must be noted that the Top 5 News Channels ofthree South Indian languages -Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu had lower weekly impressions in Week 22 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. Hindi and English News channels along with Assamese, Bangla, Oriya and Tamil News channels garnered higher weekly impressions in Week 22 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. The 2 Hindi Business News channels saw a 25 percent increase in weekly impressions in Week 22 as compared to Week 21 of 2020, while the 3 English Business News channels which have a lower consumption than the 2 Hindi Business News channels saw Weekly Impressions in Week 22 decline 17 percent as compared to Week 21 of 2020.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres declined by 2.9 percent in Week 22 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. All of the ten channels in the list were the same as in the previous week with some changes in the rankings.

    One of the most significant changes was the Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV slipping to third place with an 8.2 percent decline in weekly impressions in Week 22 of 2020 from rank 2 in the previous week. Despite a 2.5 percent decline in weekly ratings from the previous week, Star India’s flagship Hindi GEC Star Plus replaced Sun TV at second rank in Week 22 of 2020.

    BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres comprised of four Hindi GECs’, three Hindi Movies channels and one channel each from the Kids, Tamil and Telugu genres. From the networks’ perspective, there were three channels from Star India, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from, Enterr 10 Television, the Sun Tv Network, Viacom18.  While Dangal is available on both the pay TV and FTA platforms, Zeel’s acquired Hindi GEC Big Magic is FTA. The other eight channels were Pay TV. It must be noted that Dangal, Sony SAB and Zee Cinemagarnered higher weekly impressions in Week 22 of 2020 than in week 21, despite the lower combined ratings of the Top 10 channels in the list.
    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres declined 3.4 percent in Week 22 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. Nine of the ten channels in the list in the week under review were the same as in Week 21 of 2020 with some changes in the ranks. One channel – Viacom18’s flagship Hindi GEC Colors exited BARC’s Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres list in Week 22 of 2020 an was replaced by Star India’s Hindi GEC Star Utsav at tenth place.

    There were three channels each from the Hindi GECs’ and Hindi Movies genres, two Telugu channels and one channel each from the Kids and Tamil genres in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 19 of 2020.  There were four channels from Star India, two channels each from SPN and the Sun Tv Network and one channel each from Viacom18 and Zeel in the list. While 8 of the channels in the list in Week 22 of 2020 from the previous week’s list had lower weekly impressions, Zeel’s Hindi Movies channels Zee Cinema had higher weekly impressions in the week under review as compared to the previous week.

    Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Free Channels on Across Genres

    BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres shows that the combined weekly impressions of the top 10 channels in Week 22 of 2020 were 4.3 percent lower than in Week 21. Nine of the 10 channels in the list in Week 22 of 2020 were the same as in week 21 with some shuffling in the ranks.Zeel’s Youth channels Zing exited the list in Week 22 of 2020 and was replaced by Viacom18’ Hindi Movies channel Rishtey Cineplex.

    There were four channels from the Hindi Movies genre and three channels each from the Bhojpuri and Hindi GEC genresin BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres for Week 22 of 2020, There were three channels each from Zeel and Enterr 10 Television, two channels from B4U Network and one channel each from the pubcaster network Doordarshan or DD  and Viacom18 during the period under review.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • ZEE successfully unlocks the biggest content innovation during lockdown with SaReGaMaPa – Ek Desh Ek Raag

    ZEE successfully unlocks the biggest content innovation during lockdown with SaReGaMaPa – Ek Desh Ek Raag

    At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on our collective human experience, music has the power to unite, heal and uplift the mood of the nation. Ever since its inception 25 years ago, India’s longest-running non-fiction franchise – SaReGaMaPa has consistently leveraged the power of music in uplifting the common man – giving him the country’s most definitive platform to showcase his singing talent. It was only befitting, then, that with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa crossing its 25-year milestone in 2020, ZEE leveraged its network strength by way of a truly unique initiative aimed at helping humanity rise above the gloom through the power of music. This industry-first phenomenon ‘Ek Desh Ek Raag’ started on 23rd May with a 25-hour Music Marathon on digital with back-to-back, round-the-clock performances by popular singers across 10 ZEE Facebook pages that captured the vibrancy of the sur, taal and spirit of every Indian sub-culture. The 25-year milestone culminated in a grand televised, shot-from-home fund-raising concert on 24th May across 23 channels of ZEE & Zee Media with performances by the most iconic faces of the show. The LIVE-athon on digital and the concert on TV combined saw 45+ Hours of fresh unique content shot from home, including 600+ performances by 200+ singers in 10 different languages. The invincible power of music has touched multiple hearts with ‘Ek Desh, Ek Raag’, receiving an overwhelming global response, garnering a cumulative reach of 63.1 million viewers across TV in India, and 165 million cumulative reach worldwide for its 10 day campaign on social media platforms.

    Zee TV’s Facebook page alone clocked in a cumulative reach of 58 million users. The resounding success of Ek Desh, Ek Raag can be attributed to the musical franchise's legacy and the collaborative effort of bringing together stalwarts of music from across geographies; from Pandit Jasraj and Jazzy B who performed from USA and Canada respectively to Haricharan and Himesh Reshammiya to Rajesh Krishnan Vijayaprakash and Durnibar Saha representing the many Bharats in India. ‘Ek Desh Ek Raag’ catered to every member of the family with performers ranging from the youngest Li’l champ all of 6 years of age, to the most seasoned veterans like Ronu Majumdar, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik, Shaan and Kavita Krishnamurthy amongst others.

    Unlocking Tech innovations

    ZEE successfully embraced content and technology solutions, seamlessly executing the music marathon from digital to TV even amidst the lockdown. The beauty of the whole exercise was the collaborative effort that ensured not a single person needed to step out of their homes.

    Over 160 team members across regions worked from home utilizing innovative tech solutions to weave in artist performances not only from across the nation but across the globe, elevating the national collaboration effort to a truly global one.

    An SOP on the Audio & Video production solutions guided the artists and broadcast teams to optimally utilize the ubiquitous mobile, giving the viewers an opportunity to enjoy a live-concert experience within the safety of their homes.

    Work from home setups for the edit systems with state-of-the-art remote access applications further helped the teams in transferring the footage from mobiles to various remote locations without generation loss to be converted to broadcast compatible formats.

    Talking about the success of the Ek Desh Ek Raag initiative, Prathyusha Agarwal, Chief Consumer Officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited said, “In curating ‘Ek Desh, Ek Raag,’ the idea was to harness the power of music in transcending regional boundaries, uniting people to uplift the collective mood of the nation, thereby unlocking humanity. The mammoth effort of pulling off the 25-hour music marathon on TV & Digital was a perfect blend of maximising technology, creativity and collaboration. As India’s longest running singing reality show – SaReGaMaPa celebrated this power of music in making a difference to the life of our viewers across the country, supporting COVID-relief initiatives. The phenomenal response received has been deeply gratifying, standing testament to the legacy of our franchise and the strong equity it continues to hold with audiences across the globe. The success of the concert across TV & digital platforms is a true representation of our philosophy of being extraordinary together, and most importantly standing with our viewers in this time of need.”  

    “We are happy that SaReGaMaPa celebrated its milestone year with a special show on Facebook. It’s great to see they brought together artists to leverage the power of Facebook to not only engage people with the music they like, but also raised funds to help those who have been affected by the pandemic,” said Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India

  • Same channels in Across Genres, but TV viewership continues to decline

    Same channels in Across Genres, but TV viewership continues to decline

    BENGALURU: Indian television viewership seems to be declining after the lofty peaks of the early COVID2019 (COVID-19) Lockdown as India enters Unlock 1.0, when compared to Week 4 of 2020. The drop in television consumption continued in Week 21 of 2020 (Saturday, 23 May 2020 to Friday, 29 May 2020, week or period under review) with viewership declining to 16.3 billion impressions during the week under review. However, overall television consumption in terms of impressions was still 12.4 percent more in Week 21 of 2020 as compared to Week 4 of 2020 which had garnered 14.5 billion impressions.

    Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) and Nielsen have set the average viewership data between Weeks 2 and 4 of 2020 as the yardstick to measure television consumption trends during COVID-19 weeks. While the lockdown in India commenced on 25 March 2020, which was midweek of Week 12 of 2020, BARC-Nielsen COVID-19 reports are available for weeks between Weeks 11 and 20 of 2020 at the time of writing of this paper. The author has considered Week 4 of 2020 as the reference week here.

    As is obvious from the chart below, viewership has been dropping over the past few weeks.

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres declined by 2.2 percent in Week 21 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. All of the ten channels in the list were the same as in the previous week with some changes in the rankings.

    BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres comprised of four Hindi GECs’, three Hindi Movies channels and one channel each from the Kids, Tamil and Telugu genres. From the networks’ perspective, there were three channels from Star India, two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN)and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) and one channel each from, Enterr 10 Television, the Sun Tv Network, Viacom18.  While Dangal is available on both the pay TV and FTA platforms, Zeel’s acquired Hindi GEC Big Magic is FTA. The other eight channels were Pay TV. It must be noted that Dangaland Sony SAB had higher impressions in Week 21 of 2020 than in week 20, despite the lower combined ratings of the Top 10 channels in the list.
    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres declined 3.8 percent in Week 21 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. All of the channels in the list in the week under review were the same as in Week 20 of 2020 with some changes in the ranks.

    There were three channels each from the Hindi GECs’ and Hindi Movies genre, two Telugu channels and one channel each from the Kids and Tamil genres in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 19 of 2020.  There were three channels from Star India, two channels each from SPN, the Sun Tv Network and Viacom18 one channel from Zeel in the list.
    Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Free Channels on Across Genres

    BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres shows that the combined weekly impressions of the top 10 channels in Week 21 of 2020 were1.7 percent lower than in Week 20. All the channels in the list in Week 21 were the same as in week 20 with some shuffling in the ranks.

    There were three channels each from the Bhojpuri,  Hindi GEC and Hindi Movies genres, and there was one Youth channel in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres for Week 21 of 2020, There were four channels from Zeel, three channels from Enterr 10 Television, two channels from B4U Network and one channel from the pubcaster network Doordarshan or DD during the period under review.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • Coffy Bite Partners with Dinamalar to Host a Fun Quiz to Engage Children During Lockdown

    Coffy Bite Partners with Dinamalar to Host a Fun Quiz to Engage Children During Lockdown

    In the spirit of creating LOTTE Moments through various LOTTE Fests, Coffy Bite, the iconic confectionery brand of Lotte India in partnership with Dinamalar hosted a quiz competition for children through the daily newspaper. This was an attempt to engage the children in a fun and exciting manner during Lockdown.

    This exciting competition was held across Chennai, Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Madurai for a period of 7 days. The first quiz was held on 27thMay 2020 and continued for a period of 7 days, ending on the 2nd of June 2020. Advertising spread across 3 days (May 22nd-26th, 2020) informed the readers to partake in the activity. The competition saw participation of over 50k children, and the daily winners were chosen by a team. Out of the total winners, 50 winners everyday were awarded with exciting Coffy Bite gift hampers.

    Commenting on this activity Mr Venkatesh Parthasarathy Vice President, Marketing said “We are happy to present a unique, interesting and rewarding engagement opportunity for children during this difficult lockdown. Through the Dinamalar partnership for this quiz, Coffy Bite has brought smiles to children across four cities in TN. I’m sure it's been fun and educational at the same time.” 

    During the seven days of the contest, the quiz section created significant buzz, reaching the entire readership in the Dinamalar editions of Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore & Pondicherry. 

  • Lockdown impact on cable operators: Drop in STB sale and collection from connections

    Lockdown impact on cable operators: Drop in STB sale and collection from connections

    MUMBAI: Despite higher viewership of linear television during the lockdown, the cable operators’ business in India has felt the heat of the Covid2019 pandemic. While sales of new set-top boxes and collection for existing connections witnessed a drop, customers down-traded packs. Due to these factors, especially in view of customers opting for cheaper packs, the multi-system operators (MSOs) expect a high double-digit decline in FY21 revenues.

    According to a survey done by INTIN on 92 MSOs (six per cent of overall base) across India, 63 per cent of cable operators maintained or improved their performance during the lockdown, overcoming several circumstantial challenges. Consumers also seem to be more satisfied as the number of received complaints increased for only 26 per cent operators.

    While many MSOs have stated during the period that they could not provide new connections due to restrictions, the survey points to their concerns. Sales of the new box dropped for 75 per cent of the operators. Moreover, the collection also dropped for 84 per cent of cable operators which could be attributed to the unwillingness for digital payment and the lack of infrastructure, coupled with the social distancing norms.

    Consumer sentiment is not high across industries due to the current economic scenario. It has reflected in the TV distribution business also as 41 per cent of operators experienced consumers down-trading to cheaper packs. Only nine per cent of the operators have witnessed addition of channels. There was an increase in demand for news channels and movie channels along with cable TV channels, but sports, GECs and infotainment reported a drop in demand.

    Owing to all the factors, 77 per cent of MSOs expect their revenues in 2020-21 to drop whereas 32 per cent expect this drop to be more than 25 per cent. However, 66 per cent also do not plan any drop in the pack prices. 

    OTT threat

    While Covid2019 has posed an unprecedented challenge for the MSOs, a larger – and long-term – challenge that is looming over them is the increasing consumer shift to over-the-top (OTT) platforms. Majority of cable operators (54 per cent) anticipate a negative impact of OTT on the cable TV business. However, some of the operators are already bringing change to their business model. For example, 25 per cent of cable operators have already launched their own OTTs. Fifty-seven per cent of operators are selling broadband service also with the hunger for data and higher bandwidth increasing across the country. But the statistics clearly indicate that a large number of MSOs are yet to upgrade their business models.

    Amid this difficult scenario, the report also suggests some healthy practices, such as 100 per cent online payment, launch of targeted consumers offers, easy instalment payment methods, focusing on own content, including launch of OTT and pure cable channels to prevent the de-growth. 

  • Dangal continues on top across genres as TV consumption drops

    Dangal continues on top across genres as TV consumption drops

    BENGALURU: Television consumption continued to drop in week 19 of 2020 (Saturday, 9 May 2020 to Friday, 15 May 2020, week or period under review), according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) data for Top 10 channels on all platforms across genres. However, overall television consumption in terms of impressions was still 24.1 percent more in Week 19 of 2020 as compared to week 4 of 2020. Viewership in terms of billion impressions in week 19 of 2020 was 18 as compared to 14.5 in week 4 of 2020.

    BARC and Nielsen have set the average viewership data between weeks 2 and 4 of 2020 as the yardstick to measure television consumption trends during COVID-19 (Covid2019) weeks. While the lockdown in India commenced on 25 March 2020, which was midweek of Week 12 of 2020, BARC-Nielsen COVID-19 reports are available for weeks between Weeks 11 and 18 of 2020 at the time of writing of this paper. The author has considered week 4 of 2020 as the reference week here.

    As is obvious from the chart below, viewership has been dropping over the past few weeks.

    Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genres declined by 4.5 percent in week 19 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. Nine of the ten channels in the list were the same as in the previous week. pubcaster network’s flagship Hindi GEC DD National exited the list to be replaced by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) Hindi Movies channel Zee Cinema.

    BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Channels on All Platforms Across Genrescomprised of five Hindi GECs’, two Hindi Movies channels and one channel each from the Kids, Tamil and Telugu genres. From the networks’ perspective, there were two channels each from Sony Pictures Network India (SPN), Star India and Zeeland one channel each from DD, Enterr 10 Television, the Sun Tv Network, Viacom18.  While DD Bharti and Dangal are available on both the pay TV and FTA platforms, Zeel’s acquired Hindi GEC Big Magic is FTA. The other seven channels were Pay TV. It must be noted that Dangal, Star Plus, Big Magic, Star Maa and Sony Max had higher impressions in Week 19 of 2020 than in week 18, despite the lower combined ratings of the Top 10 channels in the list.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres

    The combined weekly impressions of the Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres declined 3.5 percent in Week 19 of 2020 as compared to the previous week. Nine of the channels in the list in the week under review were the same as in Week 19 of 2020. Here also, DD National exited the list and was replaced by the Sun Tv Network’s Telugu GEC Gemini.

    There were three channels each from the Hindi GECs’ and Hindi movies genre, two Telugu channels and one channel each from the kids and Tamil genres in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Pay Channels Across Genres in week 19 of 2020.  There were three channels from Star India, two channels each from SPN and the Sun TV Network one channel each from the DD, Viacom18 and Zeel in the list.

    Please refer to the chart below:

    Top 10 Free Channels on Across Genres

    BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres shows that the combined weekly impressions of the top 10 channels in Week 19 of 2020 was 8 per cent lower than in Week 19. All the channels in the list in Week 19 were the same as in week 18 with some shuffling in the ranks.

    Four of the channels were Hindi GEC; there were three Hindi movies channels, two were Bhojpuri channels and there was one youth channel in BARC’s weekly list of Top 10 Free Channels Across Genres for Week 18 of 2020, There were three channels each from Enterr 10 Television and Zeel and two channels each from DD and B4U Network during the period under review.

    Please refer to the chart below:


     

  • Linear TV witnesses upsurge in viewing during lockdown

    Linear TV witnesses upsurge in viewing during lockdown

    MUMBAI: Recent media reports have revealed shifts in consumers’ viewing behaviours, with individuals and families spending more time at home due to the Covid2019 pandemic. This has resulted in a spike in linear TV viewing, in terms of penetration and time spent across multiple markets and all generations.

    News channels and programmes have seen a surge in viewership as news updates and government announcements on new regulations and the pandemic development become profoundly important to the public. During this period of uncertainty, satellite continues to be a reliable and cost-effective means for content delivery, serving audiences nationally and abroad with critical and timely news and information.

    As Asia’s leading provider of broadcast platforms, AsiaSat strives to meet consumers’ evolving demand for content and viewing quality. Among the 550 TV and radio channels originated from more than 30 countries and regions in 30 languages delivered by the AsiaSat fleet, more than 80 are news channels, with 60 per cent of them in local languages targeting local markets as well as expatriates and travellers who want to keep abreast of the happenings in their home countries.

    Over the past year, the number of HDTV channels increased across AsiaSat’s core video satellites AsiaSat 5 and AsiaSat 7, as well as its new video hotbird AsiaSat 9 at 122°E. These HDTV channels have included the Asian Action Channel, CTI Asia, ET Mall, PILI TV, Trace Sport Stars, Trace Urban, TVB Xing He and tvN Movies on AsiaSat 9, and a selection of WarnerMedia’s bouquet of regional HD channels on AsiaSat 7 including CNN, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Warner TV, raising the share of HDTV services to 30% across the AsiaSat fleet.

    “At AsiaSat, while committed to protecting the safety and health of our employees during this difficult period, we will continue supporting our customers to deliver high-quality and uninterrupted services to their audience even as demand for TV content surges unpredictably. With our growing HDTV services and wide-ranging news and entertainment programming, we are delighted to demonstrate satellite’s ability to multicast high resolution content, particularly over a vast geographical area and with a growing population of receive antennas, which is more resilient in coping with unexpected soaring demand for services than streaming TV services that were required to lower streaming quality at times of network congestion,” said Ina Lui, senior vice president, commercial, business development and strategy at AsiaSat.