ITV

Tag: News

  • Here’s why news genre works for advertisers

    Here’s why news genre works for advertisers

    NEW DELHI: Covid2019 impacted brands across the board and as a result, ad volumes on television also took a hit. At that point, businesses were forced to realign their advertising budgets with an eye on future projections. However, advertising is once again on a roll and there is a year-on-year growth in ad volumes across some product categories. 

    In a session titled – ‘Advertising on News’ at Indiantelevision.com’s News Television Summit, co-powered by TVU Networks, eminent advertisers and agency heads conferred on the importance of news genre in a media plan for a CMO. They discussed why advertisers continue to reach out to their audiences via the news space. The panellists included FBB, Future Group CMO Prachi Mohapatra, Policy Bazaar head of brand marketing Samir Sethi, Wavemaker CEO – south Asia Ajay Gupte, Essence SVP & MD – India Anand Chakravarthy, ITV group CEO Varun Kohli. It was moderated by E&Y partner M&E Ashish Pherwani.

    Pherwani started off by asking Mohapatra how the brand looks at news genre and why they advertise on it. “We have been actively using this platform for a long time. I think it’s not a new category for us. For our campaigns, we have given our due respect to this genre as one of the highest reach provider for us. We are a young brand and reach out to the right kind of customer segment and news has worked for us. We have seen results,” said Mohapatra.

    She further added that the brand has been able to use both FCT and non-FCT space effectively. “It’s not about platform anymore but the content that you are associating with it. Of course it became a very pertinent place for us in the pre-Covid time but post-Covid it has definitely skewed a little more towards the digital platform but news is right up there for us,” explained Mohapatra.

    Echoing the sentiment, Sethi stated that news is the anchor genre on which Policy Bazaar advertises throughout the year. “News takes approximately one third of our TV spends. During the slump of Covid, when most categories were pulling out of their advertising plan, we were extremely bullish because insurance was one of the categories that were positively impacted by the pandemic. So, during the slump as well when the overall ad volumes were down, our share of voice also increased without spending extra on that. And we will continue to be extremely bullish on news because insurance is an extremely male dominated category in terms of shoppers and the audiences we find there is very relevant.”

    Next, Pherwani asked for the panellists’ take on the impact of the impending legislation on ad-cap in the news genre. Kohli shared his view that Covid2019 was a blessing for news channels in the sense that since people were not very clear whether the information in the digital space was right or not, they came back to the news channels.  Many channels also reinvented themselves during this period and that is why the reach of the genre went up considerably. “It is the cheapest way to reach out to the audience because it is FTA. I do not see the legislation happening for news cap on news channels in the next two-three years,” he added.

    But what do agencies think about advertising on news genre? To answer this question, Pherwani turned to Gupte from Wavemaker and Chakravarthy from Essence.

    Gupte shared that rates are effectively a function of viewership. “If you put more ads in a break, the viewership tends to drop in the middle of it, but if you shorten the break, the viewership is a lot higher, there is higher TVRs and eventually one gets better rates.”

    Chakravarthy pointed out that three Cs – clutter, context and cost – determine whether the platform is going to do a good job for the client or not. “Today on FTA channels we see advertisers ranging from all kinds of products – from high end cars to the ones speaking to the last mile audiences. I believe that context will be important because there are advertisers who for the right value of the right audiences will be willing to pay a premium price,” he said.

    He went on to add that people are not on news channels to watch advertising and a 15 minute ad-break will be too long because people will switch off and move to another genre; plus there is also the ever-present distraction of the smartphone. “So, I think it is important that our advertising environment becomes consumer friendly. Yes, consumers want ads but how much advertising and how you place it and what kind of breaks you have is very critical to give the right kind of experiences and value to the entire ecosystem,” concluded Chakravarthy.

  • RIL posts strong Q2 earnings, media biz betters performance

    RIL posts strong Q2 earnings, media biz betters performance

    KOLKATA: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported strong Q2 earnings on Friday. The telecom and retail business has driven the growth and the media business also bettered its performance.

    “We delivered strong overall operational and financial performance compared to the previous quarter with recovery in petrochemicals and retail segment, and sustained growth in digital services business,” RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani said.

    “Domestic demand has sharply recovered across our O2C business and is now near pre-Covid2019 level for most products. Retail business activity has normalised with strong growth in key consumption baskets as lockdowns ease across the country. With large capital raise in last six months across Jio and retail business, we have welcomed several strategic and financial investors into Reliance family. We continue to pursue growth initiatives in each of our businesses with a focus on the India opportunity,” he added.

    The company’s operating profit fell 6.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,602 crore in the July-September period. Its revenue fell 24 per cent over last year to Rs 1.16 lakh crore while operating margin widened to 16 per cent from 14.4 per cent earlier.

    Reliance Jio’s revenue including access revenues for the quarter was Rs 21,708 crore, EBITDA stood at Rs 7,971 crore. It netted Rs 3,020 crore quarterly profit, a jump of 185 per cent year on year. The telco operator’s ARPU rose to Rs 145 per subscriber per month.

    How did the media segment perform?

    The media business' revenue rose by 31.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,061 crore as Covid2019-linked impact on ad-revenues receded over the quarter. EBITDA for the quarter was at Rs 166 crore. Operating margins continued to improve, as broadcasting margins rose sharply, and digital news business swung into profitability.

    The company said in a statement that ad-revenues rebounded sharply, as economic activity restarted on tapering of lockdowns. News business’ advertising has fully recovered, and entertainment recovery is near-complete by the end of the quarter. Subscription revenues have been resilient and domestic subscription revenue continues to rise led by expanding TV and Digital distribution tie-ups.

    “TV viewership has now settled at 1.1x pre-Covid levels. Pay-TV has clawed back its share from free-to-air channels, as entertainment programming is back in full-swing. An increased propensity to pay for content has been witnessed. Flagship properties Moneycontrol and Voot have witnessed rapid growth in subscribers,” it added.

  • MK Anand asserts that advertisers are reposing faith in news channels

    MK Anand asserts that advertisers are reposing faith in news channels

    NEW DELHI: Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand believes the TRP scandal couldn’t have come at a better time. In a virtual fireside chat with indiantelevision.com’s founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari during the NT Awards 2020 Summit powered by TVU Networks, Anand said the incident has given the TV news industry a time to pause to step back and evaluate itself. And the events that followed in light of the probe have presented a great opportunity for the entire system to put its house in order.

    “From what I’ve seen in the last four years, fixing the back-end of the measurement mechanism is required. BARC CEO Sunil Lulla has been trying to bring a lot of sense to the process.He has been continuously improving it. But whether it is inside BARC or outside, there are people who break ranks and resort to corrupt means. We have seen them use shortcuts to get to the numbers and that is not acceptable,” he said.

    Anand stressed the need to have legal remedies to deal with instances of tampering or malpractice. The Mumbai police’s investigation and action against those caught in the TRP racket was an unprecedented move, which should serve as a deterrent to wrongdoers."It is now a criminal offence to tamper with the ratings," he said. "In several instances in the past, when we wanted to register a complaint with the police, it was not possible. Hence it is good that it was registered as a police complaint for whatever reason."

    But if we were to dive deeper, what precipitated this problem in the first place?

    Gamification, coupled with a flux in the market, are major factors that contributed to the "TRP race," said Anand.

    "A brand is built over a period of time with activities, groundwork, standing up for causes. But new players don't have the luxury of quarters and years that established brands – like Times Now or Aaj Tak – have. They try to break into the noticeable set by getting the numbers. It’s easier to use numbers to make the argument that they’re as good," he explained.

    Read more news on Times Network

    The current break in measuring TRPs for news channels, while a welcome decision by BARC, is not on account of content quality, claimed Anand. “Had the TRP scam not been unearthed, there wouldn’t have been a break. I wouldn’t connect the two. A player like us hasn’t been besotted with ratings from a time spent viewing (TSV)  point of view.”

    He illustrated how, when the network lost its “prime asset” in 2016-17, that being the News Hour host Arnab Goswami, it dealt with that huge loss and managed to reach its current position in the market.

    “We have never, ever been time-spent focused, we have always gone the 'reach' route. We are content-focused and responsible to the viewers,” he added.

    Consequently, Times Now has not peddled the kind of lower end content that the industry, in general, is currently being ridiculed for, Anand stated. However, he went on to assert, it’s not fair to tar all journalists and reporters with the same brush, and social media is responsible for propagating this herd mentality.

    “Technology-empowered idiots are now dissing the experts in all fields. Same applies to journalism. People are coming onto social media with half-baked views and opinions and making the journalists out to be idiots. They get trolled by idiots sitting in an echo chamber – because that’s what social media is,” he said.

    But journalists should take heart. Smart reporters shouldn’t get directed by social media, they should just do what they’re good at, not pay attention to the noise, and they will enjoy the work, directed Anand.

    He pointed out that October advertising revenue numbers for his news channels and for those his industry colleagues are running are bouncing back. This despite the fact that the ratings are not being dished out. "Year to year the numbers are up clearly showing advertisers are reposing their faith in the category of news channels."

  • Editors Guild cautions Republic TV to not compromise on safety of journalists

    Editors Guild cautions Republic TV to not compromise on safety of journalists

    NEW DELHI: ARG Outlier Media owned Republic TV and its founder and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami have been in the eye of a storm lately. Starting with the channel’s coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput case to the recently unearthed TRP scam, Republic and its top honchos have been caught up in multiple accusations, FIRs, lawsuits and what not.

    Amid such a situation, the Editors Guild of India (EDI), a statutory body comprising of India’s leading current and former editors and journalists, has issued a statement expressing its concern at “the unedifying spectacle of hundreds of FIRs being filed against the journalists of Republic TV, which is under probe for allegedly manipulating the TRPs and spreading discontent against the Mumbai police.”

    EDI also urged the channel to behave responsibly and not compromise “the safety of its journalists”.  Stating that the body does not wish to influence the probe, it however called for an immediate end to the victimisation of journalists in the fraternity.

    The statement further referred to the case of late Sushant Singh Rajput and mentioned that the Right to Speech does not mean that one can spread ‘hate speech’.  Referring to the standoff between the Mumbai Police and TV channels, it said there is a need to maintain a balance between media freedom and the imperative to reside within the rule of law. “Republic TV’s high strung conduct during the unfortunate demise of the film actor also raises issues about media credibility and limits to reporting.”

    Read our coverage of the TRP scandal

    The guild went on to question the channels’ modus operandi of investigative journalism by bringing up the Bombay high court’s rejoinder – “Is this part of investigative journalism? Asking the public about their opinion on who should be arrested?”

    The body even went on to point to a channel (Republic TV in this case) to behave responsibly and not compromise on the safety of its journalists as well as hurt the credibility of the media.

    Mumbai police unearthed the TRP scam on 8 October and since then Republic TV and the law enforcement authorities have been at the loggerheads. They have repeatedly engaged in mud-slinging at each other and have even filed defamation suits against each other. The scam was uncovered earlier in October when the Broadcast Audience Research Council filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers.

     

     

    So far, the police has arrested several people in connection with the TRP scam including the owners of several channels – Box Cinema and Marathi channel Fakt Marathi.

  • Bombay High Court stays BARC order against India Today

    Bombay High Court stays BARC order against India Today

    NEW DELHI: The TRP manipulation row has embroiled several parties including news broadcasters, research agencies and police authorities. The row is getting murkier as it goes along.

    Last week, the Bombay high court stayed an order passed by BARC disciplinary committee and directed BARC India not to take any coercive action against India Today Group subject to a deposit of Rs 5 lakh with the court. Now, after various sections of news media purportedly misreported facts in the case, India Today has issued a clarification.

    Referring to the plea it filed against the BARC order, TV Today said in a statement, “The petition filed challenges an order passed by the BARC disciplinary committee on the grounds that it was without an appropriate quorum and without presenting evidence, among other criteria. The court has stayed the order and directed that no coercive action be taken subject to a deposit of 5 lakh with the court– and not with BARC– and without prejudice to our rights.”

    The media house pointed out the misinterpretation of the court order by several news outlets that TV Today must pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh to BARC. “It is unfortunate that certain sections of the media are misreporting the reasons for TV Today approaching the Bombay high court against BARC,” it said.

    The network also clarified that the Hansa report has nothing to do with the case filed by it against BARC. “Similarly, any mention of TV Today's name in the Hansa report is something we are completely unaware of. We are not privy to any such information, and neither has BARC informed us of the report.”

    The TRP manipulation scam was unearthed by the Mumbai police on 8 October. Since then, several news broadcasters have been reeled into the controversy surrounding the matter. Charges and allegations have freely flown and a string of law suits and FIRs have been filed, with no end seemingly in sight.

  • NT Awards announces its jury

    NT Awards announces its jury

    NEW DELHI:Indiantelevision.com’s unique summit and award property that honours the crème de la crème of the television news industry is all geared up for its 2020 edition. Scheduled to be held over two days – 29-30 October 2020 – the News Television (NT) summit will focus on the overall industry and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of it. The award ceremony that will be held on 6 November will felicitate news channels and the technical and editorial talent.

    The summit and award ceremony is powered by TVU Networks.

    The important decision of screening and selecting the winners will be taken by our esteemed jury. Every member of the panel is a stalwart with considerable experience in the news, media, and the brand space.

    Here’s our honoured 37-member jury for NT Awards 2020:

    The awards will recognise the leading players in the news television space across 51 categories in news programming, personality, technical, and sales & marketing domains. For more information, head on to http://ntawards.tv/index.php

  • Amid controversy BARC assures total commitment to it stakeholders

    Amid controversy BARC assures total commitment to it stakeholders

    NEW DELHI: Over the last several days, there have been various news reports as regard to Television Ratings and Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India). BARC India as an Industry body has representation from bodies that represent Broadcasters, Advertisers, and Advertising and Media Agencies. BARC India owns and manages a transparent, accurate and inclusive TV audience measurement system.  

    BARC is providing the necessary assistance to the ongoing investigation by law enforcement agency and this should be seen in the light of larger stability of the panel and in the interests of self-regulation, rather than in isolated cases of particular channels which leads to a distortion of facts.

    Our efforts on combating infiltration are focused on the individual(s) responsible for these activities and we firmly believe that television channels are committed to maintaining a clean and transparent ecosystem.   

    BARCs management team works with full confidence and support of Board and the various Committees. BARC continues to be driven by only one goal: to generate ratings that its subscribers rely on which are deeply rooted in science, report with the greatest sense of responsibility and truly reflect ‘What India Watches’.

  • A forgettable 10 days for the news broadcasting industry

    A forgettable 10 days for the news broadcasting industry

    KOLKATA: This past week saw news channels become the breaking news. It all started with the Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh claiming to have uncovered a TRP rigging con. Matters came to a head when BARC decided to hit the pause button on weekly news channel ratings.

    Here are the important twists that shook the industry:

    The Mumbai Police on 8 October announced they have busted a TRP manipulation racket involving Republic TV and two Marathi channels. Hansa Research CEO Praveen Nijhara said the agency conducted an investigation with BARC which resulted in Hansa Research filing an FIR against an ex-employee who was engaged in some wrongdoing.

    However, the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV denied any allegation of manipulating BARC data and accused the police of “personal vendetta." The channel stated that its name was not mentioned in the FIR for this case at all.

    At the same time, the TV viewership measurement body BARC also re-emphasised that it has always remained accurate and faithful. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) called an emergency meeting of its board to discuss the TRP manipulation case.

    Read more news on BARC

    There was also a rumour that India Today had been named in the FIR as indulging in TRP gaming. But they issued a clarification: the channel’s name was mentioned but there was no evidence or witnesses to substantiate the allegation.

    Soon after, top executives from two major brands said that they would pull out advertisements from channels that promote toxic content. Many other brands came forward in support of the decision, reminding news channels about the need to improve content quality. The NBA also praised the move saying it would help the fight against toxic content.

    As the controversy dragged on, BARC board proposed that it’s technical committee (TechComm) would review and augment the current standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the  potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes. This exercise would cover all Hindi, regional, English news and business news channels with immediate effect.

    Therefore, starting with the ‘news genre’, BARC decided to cease publishing the weekly individual ratings for all news channels during the exercise. The process is expected to take around eight-twelve weeks including validation and testing under the supervision of Tech Comm. BARC will continue to release weekly audience estimates for the genre of news by state and language.

    Following the announcement, NBA came forward in support of BARC. It is of the view that the suspension is an important step in the right direction. On the other hand, the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), objected to the decision to pause audience estimates (ratings) of news channels.

    Meanwhile, a regulatory intervention could strike the industry soon. The parliamentary standing committee on information technology that met on Thursday to discuss ‘ethical standards in media coverage’ seemed none too happy about the TV viewership measurement system. It opined that the current metric of measuring audience estimates through TRPs is flawed, that the technology it depends on is outdated, and that the system is easily manipulated.

  • What BARC’s temporary cessation of news channel ratings means for all

    What BARC’s temporary cessation of news channel ratings means for all

    MUMBAI: With all the hullabaloo around the news TV space and allegations of rigging flying thick and fast, the viewership monitor BARC has decided to take a breather as far publishing of  weekly ratings of the purveyors of news is concerned. This temporay cessation  could impact the overall industry – especially advertisers and those involved in the news business. More so because advertisers and agencies will not have access to the de facto ratings cuurrency that allows them to price the air time and TV spots they buy from the news channels.  

    The committee has shared its point of view on why it has taken such a step. Excerpts:-

    Why has BARC India taken the step of not reporting news channels? 

    In the light of the recent developments, the BARC board has proposed that its technical  committee (Tech Comm) review and augment the current standards of measuring  and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to  and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes.  This exercise would cover all Hindi, regional, English news and business news channels  with immediate effect.  

    Therefore, starting with the ‘News Genre,’ BARC will cease publishing the weekly  individual ratings for news channels during the exercise. This exercise is expected to  take around eight to 12 weeks including validation and testing under the supervision of  BARCs TechComm. The monitoring service will continue to release weekly audience estimates for the  news genre by state and language. 

    Which genres will be affected by this change?  

    The decision will initially impact all Hindi, regional, English news and business news  broadcasters. BARC will continue to provide estimates for the overall news genre  every week by state and language.  

    For how long will the data not be available for news channels?  

    The BARC TechCom  will revisit the rule sets of niche genres to improve their  statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating  the panel homes. Starting with the news genre, BARC would stop declaring the individual  channel ratings for news channels while this reworking of the rule sets is being done.  This exercise would take around eight to 12 weeks including validation and testing under the  TechComm’s supervision. BARC will keep its stakeholders updated as it  augments these processes.  

    Which data and analysis will not be possible or will not be available because of the withholding of ratings? 

    The withholding of ratings will, inter -alia, will lead to non – availability of the following  viewership variables for impacted channels: 
    • Impressions  
    • Daily reach  
    • Average Time Spent (ATS)  
    • Cumulative reach  
    • Rating % 

    Since these variables will not be available, analysis such as viewer movement and  behavioural track analysis will not be possible.  

    However, the above details will be available at a genre level.  

    Will BARC be collecting and processing data for impacted channels during  this period? Will the individual channel data be released post this period?  
    BARC will continue to collect and process data for the impacted channels. BARC’s TechComm  will advise a protocol for release of individual channel data,  post its work on niche channels.  

    Will playout data be collected during this period for the impacted  channels? 

    Yes, playout data will be collected for the impacted channels during this period. 

    Will Spot Trek service be impacted due to this withholding of ratings?  

    BARC will continue to confirm spot – related data to its Spot Trek subscribers.  There will be no impact on the Spot Trek service.  

    Are the numbers released by BARC inclusive of the impacted news  channels?  

    The data for news channels will still be included in the audience estimates for  aggregate such as total TV. It is only the audience estimates for the individual  channels that will be masked. 

    What data will be reported for the impacted news channels?  

    BARC will continue to release audience estimates for the overall news genre every  week by state and language. However, channel–wise data will not be released.  

    I am not a news channel. Why has my data been withheld?  

    Individual news channels audience estimates will not be reported. The genre  classification is determined by “Policy for Genre Classification of TV Channels” as last  updated in September 2019 and as updated on the BARC website. This classification is  updated on a quarterly basis.  

    As per the BARC policy on genre classification, a TV channel is classified as a news  channel, when more than 60 per cent of the TV Channel content for a given week averaged  across a calendar quarter from 6:00 Hrs. – 26:00 Hrs. consists of news and news- related  content. 

    Are genres other than news genres also going to be impacted?  

    The BARC TechComm will review and augment the current  standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their  statistical robustness and to and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of  infiltrating the panel homes. 

  • BARC temporarily halts news channel ratings amid TRP row

    BARC temporarily halts news channel ratings amid TRP row

    KOLKATA: In the light of the recent developments, BARC board has proposed that its technical committee (Tech Comm) review and augment the current standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the  potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes. This exercise would cover all Hindi, regional, English news and business news channels with immediate effect. 

    Therefore, starting with the ‘news genre,' BARC will cease publishing the weekly individual ratings for all news channels during the exercise. This exercise is expected to take around eight-twelve weeks including validation and testing under the supervision of BARCs TechComm. BARC will continue to release weekly audience estimates for the genre of news by state and language.

    BARC India board chairman Punit Goenka said: “Given the most recent developments, the BARC board was of the opinion that a pause was necessitated to enable the industry and BARC to work closely to review its already stringent protocols and further augment them to enable the industry to focus on collaborating for growth and well-natured competitiveness”.

    BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla said: “We at BARC take our role in truthfully and faithfully reporting ‘what India watches’ with the greatest sense of responsibility and work with integrity to ensure that our audience estimates (ratings) remain true to their purpose." He added: “Besides augmenting current protocols and benchmarking them with global standards, BARC is actively exploring several options to discourage unlawful inducement of its panel home viewers and further strengthening its code of conduct to address viewership malpractice."