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Tag: Tamil Nadu

  • Tamil Nadu CM drops minister from cabinet due to cable TV tariff spat

    Tamil Nadu CM drops minister from cabinet due to cable TV tariff spat

    MUMBAI: While Tamil Nadu’s state-run cable operator Arasu Cable revised down its subscription rates recently, the move has led to a political crisis in the state. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has dropped former IT minister Dr Manikandan from his cabinet.

    After the recent announcement of price revision, Manikandan accused Palaniswami of unilaterally taking the decision of reducing the cable TV monthly subscription as per a report from The Hindu. “I was not consulted. The chief minister announced it. A meeting will happen soon,” Dr Manikandan said. He also alleged that the government declined to fund the government cable network Arasu Cable.

    “When we approached the government to bear the cost of STBs, the then finance secretary and present chief secretary K Shanmugam declined to accept. As a result, we repaid ₹400 crore of the total debt (towards providing free STBs) of Rs 619 crore from our (TACTV) revenue. When we were in distress, neither the government nor anyone came to our rescue. If the government comes forward to provide the balance of Rs 219 crore or gives the amount as loan, we can even fix the Arasu Cable tariff at ₹100 a month,” he said.

    On July 22, Animal Husbandry minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan was appointed as the chairman of the cable network which did not make Manikandan happy either. He also pointed out the conflict of interest by saying that the latter should first shift two lakh subscribers who are currently under his cable TV network Akshaya Cable to Arasu Cable.

    Radhakrishnan recently said that the 11 lakh STBs provided by Arasu Cable which had been switched off, needed to be brought back online as Arasu Cable had now lowered its tariffs.

  • BARC India data shows how Tamil Nadu leads regional TV viewership, content and advertising trends

    BARC India data shows how Tamil Nadu leads regional TV viewership, content and advertising trends

    MUMBAI: The inaugural edition of Tele-Wise Tamil saw BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia share some interesting numbers related to TV consumption, viewership, advertisement and average time spent (ATS) in Tamil Nadu (TN). He also gave an understanding of trends and behavioural patterns of different genres in the dominant regional market.

    Ramgarhia began his session by explaining how demographically TN is different from other states in India. The state is dominated by 53 per cent of women viewers. 34 per cent of all India population belongs to NCCS AB home but Tamil Nadu has 47 per cent of NCCS AB home. In spite of smaller family size, Tamil Nadu’s TV consumption is high. Ramgarhia informed that NCCS A home consumes more TV in the state.

    While total TV consumption in India per week is about 1000 billion viewing minutes, TN itself gets 110 billion viewing minutes.

    “Over the last two years, overall TV consumption in India has gone up by 21 per cent largely aided by digitisation that happened in the state a little later compared to others states. Despite NTO coming in, the market was resilient and though it had some dent it bounced back much faster compared to other states that we have witnessed,” said Ramgarhia.

    He added, “Generally, the overall consumption of TV in India goes up by 15 per cent in the third quarter but in Tamil Nadu the consumption in that quarter went up to 20 per cent. This year we are hoping to see the same trend compared to 2018-19.”

    Around 9 per cent of the population resides in Tamil Nadu and it contributes 12 per cent of total TV viewership. Tamil Nadu is the only state in the South which has a higher viewership from urban areas. The state has 55 per cent viewership from urban areas and 45 per cent from rural. Telangana has 57 per cent of viewership from rural and 23 per cent from urban. Karnataka has 52 per cent of rural and 48 per cent of urban viewership. Kerala has 50 – 50 per cent of rural and urban viewership.

    Overall in India, the daily TV consumption is about 3 hours 37 minutes whereas Tamil Nadu sees more than 4 hours a day with 74.8 per cent daily tune-ins. Almost 94.2 per cent of the people consume TV at least once in a week and 75 per cent of them consume every day. “It is one of the largest time-spent markets across India,” said Ramgarhia.

    Going further, Ramgarhia explained that viewership in the state also shoots up when there are big events. The state consumed around 8 hours of content on the day of former chief minister Karunanidhi’s demise.

    GEC contributes 63 per cent of total TV consumption in the TN market. Speaking on the primetime, Ramgarhia highlighted that there is no prime time. “The top three Tamil channels have 42 original fictions and 15 non-fictional shows which means the state produces 52 original content in a week whereas the top 3 Hindi GECs have an average of 43 original shows. The market sees a lot of focus on producing more and more content which is also consumed in non-prime time as well," he said

    The data also revealed that the overall TV penetration was high in South and Tamil Nadu had seen 97.5 per cent TV penetration whereas Karnataka had 96.1 per cent TV penetration, Telangana had recorded 94.3 per cent and Kerala has 92.8 per cent.

    TRAI’s new tariff order (NTO) came in force in week 6 of 2019. 43 per cent of TV viewers in TN were consuming all four channels before NTO and now it is down to 35 per cent. There was a drop in reach from 75 per cent to 71 per cent. Pay Tamil GECs went down from 70 to 65. The reach was impacted by five per cent for pay channels post NTO implementation. But ATS went up by 6 per cent from the previous year. “People shift their consumption basket to their choice of channel. Rather than spending time across all the GECs, they just choose a different consumption basket,” said Ramgarhia.

    Throwing some light on the advertising trends in Tamil Nadu, Ramgarhia said, “After Hindi GEC, South GEC is the second largest segment for advertisers as it contributes 31 per cent to total TV viewership. If there are 500 categories in India, roughly 12 per cent of all categories are present in TN. From 11,000 advertisers in India, 15 per cent advertise in TN. If there are 19,000 to 20,000 brands in India roughly 13 per cent of the brands advertise in TN."

  • Arasu Cable revises subscription rates

    Arasu Cable revises subscription rates

    MUMBAI: Tamil Nadu’s state-run cable operator Arasu Cable has revised down its subscription rates, with effect from 10 August. Under the new subscription rate, package of 190 channels will be available for Rs 154.

    “Based on requests from the people, the cable television tariff for Tamil Nadu [except Vellore] under Arasu Cable has been fixed at Rs 130, plus GST,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said.

    After the new price regime kicked in at the beginning of this year, Arasu Cable had to revise its packages. It had three packages — a basic package at Rs 120 plus GST with all free-to-air (FTA) channels, a package at Rs 200 plus GST and another that offered 191 channels at Rs 220 plus GST.

    The state-run operator has distributed 35.12 lakh set-top boxes free of cost to its subscribers till date. But recently, it found that out of the 35 lakh STBs that were distributed, only 24 lakh were active. The sudden increase in pricing caused the churn in customers. To prevent the churn, the new move has been taken.

  • Maaza brings a ‘Mangolicious’ contest to delight Super Singer fans in Tamil Nadu

    Maaza brings a ‘Mangolicious’ contest to delight Super Singer fans in Tamil Nadu

    MUMBAI: Maaza, one of the most loved and iconic mango beverages in India is all set to provide moments of indulgence to consumers in Tamil Nadu. The brand has launched special bottles with Super Singer labels that give lucky winners a chance to watch the Super Singer Finale Live by playing a ‘Mangolicious game’.

    Participants can login at www.coke2home.com/maaza/ using their mobile number. Post completion of the registration steps, they have to fill in the code visible on Maaza bottles of net quantity 600ml, 1.2L and 1.5L to earn Maaza coins which will allow them to start their gaming experience. The game displays a variety of mangoes falling on the screen. Players have to squeeze the golden mangoes using the tap gesture to progress in the game and earn points. For every golden mango, they earn 50 points. Additionally, the game has 30 multiple-choice questions based on Maaza or Super Singer, which the players must answer to progress in the game and earn bonus points. Players who make it to the top 100 will win a Maaza hamper, while one lucky winner will get the opportunity to watch Super Singer Finale live. Winners will be selected every week. The contest is open till September 30, 2019 only for consumers in Tamil Nadu.

    Commenting on the innovative contest, Srideep Kesavan, Director – Juices, Coca-Cola India, said, “Super Singer is one-of-its-kind singing reality show and we are excited to kick-off this contest to provide a delightful experience to fans in Tamil Nadu. Our aim is to build deeper engagement with the consumers by providing them numerous opportunities to sit back and unwind with Maaza, while they indulge in a mangolicious gaming journey.”

    As the next step in Maaza’s journey towards becoming a USD 1 billion home-grown mango juice brand by 2023, Maaza is transforming into a Master brand bringing in different variants of mango Indulgence for different moments. Launched in the 1970s, Maaza has an impressive heritage and has been the most loved mango juice beverage in the country for over 42 years now.

  • Sun continues to shine on its namesake broadcaster

    Sun continues to shine on its namesake broadcaster

    BENGALURU: Television penetration is high in South India about 95 per cent as compared to the national average of about 65 per cent. A little less than forty per cent of television viewership in India is from South India. According to a Sun TV Network investor presentation, the addressable television advertisement market for South Indian television broadcasters, which comprises national, regional and local level advertisers, is pegged at Rs 6,000 crore.

    The four major South Indian languages are (in order of populations of the major territories they are spoken in) Telugu in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Tamil in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kannada in Karnataka and Malayalam in Kerala. Besides, there is a global diaspora from South India that speaks one or more of these four languages. The largest regions in terms of population is Andhra Pradesh and Telangana combined, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In terms of television households, Tamil Nadu leads because of its higher television penetration, followed by Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala in that order. There are about 225 channels spread across the four South Indian languages that beam into India, besides many more that beam South Indian language content into other geographies.

    Networks, be they regional or pan-India, have been trying to attract as many eyeballs in these regions to their channels as they can. The focus in new channel launches seemed to be Telugu and to some extent Kannada in 2018. Though channels were launched in Tamil and Malayalam languages by major networks, it seemed more as efforts to enter these spaces, rather than to consolidate further.

    Among the major networks, Star India, Sun TV Network, Viacom18/ETV and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) have channels that cater to the viewership pleasure of speakers of at least three of the four languages. All of them would like to lead in each of the four languages. The Sun TV Network has channels across genres such as GEC, movies, music, kids and comedy in all the four languages. The network also has news and ‘life’ channels in Tamil and Telugu.

    As things stood, until 2018, only Sun TV Network and Star India had major channels in all the four languages. Zeel launched its Malayalam GEC Zee Keralam on 19 November 2018 and completed its quartet. The network had catered to only the Telugu, Tamil and Kannada audiences until then. With the launch of Zee Keralam, Zeel had five channels for South Indian viewers – Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada, Zee Tamil and Zee Cinemalu, a Telugu Movies channel.

    The major GECs from the Star India stable included Asianet for Malayalam, Star Vijay for Tamil, Star Suvarana for Kannada and Star Maa for Telugu. Besides, Star India has been wooing sports viewers in South India -it now has 3 sports channels in South Indian languages – the last one to be launched near the end of 2018 – Star Sports 1 Kannada. Earlier, on December 7, the network had launched Star Sports 1 Telugu to join Star Sports 1 Tamil. The launch of Star Sports 1 Kannada took the Star Sports channel count to 15 with 10 standard definition and five high definition channels.

    Another national network, Network18, through Viacom 18 and ETV, has also been making rapid strides to catch up with its peers in the South Indian space. Earlier in the year, on February 19, Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd (Viacom 18) had launched Colors Tamil. The company followed it up by launching a Kannada movies channels – Colors Kannada Cinema. Viacom 18 also started the Kannada feed of two of its kids’ channels – Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon Sonic. Through the ETV brand, the Network 18 group launched ETV Pus HD, ETV Life HD and ETV Aburichi HD, ETV Cinema HD were launched on December 27, 2018.

    As many as nine HD channels were launched by two pan India networks in South India. Seven of the new HD channels were Telugu– five GEC and two movies and one each GEC HD channel was launched in Kannada and Malayalam. Network 18 through Viacom 18 and ETV launched five, while Zeel launched four HD channels. Zee Kannada HD was launched on 3 November 2018, while Zee Telugu HD and Zee Cinemalu HD were launched on 1 January 2018. Zee Keralam HD was launched on 5 December 2018.

    2018 saw elections in a number of states in the country. It also saw launch of regional news channels in the south. NewsX Kannada, a Kannada news channel was launched in 2018, while in the Telugu News space, Thota Chandrasekhar who holds positions in actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, launched 99 TV on 11 July, 2018. The Jana Sena Party also reportedly supports another Telugu News channel that started test runs on 24 October 2018 -Prime9 News.

    According to a Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) presentation in April 2018, television viewership in 2017 grew by 32 per cent as compared to 2016. In South India, viewership of Kannada content led the growth, followed by Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam with 63 per cent, 33 per cent, 30 per cent and 16 per cent growth respectively. Comparatively, viewership of the largest language – Hindi, grew by 27 per cent.

    The Sun continues to shine on Sun TV

    BARC data for top 10 channels across genres NCCS All India 2+ reveals that the Sun TVv Networks flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV is the most watched channel in the country. In 2018, Sun TV headed BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for 48 of the 52 weeks of 2018. It was only during some weeks of the eleventh edition of the Indian cricketing bonanza IPL that channel lost its prime position in BARC’s list of top 10 channels across genres for four of the seven IPL weeks.

    Among the 4 languages, it was Sun TV that topped BARC’s weekly ratings in Tamil, Star Maa that generally topped the weekly ratings in Telugu, Colors Kannada that topped the ratings in Karnataka and Asianet that topped the ratings in Malayalam during 2018.

    Since week 1 of 2018, BARC has also started putting in the public domain weekly ratings of news channels in these languages – and there are more than forty of them spread across the four languages. Polimer News in Tamil, TV9 Telugu in Telugu, TV9 Kannada, and Asianet News in Malayalam were the regional news toppers according to BARC’s weekly list of top 5 news channels in each respective language during 2018.

    From the financial aspect, the Sun TV Network has been one of the most profitable media and entertainment companies in India. The company has been rewarding its shareholders with dividends for at least three of the four quarters of a fiscal. Financial year 2018-19 or FY 2018-19 (period between 01 April 2018 to 31 March 2019) seems to be no different – the company has already rewarded its shareholders with dividends for the two quarters for which it has declared results so far.

    Despite not having a number 1 position in BARC’s weekly lists of top 5 channels in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, the network’s channels have a huge combined viewership. The company claims in his investor presentation that about 29 per cent of the estimated Rs 4,500 crore television ad revenue and 60 per cent of subscription revenue of the four South Indian spaces accrues to it. The Sun TV Network’s revenue for FY 2018-19 was Rs 2,862 crore, profit after tax (PAT) was Rs 979 crore (36 per cent margin). Sun TV Network’s ad and subscription revenues for fiscal 2018-19 were Rs 1,172 crore and Rs 1,116 crore respectively.

  • Star India elevates Kevin Vaz as CEO of regional entertainment channels

    Star India elevates Kevin Vaz as CEO of regional entertainment channels

    MUMBAI: Star India has promoted Kevin Vaz as CEO of regional entertainment channels. The regions include Maharashtra, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka.

    Previously, Vaz was CEO of South entertainment channels. He has spent 22 years serving Star India. Before heading the entertainment channels in Southern market, he was the business head of English cluster. In 2015, he was roped in to head the youth and entertainment channel, Channel V.

    Vaz, who has also worked as Star India’s president ad sales, became head of English channels (FX, Fox Crime, Star World, Star World HD, Star World Premiere HD, Star Movies, Star Movies Action) and Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies in March 2013.

    Star India has a very large bouquet of regional entertainment channels which includes, Star Jalsha, Star Pravah, Jalsha Movies, Maa Movies with their HD versions, Maa Gold, Maa Music to name a few.

    Regional channels are outpacing many other genres in terms of growth and all large broadcasters have or are planning to enhance their regional channel bouquets. Most are entering markets not with just a GEC, but with a combined offering across entertainment, movies, kids and music.

    In FY18, however, the ad expenditure on Hindi GECs declined by 9 per cent while the regional channels saw a spike of 5.4 per cent, outlining the overall growth of the regional market in India, according to KPMG in India’s Media and Entertainment report 2018.

    According to FICCI 2018 Re-imagining India’s M&E sector report, the top 10 channel genres accounted for 47 per cent of total ad volumes. Of these, 30 per cent of all ad volumes were on Hindi channels, while the balance 17 per cent were from Tamil, Telugu and Bangla.

  • Broadcast India 2018 survey: South contributes 40% to total TV viewership

    Broadcast India 2018 survey: South contributes 40% to total TV viewership

    MUMBAI: The number of TV owning individuals in the five south states of India, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala, is 259 million, up 8 per cent from 2016. This insight came out from the Broadcast India (BI) survey released by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

    This also means that 31 per cent of total TV owning individuals are present in these five states. The TV owning individuals in the north is 209 million, west is 221 million and east is 146 million.

    BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta said, “The survey has thrown some interesting facts about South India’s TV viewing habits. While total TV penetration in India currently stands at 66 per cent, TV penetration in South India is as high as 95 per cent. This can also be attributed to the fact that electrification in South is around 99.9 per cent and one of the first durables which people buy having electricity is TV.”

    BARC India’s BI 2018 Survey was conducted covering 300,000 households, approximately 4300 towns/villages and 68 per cent of the urban market.

    With eight out 10 people sampling TV daily and a high time spent of 4 hours 10 minutes, the southern market has been witnessing a year on year growth in average time spent on TV. The region also generates viewership of around 12 billion impressions at a weekly level. The fact that 31 per cent of the TV individuals in South contribute to 40 per cent of total TV viewership, proves that people in the region love TV.

    The factors that affect TV viewing range from family size, migration, electrification and affluence among others. BI 2018 survey highlights that growing affluence in South India has played an important role in the family structure and durable ownership.

    As per BI 2018 Survey, at an all India level, the average family size for TV homes is 4.25 individuals. In South, this is much lower at 3.8 individuals per household. This shows that families in the South are much more nuclear in nature.

    The socio-economic profiles of homes in South India have also improved as compared to 2016. While the affluent (NCCS A) have seen a growth of nine per cent, the upper middle class (NCCS B) TV homes have grown by 15 per cent. TV homes falling under low socio-economic profiles (NCCS D/E) have dropped by seven per cent. Nuclear families, increasing middle class and rising disposable incomes are helping households move across the affluence chain.

    The survey also highlights the fact that close to 30 per cent homes in the south have their female members working either full time or part time. The ratio further improves in rural where 35 per cent of homes have its women working.

    Entertainment in South is of prime importance across the value chain. While 85 per cent of NCCS D/E homes have a TV, only 66 per cent of these homes have a gas stove. This proves the need for these families to sit together and watch their entertainment.

  • Dish TV targets double customer base in Tamil Nadu

    Dish TV targets double customer base in Tamil Nadu

    MUMBAI: The leading direct-to-home (DTH) brand Dish TV wants to strengthen its customer base in Tamil Nadu, the biggest market for the company. With the hope of nearly doubling customer base in the state, the company is already building up stronger presence by launching new packages and an advertising campaign.

    The Hindu Business Line reported that it also expects a 35-40 per cent increase in revenues. The revenue from the state for the merged entity of Videocon d2h and Dish TV in last financial year was Rs 550 crore. As the state is going through digitisation, there are high chances of the company’s growth in Tamil Nadu where it currently has a customer base of nearly 1.5 million.

    As reported by the publication, the company announced to offer 65 popular Tamil channels in the state from Friday. A 360-degree advertisement campaign called ‘Surprise Machi’ is also in the store which will be rolled out soon. It will also offer five new base packs based on the language the customer speaks.

    Dish TV India senior vice president-marketing Sukhpreet Singh thinks there’s no threat from state-run Arasu Cable TV. The state government-owned network is gradually increasing its penetration across the state. Singh thinks there’s enough scope for DTH players to convert 8 million analogue receivers using customers into digital.

    Also Read:

    Dish TV offers SD channels at Rs 8.5 per month

    Dish TV sharpens focus on Tamil Nadu

  • Dish TV sharpens focus on Tamil Nadu

    Dish TV sharpens focus on Tamil Nadu

    MUMBAI: Despite having substantial share across all markets in South India, direct-to-home (DTH) operator Dish TV is currently focusing on Tamil Nadu as the market there affords a big pay TV opportunity. Moreover, the state is also going through digitisation, which has created more avenues for DTH players to increase their subscriber base in the state.

    Recently, Dish TV announced a plan to come up around 30 popular Tamil channels on its platform with an aim to leave customers with wider choice. In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Dish TV India SVP marketing Sukhpreet Singh said that Tamil Nadu has always been important for the company and is one of the top markets for the company.

    “We are a major player in every market, including the South Indian market. We have a substantial share in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, too. But we are focusing more on the Tamil market because there is more content available. At this point of time, we are focusing on the Tamil market as it is going through digitisation,” he said when asked about the company’s plan to focus on other South Indian markets.

    However, he said that being a pan-India brand, it is not fair to focus on one market over another. The company keeps figuring out what customers want in a particular state, if there’s need of more content, subscription packages or services. Currently, they are doing this for Tamil Nadu.

    Being a multi-dimensional market, Tamil Nadu has several segments of audience. One of the segment watches Tamil channels only while another one watches other South Indian language channels along with Tamil channels. Then, there are other two segments that demand Hindi and English content. The company tries to reach each of the four segments with subscription packs applicable for a particular segment.

    “We continuously keep coming up with subscription packages; recently, we launched an annual subscription package for Tamil Nadu,” Singh said. The primary means of attracting more users to the platform is providing more content. Along with that, content has to be packaged and priced correctly.

    Through promotional programmes and advertisements, Dish TV wants to keep its customers aware of all the plans. For building up the subscriber base, it is expanding distribution as well.

    “We do unique things. For example, Dish TV is the only brand that provides the option of topping of your pack with single channels also,” he said. “If a customer who basically watches Tamil content and want some English channels, they don’t have to opt for the mega pack. They can pick channels at Rs 8.5 under ‘Mera Apna Pack’ initiative. This initiative has attracted a lot of customers.”

    To increase market share, the long-term strategy is always based on better customer experience. Brand loyalty has a direct bearing on market share.

    “The number of people subscribing to our VAS (value-added services) has increased dramatically,” he added when asked about how VAS was helping Dish TV’s business.

    During the various digitisation phases, Dish TV acquired a number of customers in the state. Now, as the market has matured, like all the brands, Dish TV is also experimenting with new strategies.

  • South’s leader Arun Icecreams targets Mumbai

    South’s leader Arun Icecreams targets Mumbai

    MUMBAI: Southern India’s Arun Icecreams is all set to step in Mumbai. Arun, the popular ice cream brand from Hatsun Agro Product (HAP), a leading private sector dairy company in India, is launching two new Hatsun Daily outlets in Mulund and Bhiwandi. Known for its range of high-quality products and a wide array of flavours, the brand is popular in southern India and has a major share in Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets.

    There are over 1000 exclusive parlours with 670 in Tamil Nadu, 148 in Karnataka and the rest in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

    In addition to ice creams, the outlet also includes other products from Hatsun such as flavoured milk, ghee, butter, skimmed milk powder and dairy whitener. Hatsun Daily, a neighbourhood retail outlet, offers everyday dairy requirements and a uniform buying experience across all its outlets that are operated by well-trained independent franchisees.

    Apart from retail sale, Hatsun Daily outlets will also supply its products to retail outlets within the vicinity thereby increasing ease of availability of the products to consumers.

    Hatsun Agro Product chairman and MD SRG Chandramogan says, “HAP began its initial journey with Arun Icecreams and we are happy to launch this iconic brand in a cosmopolitan market like Mumbai through our Hatsun Daily outlets.”