Regional news is good news

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

: “More than 60% of the English-speaking audience for television news channels is south of the Vindhyas. Yet, more than 75% of the news reporting on television is confined to the metros of Mumbai and Delhi. It’s a dichotomy that is embarrassing.”

—Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief, CNN-IBN and IBN 7, in his blog Southern Discomfort.

That’s “the story so far”. The good news is that most national news channels are now shrugging out of their one-size-fits all news broadcast strategy and tailoring city- or region-specific shows to selectively replace the pan-India beam. Earlier this week, NDTV 24x7 launched Fight for Delhi, a daily news programme that is aired only locally, and a show called Maximum City for its viewers in Mumbai. In June, it launched Southern Edition for viewers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, under the opt-out arrangement. And during the Durga Puja celebrations this year (September 25 to October 2), the channel carried out a 30-minute pilot trial of opt-out programming for Kolkata. Narayan Rao, executive director at New Delhi Television (NDTV), says, “Regional channels have a loyal and expanding viewer base. It is fast becoming a competitive market.”

There’s a reason for his enthusiasm. While there are just a handful of players, there is a disproportionately high proportion of news viewership in states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. In other words, a vast untapped market. “Regional brands like Gold Winner & Pothy’s in Tamil Nadu, and Cuticura in Kerala are good clients for regional channels catering to their territories,” says Manish Porwal, executive director for Starcom India (west). “Add to that rate-conscious clients like Rasna, Action Shoes, and Ghadi detergent who may want to be present on these channels for focus and frequency.”

According to TAM Media, the total share of news channels is 7.6%. Hindi channels lead the pack with close to 5% share of total TV viewership. At 1.7%, regional news viewership is ahead of English news viewership (0.5%).

All three groups have grown steadily over the last few years. TAM Media data shows that while the viewership share of English news channels increased from 0.2% to 0.4% between 2001 and 2005, that of regional news channels grew to 1.4% in 2005 from 0.3%. In the same period, the share of Hindi news channels rose from 3.8% to 4.5%.