Panic on screen

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: Reena Joshi wants to desperately find out the twists and turns in her favourite show Balika Vadhu. But all she is getting these days is a re-run of the show, thanks to the strike that was called by the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) over the wages of workers had brought the shooting of TV programmes to a standstill. With the entire world coming to terms with a global economic crisis, turbulence has hit the television industry as well. Due to the economic recession, TV channels are undergoing a major revenue crunch with escalated broadcasting costs. To add to the dilemma of advertisers and broadcasters, the strike forced channels to air re-runs of shows. TV viewership suffered a blow and though the strike was called off on Wednesday evening, fresh episodes are likely to go on air only from Monday. Advertisers are feeling the pinch too and are now considering rethinking their budgets and going for a medium, which is less costly and has significant reach.

Drop in ratings

According to television audience measurement agency, Audience Measurement and Analytics (aMap), there has been a considerable drop in GEC ratings due to the re-runs of television shows. All major general entertainment channels (GECs) suffered an average drop in prime time GRPs (the sum total of TRPs for a channel) by 35-55% within the last three days since November 10 compared to the prior week. Ashit Kukian, executive Vice President and National Head — sales, Radio City feels, “Ideally such a situation should lead to higher listenership for radio stations. But it is a short a period to determine the fate of radio listenership. Recession has led advertisers to become cautious about their spending by concentrating only on the important markets. But the strikes were merely incidental and would have been considered serious if the matter was unresolved for more than three to four months.”

Discounted ad spots

A 10-second ad spot on television costs anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 2 lakh. This amount is far more than radio, where a similar ad spot may cost between Rs 4, 000 and Rs 10, 000. And the price is dipped further for an online platform like the internet. However, the nationwide reach of television is considered to be more than that of radio or any other platform.