Niche programming on television is set to become mass as more broadcasters roll out special interest channels and content providers look to cater to special tastes of viewers. With mandatory digitisation in the broadcast space, niche content is expected to grow exponentially as broadcasters get greater bandwidth at their disposal.
On the second day of Ficci Frames 2012 in Mumbai, a panel consisting of niche broadcasters agreed that niche channels are no longer ?niche? as they command 24% of TV viewership in India, second only after Hindi GECs (general entertainment channels) that take up 27% of the viewership pie and are dubbed ?mass?.
?Niche is a term used by media buyers and not broadcasters or consumers,? said Ajay Chacko, president of the A+E Networks & TV18 joint venture that launched History TV18 in October last year. ?These are ideally special interest channels that cater to special viewer needs.?
Niche channels include genres such as kids, music, sports, news, English movies and infotainment, while Hindi general entertainment, Hindi movies and regional channels are considered mass, as they grab more eyeballs.
?Digitisation will make niche content mass as broadcasters will have greater bandwidth to launch more special interest channels,? says Paritosh Joshi, chief executive officer, Star CJ, a home shopping channel owned by Star India.
?There?s ideally no difference between FMCG and television. Offerings are being customised for every kind of viewer,? he adds.
The challenge for broadcasters, however, is to build a sustainable business model for niche content. ?A more balanced revenue model should come about and the over-dependence on ad sales should reduce,? says Rasika Tyagi, senior vice-president ? English programming, Star India. ?Subscription revenue is not a problem as the audience is always willing to pay for good content.?
According to industry statistics, most broadcasters earn close to 70% of their revenues from advertising, while the rest comes from subscriptions. Only Zee Entertainment has a 55:45 split between advertising and subscription, riding on an excellent distribution network in India and abroad.
Sports channels, which occupy only 3.5% of television viewership, are expected to be one of the high growth areas in niche programming, as audiences are tuning into a variety of sports, besides cricket.
?Sports is a massive opportunity,? says Atul Pande, chief executive officer, Zee ? sports business, which runs Ten Sports, Ten Cricket, Ten Action and the just launched Ten Golf. ?About 40 million TV households turn to football on Ten Action; so why is sports termed niche??
Lifestyle programming is another segment that has gained popularity in India. Media consultants say that the production cost for lifestyle programming is not as prohibitive as that of daily soaps and star-driven reality shows on Hindi GECs.
?Lifestyle programming is not very expensive and channels can afford to produce shows on their own and not necessarily syndicate it from the west,? says Smeeta Chakrabarti, chief executive officer, NDTV Lifestyle, which runs NDTV Good Times ? a joint venture between Kingfisher and NDTV India. ?About 80-90% of content on our channel is developed by us and the audiences love local content,? Chakrabarti adds.