With digitisation taking off, this will be the year not just for customised and niche channels, but made-for-order content both on entertainment and new channels
Raj Nayak
After an action packed year, some more fireworks can be expected in 2013. The year 2012 finally marked the arrival of digitisation ? after a really long wait. While it may not be obvious at this point of time, down the line there is bound to be a significant impact of this digitisation on the broadcast business. With the possibility of subscription revenue playing a larger role and reduced dependency on advertising revenue, broadcast networks will have more flexibility to experiment with content and the play out of content. Not only will it open avenues for niche and personalised content channel offerings, but also premium offerings such as ad-free channels and even other on-demand pay channel offerings. With digitisation coming into its full force, including the second phase to be implemented by March 31, 2012, personalisation will become the key for broadcasters, including the news networks. Presence in both Hindi and English, plus in the language spaces will be imperative for networks to build on and grow their businesses. While regional news space would grow, I am not sure it will be at the expense of English news.
Customised and niche channels will have a significant role to play in this evolved environment. We have already seen the advent of language movie channels, and going forward there is every possibility of us witnessing many more such made-to-order channel offerings.
In the space of content, this year saw broadcasters toying with several ideas ? a few which are here to stay, for instance, ?scripted reality?. While it is still a new genre, and not many have experimented with it yet, the initial feelers for the same clearly indicate a need gap for such content offering. Another new aspect that emerged this year was introduction of content based on consumer segments. The TV industry came to realise that today’s Indian consumer is a lot more aware and knows exactly what he or she wants. While segmentation at a content level from an age perspective is still at its nascent stages here, with the way the business is developing, it is definitely here to stay. While internet led the way in this area, content on TV is fast catching up on this trend. The thought is simple – inclusive content for all age groups, to be present on a channel offering.
Another emerging trend has been that of ?re-defining viewer engagement?. Not only at a channel level, but even at various show levels, players have gone ahead to create serious viewer engagement which goes beyond just TV. For instance applications, games, downloads – there has been a digital explosion, and with content being its strength, networks have enough and more to gain from this personalised source of engagement.
2012 also witnessed the rise of new genres and the return of old genres. With increased crime, the genre of crime shows had really found significant prominence on the TV space. All major broadcast networks had attempted to make its presence felt in this genre. Mythological content once again made its way back into the viewer’s mind space. With better graphics and simple story telling, certain mythological shows have made a strong impact, and have proven that there is always a space for such content.
In the category of general entertainment, regional entertainment will continue to grow, with more channels entering into the fray, and existing channels upping the quality of their content offering. With higher fragmentation and better quality offering in the regional language space, more language channels ought to enter the space. Meanwhile, 2012 was a roller coaster ride for general entertainment channels (GECs). The competition in the Hindi GEC space has heated up significantly, and most of the year saw all the four major networks taking a shot at the coveted number one spot, with no clear leader emerging as such. While the year began with Sony claiming a strong stake at the leader board, the middle of the year saw the resurgence of a strong Zee TV, only for Colors to make a strong presence felt in the latter half of the year and regaining the top slot once again after almost a gap of over a year and a half. All this while, Star’s dominance kept on eroding, and the competition became a four-way race with all players making serious claims to garner leadership status.
The general entertainment space is a tough business to be in, as it calls for high investments and requires a lot of patience for success to follow. Turner learnt it the hard way, and unfortunately had to exit the space here. On the other hand, we also witnessed the emergence of Life Ok, the erstwhile Star One, in a completely new avatar taking on the front-line Hindi GEC channels, thus vindicating the fact that with right content and the right positioning, there is enough space in this highly competitive genre.
The author is CEO of Colors.