If MK Anand, MD & CEO of Times Network, had his way, the entire news television industry would come together with a common agenda to make viewers pay for the content they consume. 

“Post TRAI’s new tariff order, and if the deals that we have made is any indication, I would sincerely appeal to all players in news in all languages to consider going pay, because consumers will pay,” says Anand, who thinks that if the industry comes together and becomes pay, it is going to get them to a place where they will be confident about saying things that they right now may not be able to say, restricted by advertiser interest. 

MUMBAI: Star India is all set to launch National Geographic Tamil and National Geographic Telugu on 20th June. Both the channels have an MRP of Rs 2 each.

The two channels will replace Nat Geo People HD and Nat Geo Music HD, which are being discontinued from the same date.

For the record, National Geographic People HD is focused on people and cultures. National Geographic Music HD, as the name suggests, focusses on music. In 2015, NGC Network India had stopped the standard definition feeds of these two channels and made them available in HD.

The launch of National Geographic Tamil and National Geographic Telugu will mark the expansion of the National Geographic in the regional language space.

MUMBAI: Cricket continues to the force that drives sports viewership in India. According to a BARC India report, 93% of all sports viewers in 2018 watched cricket content. Overall, sports content was sampled by 766 million viewers in 2018.

The report titled ‘Cricket in India: It’s not just a game’ highlighted that sports viewership has grown from 43 billion impressions in 2016 to 51 billion impressions in 2018, growing at a CAGR of 9%. Cricket 12.3 billion impressions in 2018 despite the absence of international tournaments in the year.

MUMBAI: Even as the implementation of the new tariff order (NTO) has impacted the reach of TV channels of most pay broadcasters, media conglomerate ZEEL’s CEO Punit Goenka expects the situation to return to normal in the coming months.

Goenka said that the TV broadcasting industry has seen a drop of 4-6% reach in different genres. ZEEL’s Hindi genre channel witnessed a slightly higher drop in reach. However, he is confident that the correction will happen in the coming months.

“As an industry, the reach drop has been about 4-6 percent (point), different for different genres. For us, in the Hindi genre, we have seen slightly more than the industry drop. But we are confident that in the coming months we will recover this and therefore things should go back to normal,” Goenka told analysts during Q4 and FY19 earnings conference call.

Television viewership measurement body, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India released a new edition of its newsletter 'THiNK'. It analyses the impact of cricket on television viewership. "We have explored viewership at various angles like the format of the game, India matches, popular leagues and so on," BARC India states while introducing the report.

The study finds that sports viewership has risen from 43 billion impressions in 2016 to 51 billion in 2018, growing at a CAGR of 9 per cent. Though other sports like kabaddi, wrestling and football are gaining popularity with Indian audiences, according to the BARC India report, cricket is the "jewel in the sports viewership crown" with upwards of 65 per cent of viewership contribution year-on-year.

MUMBAI: The new tariff order implemented in the beginning of the year has not only affected the revenue of broadcasters but also of content creators and distributors. Content powerhouse Shemaroo Entertainment witnessed slower revenue growth for traditional media in the second half of FY 19 due to the impact of the new price regime which kicked in the middle of last quarter.

Shemaroo Entertainment CEO Hiren Gada said in an earnings call after Q4 result that the regulatory framework left industry-wide impact towards the end of FY19, especially post January. Gada also mentioned that multiple changes happened towards the end of the year leading to “a certain level of question or activity” particularly in the timeframe of February, March. The traditional business of the company is growing at roughly about eight to ten per cent while its aspiration is to grow at two per cent higher than the industry growth.

MUMBAI: The recent Q4 results brought a lot of cheer to Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (Zeel) as it reported impressive advertising and subscription revenues. Industry experts suggest Zeel's performance, despite industry-wide challenges, may help the media and entertainment giant in its bid to derive the right evaluation for its stake sale, which could be concluded in July. That's not all. The company has more reasons to pat itself on the back with &flix completing one year of operations in style. Zeel claims that &flix SD grew by 58 percent between December 2017 – December 2018, while its HD counterpart grew by 248 percent in the same time. In the first year of launch, &flix premiered over 40 films, with another 25-30 expected in the coming year. Likewise, &PriveHD is likely to feature 25 premieres in the coming year. While the growth numbers for Zeel's English cluster seem positive, the English entertainment terrain continues to remain a tricky terrain to tackle. The implementation of the new tariff order has added to the challenge. In order to understand the lay of the land, the challenges ahead and the growth strategy for business, Indiantelevision.com interacted with Zeel head premium channels Shaurya Mehta.

Can you give us a brief overview of Zee's English cluster? How have your channels been performing?

MUMBAI: The last week of May saw Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) set aside Telecom Regulatory Authority’s (TRAI) landing page directive in response to a plea filed by Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), and MSO JPR Channel.

TDSAT chairperson Justice S K Singh and member AK Bhargava, hearing petitions challenging TRAI’s direction, had stated, “In our considered view, the impugned directions are beyond the provisions of the act, which empowers TRAI to issue directions. Therefore, the impugned directions must be set aside on this point alone. We order accordingly.”

MUMBAI: While most brands seek to create an impact and positively influence the society, they are, probably, not getting the formula right and just creating an illusion of a culture of tokenism thriving in the industry. Especially when it comes to talking about women issues, most brands miss the target with several miles as they do not understand ‘why’ they are trying to create a certain proposition with their communications.

An all-women panel discussed if there is much tokenism in advertising which comprising moderator GTB managing partner Babita Baruah, Wunderman Thompson South Asia regional creative director Tista Sen, and consultant Deepa G. They highlighted these points while outlining where the marketing industry is going wrong when it comes to creating campaigns that talk to women.

Vijay Kumar Chopra, media veteran and Chief Patron of the Delhi Advertising Club is no more. Chopra passed away in New Delhi after a brief illness.

During his tenure as Chief Patron at the Delhi Advertising Club (DAC), he played a critical role in drafting and implementing new policies at the Club. Over the years have DAC has started hosting advertising awards, seminars and discussion forums at the national level. DAC, which started 40 years ago with a modest count of 25 members now has more than 750 members and had hosted DAC annual awards at the SAARC level.