Within India’s television industry, they call it 'TV 2.0'. The lockdown and its after-effects saw record viewership as people stayed glued to their screens even more than ever, day in and night out. But it was not exactly a laughing all the way to the bank for the television industry.
All of TV’s conventional business models went out the window in the year of the pandemic—it wasn’t women alone who were watching daytime TV, and it wasn’t the post-8pm time slot that was the ‘prime time’ any more. The traditional segmentation of women watching soaps in the afternoon and early evening and men coming in to watch news or sports in the evening was no longer valid. And viewership segmentation blurred between age groups, demographics and even whether certain timings and shows were watched individually or collectively.
And worse, satellite television channels, from entertainment to news and sports, saw young rivals with lots of swagger popping up, from OTT streaming platforms to many social media and online channels. With dollops of swagger, OTTs—from Netflix to ALT Balaji—wooed an entire viewership base with the type of quality content one never thought possible in the viewership wasteland filled with mythologies and family sagas, throwing up new formulas for success. Digital content suddenly took a life of its own, with the mobile phone screen and not the TV set becoming the space with the max eyeballs.
Conventional TV stakeholders say it has held its own during this time of flux. “In these times of disruption, TV continued to be the most desirable medium and emerged as the greatest common platform with audiences and advertisers alike,” argues Prathyusha Agarwal, chief consumer officer of Zee Entertainment, one of the biggest satellite TV platforms in the country. She explained how the dynamics of the business has changed, and how conventional TV still has an edge, in a detailed interview with THE WEEK. Excerpts:
OTT platforms seem to have stolen the thunder of TV broadcasters in the pandemic period. Is it going to be all about digital from now on?
It is not a TV or digital scenario, but rather a TV and digital world, with each playing a distinct role and growing disproportionately compared to other media vehicles. Both the platforms are witnessing growth. TV continued to be the most desirable medium and emerged as the greatest common unifier platform with audiences and advertisers alike, as it witnessed unprecedented viewership with almost half of India tuning into the medium daily during the lockdown, compared to digital.
The proof of the pudding lies in the advertising revenue, In Q2’20, TV registered a share of 51 per cent in the advertising pie, while the digital adex stood at a 30 per cent market share, as per the recent Pitch Madison Advertising Report.
Where do you think broadcasters, from cable to satellite, still hold predominance and how can they leverage that?
As the lockdown progressed, people stayed confined to their homes as much as possible, spending more time together as families. The unprecedented rise in viewership among the entire family that we saw earlier has persisted as a habit. Essentially, the viewer unit has evolved from different individuals at different points of time through the day to the entire family throughout the day. This gives brands the opportunity to influence the entire family through a single medium, with a single message and not break up their advertising touchpoints and hence higher cost of reach to target different members of the family. This is also critical since with families coming closer, there is a buy-in from every member, even for the groceries coming into the household.
Tell us more about 'TV 2.0' and what is in it for viewers?
The year 2020 witnessed the evolution of TV. We saw three big themes playing out during the year:
• Owing to the massive surge in TV viewership, new consumption patterns started emerging. More people watching TV, more frequently in a week and throughout the day.
• The viewer unit changed from primarily women audiences to a family viewing unit.
• Non-prime time became the new prime time with a 70 per cent rise in viewership as the entire family is consuming TV together at all times of the day.
Due to the sheer magnitude of the medium, TV also emerged as a medium that can propel mass sentiments and behaviour change. Government organisations, broadcasters and brands took to TV for their awareness campaigns on hygiene practices, social distancing, immunity-boosters etc.
How has the rise of digital marketing affected broadcast revenues and what is the solution for conventional TV companies?
Digital marketing can act as a complementary medium to TV. (Broadcast) TV continues to be the most effective medium to advertise and in the first half of 2020, TV retained the top position for advertising revenues at 38 per cent of the overall advertising pie.
For marketers, digital marketing and TV advertising will grow together and are not considered as substitutes for each other. Each medium has its own unique set of benefits and reaches the consumer in a specific manner to influence brand and business metrics. As a multi-screen content company, with a cumulative weekly reach of greater than 400mn on social, Zee has been at the forefront in providing a holistic solution to our advertisers/brands across screens, be it our TV, Social and OTT platforms.
How do you foresee the entertainment landscape to evolve?
The ubiquitous TV set has played myriad roles for the entire family and society at large in these unprecedented times, making television an essential service in these solitary times. We see the habit of television viewing growing stronger amongst the entire family as a unit, even in the new normal as television continues to remain an essential service to millions of people across the country. The three key areas where we see the industry evolving are:
• Content that engages with viewers beyond just one screen, increasing loyalty and walk-ins across platforms will be key. Entertainment is not just an indulgence now after a hard day’s work, it is a necessity with audiences lapping up multiple formats of entertainment at any given time across multiple platforms.
• Television companies will rebuild efficiencies through a hybrid production model where physical interaction is kept to the essential and all other parts of the value chain are delivered virtually. At Zee, we are exploring AR/VR solutions in our content to offset the constraints in live location shoots and outdoor shoots during the ongoing situation. We see these technology solutions taking off in a big way as the entertainment industry adapts to newer ways to develop its content.
• Extending the content format across multiple screens by building interactive elements that keep viewers engaged with your content will help increase interactivity and ensure viewers maximise the entertainment quotient from the content, whether dipping in and out or bingeing for long periods.