By Ashoke Agarrwal
I am not a media critic. MxMIndia has a trenchant one in Ranjona Banerji, whose twice-weekly column makes for exciting reading whether or not you agree with her.
However, as a brand and marketing strategist, it is clear that English News Channels in India is a declining product category.
Both in terms of share of attention and advertising. What gives?
The product category’s essential advantage is that it potentially addresses an affluent target audience of the educated professional class.
The crucial factor ailing the product category is that it is steadily losing its core audience. I have only anecdotal evidence to support the assertion, but a reliable poll will prove it as a fact.
The core reason educated professionals these days shun the gaggle of English news channels is that they find them irrelevant. The tragedy is that despite this quickening decline, their anchors and management do nothing to address the issue.
Is it because the overweening odour of self-importance prevents them from smelling the coffee? Or are they deer caught in the headlights of impending doom?
Going by the content they put out daily, it is a sad mix of self-importance and fear.
At the core of this morass is their focus on politics at the expense of everything else. Further, they practice political news primarily as a debate between second-rate “experts” and political spokespersons from two distinctly opposing camps moderated by an anchor whose bias clearly shows. Night after night, prime time after time, these debates on the minor issues of the day devolve into shouting matches that would embarrass any right-thinking individual. Once in a while, they latch on an “exclusive” – usually a leaked video or document on a minor issue whose authenticity they assert they have not verified but push all day and into that night’s debate!
Is it any wonder any national aspirationally-positioned brand that values its credibility is reluctant to advertise on these channels? So, it is no surprise that they fight for a shrinking pie of advertising from second-rate brands and rah-rah ads paid through Government coffers. And even this fight is embarrassing as they put out conflicting numbers about viewership, with every channel claiming to be number one.
From a marketing perspective, the solution for English news channels to become relevant in India is to look hard at the core potential market of educated professionals and entrepreneurs and work towards a better market-product fit.
At the outset, the channels need to go easy on domestic politics. While their core audience might lean one way or the other regarding domestic politics, most are not rabid enough to even remotely enjoy the kind of nightly debate and slanted news coverage the channels indulge in. They should also realise that the politicians and the powers that be do not care what the English news channels put out.
The politicians know that the audience for English news is too niche to matter in electoral politics and also the kind that is not swayed by rabid anchors or dueling talking heads. Instead, the politicians focus on regional language channels that deliver pliable audiences by droves. So, the management of English news channels must put aside the notion of currying favour or fearing disfavour based on what they cover on their channels. They can do this by leaving hard-core politics to their regional languages brethren.
Instead, each channel should focus on building a unique non-political position for themselves. Wion has done so by focusing on international news from an Indian point of view. With better funding, more correspondents and camera teams worldwide and a couple of name-brand anchors, that position is viable, especially as India gains traction as a player on the international stage.
The other positioning that a channel could build substantial and lasting market share on as a genuinely pan-Indian reporting entity with solid reportage from all, not just Delhi or Mumbai but from all State Capitals as well as the other critical metros anchored by on-the-ground, well-trained, well-spoken reporters. NDTV, during the heydays of Prannoy Roy, delivered on this. But over the past few years, it lost its way as it looked to fight a political headwind by pissing into it. Will the current ownership recognise the strength of the brand DNA and restore it? I will be pleasantly surprised if it does.
The other positioning is investigative journalism. At one time, the newspapers were the champions of investigative journalism. Alas, they are these days just broadsheet rags fluttering weakly in a digital storm.
With the India Today DNA, one would have thought that India Today TV would have been the one to fly the investigative journalism flag. Alas, even the mother brand, let alone the TV off-shoot, has sacrificed investigation (except the occasional. mood-of-the-nation or sex survey poll) at the altar of convenience and cost-cutting. If India Today is to reposition the magazine and India Today TV on real investigative journalism, it could regain its lost sheen of being India’s public square where the well-read and the well-intentioned gather to take stock.
There are nuances in investigative journalism that allow multiple channels to find a unique position under its broad umbrella. For example, one channel could focus on stories with a societal and human angle, investigating developments in cultural mores, health, education, crime, etc.
Another channel could investigate stories in hard-edged areas like business, management, science and technology. The one English news channel that does well is CNBC because it focuses on a specific area of interest to the educated professional or entrepreneur. This other channel would have a broader focus than CNBC and go beyond the stock market and financial results to developments driving trends and changes.
Yet another channel could focus on personalities from across cultural, business, scientific and technical fields with bio-documentaries and skillfully conducted long-form interviews.
The above examples illustrate that there are viable positioning options for English News channels that will take them out of the swamp of politics and regain their core audience. This audience will pay reasonable subscription fees and attract brands with deep advertising pockets.
The repositioning will take work – it will require substantial capital investments and hiring and retraining people. The alternative, however, is for all the brands in the category to continue on a demeaning race to the bottom.
Ashoke Agarrwal writes on MxMIndia every other Thursday. He focuses on the intersection of technology, marketing and communications, but sometimes like this time around, he dwells on other issues as well. His views here are personal.