MxMIndia

Category: SHAILESH KAPOOR

  • Editors and journalists operate in a sensationalist manner in a ratings-driven environment, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    News: A Growing But Decaying Genre

     

     

    Shailesh Kapoor

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    2020 was a big year for news, not just in India but worldwide. Covid-19 singlehandedly ensured that news became more relevant than ever before. Other political events, especially those in the US, further added to growing interest in news. India also had a busy news year, with the central government being fairly visible through the year, via announcements, addresses to the nation, the works.

    On television itself, news gained three percentage points in viewership share in the primetime. The news genre on TV contributed 11% to the total primetime viewership in urban India in 2020, up from 8% in 2019. The growth in nonprime time was even higher. Growth of digital and social media news consumption in this period may be as high as 70%, going by some estimates.

    We are in a new year, and Covid-19 has moved to the background, but there’s enough happening on the news front, nevertheless. The 2020 spike may not be a temporary one after all. We can expect news to continue to find more takers in an environment that’s more politically polarised than ever before.

    Yet, in all this, news television in India has had a troubled year. The genre has become a worthy candidate for spoofs and satires, having acquired entertainment connotations over time. In our Fact Or Fake survey in the second half of 2020, television ranked third to print and radio on credibility, amidst widespread concerns about news credibility across media in general. In the second round of that survey that’s due shortly, I suspect television news may have a tough time clinging on to its below-par credibility rating.

    One may have thought that the pressure of the TRPs, as TV ratings are popularly called, has led to this concern. But there have been no channel-level TV ratings for the news genre for about five months now. Yet, the tone and tenor of news presentation on television seems as problematic as earlier. It seems, then, that the problem is of the caliber and the mindset of editors and journalists, whose brains have been so hardwired to operate in a sensationalist manner in a ratings-driven environment over two decades. There has been too much attention around English news in the media. But the problem is equally big, if not bigger, with Hindi and regional news channels.

    Now, if this observation was about entertainment, one could (and should) ask: Who decides what’s in good taste? But for news, that question can be answered more objectively. News comes with its share of social responsibility, and it is difficult to turn a blind eye to that idea, even if no one in the business itself seems to care much about it.

    Many dissatisfied and lapsed consumers of TV news believe digital news will be the answer. That’s easier said than done. The Indian market thrives on video content, and WhatsApp videos remain one of the primary sources of digital video news dissemination in India. And as we all know by now, WhatsApp forwards and credibility don’t go hand-in-hand.

    Where do we go from here? I’m afraid, nowhere in particular. In a world of umpteen media options, the news consumers are now on their own, left to figure out what’s credible and what’s not. It’s ironical at one level, unnerving at another. And it may stay like that for a while.

     

     

  • The co-existence of cricketing formats also reflects upon the crossroads cricket administrators, including ICC, find themselves at, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Leagues Over Legacy: The Future of Cricket

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorIt’s been a bizarre cricket week. A Test match that didn’t last even two full days. The shortest Test match ever since World War II. Test cricket needs exciting games like tone at Gabba. It needs higher batting run rates to attract more audience. It needs innovations like pink-ball, day-night Tests. But a Test that gets done in about 10 hours is no advertisement for a format that’s meant to last four days, if not five. After that spectacular Australia series, this one runs the risk of becoming a tad farcical, though India’s qualification to the World Test Championship finals will mask that conversation fairly quickly.

    The much-hyped Narendra Modi Stadium was inaugurated less than two days ago. Its first-ever Test may have seen India on the right side of the result, but it hasn’t flattered the cricketing media. The venue, however, has its hands full. There’s another Test and then five T20s, all at the same stadium.

    Which brings me to the itinerary of this England tour. When the T20 format was first introduced about 15 years ago, a solitary match on a tour was all it merited. Over time, that one match became two matches, but Tests and ODIs remained the primary competitive formats for nation vs. nation cricket.

    But times have changed. IPL is a huge hit, finding new benchmarks of success with each passing season. Attention spans have dropped anyway. A three-hour format is well-suited to the times, and highly inclusive compared to the other two formats.

    But this co-existence of cricketing formats also reflects upon the crossroads cricket administrators, including ICC, find themselves at. It seems they want to keep all three formats alive, and nurture them with nearly-equal priority. For a sport that’s primarily restricted to a dozen nation, a strategy that doesn’t make a conscious choice cannot be a growth strategy.

    In my opinion, ICC and its national affiliates are trying to avoid the unavoidable. They are only buying time by keeping all three formats alive. Of the three, the Test format is fairly secure. It’s the niche, connoisseur-endorsed format that can doesn’t need to make much money, as long as it can broadly earn for itself. But it’s the 50-overs format that could have been retired a while ago. It’s an in-between thing that achieves nothing in particular, except keeping a legacy going.

    From a broadcast perspective, one would expect the leagues to get stronger with each passing year. Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) can do well with some Indian players, as its quality of play and telecast makes it one of the most watchable cricket tournaments across the world. The match timings are not India-friendly, but weekends double-headers can take care of that, if India (read BCCI) decides to play a more active role in BBL, say from a talent pool perspective.

    Other leagues, like those from Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, England and Sri Lanka, are in initials stages of building some traction among the T20 audience base. But it’s almost certain that this is the direction the viewership will move to, over the next decade.

    All that is still a thing of the future, though. The next season of IPL is fast approaching, and one can sense that a blockbuster is in the offing again. So, brace yourself for the most popular cricketing gala, even as a rather bizarre International series plays out before it.

     

     

  • B2B journalism doesn’t even have the excuse that it needs to cater to the lowest common denominator, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    State of the Trade Media: Pre-Crisis Alert

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorNews about government guidelines on content regulation and ‘censorship’ in the digital space, including social media and the OTT platforms, has been dominating the trade media over the last week. This topic has been in the discussion for a while, and continues to get written about extensively in business newspapers and online trade websites.

    But it is not as if the trade media covers digital content only when there are regulatory developments. There has been extensive reporting on content itself, including show launches, slate launches, content analysis, the works. For years, the trade media was largely focused on linear television as its primary industry of analysis, and print got its share of coverage as a secondary medium. But now, digital media is right up there, ahead of television, in terms of its visibility on top media websites in India.

    From an advertising perspective, free platforms like social media, YouTube and AVOD offerings of OTT players form an important domain to report on. Digital advertising is growing, and is shaping the future of how advertising may look like in a future. But SVOD platforms do not interest advertisers as such. And yet, they are being covered extensively. A platform like Netflix India gets more trade coverage than big TV channels whose daily viewership is 20 times Netflix’s India subscriber base.

    Evidently, it seems the digital story is an exciting one, especially because it’s evolving, and everyone, including the platforms, are learning on the go. Consumer tastes are still shaping up, and data is not easily accessible, which opens up the topic for explorations in various directions.

    While the extensive coverage given to digital media makes a lot of sense, the contrast between how digital media is being covered far more meaningfully in the trade than traditional media has been a pet peeve for me for a couple of years now. Search the internet for pieces on Indian television or print industry, and you will largely get press releases, or interviews that look more like plugs than actual interviews. As a student of media, if you looked towards the internet for some knowledge, you will get ample to read on the digital front, but very little insights coming your way on television or print. There is hardly any content analysis or marketing stories on TV or print brands, for example.

    The situation has been worse for the other traditional industry, i.e., films. Reporting on theatrical content has been limited to a few box-office and film trade sites. The latter are more promotional platforms than knowledge hubs. For the longest time, I thought this was the case because the theatrical medium is not ad-driven, and hence doesn’t interest the trade media. But with so much coverage on SVOD content, that argument is not valid either.

    Even at an overall level, trade websites have generally been reduced to being information disseminators than thought drivers. Very few like MxMIndia have regular guest columns from industry experts. Views, and not news, shape up the thinking of a human being. Young executives entering the industry can definitely do with more of them.

    Because of my work, I often get to speak to media trade journalists. If I were to make a list of those who truly understand the medium, the audience and the business, the list will come to less than a dozen.

    We may not realise it yet, but the Indian media industry is running into a crisis of poor reporting around it. This problem may even be linked to the larger issue of falling levels of journalism across domains. But B2B journalism doesn’t even have the excuse that it needs to cater to the lowest common denominator!

    Let’s hope that this growing industry gets a more nuanced B2B media ecosystem in the coming years. It surely deserves better.

  • With liberaliation and opening up of the world, one would have expected a stronger interviewing culture to develop in India, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The Art of the Interview

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe interview that has been the talk of the week was well worth a watch, especially since I have recently binge-watched The Crown across the four seasons, and British royalty has been a topic of interest since then. We have known Oprah Winfrey as a fine interviewer for years now, and this one was no different. She didn’t seem even a bit over-awed by her ‘royal’ guests. There was no oh-this-is-so-huge vibe to her demeanor, or to the show itself.

    Oprah started off with a clarification to the viewers, when she told Meghan Markle: “There has not been an agreement (between us). You don’t know what I’m going to ask. And there’s no subject that’s off limits. And you are not getting paid for this interview”. Meghan replied: “All of that is correct”. That, to me, set the tone for what would be a candid and unscripted conversation that will not always go on predicted lines.

    Hours after watching the show, I was left thinking why we have so few good TV interviewers in India. If we keep aside Kapil Sharma, who does a fine job of his comic interviews, and some good film interviewers in Hindi and South cinema, we will struggle to come up with great ‘general interviewers’, i.e., those who can interview people from any domain. In any case, no one will even come close to Oprah’s caliber, forget stature.

    News interviewers like Rajat Sharma and Prabhu Chawla started off well, but have become routine and predictable over time. Some other names spring up when you think more, like the old NDTV line-up, including Dr. Prannoy Roy himself. But none of them have been consistent at it, either in terms of regularity or quality. And the one from that lot who has been consistent doesn’t ‘interview’. He runs his own little show with a guest as supporting cast. Now on three channels.

    Simi Garewal, then, is the only name that comes to my mind. I often revisit her shows, and they have aged quite well with time. But that’s pretty much the only name on my list.

    My view is that interviewing is not in sync with our culture and social fabric, and that’s why, it’s a genre of content that has never taken off in this country in its truest form, except in niche media. The first issue is to do with listening. A good interviewer needs to listen well. Though I didn’t come across any data to validate it, I have a strong hypothesis that if there was a ranking of nations on the average listening skills of its population, we will rank quite low.

    The second factor has to do with low curiosity levels itself. Societies facing existential challenges generally do not value knowledge and learning as much as developed societies, that are in the upper half of the Maslow needs pyramid for an average citizen. Hence, watching an interview is not interesting per se for many Indians. About a decade ago, in a consumer focus group, when we asked a young Delhi boy why he didn’t watch Bollywood interview shows on TV, he quipped at lightning speed: “Kisi aur ka interview hum kyon dekhein?”

    That almost-oxymoron-ish reply has stayed with me. Unless the interviewer makes the conversation entertaining, voyeuristic and juicy, there isn’t any direct consumer benefit of watching an interview, at a mass, pan-India level at least. Because knowledge is not in high demand, and certainly not in this format. So, most cricket fans in India would rather watch MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, than watch Dhoni tell the same story himself, even though the latter is more authentic.

    With liberalization and opening up of the world, one would have expected a stronger interviewing culture to develop in India over the last three decades. But if at all, it seems to have gone south. And Oprah’s latest show is a reminder of how wide the gap is!

  • This extended period of theatrical lull should have bolstered the streaming platforms further, but that’s not happening either, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Woes of the ‘Second Wave’

    Shailesh KapoorBy Shailesh Kapoor

    There’s been an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases across India in March, with the state of Maharashtra and the city of Mumbai being the epicenters. With lockdowns not an affordable option anymore, life seems as ‘normal’ as it was end of 2020, with some restrictions like night curfews in some cities.

    A media sector that is being hit the most by this ‘second wave’ is the theatrical films business. After a long wait of a year, the film industry was finally getting into release mode. But with Maharashtra’s escalating numbers and the accompanying restrictions (capacity capped at 50%, night shows not allowed in many cities), Hindi films may have to wait a little longer.

    It is now safe to say that the Hindi film industry missed a good release window between December 2020 and February 2021. This was a period of low restrictions, and the Covid count in the key box-office states, including Maharashtra, was largely in control, being a fraction of what it is today. But films like Sooryavanshi waited for the situation to get even more ‘normal’, and that’s backfired a bit, going by how things stand today.

    The South film industry is largely unaffected at this point of time. Most states have their Covid numbers in control, and big films have released and done great business, in 80-90% range of what their pre-Covid box-office would have been.

    It’s an evolving situation, and one hopes that we are at the peak of the so-called second wave, and that April will bring in some relief for films scheduled for end-April (Sooryavanshi) and Eid (Radhe and Satyameva Jayate 2) release. But it’s a wait-and-watch scenario for now.

    This extended period of theatrical lull should have bolstered the streaming platforms further, but that’s not happening either. The content pipeline seems to have dried up, and while new shows have been launching at the usual rate of four-six a week, the big-ticket ones are missing in action. Pre-lockdown tentpole shows are all out, and those that started filming post-lockdown are still in production. One may have to wait for the summer, post IPL, to see the next slate of big shows go online.

    The direct-to-OTT strategy adopted by films was a much-talked-about topic in 2020, especially with the big announcement by Disney+ Hotstar, around its ‘Multiplex’ sub-brand. But that strategy has not sustained too well, and the pipeline of upcoming theatrical-worthy Hindi films on streaming has dried up too.

    General entertainment television has done well for itself over the last few months, but the focus for the next two months will be on IPL and the state elections, which means that sports and news will be dominant media content categories in April and May 2021. Let those games begin, then!

  • With more people at home and the possibility of disruption in primetime content on GECs because of shooting restrictions, IPL 2021 is likely to be one of the most-watched seasons too, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: IPL 2021: Cricket without Controversy

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe rapid escalation of the Covid-19 crisis in India has dominated headlines over the last week in particular. The ‘second wave’ has pushed the health infrastructure to its limits, and beyond. Mixed messaging from the governments, both at the Centre and in the various states, is not helping the cause. Instead of talking about vaccination and masking, our leaders are busy managing elections and overseeing religious events. It doesn’t make any sense. But that’s how it is.

    A medical emergency, when combined with political apathy, can make for a grim picture. And lockdowns and economic disruptions don’t help either. In this atmosphere, a very unlikely candidate that emerged as a mood-uplifter: The Indian Premier League!

    IPL has been ridden with endless controversies over the years. The league has been badgered, often justifiably so, for being obscenely commercial. Fixing, corruption, legal battles… IPL has seen it all. It’s hugely popular, but not unblemished by any stretch of anyone’s imagination.

    Last year, BCCI managed to pull off a season in the UAE about six months after the scheduled season was canceled, which led us to a unique scenario of two IPL seasons within six months. Earlier this year, when England toured India and the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was inaugurated with much fanfare, spectators were allowed in. Images of 65,000 spectators packed in that stadium in a T20 International, with no social distancing at all, became a huge talking point on social media, even at a time when our Covid situation didn’t seem like a crisis.

    The decision to hold matches to empty stadia may have come in too late in that series, but there has been no such indiscretion with IPL 2021. Well before the current Covid wave came in, BCCI was clear that this IPL season will be held without in-stadia spectators, and with minimal team travel.

    Absence of in-stadia spectators makes the IPL come across as highly Covid-appropriate. Coming from a league not always known to be mature and sensible in the past, this has turned out a mightily wise move. Home stadia and gate money are key components of the sports franchise model, and any compromise on them is hard on the league and the franchise owners. Thankfully, such commercial temptations have not coloured sound judgment this time.

    So, we are in the middle of the most controversy-free IPL season of all time, it seems. With more people at home and the possibility of disruption in prime-time content on GECs because of shooting restrictions, it is likely to be one of the most-watched seasons too. Now let’s hope BCCI does not do something silly between now and the end of the IPL.

  • Times of extreme crisis are also opportunities to change the discourse, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Television News: An Acid Test Awaits

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorLast one week has seen deepening of the Covid crisis in India, with a virtual collapse of the health infrastructure under the weight of escalating cases, and enabled in no small measure by the absence of a coherent strategy to fight the pandemic and its inevitable second wave.

     

    I was too young at the time of the Emergency in the 70s to have any memories of it whatsoever. And I gather, from what a generation older than me has narrated, that there was no major impact of the Emergency on the daily life of a large section of India’s working class. The Emergency remains one of the most problematic events in India’s post-Independence history because of it is rooted in constitutional subversion, and the resultant impact, for example on the freedom of the press, does not sit well in history at all.

     

    In my 45 years of living, I do not remember any public-centric issue in India that’s as serious as the current crisis the country face. Unlike wars, elections, political assassinations and other types of challenges India has faced, this one is impacting ordinary citizens in large numbers, which by now we know are much larger than those being officially reported.

     

    The next fortnight will be a crucial one. By all estimates, we are still two weeks (if not more) away from the national peak of the second wave. Which means that the healthcare crisis may escalate further, even take a new shape and form as it develops. We are on the edge, and we don’t know what’s in store next.

     

    It will also be the period of an acid test for our news channels. Over the last few years, most news channels have notoriously towed political lines, and it has been left to digital news platforms to ask the real, hard questions. But in a moment of extreme crisis, existing ‘rules’ of political engagement may not apply anymore. For something as close-to-home as this, the lens the viewer uses to look at news is bound to be different.

     

    As recently as last night, some news channels continue to peddle India-Pakistan stories in the primetime, an unimaginable thing to do in the current situation. Come May 2, you can expect many to shift all attention to the West Bengal elections. None of that surprises us anymore, because we are now immune, no pun intended, to seeing our news channels shirk their social responsibility for way too long.

     

    But times of extreme crisis are also opportunities to change the discourse. Can some of these channels rise above political lines and report, what is essentially, a human crisis the way it should be reported? It will not be easy, because the political pressure will act like headwinds (for example, there is talk of editors being told to go easy on crematorium visuals).

     

    The ethic of media owners and editors will be tested. The question is: Do they have it in them? A couple of weeks from now, we will know the answer.

     

     

  • Inspiration is a word that has often been associated with celebrities. We certainly need to question that, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Nothing Heroic About It!

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorFebruary 2, 2021: When singer Rihanna tweeted in support of the farmer protests in India, all hell broke loose. Her tweet, and the one that followed from activist Greta Thunberg, were provocation enough for the Government of India to issue an official statement. Within hours, a battery of Indian celebrities, the who’s who of Indian sports and film industries, were parroting the Government view. The hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda were trending on February 3, as a part of an evidently orchestrated campaign.

     

    April 2021: As the devastating second Covid-19 wave takes its toll in India, the foreign media has picked the story up, ironically even more than the mainstream media in India. By now, we know that the current Government at the Centre does not like such coverage, which goes against years of image building efforts it has undertaken. There was an official response to a particular piece in The Australian. But you cannot keep taking on BBC, CNN, New York Times and a few dozen more. Unlike young female celebrities, global news corporations are not soft targets for an image-conscious Government to flex its muscles.

     

    The farmer protests had its share of complications. For an ordinary citizen not connected to the issue directly, it was difficult to say who’s in the wrong. That grey area led to a campaign that found its takers. The current Covid crisis, however, has no such ambiguity. Unlike the farmer protests, it has impacted millions of Indians directly. The pain, the anger, the despair is real.

     

    Over the last two weeks, we have seen how good souls on social media have taken it in their own hands to help fellow citizens, even as the “system” crumbles around them. But where are those with the widest social media reach? The celebrities. Those whose tweeted #IndiaTogether less than three months ago. Isn’t this the time for India to be together, more than ever before? Why, then, are they silent? Why are foreign cricketers the ones making donations while the top Indian stars play the IPL as if they are in a mental bubble too, not just a bio one?

     

    We know the reasons, don’t we? This is not a topic on which you can possibly tweet in favour of the Government. And tweeting anything to offer help will be to acknowledge that there’s a problem to begin with. And that doesn’t go down too well with our Governments, including those in many states.

     

    So, is it fear or is it greed? Fear here could be of both professional (disruption of releases) and personal (IT raids, property disputes, etc.) in nature. Greed would be the temptation to prolong their careers, and make it more commercially lucrative, by being pro-establishment. It’s difficult to say, and the answer may be different for different celebrities too. But even if fear is the dominant operating thought, one should question if it is justified, or if it is a mere euphemism for lack of spine?

     

    How do some other celebrities manage to speak up in the same atmosphere of fear? They may be very few in number, but the likes of Sonu Sood and Taapsee Pannu do exist. Sunil Chhetri, a sports personality who wouldn’t even be called out if he remained silent, is handing over his Twitter account to experts and frontline workers, so that they can use his reach to spread awareness on resources. All this while the stars of the Indian national cricket team don’t even acknowledge the problem. And the big names in Bollywood are silently seeing this period through, even as some of the young aspirants post videos from Maldives, taking tone-deafness to new levels.

     

    We live in a heavily political world today. And this is true not just for India, but for almost all major countries. Celebrities, especially those in the mainstream, do not have an option to be apolitical anymore. Because being apolitical is to be insensitive. Sure enough, our celebrities are not apolitical either. They have a clear political leaning. The problem is that it’s making them look rather poor right now.

     

    Inspiration is a word that has often been associated with celebrities. We certainly need to question that. After the Rihanna issue erupted, I wrote on this website that if celebrities let go of their social currency, they also let go of the notion that they can shape the country’s future. Less than three months later, I’m wondering what I was thinking while writing that. Do celebrities even care about shaping the nation’s future? Hell, no.

     

    We are nowhere past this second wave crisis. The peak is still a week or two away, if not more. At some stage, one or two of the big names would dig into their conscience to find a way to overcome the fear and the greed, and emerge as a real hero. We live in hope. Always.

     

     

  • Good old linear TV may end up being the saviour after all. But even that will take some doing, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Covid Impact: A Fast-Drying Content Pipeline

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The devastating second wave of Covid-19 in India has brought with it various lockdowns, being managed by the various state governments individually. A direct impact of lockdown-like restrictions is the inability to produce video content, such as TV shows and films. In any case, the fear of the second wave is real and palpable, and many actors and technicians are wary of being on sets. The much-touted IPL bio-bubble bursting last week does not inspire confidence either.

     

    We are hence staring into an inevitable situation of a hugely-constricted content pipeline. This time, the problem is worse than 2020, because the reluctance to venture out is not just law-enforced but a result of caution being exercised at an individual level too. Since one cannot shoot in Maharashtra, many TV shows have shifted their base to other states, e.g., Gujarat, where the lockdown is partial in nature. But the caution is evident when you notice that despite IPL season being indefinitely suspended, launch promos of not a single new Hindi GEC programme have gone on air. Channels are just about managing their existing line-ups, and would rather not have more on their plates right now.

     

    The situation gets a lot more complex when it comes to films and OTT content. Outdoor shoots are a given in most projects in these categories, and that involves extensive travel, even if one limits the crew size to the minimum possible number. As a result, there is hardly any film or OTT content being shot currently, in Hindi at least, as a result.

     

    Even when the second wave subsides over the next month or two, complications related to vaccine shortfall and the inevitable third wave will continue to disrupt life. One cannot expect things to return to even late 2020 levels till a sizeable population in India is vaccinated. And that’s some time away.

     

    We can, hence, expect a huge content shortfall, especially in theatrical and OTT genres. The signs are already evident. Over the last two months, there have hardly been any big-ticket OTT properties that have gone online, despite a large section of the core OTT audience being locked down at their homes. What is coming out is largely the second line of content. A lot of big-ticket content is semi-produced, and will need at least a few more weeks of work before it’s out for public consumption.

     

    2020 was OTT’s breakout year in India, with a huge surge in subscriber bases and watch-time across platforms. 2021 looks far less so. The theatrical business was just about beginning to get back on its feet, before the second, more debilitating blow came its way.

     

    Good old linear TV may end up being the saviour after all. But even that will take some doing. It may be time to go retro with your content consumption once again, but this time out of no choice.

  • But the current crisis has shown how robust some of these publications are. Not for nothing is print the most credible news media in India, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Indian News: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

    Shailesh KapoorBy Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Five weeks ago, I wrote in this column about how the coverage of the healthcare and humanitarian crisis that has hit us because of the devastating second COVID wave will be an acid test for Indian television news channels. How they manage to report in this period will have a long-term impact on how television news is perceived in this country.

     

    The update, I’m afraid, is not good. Almost expectedly, most news channels (barring a couple) have pussyfooted their way through this crisis. From blaming the “system”, to looking for “positivity”, they have tried to create stories around the second COVID wave that do everything but call out the Governments (Centre or State) that have botched up.

     

    The ground reportage has been woefully inadequate too. International channels, especially BBC, ran more incisive stories from the ground in India than Indian news channels. Every now and then, the all-too-familiar distraction route has been deployed too, such as doing inconsequential political stories when the healthcare crisis was at its peak early May.

     

    Not that this surprises us anymore. Having resigned to the fate that good old Indian television news will not carry anything of weight, I found myself gravitating towards three sources, more than every before: International media, digital video news and print.

     

    Print, in particular, has seen some quality work exposing the mismatch between reported and actual mortality figures, a glaring discrepancy than Indian TV news channels have barely glossed over. Most of this investigative work has been done by language publications, and it is difficult to track them all. But in particular, Gujarati newspapers like Sandesh and Divya Bhaskar have been applauded for their stellar reportage, where they have tracked hospitals and crematoriums extensively to conclude that the actual mortality in the state may be as high as 10X the official figures.

     

    In a rare gesture of acknowledgement of another medium’s good work, NDTV India’s anchor Ravish Kumar spoke about Sandesh’s coverage extensively in his show last night, even interviewing the publication’s Rajkot editor, and admitting to him that his company has managed what most TV channels and English & Hindi newspapers have not.

     

    Language print has never been a hot topic of discussion in mainline media circles in India, simply because unfamiliarity with languages curtails reach, not to speak about the unsaid hierarchy of languages in the Indian news industry. But the current crisis has shown how robust some of these publications are. Not for nothing is print the most credible news media in India.

     

    Digital coverage by some Indian platforms, none less than the Barkha Dutt-run Mojo Story, has tried to compensate for the absence of mainline news channels on the ground, especially in mofussil towns and in rural India. Yet, for every such digital platform, there will be another trying to peddle a narrative that suits Government of the day. Unlike TV channels, digital news platforms often run as bootstrapped businesses, and have little means of marketing themselves to expand their reach. They have to rely upon organic referrals, and the good work in the pandemic period should, hopefully, get them plenty of referrals.

     

    Another digital platform that’s worth applauding is the TV Today-owned The Lallantop. Even as the much-larger TV channels from the group, including the giant Aaj Tak, play ‘safe’, The Lallantop has done some compelling stories from the ground. It amuses me that it’s the same parent organization after all. With no news ratings for almost nine months now, what stops the organization from taking the same approach for their big TV channels? Some of the video stories run by The Lallantop are more than worthy of being prime-time stories on Aaj Tak.

     

    When the Government is obsessed with its image and the narrative, than with reality itself, it’s the media’s job to counter that obsession with hard facts. More power to journalists and mediahouses that have taken on this baton. You may be in a minority, but history will remember that when India’s mainstream media let go of its power to make a difference, you were there!

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is CEO, Ormax Media. He writes on MxMIndia every Friday. His views here are personal

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor appraises the first quarter of the fiscal year was hit big time by the Second Wave of the pandemic

    June Diaries: Entertainment in Covid Times

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorGoing by official numbers at least, the worst of the second Covid wave in India is now behind us. The wave has scarred many families forever, and with a vaccination programme that is struggling to gather momentum, a third wave is not ruled out by experts. But for now, life goes on, and different states are cautiously opening up in phases.

     

    The April-May period has impacted the Indian entertainment business considerably. Those dependent on advertising revenues suffered more, with even digital advertising showing a sharp drop, judging by industry estimates. But it’s the content side that has been impacted across the board.

     

    With Maharashtra announcing a stringent lockdown, Hindi GEC content production was impacted. Unlike last year, channels could travel to states that have less stringent lockdowns and record there, which they indeed did. At one point in early May, about six Hindi GEC shows had their stories set in a resort. This includes the two big hit shows in the category currently: Anupamaa and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. Many others played out of hotels and resorts, but passed them off as homes and kept the story running as normally as they could. Not an easy task, given that almost all shows had a part of their cast unavailable because of a Covid infection.

     

    In the entire months of April and May, there was only one show launch in the Hindi GEC category (Sasural Simar Ka 2 on Colors), an unprecedented low by a wide margin. Regional languages had about four to eight show launches per language over the two months, but that’s lower than their running average too. Under normal circumstances, the IPL cancellation would have been a great opportunity to launch new shows, especially those on the weekend. But then, there would have been no IPL cancellation to begin with, if there was no second wave.

     

    The theatrical business has bled the most over the last 14 months. Theatres will re-open in the coming weeks, though it remains to be seen how many single screens have permanently shut down. The first quarter of this calendar year had seen huge footfalls for the marquee films in Telugu and Tamil languages, and one hopes that sentiment is reflected in the Hindi markets too this summer.

     

    It may seem that all’s well with the streaming category, with more audience locked down at home. But if you notice carefully, the number of launches on the top platforms have reduced. This impact of the constricted content pipeline will continue to be felt over the next six months in both streaming and theatrical sectors.

     

    June has got off to a good start, with a smasher of a show in The Family Man S2. One hopes that it’s a sign of things to come in the coming weeks. The other big event this June is the final of the World Test Championship, where India plays New Zealand from June 18. The event has not been hyped up by the media so far, but wait for another week and you will see it becoming the big distraction from the pandemic, especially if India wins the title.

     

    But keeping nationalism aside, World Test Championship is a great idea, and though the first edition has been curtailed because of the pandemic, it’s great to see it find a logical conclusion, and to see India featuring in the final. One would have liked to see the game being played at a full house at Lord’s, but in these difficult times, an empty stadium at Southampton will do just fine.

     

     

  • KBC, Bigg Boss, Indian Idol, Khatron Ke Khiladi, Shark Tank and more… get set for an interesting, and somewhat unpredictable 2021-22 on the Hindi reality shows front, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The Reality Show Wave is Back!

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorWe missed it in 2020. Because of the pandemic, the lockdown and all the collateral damage that came along, 2020 saw a disruption in the now-familiar annual cycle of non-scripted (reality) shows on Hindi GECs. While reality shows stay on air through the year, it’s the period around June when the action begins to heat up. Channels understandably don’t want their big-ticket non-fiction launches to be drowned in the IPL din. To that extent, July is a good month to spring into action: well after the IPL and well in time for the festive season. Last year, this cycle seemed scattered. But it’s back in 2021.

     

    The usual routine of singing and dance reality shows has been in place anyway. Indian Idol was shaping up to be a memorable season, but its extension during the lockdown has taken a bit of sheen away from it, especially with the change in the jury. But that doesn’t take away from how strong the Indian Idol brand has become in India over the last decade, with each season being arguably better than the one before.

     

    Khatron Ke Khiladi, one of the top-rated shows in the category, is coming with a new season from July 17. The franchise has been a standout one in India, having gained audience acceptance with each passing year, and emerging from its niche proposition of being a show for the youth and the kids to being a family entertainer.

     

    Bigg Boss had a low-key season, and will be hoping for resurgence in 2021-22. A lingering problem with the show is its ageing host. While Salman Khan continues to remain hugely popular among the masses, he’s clearly past his peak popularity phase that was triggered by Dabangg in 2010, and lasted about 5-6 years. His recent films have not done too well, and in the 2020-21 season, even his anchoring on the show seemed a bit jaded, as if he’s bored himself doing the same gig for many years now. A replacement is imminent. The question is one of timing.

     

    KBC, one of my personal favorites, had a misfired season in 2020. The show just didn’t take off, and while it tried to pitch itself around the idea of ‘hope’ in a disease-stricken world, the messaging seemed less organic and more orchestrated. At its core, KBC is not a show about hope, but one about knowledge. And when you are struggling to stay healthy and retain your livelihood, do you really care about knowledge? The next season, whenever it launches, must find a more organic and yet relevant point of connect with its audience.

     

    I was pleasantly surprised by Sony’s recent announcement on Shark Tank India. One wouldn’t associate a show like Shark Tank with the word “mass” or “GEC” in an Indian context. I’m very curious to see how Sony manages to achieve the balance between the format and the wider audience the show would aim to win over. We have seen how Star has struggled with the MasterChef on this count year after year, and seem to have given up that idea altogether now. Let’s hope Sony has some imaginative ideas up its sleeve for the ‘Indianization’ of Shark Tank.

     

    But the best announcement related to reality shows in recent weeks has been the return of the Got Talent format in India. Colors discontinued it a few years ago, and replaced it with homegrown versions that lacked the zing of the original. The globally-successful format has now changed hands, and Sony will be bringing it back soon. When done well, it can be a crackerjack. Even at its best, the Colors show didn’t touch more than 60-70% of the format’s full potential. So, there’s a lot of room for growth here.

     

    There’s also the small matter of when and how Kapil Sharma will return on the television, and though his show is largely scripted, it does fall under the simplistic ‘reality show’ definition in India by exclusion, because it’s not a daily soap!

     

    So, get set for an interesting, and somewhat unpredictable, 2021-22 on the Hindi reality shows front.