The question is self-explanatory, so let’s dive straight in to what Dr Bhaskar Das writes in the December 26 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. So the Roys have exited NDTV. We’ve asked you questions on NDTV in the past, but now that it’s a done deal, do you see the network scaling new highs? Or…?
A. I am not a futurologist. So can’t predict with authenticity about how consumers would respond to a genre, when they have plethora of choices.
Over the years, I have observed that news as a genre is an insignificant per cent of the overall viewership of TV audience, but they attract disproportionate attention due to their topicality. With more than 400 news channels (including regional languages), the whole genre appear to be heterogeneously homogeneous with different levels of stridency and polarisation on issues. The war of winning TRPs (though largely inconsequential for media planning and buying but useful for rate negotiation), have intensified the competitive spirit to outcompete other channels in terms of breaking stories. Hence one channel scaling new heights (I don’t know what it means because I am not a journalist) might be quite a challenge. But if the new management of NDTV can achieve that, it would be a great service to the genre and good for the news viewers.