MxMIndia

Tag: Shailesh Kapoor

  • Games between the arch rivals transcend the sport, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    India-Pakistan Cricket: Bigger than the Best

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorA high-decibel cricket season is round the corner. The ICC Men’s World Cup kicks off two months from today, on October 5, in India. There’s also the Asia Cup from the end of this month, as the lead-in to the World Cup. BCCI has taken its time to release the World Cup schedule, and are still tinkering with it.

     

    In a cricket crazy nation like ours, a World Cup in the thick of the festive season is an irresistible proposition, and the delay in scheduling, or the dwindling fortunes of the 50-overs format for that matter, are unlikely to keep viewers or advertisers away from this mega event. The last time the 50-overs World Cup was held in India, the home team emerged victorious. A repeat this year is what many will be hoping for, including Star Sports and Disney+ Hotstar, who have a lot riding on this event.

     

    But the really big cricket story of the year is… India-Pakistan. There are at least two ODI contests lined up: Sep 2 at Pallekele (Sri Lanka) for the Asia Cup, and Oct 14 at Ahmedabad in the World Cup. A second Asia Cup encounter is almost a certainty, given the Super Fours format. And a clash in the final is not ruled out. That could mean potentially four India-Pakistan games in six weeks. When did that last happen? In 2012-13.

     

    India-Pakistan games transcend the sport, and can even make the World Cup setting look like mere scenery. Having closely followed the exciting Ashes series that concluded earlier this week in England, one would be tempted to compare the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry to that between England and Australia. But there’s a crucial difference. The Ashes rivalry is cricketing in nature. It largely plays out on the ground, in the stadia, or in press conferences leading up to a match. But India-Pakistan cricket matches come with their share of politics and diplomacy, and the aura around them is never quite limited to just the cricket itself.

     

    The Indian team is currently on a dreary tour in the West Indies, where even the T20s feature scant crowds, and not just because they must be held during the day to match broadcast timings in India. As we gear up for an intense cricket season after the West Indies humdrum, this article titled ‘Can Indian fans ever expect a pleasant stadium experience?’ by Sidharth Monga (ESPNcricinfo), resonated with me immensely. I have now traveled to watch cricket in England and Australia on three occasions, including the recent WTC Final at the Oval. And it’s fair to say that the in-stadia experience in India is not even in the same vicinity. For a board that’s got all the money, there just doesn’t seem enough will to fix this broken piece. Because in a country of 1.4 Billion, it’s easy to fill in the stands anyway.

     

    If one looks at this issue at a more macro level, in India, cricket matches are still seen as forms of video entertainment, whose real potential is realized on TV and streaming. The crowds at the stadia are merely seen as tools to create the atmospherics that make the telecast look good. This mindset is an outcome of the absence of a sporting culture in India, at large.

     

    So, as one prepares to watch the games at home, one hopes the commentary lives up to the standards a World Cup deserves. Of late, that’s been a growing concern for those who prefer English commentary. But that’s another grouse, for another day.

     

  • As we approach the peak festive season in India, be prepared for a lot of buzz around the movies, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    ‘Cinema is Dead’. Really?

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorEven as I write this Friday morning, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which released today, is running to packed houses in late night and early morning shows in India. Thus far, Hollywood box-office in India has with the action/ superhero genre. But here, we have a biographical period drama, which is likely to challenge the opening of last week’s Mission: Impossible film, singularly on the strength of its director’s equity among the urban youth in the big cities. The film, incidentally, releases along with Barbie, a ‘franchise’ film like no other. Unlike the West, Barbie will trail Oppenheimer at the India box-office, but is still expected to gross respectable numbers.

     

    And yet, there continues to be incessant talk about how the theatrical medium is in danger. This narrative, that started during the pandemic, when streaming took over as the only medium of premium video entertainment worldwide, continues to find traction in sections of the industry and the media, but is fast becoming facetious, with no facts supporting it.

     

    In May this year, I co-authored this report on the Ormax Media website, which explains how ‘big-ness’, whether it comes from the genre, or the franchise, or the director (as is the case with Oppenheimer), is the dominant expectation from the theatrical experience in India, which is why smaller films will struggle, even as the bigger ones continue to get bigger.

     

    The first half of 2023 grossed 15% less at the India box-office compared to the same period in 2022. But this is certain to be compensated to a large extent, if not entirely, by the second half, which has a stronger line-up of big-ticket releases. 2022 itself was the second-best year at the Indian box-office, being just a notch behind 2019. Yet, some people would like us to believe that cinema is in danger.

     

    I suspect this narrative is driven by Hindi cinema, or Bollywood as it’s called (and now pejoratively so), not being able to live up to the changing audience expectations from the medium. While Pathaan is by far the biggest Indian film of the year so far, and Jawan, another Shah Rukh Khan film, looks equally promising from a box-office perspective, the in-betweens are where the problem lies. Only five Hindi films have managed to cross the 100 Crore (nett box-office) mark this year in six-and-a-half months. 16 films managed that across the 12 months in 2019.

     

    That’s the real source of the faulty perception that cinema is struggling. The frequency of high-grossing films created a positive perception about Hindi cinema in the last decade. Post-pandemic, it’s been more about the tentpoles. The lull periods punctuating the tentpoles can make the theatres look woefully short of content.

     

    But as long as the tickets are being sold, there should be little cause of concern. One would even argue that a tentpole-driven category is less risk-prone, because even in the worst-case scenario, at least 50% of the tentpoles will emerge as blockbusters, something that cannot be said about mid-range cinema, where even 20% is a healthy hit rate.

     

    Tentpoles also go well with marketing-friendly concepts such as ‘event films’ and ‘theatrical experience’. They allow advertisers to plan a more concerted campaign, than spread themselves too thin across a long-list of films that are uncertain to deliver.

     

    As we approach the peak festive season in India, be prepared for a lot of buzz around the movies. But I’m not betting on the ‘cinema is dead’ debate dying down anytime soon. But it will begin to make even lesser sense with time.

     

  • Being pinned down for a particular show is no longer required, because catch-up TV is available, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Almost the End of the Road for Appointment Viewing

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorIf you entered the Indian television industry about two-three decades ago, the two words that would be drilled into your sub-conscious within a week were: Appointment Viewing (or Appointment Viewership, in a later variant). Appointment was the Holy Grail of television. It was the ability of a TV show to get a certain guaranteed mass of audience every day or week, depending on its telecast frequency.

     

    Everyone wanted their channels to be watched by appointment. Even movie channels and niche channels, which had no intrinsic merit to demand appointment from their audience, chased the idea. What else explains an assembly line of “DDT” (Day-Date-Time) promos for movie re-reruns, at all the major movie channels?

     

    Even at a channel like Zoom, for which I headed the marketing function in its launch period, there was significant on-air inventory spent on getting viewers to watch by appointment. In hindsight, one was chasing the unattainable, but such was the buzz value of the term back then, that it even found a mention in KRAs (even though there is no evident way of measuring what proportion of a show’s viewership is by appointment).

     

    The term Appointment has lost some of that buzz value in the last decade. “Habit” is what is understood to drive non-GEC consumption in primetime, and all consumption in non-prime time. The habit of watching news at 10pm, for example. Or the habit of turning on a kids channel to watch a cartoon programme after coming back from school. Habit is a less ambitious variant of appointment, and does not have the brand loyalty aspect attached to it. Watching a movie on TV every evening for an hour (habit) is different from watching a particular movie channel every evening for an hour (appointment).

     

    With the advent of OTT platforms, appointment has become increasingly elusive, especially for men, and younger (unmarried) women. Being pinned down at a particular time for a particular show is no longer required, because catch-up television is available. That not too many TV shows are appointment-worthy to begin with doesn’t help matters.

     

    Except marquee sports events and a select few TV serials for married women, rest of Indian television viewing is now functioning on habit. Watching Star Plus from 8-10pm could be a daily habit for a family, but it doesn’t carry the same stakes as appointment. They would gladly trade it off for an IPL game, a new show like KBC, or some important news on a particular day. Stories of wars over the remote control in Indian families are things of the past, because Appointment Viewing is a thing of the past too.

     

    The habit of watching TV makes the medium secure, because this habit is linked to the grand Indian institution: Family. But in the absence of appointment, it makes channel brands and shows vulnerable, and their success more fickle, less enduring.

     

    Studying habit, instead of chasing appointment, should then be the new mantra for the many, many television executives who have viewership KRAs.

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor presents his pick of the five media and entertainment events that headlined the first half of 2023

    6 Months, 5 Headlines: The Year So Far

     

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorWe are halfway through the year today, which is good excuse for a mid-year review. Here’s my pick of the five media and entertainment events that headlined the first half of the year, in chronological order of sorts:

     

    Pathaan: An SRK reboot

    Six months into the year, there’s been only one genuine blockbuster in Hindi cinema in 2023: Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan. The actor made a mini comeback of sorts (his last major hit dates back to 2013 – Chennai Express). Pathaan went on to become the highest grossing Hindi film of all time, both in terms of its opening and its lifetime business. In the process, it also put to rest the presumptuous argument that movie-going will be replaced by OTT. (I wrote about Pathaan and SRK’s superstardom in January in this column).

     

    India Shining, at the Oscars

    India’s brush with the Oscars has been, at best, a case of so-near-yet-so-far. There hasn’t been much to shout about in recent years, except AR Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty winning Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire (2008). This year, we had not one but two winners, in Naatu Naatu (RRR) and The Elephant Whisperers, and a creditable nomination for All That Breathes. The RRR song even got a stage performance at the Oscars, and there seemed more Indian presence at the Oscars in 2023, than across all previous years put together!

     

    IPL: Bigger by the year

    A long but immensely successful season of IPL dominated viewership, both on linear television and online, in the first half of 2023. The IPL’s ability to grow stronger each year is an incredible one. The league has been one of my go-to topics in this column, and I wrote about it twice this year, at the start and the end of the season.

     

    JioCinema: Free for all

    The IPL was the also the scene of a disruption that not many saw coming, till a few weeks before it: JioCinema, the newly relaunched service from Viacom 18, decided to remove the paywall behind which the league has streamed all these years on Disney+ Hotstar. The platform has followed it up with an aggressive AVOD-led strategy, putting out big theatrical films and a major web-series (Asur 2) as free content. This has set the proverbial cat among the pigeons in the OTT industry in India. There’s unlikely to be a dull moment around, anytime soon.

     

    Cinema of the Right, by the right, for the Right

    While The Kashmir Files stood out as an aberration in 2022, this year saw two major films appropriate the Hindutva narrative. The Kerala Story seemed like a direct inspiration from the success of The Kashmir Files, and did equally well too, and is the second-highest grossing film in India this year so far (across languages), behind Pathaan. Adipurush went the mythology way, riding on the unconditional reverence for the Ramayan in large parts of India. The film opened at staggering levels, but soon went on to become a victim of the very idea it was trying to ride on. Irony, you had me at the vacant Hanuman seat.

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is Founder and CEO, Ormax Media. And is a long-standing columnist of MxMIndia and writes on Fridays. His views here are personal.

     

  • In this one-story-a-time, two-stories-a-week model, what doesn’t excite the peoplemeters doesn't make the cut, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: News Channels or Storytellers?

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorAs I write this Friday morning (June 23), PM Narendra Modi is at the State dinner at The White House. The coverage of Prime Minister’s US visit started last evening on the news channels, and has continued on the other side of the night, with an address to the US Congress punctuating the welcome address and the dinner.

     

    The time difference between the two countries is a bit of a bummer for our news channels, as it takes away the opportunity to gather ratings over a day-long live event. But then, live telecast is not the only form of ratings-generating news in this case, and the coverage will continue over the next two days, including sidelights, such as culinary analysis of the dinner menu.

     

    That’s the nature of our news today, moving from one topic to the other, and almost never really focusing on two at a time. Before the Prime Minister’s US trip, Adipurush was that one topic. On the first two days of the film’s release, most news channels celebrated it. Never the one to miss an opportunity to politicise anything that has the remotest potential, Arnab Goswami even ran the hashtag ‘Hindu Re-awakening’.

     

    But between Friday and Saturday, the social media backlash became increasingly evident, and the narrative shifted to accusing the makers of the film, in particular its rather-vocal dialogue writer who has been flouting his political connections ahead of the film’s release, of not respecting Hindu sentiments.

     

    Any topic like this has a shelf-life of about three days. That suits our news channels quite well too, as it means an average of two such topics a week. But it’s an all-or-nothing approach, and nothing else can find a foot in the door over those three days. Operational Sheesh Mahal, the story on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s expensive new house, was one such prominent story in recent times. From Thursday, the focus moved from Adipurush to PM Modi’s US visit, and shall continue to be so, till a new topic comes up for selection on Monday.

     

    It is only mildly surprising that most news channels end up picking the same topic, as if they are working in some kind of editorial unison, even as they engage in cut-throat TRP wars. Sometimes, it’s a result of the information fed to them by the political parties (invariably the ruling party). Sometimes, it’s just the knack of smelling a juicy story from half a day away.

     

    In this one-story-a-time, two-stories-a-week model, what doesn’t excite the peoplemeters doesn’t make the cut. Over the last two months, there has been negligible coverage from Manipur, which is by far the most pressing law and order matter in the nation today. It is hard to imagine an equivalent story being sidelined in most free-press democracies around the World, including the one the Prime Minister is currently visiting.

     

    This story selection model is elegant in its simplicity. It also makes journalism look a lot simpler than one always thought it to be. It’s almost like feature reporting of live news. Maybe one should do a year-end compile of the 100-odd stories covered in 2023. It will look like the annual special edition of a political tabloid: Seemingly purposeful on the outside, but largely junk on the inside.

     

  • What started off as an outlier phenomenon has now gained mainstream significance, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The Saffron Cinema Movement

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorMarch 2022 saw the release of The Kashmir Files, a film whose box-office performance was unlike any other Hindi film before it. The film had no cast or credentials of note, but went on to gross almost Rs 300 crore at the Indian box-office, aided by inorganic methods, such as corporate bookings and political push. The film features in the list of Top 20 grossing Hindi films of all time. In this article, I wrote about how the film is an outlier, if there ever was one.

     

    In May this year, there was a sense of déjà vu with The Kerala Story, a similarly-titled film that relies on the same premise – religious polarisation to entice the Hindu majority to watch the film – to get audience attention. The political support to The Kerala Story was less overt, but the film has managed to do almost as well as The Kashmir Files, grossing about Rs 265 crore over its extended run at the cinemas in India.

     

    While the initial business of The Kashmir Files was inorganic, it is impossible to gross such huge numbers for films of this scale, unless they appeal to a wider audience base. Clearly, both The Kashmir Files and The Kerala Story managed to do that. Entertainment, which is often cited as the primary, if not the only, reason to watch movies, was not the driver though. The films were watched because they represent an ideology, which a large section of the audience, espouse. An ideology that is also reflective in their political choices: Both films have performed better in states where Hindutva is a core component of the political narrative.

     

    Today sees the release of the Ramayan-inspired pan-India film Adipurush. Unlike the other two films, this one is not communal in its content, as it does not have a community (read Muslims) being shown in a negative light. However, the resonance with the film’s theme is unmistakably religious and cultural. The film has songs titled Jai Shri Ram and Ram Siya Ram, both of which are trending on top of the music charts. Marketing of the film is relying on distinctly religious elements, such as a seat being left unoccupied in each cinema hall, for Lord Hanuman to watch the film!

     

    Headlined by Prabhas, who is the No 1 star in Telugu cinema, the film will be driven by his stardom in his core market (AP-Telangana), but by its thematic resonance in the Hindi markets. It is expected to gross Rs 90-100 cr across India on its first day alone, aided to the extent of 15-20% by corporate block bookings. Political support is certain to follow, and unless the content is too weak to sustain, Adipurush can be expected to be one of the Top 10 grossers of all time in Indian cinema.

     

    Last year’s major Hindi release Brahmastra also grossed big numbers, registered the best opening day for an original Hindi language film since the re-opening of theatres post the pandemic (Pathaan now holds that distinction). While Brahamstra has more ‘modern’ elements like a young lead starcast, superhero genre and visual effects, its core theme relies heavily on Hindu mythology too.

     

    Clearly, we are seeing a sort of trend emerging here. One could look at these films as being either ‘propaganda’-driven (The Kashmir Files or The Kerala Story), or propaganda-free content that relies on cultural and religious resonance (Adipurush). But together, they represent an emerging genre of cinema that digs into Hindu faith and mythology, and its political extension Hindutva, to appeal to its target audience.

     

    It’s almost certain that many such scripts are being penned even as you read this, and 2024-25 may see a lot more films of this nature being released. What started off as an outlier phenomenon has now gained mainstream significance. Whether it’s a good thing for our cinema, and for the society at large, is another topic for another day.

     

    The debate on whether cinema shapes society, or society influences cinema, is a complex one. But in the current times, Hindi cinema seems to be clearly witnessing the latter. The Saffron Cinema Movement is here. And it’s just a start!

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is Founder and CEO, Ormax Media. He writes on MxMIndia on Fridays. His views here are personal.

     

  • The Indian Premier League is the biggest 'pan India' property in the media business today, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

    Courtesy: iplt20.com

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe 16th edition of Indian Premier League is in its last leg now. The 2023 edition has been the most closely-fought of the 16, and by some margin. At the time of writing this, five games are left in the league stage, and yet, only one team (2022 winners Gujarat Titans) have qualified for the playoffs. Seven of the remaining nine are in the reckoning for the remaining three spots, though two of them have only an outside mathematical chance.

     

    How IPL manages to grow in stature year-on-year is quite extraordinary. And it’s not just growth in commercial stature (viewership, revenue, etc.). The impact of IPL in shaping Indian and international cricket is unmistakable. The meteoric rise of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the last six weeks is a topical example. Jaiswal’s humble background makes for a great underdog or rags-to-riches story. He’s almost certain to earn an India cap this year itself. But it’s difficult to imagine how that would have happened if there was no IPL.

     

    From a media perspective, IPL pretty much stands at the last marquee media event standing in India. The clutter of infinite options has fragmented audience consumption over the last decade, and it seems that days of a hit show that will unify the entire country (or even the Hindi markets) are long gone. But IPL bucks that trend. To borrow a term from the theatrical business, it’s the biggest ‘pan India’ property in business today.

     

    By offering IPL free to stream, JioCinema has managed to add to the property’s stature, by giving it recognition as a brand of the ‘masses’. Premium properties can be mass too, and IPL is a fine example of that. One hopes that JioCinema doesn’t relook at this proposition next year, now that the platform has entered the SVOD business.

     

    There’s another big-ticket cricket event later this year, the ODI World Cup in India. The ODI format is in a bit of a no-man’s-land, sandwiched between the popular entertainment offering of T20 and the connoisseur-backed Test cricket format. ICC is not the most nimble-footed organisation, which is why the ODI format continues to drag on. In the process, it’s damaging the global prospects of the sport of cricket irrevocably. Logically, this should be the last ODI World Cup. It’s only imminent that curtains are drawn on this format sooner than later.

     

    But nevertheless, the 2023 ODI World Cup will be a commercial success, especially because it’s being held in India, which opens up a wide array of advertising and association options for Indian brands, that are not available in an overseas tournament.

     

    But even as its best, a World Cup (ODI or T20) cannot match the brand power of IPL, an idea that continues to grow bigger with time.

     

    This column is taking a summer break, and restart from Friday, June 16, 2023

     

  • The predictable politics of our news channels have made election results coverage predictable too, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Polls Apart: Election Results & a Partisan News Media

    Picture taken from https://telugu.oneindia.com/

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorIt’s the day of election results tomorrow. The prestigious and hyped-up Karnataka elections were held earlier this week, and Saturday is the appointed day for counting the votes. Election result days have always been fascinating, even when the results are a foregone conclusion, simply because there’s a format to the coverage that’s inherently real-time and suspenseful.

     

    Of late, there’s an additional reason why I find news coverage of election results, especially in the electronic media, fascinating. And that is because, unlike all other news coverage, election results do not give the channels and the anchors much room to peddle their political agendas. Numbers don’t lie after all, and if the political party they bat for through the year is losing, anchors on news channels cannot spin a yarn of rhetoric like any other primetime show.

     

    It’s like a ‘Gotcha’ moment for those who can see through the evident politics of our news channels. It’s that rare day when they must keep a straight face, and be careful of those Freudian slips, like “Why did we lose?”

     

    Exit polls suggest that Congress holds the edge in Karnataka. If that turns out to be the case tomorrow, you can be assured that most of our news channels will delink these results with the 2024 General Elections. Using the Prime Minister’s mugshot as the party face being BJP is winning, but going with the local leader as the fall guy when BJP is losing, is now a well-known tactic.

     

    The parallel narrative will be ready too, if the results come in closer than what the exit polls suggest, whereby the Congress doesn’t get a clear majority. In this narrative, the Prime Minister will take centerstage, and 2024 will be discussed more than Karnataka itself.

     

    Election results are one area where social media feeds or internet articles cannot match the excitement that television can offer. But the predictable politics of our news channels have made election results coverage predictable too. How the TV industry has managed to make the few interesting TV formats they should have held on to less compelling with time is a mystery. Election results are high on that list, as are some reality shows, whose formats have been mutilated beyond recognition over the last few years.

     

    Meanwhile, an exciting and ever-so-close season of IPL is entering its business end. With just one week of league games to go, at least eight teams are in contention for a playoffs spot.

     

    It’s a weekend of two big contests, and for once, the sporting one looks like the one that will make for better TV.

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is Founder and CEO, Ormax Media. He writes on MxMIndia every Friday. His views here are personal. To access the archive of his columns, please visit: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/tv-trail-media/

  • It seems we are in for even more action and excitement in the OTT space than what one originally anticipated, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Paywall Pangs: The OTT Conundrum

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorHalfway through this year’s IPL, it is evident that the season has been a resounding success. The pandemic led to restrictions related to venues and in-stadia audience capacities, all of which are now a thing of the past. Games in the home-away format is at the heart of any sporting league, and that’s on show this year, for the first time since 2019. Though it’s another matter that Chennai Super Kings fans make even the away stadia look like home venues.

     

    But the biggest change in this year’s IPL is that it can be streamed for free. By choosing to not put IPL behind the paywall, Jio, via its platform JioCinema, has set the cat among the pigeons, so to speak. If one of the most-sought-after content properties in India doesn’t need a paid subscription, then who do platforms with mediocre web-series demand that their audience pay? That’s something many OTT audiences are beginning to think about.

     

    The numbers on JioCinema, as also on Star Sports, look very encouraging. It will be no surprise if peak concurrent viewership on JioCinema crosses the 3.5 Crore mark on the day of the final.

     

    Since the arrival of OTT platforms in India, about six years ago, a large share of media attention has been on the ‘premium’ SVOD business. But the advertiser sentiment has progressively moved from linear television to digital, and a big-ticket property like the IPL being accessible to the wider OTT audience base is a fascinating proposition for marketing managers and media planners.

     

    Of course, JioCinema has plans to launch a paid offering too, for premium entertainment content, including that from HBO. And doing so is their recognition of the potential of a hybrid model, wherein advertiser-funded and subscription-funded content will co-exist.

     

    But the success of IPL on AVOD should be food for thought for Indian OTT platforms who run products that are technologically inferior to the global leaders in this space, but expect audiences to shell out subscription fee for routine content. With YouTube being omnipresent, it’s not going to get any easier for audiences to pay for content, unless both the content and the app experience is truly compelling. And consistently so over a period of time.

     

    Just last month, I wrote in this column that there is unlikely to be a dull moment in the Indian OTT space for a while. But it seems we are in for even more action and excitement that what one originally anticipated.

     

  • With the exception of South India, movies are mass, but movie-going is not, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Cinema: Mass Entertainment or Luxury Item?

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorJust 22 million (or 2.2 crore). That’s the number of urban adults who watched three of more Hindi films in a theatre in 2022. Add kids and rural audience to it, and the number will still struggle to cross the 3 crore mark.

     

    This single data point, from our new report Ormax Cine Sense: 2023, brings a lot in perspective to how mass (or not) ‘Bollywood’ is. The equivalent of the 2.2 crore number was about 3.5 crore in the pre-pandemic years. It hovered around that mark pretty much through the period from 2013 to 2019, for which this data is available with us.

     

    In effect, we are talking about only about 2% of India’s population going to movie theatres to watch a Hindi film at least once in 3-4 months. The equivalent numbers for the four South languages will be known soon, and the all-India number may look closer to 6-7 cr, which is still less than 5% of India’s population. Movie-going is clearly not as mass as many believe it is.

     

    Over the last decade or so, the growth in box-office business has been fueled more by rising ticket prices than by footfalls. In effect, cinema-going habit has become more and more elusive. With a wide range of alternatives to watch movie content being available, including OTT and linear TV channels, there is very little incentive for an average Indian to visit a movie theatre. And once the habit is broken, it is a tough ask to reinstate it.

     

    It’s not as if films themselves are niche as a content type. Theatrical films routinely outperform high-profile OTT originals on streaming platforms. Despite being a huge theatrical success, Pathaan has managed viewership numbers like Amazon Prime Video’s biggest hit series in recent times, Farzi. And this is despite theatrical and paid streaming categories showing a sizeable audience overlap, to the extent of about 75%.

     

    Till a few years ago, there was a lot of talk about India being an “under-screened” market. But when most of India’s existing 9,000 odd screens are operating at less than 15% occupancy for at least 40 weeks in a year, opening new screens is not a prudent move.

     

    Outdoor entertainment, by its very nature, if a luxury item in the budget planning of most Indian families. A single trip to a theatre for a family of four can cost them most than annual subscription of three OTT apps. That’s why, the youth (15-30 years), driven by social needs, have been the dominant target group for Hindi film consumption since the multiplex era started about two decades ago. But even with India’s young population, the numbers are not sizeable.

     

    In what may almost seem like a contrarian view, I don’t see much of an issue here. If the Hindi film industry can come to terms with its premium positioning, they can go all out and target only the 2-3 crore people who really matter, and let others consume the content at their homes. This will lead to sharpening of focus at various levels. For example, you do not actually need traditional media to target these audience, almost all of whom are active on digital platforms. Or the entire debate about ticket prices will become irrelevant, once you identify a target audience who is willing to pay a premium for their outdoor entertainment.

     

    But that’s not to say that the content needs to be ‘elitist’ too. SS Rajamouli, Rohit Shetty, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rajkumar Hirani are the top four favourite directors for these 2 cr people. Escapism is still a dominant need that drives their decision to buy a movie ticket in the first place.

     

    With the exception of South India (which is the topic of another article for another day), movies are mass, but movie-going is not. It’s about time the industry gets comfortable with this idea.

     

  • IPL is literally the only ‘pan India’ property in the home entertainment space, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Bang for the Buck

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorIt’s that time of the year again… the IPL time. The 16th edition starts tonight, and like every year, is set to become the marquee media event for its seven-week length. The big change this year is that the digital stream is available free. Unlike Disney+ Hotstar in recent years, JioCinema has decided to take the ad-supported route for IPL broadcast on OTT. This decision can have a significant impact on the future of sports broadcast in India, in both linear and non-linear forms.

     

    This year’s IPL was preceded by the inaugural season of Women’s Premier League (WPL), which was won by Mumbai Indians last Sunday. WPL is a significantly leap for women’s cricket in India, especially because of the kind of money that is on offer via contracts and prizes. While the Mumbai Indians team owner Nita Ambani spoke about how this will help sportswomen in India across sports (Mumbai Indians carried front page ads the next morning with the same message), the impact outside cricket seems tenuous as of now.

     

    There was a time when the success of an IPL edition depended on the cricketing action itself. Low-scoring games struggled to match up to the bigger games on ratings, for example. In the recent editions though, each franchise, and hence each clash, brings with it a certain minimum guaranteed viewership, because of the inherent fan base. This is especially true for games involving Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, who have amassed a solid fan base over time. Gujarat Titans, winners in their first outing last year, are a strong candidate to join this list.

     

    But it is very likely that linear TV viewership may see a drop this year, because of the SVOD to AVOD shift on OTT. What makes this ‘competition’ between TV and OTT interesting is that it is real competition this time, because there are major media companies involved (unlike Disney controlling both aspects till last year). In the absence of any public numbers on OTT, this can trigger off a major war of claims and counterclaims.

     

    The advertiser interest in IPL has peaked over the years, simply because other marquee properties, like big reality shows, have not been able to consolidate ratings over time. There’s nothing else big-ticket enough on Indian television to offer IPL any competition to it. And IPL is literally the only ‘pan India’ property in the home entertainment space.

     

    Let the drums roll, then!

     

  • There is little doubt in my mind that IPL's streaming viewership will outnumber that on linear television this year, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Not at all Quiet on the OTT Front

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorOver the last three years, it became abundantly clear that streaming (or OTT, as it’s called in India) is the medium of the future in this country, even as other media will continue to co-exist. Linear television always had the numbers. But thanks to a mix of factors, ranging from the pandemic, to ever-reducing data costs, to a nosey TRAI, linear television has barely managed to stay afloat. Pressure on revenues has been felt across the board, and that’s never a good sign.

     

    Streaming itself is trying to find its sweet spot. Is it a premium paid (SVOD) medium, as all the promotions of well-mounted web-series suggest? Or is it a medium for the ‘masses’, where free (AVOD) content is going to dictate the future? The jury has been out. And the last few weeks have seen their share of action on this front.

     

    Perhaps the biggest shift in the dynamic has been around the IPL. The 16th edition of the league, which starts March 31, will stream free on JioCinema. That’s a polar opposite to how it was thus far: IPL was a subscription (and hence, revenue) driver for Disney+ Hotstar, not just in India but at a global level too.

     

    Then, there’s the talk of the largest AVOD player in India outside of YouTube, i.e., MX Player, being up for sale. The content side is going through its continuous evolution. For example, price points for acquiring streaming licences to theatrical releases have not stabilised yet.

     

    All these are healthy signs, one would think. A growing category is bound to see new ideas, new strategies, and new alignments. And some of these may shape the future of the category. For example, there is little doubt in my mind that IPL’s streaming viewership will outnumber that on linear television this year.

     

    How did linear television find itself in this situation is a matter of another debate. But it should not have, because it’s still the staple, go-to medium for millions of Indian families every night. But the only way you can fight technology is by building a precise and relevant narrative. The linear TV industry has failed to do that for itself.

     

    Amidst all the positive action, the talk of censorship of streaming content has started again. This week, the I&B minister advocated censoring “vulgarity”. The genesis of this not-so-veiled threat lies in a Delhi High Court judgment will handling a complaint on TVF’s show College Romance. The state and the judiciary playing moral police can be a major irritant in a category that’s otherwise amid a period of high activity and growth.

     

    All eyes, hence, are on India’s streaming story, in its second phase, where the category seeks stabilization and re-alignments. And the upcoming IPL will set the ball rolling on that front.