MxMIndia

Tag: tv trai

  • Shailesh Kapoor lists five expectations from BARC for it to emerge as not just India's unanimous TV currency, but also an industry favourite for years to come

    Shailesh Kapoor: Expectations from BARC on the Eve of its Debut

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Finally, it’s happening. After two exciting years that were forever pregnant with possibilities, the first BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) ratings will be out later this month. While the original announcement on formation of BARC dates back to 2008, the lawsuit NDTV filed against TAM in 2012 was perhaps the momentum trigger, whose results we will begin to experience soon.

     

    So far, broadcasters, who are stakeholders in BARC via IBF, have been unanimous that BARC ratings should be the only operating TV currency in India in the future. We have seen with the new IRS in 2013 that things can take an ugly turn when the actual data is out, but chances of that happening in TV ratings is significantly lower, because of the nature of the industry and broadcasters’ wholehearted endorsement of BARC thus far.

     

    Yet, a lot will be expected from BARC once the ratings begin to roll out. Here are five of my expectations (in no particular order) from BARC for it to emerge as not just India’s unanimous TV currency, but also an industry favourite for years to come.

     

    1. Don’t let the pressure get to you: There are bound to high-pressure situations once ratings roll out. Broadcasters who are at the wrong end of the proverbial stick are bound to create stress in your lives, demanding explanations. There are bound to be comparisons to the TAM ratings, however unwarranted they may be statistically. Just take firm stands in such situations, and the rules of engagement will be set for the future.

     

    2. Stick to data reporting, don’t offer advisory services: Stick to reporting and do not offer advisory services at any time. The moment you begin to guide channels on what they can do to increase their viewership (TAM has done that for a while through S Group), you are essentially losing your status of a data reporter operating at an arm’s length. It is much like a critic who hobnobs with the studios during the week and then reviews their films on the Friday that follows.

     

    3. Offer an ‘elite audience’ service soon: The area of measuring the ‘elite audience’, the small fraction of wealthy India that many premium products target, remains an unfinished agenda. It may not be on your agenda any time soon, but do keep it on the task list. There is a large piece of the ad revenue pie that the television industry is potentially losing to print because TV ratings do not have meaningful measurement in this audience segment.

     

    4. Price and package innovatively: Remember, there are not just broadcasters and media agencies, but many other types of firms who would be served well with your data. This includes content producers, insights firms, digital agencies, film studios, etc. Be innovative in pricing, so that affordability is ensured without dilution of value. Get your data into the bloodstream of the media industry, not just in the broadcaster and planning world.

     

    5. Open up data bureaus soon, very soon: Do not delay the “licensing” (is there a better word?) of data to approved data bureaus, who can create their own products around the data, offering them as standalone services to the relevant target audience, e.g. a category of channels or advertisers. In the digital world today, third-party ideas that build on your data can be game-changers. The possibilities can be endless. Just open the gates!

     

  • For the television industry, Women's Day should be even less relevant. After all, the woman is the boss of the television remote, notes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Women’s Day? TV Needs A Men’s Day!

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The celebration and hype around Women’s Day amuses me. I can understand the day being used as an excuse for the government to announce schemes and policies with the objective of promoting gender equality in the country in its truest form. But besides that, the concept reeks of hypocrisy and commercialization, given that it promotes gender inequality through its mere existence, by recognizing women “differently”. Talk about ironies!

     

    For the television industry, Women’s Day should be even less relevant. After all, the woman is the boss of the television remote. Women control what gets watched on TV on weekdays across a majority of households in the country. The female dominance of the remote is a staggering 78% between 7-10pm. It changes only marginally after 10pm, but is still a lopsided 68%.

     

    This data, collected in a pan-India study last year by Ormax Media, is a telling evidence of marginalization of men in the television business in India. Even more interesting is the SEC skew. In lower SECs (CDE), the gender balance is still better, with the 78% and 68% dropping to 68% and 55% respectively. But the upper and middle class audiences (SEC AB) show an even stronger female dominance of the remote (81% and 72%).

     

    There is only one day in the week that’s not a Women’s Day on television – Sunday. Studying the concept of “Sunday” from a women’s perspective can be revelatory. A day we see as relaxing and fun is often her nightmare. This is the day when the husband and kids are home all day, and the woman (read housewife) has her toughest day at office, multi-tasking her way through a ceaseless volley of demands being thrown at her. At times, I wonder if keeping the housewife occupied with Sunday chores is just a conspiracy hatched by the male members of the family to get control over the remote!

     

    In a consumer interaction a few years back, one such woman candidly expressed her disenchantment with Sunday: “Baaki sab ka Sunday hota hai, aur hamari hoti hai waat.” But back to Monday, and it’s another story altogether.

     

    The gender inequality in television evidently has the man as its victim. What we really need is a Men’s Day. A day when a man can watch cricket in primetime without being bugged to change the channel. A day when a man can assert that primetime news debates are the most engaging form of television known to us. A day when a man can watch a South-Indian dubbed film start-to-finish, even as the wife wonders: “Yeh kaale-kaale hero waali picture kyon dekhte rehte ho?”

     

    But on a more serious note, we will be better off with a more balanced gender profile of the remote ownership. One argument says that if you make only women-centric content, you will get women as the primary audiences. However, this is not entirely true, because there have been many experiments to offer male-centric content in the past, and most of them have not enjoyed the success that women-oriented soaps do.

     

    But I believe that these male-centric programmes were only paying lip service to the cause. While they targeted the men, they didn’t do enough to strike a deep chord within their target audience, like the top serials do with women. If there’s a research paper waiting to be written in the Indian television industry, it is the one called “What Men Want”.

     

    Happy Women’s Day!

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is founder and CEO of media & entertainment research and consulting firm Ormax Media. He spent nine years in the television industry before turning entrepreneur. He can be reached at his Twitter handle @shaileshkapoor