P itch THE ESSENCE OF MARKETING
Volume XII Issue 4 April 2016
` 75
Advt.
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Celebrated bollywood directors create short three minute films for the mobile generation on the future of our nation. India Today premiering India Tomorrow.
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EVERYWHERE On Stands
Online
On Air
P itch THE ESSENCE OF MARKETING
Volume XII Issue 4 April 2016
` 75
Research Partner
BRANDOMETER
The most definitive study to evaluate Media Brands for Media Planners and Marketers www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch |
3
METHODOLOGY
RATING MEDIA BRANDS FOR THIS STUDY The Pitch Brandometer data, put together by Hansa Research, is available for the last four years. Initially, the study was brought out as Media Perception Monitor, and done for a Media House as an entity. But with changing times, the study was done for each newspaper/magazine brand. Over the last two years, there has been two waves of the study (Wave 1: Newspapers and Wave 2: Television channels & Radio stations). This is the most comprehensive and only report of this kind available in the market. The TG of Pitch Brandometer, in association with Hansa Research, is as follows:
P itch The essence of Marketing
Target Group Definition & Segment Advertising Agencies
Advertisers
Media planners/buyers who are responsible for purchasing media space. The minimum experience required to be eligible for interview is 3 years
It is essential that the client is well versed with co-ordinating with Print/other media representatives directly.
Designation – Media Buyers/ Planners, Media Directors, Media Managers, etc.
Designation – Brand manager Media Manager, Media Head, Marketing Head, Marketing Executive
Segments Media Buyers – Two segments
Advertisers – One segment
Senior (more than 5 years of experience) Mid Level (2-5 years of experience) Media professionals within the clients
SAMPLE SIZE Centre
Media With 3-5 yrs exp.
Advertisers
Grand Total
With 5+ yrs exp.
Main centres Mumbai
23
21
26
70
Delhi
17
20
23
60
South Centres Hyderabad
7
5
18
30
Bangalore
10
5
15
30
Chennai
12
4
14
30
East Centres Kolkata
10
6
16
32
Total
79
61
112
252
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www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 5
Volume XII, Issue-4 April 2016
introduction
COVER STORY
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Annurag Batra Editor & Director Amit Agnihotri Director Nawal Ahuja
08
editorial team
Issue Editor
Srabana Lahiri
Principal Correspondent
Simran Sabherwal
Design team
Art Director
Shivaji Sengupta
Senior Graphic Designer
Joby Mathew
Photographers
Vilas Kalgutkar (Mumbai) Suresh Gola (Noida)
The Medium is the
Message
ad sales
Rajat Thareja 9810134435 Runa Sinha 9810497903 Prashant Kulkarni 9886138249 Sneha Walke 9845541143
0ffices
NEW DELHI: Shop No. 32, 33 south Ettn. Part-I, Om vihar, Uttam Nagar, New Delhi 110 059 NOIDA: B-20, I-Floor, Sector-57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301 Phone: (0120) 4007700 Mumbai: 301, Kakad Bhavan, 3rd Floor, 11th Street, Bandra (W), Mumbai - 400 050 Phone: (022) 2640 3303/09/14/16
The
new ball games
Bengaluru: # 18, 3rd B Cross, Domlur II Stage, Bangalore 560071
circulation/Distribution
Vinod Sharma (Delhi) - 9999447209 vinod@exchange4media.com Anandan Nair (Mumbai) - 9819445200 anair@exchange4media.com On News-stands ` 75
12
tv: Movie
Land of the
rising Sony
www.pitchonnet.com Printed and published by Annurag Batra on behalf of Adsert Web Solutions Pvt Ltd B-20, I-Floor, Sector-57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301 Printed at All Time Offset Printers, E-53, Sector-7 Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301
An exchange4media Publication
6 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
14
CONTENTS tv: regional
22
Eenadu 50 A pole vault for
The Gulf of
language
30
tv sports
54
The Game’s
Just Begun
58
Print: Hindi & Regional
Delightful
Conundrums Print: english
tv: Hindi GEC
Shuffle at the
top
66
36
top
Lonely at the radio
The wave will
rise
tv: news
42 The slant is
clear tv: News channels: English
About class and
catch-up
columns
46
Sam Balsara Chairman, Madison World Shripad Kulkarni, Managing Director Vizeum, India Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Mogae Media Navin Khemka, Managing Partner (North, East) and new Biz head, Maxus Rajendra Khare, Founder, SureWaves MediaTech Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media Group, India & South Asia
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20 40 65 71 78 80
INTRODUCTION
The Medium is the
Message
Pitch, along with research partner Hansa Research, presents Pitch Brandometer 2015 to evaluate media brands on the basis of a set of overall salient features, with feedback from media planners, media buyers and marketing professionals.
P itch The essence of Marketing
I
t’s that time of the year again, when we pause amidst our chaos to remind ourselves that the ‘media’ is just the name of the iceberg which is an industry so large and complex, it has ramifications in the first three pillars of democracy as well. Moreover, it is an industry that makes over 10,000 crore rupees in revenues annually. The Pitch Brandometer, the only research and initiative of its kind, was conceptualised to size up the media brands of India on various factors, and most importantly, this was done by the
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very stakeholders because of whom the media runs – media planners, media buyers and marketing professionals. With each passing year, the scope and ambition of Brandometer widens in size simply because the media in India keeps growing into a multifaceted industry, with every market having its own leaders and losers, complexes and battles, heroes and villians. It would only be fair if the said stakeholders, media buyers and planners in agencies and marketing professionals would rate media brands. While media
INTRODUCTION houses themselves conduct researches and use market research tools to sense their standings, there are no large scale syndicated studies today that help them understand, leave learn, their ratings from ‘buyers’. As usual, our research partners Hansa Research have done a stellar job in reaching out to the right heads, seeking their time and invaluable opinions and collating what is definitely a laundry list of top media brands. The objective of the research and this special issue of Pitch is to evaluate the media on the basis of overall salient features and favourability, as well as ratings on a cross section of important attributes that have been found to be important by media buyers. This painstaking process of data compilation only helped us get composite rankings to understand the overall position of any organisation, as compared to other leading organisations in the playing field. Before proceeding to the findings, here’s what you must know about the deciding factors: Innovation Easily the most critical factor for decision makers in choosing their vehicle to talk to millions. In a cluttered, competitive market, the media vehicles reputed to not only think out of the box but deliver the novelties and pathbreakers are respected. Organisations which made top use of the latest technologies were rated higher, and so were those which were found to be ‘sensitive’ to the needs of unique businesses. Remember we are in India’s start-up era! Media delivery A basic safety net to determine
Methodology Fieldwork: Hansa Research’s in-house field team, working under the supervision of regional field managers and the overall control of the research executive handling the project, carried out the fieldwork. Specially trained corporate interviewers conducted all interviews across the different segments. Quality control: In order to control quality, the following measures were implemented during the fieldwork: • Supervisor scrutiny of all completed questionnaires • Back checks of 50 per cent of the interviews • Spot/surprise field checks by both field and research executives Scores: In 2014, The Times of India had hit maximum score of 1,000 on every factor in six dimensions. This time, barring its slip-down to 954 in media delivery for reasons dissected in the further pages, it has hit thousand again. Scores of the rest of the vehicles have been likewise worked out in relationship of this score of 100
Organisations which made top use of the latest technologies were rated higher, and so were those which were found to be ‘sensitive’ to the needs of unique businesses which media organisation is viable for the long-term or not, this parameter is the only one that’s quantifiable. How good is the deal struck between the media buyer and the publication
or the channel – whether it holds value for money? Eventually, delivery is about ROI. This year’s toppers followed agreed schedules vehemently, and as our columnist has pointed out in the later pages, are strong in their core markets where they operate. Professionalism Is sometimes, everything. In a market of buyers, there are some nuances and certain nudges toward sustaining relationships that work in the long-term. Professionalism here refers to ethics, timeliness, transparency. Is the organisation trustworthy and reliable, the respondents were asked. And the results won’t be a shocker to many – that sometimes the most impactful medium may not be
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INTRODUCTION the most professional and vice versa. Relationship The other side of professionalism, or as a CEO we spoke to here put it, what results from consistent professionalism! We live in a hyper-connected working environment but sometimes, access could be pricey. Are the media buyers easily able to get in touch with the right people of the organisation? Is the media house’s sales team in frequent touch or surface only during what seems to be target achieving time? A big factor and question here was the access to senior management within the media organisation. With millions at stake and the destiny of several advertisers at stake, maintaining a warm relationship can show the way forward. How can personal equations co-exist within an ROIdriven environment is the moot point here! Sales Team Knowledge The faces of a brand often acquire more importance than the brand itself, and they are the critical factors in making or breaking deals. Decision makers and stakeholders on the other side would be impressed by the sales team’s knowledge of not only their inventories, but the overall climate of buying and their competitors. On the other hand, the knowledge of the advertiser’s business and nature of industry matters too. Do the representatives negotiate, do they react positively to solve issues and queries, do they keep
top 10 media brands in india RANK
GENRE
BRAND
SCORE
1. English Newspaper
Times Of India
1000
2. GEC - Hindi
Star Plus
953
3. GEC - Hindi
Colors
861
4. Sports channel
Star Sports
859
5. Movie channels
Set Max
804
6. News channel
Aaj Tak
803
7. English Newspaper
Hindustan Times
798
8. GEC - Regional
Eenadu TV
780
9. News channel
ABP News
779
10. Movie channel
Star Gold
766 (Scores out of 1000)
We live in a hyperconnected working environment but sometimes, access could be pricey. Are media buyers easily able to get in touch with the right people in an organisation?
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in touch throughout – are the big factors! Servicing Ability Again, a make it or break it factor for many planners. The quality of service may define the quantity of it and the longevity of the relationship between media buyer and seller. Does the organisation ensure accurate billing, does it proactively inform of changes in schedules, rates or deliveries, are the promises made during sales kept – were the big questions. Needless to say, the Brandometer survey is today nothing less than an industry currency which is used by all media houses.
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TV - INTRODUCTION
The
new ball games
From last year’s no show, this year there are two sports channels, Star Sports and Ten Sports, in the Top 10 TV media brands.
S
urprise, surprise! For those who have been having their eye on the Brandometer survey from its past issues and are stakeholders in the media, we have news – the Indian television space, which last year did not even have the categories of sports and business channels, has seen some big movers with equally big numbers and promises of the future.
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From last year’s no show, this year there are two sports channels, Star Sports and Ten Sports, in the Top 10 TV media brands. The evolution of sports entertainment on TV picked pace in 2015 with the stagnation of Indian cricket and IPL, the scaling up in all senses of the Pro Kabaddi League, the launch of the Pro Wrestling League and the Hockey India League and Hockey World League picking up steam.
TV - INTRODUCTION This rapidly changing scenario, where several noncricket sports are available to the common Indian viewer, has changed perceptions and helped advertisers in turn. As Neelkamal Sharma, COO, Buying, Madison World put it, “Sports has really moved a lot beyond cricket … like kabaddi, badminton, soccer, wrestling, hockey, tennis, etc. It offers advertisers to choose options from many which have less clutter and plan their marketing activities which could be relevant and also offers sustainability.” On the other hand, after digitisation of Phase I and II cities, broadcasters had not been able to reap its full benefits. The sector is on its way to see a higher subscription revenue growth, which will eventually outstrip advertising revenue increases. Better monetisation, courtesy digitisation, is slated to peg the Indian TV industry at Rs 975 billion in 2019, according to some estimates. Coming back to the survey reports, Star Plus claims numero uno spot after the number 2 of 2014 in the GEC category, but Colors would not be disheartened with its catch-up game. “They have taken initiatives across various areas to come up to this level, which is also complimented by their leadership in viewership,” Sharma feels. Colors’ big-ticket
show Bigg Boss 9 has just wound up an extended season last week and although the numbers are yet to be seen, it will be interesting to know if the channel has reaped benefits of the whopping 130-135 crores it was reported to have invested in it! On the news front, Aaj Tak has made its position even
Sports channels offer advertisers options which have less clutter and they can plan their marketing activities which could be relevant and also offer sustainability”
more formidable with a lead of 82 points over its own number one score last year. Set Max and Star Gold are ranked on top and it would be worthwhile to point out here that the latter also enjoyed massive viewership of Pro Kabaddi’s Hindi coverage, especially in the B towns. This year, with two seasons of the popular league scheduled, we won’t be surprised to see it scale to number one easily. Notably, the first English news channel only comes at number 5, something to chew on again! The slowdown phases for Hindi GECs in 2015 – Diwali, IPL and the India-SA cricket series, was coupled by the rise of new entrant &TV. Did the new channel, coming from the giant parent network it did, fare as well as others in the network on the parameters? Go through the data to know! Overall, things were never this exciting for Indian television before, and this survey only captures a neat slice of the brouhaha currently underway!
Neelkamal Sharma |
COO, Buying, Madison World
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tv-Movie channels
Land of the
rising Sony Not just the big titles, innovation too counts in success among advertisers, as this year’s new topper, Sony MAX proved
A
t the turn of 2015, well after a decade of many firsts and phenomenal television, Multi Screen Media (MSM) renamed itself as Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN). The rechristening wasn’t just about brand alignment and towing the Sony parentage, it was also about setting the voice of a mature, more reassured media organisation. Incidentally, our data which wound up at the
end of 2015 saw Sony Max – the network’s top movie channel and the telecaster of the Indian Premier League – score heavily and climb to the top. “We will continue to serve audiences across geographies. More channels, more genres, more content, more movies, more digital and more television is our six-fold path to serve the multitude of viewers whose hopes and expectations”, NP Singh, CEO had said, adding that their focus would
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remain to become the first choice in television and digital entertainment in the country. Shuffle at the Top At the same time, the rankings have seen the biggie from Star – Star Movies, fall from last year’s number one to number four, giving away to Max at the pole position. That Sony Max and Star Gold were top scorers in all criteria, does that necessarily reflect increasing advertiser and audience interest in Hindi movie
tv-Movie channels MOVIE CHANNELS – OVERALL RANK
channel
2015
1
Set Max
804
2
Star Gold
766
3
Zee Cinema
675
4
Star Movies
606
5
HBO
574
6
UTV Movies
542
7
Movies OK
492
8
Movies Now
434
9
UTV World Movies
410
10
B4U MOVIES
403
INNOVATION Channel
2015
2014
Set Max
771
608
Star Gold
699
611
Zee Cinema
651
596
Star Movies
578
896
HBO
565
709
UTV Movies
507
453
Movies OK
467
429
Movies Now
375
517
B4U MOVIES
358
Not Applicable
UTV World Movies
356
Not Applicable
In tune with viewer needs and aspirations, we have constantly enhanced the experience through our packaging, right scheduling of movies, the best of premiers and value adds... Neeraj Vyas | EVP and Business Head, Sony Max
channels over English? We asked the experts on what other factors could have led to this shuffling. Neeraj Vyas, EVP and Business Head, Sony Max, Sony Pictures Networks India laid it down to the ‘environment’ and viewer experience that Max has been giving its audiences. “Keeping in tune with viewer needs and aspirations we have constantly enhanced the experience through our packaging, right scheduling of movies, the best of premiers and by value adds through peripheral
programming and also by constantly engaging with our viewers,” he says. To really gauge this as a viewer and Bollywood enthusiast, tune in to Max on a lazy Sunday afternoon – you might hit upon a movie you’ve watched at least thrice but the ‘interstitials’ such as Extraaa Shots will keep you engaged. Just last week, for instance, the screening of Munnabhai MBBS, the Extraaa Shots had director Rajkumar Hirani speaking of his original idea behind the story, as well as
anecdotes from the late Sunil Dutt. Max gave a well-rounded viewer experience without having a ‘spectacularly new’ title to boast of. “We offer customised solutions, ensuring maximum visibility. Branding and association for some key movie premiers and film festivals offer brands great visibility and helps them stand apart. Interstitials like ‘Extraaa Shots’, ‘Bittu Bak Bak’ and ‘Fully Faltu’ also create an opportunity to integrate brands targeted at the
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tv-Movie channels RELATIONSHIP
PROFESSIONALISM Channel
2015
Channel
2014
2015
2014
Set Max
793
591
Set Max
757
598
Star Gold
718
651
Star Gold
702
587
Zee Cinema
589
588
Zee Cinema
593
568
Star Movies
550
900
Star Movies
561
869
HBO
544
699
UTV Movies
524
482
UTV Movies
517
476
HBO
496
682
Movies OK
487
418
Movies OK
445
451
Movies Now
442
540
MGM
424
Not Applicable
Filmy
430
Not Applicable
UTV World Movies
422
Not Applicable
B4U MOVIES
382
Not Applicable
Movies Now
418
MEDIA DELIVERY Channel
2015
Set Max
823
Star Gold
746
Zee Cinema
697
Star Movies
630
576
TOP ADVERTISERS ON SONY MAX IN 2015 • MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA GROUP • BHARTI AIRTEL GROUP • ADITYA BIRLA GROUP • COCA COLA INDIA PVT. LIMITED • VINI COSMETICS PVT LTD. • GODREJ GROUP • PEPSICO GROUP
HBO
564
UTV Movies
545
Movies OK
496
Movies Now
449
UTV World Movies 427 B4U MOVIES
425
• L’OREAL INDIA PVT. LTD. • AMAZON SELLER SERVICES PVT. LTD. • MINISTRY GROUP - DAVP
emerging youth,” Vyas explains. And talking of innovation, Star Gold (at number two with not much of a gap) this year became the first channel to showcase a film in 4K in October with Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Expect the
16 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
channel, which boasts of ‘two’ Pro Kabaddi seasons this 2016, to bounce back hard in all ratings this year. Zee won’t stay down Media planners and advertisers
tv-Movie channels SALES TEAM KNOWLEDGE Channel
2015
SERVICING ABILITY Channel
2014
2015
2014
Star Gold
808
585
Star Gold
1001
608
Set Max
769
568
Set Max
948
612
Zee Cinema
723
562
Zee Cinema
836
615
HBO
610
688
Star Movies
769
873
Star Movies
586
868
HBO
693
704
UTV Movies
564
411
UTV Movies
623
456
Movies OK
497
430
Movies OK
591
463
UTV World Movies
421
Movies Now
557
516
Warner Brother
412
379
UTV World Movies
515
Not Applicable
Movies Now
409
509
& Pictures
509
Not Applicable
may have been for a surprise towards December last year when Zee Cinema, a channel hitherto swearing by its ‘moviesmasti-magic’ content, dabbled into WWE, one of the most watched TV sports in India. Recognising the adulation and fan following, Zee Cinema hosted a weekly edition of ‘Action Mania’ every Sunday and also ran a contest during the episodes. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) Hindi Movie Channel Business Head Ruchir Tiwari had said then, “We are thrilled to give audiences a
Not Applicable
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With the high level of enthusiasm (for WWE), we are expecting good participation from audiences,” and we are sure he got the same from the parties that mattered too. With new initiatives and premieres such as that of Aishwarya starrer Jazbaa already underway this year, we expect Zee Cinema too to give the top position a good crack. The winning ways So what did Sony, this year’s Brandometer topper in the movie
channels category, do right? A big reason was media delivery, Vyas felt. “Reach of Sony MAX is on par and at times even more than the mass GEC channels in the television space at rates which are much lesser. Hence buying across the channel is always at optimum value for the buyer/advertiser. We also offer transparency and clear communication with planners and clients.” Media planners and industry insiders we spoke to vouched for the channel’s team operating with professionalism to delivery optimising solution to clients. “Sony MAX is a 16 year old brand with a unique hybrid positioning catering to a huge segment of viewers/consumers be it with cricket (IPL) or with the choicest of movies. Hence, over a period of time the brand enjoys implicit trust and offers complete confidence to deliver to the advertiser,” Vyas sums it up well.
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tv-Movie channels
‘HD is driving the English movies genre growth’ Juhi Ravindranath Vice President - Ad Sales, South Asia, Turner International India
‘It has been a fantastic year for the Zee Hindi Movies cluster’ Ruchir Tiwari Business Head, Zee Hindi Movies Cluster
H
ow did the Movies cluster, as a whole, perform last year? Like always, the Hindi Movie category is one the most viewed genre and commands a whopping 22% share in the total TV Viewing pie as against 17.5% in the previous financial year. Amongst all the genres on television, the Hindi Movie category apart from GEC is the only category to account for a note-worthy share. The
18 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
other genres, be it the news or kids category, all have a miniscule share. Coupled with digitization, and the availability of weekly rural data, the share of the movie category will further strengthen and only grow in the future. Digitization has definitely created an opportunity for many smaller channels to operate in the movie genre space but the leading channels have successfully retained their position and share.
tv-Movie channels
ON ENGLISH MOVIES GENRE Looking at English genre, it was a bumper year. E-commerce was the driving category last year across television and English benefitted a lot from it. There were many English HD launches and HD saw real disproportionate growth. HD is actually driving the English genre growth. English grew higher than what the average market rate was. ON HBO/WB We saw very strong double digit growth on our English channels and HBO saw a phenomenal growth. It was largely driven by e-commerce.
(Source: BARC, FY15 - 16, HSM Urban NCCS 4+, Non IPL weeks)
How would you assess last year’s performance of Zee’s Movie Cluster? The Zee Hindi Movies Cluster (Zee Cinema, Zee Cinema HD, &pictures, &pictures HD, Zee Classic, Zee Action) increased from 33.7% to 35%share post BARC despite the competitive environment with a significant increase in share of Zee Action and Zee Classic. These channels have carved out a set of differentiated viewers ensuring the cluster caters to a wide spectrum of audiences with each channel maintaining its individuality. The cluster has grown in viewership, consumer perception and has won several awards. Zee Cinema, the strongest brand of the cluster was at the top of the category in H1 (Source: BARC, Week 22 to Week 40, HSM Urban NCCS 4+, Non-IPL weeks)
What was interesting was that it did not concentrate on one region but it was pan-India. In addition to the larger players, like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, you also had smaller players like car insurance e-commerce sites, fashion etc.
and consistently held ground throughout the year. An in depth understanding of the environment over the years along with several premieres have ensured that the channel remained an undisputed leader in reach percentage even toppling the leading Hindi GECs. Coming to &pictures, it has grown owing to focused efforts directed towards the core TG with clutter breaking content and properties along with various premieres. This has helped the channel to double the consumer perception and maintain a steady position in the category. Our specialized niche channels, Zee Classic and Zee Action have made significant inroads in the movie genre space, with Zee Classic witnessing 25% and Zee Action witnessing 27% growth in viewership. Last year has been an important year for Zee Classic.
The channel adopted a robust and aggressive 360 degree approach. With its brand positioning ‘Woh Zamaana Kare Deewana’, the channel successfully experimented in terms of content with The Bimal Roy Festival with Boman Irani and The Golden Years with Javed Akhtar. Bundled with the marketing innovations, Zee Classic saw its perception index increase by 50%. The Movie Cluster HD channels have also been successful and in fact, &pictures HD is running neck to neck with top channels. The two channels Zee Cinema HD and &pictures HD with the promise of #HD first hosted seven HD premieres including Haider, Dil Dhadakne Do, Jazbaa and others. Overall, it has been a fantastic year for the Zee Hindi Movies Cluster. (Source: BARC, FY15 - 16, HSM Urban NCCS 4+, Non IPL week)
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 19
COLUMN
Overall This is a Good Organisation
Let’s give numbers a break Sam Balsara Chairman, Madison World
T
The addition of the seventh criterion – ‘Overall this is a good organisation’, is truly a useful value-add to the Pitch BrandOmeter. It should be given maximum weightage
20 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
he addition of the seventh criterion – ‘Overall this is a good organisation’, is truly a useful value-add to the Pitch BrandOmeter. Let me tell you why. In award sessions over the years, I have seen that whilst it is good to have ‘parameters on which to judge’ to be given to judges as a guideline, it is never enough to go only by adding up the individual marks on each parameter given by the judges. An entry which scores collectively high on all the individual parameters may just not be worthy of the big award and may not quite cut it holistically for any or most of the individual judges. Wait, did I just debunk the whole methodology of model hunts and Miss Universe contests? Maybe I did! My point is, any entrant or juror knows that it is the coming together of the ‘not so inspiring’ parts that very often plays magic in the market place or in the consumer’s mind and so it is with this category. I am glad that this important seventh parameter has been added. If you have a mature jury, and you do, this parameter should be given maximum weightage. More often that not, mature judges have the eye to spot a winner when they see one and not really look at or fuss with arithmetical or statistical refinements.
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tv-special interest
In a year marked by the rise and rise of non-fiction entertainment, Discovery Channel maintained its top spot across criteria
S
everal cover stories of this magazine and others from our stable in the past two years have celebrated the rise of non-fiction TV entertainment in India, and pointed out how, despite a cluttered environment, several channels and programmes offer advertisers tailor-made
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platforms to reach out to their target audiences. 2015 was perhaps the most pronounced year if we map the trend of factual entertainment. If the years prior to this witnessed India’s first channel to cater to mythology/history (Epic) and an emergence of food channels, last year was when these genres consolidated. Any big advertiser
tv-special interest will agree, the Indian TV scene today is not only about soaps and reality shows, but there is an increased demand for genres such as adventure, survival, technology, travel, food and even automobiles.
The same old leader In an interview to us in August last year, Rahul Johri, then EVP & GM – South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, had given us the insight into the
mind of his viewer: “When people come to Discovery, it’s not that they come to watch an Indian channel, they come to watch a global channel as a viewer. They want to see the
SPECIAL INTEREST CHANNELS - OVERALL RANK
We brought a varied portfolio of brands so that viewers across age groups can find something in our product offering. We brought refreshing programming inventory quarter after quarter on each of our channels”
Channel
2015
2014
1.
690 808
2.
546
715
3.
498
509
4.
415
768
5.
398
780
6.
387
Not Applicable
7.
342
Not Applicable
8.
336
361
Rahul Johri |
Former EVP & GM – South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific
Top Advertisers on POGO & Cartoon Network in 2015 • HUL • Perfetti • GSK • Colgate • Reckitt Benckiser • Godrej • Dabur
(Scores out of 1000)
Media Delivery
INNOVATION RANK
BRAND SCORE
RANK
BRAND SCORE
1. Discovery 660
1. Discovery 710
2. National geographic 494
2. National geographic 573
3. Animal Planet
3. Animal Planet
440
551
4. POGO 408
4. POGO 423
5. Cartoon network
5. Cartoon network
379
400
6. Disney Channel India 350
6. Disney Channel India 389
7. Discovery Kids
7. Nickelodeon 372
320
8. Nickelodeon 312
8. Discovery Kids
306
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 23
tv-special interest Indian content standing right up there. Our biggest means of localisation to appeal to the viewers is our language,” he had said. Discovery Channel has topped the BrandOmeter charts this year as well, and although it has seen a dip in scores compared to last year, Johri isn’t perturbed. “In a cluttered television environment, viewers look for unique content that can satiate their curiosity and offers high entertainment value. We brought a varied portfolio of brand so that viewers across age groups can find something in our product offering. We brought refreshing programming inventory quarter after quarter on each of our channels,” he says. Discovery is over a 100 points above Nat Geo and Animal Planet in the overall ranking, whereas kids channels only begin from number 4. Johri credits his desi programming for last year’s success. “We have consistently presented India themes that can travel the world and international themes relevant to India. Indian audiences have embraced our rich library of high quality programming because it inspires them to dream and explore their world,” he explains. Explaining the dip After last year’s Pitch BrandOmeter saw several Special Interest channels in the top 10 ranks across categories, this year there are none. Juhi Ravindranath, Vice President - Head of Ad Sales, South Asia, Turner International India blames the Maggi ban
Professionalism RANK
BRAND SCORE
Relationship RANK
BRAND SCORE
1. Discovery 652
1. Discovery 600
2. National geographic 541
2. Animal Planet
3. Animal Planet
415
3. National geographic 432
4. POGO 376
4. Disney Channel India 398
5. Cartoon network
5. POGO 394
367
508
6. Disney Channel India 364
6. Cartoon network
373
7. Nickelodeon 331
7. Discovery Kids
312
8. Discovery Kids
8. Nickelodeon 300
310
among other things. “In terms of advertising, 2015 was a good year for the industry with a healthy 14 per cent growth largely driven by the Cricket World Cup, multiple HD channel launches and categories such as E-commerce, which fuelled growth in mass channels, sports and in special interest genres like English movies,” she says, adding, “The kids genre had a good double digit growth, but with challenges like the instant noodle ban for half the year and a limited growth on kids category clients. To counter this, kids genre increased its dependence on non-kids brands which today stands at 65 per cent. The overall dip in special interest channels this year is more specifically explained by Anita Nayyar, CEO, India & South Asia, Havas Media Group. “If it is from the numbers perspective, well BARC is the answer, it has done that to most channels. A function of working with more meters, more parameters, differently defined audiences,
24 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
tv-special interest Sales Team Knowledge
RANK
BRAND SCORE
Servicing Ability
RANK
BRAND SCORE
1. Discovery 600
1. Discovery 861
2. Animal Planet
2. National geographic 712
508
3. National geographic 432
3. Animal Planet
4. Disney Channel India 398
4. POGO 507
5. POGO 394
5. Discovery Kids
6. Cartoon network
373
6. Disney Channel India 469
7. Discovery Kids
312
7. Cartoon network
8. Nickelodeon 300
598 483 458
8. Nickelodeon 408
If it is an audience fit, the advertiser is always keen. Special interest channels provide more focused audiences. But here, content plays a critical role. Only fresh, relevant content holds the audience.” Anita Nayyar |
CEO, India & South Asia, Havas Media GroupIndia
sample sizes, rural data etc. Multiple device content consumption is yet another phenomenon which is spliting viewership especially for special interest channels,” she told us. Keeping up the tempo While Discovery may be enjoying its position and strong brand positioning among viewers and its advertisers, it must also, like all special interest channels, keep providing innovative, fresh content. “In today’s highly cluttered environment is it imperative to provide high-quality and consistent product. The content needs to be extraordinary to catch the attention of the viewer. It also needs to be available on all platforms and marketed smartly. It has to be customised to cater to all target groups,” Johri says, talking of viewer delight being at the core of Discovery’s strategy. Importantly, it should not come as a surprise to pundits that Discovery has stayed on top thanks to its multi-layered strategy that not only reaches out to the youth but also to children, women, family and regional audience with its distinct brand portfolio. Nayyar believes it is only the special interest channels that provide a great fit for advertisers. “If it is an audience fit, the advertiser is always keen. Special interest channels provide more focused audiences. But here, content plays a critical role. Only fresh, relevant content holds the audience. Navigating the youth wave on air as well as online by being delivering a more robust experience towards this group will go a long way” she suggests.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 25
tv-special interest
‘For History TV18, it’s been a spectacular year’ Avinash Kaul CEO, IBN News Network & President of A+E Networks | TV18
ON FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT GENRE Factual entertainment had a great year last year. It’s seen a lot of traction in terms of the interest of broadcasters. Not many are taking the kind of bets that we are taking in this space. You will see a lot more action in this space.
‘The factual entertainment category is still underleveraged’ Piyush Sharma Group APAC & India CEO, Living Group, Zee Entertainment
26 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
tv-special interest
ON HISTORY TV18 It’s been a spectacular year. We are profitable and have grown significantly over the last year, in fact the fastest among anybody in the category. Looking ahead, our key focus will be on distribution and marketing. You will see great content and some very big shows coming up on History-TV18. The best is yet to come and a lot more action expected.
H
ow did the factual entertainment category, as a whole, perform last year? The Factual Entertainment category is still quite under penetrated and under leveraged in the country. It has a long way to go to be able to meet up with global standards of the FE category in terms of audience share and in terms of contribution to the overall advertising pie. How would you assess last year’s performance of Living Foodz? Living Foodz continues to be the trailblazer first offering from Livingm marking ZEE’s foray into the factual entertainment space. The channel has raised the bar with regards to cutting edge food entertainment programming and in terms of attracting a huge non-hygiene category viewership.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 27
tv-special interest
KIDS
KIDS – Overall RANK
channels
1. 2.
2015
2014
POGO
415
768
Cartoon network
398
780
3.
Disney Channel India
387
Not Applicable
4.
Discovery Kids
342
Not Applicable
5.
Nickelodeon
336
361
Media delivery Channel
INNOVATION Channel
2015
2014
POGO
408 773
Cartoon network
379
Disney Channel India
350
Not Applicable
Discovery Kids
320
Not Applicable
Nickelodeon
312 302
793
Professionalism Channel
2015
2014
POGO
376 744
Cartoon network
367
Disney Channel India
364
Nickelodeon Discovery Kids
2015
2014
POGO
423 804
Cartoon network
400
Disney Channel India
389
Nickelodeon
372 340
Discovery Kids
306
840
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Relationship Channel
2015
2014
Disney Channel India
398
Not Applicable
POGO
394 741
Cartoon network
373
Discovery Kids
312
Nickelodeon
300 418
747
Not Applicable
Sales Team Knowledge Channel
2015
2014
Cartoon network
433
POGO
399 753
Disney Channel India
381
Not Applicable
331 418
Discovery Kids
372
Not Applicable
310
Nickelodeon
308 342
772
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
28 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
747
tv-special interest
‘We saw a lot of innovation and new genres being explored’ Nina Elavia Jaipuria EVP & Business Head, Kids Cluster, Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd
H
ow did you see the Kids cluster perform as a whole last year? The kids cluster performed beautifully. We saw new channels joining the bandwagon and it’s a cluttered space. We are about 14 to 15 channels and still counting, not taking into account the smaller regional channels. Having said that, you are seeing new shows being launched, a lot of innovation happening and new genres being explored. The kids’ genre is a large genre, with a 6% share of total urban+ rural (U+R) viewership and 8% share of total urban viewership (CS4+). Kids entertainment is here to stay and monetization is only getting better. From an
kids
overall perspective, we are in a great place. How do you assess the performance of your channels last year? Nick has been the number one kids channel for the last 20 months and we were able to monetize that success. We are seeing profitable growth while capturing the hearts and minds of kids, creating characters and telling stories the way we love to tell them. The franchise has delivered and we have a complete offering across age groups, demographics – urban and rural, and across languages – English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The South contributes almost 25% of our ratings. We have a very large successful portfolio which is here to grow and tell more stories.
‘The focus has been to grow the business overall’ Juhi Ravindranath Vice President - Ad Sales, South Asia, Turner International India ON KIDS CLUSTER Television had a really good year and grew by 14-15%. The kids’ genre also grew in line with that and Turner Kids also grew by a similar percentage. In the kids genre, the focus has been to grow the business overall. It is an under-monetized genre.
ON TURNER KIDS At Turner Kids, the focus has been on driving non-traditional category as the number of kids advertisers is limited. Providing innovative solutions to clients has been a big revenue driver. The success of this gives Servicing Ability us a lot of confidence and also drives us harder to work on such relations with clients. Driving up yields is critical, Channel 2015 2014 obviously through rates, but it is also about more value to advertisers. A pillar of growth has been growth more POGO 507 777 categories. We focus on a category breaking approach Discovery Kids 483 Not Applicable because once you break a category, you break one client, then it’s easier to get others. We have had success with Disney Channel India 469 Not Applicable automobiles - Honda and Maruti, consumer durables – LG and Samsung, e-commerce players and even added new Cartoon network 458 750 FMCG players like Patanjali
Nickelodeon
408 377 www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 29
TV-Sports
The Game’s
Just Begun
T
here has been a remarkable distinction in our BrandOmeter issue and survey of last year and this. Until 2014, much of the sports and sports based programming would seek expected chunks of attention and budgets, but this time round, we have enough action to have a separate category altogether. ‘TV – Sports’ as a basket of choices for media planners and advertisers began mushrooming two years ago, but it truly became a formidable force in 2015. Albeit it was a Cricket World Cup year, but the best part of this story is that there are now many non-cricket alternatives that are engaging for the viewer and profitable for the advertiser.
Advent of sports on TV
From last year’s no-show on our lists, there are now two sports channels, Star Sports and Ten Sports in the Top 12 TV media
From last year’s no-show, there are now two sports channels on our top media brands list. It’s safe to say that the phenomenon of sports entertainment has arrived
Sports Channels – Overall RANK
channels
2014
1.
444 539
2.
358
493
3.
345
431
4.
329
465
brands. How has the evolution of sports entertainment on TV and the availability of multiple sports properties through the year helped advertisers? “Sports has really moved a lot beyond cricket like kabaddi, badminton, soccer, wrestling, hockey, tennis, etc. These
30 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
2015
(properties) offer advertisers to choose options from many which have less clutter and plan their marketing activities which could be relevant and also offer sustainability,” explains Neelkamal Sharma, COO - Buying, Madison World. It is safe to say that sports programming equals
TV-Sports
Sports Channels Media delivery
Innovation CHANNEL
2015
2014
Star Sports
859
634
Ten Sports
734
618
Sony Six
503
Not Applicable
Neo Sports
476
465
‘entertainment’, and this insight influences media plans. Sharma feels that if a brand has a strategy which could ride on sport offering both large audience base and relevant platform, it can. “Cricket used to restrict many brands with small or medium marketing budgets to associate with it but non-cricket sports have opened many windows for these brands to
CHANNEL
2015
2014
Star Sports
863
662
Ten Sports
789
641
Sony Six
532
Not Applicable
Neo Sports
472
490
build their communication around these sports,” he says.
New Star on the horizon
This year, two sports channels (Star Sports & Ten Sports) ranked high on the list of overall TV brands. Star Sports in particular, with its packed calendar of domestic leagues that are both homegrown and well-funded, has
made more than a trail here. Swati Rathi, Head of Marketing and Senior General Manager, Godrej Appliances, a significant spender on sports properties is glad to have a biggie in the bouquet. “In the past decade, the content of sports channels has become more fun and entertaining as compared to earlier times, especially in India. The IPL format has helped
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 31
TV-Sports Professionalism CHANNEL
Relationship
2015
2014
Star Sports
826
641
Ten Sports
661
Neo Sports Sony Six
2015
2014
Star Sports
781
645
632
Ten Sports
614
608
469
510
Sony Six
490
Not Applicable
412
Not Applicable
Neo Sports
408
501
other sports like kabaddi, football and wrestling to garner talent as well as popularity. This increasing popularity of sports channels and particularly sports other than cricket have helped brands get a wider audience reach going across age and gender,” she says. E-commerce giant Flipkart which has been associated with Star Network’s runaway hit Pro Kabaddi, is more than gratified with the visibility the new League is bringing. “Flipkart is a reflection of the spirit of the ‘new India’, rooted in its tradition and yet modern in its outlook. From that perspective it made great sense for us to be associated with an indigenous sport like kabaddi. From a business perspective, driving market development and accelerating adoption of online shopping across different consumer segments is our key focus area. We felt that the Pro Kabaddi is a property that appeals to a diverse set of audience, cutting across both genders and various markets. Hence the synergy between the two players was obvious,” explains Shoumyan Biswas, VP – Marketing, Flipkart. As regards Star, Biswas is not surprised at the broadcast giant hitting the highs on the BrandOmeter charts this survey. “Star has been a consistent partner with Flipkart in not just for our regular marketing campaigns but also for strategic partnerships – be it ISL, IPTL or PKL. Flipkart & Star are both industry leaders
CHANNEL
in their respective space - our association has been strong from the onset and has become increasingly stronger throughout our long journey in the last two years,” he tells us. And it’s not only retail and e-commerce, the phenomenon of ‘sports entertainment’ has helped many other categories of advertisers. “Both traditional and non-traditional advertisers benefitted from sports but auto, handsets, bank/finance or new advertisers who are late entrants in any category who are looking to build instant reach and TOMA for their brands in short span of
This increasing popularity of sports channels and particularly sports other than cricket have helped brands get a wider audience reach going across age and gender” Swati Rathi |
Head of Marketing and Senior General Manager, Godrej Appliances
32 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
time; also ones who would like to ride their communication on sports which gets new viewers as well apart from regular television viewers,” Sharma says.
Game has just begun
It is no lie to say that sports entertainment is here to stay as a potent option for our planners and advertisers. In fact, there are already two more leagues – one in wrestling and another in badminton, which will impact next year’s survey. Not to mention, the launch of yet another big player, Sony ESPN and its HD variant. “Sports entertainment always attracted advertisers due to offering new target audiences across age groups including light viewers but what restricted them to build long term strategies based on sports is its increasing costs hence challenge for broadcasters will be to offer better returns on brands’ investments. So that they can rely on sports led strategies and plan their initiatives accordingly,” Sharma adds. The industry is also looking at a hybrid model of TV and mobile that’s just begun to flourish. Experts are sure that if the masses are engaged by particular sports, they will watch them for sure on television or recorded content on devices. “Smart phones along with 4G offer a brilliant viewing experience for their favorite content and it will only grow. But the fun of watching on big screen will not go for sports lovers,” Sharma predicts.
TV-Sports Sales Team Knowledge CHANNEL
Servicing Ability
2015
2014
CHANNEL
2015
2014
Star Sports
924
606
Star Sports
1030
600
Ten Sports
674
615
Ten Sports
954
600
Sony Six
518
Not Applicable
Sony Six
617
Not Applicable
Neo Sports
515
461
Neo Sports
585
434
‘Sport cuts across genders and markets’ Shoumyan Biswas VP – Marketing at Flipkart
Why did Flipkart choose to associate with Star Sports Pro Kabaddi? Flipkart is an Indian company. Right from its inception, the brand has been built around strong Indian values. We are also a reflection of the spirit of the ‘new India’, rooted in its tradition and yet modern in its outlook. From that perspective, it made great sense for us to be associated with an indigenous sport such as kabaddi. From a business perspective, driving market development and accelerating adoption of online shopping across different consumer segments is our key focus area. We felt that the Pro Kabaddi League, is a property that appeals to a diverse set of audience, cutting across both genders and various markets. Hence the synergy between the two players was obvious. What has been Flipkart’s
experience with Star as regards professionalism, media delivery, relationship and innovation? Star has been a consistent partner with Flipkart in not just for our regular marketing campaigns but also for strategic partnerships – be it ISL, IPTL or PKL. Flipkart & Star are both industry leaders in their respective space - our association has been strong from the onset and has become increasingly stronger throughout our long journey in the last two years. Star has become a market leader in sports, and PKL is now vying to compete with GECs. How does that benefit Flipkart? As the market leader, at Flipkart, we believe that driving market development and accelerating adoption of online shopping across different consumer segments is one of our key focus areas. Reaching out to various consumer segments and inviting them to start their online shopping journey with us is therefore a clear reflection of our commitment
towards organizing retail in India. Sports today has become a key source of entertainment for the Indian family audience and the Star team have been at the forefront of bringing this change in our society. We believe that an indigenous sport like kabaddi with a partner like Star Sports will reach out to a diverse set of audience, cutting across both genders and various markets. And hence we believe that the association will work in our favour. Which other sports channels or properties of sports entertainment is Flipkart planning to partner with? Flipkart has been associated with a whole array of sports for the last 2 years – football through ISL, kabaddi through PKL, tennis through IPTL and last but not the least with cricket. We hope to continue patronizing different forms of sports in India basis its relevance to the TG we are targeting.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 33
TV-Sports
‘The IPL experience continues to break records’ Prasana Krishnan,
H
ow did the sports category as a whole perform last year? The year 2015 was a big year in sports, especially cricket with the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Cricket World Cup. The Indian Premier League was the big highlight of the year recording an incredible growth of 21% in viewership as well as the highest rated tournament in the last 5 seasons. 2015 also marked the re-entry of ESPN in the Indian sports broadcasting industry through an agreement with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN). The tie-up between SPN, one of the fastest growing television and digital networks in India, and ESPN, one of the most favoured and respected sports brands in the world was followed by the launch of SONY ESPN & SONY ESPN HD channels. The trend of domestic sports leagues has taken off in India and is gaining momentum with viewers. What primarily started with cricket with the Indian Premier League has now spread to other sports like wrestling, tennis, hockey, football, kabaddi, etc. Pro Wrestling League which made its debut on our network in 2015, was the biggest new launch of the year and immediately found its place among the top three domestic leagues in India. Regional feeds for broadcasting sports properties
EVP and Business Head Sports Cluster, Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd was a pioneering initiative by SPN in India. SPN went on to telecast five language feeds, including the first ever Telugu feed, in 2015 for cricket and select other sports. How would you assess last year’s performance of the sports channels under Sony Pictures Network? The last year was a big year for the Sony Sports cluster. Our portfolio increased significantly with the acquisition of marquee sports properties. Our focus areas were sharply defined: Football, Tennis, Basketball, and Fight Sports and we worked on providing comprehensive coverage of our premiere properties Football: We had already established ourselves as the home of international football with the acquisition of FIFA Qualifiers, Euro 2016, FIFA 2018, FIFA U-17 in India, 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and Africa Cup of Nations to name a few. In 2015, we further expanded our footprint to Copa America as well as international domestic leagues and tournaments like LaLiga, Serie A and FA Cup. The extended offering further positions us as the premier destination for unparalleled football viewing experience. Tennis: Our portfolio got stronger with the acquisition of the Australian Open which was our very first entry into broadcasting a
34 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Grand Slam event. We also signed a five-year deal with ATP Media for exclusive broadcast rights of all major ATP World Tour events to be telecast across the Indian Subcontinent up to 2020. The acquisition of ATP rights in our portfolio, along with the Australian Open and the Champions Tennis League is a strategic one that positions us as the ‘home of tennis’ in India. Basketball: We extended our associations with NBA until 2020. NBA is synonymous with basketball and enjoys a great connect with the younger generation. Basketball is among the fastest growing sports In India and we have seen a significant growth in viewership. For the first time in India, we launched a locally produced weekly wrap around show, Around the Hoop, with engaging sports content produced exclusively for the audiences in India. Fight Sports: There was a lot of focus on fight sports last year and we showcased the iconic Fight of the Century with Mayweather vs Pacquaio and followed it up with the Mayweather Vs Berto fight. On the domestic front we also had Vijender Singh’s professional debut as well as the Pro Wrestling League making headlines on our channel. We also renewed our partnership with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling until 2022. Along with the broadcast of Ultimate Fighting Championship and TNA, we have firmly cemented our positioning as the ‘home of fight sports’.
TV-Sports
2015: The year of WWE, Moto GP, cricket and football... Rajesh Sethi Global CEO, TEN Sports Network
H
ow did the sports category, as a whole, perform last year? As we have been seeing, Sports is one of the fastest growing television genres year on year with Sports now contributing over 5% of the overall television viewership. 2015 was a year with a lot of International Cricket and with the debut of many new sports leagues. The leagues are all operating on different models and whether or not they are sustainable is something we will
see in the coming years. UBA, the only professional basketball league in the country has also held its second season this year and planning ahead as well. They have unearthed so much talent and there is a real opportunity for basketball in India. Interest from brands has been positive. They are looking at other sports as well – WWE, Football are now competing with cricket for spends and have offered different entry points for brands which previously did not exist. So overall the last year has been great for sports – increased viewership, more investment make us look forward to the exciting times ahead. How would you assess last year’s performance of TEN
Sports? We are very happy with our network performance. We are the only network to have consistent year round viewership which shows that we are not dependent on Cricket or a particular season. Our key drivers this year have of course been the new programming we rolled out with WWE, our Moto GP content, Cricket and our football properties. We focussed on increased viewer engagement and for the first time ever produced WWE shows in India in different languages. These customized shows have received great response from the market – viewers and brands alike. We took our engagement to the next level with 2 WWE LIVE events in India – it was WWE’s first tour to India in 13 years with a full roster of talent. Football and Moto GP is now very attractive for advertisers. Cricket continues to be a key offering in our sports bouquet and we broadcasted over 100 days of LIVE Cricket. We rebranded Ten Golf to an HD platform, Ten Golf HD and the uptake for the channel post the rebranding exercise has been very encouraging. We have undergone a larger rebranding exercise and moved to numericbased channels.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 35
tv-Hindi GEC
Shuffle at the
top
Last year’s topper, Sony, may have fallen to number four but the Hindi GEC category is seeing so much action, the shuffle has just only begun
A
show by Balaji Telefilms, a show with Amitabh Bachchan and a show on Ramayana, with a twist. Star’s Network’s shiny ship, GEC Star Plus may have had a tepid first half of the year according to its own standards but it sure picked up steam in the second half, especially after Diwali. 2015 was also the year when, in its 21st year in India, Multi Screen Media Private Limited (MSM) rebranded itself Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited (SPN). But that apart, the network adopted an aggressive
growth strategy with a new team and reoriented themselves back to its core positioning – urban viewers. This year’s BrandOmeter has a new topper – Star Plus takes the number one position, toppling Sony which has not only lost to be leader but has slipped to number four. While Colors climbed up to number 4, perhaps thanks to the Bigg Boss ratings, new entrant &TV found itself at number 6 overall in Hindi GECs. How did the shuffle at the top happen and what does newbie ‘&TV’ have in store for this year with the biggies, we asked the experts.
36 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Overcoming the slowdown The GECs have long understood the ecosystem of sportsentertainment in India now and programme their best shot at GRPs with many factors in mind. Like the past half a decade, the IPL’s two months remain a no-go for huge shows or youth-savvy content. Nearly all GECs faced a slowdown not only during the IPL but also the India-South Africa cricket series and also the predictable Diwali season. The great stand out from the good in how they bounce back, though, and Star Plus, after witnessing a Diwali fall, hit back post the festivities with
tv-Hindi GEC
Overall ranking RANK
channels
2015
2014
1
Star Plus
953
755
2
Colors
861
658
3
Zee TV
757
667
4
Sony
729
827
5
Life OK
590
509
6
& TV
550
Not Applicable
7
Sab TV
528
531
8
DD National Network
469
Not Applicable
The channel has always resonated with 15-34 yrs females, and in the last two years the content has not really worked for them, though male viewership has grown, so we are working towards a balance. We want to bring back our female viewers especially on the weekdays” NP Singh |
CEO, Sony Pictures Networks the launch of Siya ke Ram. The new show, widely publicised and heavily marketed to planners and advertisers, met expectations and the channel saw nearly 34 GRPs in the week post Diwali. Colors on the other hand replaced ‘Balika Vadhu’ and ‘Udaan’ with ‘Naagin’, and it rose to the top, claiming the number one GRP position for many weeks until the end of 2015. What are a GEC’s keys? Clutter-breaking shows and GRPs apart, what are the factors that play a role with media planners and advertisers in determining which GEC will be
their vehicle, especially when there is such multiplicity in the market? Swati Rathi, Head of Marketing and Senior General Manager, Godrej Appliances, attributes this to many. “There are a number of factors popularity of a GEC in priority markets, type of programming, profile of audience catered to and more,” she says, adding that aspects such as a show’s resonance with the key message of the campaign can often be the deciding factor. “As a brand, we also actively look at product integrations and hence a good fit of the product within the overall storyline and
conversations in the program is also looked at. Innovations offered and overall returns from the channel go a long way in determining the GEC selection,” Rathi explains. Neelkamal Sharma, COO – Buying at Madison World added another deciding factor, especially with this year’s survey throwing a new topper. “Most important factor is the parent network it belongs to and also the entrepreneurship of handling the business which is the core competency of the network,” he said. Curious case of Sony It must be quite a story, and not
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 37
tv-Hindi GEC Innovation Channel
Media Delivery
2015
2014
Star Plus
909
738
Star Plus
951
Colors
840 669
Colors
848 709
Zee TV
689
Zee TV
810
Sony
651 778
Sony
799 886
Life OK
542
466
Life OK
613
507
& TV
511
Not Applicable
Sab TV
581
526
Sab TV
465
& TV
573
Not Applicable
DD National Network
410
DD National Network
543
Not Applicable
just the excellent programming by rivals, that Sony fell from its top position to as low as number four. According to NP Singh, CEO at the channel, the broadening of the viewership canvas did not work. “We were trying to follow a more inclusive strategy and some elements of that haven’t worked. The channel has always resonated with 15-34 yrs female, and in the last two years the content has not really worked for them, though male viewership has grown, so we working towards a balance. We want to bring back our female viewers especially on the weekdays,” he says, adding that the first six months of 2016 would see a ‘big surge’ in viewership. Sharma, on the other hand puts it clearly: “It has been long that Sony is waiting for their at least two-three shows to do well but there is still a wait. Hence it is their performance which has brought them down in ranking but given the gap, they are relatively better off when compared to other players in terms of their overall ranking
626
444
Not Applicable
Channel
along with their performance.” So the flagship channel of the network, which has in its repertoire iconic shows such as Kaun Banega Crorepati and Boogie Woogie, is currently going to a difficult phase, and its CEO agrees. “The flagship (channel) continues to be my number one priority in addition to growing the network and with that in mind we have put in place a new management team. Danish Khan has joined as the business head of that channel (Sony TV) and he has put in place a new team under him in content, communication, on-air promotions, research and strategy, marketing, etc,” Singh tells us. As far as broadening the canvas goes, Sony hasn’t really given up on that either, so do not rule it out to hit the top very soon. After all, MSM is the only network with three mainstream GEC channels. On plans for the network’s third GEC Sony Pal, Singh said, “It has gone through the content strategy change and viewer traction is growing. There
38 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
2015
2014 794
681
tv-Hindi GEC Relationship Channel
Sales Team Knowledge
2015
2014
Channel
2015
2014
Star Plus
920
763
Star Plus
973
Colors
757 643
Colors
869 644
Zee TV
734
Zee TV
772
Sony
673 830
Sony
714 835
Life OK
598
531
Life OK
622
& TV
559
Not Applicable
& TV
558
Sab TV
536
Sab TV
537
DD National Network
494
DD National Network
445
662
598
Not Applicable
759
658
500
Not Applicable 520
Not Applicable
Servicing Ability Channel
2015
2014
Colors
1100
660
TOI
1000 Not Applicable
Sony
918 803
Zee TV
885
669
Life OK
686
530
& TV
634
Sab TV
615
DD National Network
566
Not Applicable 531
Not Applicable
is a broad outline for the next six months that we will start working on.” New order next year? Things may be looking shaky for not just last year’s topper but all players of the category, we feel as new series, award shows and sitcoms stir up the Indian television scene. Remember, this time last year, &TV had just begun and it scooped up 90.6 million GVTs in its first week itself. And with Sony planning to launch ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ with the 9pm slot soon, there is reason to believe next year’s BrandOmeter might just wear a different look!
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 39
tv-Hindi GEC
COLUMN
Servicing Ability
The 10 pm friend Shripad Kulkarni, Managing Director Vizeum, India
Servicing ability is to fire-fight and respond at the eleventh hour, that’s what separates the good media from the great
S
ervicing by media’ for agencies and clients is about help in flawless execution of campaigns. It also is about flexibility in deal structures, positioning of advertisements and help in last minute requirements and changes. Transparency while dealing with agencies and their clients is an important for agencies. Agencies are aware of the constraints and revenue compulsions of leading media, so when leading media such as Colors, Aaj Tak and Times of India, which have topped the BrandOMeter charts this survey, show these qualities, agencies appreciate them better. Servicing ability of a media organisation can give an edge to its advertisers, as it determines the servicing ability of agencies to clients. Along with the relationship media people enjoy with the agency, the media’s servicing ability is a very critical aspect of the client-mediaagency ecosystem. I can vouch for this by giving a real-life anecdote! I was a Business Head, and it was around 10 pm on one long working day, when I got a frantic call from a client regarding
40 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
next day’s launch campaign schedule. There was some miscommunication on a deal between one of my buyers and a leading GEC. I immediately got the client and the Channel’s Revenue Head on a conference call and requested the Revenue Head to help out, giving him my word that within the next 48 hours we will sit and re-work the deal. He helped me out of this and we have been very close friends ever since! I have worked with some very efficient media and over the years seen their systems working like clockwork. Once you get even a verbal confirmation from such media, there is no chance of any change or shift in the schedule without proper prior notice. Let me wind up by talking about best practice. It is first about what I call the ‘calibration of relationship’. Often, it is not a conscious, calibrated strategy but is people-dependent. Some media organisations believe in fostering relationship building attitude in ad sales, but many don’t. Personally, I believe in the perhaps old-fashioned relationship-based culture.
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www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 41
tv-news
The slant is
clear A
t the 2015 saw a cricket world cup and a keenly fought state election in Bihar among many other news episodes. In the latter, especially, Hindi news channels had their tasks cut out right from the day the election dates were announced – the Hindi speaking belt takes its politics very seriously and there was massive scope for intelligent, rabble-rousing, clever, noisy programming. In September, Aaj Tak held a
Hindi channels raced ahead again, with Aaj Tak emerging on top after a close contest with ABP News. What do English news brands need to do to up their game?
conclave in Patna which perhaps was one of their biggest events in the run up to the state polls. The line-up of speakers included incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ex Chief Minister and President RJD and Jitan Ram Manjhi, Former Chief Minister of Bihar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and IT, Upendra Kushwaha, MoS for Human Resource Development, Asaduddin Owaisi, President AIMIM and many more across party lines and fields.
42 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
When political leadership such as this, from ruling and opposition parties from the state’s political landscape discuss the biggest issues, there is little doubt in the industry about which media brand can have the biggest pull with advertisers and media planners too. As it was, Aaj Tak had led the news pack in the BARC ratings in previous months, closely followed by but never overtaken by ABP News. What Aaj Tak did right
tv-news News channels – overall RANK
channel
2015
2014
1
803
721
2
779
558
3
716
4
561
549
5
504
606
6
485
444
7
472
457
8
470
607
9
466
669
10
454
Not Applicable
11
453
633
12
453
Not Applicable
13
433
441
14
380
319
15
380
Not Applicable
16
366
Not Applicable
17
363
581
487
Ashish Bagga, Group CEO, India Today Group, put a finger on the highest standards of professionalism in explaining the channel’s success in BrandoMeter. “No matter how easy or tough the environment is, the attitude is always positive. An undeterred mindset to leave no stone unturned whether it’s the value to the viewer or to the advertiser. This approach is what keeps them on the top of the game. I would like to congratulate Rajnish and his team for very effectively handling the Nation’s No.1 news brand by far. They have raised the benchmarks yet again by being true to all their promises, exemplary product, exemplary communication, exemplary servicing and delivery,” he said. That Aaj Tak offers customised solutions made them clear leaders in the news genre. Their innovative thought matched with top assets created unmatched value across impact properties. “The rate structure of Aaj Tak continues to be admired by the business associates for the multiple choices, transparent dealings and hence there is high level of trust in the business. Our advertising rates as per our rate card are consistent and we don’t give any special discounts to any advertiser. The advertisers respect this and understand that we charge a premium for the value that we offer,” Bagga explains the numbers. All about comfort levels Much of what Aaj Tak enjoys with media planners today can be credited to relationship and equations over the past years. “There is a clear expectation setting with our clients as we have always delivered much more than our promise. It is a relationship of trust, respect and solutions enabling the client to achieve the desired results. Our sales team’s understanding of the media environment, advertiser needs and objectives along with an in-depth product knowledge, a solution oriented mindset and an innovative approach is what keeps us on top,” Bagga feels. We are told the sales team is updated weekly on the new benchmarks that
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 43
tv-news Aaj Tak crosses in ratings and new content formats. There is continuous training on approach, client understanding and how the client can benefit by associating
with Aaj Tak. Webbing syndicated research like TGI, IRS, NUMAR with BARC/ TAM has kept the channel’s team equipped to recommend the most effective plans to clients.
INNOVATION Channel
ABP tops in media delivery Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, ABP News Network, which has scored just less than 30 points on the overall table than the topper Aaj Tak, is happy about his delivery
media delivery
2015
2014
Channel
2015
2014
Aaj Tak
748
714
ABP News
831
590
ABP News
700
554
Aaj Tak
801
761
Zee News
678
435
Zee News
729
510
NDTV India
509
597
NDTV India
607
562
Times Now
471
611
Times Now
536
613
NDTV 24 x7
457
708
IBN 7
515
401
IBN 7
444
427
India TV
506
480
CNN-IBN
435 588
NDTV 24 x7
483
666
NDTV Profit
429
Not Applicable
CNBC TV 18
470
CNBC TV 18
423
Not Applicable
BBC News
466
professionalism Channel
2015
Not Applicable 662
relationship
2014
Channel
2015
2014
Aaj Tak
751
651
Aaj Tak
748
741
ABP News
712
518
ABP News
748
544
Zee News
601
487
Zee News
689
507
NDTV India
511
490
NDTV India
510
523
Times Now
448
596
IBN 7
475
461
IBN 7
442
474
CNN-IBN
471 608
CNN-IBN
427 641
Times Now
449
598
CNBC TV 18
427
India TV
447
493
India TV
424
451
CNBC TV 18
442
NDTV 24 x7
421
674
BBC News
438
Not Applicable
44 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Not Applicable 590
tv-news sales team knowledge Channel
2015
2014
servicing ability Channel
2015
2014
Aaj Tak
820
727
Aaj Tak
1011
719
ABP News
769
570
ABP News
973
562
Zee News
741
488
Zee News
912
507
NDTV India
573
539
NDTV India
695
563
BBC News
500
615
Times Now
663
598
Times Now
494
618
CNN-IBN
494 585
India TV
608
456
IBN 7
479
450
NDTV Profit
593
India TV
473
464
IBN 7
581
NDTV Profit
467
CNN-IBN
579 608
NDTV 24 x7
464
BBC News
574
systems and relationships too. In fact, ABP News have pipped Aaj Tak in the media delivery parameter (see table). “I think we have done well (on the media delivery parameter) because we try to live and work by the principles we stand for as a channel – honesty , being truthful and straight. Our constant endeavor to strike win-win relationships with our clients all the time and not leaving anyone feeling ‘short changed’. Lastly, we believe that empowering people on the ground to make the deals so that the decision is faster and decentralized,” he shares. Bagga winds up with confidence of remaining on top. “The fact that there is continued growth in spends from our regular advertisers is proof enough of the reliability of Aaj Tak among advertisers. Consistent overdelivery on commitments has made the channel a preferred platform among advertisers
Not Applicable 618
Not Applicable 475
611
looking at getting the maximum bang for their buck,” he says.
The fact that there is continued growth in spends from our regular advertisers is proof enough of the reliability of Aaj Tak among advertisers. Consistent overdelivery on commitments has made the channel a preferred platform Ashish Bagga |
Group CEO, India Today Group
The English factor Not surprisingly, there is no bucking the trend and fact of Indian media that English news channels are rated lower than their Hindi counterparts by advertisers and media planners. This year’s results see Times NOW coming in only at number 5, scoring even lower than the previous year’s number. Interestingly, it is the opposite of the trends in print, where English publications consistently enjoy better reputation from media planners than regional counterparts. The insight to this disparity isn’t anything Greek, it’s just the fact that the advertisers for both types are of varied natures and rely more on reach and numbers by opting for Hindi channels. That said, can English news channels up their game by offering innovations to lure even ‘that’ erstwhile regional media planner? Surely, and channel business heads might have a lot to chew on in 2016.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 45
tv-English News
About class and
catch-up The first English news channel in the overall top 10 only comes at number 5. But can this year’s changing newsscape get English news houses to up their game?
English News channels – overall RANK
F
or those who’ve followed BrandOMeter in its past issues or simply know about the media/advertising trust levels, there are no surprises. There has been no bucking the trend this survey that English news channels are rated lower than their Hindi counterparts by advertisers and media planners. This year’s results see Times NOW coming in only at number 5, scoring even lower than the previous year’s number. CNN-IBN, which is part of the Mukesh Ambani controlled Network18 Media and Investments Ltd, may be playing catch up with Times Now on
46 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
channel
2015
2014
1
Times Now
504
606
2
CNN-IBN
470
607
3
NDTV 24 x7
466
669
4
CNBC TV 18
454
Not Applicable
5
BBC News
453
633
6
NDTV Profit
453
Not Applicable
7
Headlines
433
441
8
News X
380
319
9
Bloomberg
380
Not Applicable
10
ET Now
366
Not Applicable
11
CNN
363
581
tv-English News
INNOVATION Channel
various TVR fronts but has given a stiff chase in perception meters. In ‘professionalism’ and ‘sales team knowledge’, there is not much to tell apart the two channels’ points and in ‘relationship’ the TV18 channel even overtakes the Arnab Goswami headed news channel.
2015
2014
Times Now
471
611
NDTV 24 x7
457
708
CNN-IBN
435 588
NDTV Profit
429
Not Applicable
CNBC TV 18
423
Not Applicable
Headlines Today
392
Bloomberg
390
BBC News
383
655
News X
339
234
ET Now
337
CNN
331
professionalism Channel
2015
363
Not Applicable
Not Applicable 547
media delivery
2014
Channel
2015
2014
Times Now
448
596
Times Now
536
613
CNN-IBN
427 641
NDTV 24 x7
483
666
CNBC TV 18
427
CNBC TV 18
470
NDTV 24 x7
421
BBC News
466
662
NDTV Profit
415
Headlines Today
455
448
BBC News
409
641
CNN-IBN
453 612
Headlines Today
394
474
NDTV Profit
447
News X
373
337
CNN
387
606
ET Now
364
Not Applicable
News X
383
309
Bloomberg
349
Not Applicable
Bloomberg
383
Not Applicable
CNN
328
ET Now
368
Not Applicable
Not Applicable 674
Not Applicable
604
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 47
tv-English News
sales team knowledge Channel
2015
2014
relationship Channel
2015
2014
BBC News
500
615
CNN-IBN
471 608
Times Now
494
618
Times Now
449
CNN-IBN
494 585
CNBC TV 18
442
NDTV Profit
467
BBC News
438
590
NDTV 24 x7
464
618
NDTV 24 x7
428
662
Headlines Today
448
467
Headlines Today
424
482
CNBC TV 18
433
NDTV Profit
408
Not Applicable
News X
399
ET Now
375
Not Applicable
Bloomberg
360
Not Applicable
Bloomberg
365
Not Applicable
ET Now
360
Not Applicable
News X
355
CNN
360
CNN
355
Not Applicable
Not Applicable 303
565
servicing ability Channel
2015
2014
Times Now
663
598
NDTV Profit
593
CNN-IBN
579 608
BBC News
574
611
NDTV 24 x7
561
670
CNBC TV 18
557
Headlines Today
513
438
News X
467
360
Bloomberg
443
CNN
441
ET Now
414
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable 565
Not Applicable
48 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
598
Not Applicable
406
602
Interestingly, this is the opposite of the trends in print, where English publications consistently enjoy better reputation from media planners than regional counterparts. The insight to this disparity isn’t anything Greek, it’s just the fact that the advertisers for both types are of varied natures and rely more on reach and numbers by opting for Hindi channels. This year, the English news-scape is poised to see big changes. After ‘Headlines Today’ has completed its brand metamorphosis to India Today TV successfully and already hosted newsmaking conclaves, there are other rebranding news in the offing. Just recently, CNN-IBN announced that it will be rebranded as CNN News18, complete with a new logo and a new studio, designed by US based Broadcast Design International Inc. More importantly, the company is refreshing its content as well, leveraging its content partnership with CNN. TV18 Broadcast also plans to do the same with its Hindi channels IBN7 and IBN Lokmat. Can English news channels up their game by offering innovations to lure even ‘that’ erstwhile regional media planner? Surely, and channel business heads might have a lot to chew on in 2016.
tv-English News
‘There’s a certain amount of energy back in the news space’ Avinash Kaul, CEO, IBN News Network & President of A+E Networks | TV18 ON NEWS CLUSTER There is a certain amount of energy back in the news space and it has seen a substantial amount of growth. It’s not a nascent category where nothing is happening, there is a lot of action happening every single day and that is what keeps it abuzz. Viewership has also seen a new revitalization of sorts because new audiences have been added. The second screen has also come up strongly. If we break it down into clusters, regional news is taking the leap forward and there is a lot more action happening in this space. A lot has been happening in the digital world, in terms of apps, news platforms etc, but none of this has resulted in any net erosion as far as news is concerned. News is still centre-stage. We are great consumers of news, and there is no issue as far as the genre is concerned but it just needs to learn to innovate with the times, be really dynamic to change, and we are betting heavily on that. The younger audience is looking at far more enriching content, not just politics but a lot more areas, and that’s where we are hoping our catchment would be. ON IBN NEWS Looking ahead, you will see more weekend content and we are looking to spruce up various other time bands of the day as far as CNN News18 is concerned. IBN7 will see a complete re-launch with a lot more shows across various pillars.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 49
tv-regional
T
he year started with a bang, and we are sure the media planners and advertisers may have seen it coming. In the first quarter, Star India and Maa Television Network announced a deal under which Star India acquired the broadcast business of Maa Television Network’s four channels – Maa general entertainment, Maa Gold, Maa Music and Maa Cinema, making it one of largest players in the Telugu market. The deal was estimated to be around Rs 2,500 crore according to media reports and gave Star access into a Rs 2,000-crore Telugu television market, the second largest in the regional space in terms of revenue potential. Eenadu’s X-Factor Telugu television’s growth story was only an indicator of the times to come and the trends among advertisers. As it turns out, a
A pole vault for
Eenadu From 382 points last year to topping the table with a whopping 780 points this time, Eenadu TV’s story has been indicative of the waves in the regional GEC space
channel that was ranked much lower last year by Brandometer’s respondents, now is on top. The Ramoji Rao led Eenadu TV made a pole vault from 382 points last year to topping our charts with 780 points this time. An insight into this as given to us by industry insiders is that BARC numbers have changed many channels’ perceptions through the data and in the minds
50 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
of professionals. While awaiting the stability to set in for BARC data, the qualitative evaluation apart from quantitative is also being considered by media professionals. Nonetheless, there is the element of ‘perception’ which may or may not map the hard numbers. “Eenadu has focused on its programming for viewership, has stepped on its movies and also set up
tv-regional regional channels – overall RANK
channel
2015
2014
1
Eenadu TV
780
382
2
Gemini TV
630
372
3
Maa Telugu
555
240
4
Zee Bangla
520
277
5
Zee Telugu
502
295
6
Sun TV
478
458
7
Star Jalsha
455
209
8
Udaya TV
455
310
9
ETV Bangla
452
251
10
ETV Kannada
425
274
11
Zee Marathi
424
259
12
Jaya TV
397
305
13
Zee Kannada
387
271
14
Star Pravah
384
Not Applicable
15
Raj TV
380
304
16
Vijay TV
379
298
17
Surya TV
364
280
18
Asianet
359
282
19
ETV Marathi
356
224
20
ETC Punjabi
338
Not Applicable
21
Kalaignar TV
329
290
22
PTC Punjabi
293
Not Applicable
the Eenadu Champion Cricket Cup which has all had positive effect on its image and been well accepted by its audience,” offers Anita Nayyar, CEO – India & South Asia, Havas Media Group. Eenadu has also made a case for itself in 2015 by being one of the sole regional players to offer a bouquet of tailor-made offerings to advertisers. This was possible with the biggest launch in a go in its 20-year-run in October, when it introduced four new channels - ETV Plus (for comedy), ETV Life (health and lifestyle), ETV Abhiruchi (food) and ETV Cinema for movies. K. Bapineedu Choudhary, chief executive officer of Eenadu Television, reportedly called the genres ‘rich in content and developed with subject specialists with high source credibility.” Interestingly, as for BrandOmeter, Gemini TV too got a similar makevoer
Eenadu has also made a case for itself in 2015 by being one of the sole regional players to offer a bouquet of tailor-made offerings to advertisers. This was possible with the launch of four new channels - ETV Plus (for comedy), ETV Life (health and lifestyle), ETV Abhiruchi (food) and ETV Cinema for movies. www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 51
tv-regional INNOVATION Channel
media delivery
2015
2014
Channel
2015
2014
Eenadu TV
714
302
Eenadu TV
789
359
Gemini TV
574
331
Gemini TV
656
397
Maa Telugu
523
164
Maa Telugu
579
230
Zee Bangla
475
204
Zee Bangla
560
275
Zee Telugu
444
207
Sun TV
526
508
Udaya TV
444
279
Zee Telugu
494
284
Sun TV
431
407
Star Jalsha
474
202
ETV Bangla
404
199
Udaya TV
474
297
Star Jalsha
389
172
ETV Bangla
474
224
Jaya TV
377
260
ETV Kannada
459
280
Professionalism Channel
2015
Relationship 2014
Channel
2015
2014
Eenadu TV
829
418
Eenadu TV
767
432
Gemini TV
535
379
Gemini TV
657
416
Zee Bangla
517
287
Maa Telugu
575
298
Maa Telugu
511
271
Zee Telugu
553
355
Zee Telugu
511
328
Zee Bangla
506
338
Sun TV
442
462
Star Jalsha
487
245
ETV Kannada
430
301
Zee Marathi
483
275
Star Jalsha
427
200
Sun TV
461
502
ETV Bangla
424
276
ETV Bangla
453
285
Udaya TV
421
318
ETV Kannada
445
325
in perceptions among media planners – this year’s data threw it right on number 2, followed by Maa Telugu and two channels from the formidable Zee regional table – Zee Bangla and Zee Telugu.
The onset of regional ‘Colors’ It might not have made a giant impact in this year’s survey but we expect big rises from the stable of Viacom18, for which 2015 was the year of announcing that
52 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
‘Colors’ will expand its portfolio by rebranding five ETV regional general entertainment channels (owned by Prism TV Private Limited). The move has expanded the footprint of brand Colors to key regional markets, as ETV
tv-regional Sales team knowledge Channel
2015
2014
Servicing ability Channel
2015
2014
Eenadu TV
738
401
Eenadu TV
889
421
Gemini TV
637
342
Gemini TV
768
376
Maa Telugu
509
224
Maa Telugu
665
285
Zee Telugu
479
289
Zee Bangla
633
310
Zee Bangla
460
276
Sun TV
606
456
ETV Bangla
448
241
Zee Telugu
568
339
Sun TV
433
411
Star Jalsha
562
250
Star Jalsha
433
200
ETV Bangla
539
307
Udaya TV
433
318
Udaya TV
532
344
Zee Marathi
399
256
Marathi, ETV Gujarati, ETV Kannada, ETV Bangla and ETV Oriya are donning the Colors identity. Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO Viacom18 Media had told us, “59 per cent of the country converses in regional languages as their primary language of choice. Today regional TV channels command the second largest viewership in India. The expansion fuels our growth strategy in building the Colors franchise, a brand that has become the cultural touchstone for millions of Indians across the world. The move will help us foray into key regional markets as we nurture and monetise the bouquet across platforms.” It is apparent that new regional programming line-ups have evolved to suit the socio-cultural ethos of the respective regional markets. Every regional channel now wants to bring alive the regional general entertainment through enhanced packaging and an integrated marketing approach.” View from the other end Do the advertisers recognise this boom in the regional TV space and more importantly, put their monies and energies in developing new relationships? Nayyar says, “They are certainly important to local marketers as well as national marketers having a regional audience. These marketers have a lot of confidence in regional channels both from a reach and content perspective.”
Overall this is a good organisation Channel 2015 2014 Eenadu TV
889
421
Gemini TV
768
376
Maa Telugu
665
285
Zee Bangla
633
310
Sun TV
606
456
Zee Telugu
568
339
Star Jalsha
562
250
ETV Bangla
539
307
Udaya TV
532
344
What Eenadu has done right last year serves almost as a growth module for other players in the regional space - refresh and revive content, don’t be afraid to diversify into niche content, up the channel packaging and be aggressive in promoting it. “They must push new and good properties, as in the end, content is the key. Attracting and touching the rural and youth audience is important,” Nayyar advises.
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 53
Print-INTRODUCTION
The Gulf of
language 54 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Print-INTRODUCTION
R
egional is the new national’, the pundits had said a couple of years back, and the Indian print industry’s trends vouched for that – regional language publications continued to have a dominant growth. While readership and circulation meters have their trends based on changing habits and growing demographics, the key in 2015 was and will still be content differentiation. Advertisers and media planners have no two opinions about which is the tool of choice to reach out to Tier II and Tier III towns – it’s regional publications. Also, sectors such
as pharma, footwear and organised retail would always choose a Hindi or regional daily for their biggest campaigns. All that said, just why, in multiple surveys of BrandOmeter, would regional and Hindi publications fall behind their English counterparts? Unlike in TV news, where Aaj Tak, ABP News and Zee News have ruled the roost and the first English channel (Times NOW) comes in only at rank five, things are a lot different in print. This issue, while Times Of India has expectedly hit the highs in all factors, followed by Hindustan Times, Hindu and Economic Times, the Hindi list begins with Hindustan and goes down to Navbharat
Times, Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagran in overall rankings. The moot point – Hindustan’s overall rating of 444 is at par with that of DNA, which is ranked number 6 in the English list. In the regional ratings, the numero uno is Anand Bazaar Patrika, followed by Malayala Manorama and Eenadu. But again, if you look at their scores on innovation, servicability and others, it won’t take too much insight to figure they have fallen. We spoke with the experts as well as media representatives to know just what the Hindi and regional publications can do to up their game and match up with English counterparts.
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56 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 57
Print-Hindi & Regional
Delightful
Conundrums Media buyers and brands trust the reach of regional dailies over their English counterparts. So why do they rate them lower on all criteria? We ask voices across the board on what regional leaders need to do‌
58 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Print-Hindi & Regional
I
n a year when the shrillness of television news media was under more gaze, the Indian print media continued to buck the global trend of flailing fortunes and falling reader interests. A total of 1,05,443 publications were registered as on March 31 last year, out of which 14,984 were dailies and bi/ tri-weeklies while the remaining 90,459 were other periodicals. Interestingly, the largest number of newspapers and periodicals registered in any Indian language was 42,493 for Hindi, followed by 13,661 for English. Government figures claimed, as announced by Mr Arun Jaitley, that total circulation of the registered publications stood at 51.05 crore, as against 45.05 crore in 2014. Does that mean higher revenue for publications from advertisers too? Not really. In July DB Corp, of the Dainik Bhaskar Hindi newspaper, announced quarterly results with an increase in circulation
Overall ranking - Hindi RANK
Publication
2015
2014
1.
444 539
2.
358
493
3.
345
431
4.
329
465
5.
284
349
6.
149
304
Overall ranking - Regional RANK
Publication
2015
2014
1.
409 421
2.
361
410
320
Not Applicable
320
317
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Ananda Bazaar Patrika Malayala Manorama Eenadu
Mathrubhumi Daily Thanthi Maharashtra Times Lokmat
9.
Gujarat Samachar
10.
Bartaman
305
Not Applicable
254
289
249
295
247
Not Applicable
228
301
200
268
Loksatta www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 59
Print-Hindi & Regional by as much as 16 per cent but a decrease in ad revenues by 8 per cent. What did the BrandOmeter respondents decide on, as regards their picks?
The overall downer
Of the Hindi dailies, Hindustan retained its overall numero uno ranking but fell in rating points to sub-500 levels from 2014’s 539 (see table). It wasn’t the only publication to fall from its own mark, and the decline of Navbharat Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran and Amar Ujala only indicates that their advertising functions did
not match up to their clients’ or media planners’ expectations. The above Hindi publications, in the above order, with Rajasthan Patrika at rank 6, were rated low on their on marks in terms of all the criteria as well. One look at the table would make you wonder whether it was the content or the delivery of it went wrong. As for the regional charts, they were topped by ABP, followed by Malayala Manorama and Eenadu in second and third rank respectively, and their decline across criteria isn’t as sharp as that in Hindi dailies.
Matter of reach
Their media planners and advertisers might be singing a different tune this issue, but talk to the newspaper-wallahs themselves, and you’d be convinced the sector is rising like no other, and the comparison to English almost irks them.
FIVE-POINT PLAN
Often, planning/ buying decisionmakers, metro dwellers, are making decisions in their metro cocoons. So I am not surprised by the English dominance in the barometer. This is a comfort zone. You have to step out of it and experience the power of the so-called ‘regional media’ to change this mindset Kaacon Sethi |
Chief Marketing Officer, Dainik Bhaskar Group
Shreyams Kumar of Mathrubhumi explains in six simple points what can Hindi and regional print players do to catch up with English counterparts to score higher on BrandOmeter’s parameters:
1
2
3
Be media solution providers. An integrated force is formidable, assures better deliverables to clients/readers
Organise reader engagements in local geographical markets. These activations must ensure social media integration too, thereby having large participation of the mobile dependent youth.
Get involved / partner with various rural community development programmes, spearheading socio economic reforms and cultural transformation. Listen to the needs of local communities and gain confidence of the rural mass.
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4 Create highly localised content. Probably a separate edition covering a geographical area, not exceeding a 10km radius. Why not!
5 Create highly localised content. Probably a separate edition covering a geographical area, not exceeding a 10km radius. Why not!
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Print-Hindi & Regional
Ranking (Hindi)
Ranking (Regional)
INNOVATION PUBLICATION
INNOVATION 2015
2014
PUBLICATION
2015
2014
Hindustan
352 485
Ananda Bazaar Patrika
378
400
Dainik Bhaskar
309
369
Malayala Manorama
339
400
Navabharat Times
263
392
Mathrubhumi
287 289
Dainik Jagran
244
381
Eenadu
248
Not Applicable
Amar Ujala
222
280
Daily Thanthi
244
Not Applicable
Ranking (Hindi)
Ranking (Regional) Media Delivery
Media Delivery PUBLICATION
2015
2014
PUBLICATION
2015
2014
Hindustan
438 514
Ananda Bazaar Patrika
395
385
Navabharat Times
351
466
Malayala Manorama
357
382
Dainik Jagran
304
457
Eenadu
357
Not Applicable
Dainik Bhaskar
302
420
Mathrubhumi
333 272
Amar Ujala
260
309
Daily Thanthi
319
Ranking (Hindi)
Not Applicable
Ranking (Regional)
Professionalism
Professionalism
PUBLICATION
2015
2015
2014
Hindustan
518 568
Ananda Bazaar Patrika
430
404
Navabharat Times
427
574
Malayala Manorama
401
418
Dainik Bhaskar
406
449
Eenadu
330
Not Applicable
Dainik Jagran
406
479
Mathrubhumi
330 326
Amar Ujala
336
393
Daily Thanthi
322
62 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
2014
PUBLICATION
Not Applicable
Print-Hindi & Regional
Ranking (Hindi)
Ranking (Regional)
Relationship
Relationship
PUBLICATION
2015
2014
Hindustan
464 590
Navabharat Times
417
Dainik Jagran
2015
2014
Ananda Bazaar Patrika
423
467
579
Malayala Manorama
317
437
399
536
Eenadu
312
Not Applicable
Dainik Bhaskar
391
478
Daily Thanthi
300
Not Applicable
Amar Ujala
312
413
Mathrubhumi
252 362
Ranking (Hindi)
PUBLICATION
Ranking (Regional)
Sales Team Knowledge PUBLICATION
2015
2014
Hindustan
445 547
Navabharat Times
323
Dainik Bhaskar
sales team knowledge 2015
2014
Ananda Bazaar Patrika
380
421
486
Malayala Manorama
350
401
314
444
Mathrubhumi
347 318
Amar Ujala
314
365
Eenadu
323
Not Applicable
Dainik Jagran
309
470
Daily Thanthi
323
Not Applicable
Ranking (Hindi)
PUBLICATION
Ranking (Regional) Servicing Ability
Servicing Ability PUBLICATION
2015
2014
Hindustan
466 562
Navabharat Times
394
Dainik Bhaskar
PUBLICATION
2015
2014
Ananda Bazaar Patrika
453
472
508
Malayala Manorama
397
441
359
455
Mathrubhumi
370 365
Dainik Jagran
338
502
Eenadu
355
Not Applicable
Amar Ujala
277
376
Daily Thanthi
325
Not Applicable
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 63
Print-Hindi & Regional “Dainik Bhaskar is India’s largest circulated newspaper (ABC JJ14) and NOW also declared the world’s fourth largest newspaper (WAN IFRA ’14). We deliver in 14 states through 61 editions. We strive to bring to our readers a reading experience which has earned us their trust and provide advertisers a trusted environment for their messaging,” explains Kaacon Sethi, Chief Marketing Officer of the DB Group. Would it be time for advertisers to wake up and smell the ‘Unmetro coffee’ as Sethi puts it and for them to open their eyes and mind to the growth story unravelling in these markets? “That’s where regional media lives – delivering large swathes of audience rich with new found consumerism and the aspiration to indulge. You call this regional!” Sethi adds.
Out of the first 10 newspapers in the country, nine are regional dailies. However, on revenue front English counterparts have fared well in 2015, due to higher spend by the e-commerce trading sites. MV Shreyams Kumar | Director, Marketing, Mathrubhumi Group
Pravin Kulkarnii, General Manager (Marketing), Parle Products also agrees on the story: “As an advertiser, I think Hindi newspapers have better reach and people prefer reading Hindi newspapers. English is popular only in metros,” he puts it simply.
The urban-rural valley
We asked Shreyams Kumar, Director – Marketing of Mathrubhumi, a Malayalam newspaper based in Kozhikode, Kerala, and one which has ranked number 4 overall in this issue, about the regional v/s English divide and his response was insightful: “Out of the first 10 newspapers in the country, nine are regional dailies. However, on revenue front English counterparts have fared well in 2015, due to higher spend by the E-commerce trading sites. English dailies, with their huge dependence on the urban market were successful in having an integrated approach for this category and other revenue generating categories too. Money spent in urban was higher and this year spent by FMCG for English dailies were higher,” he said, but added that in his state, all English dailies put together would not cross four lakh copies! Mathrubhumi has scored well in all categories compared to its scores last year and its Director credits many factors for it. “We revamped the marketing team to adapt to industry requirements with a focused, category-wise market approach - various categories were clubbed into clusters, headed by cluster heads, which spearheaded to reorganise Mathrubhumi Publications as ‘Media Solution Provider,” he mentions. Of course, the Malayalam publication conducted various on-
64 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Mathrubhumi conducted various on-field activations which helped in creating a stronger bond with readers and advertisers. It has a focused and vibrant print/ newspaper integration with other Mathrubhumi verticals Pravin Kulkarnii |
General Manager (Marketing), Parle Products field activations such as education expos, home and builders expo, consumer expos and musical fests which helped in creating a stronger bond with readers and advertisers. Lastly, they had a “very focused and vibrant print/ newspaper integration with other Mathrubhumi verticals such as magazines, TV, radio, digital and online,” Kumar explained.
The ‘English’ comfort zone
Sethi explains the English dailies’ dominance and influence over media planners/buyers is more about perception, less about reality. “I believe that often planning/buying decisionmakers, metro dwellers are making decisions in their metro cocoons. So I am not surprised by the English dominance in the barometer. This is a comfort zone. You have to step out of it and experience the power of the socalled ‘regional media’ to change this mindset,” she says.
Innovation
COLUMN
Learning from the hot stars Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Mogae Media
Innovation is an unending cycle. If the pedal push comes from the media, the advertisers will gladly ride on it
I
n times when the media landscape is changing irrevocably and the millions of newly connected Indians are appreciating novel forms of content, it is essential for media entities to keep innovating, not only in what they dish out to consumers but critically, to advertisers as well. Just having innovative products is only half the battle won. They must be backed by a powerful thoughtprocess that involves advertisers too. 2015 was the year of digital innovations. Even as Netflix threatened to arrive, indigenous start-ups upped the ante and wooed the urban Indian who doesn’t mind paying to stream. The game-changer in innovation, to my mind, was Hotstar from the Star TV Network. It was just the right product at the right time, in the right context and in the right content framework. With over 800 million mobile subscribers in the country, out of which over 100 million have graduated to smartphones, and with nearly 140 million actually having access to data connectivity, Hotstar found itself just in the right soft spot in the rapidly changing media
scenario. The likes of Netflix, Hooq and Voot are all on the way with varying offerings but Hotstar will remain the pioneer-leader by miles. Why do I mention Hotstar in BrandOMeter, which is all about print and TV media? Because its lessons are for all. For starters, it is a simple combination of technology and content. The viewer, unlike many of its ‘competitors’ (not really), doesn’t have to struggle, sign-up, log-in, click at five different places to finally arrive at the content. Userfriendliness in navigation, that’s the key. Hotstar’s streaming is seamless even when the data connection is weak. Lesson – innovate your offerings keeping in mind the market environment, you cannot sell fizzy drinks in a place where water is a scarcity! With its monopoly over cricket and its own menu of the likes of ISL, Pro Kabaddi and the host of shows on GECs and foreign content, Hotstar could have well sat on its giant repository of content, but they chose to invest in original content, such as the AIB show. Lesson – when you
create an innovation so strong, invest in it to make it an independent destination, without resting on your network’s assets. If you look at all the toppers of innovation in this issue, you’d realise all of them have done the above things right, and more. I’m not surprised that Star Plus, despite its back-and-forth with rivals on TVRs, rates highest on innovation, a mile ahead of Colors, and the distance is even wider between regional topper Eenadu and the second-best, Gemini TV. The Times of India may well be called the gold standard of print innovations, and they have had the solid set-up in relationships and delivery to carry them out and emerge on top, year after year. I’m also not surprised that Star Sports, with its bunch of properties, now gives GECs and other a run for their money. With Sony ESPN in the fray now, expect this survey to hot up next edition! Well done, team E4M for yet another issue that’s a tell-all on the way we media professionals are. One request though, digital and mobile is now too huge to be ignored in your next BrandOmeter issue!
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Print-english
top
Lonely at the
It’s apparent from yet another survey why English publications rule over their regional counterparts (despite lagging in readership) – tailormade storytelling
I
n the cluttered print publication scene today, the competition for English publications not only comes from Hindi and regional counterparts but also digital publications in urban markets. At the same time, we are also living in the era where the chart-toppers Times of India and Hindustan Times are changing the rules of delivering value to advertisers with innovations and top-class servicing.
Gulf after top three
As opposed to last year, our chart toppers this year reach lofty scores in terms of overall points (as well as individual sections such as innovation and servicability), but there is quite a gap after the top three – Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Hindu. Not only has TOI scored the highest in all criteria, it tops across categories – for a second consecutive year. Which brings us to the question yet again this year – just what gives TOI
66 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Print- english
Overall ranking - english RANK
Publication
2015
2014
1
1000
1000
2
798
787
3
711
790
4
506
Not Applicable
5
479
Not Applicable
6
459
558
7
317
Not Applicable
8
265
Not Applicable
9
213
Not Applicable
10
212
Not Applicable
11
185
Not Applicable
12
167
Not Applicable
13
142
Not Applicable
14
138
Not Applicable
I am overjoyed that TOI has once again been ranked the No. 1 media brand in the country. TOI operated like a well-oiled machine and delivered sustained quality toreaders, advertisers and agency partners. That in this day and age of digital and electronic disruption, brand TOI still stands head and shoulders above all else shows the quality and credibility we deliver.� Arunabh Das Sharma | President, Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd
the edge over other players, across categories, in terms of Pitch BrandOmeter judging criteria? Arunabh Das Sharma, President, Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, first conveys his elation at this result and
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 67
Print-english English News paper INNOVATION Publication
Media Delivery
2015
2014
Publication
2015
2014
Times Of India
1000
1000
The Times of India
954
1000
Hindustan Times
769
737
Hindustan Times
708
786
Hindu
700 734
Hindu
643 769
DNA
438
Economic Times
488
Economic Times
436
DNA
476
Indian Express
382 Not Applicable
Indian Express
458
Not Applicable
Mint
266
Not Applicable
Mint
306
Not Applicable
Hindu Business Line
179
Not Applicable
Hindu Business Line
254
Not Applicable
Telegraph
179
Not Applicable
Mid-Day (Eng)
200
Not Applicable
Statesman
160
Not Applicable
Statesman
177
Not Applicable
Mid-Day (Eng)
158
Not Applicable
Telegraph
157
Not Applicable
Deccan Herald
132
Not Applicable
Mumbai Mirror
131
Not Applicable
New Indian Express
119
Not Applicable
Deccan Herald
121
Not Applicable
Mumbai Mirror
104
Not Applicable
New Indian Express
109
Not Applicable
proceeds to explain: “First of all I am overjoyed that TOI has once again been ranked as the number one media brand in the country. This is the effort of thousands of people who work almost 24x7 to make it happen. TOI operated like a well-oiled machine and delivers sustained quality to the readers, advertisers and agency partners. The fact that in this day and age of digital and electronic disruption, brand TOI still stands head and shoulders above all else shows the quality and credibility we deliver,” he says.
Bridging the gulf
Pitch BrandOmeter’s print results
516
Not Applicable
are always intriguing given that fact that India is one of the few markets in the world where print as a sector continues to grow. And despite the growth rates having slowed down in the recent past, scores of advertisers and media planners swear by the opportunities the media offer. Herein lies the opportunity and rays of hope for others in the list – Indian Express, DNA, Mint, and Hindu Business Line, which are ranked from five to eight on our charts this year. “The opportunities that the sector offers are still wonderful and I personally think we as a publication need to focus on
68 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
Not Applicable 527
investing a lot more on our products and research,” says a spokesperson of the bottom five of our list. Sanjay Mani, Vice-President and National Head, DB Connect had explained this well to E4M in an earlier interview: “Increasingly, brands will move money from traditional vanilla advertising to neatly crafted, integrated storytelling. The better you can help brands tell their stories, the more money you are likely to make,” he had said, highlighting the importance of print ads. “Clients are taking a lot of interest in the actual creative process of a press ad. They are demanding
Print- english
Professionalism Publication
2015
Relationship 2014
Publication
2015
2014
The Times of India
1000
1000
The Times of India
1000
1000
Hindustan Times
857
816
Hindustan Times
790
837
Hindu
778 835
Hindu
728 832
Economic Times
596
Not Applicable
Indian Express
538
Not Applicable
Indian Express
582
Not Applicable
Economic Times
532
Not Applicable
DNA
468
DNA
450
Mint
365
Not Applicable
Mint
349
Not Applicable
Hindu Business Line
313
Not Applicable
Hindu Business Line
300
Not Applicable
Mid-Day (Eng)
301
Not Applicable
Statesman
246
Not Applicable
Statesman
251
Not Applicable
Mid-Day (Eng)
230
Not Applicable
Deccan Herald
231
Not Applicable
Telegraph
185
Not Applicable
Telegraph
213
Not Applicable
Mumbai Mirror
179
Not Applicable
New Indian Express
187
Not Applicable
Deccan Herald
177
Not Applicable
Mumbai Mirror
173
Not Applicable
New Indian Express
135
Not Applicable
579
626
more engaging communication from their creative agencies. Print campaigns are also being treated as ‘separate’ from the TV campaigns through use of different creative, local idioms, etc.” he had added.
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Print-english Servicing Ability Publication
2015
2014
Overall this is a good organisation Publication 2015 2014
The Times of India
1000
1000
The Times of India
1000
1000
Hindustan Times
869
782
Hindustan Times
869
782
Hindu
693 797
Hindu
693 797
Economic Times
503
Not Applicable
Economic Times
503
Not Applicable
Indian Express
501
Not Applicable
Indian Express
501
Not Applicable
DNA
460
574
DNA
460
Mint
335
Not Applicable
Mint
335
Not Applicable
Hindu Business Line
283
Not Applicable
Hindu Business Line
283
Not Applicable
Statesman
240
Not Applicable
Statesman
240
Not Applicable
Telegraph
224
Not Applicable
Telegraph
224
Not Applicable
Mid-Day (Eng)
207
Not Applicable
Mid-Day (Eng)
207
Not Applicable
Deccan Herald
194
Not Applicable
Deccan Herald
194
Not Applicable
Mumbai Mirror
159
Not Applicable
Mumbai Mirror
159
Not Applicable
New Indian Express
152
Not Applicable
New Indian Express
152
Not Applicable
The topper’s mantras
That said, ask the TOI bosses what keeps working for them every year on these factors and the responses are all about keeping it simple yet breaking moulds. Sharma says, “This survey is based on the pillars of innovation, media delivery effectiveness, professionalism of our teams and the relationships they have in the market place. Those, combined with the knowledge and servicing that our sales team brings onto client accounts is what makes TOI what it is today.” But probe him further on the process of TOI’s superior delivery, and he responds, “Clients come to us for ideation,
but we are not only open to ideas, we also add value to them and importantly are able to deliver those ideas to the market. We have systems that ensure fairness and transparency and we train our people to carry the values of the organisation forward. Every market facing person has a whole team that works hard to make every deal happen successfully.” Ultimately, the reason why Times Of India succeeds isn’t rocket science. The publication’s well-oiled machineries keep participating in building their clients’ businesses. Which is a reason why today, hardly any media plan of a major multi-
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574
media advertiser is complete without having three words – Times of India. “I really thank our clients and agency partners for their support and congratulate the team for this honour,” Sharma signs off. As 2016’s intriguing printdigital landscapes roll out, it is important to understand that advertisers have begun to look at digital media a lot more seriously and there is momentum building up in favour of integrated solutions. For the laggards of our list, it would be a good idea to focus on keeping the medium relevant and not do anything that will alienate the advertisers.
COLUMN
Sales Team Knowledge
Sales is in the details Navin Khemka
Managing Partner (North, East) and new Biz head, Maxus
Excelling on the sales front in media is a function of one simple mantra – the more you know, the more you sell!
G
ood sales people know what they sell, and sell what they know. When it comes to salesperson knowledge, it is critical that they know about the media industry, their client’s needs and their company’s offering to be able to sell. Without this knowledge, they cannot ask the right questions to understand the need gap nor match the right media options for agencies and clients. In fact, I have also observed that inefficient or ill-informed salespersons cannot even position the value of their media as superior to other options available to agencies and clients, which is a big pitfall. If either or all the above is not done, sales may still happen but there will definitely be dips and missed opportunities, something today’s cut-throat environment does not take kindly to. Media sales over the past two decades have evolved. With the proliferation of media choices, gone are the days when a sales team could sit tight in their offices and only service release orders from agencies. It’s safe to say that every media alternative is replaceable
today (except for perhaps good ol’ cricket!) and there are opportunities across media, platforms and screens that are being consumed by the same consumer. The consumer can be reached in more ways than one and that too, effectively. This makes the sales person’s job more challenging. It need to deliver not just a good pitch but do so with complete knowhow of the industry, its trends and a keen sense of these ‘alternatives.’ Any media house today is able to grow and show profits thanks to a sales team that delivers. I am a firm believer of the old
saying, ‘God is in the details’, so in this reference I would say ‘the more you know, the more you sell.’ This is critical from three aspects: 1) Media Environment: While most sales people have knowledge of what they are selling but are sometimes unaware of what their competitive set of channels and/or publications are driving. This is critical as clients are eventually going to buy the best for their brands and it could be a competitive media offering. 2) Relevance: It is critical for them to also have a fair understand of the business challenges - their key markets, challenges - that the brand is facing. There is no point serving me a cocktail if I am a tee teetotaller! 3) Customisation: The ability to map media solutions to my business challenges. Only then would I be interested in a conversation that is beyond rates and commodity. To sum up, best-in-class media companies will have fluent salespeople. If you can build this kind of sales knowledge within your team, you can experience best-inclass sales results. I’ll still repeat, the more you know, the more you sell!
www.pitchonnet.com | April 201 6 | Pitch | 71
RADIO
The wave will
rise Radio channels saw an overall dip in scores from last year, but e-commerce start-ups continued to spend their monies on the medium
72 | Pitch | April 2016 | www.pitchonnet.com
RADIO
P
rint reams and radio waves aren’t really chalk and cheese when compared to TV. Because although the number of advertisers and sheer volume of inventory of television is larger than print and radio, all three are still viable alternatives for the media planner and advertisers to reach their audience, which is often tuned in to multiple media through the day. In 2015, retail, particularly fashion and clothing was the most advertised product group across the three mediums. Lifestyle Int. Pvt Ltd, increased its spends in radio, but not more than Shoppers Stop, which was a big advertiser on the airwaves.
Radio Stations – Overall RANK
Channel
2015
2014
1.
570
710
2.
516
563
3.
485
543
4.
479
521
5.
369
222
6.
358
458
7.
349
Not Applicable
8.
315
281
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RADIO Radio as a category is growing in leaps and bounds in popularity – even the Prime Minister is using the medium to reach out to the country with his Mann Ki Baat broadcasts!
Dip in scores
That said, riding on the sunshine advertisers does not really mean all is shiny on the advertising front for radio. Our survey has thrown up nearly the same list as 2014, but with the notable exception of lower scores. Radio Mirchi still tops, but takes a battering of 140 points over its 2014 score of 710, and so do the other two from the top three, Radio City and Red FM. The only exception here is Tamil
GG Jayanta |
National Marketing Head at Radio Mirchi
Radio Stations INNOVATION
Media delivery
CHANNEL
2015
2014
CHANNEL
2015
2014
Radio Mirchi
499
692
Radio Mirchi
605
731
Radio City
486
545
Radio City
534
583
Red FM
459
502
Big FM
521
553
Big FM
432
478
Red FM
464
578
Fever FM
337
391
Suryan FM
385
202
Radio One 94.3
327
Not Applicable
Radio One 94.3
357
Not Applicable
Suryan FM
318
178
Fever FM
355
460
My FM
262
253
My FM
327
246
Professionalism
Relationship
CHANNEL
2015
2014
CHANNEL
2015
2014
Radio Mirchi
529
738
Radio Mirchi
573
739
Radio City
496
591
Radio City
512
579
Red FM
460
565
Red FM
469
546
Big FM
451
504
Big FM
459
547
Suryan FM
343
224
Suryan FM
357
262
Fever FM
310
462
Fever FM
343
515
Radio One 94.3
292
Not Applicable
Radio One 94.3
316
Not Applicable
My FM
282
296
My FM
314
298
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RADIO Radio Stations Sales team knowledge CHANNEL
Servicing Ability
2015
2014
CHANNEL
2015
2014
My FM
329
280
Radio Mirchi
693
666
Suryan FM
357
220
Red FM
589
539
Fever FM
369
470
Radio City
587
531
Radio One 94.3
369
Not Applicable
Big FM
543
533
Big FM
491
512
Suryan FM
496
269
Radio City
503
547
Fever FM
469
472
Red FM
503
530
Radio One 94.3
462
Not Applicable
Radio Mirchi
567
694
My FM
412
336
Nadu’s Suryan FM, of the Sun Group, which rises by well over 100 points from its last score of 222. Secondly, Radio One, the only station playing international music makes an entry in the top list, which is a telling factor on how univeral content is being lapped up.
Action after auction
Phase three auctions, heralded by many as a boost to the industry, will ensure 2016 is an action-packed year in radio and the scores should spike again. “The Phase III (auctions) have given a new fillip to radio and the coming year will see more action. Radio as a category is growing leaps and bounds in popularity – witness even the Prime Minister is using the medium to reach out to the country with his Mann Ki Baat broadcasts!” offers GG Jayanta, National Marketing Head at Radio Mirchi.
Dissecting the dip
Mann Ki Baat may have brought much needed visibility to the medium, but the advertisers and
Overall this is a good organisation
The trend of nearly ‘exclusive’ campaigns that started first with the retail segment, real estate in particular, followed by government & elections, made radio noticed by all. The secret behind the success of a radio channel lies in its capability to feel the pulse of the audience through continuous audience research “ Nisha Narayanan | COO, Red FM
CHANNEL
2015
Radio Mirchi
48
Radio City
42
Big FM
38
Red FM
38
Fever FM
31
Suryan FM
29
My FM
25
Radio One 94.3
23
planners are yet to be convinced of the story that radio is now new and improved. Last year’s toppers have under-performed across all factors this year, and the dip in scores might be because of 2014’s elections, experts feel. Nisha Narayanan, COO, Red FM gives us a deeper perspective. “Radio has been growing steadily and consistently, however the trend of nearly ‘exclusive’
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RADIO campaigns that started first with retail segment, real estate in particular, followed by government & elections, made radio noticed by all. The secret behind the success of a radio channel lies in its capability to feel the pulse of audience through continuous audience research and to design and modify programme content including presentation accordingly. If we look at the trend over 2014 -15, the former year was completely dominated by news, infotainment and programming around General Elections and politics at large. This resulted into elevating listenership who chose to switch to radio channels for real time updates. In 2015, we grew with a 12-15 per cent YoY growth rate. We have an optimistic outlook for 2016 as we see lot more growth in coming this year when most of
the new frequencies auctioned will become operational fully. Expansion in tier-2 & 3 cities is posing embryonic opportunities for the industry during the coming years,” she says.
Radio is not able to garner traction for advertisers. The reach of the medium hasn’t increased; only a limited segment are listening to radio” Pravin Kulkarnii | General Manager (Marketing), Parle Products
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E-commerce the top spender In 2015, overall a good year in terms of advertising on radio, the ad pie in metro markets reached up to 6-8 per cent. In smaller markets, it is evolving gradually. The overall advertising, especially spending in the festive seasons was 15-20 per cent higher than last year. Even though Pravin Kulkarnii, General Manager (Marketing), Parle Products feels ‘Radio is not able to do traction for advertisers’ and ‘the reach of the medium hasn’t increased, only a limited segment are listening to radio,’ those in the medium are bullish. Jayanta mentions clearly that it was e-commerce that was the flavour of the year across all categories at Mirchi, and third-ranker Red FM’s Narayanan too agrees. “Off late, E-commerce has emerged as a strong contributor in spurring the revenue share of Indian radio. The aggressive communication from start ups specially from Dotcom companies gave an extra boost to advertising on RED FM,” she reports. These new-economy players such as OLX, Jabong, Flipkart, Grofers, PayTM, PayUMoney, Urbanclap, Bla Bla Car and Snapdeal and many more such brands chose the toppers of this year’s list as their preferred choice for advertising. Apart from e-commerce, consumer goods products, pure retail, BFSI and auto majors too spent a big amount on advertising, the experts told us.
RADIO
‘For Radio City, 2015 was a year focused on growth’ Abraham Thomas CEO, Radio City 91.1 FM
H
ow did the Radio category, as a whole, perform last year? Phase III of the radio auctions was the high point that defines the radio industry for 2015. Revenues generated for the government were in the vicinity of Rs 3,000 crore for the same. Put together, the Q1 TRAI report for 2016 shows that ad revenues and rates increased for both operators, and we’d say it was a year focused on growth. Tier 2 & 3 markets have opened up opportunities for players and versatility in offering new programming will be one of the key focal areas going forward, basis last year’s performance and ecosystem growth curve. How would you assess last year’s performance of Radio City? We’ve been market leaders across multiple geographies for more than 450 weeks now, and with our consolidation of Radio Mantra with Radio City as well as our acquisition of 11 new markets in Phase III, we will now focus on consolidation and innovation. PlanetRadiocity. com continues to grow and we have been able to provide content that makes our listeners relate to us, thereby strengthening brand loyalty. Given that change is permanent, our effort was, is and will be on coming up with fresh, listener-focused content. With Rag Rag Mein Daude City, our new brand campaign, we look to reiterate our position as a network that understand listeners, their thoughts, their passions, their emotions better.
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Professionalism
COLUMN
Only pros, no cons Rajendra Khare
Founder of SureWaves MediaTech
To achieve professionalism in media advertising spends, the medium must set up a clear eco-system which involves both convention and technology
F
or many advertisers, media is one of the biggest operational cost heads apart from manufacturing or infrastructure costs. The mandate of media spends is a great responsibility which rests on the shoulders of the media professional. A few interesting observations emerge after we look at the results related to professionalism in this BrandOmeter survey. Do the high stakes or high ratings help in improving the perception or help teams rise to the occasion? Looking at the rise of Star Sports, which handled the World Cup and Set Max which handles the IPL this certainly seems so. Does the perception of the team’s professionalism take a hit with reduction in ratings? Looking at Sony TV’s ranking and score this year compared to last, it seems so as well. While most of the regional or vernacular media are in the lower half, it is heartening to see Eenadu TV rubbing shoulders right at the top with Star Plus and Hindustan Times. However, the same cannot be said for other vernacular dailies and regional channels. I see all the TV/radio channels and newspapers that have topped
the survey have a great emphasis on technology, ensuring accountability for the clients as well as proactive thinking on their part to grow their client’s business, not just their own business. There should be consultative selling backed up with technology. How can the media and marketing personnel create a professional ecosystem? For starters, ensure that there are well-defined processes and criteria for accountability in spends. In the absence of these and pricing norms, the chances of advertiser’s objectives not being fulfilled are quite high. Hence, organisations need to establish procedures and systems to develop trusted business partners within the eco-system to prevent potential leakages. It is the responsibility of the top leadership team to ensure these internal checks and balances are adhered to, for spends no matter how small, and they are continuously reviewed. Secondly, use technology to promote transparency and for informed risk taking. Media professionals need to constantly seek new ways of growth for the client. They would have to look at, and evaluate, the nontraditional options. The impact of the non-traditional media
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or delivering media needs to be understood through a series of proper evaluations. Often, the media agency personnel are hesitant to explore new options for the client as they feel that in case the new options do not work out, the blame will fall on them. No conventional ways of delivering audiences or consumers should be brushed under the carpet, just because they do not fall under the ‘approved’ list. While this may appear to be in contradiction to the first point mentioned above, technology can plug the gaps by helping in creating isolated experiments. It is critical for the media planners and buyers to work along with the advertiser as well as the non-traditional media vehicle to understand and take an informed risk. We, at SureWaves, have built a professional network of over 530 local cable channels bringing the ‘untapped‘ local cable channel audiences to the advertisers in an accountable and transparent manner. In some ways, local cable channel networks are similar two regional media that their perception on professionalism is low. However, with this end-to-end technology platform, their status on professional delivery to the advertisers has been elevated and, in some ways, is ahead of the curve.
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Media Delivery
COLUMN
Deliver us from evil Anita Nayyar CEO, Havas Media Group, India & South Asia
This year’s top media deliverers prove how critical it is to be strong in operating markets
M
edia Delivery’, now here’s an attribute that we do not see extolled in press with reams written on it or it being worthy as an interview subject. On the other hand, its counterpart ‘innovation’ is not only the darling of the media and ad world but also of their consumers. That said, ‘media delivery,’ for those who know and understand it, forms and will keep forming the core foundation of the media and adverting sectors in any market. The historic publication, the top-reach channel, the most optimized media plan, the most impactful scheduling - all these factors do not matter if at the end of the day the client does not get most of what you promised – media delivery; and consistently at that. As we have seen before, even today the client/brand needs ‘delivery’ for every single spot and campaign. This is where the leading media organisations stand out, make the difference between the good ones and the truly better ones. The latter ones have strong structures and comprise competent people, have sufficient technology to create and execute optimum and tailored packages, rigorously follow agreed schedules and have substantial bases in their operating markets influencing the audience into loyalty to sit back and consume their ‘brand’ content. Without delivery, there would be chaos and that is the primary reason of loss of a client, a huge setback in today’s
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competitive market. Whether you are a media agency planning to deliver a brand plan or you are the media partner offering the vehicle to deliver that plan, the final result is always ‘delivery’. At the risk of sounding academic, let me reiterate to all the peripheral industry people that reach, GRP, CPRP, CPT, TVT, position, credit titles, promo tags, sponsorships, RJ mentions at all – are all forms of delivery. Undermine any of these at your own caution! The top scorers for this year have been: TOI, Hindustan Times, Ananda Bazaar Patrika in print; and Star Plus, Eenadu TV, ABP News, Sony MAX, Star Sports, Discovery in TV. As for radio, we have Radio Mirchi. Anyone who has worked with either of the above, you’d know that each of these is a leading media organisation only because they keep to their schedule and are strong in their operating markets. This year’s top names have also been proactive in attitude, receptive to India’s youth and India’s consumption of media. They understand the necessity of content and updating content – all factors drawing a loyal customer base. Most importantly, they are competitive in their offering, providing value and hence and furthermore, these channels ‘deliver’, making for successful business for everyone. The bottomline? Awareness of delivering to the audience through content across markets is the most winning combination.
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