TV Channel viewing pattern in India
Television (TV) is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied bysound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming ortelevision transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight".
Television in India has been in existence for nigh on four decades. For the first 17 years, it spread haltingly and transmission was mainly in black & white. The thinkers and policy makers of the country, which had just been liberated from centuries of colonial rule, frowned upon television, looking on at it as a luxury Indians could do without. In 1955 a Cabinet decision was taken disallowing any foreign investments in print media which has since been followed religiously for nearly 45 years. Sales of TV sets, as reflected by licences issued to buyers were just 676,615 until 1977.
Television has come to the forefront only in the past 21 years and more so in the past 13. There were initially two ignition points: the first in the eighties when colour TV was introduced by state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) timed with the 1982 Asian Games which India hosted. It then proceeded to install transmitters nationwide rapidly for terrestrial broadcasting. In this period no private enterprise was allowed to set up TV stations or to transmit TV signals.
The second spark came in the early nineties with the broadcast of satellite TV by foreign programmers like CNN followed by Star TV and a little later by domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV into Indian homes. Prior to this, Indian viewers had to make do with DD's chosen fare which was dull, non-commercial in nature, directed towardsonly education and socio-economic development. Entertainment programmes were few and far between. And when the solitary few soaps like Hum Log (1984), and mythological dramas: Ramayan (1987-88) and Mahabharat (1988-89) were televised, millions of viewers stayed glued to their sets.
When, urban Indians learnt that it was possible to watch the Gulf War on television, they rushed out and bought dishes for their homes. Others turned entrepreneurs and started offering the signal to their neighbours by flinging cable over treetops and verandahs. From the large metros satellite TV delivered via cable moved into smaller towns, spurring the purchase of TV sets and even the upgradation from black & white to colour TVs.
DD responded to this satellite TV invasion by launching an entertainment and commercially driven channel and introduced entertainment programming on its terrestrial network. This again fuelled the purchase of sets in the hinterlands where cable TV was not available.
The initial success of the channels had a snowball effect: more foreign programmers and Indian entrepreneurs flagged off their own versions. From two channels prior to 1991, Indian viewers were exposed to more than 50 channels by 1996. Software producers emerged to cater to the programming boom almost overnight. Some talent came from the film industry, some from advertising and some from journalism.
More and more people set up networks until there was a time in 1995-96 when an estimated 60,000 cable operators were existing in the country. Some of them had subscriber bases as low as 50 to as high as in the thousands. Most of the networks could relay just 6 to 14 channels as higher channel relaying capacity required heavy investments, which cable operators were loathe to make. American and European cable networks evinced interest, as well as large Indian business groups, who set up sophisticated headends capable of delivering more than 30 channels. These multi-system operators (MSOs) started buying up local networks or franchising cable TV feeds to the smaller operators for a fee. This phenomenon led to resistance from smaller cable operators who joined forces and started functioning as MSOs. The net outcome was that the number of cable operators in the country has fallen to 30,000.
The rash of players who rushed to set up satellite channels discovered that advertising revenue was not large enough to support them. This led to a shakeout. At least half a dozen either folded up or aborted the high-flying plans they had drawn up, and started operating in a restricted manner. Some of them converted their channels into basic subscription services charging cable operators a carriage fee.
The government started taxing cable operators in a bid to generate revenue. The rates varied in the 26 states that go to form India and ranged from 35 per cent upwards. The authorities moved in to regulate the business and a Cable TV Act was passed in 1995. The apex court in the country, the Supreme Court, passed a judgement that the air waves are not the property of the Indian government and any Indian citizen wanting to use them should be allowed to do so. The government reacted by making efforts to get some regulation in place by setting up committees to suggest what the broadcasting law of India should be, as the sector was still being governed by laws which were passed in 19th century India. A broadcasting bill was drawn up in 1997 and introduced in parliament. But it was not passed into an Act. State-owned telecaster Doordarshan and radiocaster All India Radio were brought under a holding company called the Prasar Bharati under an act that had been gathering dust for seven years, the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990. The Act served to give autonomy to the broadcasters as their management was left to a supervisory board consisting of retired professionals and bureaucrats.
A committee headed by a senior Congress (I) politician Sharad Pawar and consisting of other politicians and industrialist was set up to review the contents of the Broadcasting Bill. It held discussions with industry, politicians, and consumers and a report was even drawn up. But the United Front government fell and since then the report and the Bill have been consigned to the dustbin. But before that it issued a ban on the sale of Ku-band dishes and on digital direct-to-home Ku-band broadcasting, which the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Television was threatening to start in India. ISkyB, the Murdoch DTH venture, has since been wallowing in quicksand and in recent times has even shed a lot of employees. But News Corp has been running a C-band DTH venture in the country which has around 20,000 subscribers.
Enough has been written about Indian youth's addiction to the social networking sites. But what are they watching on television? How have they been impacted by the explosion in the number of channels and how does the viewership pattern vary across different socio-economic groups? TAM Media Research did a study on media consumption amongst the youth for India Today Aspire. The target group was the cable and satellite (CS) viewers between the ages of 15 to 24 all across the country.
Music, movie and news too scored well, with the genre share for music rising from 3.2 in 2004 to 6.3 per cent in 2008. The overall advertising focused on youth on music channels grew in 2009, with an addition of nearly 13 new advertisement categories. "Music channels have always been in fashion among the urban youth," says Biswajit Das, professor and director, Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Surprisingly, sports genre is not as popular as one might have expected. Its share has dipped from five per cent in 2004 to 3.3 per cent in 2009. Viewership of sports channels, which is largely cricket-led, depends from event to event. Aspects such as how big or important the event is and whether India is on winning spree or not decide the quantum of sports viewing. Religion and mythology are the least preferred genres.
The viewership pattern also depend on one's background or the socio-economic position. For instance, English movie channels such as Star Movies or HBO witnessed an average weekly gross rating point or GRP of 40 among those who belong to the upper strata (referred to as SEC AB youth in the study) as opposed to only 28 among the lower section (SEC CDE youth). The highest GRP among English channels was clocked by the infotainment genre.
Other media platforms such as networking sites and radio have hogged the time youngsters earlier spent watching television and this is true even for SEC CDE youth. In metros, on an average 175 minutes were devoted by this group in 2004 to television viewing. This has dipped close to 150 minutes in 2009. Afternoon viewership has seen a bigger drop than primetime. Mainly because the excitement seems to be reserved for the latter slot.
Radio has seen a tremendous resurgence in the past few years. Its popularity among the youth has grown manifold over the years. According to the study, one-fourth of the radio consumption among the youth in the major metros happens when they are on a move.
"It was a dead medium after TV entered the Indian market. But today it is turning out to be a great interactive space," says Das. He believes that the potential of radio has not been fully exploited and along with entertainment it should become a medium for information and education
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/85483/Aspire/TV+talkies.html
Television (TV) is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied bysound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming ortelevision transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight".
Television in India has been in existence for nigh on four decades. For the first 17 years, it spread haltingly and transmission was mainly in black & white. The thinkers and policy makers of the country, which had just been liberated from centuries of colonial rule, frowned upon television, looking on at it as a luxury Indians could do without. In 1955 a Cabinet decision was taken disallowing any foreign investments in print media which has since been followed religiously for nearly 45 years. Sales of TV sets, as reflected by licences issued to buyers were just 676,615 until 1977.
Television has come to the forefront only in the past 21 years and more so in the past 13. There were initially two ignition points: the first in the eighties when colour TV was introduced by state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) timed with the 1982 Asian Games which India hosted. It then proceeded to install transmitters nationwide rapidly for terrestrial broadcasting. In this period no private enterprise was allowed to set up TV stations or to transmit TV signals.
The second spark came in the early nineties with the broadcast of satellite TV by foreign programmers like CNN followed by Star TV and a little later by domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV into Indian homes. Prior to this, Indian viewers had to make do with DD's chosen fare which was dull, non-commercial in nature, directed towardsonly education and socio-economic development. Entertainment programmes were few and far between. And when the solitary few soaps like Hum Log (1984), and mythological dramas: Ramayan (1987-88) and Mahabharat (1988-89) were televised, millions of viewers stayed glued to their sets.
When, urban Indians learnt that it was possible to watch the Gulf War on television, they rushed out and bought dishes for their homes. Others turned entrepreneurs and started offering the signal to their neighbours by flinging cable over treetops and verandahs. From the large metros satellite TV delivered via cable moved into smaller towns, spurring the purchase of TV sets and even the upgradation from black & white to colour TVs.
DD responded to this satellite TV invasion by launching an entertainment and commercially driven channel and introduced entertainment programming on its terrestrial network. This again fuelled the purchase of sets in the hinterlands where cable TV was not available.
The initial success of the channels had a snowball effect: more foreign programmers and Indian entrepreneurs flagged off their own versions. From two channels prior to 1991, Indian viewers were exposed to more than 50 channels by 1996. Software producers emerged to cater to the programming boom almost overnight. Some talent came from the film industry, some from advertising and some from journalism.
More and more people set up networks until there was a time in 1995-96 when an estimated 60,000 cable operators were existing in the country. Some of them had subscriber bases as low as 50 to as high as in the thousands. Most of the networks could relay just 6 to 14 channels as higher channel relaying capacity required heavy investments, which cable operators were loathe to make. American and European cable networks evinced interest, as well as large Indian business groups, who set up sophisticated headends capable of delivering more than 30 channels. These multi-system operators (MSOs) started buying up local networks or franchising cable TV feeds to the smaller operators for a fee. This phenomenon led to resistance from smaller cable operators who joined forces and started functioning as MSOs. The net outcome was that the number of cable operators in the country has fallen to 30,000.
The rash of players who rushed to set up satellite channels discovered that advertising revenue was not large enough to support them. This led to a shakeout. At least half a dozen either folded up or aborted the high-flying plans they had drawn up, and started operating in a restricted manner. Some of them converted their channels into basic subscription services charging cable operators a carriage fee.
The government started taxing cable operators in a bid to generate revenue. The rates varied in the 26 states that go to form India and ranged from 35 per cent upwards. The authorities moved in to regulate the business and a Cable TV Act was passed in 1995. The apex court in the country, the Supreme Court, passed a judgement that the air waves are not the property of the Indian government and any Indian citizen wanting to use them should be allowed to do so. The government reacted by making efforts to get some regulation in place by setting up committees to suggest what the broadcasting law of India should be, as the sector was still being governed by laws which were passed in 19th century India. A broadcasting bill was drawn up in 1997 and introduced in parliament. But it was not passed into an Act. State-owned telecaster Doordarshan and radiocaster All India Radio were brought under a holding company called the Prasar Bharati under an act that had been gathering dust for seven years, the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990. The Act served to give autonomy to the broadcasters as their management was left to a supervisory board consisting of retired professionals and bureaucrats.
A committee headed by a senior Congress (I) politician Sharad Pawar and consisting of other politicians and industrialist was set up to review the contents of the Broadcasting Bill. It held discussions with industry, politicians, and consumers and a report was even drawn up. But the United Front government fell and since then the report and the Bill have been consigned to the dustbin. But before that it issued a ban on the sale of Ku-band dishes and on digital direct-to-home Ku-band broadcasting, which the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Television was threatening to start in India. ISkyB, the Murdoch DTH venture, has since been wallowing in quicksand and in recent times has even shed a lot of employees. But News Corp has been running a C-band DTH venture in the country which has around 20,000 subscribers.
Enough has been written about Indian youth's addiction to the social networking sites. But what are they watching on television? How have they been impacted by the explosion in the number of channels and how does the viewership pattern vary across different socio-economic groups? TAM Media Research did a study on media consumption amongst the youth for India Today Aspire. The target group was the cable and satellite (CS) viewers between the ages of 15 to 24 all across the country.
The general entertainment channels (GEC) such as Star Plus, Sony and Zee have emerged as clear favourites among youngsters with a genre share of 49 per cent. Their popularity seems to be driven by three main factors. The introduction of socially relevant themes in family soaps, surge in the reality format and introduction of successful movies.
The youth was the first segment to sample the channel Colours, before other sections of the society started following it. Colours, which was the first to introduce serials on social themes such as Balika Vadhu, is often voted as one of the most popular GEC.
The youth was the first segment to sample the channel Colours, before other sections of the society started following it. Colours, which was the first to introduce serials on social themes such as Balika Vadhu, is often voted as one of the most popular GEC.
Music, movie and news too scored well, with the genre share for music rising from 3.2 in 2004 to 6.3 per cent in 2008. The overall advertising focused on youth on music channels grew in 2009, with an addition of nearly 13 new advertisement categories. "Music channels have always been in fashion among the urban youth," says Biswajit Das, professor and director, Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Surprisingly, sports genre is not as popular as one might have expected. Its share has dipped from five per cent in 2004 to 3.3 per cent in 2009. Viewership of sports channels, which is largely cricket-led, depends from event to event. Aspects such as how big or important the event is and whether India is on winning spree or not decide the quantum of sports viewing. Religion and mythology are the least preferred genres.
Other media platforms such as networking sites and radio have hogged the time youngsters earlier spent watching television and this is true even for SEC CDE youth. In metros, on an average 175 minutes were devoted by this group in 2004 to television viewing. This has dipped close to 150 minutes in 2009. Afternoon viewership has seen a bigger drop than primetime. Mainly because the excitement seems to be reserved for the latter slot.
Radio has seen a tremendous resurgence in the past few years. Its popularity among the youth has grown manifold over the years. According to the study, one-fourth of the radio consumption among the youth in the major metros happens when they are on a move.
"It was a dead medium after TV entered the Indian market. But today it is turning out to be a great interactive space," says Das. He believes that the potential of radio has not been fully exploited and along with entertainment it should become a medium for information and education
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/85483/Aspire/TV+talkies.html
No comments:
Post a Comment