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Atul Phadnis

There were many significant developments in television and print last year, and the coming year looks promising, too.

WHEW! The year is finally over. It's been a good year overall for the media industry, with some winners and some losers and some duels which were too close to call! The stage is set for some interesting trends in both TV and print in 2003.

The Top 10 events in the year that was...

TAM became the single ratings currency; New JIB was formed

In the television industry, the year started with the merger announcement of the two TV ratings agencies, TAM and INTAM. Consequently, a new Joint Industry Body (JIB) was constituted under the aegis of the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). B.V. Pradeep of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) was nominated to head the Technical Committee to script the country's new TV audience measurement system. The committee decided to expand coverage to all Class I towns; the roll-out began in November and is scheduled to be completed by January 2003, with data soon being available for new States such as Rajasthan, Bihar, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Punjab and West Bengal.

Viewers benefited as channels slugged it out

Lagaan, on Sony Entertainment, was the best TV ratings grosser in the last two years.

On the TV front, the battle for the top slots continued with Star Plus, Sony and Zee constantly bringing in improvements in their programming. While Star Plus continued with the K-serials (Kyonki... , Kahaani... and Kasauti... ), Sony brought in Kahin Na Kahin... , the Madhuri Dixit show and some blockbusters like Lagaan and Kaho Na Pyar Hai. Zee TV brought in a host of Bollywood blockbusters, celebrity shows like Simply Shekhar and Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai, besides new serials like Kammal and Kitty Party.

CAS announced by the Government

In what will change the way TV is viewed, the Conditional Access System (CAS) is being brought in. This will allow viewers to choose pay channels that they want and pay only for them. It will affect all the facets of the industry, including broadcasters, cable operators, advertisers and consumers. It will split the cable & satellite (C&S) universe into two splinter groups - Free to Air (FTA) C&S and CAS C&S.

New regional channels launched; yet, DD-Regionals bounce back to gain revenue share

In States such as Maharashtra, West Bengal and Punjab, where regional satellite channels are still a nascent phenomenon unlike in the South, viewership continued to rise. ETV continued with its regional channel launches: ETV Oriya, ETV Madhya Pradesh, ETV Uttar Pradesh, ETV Rajasthan and ETV Bihar. Despite this, in certain markets, DD-Regional Kendras bounced back and posted revenue share growths. The charge was led by DD-Mumbai, as it doubled its revenue share from 0.6 per cent last year to 1.1 per cent. Overall, DD-Regionals jumped from a three per cent share of overall TV revenues to 4.7 per cent.

News channels continued their upward trajectory in viewership and revenue share

News channels continued on gains made from 2001 during the WTC attacks. While viewership share for news channels (of the total C&S base) grew from 1.9 per cent to 4.2 per cent (January-June 2001 to January-June 2002), the corresponding revenue share jumped from 8.6 per cent to 10.5 per cent. That has encouraged the proposed launch of five new news channels in early 2003.

Print got new clients, reflecting changes in the economy

The print medium got a very different set of clients this year. According to TAM Press AdEx, Real Estate & Properties shot up from being a marginal press display-advertising category into the Top 10 largest advertising categories' list. Cellular phone services also stormed into the Top 10 list. Two-wheelers topped press ad spends, up from No. 4 last year. The big loser was Computer Education, which slipped from No. 3 to No. 15!

Retail press advertising moves up; small advertisers make a beeline for TV

A scene at the Akshardham temple after the terrorists attack.

Small is big! Retail advertisers are estimated to spend almost Rs 150 crore annually on press display ads alone (this does not include the vast amount they spend on press classifieds). The biggest retail categories this year, according to TAM Press AdEx are independent retail, car retail and two-wheeler retail. However, retailers for durables (TV, washing machines, refrigerators) have dropped spend levels dramatically.

Some of the brands advertising on news channels today, including slippers, pickles, undergarments and masalas, give an indication of the potential that some of these small-time entrepreneurs have under their belts.

Cricket brings in audiences by the truckloads; specialist content finds increasing viewers

Of the TAM-projected universe of 64 million TV viewers in the C&S universe, a whopping 50 million tuned into the ICC cricket tournament telecast on SET Max! This is obviously because sports channels are trying newer formats to get in audiences earlier uninterested in sports.

The year 2002 was one in which an English programme broke the TV industry's sound barrier, i.e., the Top 100 Programme list: The Mummy on HBO ranked number 62 on the C&S Top 100 list. News as a niche also fared well, continuing to interest audiences during crises like Akshardham and Gujarat. Sports viewership also increased, with the FIFA World Cup and cricket (NatWest series, ICC). Movies as a genre picked up, with shares of movie channels going up from 9.2 per cent last year to 11.6 per cent in 2002 (C&S 4+, TAM markets). Lagaan, on Sony Entertainment, turned out to be the best TV ratings grosser in the last two years, clocking a rating of 10.5 (in C&S 4+, Hindi-speaking households).

FDI announcement for the print medium created a flutter

The announcement of 26 per cent FDI for the newspaper industry split the publishing groups vertically, for and against. The industry was rife with speculation on which Indian groups would sell a stake, and which foreign publishing houses would enter the country.

Radio took Mumbai by storm

Mumbai rocked this year to the sound of private FM stations. Advertisers and media planners have tweaked their media plans, and with more FM stations being launched next year in other centres, the stage is set for a big revival of one of India's oldest media!

The year ahead...

2003 looks good from here; let's look at five things that will influence the coming year within the advertising and media industry:

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