While these channels are still the high priests of reach, their viewership shares are showing a continual dip, as recorded by recent TAM and other surveys.
MUMBAI: General entertainment television, they say, can be an exorcism. It bolts you in your living room with primal emotions and makes them cathartic and magical. But while these puissant channels are still the high priests of reach and in-home story-telling, their viewership shares are showing a continual dip, as recorded by recent TAM and other surveys. There are newcomers in the salon. Switch on second-line and niche genres, which seem to be taking away a few of the eyeballs earlier devoted to the general entertainment section.
The A-list channels, however, find confidence in their still tectonic reach and viewership, and in a generally expanding cable and satellite universe—which means that the absolute number of viewers reached by general entertainment is still on the rise. They see such dips in share as a natural outfall of an evolving television market. Many are also shoring up business by appending new, potentially lucrative genres to their bouquets of channels.
A dappled picture
Still, what is the big picture for general entertainment? Anupriya Acharya, president, The Media Edge, says that viewership share is dipping for general entertainment channels.
“In the Hindi-speaking market, cumulative channel share for GEC1 (Star Plus/Zee TV/Sony TV) has fallen from 29.7% in 2004 to 27.7% in 2005 and further to 27% in Jan-Feb 2006. Even the average channel TVR (television viewership ratings) has dropped across Star Plus and Sony TV. Zee (Zee’s promoter group is a partner in Diligent Media, which publishes DNA) has bucked the trend in recent times, but then it is early days.”
Manish Porwal, executive director, India-West, for Starcom Worldwide, agrees: There is a definite slackening of the viewership (share) of general entertainment channels. Total viewing share has dropped by nearly 10% over the last 3 years. While the reach of the biggest channels, per se, hasn’t come down significantly, viewers are spending less time per channel and per viewing session than they used to. They are more flirtatious and surfing more across a greater number of channels available.
He lists three factors behind this seepage:
* Loss to news channels: Newly hyperactive genres such as news have stolen some shares out of entertainment channels, particularly since most households continue to be single TV.
*Loss to other media, particularly radio: Time spent on radio has grown a dramatic 35% between 2003-05. Contrary to early expectations, most of radio listenership is in-home. While some in-home listenership of radio is absolutely new usage of any medium, radio has eaten into television viewing time. Average TVR of afternoon band shows on most GEC channels has dropped by anything between 10% and 25% over the last 2 years.
Loss to out-of-home behaviour: People in big- and mid-sized cities have started spending more time out of home — dining, shopping, entertaining, socialising. Although the largest syndicated studies haven’t started capturing this trend, it is an unmistakable trend nevertheless.
Porwal’s forecast: “Mainstream will continue losing (viewership) to special interest vehicles, although to what extent the drop will continue, is anybody’s guess.”
Who gains?
One man’s dip is another’s sip. Listen to Acharya: While the dip in GEC1 channel share continues, it is the GEC 2 (Star One/Sahara One/SAB etc.) and news genre that are seeing a gain in channel (viewership) share. GEC2 has moved from a channel share of 3% in 2004 to 4.4% in 2005, while the news genre has upscaled from 4.6 % to 5.6%. Similarly with new players like Hungama and Disney coming in and gaining some acceptance, coupled by local language content, the kids genre has also increased from 3.5% to 5.1%. However, another genre that is seeing a dip in channel shares is the music genre which fell from 2.1 to 1.7%.
How will business shake out?
Will this new viewing zeitgeist impact the big daddies in any way? Media specialists from Acharya to Porwal think so. According to Acharya, if the key task of the general entertainment channels is to provide reach, then a dip in that will definitely impact business. “Channel shares and all other cuts of general entertainment channels are tracked far more closely as compared to the special interest segment. Also, a lot of the buying here is efficiency led; unlike the special interest segment, here there is lesser of a qualitative angle.’’
She agrees though that at an overall level, it is tough for a mass advertiser to do away with a mass entertainment option altogether, as reach is important. Another critical edge for the mass guys: while the overall channel shares may be dipping, the overall satellite universe is increasing. So the absolute number of viewers reached is still on the rise.
Porwal however sounds a warning: “If the drop of top programme ratings continues, advertisers won’t just sit there and watch. They will find other opportunities.”
What are GE channels doing?
The big beamers of television are meanwhile doing their bit to stanch the outflows and build more catchment areas. Each channel is re-strategising in terms of new programming, formats, time-slots et al, in a bid to reverse the trend. Click on celebrity game shows (Jodi Kamal Ki), epics (Prithviraj Chauhan) kind of initiatives, to time-slot development thrusts like Shukar hai Shukravar hai, KBC on Weekends etc. Again, popular formats like Sa Re Ga Ma season 2, Indian Idol 2 etc are being extended. A lot of the new thrusts are family-based rather than women-based. And of course, the channel groups also have a foot deep in special interest now.
Some of these fire-fighting tactics may help in bucking the trend, some won’t. “But at an overall level, the erosion will certainly continue due to more and more niche/ focused options sprouting up,’’ reckons Acharya.
Channels have tried to arrest this fall by getting stronger and new programmes and aggressively pushing into weekend and afternoon programming, but the existing deals are not delivering as much as they used to, adds Porwal.
Challenges for media planning
These wide angles mean tough juggling acts for media planners. Media fragmentation parlays to lower return on investments, and hence the need for higher investments by mass advertisers. These advertisers not only have to dominate the mass/entertainment channels, but have to get on to niche/special interest channels too to get to their consumers, informs Acharya. On the other hand, a lot of new advertisers are making an entry into television, thanks to the lower entry cost of niche channels. Once they taste success, they graduate to more mass options, and general entertainment gains as a result. This, and other factors, will continue to drive ad spends for general entertainment.
Oh yes, the media planners job is much more layered in these days of flux. “While the profile of advertisers has not changed, the fact that absolute ratings of the biggest shows have dropped significantly has pushed up CPRP (cost per rating point) and it has become less cost efficient to build effective reach. This is putting a large inflationary pressure on client budgets,” says Porwal.
In all, expect many more spanners thrown in the media works if viewership shares for general entertainment channels continue to inexorably slide. For the seasons ahead, though, adspends will continue to shake out in abundance for our mass beamers, as testament to the power of brand cachet and mass communications.
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