The content blackout on GECs is over, at least for now. But the after effects will remain. 4Ps B&M's Pallavi Srivastava finds out more...
For the past one year General Entertainment Channels (GECs)
have been the talk of the television town for some reason or the other. And last week the blackout of fresh content on GECs, owing to the scuffle between the TV producers and the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), has given everyone a reason to burn midnight lamps to find out the action on the teletube. Although the 10-day long standoff had been called off even as the magazine was going for print, yet after effects may remain for some time...
Sample this: GECs lost an average 35-55% GRPs during the first three days of the content blackout (aMap, for November 10-13). The advertisers, on the other hand, stood by in solidarity with broadcasters. They did not pull out their ads as per a decision taken by the Advertising Agency Association of India. “Advertisers are supportive of our stand against increasing cost of content, which in turn leads to increase in ad rates,” says Keertan Adyanthaya, EVP & GM, Star Plus. Industry insiders however feel that the strike was called off just in time or advertisers would have started pressing the panic buttons. Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media, believes that had the content blackout continued, "the advertising revenues of GECs would obviously have started falling because of stagnating viewership.” Take a look: During November 10-14, Star Plus’ GRPs have fallen by 52.9% to 107.19 points as against 227.9 during November 3-7. Similarly Zee TV has seen a fall of 49.53% (see table). Nayyar adds, “The advertisers may have pulled out some ads and negotiated rates for some.” Admits Tarun Mehra, Business Head, Zee TV, “Revenues would have been affected, but I can’t say how much.”
However, for channels at this juncture, more crucial than advertisers and their potential reactions are perhaps the viewers. After all, the soaring popularity of GECs is an out-and-out eyeball game. If viewers come back, advertisers will easily follow suit. But once migrated to other channels and genres, it becomes difficult to get audiences hooked back to programmes. As Naresh Gupta, EVP, Planning, Publicis India warns, “It is a dangerous scenario for many serials. Once the viewer gets out of the habit of watching daily dose of soaps and gets used to other programmes, it can lead to a long term change in habits.” And TV viewing is all about habits! But this does not literally means that the future of GECs is in peril. As Nayyar argues, “A week or two is too short a period to break TV watching habits," but get ready to see some huge advertising – billboards, in-TV placements etc – from broadcasters to entice every last viewer back and then some more.
Things change almost on a daily basis in the GEC space and ten days of a blackout may not do much harm for now, but GECs need to watch their backs so that a similar situation does not crop up again in the near or distant future. Sources indicate that the present truce is merely a temporary deal – and the fire may flare out again and soon. Minimum demands of TV workers have been met and more discussions are to take place.
In this recent blackout period, viewers and advertisers mainly migrated to cricket (thanks to the euphoria created by Yuvraj's sixes against the Aussies), movies and music genres. Sports channels had been the biggest gainers, with 50% increase in their GRPs for the period November 10-14, followed by movies and music category, which gained 40% and 30% GRPs respectively (aMap data). Had the strike continued for long, it may have proven to be a golden opportunity for them to expand their audience base. Take 9XM and MTV, which have already been poaching eyeballs from other genres, for instance. MTV Roadies sixth season (to be kick-start on November 29th), would have robbed a lot of youth audience from various channels (maybe many of those who were hooked on to various reality shows on GECs). “During the strike, eyeballs got addicted to other genres like movies and music, which meant more variety for advertisers, who so far had to stick to GECs when it came to numbers,” offers a Delhi based media planner.
Within the GEC category, Colors has got the highest GRPs (117.51 points) during November 10-14, as it remained the only GEC airing some fresh content in the form of Big Boss. Similarly Sony’s repeat telecast of Indian Idol 4 also boosted the channels’ GRPs by 7.7%, making it the only GEC to have actually gained GRPs during this lean and mean period.
Fact is that this temporary setback as a result of the blackout could have resulted in a permanent backlash for GECs. It had all the potential to change the rules of the games, but for some last minute divine intervention that must have seen broadcasters heave a sigh of relief. Reportedly, wages for striking workers from now will be monthly deals, with a 7.5% raise, better work timings and they'll be paid overtime. For now, no one seems hurt by the melodrama... But in an industry plagued by rising input costs, the impact of a further rise in salaries of workers is certain to translate into higher costs for advertisers. Broadcasters had in any case been rooting for an increase in ad rates for some time now and the last shove may well come from this deal with TV workers unions. The good news however is that unlike the saas bahu operas that continue tirelessly for years, with this break of deadlock, the biggest crisis ever faced by the Indian TV industry has come to an end.
For the past one year General Entertainment Channels (GECs)
have been the talk of the television town for some reason or the other. And last week the blackout of fresh content on GECs, owing to the scuffle between the TV producers and the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), has given everyone a reason to burn midnight lamps to find out the action on the teletube. Although the 10-day long standoff had been called off even as the magazine was going for print, yet after effects may remain for some time...Sample this: GECs lost an average 35-55% GRPs during the first three days of the content blackout (aMap, for November 10-13). The advertisers, on the other hand, stood by in solidarity with broadcasters. They did not pull out their ads as per a decision taken by the Advertising Agency Association of India. “Advertisers are supportive of our stand against increasing cost of content, which in turn leads to increase in ad rates,” says Keertan Adyanthaya, EVP & GM, Star Plus. Industry insiders however feel that the strike was called off just in time or advertisers would have started pressing the panic buttons. Anita Nayyar, CEO, Havas Media, believes that had the content blackout continued, "the advertising revenues of GECs would obviously have started falling because of stagnating viewership.” Take a look: During November 10-14, Star Plus’ GRPs have fallen by 52.9% to 107.19 points as against 227.9 during November 3-7. Similarly Zee TV has seen a fall of 49.53% (see table). Nayyar adds, “The advertisers may have pulled out some ads and negotiated rates for some.” Admits Tarun Mehra, Business Head, Zee TV, “Revenues would have been affected, but I can’t say how much.”
However, for channels at this juncture, more crucial than advertisers and their potential reactions are perhaps the viewers. After all, the soaring popularity of GECs is an out-and-out eyeball game. If viewers come back, advertisers will easily follow suit. But once migrated to other channels and genres, it becomes difficult to get audiences hooked back to programmes. As Naresh Gupta, EVP, Planning, Publicis India warns, “It is a dangerous scenario for many serials. Once the viewer gets out of the habit of watching daily dose of soaps and gets used to other programmes, it can lead to a long term change in habits.” And TV viewing is all about habits! But this does not literally means that the future of GECs is in peril. As Nayyar argues, “A week or two is too short a period to break TV watching habits," but get ready to see some huge advertising – billboards, in-TV placements etc – from broadcasters to entice every last viewer back and then some more.
Things change almost on a daily basis in the GEC space and ten days of a blackout may not do much harm for now, but GECs need to watch their backs so that a similar situation does not crop up again in the near or distant future. Sources indicate that the present truce is merely a temporary deal – and the fire may flare out again and soon. Minimum demands of TV workers have been met and more discussions are to take place.
In this recent blackout period, viewers and advertisers mainly migrated to cricket (thanks to the euphoria created by Yuvraj's sixes against the Aussies), movies and music genres. Sports channels had been the biggest gainers, with 50% increase in their GRPs for the period November 10-14, followed by movies and music category, which gained 40% and 30% GRPs respectively (aMap data). Had the strike continued for long, it may have proven to be a golden opportunity for them to expand their audience base. Take 9XM and MTV, which have already been poaching eyeballs from other genres, for instance. MTV Roadies sixth season (to be kick-start on November 29th), would have robbed a lot of youth audience from various channels (maybe many of those who were hooked on to various reality shows on GECs). “During the strike, eyeballs got addicted to other genres like movies and music, which meant more variety for advertisers, who so far had to stick to GECs when it came to numbers,” offers a Delhi based media planner.
Within the GEC category, Colors has got the highest GRPs (117.51 points) during November 10-14, as it remained the only GEC airing some fresh content in the form of Big Boss. Similarly Sony’s repeat telecast of Indian Idol 4 also boosted the channels’ GRPs by 7.7%, making it the only GEC to have actually gained GRPs during this lean and mean period.
Fact is that this temporary setback as a result of the blackout could have resulted in a permanent backlash for GECs. It had all the potential to change the rules of the games, but for some last minute divine intervention that must have seen broadcasters heave a sigh of relief. Reportedly, wages for striking workers from now will be monthly deals, with a 7.5% raise, better work timings and they'll be paid overtime. For now, no one seems hurt by the melodrama... But in an industry plagued by rising input costs, the impact of a further rise in salaries of workers is certain to translate into higher costs for advertisers. Broadcasters had in any case been rooting for an increase in ad rates for some time now and the last shove may well come from this deal with TV workers unions. The good news however is that unlike the saas bahu operas that continue tirelessly for years, with this break of deadlock, the biggest crisis ever faced by the Indian TV industry has come to an end.
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