With an ever-growing demand for television content, pampered Indian audiences remain dissatisfied. An existing demand of content from an umbrella of over 450 channels currently, it stands as a lucrative opportunity as even more channels are in the offing
Remember getting up early morning on Sundays to watch cartoon shows like Duck Tales and The Jungle Book on DD Metro? When our fathers and grandfathers would wait for 9 o’clock national news bulletin every night on Doordarshan (DD)? When TV shows like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Karamchand, Byomkesh Bakshi, and Dekh Bhai Dekh have filled our childhood days?
Fast forward into the present and we have shows like the Big Boss series, Indian Idol series, Khatron Ke Khiladi, Balika Vadhu, and MTV Roadies. Television airtime is bloating with soaps, news content, advertisements, movies, and the recent favorite – reality shows. With ever-increasing viewership and options at our disposal, content generators stand to gain. On the contrary, time spent per channel is decreasing, thereby increasing the competition between channels to retain their audience.
The Indian media and entertainment Market: Past and present
A recent study on the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and KPMG estimated its size to be around Rs 584 billion for the year 2008. It is interesting to note that four segments within the M&E industry, namely, television, films, music, and animation, covers an astonishing share of more than 64%. Hence, these four segments account for about Rs 375 billion in the industry.
| DARE/quick facts |
| The size of the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) sector was Rs 584 billion in 2008. |
| Around 64 percent (Rs 375 billion) of the Indian M&E industry is occupied by four segments, namely, television, films, music, and animation. |
| A production house can produce a television show, an advertisement, social and corporate documentaries, feature films, animation, sports shows, etc. |
| International media house CNN was behind the “live” telecast of the Gulf War in 1991 in India. |
| Broadcast programming in colored format picked up with Indira Gandhi’s speech on Independence Day in 1982 and the Asian Games conducted by India the same year. |
| In 1983 television signals were available to just 28 percent of the population; this doubled by the end of 1985, and by 1990 over 90 percent of the population had “access” to television signals. |
| NDTV and TV-18 were production houses when they started. |
| Currently, Indian audiences watch over 450 channels. |
| According to industry estimates, there are applications for more than 150 new channels lying with the government for approval. |
It all started with 1982, the year in which content was presented in color format nationally. The event was the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, followed by the live coverage of the Asian Games on DD held in the same year. It created a furore in broadcast programming in India.
| Opportunity Areas |
| Animation |
| News content |
| Music |
| Feature films |
| Social & corporate documentaries |
| Ad films |
| Sports content |
| Television content like daily soaps, reality shows, adventure shows, etc. |
| source: Various reports |
To add to that, another “live” coverage of the Gulf War in 1991 marked the entry of transnational broadcasters to India. It was CNN that came to India and became a part of Indian homes. Coverage of the Gulf War showing Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait during India’s early satellite telecast days drove people television-crazy. This influenced Indian news services to modernize their facilities, and CNN has in fact lent its expertise to train DD’s news arm, including its international satellite news channel.
To substantiate the craze, in 1983, television signals were available to just 28 percent of the population; this had, reportedly, doubled by the end of 1985 and by 1990 over 90 percent of the population had access to television.
Present-day biggies like NDTV and TV-18 started as production houses. The former produced a news show by the name of The World This Week. They began lobbying for a slot with DD and their patience paid off. That’s when NDTV made its debut in 1988. The timing was perfect. NDTV’s coverage of Tiananmen Square and the fall of the Berlin Wall was pathbreaking in Indian television reporting and gave it brand recognition. That got them a slot for a daily news bulletin and big sponsors such as the Tata Group.
Later NDTV produced India’s first live televised coverage of the country’s general elections which increased the viewership rapidly. The change in the country’s televised media was welcomed. What’s more, as foreign broadcasters such as the BBC and Star TV looked to expand their operations in India, they turned to NDTV for content.
India’s face-off with liberalization was hand in hand with the revolution that had begun in the broadcasting media. The diversification in the telecast content along with the penetration of the cabling facilities increased viewership in leaps and bounds. The year 1991 witnessed the launch of Star Plus, while Subhash Chandra made his entry with Zee the very next year. This was followed by Sony, Asianet, and Sun TV for programming across the country. These power houses soon realized that entertainment programs were occupying the centre stage in programming strategies, and advertising had come to be the main source of funding.
TV-18, another production house of those times and the biggest media conglomerate currently in India, started off with an entertainment magazine named The India Show in 1993. Star provided them with this platform. In no time, TV-18 became a leading content provider to almost all the major satellite channels such as the BBC, Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee, MTV, and Discovery.
From two channels prior to 1991, Indian viewers were exposed to more than 50 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 to fill in the places required.
Currently, with more than 450 television channels at our disposal, Indians are said to be the most pampered audiences in the world. According to the industry estimates, there are another 150 applications lying with the government for approval.
What is a production house?
A production house is an organization that looks after the pre- and post-production needs along with the shooting set-up. A production house can be involved with the production of content like television news, television soaps, commercials (advertisements), social and corporate documentaries, feature films, reality shows, animation, music videos, and sports footage.
A production house not just caters to the content demanded within the M&E industry, but also to high-profile personal or public media events and functions such as launch parties, fashion shows, awards, and ceremonies. A wide spectrum can be seen in this space with name like UTV generating content from news to commercial flicks. On the contrary, not to forget the houses like Kapoor Studios from the city of Kanpur, which work for the local schools and NGOs while making motivational films for them.
| Growth Drivers |
| Narrowcasting |
| Regionalization |
| Internationalization |
| Digitization |
| Organized funding |
| Liberalizing foreign investment regime |
An amateur can start a production house with just a handycam and a personal computer with reasonable configuration. To start with, Adobe Premier Pro can prove to be quite handy as an editing software. Setting up facilities for a production house can cost from a few thousands to millions of rupees, with no end to the complicated equipment and software available in the market.
Currently, given the market situation, the business of a production house can be operated in roughly three formats:
1. A self-owned production house with adequate facilities and manpower in place: This includes big players like UTV that cater to all requirements of producing news content to commercial movies. Reliance’s Big Entertainment and Pyramid Saimira are among others.
2. Equipment partly owned and other requirements outsourced: This includes a model where some part is produced in-house while rest is outsourced with hired equipment and manpower. For example, the Delhi-based Purple Line Productions hires the studio space of A.K. Studios for its production work on a regular basis.
3. Complete outsourcing: This model includes production work done with all the equipment and manpower outsourced.
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written by neckties, February 24, 2011
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