Idiocy on the idiot box

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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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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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