But now that the economic slowdown has crimped ad spending, it is clear that survival of these channels faces a reality check.
MUMBAI: With over 372 television channels, the consumer is not really spoilt for choice.
As he surfs television on his remote, he finds several channels, most of which offer nothing new since they entered the television space to capitalise on the ‘great Indian television opportunity’.
Thanks to them though, ad rates became extremely competitive in 2008, without justifying the channels’ ratings. But now that the economic slowdown has crimped ad spending, it is clear that survival of these channels faces a reality check.
The reasons for their entry into the business - bullish investors, plush money in the stock markets, robust advertising spends, and the sunrise of direct-to-home TV’s subscription revenues - are all showing withdrawal symptoms.
Long term players in the television business such as Star, Zee, Network18, and NDTV are of the opinion that in 2009, a much deserved correction will happen in the television - a medium which annually attracts close to Rs 10,000 crore in ad spends - leaving behind only those channels that really have something valuable to offer to audiences.
Standalone channels and new networks such as UTV Global Broadcasting, INX Media, NDTV Imagine, Real Global Broadcasting face an uphill task of making profits, even as the carriage fee market stabilizes.
Rajesh Kamat, CEO of Colors, the GEC from the Viacom18 stable says, “Strong media networks will survive, not just because they have diversified into several genres of channels, allowing funneling of audiences, but also because they make them hedged to a certain extent.”
2009 would also test the survival of niche channels, which launched by the dozen, each hoping to exploit a special category of advertisers.
By the end of 2009, one will know whether they launched too early for a yet to develop digital pay TV market like India. Some niche channels - like those for world cinema, real estate, faith, lifestyle could choose to hide their poor balance sheets under the garb of being available exclusively on DTH platforms.
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