use of this technology solution in
India, and now it is being adopted
by other players in the industry.
TTN’s on‐air graphics presentation
is powered by use of software
applications developed in‐house –
optimising resources and enhancing
screen presentation.
We have integrated new‐media
content from different platforms
like mobile and web with the
channel content thus enabling
convergence on TV and driving up
the interactivity of its channels.
Which trends for consumption do
you see?
With growing internet penetration
– and lately this is being driven by
mobile rather than PC – there is
also growing consumption of
content via the internet on mobile
devices. At present, TV on mobile is
only an add‐on as revenue models,
access and sharing of revenues are
yet to grow. TV remains the
dominant medium when it comes
to audio‐visual content. And social
media is definitely contributing to
the ‘discoverability’ of content and
that in fact helps lead more viewers
to the TV medium.
TTN has content and
engagement offerings across digital
platforms: live streaming of our
channels on the web and mobile, or
interactive and informative
websites, or active following and
engagement on social media
networks. zoOm is the largest
Indian TV brand on social media in
the world with over 830m views on
zoOm’s YouTube channel, over
5.6m fans on its Facebook page,
over 300,000 followers of the zoOm
Twitter handle, over 1.3m people in
its circle on Google+ and a growing
presence across other networks
such as Socialcam, Dailymotion,
tumblr, pinterest, etc. In the last 12
months TIMES NOW has seen a
growth of over 150% in its fanbase
on Facebook, a four‐fold increase in
subscriber base and over 40%
growth in views on YouTube, and
its Twitter following has multiplied
by eight times.
Entertainment and news are the
most sought after content buckets. In
India the audience skew on the
internet is young and entertainment
definitely scores high on their
content needs.
How big is engagement with the
second screen?
Parallel second‐screen engagement
is not as big in India yet as in the
West. Even there various studies
have shown that second screen
interactions while consuming
content on TV are not necessarily
content‐centric interactions but
rather parallel social chatter. It is an
exciting area for us though and
given our dominating presence
across the digital and social media
networks we are geared to actively
engage our audiences on the
second screen as well.
Which audiences do you target?
Three broad audience groups – one,
urban, upscale Indians in the metros,
tier 1 and 2 cities. Second, our
entertainment brands service the
more youthful audience. And at an
international level, we service the
large Indian diaspora spread across
the globe seeking to connect with
India through news and entertainment.
What impact are you making?
Television Audience Measurement
(TAM) ratings have been one of the
major metrics to measure viewer‐
ship and implied impact so far.
However, the system has its flaws
and the industry is currently
working on creating a new, more
representative and secure measure‐
ment system.
We have always had direct
interactions with our viewers and
with the growing use of social
media platforms we are able to get
even better feedback. More
importantly, for a channel like
TIMES NOW the true measure of
impact is its ability to shape the
perception of the nation, set the
agenda for discussion on issues that
really matter to the citizens of this
country and be the catalyst of
change in the socio‐political
environment of the country.
In the case of ET NOW, we see true
impact in the fact that its incisive
analysis and recommendations
actually help its viewers make
better sense of the economic and
investment environment at a macro
as well as micro level, eventually
helping them grow their business
and wealth.
What about the competition?
All our channel brands operate in
the paid C&S environment and are
leaders in their respective categories.
In most of the categories our
channels have displaced legacy
leaders to take the top spot within a
short span of time. Doordarshan
channels service a distinctly
different audience segment than
that addressed by the TTN
channels and hence are not
significant direct competition to our
brands.
How difficult is it to attract
advertising revenue?
The current environment is
certainly challenging with weak
market sentiment following the
economic slowdown of 2012 and
advertising spends have remained
muted. However, TTN has been
able to drive double‐digit growth of
the top line over the previous fiscal
year and each of the channel brands
are successfully increasing their ad
rates in line with their audience
delivery. This is where our focus on
premium differentiated content
comes into play as it gives our
brands a higher power ratio
compared to our competitors. We
have consistently demonstrated ROI
for our customers and that keeps
them coming back to us for more.
“
”
Our
premium
differenti-
ated
content
gives our
brands a
higher
power
ratio
THE CHANNEL
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CONTENT
48
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ISSUE 1 2014
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THE CHANNEL
