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Prime Time
Content
is king\ 
How
much would you value love, desire, friendship, affection etc. in your
life? How would one measure the quantum of these emotions in ones life?
Difficult to measure in numbers, isn’t it? This is precisely why
this set of emotions are intangible and yet known to have more value in
peoples lives than the other tangible assets they own. I couldn’t
agree more, therefore in my first column I will talk about the most important
intangible asset in my life - content.
A seven-letter word in the new age economy, content is something we have
been constantly hearing about. The degree of importance of content is
in direct proportion to the plethora of television channels that is on
air. The more the channels, the more important content becomes. ‘Content
is King’ is the buzzword in most of the mainline channels.
| Bad locations and low production costs can all be overcome if the content is really strong.The biggest success stories have been those, which have relied on its content. Another unique aspect of content is that it is universal |
Content is what made new channels confident of its success. Content is
what made one site more alluring than the other. Lets try and understand
some critical aspects of television content for now. The one reason why
content forms part of the intangible asset is simply because all the hardware
necessary to make a program like artistes, technicians, shooting props,
shooting material etc could all be common in any two or more programs,
but what makes them different from each other is its content.
Its this content that adds or reduces value to a television program or
product. The best shows in the television industry have survived on its
content alone. Bad locations and low production cost can all be overcome
if the content is really strong. The biggest success stories have been
those, which have relied on its content. Another unique aspect of content
is that it is universal.
A cursory glance at the mainline television producers will reveal that
it is not big business houses who has survived the ups and downs of this
industry but good content providers who backed their content to pull them
from the lows of the industry. Producers like Adhikari Brothers, Manish
Goswami, Tony Deeya Singh were all individuals and professionals who grew
into corporate houses due to the high quality content they provided in
their shows.
Content, as you would have realised has less to do with cost of production
and more to do with creativity. With the inflow of many channels and opening
up of so many slots the competition has increased immensely. Many good
shows are pitted against each other vying for every eyeball that is glued
to television.
One boring scene and the fingertip presses the remote to another channel.
Thus a content provider has to ensure optimum entertainment and appropriate
hooks to woo back the viewer week after week. Yet when there are three
good shows on three different channels for instance Kanyadaan on Sony,
Kora Kagaz on Star and Basera on Zee TV all appear on Tuesdays between
8:30 and 9:00pm. All the three shows are vying for the same audience as
a result all the three shows are getting affected in TRPs (Television
Rating Points).
Yet all three have survived because certain age groups take to Kanyadaan
while another age group might take to Kora Kagaz while yet another segment
of audience might take to Basera. All the shows might not notch the number
one position, yet bringing good TRPs converting into enough revenues to
keep the channel happy.
The advertiser chooses the show that best suits his target consumers.
For instance, a saree ad might go for Kora Kagaz or Basera while a fairness
cream might prefer to advertise on Kanyadaan. This phenomenon of niche
advertising will go up as more and more channels come into the fray. SABe
TV and Sahara TV are the latest additions to enter the fray in the recent
past. According to me all could survive if it could concentrate on high
quality content.
Advertisers would any way get used to placing their ads on the programs,
which best suits their target audience. Niche advertising is here to stay.
Thus content, if good, will survive how many ever channels mushroom and
how much ever the competition hots up. Revenues will substantially rise,
as good content will demand a premium and channels will vie for a good
product.
Channels’ fighting to acquire a good product is not only to gain
high viewership but also to ensure that a rival channel does not bag the
show. The boom will last and the fittest will survive. Viewers will get
variety and the channels in return would get viewership. Yet the biggest
gainer in this melee would be the strongest content provider either as
a channel or as a production house.
Ektaa Kapoor