'Zee became smarter'

Q&A/ Joy Chakraborthy

Zee is dangerously close to displacing Star Plus as the market leader in the Hindi general entertainment segment.

In TAM's Week 07 2008 data for audiences in the four-plus age group across all Hindi-speaking markets, there's very little gap (of about 4 points) between the gross rating points (GRPs) of Star Plus and Zee.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises' president and revenue head, Joy Chakraborthy, spoke to Shuchi Bansal on the channel's growing popularity.

How close is Zee to overtaking Star Plus ?

For several weeks now, Zee is ahead of Star Plus in all key (those with the purchasing power) audience segments. Zee is also number one in the critical prime time block.

What went into recovering the lost ground?

We put a mechanism in place to take regular feedback (through focus groups) from all our major stakeholders "" viewers, clients, agencies, distributors, affiliates and marketing partners. We've been doing it for the last three years and we have not deviated from that.

The FPC (fixed point chart or programme schedule) is determined with the help of programming and marketing teams. We also leveraged our network synergies to support the mother brand. Basically, Zee was promoted on Zee Bangla and Zee Marathi "" both number one channels in their markets.

Do you think Star became complacent ?

I wouldn't be able to comment on whether Star became complacent, but I can tell you that we became smarter in assessing and understanding the changing market conditions.

Are you commanding a premium with better GRPs?

We have been choc-a-bloc with commercials and over 95 per cent of our inventory has been full for a while now. Regarding premium, I feel we are still undervalued and there is scope for further adjustment of our prices.

With the market share of the general entertainment channels being stagnant, what's the future of the genre in India?

Despite all the fragmentation and the array of new entrants and niche players across genres, GEC has held ground in terms of audience share. This, by itself, is significant growth.

Secondly, PUT (People Using TV) for the genre has gone up. The ratings may be coming down but the TV-watching universe, that is, the absolute number of eyeballs has grown appreciably. The gross rating points, being a percentage measure, do not adequately reflect the growth in absolutes.

Which are your current top-rated prime time shows?

The top three shows on the Hindi general entertainment channels are from Zee "" Dulhan, Betiyaan and Saat Phere. Maayka is the fifth largest. Dulhaan is ranked number one and has an average TVR of 7.8.

Your latest channel, Zee Next, sank without a trace. Any comment?

Zee Next has had a steady launch. We have a follow-up plan which will be shared shortly.

How long will TV channels be dependent on income from advertising? How will you drive up subscription revenue?

The tough animal to tackle in distribution today is carriage fees "" the broadcast industry must be paying Rs 600 crore a year at least. Digital addressable systems will bring the much needed order to the business. Till then, ad revenues will continue to be the primary revenue stream.

Will the US economy slowdown affect the Indian economy and, in turn, ad spends in the country?

Advertisers, across the board, have registered strong business growth and this has been led by strong domestic consumption rather than any international influences.

Secondly, thanks to under-valuation and almost negligible price increases, TV advertising has become cheaper for clients vis-à-vis other media.

Equally, client investments in the medium have gone up across categories. It is a clear indicator of the potential available for the medium to grow.

From all indicators, the domestic growth story is still strong. There will be enough for everyone provided the medium is rightfully valued.