Zarina Lakdawalla, 11, is one of those bright-eyed kids who dazzle you with their intelligence and spontaneity. When she is not despatching her home work to the boundary of her school bag, she is surfing the Net. "I would like to watch more of TNT [Cartoon Network], but the Internet is much more informative," she says. Zarina is not alone. Almost 2.5 lakh Indians surf the Net every day. And when they are surfing, they are not watching television.
Is the long-standing hegemony of the television on the posterior part of the brain all but over? Not quite, but the Internet, with its two-way, raw information base is taking the neurons by storm. According to a research done by IDC India, the number of Internet connections at home will increase to almost 3 lakh by 2001 from about a lakh now. This news has alarmed television marketers. The television has been the sole source of cheap entertainment in Indian homes. Till now.
If TV-marketers have their way, even when you surf, you will be watching TV. "If you consider entertainment software as a single market, then almost half that software today is coming through the Internet. So if my television cannot access the Internet then it is just half a TV," says G Sunder, executive director, Onida.
Before you dismiss such talk as needlessly apocalyptic, listen to this. Onida is spending half its R&D budget (of Rs 1.2 crore) to develop a Net-based television, Webcruiser. Videocon has established a separate product line (with its own sales force) to market its TV.COMP, which is what you get when you cross a big-screen television with a middle-brow personal computer. BPL is launching a set-top box and a high-end Net-based television, and Samsung plans to launch its Net-based televisions next year.
Are television marketers over-reacting? Raj Saraf, chairman and managing director, Zenith Computers, believes they are. "Access to the Internet will be through the computer," he says. Why? "A set-top box, which is the most common way to tap the Internet through a television, is not cost-effective. Today, you can get a basic computer with Pentium III for less than Rs 30,000. Also, it is difficult to sit close to a television because its screen flickers and strains the eyes," he says.
Saraf has actually got it wrong. TV marketers' initiative isn't really about the Internet. It is about exorcising the ghosts of the old times through a new product line. Onida is looking at those consumers who are thinking of buying premium-end televisions. Videocon is looking at consumers who want to replace their current television sets. BPL is targeting the bulwark of the television market - people who buy 21-inch and 20-inch sets.
Regaining past glory
Start with Onida. This company has been able to recover some of its pride with recent product launches and a new ad campaign. These steps have pushed its market share to 11.8 per cent from 9.2 about two years ago. But there is something which still rankles Onida. It is no longer an object of envy. It cannot play the premium image card anymore. Those market positions now belong to Sony, Samsung and, to an extent, LG. These brands are able to sell their 21-inch at Rs 20,000-22,000. Onida's volumes come through sets priced at Rs 16,000-18,000.
Onida wants to feel premium again. The trouble is, there very few differentiators left in television technology. Hence the Internet. It is new, hip, hi-tech and exudes the same techno-savvy image that Onida once had. The litmus test is the target segment. "We want to capture 35 per cen
