Television- a new vision

The television continues to hold the lions share of audience interest and this tim this industry too, saw a lot new things thanks to digitization yet again. India continues to be the favorite of some broadcasters. The industry has been aggressive in increasing their presence across international market. Digitization phase two has already happened and is still in progress. New players are entering the market giving rise to better television viewing experience.

Television replacement has contributed to a large chunk of the industry while people switched from simple television sets to HD, flat screens, LCD television sets for a better viewing experience. Complete digitization will give rise to more transparency and people are eager to witness these changes.

General entertainment is still the spice of television while the family entertainers still rule the roost with innovative ideas and shows. Besides relaity shows on the segments have seen a rise moving away just from singing. Dance, comedy, action seem to have taken better shape in the reality segment.

Movies continue to be a strategic method to create a buzz and hold viewerships. Some of the biggest movies have been aired on television to penetrate amongst audience.

Besides, television shows or even channels to have realized the online potential for the channel and individual shows too. This has increased audience engagement and created a community of loyalists.

Challenges to the television industry will be the new rule being limitations in advertising durations which has created a buzz. The advertising rates will boom to keep up to the competition but will also have to plan better strategies in order to stay up to the production costs.

The big box office

Last year, Bollywood served a buffet of movies. Most movies were received very well drawing the success growth to an exciting shape. The domestic revenues grew by 23.8% contributing 76% to the INR 112.4 billion film industry. Driving force being digitization which provided the distributors a god quality movie experience at a give away price.

The indian film industry will be growing further with digitization and a global reach. The Indian film industry also saw new trends in film productions such as a crowd funded films and online release of films.

In the wide spread platter of films, indian films offered new concepts without the typical stories and a song list. Movies are getting more story centric and focuses on better scripts. However action films too seem to be having a good market. Films like English Vinglish set new trends again with women centric films which was a blockbuster again.

Movies are now more easier to reach. They appear on television faster than before and new concepts such as ad free streaming, DTH services is improving the films scene.

In short, Indian film industry is growing bigger both in terms of reach and quality of movies.

A promising player-New media

Even the world economy doesn't seem to have stopped the new media to grow. it managed a 40% growth in advertising revenue. Mobiles are the new carriers of the trend. Wireless devices have driven the penetration, taking it to a whopping 124 million connections! the digital interface has increased internet penetration in whole. Fixed line connections have grown by 11% while wireless connections have grown by 50%.

India currently has 174 million internet users which is expected to grow triple fold. With smartphones leading the market and integrations doubling, it is taking a wave in the industry. India is on the highway to the internet revolution.

Study says that indians spend about 2.5 hours everyday on mobile data and less than quarter on voice calls or texts. This privies that internet is engaging. There is a desire for more content and power to buy the same. Data consumption is the key to mobile technology.

Online mobile users in India is on a rise too. Facebook recently claimed an increase of 81% in mobile. Mobile phones have enhanced entertainment with engaging content such as videos, music, print, news, social media.

The industry is seeing something new on a daily basis. New technology is knocking doors and the pricing is coming down. Internet is much cheaper and affordable which is again increasing the engagement.

The application industry also is seeing a rise with most brands and products coming on the application platform in form of games and interactivity.

Other online services such as ebooks are also seeing a rise in consumership with books going digital on the mobile platforms.

PC and TV games are being converted to applications leading to a convergence.

E-commerce too saw an unbelievable growth with new players filling the market with innovative ideas and niche products. Not just nothings, all commodities are now available on the internet.

Online payments, which earlier was a not so trusted method of transaction, saw a boom with new players who converge all the utilities in direct payments using secure gateways for transfers and credits.

Print-not so good news

Last year was not bright and happening for the print industry. The industry grew by only 7.3% while it was estimated to grow 8.3%. This was essentially due ti high level of dependence on advertisements being dampened by a gloomy macro-economics scene. However the print industry has made better moves by starting new editions in existing areas. It has also cut corners in it's running costs. Dainik Bhaskar leads the market here by bringing down its delivery radius from 350 kms to 200 kms.

On the other share of print being magazines, it has not been a great year. The magazine industry witnessed a decline in readership. However the niche publications continue to grow with a special focus on the genre.

Advertising continue to be the dominating contributors of the print industry. The industry seems to be ready to cope with the new trends ad are focusing on tier two and three cities for readerships. New trends have also increased the subscription costs and rural market makes up to 70% of this industry.

Most print players are going digital in lot more than few forms. The big players have social med to instantly update on latest news, social media to interact with readers. Mobile applications saw a steep increase as more interactive form of reading.

Mobile technologies and digital interfaces are giving raise to new trends in the print industry making a better branding for the players.

While magazines seems to be disappearing from the stands, they are making themselves visible on the mobile platform. Some players also moved to complete digital with online subscriptions.

All though print is vanishing, its essence remains the same and offers large verity to readers. It is certainly good as this is also becoming digital which directly cuts down on usage of papers which is environmental friendly.

Who are you?

Digital Natives: People born during the digital era. Technically, these are the people who are exposed to digital interfaces and use devices for more than one purpose. From education to networking. Here people are exposed to digital revolution to a wider use and are in most cases upgraded with new technologies. The use of technology is more, learning is faster, more dependency and more faith in info available on the internet.

Digital Immigrants: A generation before the digital era. People in this case are less exposed to technologies. They have practiced everything practically by using other traditional methods. Lesser awareness, lack of usage more dependant on other sources of info such as books.

There is a great deal of cultural differences one could encounter due to lack of knowledge in the digital era. Firstly the cultural differences. Since the natives are exposed to greater amount of info, there is a lot more perspective attached which has its own pros and cons.

Immigrants on the other hand do not appreciate the easy approach towards everything creating a gap. Further some can be a sport and might show interest in learning.

Radio on a roll

 Radio on a roll

Radio-renewed hope as FICCI calls it is completely right. With a growth rate of 10% and a total revenue of INR 12.7 Billion, the radio industry is evolving to better and bigger. The growth owes a large chunk to the bigger players like Radio city and Radio march by pushing to different quarters and providing innovative solutions and business.

Radio has reached a 100%  mark in the metro cities and now moving towards the tier two and tier three cities. This indeed marks the trademark of radio for being the only medium to have a 100% reach. Besides, the big players, the non-metro players have given the business a boost. My FM and radio mantra operating in tier two segments have emerged as leaders with a quick growth.

Post reduction of royalty costs, after the union cabinet ministry passed the copyright amendment bill, the reduced costs have created a larger profit base. However a radio stations have other high priced equipments and resources.

Radio on the other hand has developed as an interactive medium giving a better scope for brand engagement, advertising, interactivity. Radio is far more effective considering the local connect and emotional connect with listeners. Besides, it is far more cheaper compared to the television campaigns. This will only get better with the phase thee auctions pitching at 300 more cities.

Being on mobile platform, radio has evolved to be more efficient. In contrast to television or print, radio is very interactive and very handy. Yet, radio continues to be the outdoor entertainer being a car's best companion.

Radio has also evolved in terms of content creation in listener engagement. Innovation is the key indeed. Some of the biggest brands believe in the efficiency of radio. Fastrack, a big player has always believed in radio advertising. Radio also have their engagement with the listeners through social platforms creating better visual content too. This has increased in better emotional engagement and created better listeners.

Interner radio has also emerged as the new industry. Players here believe that the lower costs helps in creating more stations on the internet platform giving the niche audience an almost personalized radio experience. This also caters to corporate audience and engagements at other segments.

Radio industry is green and growing. With television advertising slots squeezing, radio will most certainly be the immediate choice of advertisers