By Ibu Sanjeeb Garg
Beating the Rhetoric
The history of the Indian television industry is closely linked with its economy. Since the days of independence state owned Doordarshan ruled the roost with programs that dwelt predominantly on social ethos among other issues. The opening up of the economy brought a new paradigm shift into the Indian television industry as well. The 1990s witnessed a massive growth of channels as well as TV programs as Indian viewers were introduced into new ideas and new programs. The dawn of the liberalised era also ushered in different programs moving away from the traditional news-movies-drama format. While some channels began to focus on news alone others became known for their drama content. Other channels relied only on movies as well as music.
Almost 25 years hence the Indian TV industry in all segments has grown rapidly. With the growth in multiplicity of programs channels have witnessed growth in viewership numbers as well. The “TV Divide” in India is largely less compared to other divides with rural and urban India almost in equal terms when it comes to TV viewership. In the midst of all this however TV in India witnessed perhaps another paradigm shift last week when the Endemol backed show “Big Boss” aired on Colours television introduced the concept of “Live Voting” during the show – a first in itself.
For those uninitiated Big Boss is modelled on the American show Big Brother , where a number of people are locked up for a few months and are monitored by cameras 24*7. While the previous editions of Big Boss featured known TV/movie or other faces, Big Boss introduced the concept of “Ïndia wale” or commoners this time. This was a novelty in itself. However, last week when it introduced live voting within the Big Boss show, the show broke new barriers. Those who had installed the Colors application were asked to vote on a particular issue and the results were displayed almost instantaneously on a giant screen erected in the garden area of the Big Boss house for the benefit of the contestants/housemates.
This voting in turn is a precursor to another show to be aired soon on Colors , a singing reality show called Rising Stars where the audiences would select those who would go on to take part in the competition. Rising Star itself is based on the Israeli singing competition HaKokhav HaBa (meaning “The Next Star”) made by Keshet Broadcasting Ltd. The program format lets viewers vote for contestants via mobile apps. At this crucial juncture when mobile telephony and connections have witnessed a massive push upwards, it comes as no surprise that Television channels are introducing newer formats. And thus an important question is before us : Is Indian Television at the crossroads? The answer to this is a resounding yes with technology truly becoming the disruptive game changer.
What then are the new challenges that the Indian television will encounter in the next few years? With the introduction of live voting in real time viewer’s engagement with the plot is only set to rise. The rise of the “web series segment has to be understood in this background as well. Voot a Colors backed web channel service has launched its own program called “Untag Yourself” which talks about a girl confident about her weight , a well dressed young man from the East who is tagged gay and other assortment of such interesting characters. This series is an example of how the Indian youth bored from the traditional saas bahu serials want new dimensions, and shows such as Untag Yourself promises to do the same. Shows such as these are indeed expressions of greater audience interaction. And with introduction of live audience views TV channels have to further adapt themselves else they stand to lose their viewership.
Yet the dimensions of challenges would not be limited to audience driven content alone. Rather the introduction of technology would bring in further challenges as well. Today atleast in urban India a large part of the TV viewership is not on the traditional Television alone but other platforms such as tablet, laptop and mobiles. Hence television content has turned omniplatform moving away from the traditional platform. Thus television channels have to gear up to this new omnipresent platform.
Social media including Facebook and Twitter will bring in a new dimension for Indian television as well. Globally celebrities engage with their fans via social media and this trend has picked up in India as well. As the TV industry reinvents itself it has to make greater use of social media not only to drive content but also to make TV viewership a more wholesome experience where the views of all are included. The paradigm in TV viewership has shifted from maximum TV to maximum experience. With the introduction of VR and larger screens the visual effects of TV programs would have to considerably evolve. The substandard graphic that TV shows in India for example, even today propagates will have to make way to far better graphics and visual effects. This would of course mean increased production costs for companies producing the show but those who fall by in the race will be left behind.
Another evolving feature of TV industry would be binge viewing. In binge viewing viewers sit in front of the TV for hours gorging massive amounts of entertainment content. Netflix has been a harbinger of change by redefining binge viewing in modern video viewership era. However TV industry cannot take its viewers for granted. The content and quality has to be developed which would keep audience engaged for hours.
Another challenge would be to link up advertisements to more geographical specific sensibilities. Advertisements today across TV programs are same for the whole of India. Yet India has its variations in terms of culture, language identity among others. If TV channels evolve certain technology wherein in the same time slot different advertisements are displayed for different parts of the country perhaps the return from the advertisements for the company would be much higher. Such variation in advertisement placement can also be tried across age groups for deeper impacts.
The most important challenge for TV industry however would be to link up and attach itself with audience across age groups all this while being in the race for TV viewership ratings on any given week. In such a case TV industry has to perhaps explore options of program variations across formats and age group in the same time. For example a channel could broadcast a melodramatic Saas-bahu serial across channels for a certain audience while streaming a youth show across its mobile platform at the same time. While it would undoubtedly be difficult yet such flexibility would keep different sections of viewers hooked on to a particular channel.
The Big Boss is a precursor to the fact that TV industry in India stands at an important juncture today. The future beckons and interesting times are ahead for the Indian TV industry.
( Views expressed by the author are personal)