The Hindu Business Line : News channel revenues grow faster than viewership

OVER the last 18 months, and especially since September 11 last year, TV news channels have been registering a steady increase in revenue, which is growing at an even faster rate than viewership, according to a report by TAM-AdEx, which monitors advertising across more than 600 media brands.

While viewership share of the six news channels surveyed has moved from 1.9 per cent to 3.7 per cent over the last 18 months (of total viewership of C&S homes), revenue share has jumped from 8.6 per cent to 12.2 per cent. "The rewards in this case have been greater than the success itself," said Mr Atul Phadnis, Director - S Group, TAM India. "Consumption of news used to be high only in the South, but in the last three-four years, it has gone up in the North and West, too. This suggests that some news channels have got the pulse of the market. Also, the context has changed: world events and politics have become important to viewers."

The surge in revenue typically comes three to four weeks after a major event - like the Gujarat earthquake, the WTC attacks and the war in Afghanistan - which delivers spikes in viewership. But this does not mean that media planners and advertisers have over-reacted, Mr Phadnis said. News has the ability to generate incremental reach at a very small cost, and advertisers have realised that news channels deliver the largest spread in terms of audience.

"There has been a shift in the way news channels figure in the media plan: earlier, they were used for incremental exposure to a small set of audience, but today they are being used to derive incremental reach of a wider base," Mr Phadnis said. "So it gives an advertiser's media plan a big thrust in terms of newer audiences (while) keeping costs under check." An added attraction is that the base of loyalists - i.e. people who spend at least five minutes per week viewing news channels - is also growing at a steady pace.

News channels accounted for 6 per cent of the more than Rs 100 crore spent by TV channels on promo ads in print last year, according to the report. With five news channels slated for launch in the coming months, TAM-AdEx expects that their ad spends in press, outdoor and radio will increase substantially. Also, it is expected that there will be "super specialisation" in the genre, leading to a bigger pie, bigger audiences, bigger ad spends and greater revenues, Mr Phadnis said.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
Provogue to say Cheers to shopping

Saif Ali Khan to endorse Yamaha's Libero

Kwality to sell fast food through express counters

Qwiky's now in Sri Lanka

News channel revenues grow faster than viewership

Used cars market shifting gears — Organised players ushering in price stability

HLL forays into biscuits segment under Kissan

Rishabh launches new range of instruments