The Hindu Business Line : TV viewers tuned in to piety too

THE year 2005 may well have been the year of news channels, which became hugely popular among viewers, but the actual surprise element has been the significant rise in viewership of religious channels such as Aastha, GOD, Sanskar and Zee Jagran.

According to a TAM report, religious channels had a viewership share of 0.63 per cent of the total television pie in 2004, and it rose to 0.72 per cent in 2005, which, when rounded off, is almost equal to the viewership that comes from the music channels (1 per cent).

Channels such as Aastha and GOD, for instance, had an all-India viewership share of 28 per cent in 2005, while Zee Jagaran had a 23 per cent share.

Mr Pradeep Hejmadi, Vice-President, TAM Media Research, said, "The viewership of religious channels has been on the rise. In fact, the viewership rates significantly shot up on events such as the opening of the Akshardham Temple in September, which was telecast live by Aastha. The same channel had also covered the Navaratri celebrations live in different parts of the country, during which it attracted a lot of younger viewers."

In fact, the genre also attracted a number of advertisers last year, the prominent categories being tyres, antiseptic creams, basic telecom services, cement, baby products, and so on.

However, Mr Hejmadi said the advertising growth had not kept pace with the genre growth. He said media planners had not found the environment in religious channels conducive enough to place their brands. "Religious channels have to invest in marketing. These channels are like black boxes now and their topmost challenge is to educate and convince advertisers to advertise on their channels."

On whether there is a need to advertise on religious channels, a prominent media planner says, "I have nothing against religious channels, but I always felt that I could reach my target audience more effectively through other niche channels or even general entertainment channels. I don't think a religious channel would give me access to a segment of viewers I can't reach through a general entertainment channel or a news or music channel."