The Hindu Business Line : The medium and the message

SMS and interactivity are now synonymous in the context of TV channels. Right now, SMS is one more way of keeping in touch with the audience but can go on to rake in more moolah for them.

Participation in KBC is just an SMS away.

IF you are looking out for a forum to express your views on a current social issue or even a new fashion trend, you could SMS `baat' at 6262 and participate in the opinion poll conducted by MTV during its programme Kya Baat Hai. If you are the romantic kind and wish to dedicate a love song to your wife or girlfriend, you can trying sending a request to Show My Song 7575 on ETC Networks, or you could even message MTV Love Letter and see it flash on the screen.

Again, if you wish to get to the hot seat of Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 or want to comment on the storyline of your favourite soap, it is just an SMS away.

Interactivity is the buzzword in the television industry today, and SMS has become a much sought after platform for communication with viewers.

As TV channels claim that they have evolved from being mere content-providing media to interactive media through tools such as Internet and SMS, industry observers say SMS has become a major source of revenue for them. "The channels get 30-50 per cent of the revenue from each SMS received, which, when multiplied with the total number of SMS received, converts into lot of money," says a Mumbai-based observer.

"A programme such as Indian Idol on Sony, for instance, received around 50 million votes through SMS, while a request show on any music channel gets at least 1,000-2,000 SMS per programme. And all this definitely translates into substantial revenue," he adds.

A marketing tool

However, TV channels don't look at SMS as a revenue generation model, but more as a marketing tool to step up viewership. Says Vikas Gupta, Director (Finance), ETC Networks, "SMS as a source of revenue generation is secondary. It is more importantly a marketing tool to get viewers hooked on to the channel. In fact, we use it as a medium to interact with our viewers. It enables us not only to send information to the viewers, but also get valuable suggestions from them."

Gupta says it is from SMS that the channel realised that its astrological programme, Kahani Kismat Ki, had maximum viewership in the eastern part of the country, based on which the channel organised an astrology camp there.

Says N.P. Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), "SMS is certainly an effective marketing tool as it is a sure-shot touch point with the consumer, where one can directly reach into the consumer's inbox and get due exposure. The medium allows for a lot of flexibility and innovation. We have been using SMS as a marketing tool for all our initiatives ranging from interaction to information, connecting with consumers and getting valuable insights."

Similarly, Vikram Raizada, Vice-President (Marketing), MTV, says interactivity has been the core of the channel's programming strategy since inception. "From dial-in, we switched to e-mail and subsequently to SMS. In fact, we introduced SMS-based programming back in 2002 during our third VJ Hunt contest. We got the 14 finalists to anchor the shows and asked the viewers to vote for the winner through SMS, to a chat box which appeared in one corner of the screen, and based on the votes we announced the viewers."

The SMS bug has caught on down South too. When Sun Network's Chairman and Managing Director, Kalanithi Maran, initiated the idea of allowing viewers to send in their messages, which would then be scrolled on the TV screens, he was expecting around 5,000 messages a day. He has had to handle between 10 and 30 times that number.

The media house runs scrolls in Sun Music, Kiran and Adithya — its music channels in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu, respectively — on Sundays and on holidays.

Maran says Sun certainly didn't start this feature with revenues in mind, though with such volumes 70 paise per message makes a tidy sum.

Rather, he says, it is part of the overall vision to `touch' the viewers in as many ways as possible. "For a viewer with a cell-phone, such a feature is an add-on. With dial-in programmes, there is very little chance that a viewer can get through to the channel. But every SMS is sure to reach us. The youth, particularly, are hooked on to it," says he.

Ashish Kaul of Zee TV says interactivity through SMS helps find a definite database and viewership pattern. "This method is a significant indicator. It certainly helps retain the viewer and buy the appointment. This has been vouched for by numerous responses that we receive from the same viewers for our shows regularly."

Kaul is also confident that SMS in the long term will also emerge as a major source of revenue. "SMS, at present, is certainly not a major revenue driver. But looking at international trends where up to 80 per cent of the revenue is given to the content provider, we are putting up our case to operators and are confident that in the near future, interactivity through SMS will become a major source of revenue for the channel. From potential perspective, it is certainly going to be the major revenue driver for the future."

Presenting the mobile operator's point of view, Pankaj Sethi, Vice-President (Content & Application), Tata Indicom, says, "While growing SMS traffic has increased our revenues, the channels have come a long way in getting the viewers to observe the content of the channel."

"SMS has proven to generate higher redemptions than conventional media. Over one million text messages are sent every month, and the future looks bright," remarks an Airtel spokesperson.

After SMS what?

Viren Popli, Senior Vice-President (Interactive Services), Star India, says the channel is planning to look at GPRS in a big way in future. "As we go ahead, we will try to enable viewers to download news clips, recap of fiction and a variety of other information on their mobile phones. During the Mumbai floods, we had used a lot of footage sent by people from their mobile cameras. For all you know we may soon have mobile reporters!"

Agreeing with Popli, Gupta of ETC says that as the younger generation gets more tech-friendly, and as and when technologies like GPRS attain mass popularity, TV channels will definitely tap them.

Anything for viewers' loyalty!

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