The lockdown has brought production to a halt, and GEC channels are trying to work their way around the situation
Apr 1, 2020, 10:00 IST
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With limited fresh content at their disposal, here's how GECs are tackling the lockdown
Apr 1, 2020, 10:00 IST
The lockdown has brought production to a halt, and GEC channels are trying to work their way around the situation
- While the
Coronavirus outbreak has led to productions of films and daily soaps being stopped across the country, TV viewership is going up due to people staying at home. - However, the GECs re now faced with the challenge of coming up with fresh content for its viewers.
- In such a scenario, how are these channels planning to tackle the situation?
As the PM announced his 21-day complete lockdown, production will not start before April 14. The biggest impact of this will be on GEC channels that usually work with a content bank of about two weeks. However, with the lockdown, these channels will soon run out of fresh content to air.
Considering most people are stuck at home, OTT and TV viewership saw a spike, according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India data. The total TV consumption saw a spike of 8% across India in the week ended March 20 (
While this opens up possibilities for advertisers to catch more eyeballs, GECs are now faced with the problem of running out of content. In such a scenario, what is the strategy they are employing to ensure that they do not lose their audience who can only stay engaged if they are offered something new to watch?
Ensuring all-round entertainment for consumers
While production has come to a complete halt, all the channels believe that the show mustn’t stop and are strategizing at how to make the best use of the content at their disposal currently.
Speaking about how it is working around the current situation,
For
Riding on the nostalgia wave
Doordarshan played a masterstroke with the announcement of the re-launch of yesteryear classics including Ramayan, Mahabharat and Byomkesh Bakshi. A lot of people have been talking on various social media platforms about what are the shows they would want channels to bring back.
And a lot of the channels are listening to what the audience wants. Zee is bringing back some of its old, popular shows from its library across its channels, like ‘Kasamh Se’ on Zee TV and ‘Sambhaji’ on Zee Marathi and ‘Goyenda Ginni’ on Zee Bangla amongst others.
Similarly, Viacom18 will be bringing back its show Dil Se Dil Tak and Bigg Boss 13.
Speaking about what viewers can expect from its stable,
Covid-19’s business impact
While many sectors like events and out-of-home have been badly hit due to the lockdown, broadcasters are hopeful that they will be impacted less. Considering viewership is on the rise too, it presents an opportunity for both broadcasters and advertisers to make something out of an adverse situation.
Dangal TV has seen a spike in its viewership, like most other GECs and is not focusing on new ideas. “Despite the COVID-19 challenge, Dangal TV is experiencing a spike in the average time spent.We are witnessing the early signs of a consumption uptick with an increase in the viewership. At Enterr10 Television Network, we are strongly connected and engaged with our viewers. Our numbers have been ahead of us. We are readily willing at focusing on exploring new ideas, IPs, etc. We haven’t stepped back in terms of exploring what more is possible, even during this period. Even in this unprecedented situation, we will continue to invest in good library, innovative programming and in distribution that will further aid in consolidating our position in both rural and urban markets. While there is huge competition amongst TV channels, our first priority is to consolidate, maintain and further strengthen our leadership position on television.”
Pointing towards the fact that a lot of advertising on TV comes from FMCG that have been relatively less impacted, Sharma shared her optimism about the future.
“The lockdown has hit the manufacturing, supply chain and consumption of all brands and that will invariably have an effect on ad spends. However, TV and digital will have a marginal impact as compared to other mediums like print, outdoors and radio as TV viewership is expected to see an upswing due to the forced lockdown. Secondly, a large amount of advertising revenue for a GEC comes from FMCG brands that are relatively less impacted in the current situation. Also, since it is an industry phenomenon, all GEC channels will witness a drop in ad spends,” explained Sharma.
Added Agarwal, “Over the next 3 weeks, we expect content consumption on TV to go up as people look to keep themselves entertained. Given the temporary nature of the lockdown, it would be imprudent to quote any implication as of now, but we are sure that TV has become an essential service providing the much needed companionship to families in the current times.”
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