The secret of being successful in business in today’s competitive world is to be different from the rest. It is rightly said that ‘Consumer is the King’. Expenditure on entertainment has increasedwith the increase in disposable incomes which has also profited the television industry to a great extent. From the days of a single public service broadcaster to over 350 channels available today, India has become the 3rd largest television market in the world.
The TV scenario is currently in a very challenging and exciting phase where changes are taking place rapidly. The dramatic growth in the Indian television market has elevated the Indian consumers to a much higher level. They are now in a position to demand quality content and something that appeals to the audience and adds value. Irrespective of the platform, the key to success is high quality content.
Indian Television industry is being corporatized. International production houses are getting into it and so is the major Indian corporate. Independent producers, meanwhile, are roping in strategic investors. There has been an attempt to institutionalize creativity. Corporatization of the television production sector means that producers will be backed by corporate, companies will be professionally managed and that there is immense growth and scale involved. This also increases the chances of buyouts and Joint Ventures. Corporatization of television producers is the natural outcome of money, domestic and foreign, that is flowing into the sector. The potential of the content providing industry can be judged by the fact that today the budget of an average television show is comparable to a medium budget film. Budgets for Reality shows are much higher.
The television industry, particularly the content programming industry, has seen a lot of interest from overseas players too. Many foreign production companies are planning to enter India to add to the competition. The UK-based Endemol has already set up a full-fledged operation in Mumbai. Endemol is known for its international reality show formats. An Indian version of its popular show Big Brother was played on Sony as Big Boss.
Balaji Telefilms which began its operations in the year 1995 is amongst the leading television content providers in the country today. Its programmes have consistently held the top slots and enjoyed the highest TRPs, which has helped it maintain its numero uno position in the Indian Television Software (content) Industry. It has produced more than 25 serials which are a great hit with the masses. It has broken all previous records of TV serial production and popularity in India and strategically fits into the Prime Time Slot.
Movies are expected to be a major driver for the companies, both in the production and distribution space. Many companies are engaged in the production of various entertainment software programmes, mainly for television media and have built a reputation of a dependable producer in terms of content quality. Though the television industry has grown tremendously, a large untapped potential still remains. Indian content providers are riding a strong demand wave with explosive growth from the country’s cable TV market; their long-term success depends on the quality of output. Content has become the real differentiator & media brands are increasingly being defined by their content.