Entertainment TV is on the verge of a much-needed leap. With big names of the film industry staking their all, and cross-border quality shows heating up competition, viewers may yet again have a reason to stay on the couch. Rinku Ghosh & Divya Kaushik talk to experts to understand the changing face of Hindi entertainment channels
Yudhishthir Sikarwar is no Amitabh Bachchan. He is the owner of Shanti Constructions though a la Trishul. But he is no swashbuckling challenger. He is a good-intentioned man compromised by circumstances. He wants to keep it clean but is hounded by unscrupulous rivals into a game of under-the-table survival and surreptitious one-upmanship. He wants to change the world around him but the world of vested interests, be it of politics or corporate espionage, won’t let him. He is not young but old. He is no dreamer, but phantasmagoric. Not invincible, but diseased. He can’t cross the line with a superhuman lunge. Human and frail, he seeks the help of the next generation, his son and daughter, to go forward with the baton. The marathon man is all too human. And complex. With no easy solutions. like life itself.
Though Sony TV has pushed a massive, home-grown content change in Hindi fiction television using the appeal of Bachchan and the expertise of the industry’s top notch, new-age filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap and Shoojit Sircar, its finite series Yudh is all about characters whirring together in the mix and being tossed up by fate. Undoubtedly Bachchan has delivered one of the most superlative performances of his career but he has achieved what he hasn’t even in the game-changing Kaun Banega Crorepati seven seasons ago. He has blended in with his co-stars, big and small, calibrated himself to believable parameters of emotion and let the character own him rather than the other way around. He has for the first time perhaps become us, real and encountered. Rather, he has let himself be flesh and blood (swarthy and sallow without makeup).
Though critics have attacked him for breaking his image, he has left a footprint that’s furrowed deep. Yudh actually follows up on the litmus test taken by actor Anil Kapoor and director Abhinay Deo on mainstream Hindi TV through the Indian franchise of 24 on Colors. While the ratings mechanism still needs to be inclusive and reflective of mature viewership, these two shows have certainly won the game of perception. That Homeland is not our only option. Home-grown is.
If you were wondering that the buniyaad laid by Doordarshan was long taken over by the filmy gloss and formula of TV czarina Ekta Kapoor’s saas bahus, here’s hope. Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) are on the threshold of a big change. If the post-liberalisation years were about the bigness of celluloid dreams at home and a little awkwardness mixed with Karan Johar style family values, the next decade is about our evolved selves in an exposed, digitised society, and chasing new frontiers of experience in a flat world.
As actor Vidya Balan, herself a product of television, told us, “In the West, the best quality is happening on television and while we are a long way off, the writing and story is getting better. If our TV writers are paid well according to industry standards, we will be chasing new standards as we have done in films. We have had greats like Gulzar and Shyam Benegal write for TV at one time.We can get back our golden age.”
The “content is a rewarding king” formula is drawing in big bucks and ideas to Hindi GECs. While the reality show format has covered everything from courtship to marriage, adventure, celebrityhood and talent, the crime, comedy and social empowerment genres have had their share of the pie. Now it is the turn of fiction, be it historical, fantastical or contemporary, that is redrawing the contours of drama. While director Sanjay leela Bhansali offered a fictionalised version of the famed Gujarati literary work called Saraswatichandra for Star Plus, Ashutosh Gowariker is in the process of making Everest, about a young boy’s dream to scale the world’s highest peak. Jaya Bachchan is gearing up for the mini-series adaptation of the Gujarati novel Yog Viyog. Star Plus has already taken the lead with its rollout of the avenging angel drama Ek Hasina Thi on the template of the ABC hit Revenge, its Airlines looks at the current travails of the aviation industry, while Ashoka is expected to be a reprisal of the Discovery of India days. Doordarshan itself has upped its act, developing a competitive afternoon band with the work of big TV creative like Harry Baweja, Sudhir Pandey and Karan Razdan.
Meanwhile, a Facebook-driven generation is dictating its own agenda with channels like MTV, V and Bindass dealing it tough, showcasing hard-hitting issues, shunning preachiness and allowing even for an irreverent and edgy treatment. In fact, youth television is at the forefront of the next big leap, drawing in loyalists from all categories, big city to small town, content downloaders to first-timers.
What’s driving this changeIJ Experts attribute it to an aware society, the streaming of stories from around the world, the increasing focus of channels on pan-Indian viewership and the industry’s attempt to develop a newer user base. Ashvini Yardi, who spent over 14 years with Zee TV and later was a programming head of Colors during the channel’s formative years, has made a comeback to the small screen with her new production Jamai Raja, which turns formula on a quirky head to look at the relationship between son-in-law and mother-in-law. Says she of the changing face of Hindi GECs, “What really works on TV is the content and how much the audience can relate to that content. During my 20 years in the TV industry, I have introduced some path-breaking concepts that could not work just because the audience could not connect with it or was not ready for it. Over the years, through the method of trial and error, all of us have realised that TV is a different ball game. It is not like films, where the audience connection with the product ends in three hours. Sustaining the audience interest in a daily soap is far more difficult. So as the audience evolved, became interactive and questioning, there was a need to be responsive and produce content that they could relate to. If it is happening in their lives, they do not want to hide it but see it. Though relationships are still the bestsellers in daily soaps, formula-based stories are a complete no these days.”
Sony’s senior executive vice-president and business head Nachiket Pantvaidya says economics is at play, allowing the cushion to experiment and take risks. “Today the Indian TV industry is probably five times the size of the Hindi film industry. The stakes are bigger, the players are many. And there is a consistent loyal viewing week after week. The only way to survive the competition is to up quality and tap unserved segments. Besides, we can no longer look through the prism of geographic or socio-economic classification. India today is a big psychographic. There is as much of rural India inside Mumbai and Delhi as there is a Mumbai and Delhi in rural India. And Hindi GECs have to straddle this mindset of a flat, digital world.”
DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOlKS
Content has traditionally been inhibited by challenges like lack of transparency, limited audience measurement, broadcast economics not supportive of investing in targeted/niche content and seeking safe havens in the one-size-fits-all formula. Digitisation has brought in transparency and increased subscription revenues for multi-system operators (MSOs) and broadcasters. The nature of consumption has become very fragmented with digitisation and the inclusion of lC1 towns (with a population of a lakh) in the ratings modules. The scope of segmenting the market has increased and, therefore, we are seeing the launch of many new channels in the GEC segment. Even successful mainline channels are rolling out sister channels with specific content. For example, Zee, while retaining its core heartland orientation, has launched Zindagi that will showcase essentially urban programming, even if they are set in different cultural contexts. Beginning with Pakistan, we may soon get a bouquet of the sub-continental experience and angst. While Zee is still focussing on its family drama and victimised women who need to be saved, Zindagi is refreshingly realistic with dynamic characters and next-door stories that conclude within a set timeline.
So is the case with Sony Pal, the new GEC from the MSM group, which was one of the earliest players to separate the comedy and middle India concerns via SAB and prove that a bouquet system could work without cannibalising the mother brand. Pal is going to be solely devoted to women’s stories. Wholesome, not just about the victimised, stigmatised or crusading. Fun and bold, seeking more than empathy. Star Plus, while tweaking its content ever so lightly, is allowing full wingspan to creative programming on its sister channel life OK, catering to almost every age group. Recently, the latter has made its way to a Mexican standoff with Star Plus and Zee, toppling Sony and nudging Colors.
With measurements going deeper, the paradoxes of consumption have become even sharper. “Punjab, Delhi and up north behave in a distinct pattern; Gujarat, Rajasthan and a good part of Madhya Pradesh behave differently; Uttar Pradesh and the Gangetic belt go in one direction, while Maharashtra and West Bengal are different from the rest of the market. Segmentation depends upon which mindset you want to address and is likely to yield revenue,” says Pantvaidya. This, he believes, opens an unlimited variety of programming, resulting in a widening talent pool and quality. And needless to say higher budgets.
Another aspect is “micro-targeting” as defined by Sumeli Chatterjee, marketing head, media and insights, MTV India and MTV Indies. “This means reaching out to the interest group through a very specific content. This is something that we have done with MTV Indies, which addresses independent sub-cultures in the cities and the countryside. We have developed a whole new viewership independent of the big channels. We will see more fragmentation as that allows a wise division of content and helps viewers decide what they want to watch,” she adds.
The figures speak for themselves. Our TV industry, estimated at Rs370 billion in 2012, is expected to be worth Rs848 billion in 2017. The share of subscription revenue to the total industry revenue is expected to increase from 66 per cent in 2012 to 72 per cent in 2017.
A DEMANDING AUDIENCE
There was a time when the audience was so well-fed with formula copies and repeats that it was difficult for the makers to get them to switch to original content that had the potential to break the clutter. But now that they have been over-fed and saturated, they are no longer inert. In fact, as experts say, the younger segment is migrating online, following Turkish, latin, and even Korean and Malaysian shows. Much before Zindagi happened, a cable operator in Mumbai began beaming pirated or online versions of Pakistani shows post midnight, earning a neat following of subscribers. During the promotions of Yudh, creative consultant Sircar pointed out that the thinking audience was no longer interested in something you could digest while chopping vegetables and in between chores. “You have to hook them,” he told us.
Says Ribhu Dasgupta, director of Yudh, “We are trying to get back the audience who left watching television a decade ago, may be more, and make it an intelligent space it used to be. More than TRPs, we are concerned about catering to the taste of a wider demographic. Our show received mixed reviews initially and some said that it was ‘slow paced.’ We as makers did not bother about that because we knew that the audience used to watching daily soaps from 7 to 10 pm could not give a verdict on pace considering regular soaps drag a sequence for months. The ones who responded to the show were the new audience we are targetting. And that feedback was valuable for our understanding.”
Speed is one of the factors that have given rise to episodic shows, finite runs and seasons of even popular, massy shows like Mahabharat. Even if the story is an adaptation of a familiar epic, the interpretation has become both individualistic and contemporary. Mahabharat is a good example.
According to its producer Siddharth Kumar Tewari, “The focus today is on realism and rounded characters. That is why you will see most shows having a parallel subtext. The reason why Mahabharat did well was because we took care to bring out the ethos of a most read epic without tampering with the facts and incorporating many interpretations. We depicted events in such a way that you could place them in or reference them against current socio-political scenarios. Our characters were layered, flawed, yet striking. They weren’t gods. One of our biggest achievements is that Mahabharat was watched by a cross-section and appealed to everybody’s minds. That is the future.”
Bindass has created a benchmark with shows like Yeh Hai Aashiqui, pivoting on love in the real world, not soppy but choppy. Says VP and head, content and communication, media channels, Disney India, Vijay Subramaniam, “Storytelling, in any form, has to evolve with the audience, serving their needs, their expectation and their passions. We understood the hopes and aspirations of a young India. Our content reflects the dynamic lives and realities of the world they live in while being entertaining. Our constant contact with our viewers helped us identify that relationships are of great significance to young minds. While Yeh Hai Aashiqui is about the triumph of love despite the odds, love By Chance works on the premise that love can happen anywhere, anytime without the props we are conditioned to expect because of our films and pulp fiction.”
Bindass touches 60 per cent of Indian youth, offering a unique blend of content that appeals to them across multiple platforms. In terms of viewership in the last two years, “the CS 4+ (in the four metros) has gone up from 68 million to 88 million”.
THE BUSINESS OF TRADITION
Does that mean the MIl-DIl wars will end for good in a country where homemakers still form a chunk of viewers and are most likely to watch most TV showsIJ “They are now a subset of a larger family drama that rules the spectrum. We are exploring boundaries and curves in relationships through different shows. The issues that they deal with have changed to be concurrent with talking points in other media. One thing is for certain though — and it is happening with competitors too — that if the story has nothing new to offer, we end it logically. TV is a serious and powerful medium with a very strong customer base. More people are watching TV than films. So we have to come up with stories that can sustain their interest while offering something fresh,” says Namit Sharma, programming head, Zee TV.
Star Plus is also trying to push the envelope with shows like Airlines. But the popularity of shows like Diya Aur Baati Hum and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is still running high. Says its general manager Gaurav Banerjee, “Many channels have had big tent pole programming but the depth of Star Plus’ leadership lies in the sheer number of shows that are doing very well. We are leaders in many of the slots in prime time. That’s the kind of love our viewers have for our content, which is amazing.” And too beefy to ignore, the length of the run helps in getting a longer endorsement by the sponsors.
Sleeper hits have a huge retentive value. “Our analysis revealed that every time we get a new audience with a launch show, we’re also losing the old audiences of existing properties. So as a change in strategy from last year, we will be putting 60 per cent of our efforts on improving current existing properties to ensure that people who are watching our shows stay on for the next. Only quality can arrest flippancy,” says Pantvaidya, who has had earlier stints with Star, Disney and BBC .
While Star Plus cannot ignore the status quo, its sister channel life OK is only bent on grabbing eyeballs with differing concepts. Says its general manager Ajit Thakur, “We go for the smorgasbord approach because in deeper pockets viewership still comprises the one-set family. So there has to be something for everybody rotationwise. That’s one of the reasons why we have steadily moved upwards.”
CROSS BORDER CURRENTS
Zee TV’s Zindagi has definitely paved the way for many positive changes in the content makers. Its success proves that the audience is ready for a finite series and that a good story and its relatable characters do not need painted faces, background music or over-the-top drama. The actors of the hit series, Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed, although known to Internet Indians, have developed a sub-continental following so strong that even Bollywood cannot ignore. So how were Zaroon and Kashaf different from hit romantic leads of our showsIJ They were both flawed and learnt from situations to grow. And they were not cardboardish, despite the dramatic elements and liberties.
“The channel has been successful in creating a premium mass category. It addresses progressive mindsets unlike most Hindi GECs and can attract brands which are otherwise comfortable with English GECs. But the conversion of this appreciation on a mass scale will still take some time as we are still used to shows that run for four years instead of a month, making the characters almost like a member of the family,” says Priyanka Dutt, business head, Zindagi.
The short series format also means variety and a creative freedom to create life-like characters in their fullness rather than subscribing to a stereotype just because it has resonated with the audience. “We were contemplating the finite series idea for long. While earlier, the concept of seasons was only deemed proper for certain formats, mostly reality, now it is getting into fiction space. Change on Indian television doesn’t come in a day. There are business mechanisms to it. Funds have never really been a problem for most channels and now when the finite format is working, interesting concepts can be introduced. We will see bigger studios tying up with production houses for mini series, which are much like a long film,” says Chatterjee. YRF Studios was one of the first in Bollywood to look into the future and though a little ahead of its time, is remembered for credible shows like Powder (about the drug network), Mahi Way (a fat girl’s passionate take on life challenging stereotypes) and Kismet (a Kane and Abel like conflict of two people, a corporate and an underworld don) a period drama set in Bombay. Perhaps with high budgets seeing returns now, it would get back into the game.
THE TECHNOlOGY PUSH
Everyone is gearing up big time for the 4G revolution. Producers like Yardi feel that channels are working out strategies and smart business models in anticipation of the day when streaming of shows in real time and instant reactions on discussion boards across the world will be a test of quality and quantity. Judgments will be instantaneous, nobody will have to wait for ratings. “The future will be more interactive,” says Subramaniam.
“Be it 4G or any other progressive technology, they will only further our opportunity to engage, connect and interact with our audience and present to them the highest quality content that they would like to consume in devices that they like and prefer. It won’t be about the single TV but the single consumer. We have been constantly engaging with our audience across various platforms that matter to them, making conversations more relevant, personal and meaningful. Today, the total fan base of Bindass on Facebook is around 6.1 million users, while 2.5 million users are talking about the brand on Facebook, which is 48 per cent of our total viewership. Interestingly, this is the highest PTAT (People Talking About This) ratio achieved by a media brand on Facebook in India. Our YouTube channel reaches one lakh subscribers through on-air content along with interesting initiatives that they can relate to. For instance, as part of the digital leg of ‘bforchange’, we had a social experiment on eve-teasing that went viral in the week of its launch, clocking around 2.7 lakh views,” he adds.
Pantvaidya agrees. “Technology will change viewing patterns. You will see an expansion in the current measurement systems every few months. last year, there was an lC1 expansion and very soon it’s bound to cover all of India. Before that expansion happens, business leaders need to understand that we need to talk to the consumers who are not measured yet. We’ve got to be prepared because we can’t suddenly change our programming strategy. So, we need to be more forward-looking in terms of content, scheduling and how people watch television.”
In the end, there have to be viable economic models to cater to different mindsets. If we look at regional GECs, they manage to produce original programming at a fraction of the Hindi programming costs. Quality, in the end, is about the treatment rather than the scale.