The latest viewership data from TAM reveals that on Budget day, CNBC TV18 was the most watched English news channel in India. Slice through the numbers across categories (age groups or time bands) and you will find that the dominance of CNBC TV18 is undisputed. Don't get me wrong, I am not writing this to thump my chest screaming victory or snigger with arrogance. Not at all.
I am not a big believer in the ratings game, largely because I do not think the existing method of measuring viewership is comprehensive or foolproof. For instance, the existing method does not capture viewership at offices at all (called Out-of-home audience). If you include this chunk, I believe, CNBCTV18's numbers would be much bigger than what it is now. But that's not the point.
What I want to talk about is the crisis of imagination that the industry is suffering from.
In the past four years, there have been three new players who have entered this market. All promising something new and something exciting. But they have ended up doing exactly the same as the market leader. And these viewership numbers, even if they are for one day, prove that their fare has not been accepted by viewer, for whatever reason. And here's the worst part (or the good part, depending on how you see it) - there is no one wanting to find out that reason. No one, including us, really knows what "works" on air. What is it that the viewer wants to see? In most news channels, content strategy is often defined by collective and subjective editorial opinions (read gut feel) and not at all backed by data. Compare this to say the FMCG industry, does an ITC launch a product without knowing what the consumer wants? Will HUL experiment with a variant of Surf without adequate qualitative research? If news channels were products, (I hate this comparison, though that's the reality of the marketplace) why does the consumer not feature in the equation at all?
To me, it is important for CNBCTV18 to retain its dominance but it is equally important to see that the playing field grows bigger. And that growth in the market will happen only if the industry attempts to know, understand, reach-out and serve the customer better. But, for now, I have no reason to complain, cos I am on the winning team!
