The explanations for the lukewarm response had been many; for one, the Indian Premier League, which had been delayed by the pandemic, grabbed a significant chunk of the younger, male viewers, resulting in a lack of eyeballs in prime-time slots for a lot of the T20 match’s two-month period. In the meantime, linear tv had been progressively shedding city Hindi-speaking audiences who, locked up at dwelling, had found the thrill and comfort of consuming content material on-line. Making issues worse, the decline from pre-covid viewership continued into 2021, sinking by 25-40%.
Issues had been barely higher final 12 months, with Bigg Boss (on Colours) seeing TRPs of 1.4-1.5 on weekdays and 1.9 on weekends in comparison with 0.91 the 12 months earlier than. KBC (on Sony Leisure Tv), additionally touched the 1.3-1.4 mark versus 0.9 in 2021. However this was nowhere close to sufficient.
Merely put, the fact tv present enterprise is struggling and stagnating. Leisure trade specialists level out that flagship properties similar to KBC, Indian Idol and Bigg Boss, have been on air for practically 20 years now, if no more, and have seen no development in viewership or advert charges. The contestants are boring and the reveals usually really feel scripted. Plus, prices are too excessive to make sure nice returns given the celeb hosts and large manufacturing budgets. Most titles solely handle to get better 80% of their investments, making no case for newer codecs to be launched in any respect. When somebody does strive, it bombs. A living proof is The Massive Image, hosted by actor Ranveer Singh. This main property, launched by Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd and telecast on Colours, obtained a tepid response.
Whereas some OTT-specific spin-offs like Bigg Boss have emerged, together with aggressive bets on non-fiction net originals, the query is: can the fact tv style in India reinvent itself?
Fiction guidelines
At the moment, for Indian actuality tv, it’s clearly a case of excessive prices, restricted returns and minimal experimentation. Additionally, there isn’t a formulation for achievement, provided that there are main channels which have introduced actuality reveals that didn’t work. In keeping with media specialists, scores are more likely to stay on the decrease aspect, no matter how a lot channels could put money into non-fiction, given the plain emergence of the digital medium.
The truth is, whereas a number of prime fiction reveals have both come again to their pre-covid viewership ranges or delivered higher, that isn’t the case with non-fiction. One cause might be the growing attraction of net choices however there may be a content material angle to it, mentioned trade watchers. The truth codecs have been round for lengthy and maybe broadcasters have to revamp them to maintain audiences engaged. With regional language variations and assured sponsorships, a lot of them arrive on small screens yearly across the festive season and full a normal run of three to 4 months.
Fiction, then again, has a loyal fan base and audiences normally develop connections with particular person characters whose journeys they need to observe.
That mentioned, trade observers consider the dip in scores for a lot of of those actuality reveals might additionally imply the viewership has diversified, and that the goal group for non-fiction has shifted to a second system. It’s seemingly that some viewers watch these reveals on streaming platforms and related televisions, however viewership on these units will not be measurable but.
Excessive prices, low returns
India stays a market pushed by fictional content material that’s excessive on drama and emotion, based on trade specialists. The one non-fiction class that basically works is sports activities, particularly, cricket.
“When these non-fiction reveals began 20 years in the past, the viewers was on the lookout for a change in content material codecs as a result of that they had solely seen the primary wave of fiction within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s and all of the choices that got here on air publish KBC in 2000 bought like sizzling muffins,” mentioned Mansi Darbar, a media and leisure marketing consultant.
The success of the Amitabh Bachchan sport present opened the door to a number of others, with many worldwide variations following in its wake (together with Indian Idol, Bigg Boss, and Khatron Ke Khiladi). However, the viewers for non-fiction content material in India has all the time remained miniscule.
To a big extent, this content material has aimed to cater to male audiences, who till the surge of OTT content material very just lately, didn’t have a lot to look at past sports activities and information. Nonetheless, given its uncommon skew in the direction of male viewers, non-fiction has by no means been the bread and butter of tv broadcasters, Darbar mentioned, and is in reality, a value-add, at finest.
Additional, the return on funding on these reveals has by no means matched the price of manufacturing. Regardless of their sometimes brief stint of two to a few months, such reveals can value a tv community ₹2-3 crore per episode and ₹100-150 crore per season, given the presence of celeb hosts and judges.
“These are steep prices that don’t actually make for a worthwhile enterprise format. So, most networks have stopped trying new reveals and have caught to the tried and examined formulation by bringing in tentpole properties (similar to Bigg Boss or KBC) which have a loyal fan base and current relationships with manufacturers,” Darbar mentioned.
Shark Tank India on Sony Leisure Tv is the exception, however that might be pushed by the truth that the format was well-known, a minimum of in city India, and provided that the nation is within the midst of an enormous surge in startups. The truth is, the present fares much better on the corporate’s digital platform SonyLIV than on its linear community. However the truth that most new codecs haven’t caught on works towards the class generally, disincentivizing broadcasters from attempting something new.
Furthermore, most new advertisers are cautious of the format and whereas networks spring a formidable listing of sponsors yearly, the manufacturers are largely a part of the identical pool, made from names that are actually acquainted with the viewership and attraction of non-fiction, and comfy associating with it 12 months after 12 months.
Cleaning soap fatigue
That mentioned, the 2 or three properties which can be identified to work make for a superb change for any normal leisure channel (GEC) that in any other case runs fully on day by day soaps. Nonetheless, ladies, who’re the first target market for tv, aren’t concerned about non-fiction and lots of day by day soaps now run all seven days of the week. “Non-fiction will proceed to play an essential half for a true-blue GEC, which is, by definition, a multi-expression channel with soaps, mythology, spirituality, crime, meals and music and dance reveals,” mentioned Neeraj Vyas, enterprise head–Sony Leisure Tv, Sony SAB, PAL and Sony MAX Film Cluster.
“Nonetheless, throughout the panorama at the moment, 80% of the content material on GECs is soaps, maybe due to monetary causes. Because of the lowering attain of tv and the emergence of digital, the content material being made for tv can be being seen on digital. But when tv has to maintain, these actuality reveals have a key function to play as a result of they get contemporary eyeballs,” Vyas defined. “It’s a profitable actuality even from an advertiser perspective. However very clearly, we now have to innovate; there’s quite a lot of sameness within the reveals and all of it wants a shake-up.”
This might translate into both newer codecs or shortening seasons of current reveals to allow them to be introduced again after a break, he mentioned.
“We have to get smarter about the price, we have to get reasonable about how a lot to mount the reveals. Even the expertise concerned should be reasonable about what to anticipate, the celeb quotient must be innovated with and the emotional quotient re-examined,” he defined.
That mentioned, there isn’t a denying their attraction provided that these reveals return to tv 12 months after 12 months, based on Deepak Dhar, chief govt and founder, Banijay Asia, a content material studio identified for reveals similar to Bigg Boss and The Kapil Sharma Present. “The development of appointment viewing (when individuals watch a present that has a set time, normally on tv) has modified; India is now not a single-television family market and scores are actually break up between tv and OTT,” Dhar identified. “Nonetheless, regardless of the presence of a number of units, persons are nonetheless consuming these reveals as a result of they love that dose of different content material.”
The final season of the Hindi model of Bigg Boss, Dhar mentioned, was its finest ever in over 15 years, with common TRPs of two.5 throughout the season and three.7 within the finale.
In the meantime, the second season of Bigg Boss OTT, which aired earlier this 12 months on JioCinema, the video streaming service owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, carried out on par with the standard month-to-month viewership of a Hindi GEC present, a platform spokesperson had instructed Mint in a current interview. The present recorded greater than 100 million viewers over the season and 30 billion minutes of watch time. It had garnered spectacular viewership on cell handsets in addition to bigger tv units, the individual had added, calling it the most important leisure property on digital, with 42-43% of all viewers concerned in voting or different interactive actions. The finale of the present was livestreamed to 23 million viewers.
Banijay has launched 145 codecs in India and Dhar mentioned altering viewership -measurement parameters, tv penetration, OTT explosion and lots of different components are at play. So, technically, scores can’t be in contrast year-on-year. Furthermore, as streaming takes centre stage, many new codecs are set to be launched.
Final 12 months, the corporate premiered Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls, an interactive present, on Netflix. At a number of factors alongside Singh’s journey, viewers got two choices to select from on how the plot and characters moved forward, thereby shaping the narrative. The corporate can be all set to deliver variations of worldwide codecs similar to Survivor to India, moreover a reboot of Popstars, a music actuality present that aired on Channel [V] within the early 2000s.
Streaming shift
The best way ahead for non-fiction in India is by way of the streaming mannequin, mentioned trade specialists. The style not solely provides to the number of choices for platforms whose adoption has been accelerated because of the pandemic but in addition makes for simpler funding as in comparison with long-format collection (similar to Farzi or Heeramandi) or full-length function movies.
Netflix has premiered relationship reveals similar to IRL: In Actual Love and What the Love! With Karan Johar together with docu-reality reveals similar to Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. Amazon Prime Video has comedy contests similar to Comicstaan streaming alongside music reveals similar to The Remix.
“Standalone episodes of such reveals may also be watched whereas leaving the viewers wanting for extra. So, there’s a particular development story there,” mentioned Vaasudev Koppineni, the senior vice-president, head of content material and non-subscription income enterprise at aha, an OTT platform that primarily streams content material in Telugu. aha, for which non-fiction is a large focus space, has launched titles similar to Nenu Tremendous Girl, a enterprise actuality present for ladies entrepreneurs; Household Dhamaka, an adaptation of Household Feud, and Indian Idol Telugu.
The price of actuality reveals could be managed on OTTs by rationalizing expertise payment and lowering the variety of manufacturing days, mentioned Koppineni. In contrast to linear tv, the place reveals usually run for over 60 episodes, net originals can finish with lower than 30 episodes. Additional, the unscripted style lends itself to model integrations, serving to fund 50-100% of the funds, he added, noting, “It’s not an alien format for India. We’re simply attempting to serve it in a approach audiences would now like.”
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Up to date: 04 Oct 2023, 09:07 PM IST
