Hyderabad
January 9, 2010

Like most other citizens, I have my own grouses against the media and their irresponsible behavior. I am not even suggesting how they’re the fourth estate and should act responsibly blah blah. You guys know all that, already.

But, what I wanted to bring to light is the fact that the management of TV channels have fed their journalists that “more TRP = more money”. Which is totally true, isn’t it? If a channel gets higher TRPs, they can charge more money from the advertisers. True, but not all the time.

We’re aware in the recent times, there is a lot of unrest in the state. Incidents have been occurring repeatedly which have disrupted normal life. Be it the Telangana movement, alleged N.D Tiwari scandal or the conspiracy behind YSR’s death. When so much is happening, it’s the media’s duty to report and cover it.

While doing that, almost all of the media went overboard at many occasions. There is no denying that there is civil unrest. But by repeatedly telecasting it, magnifying the violence and sensationalizing, it caused a “multiplier effect”. Instead of pacifying the situation, it made it worse. With all this coverage, the media has infused “fear” into the minds of the common man. They were successfully able to get people glued to TV and consume news.

Now, after successfully increasing their viewership by huge margins the channels tried to hike their ad rates, expecting to make more money. But, the move backfired. Big time. Most news channels are free-to-air and advertising is their prime source of revenue. Especially for telugu channels, regional advertisers form a major chunk of their revenues. Most local advertisers, reduced the money they spend on ads than previous months. Forget increasing it. Why? Cuz people are simply not spending money! People are more indoor now due to frequent bandhs, disruption of normal life and the “dull mood” prevailing in the society. This naturally leads to lower spending by people.

Advertising’s prime function is to drive consumption and increase it. When that’s not happening (due to external factors), what’s the point in advertising? To make it simple, why should stores advertise when people are not interested in buying. December-January is a festive season where consumption (thereby, advertising) increases. But, instead of a sales increase, they have plummeted steeply. So, instead of spending their money now – advertisers want to save that for later, when normalcy returns and people start buying again.

Despite of increased viewership, ad sales in television channels aren’t as much as they were in the previous months. So, our media have learnt a hard lesson that viewership is of no use if there is no advertising. And advertising is of no use, if people are not buying. A perfectly logical series of events has taken place that could serve to restore balance, establish limits, and teach some harsh lessons. Television is powerful, but the source of that power is the people. People cant be measured in terms of TRPs, but should now be respected for what they are - the drivers of this economy. The media industry can never afford to take lightly the ability of its consumers to serve out a severe backlash. In this case, the marketplace did.

Read the complete article at Allu Sirish's blog

Other articles by Allu Sirish:
My presentation at FICCI Frames
Corporatization of the telugu film industry: How to adapt Hollywood’s “studio model” locally
Small budget Telugu films
Movie Marketing or the lack of it in telugu cinema

About Allu Sirish: Sirish Allu is a 21 year old blogger from Hyderabad, India. He has completed Bachelors in Mass Media (Journalism) in R.D National College, Mumbai. He is a hardcore movie buff. Sirish Allu has been associated in the production of Geeta Arts films like Jalsa and Ghijini (Aamir Khan). Sirish Allu is the co-producer of Aamir Khan's Ghajini. You can visit Allu Sirish blogs at http://www.allusirish.in/