AgVoice | Key Media Trends in 2010: Anil Uniyal of CNBC-TV18 & CNBC AWAAZ

2010 has indeed been a special year for the media industry. It is the year in which the industry recovered and commendably so, from the bruises it had to brave from the global slowdown in the last year. A marked increase in the ad spends across the industry, technology advancements, such as digitization of cable & DTH and regulatory changes, all together contributed greatly towards the growth of Media in 2010.

Introspecting on the year of 2010, it is important to acknowledge the advent of the digital era and digitization as the key driver of growth for the industry going forward. Last year saw a significant leap in the number of DTH households and digital cable TV households. The FICCI-KPMG Frames 2010 report claims that by 2014, the number of DTH subscribers would cross 43 mn and digital cable subscribers will reach 40 mn. This is very good news for the industry. Not only does this growth help media owners in providing better quality of broadcast, in terms of sound and picture quality, thus enhancing the viewing experience for our viewers, it allows us to innovate and explore a lot more avenues for engagement and in turn, enables us to give a lot more value to our audiences. It allows us to have more accountability of our distribution revenues, which needless to say, will only help in improving our overall revenues going forward. Digitization will also, eventually pave the way for more accountable, transparent means of measuring viewership and audience behavior which is the need of the hour of our industry.

It is also important to note regionalization as another key driver of the media industry growth story, given the increase, both in the number of channels as well as the ad spend share of advertisers on regional channels in the past year.

From a regulatory perspective, one needs to wait and observe the impact of revised tariff regimes regarding broadcasting and distribution introduced in 2010.

Lastly, one needs to make a mention of the advent of 3G services in India shortly, which offers phenomenal scope for growth in VAS service offerings by telecom operators to their users. This is definitely going to positively impact the television industry, and thus, no doubt, it is eagerly awaited by all!

Overall, the year 2010 has thrown open the gates for Indian media industry's astronomical growth ahead and we are excited to bring in the New Year! | By Anil Uniyal, CEO, CNBC-TV18 & CNBC AWAAZ for Adgully

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