News Nation’s Abhay Ojha on the business of news & ambitious plans for FY2022-23

With state elections nearing, News Nation Network is gung-ho about the prospects of advertising onboarding. In an interview with Adgully, Abhay Ojha, President - Sales and Marketing, News Nation Network, dwells at length on the business of news, the BARC controversy, etc. “What we have always advocated is to bring transparency in the functioning of BARC, access to raw data, robust policy on outliers, increase in sample size, the use of RPD and enhanced technology, removal of conflict of interest in corporate governance,” he says, while demanding the resumption of viewership data for the news genre. Excerpts:

TV news will always stay given its mass reach and the impact it creates on the audience.

What we have always advocated is to bring transparency in the functioning of BARC, access to raw data, robust policy on outliers, increase in sample size, use of RPD and enhanced technology, removal of conflict of interest in corporate governance. But first and foremost is to resume viewership data for the news genre which had been unduly withheld for the last one and half years.

It has been a tough year especially with the TV news genre out of the BARC ratings.  Despite this, new channels continued to witness a surge in viewership. Do you think the same trend will continue even without the ratings?

The news genre’s viewership is driven by events: whenever there will be a breaking news or events of national-international importance, viewership of the news genre will rise. The crucial point to understand is: why or how a channel’s viewership becomes higher than others in almost a similar arena of coverage is what BARC’s viewership estimates indicate. Therefore, strategic planning, analysis, and informed decisions could be impacted in the absence of ratings.

Some broadcasters complain that BARC is in a mess. Do you trust BARC ratings? If not BARC, what should be the alternative mechanism for ratings for the TV new genre?

Unfortunately, BARC is the only organisation providing TV viewership ratings today. Since it is an industry body established by the industry for the industry, how can it be in mess for only 5% viewership weighted news genre while fine for 95% weighted viewership genre comprising of GEC, sports, movies, etc.?

What we have always advocated is to bring transparency in the functioning of BARC, access to raw data, robust policy on outliers, increase in sample size, the use of RPD and enhanced technology, removal of conflict of interest in corporate governance. But first and foremost is to resume viewership data for the news genre which had been unduly withheld for the last one and half years.

With elections in five states coming up, how will the new broadcasting ecosystem change? What is your outlook and growth projections for this year?

Election Commission has already announced election dates for five states. Now it is a matter of weeks before we hit the counting day on March 10. We expect election-heavy programming for the next 50-odd days; but thereafter, there are no crucial elections in 2022. Hence, the news genre will follow a generic trend thereafter.

While major media plans with respect to five state elections have been closed, a few advertisers may associate at the last stage. We have ambitious plans for FY 2022-23 and have set course on our goals.

How have been the advertising spendings in 2021? Did you witness any shifts in brands’ behaviour and business models during the pandemic? What were the innovative strategies and campaigns for advertising onboarding?

During the pandemic, we have witnessed brands curtailing media budgets, hence volume has been impacted. We have been proposing customised offering of FCT-Non FCT deals coupled with innovative content offering as part of our sales strategy.

What will be the future of TV news? Will we see news shifting to the digital side with video-on-demand formats gaining prominence?

TV news will always stay given its mass reach and the impact it creates on the audience. Digital will be an additional platform for news delivery and consumption, thereby leading to a TV-plus-digital ecosystem.

Digital platform of news delivery has some limitations like low internet penetration in rural markets, bandwidth issues, restricted capability of entry-level smartphones, etc. Hence, at present, digital news will piggyback on TV.

The USP of news is that its consumption happens in real-time while Video-on-Demand (VOD) consumption is driven by its archival values. VOD’s consumption is largely skewed towards entertainment and infotainment. Hence, going forward, the demand for news VOD will rise only if the news has some archival value. Having said that, we feel that VODs are equally important sources of news consumption.

What will be the trends in the broadcasting sector in general and the news genre in particular in 2022?

We feel that the broadcasting sector will be driven by unique content offerings and the non-news genre will face stiff competition from OTT and digital media. The advertisement expenditure is expected to increase by 8% - 10% on TV, but subscription revenues could be impacted by the NTO 2.0 implementation. The news genre will be largely driven by events and the release of viewership ratings may play a critical role in the allocation of media budgets to the news genre by the advertisers/ agencies.