Revival & Survival: Scenario to change from Q4 FY21, hope to inch towards 3-4% of GDP

Prepared or not, India has now moved on to the ‘Unlock – 1’ phase as an exit strategy for the two-month long lockdown period. It is definitely a changed world that India is entering now, and we will have to learn to live with the Coronavirus in our midst.

A lot has been written, debated and discussed over how much the economy and business operations have been hit. We, at Adgully, aim to look at the revival story. What does it take to jumpstart an economy? That is the great narrative that we are following up as part of our ‘Revival and Survival’ series.

Ashit Kukian, CEO, Radio City, takes stock of the scenario for the M&E industry and what it needs to do boost growth in the post-lockdown period. According to him, content is of utmost importance in the Radio industry, even as it needs to clearly define new delivery platforms to leverage the content.

What does the new normal look like? How much has the COVID-19 crisis disrupted business operations?

We are witnessing a changed and cautious consumer mindset. Activities like visiting a mall or restaurants will no longer be the same. We will have to practice social distancing in the future as well to ensure everyone’s safety. During the lockdown, we also witnessed a massive digital expansion with people shopping online, virtual classes becoming the order of the day, and e-wallet companies having a larger play in the economy. Being ‘vocal for local’ mindset will be adopted by consumers, with the interest shifting towards locally produced or manufactured goods.

In the media and entertainment industry, OTT platforms have played the bigger hand with brands churning out original content for the audience both across geographies and demographics. Additionally, health and hygiene has become a key priority across the world. This has already boosted and will continue to boost the pharmaceutical industry with various companies manufacturing hand sanitizers, personal hygiene, and other necessary medical products.

From an advertisers’ point of view, we have seen the investments drying up as brands are not advertising like they used to. Going forward, this will lead to tactical advertising as brands are not sure about what the future holds. Analytics will also have a larger play in helping bring back various sectors back on track as companies will have a chunk of data to refer to and create a fool-proof future plan.

Given the current situation, the businesses across sectors have already seen a sharp decline in revenues and business prospect this year, right from Q1 to Q3. We can expect to see a change in the scenario from Q4 of this financial year and hope to inch towards 3-4% of GDP in Q4.

What should be the blueprint for a post-COVID-19 economy?

We have seen individuals and companies struggle to continue their operations in these unprecedented times. Organisations have to be prudent with costs and ensure a steady cash flow to run business smoothly. Simultaneously organisations will have to look at new opportunities to increase revenue streams by expanding their user base across platforms. Radio being a personal medium, content needs to be redefined to ensure it caters to the new changing mindset of the consumers.

What are the 5 key measures needed to ensure a speedy business revival for the Media & Entertainment Industry?

I believe that the media and entertainment industry will be one of the few sectors to recuperate first amongst the others. Radio has already emerged as one of the most accessed mediums and has the power to create awareness on local and national issues. Content is of utmost importance in our industry, so we need to keep creating more original content, keeping the new demand in mind to seamlessly engage our audience.

Additionally, for businesses like ours, we need to clearly define new delivery platforms to leverage the content. For example, we have recently signed a 3-year licenced deal with Spotify to share more than 1,400 episodes featuring 16 of our audio IPs. Our premium and award-winning audio IPs, including ‘Babber Sher’ (winner of IRF 2017), ‘Joke Studio with Kishore Kaka’, ‘Love Guru’ in Punjabi, Tamil & Kannada, ‘Karaala Kathegalu’ (winner of Golden Mikes 2018 & IRF 2019), ‘Darr Dobara’ (winner of Golden Mikes 2016) and ‘Aam Aadmi Ki Khaas Kahaani’ (winner of Golden Mikes 2019), will target not only Spotify users in India, but also the diaspora that is on the audio streaming platform across the world.

Focusing on the digital aspect of our offerings, we have already undertaken various innovative and engaging digital campaigns across our social media platforms to unite and entertain digizens during the lockdown, which resulted in a stupendous 280 per cent growth of our social media reach numbers. Whether it was Insta LIVE sessions with celebrities, Helo LIVE session with RJs, Concert from Home with singers on Facebook, etc., these innovative and engaging campaigns were in tandem with the communication that we have been sharing on radio.

So, from my perspective, companies will have to be completely innovative, content driven, and have great multimedia propositions ready for their audience. Other digital and OTT platforms will create a new revenue stream for distribution of the content.

How are you strategising for the remaining quarters of this Financial Year 2021?

First of all, forecasting about a quarter in these situations is a difficult task as nobody knows what might happen tomorrow. While advertising has become sluggish, brands however are utilising the power of radio to maximise their reach. For example, healthcare brands, pharmaceutical brands, etc. have been sharing their ads on our platform, which helps us generate revenue.

We have set clear goals and are chasing businesses from a different perspective. We are leveraging our RJ influencers and their reach to drive on-air solutions to our advertisers. Providing an integrated approach of radio plus digital offerings to our clients is helping us plug in the gap that has been created right now.

As per the latest AZ Research PPL report, 82 per cent people have been tuning in to radio during COVID-19, with FM channels emerging as the second most credible source of information for the masses, with a score of 6.27, first being the Internet with a score of 6.44, and TV standing third at 5.74. The radio industry now witnesses a listenership of 51 million people, an increase from the 48 million listeners before the lockdown was implemented. Radio’s home listenership has increased by 22 per cent and has grown from 64 per cent to 86 per cent, and the time that people spend listening to the radio has increased by 23 per cent to 2.36 hours every day during the lockdown, second only to television. The increased listenership means increased reach for us and I strongly believe that this is something advertisers will benefit from going forward.

How do you see businesses and the Government working together to undo the lockdown disruption and address the market uncertainties?

I think since the lockdown has been imposed, a lot of businesses started looking at alternate opportunities to amplify their business plans. Coupled with the Government’s Atmanirbhar campaign, organisations have started realising that we need to be self-reliant and be well prepared for times like these. The increase in the demand for the local products will be beneficial for a lot of companies, as it will encourage the Indian manufacturers and brands to produce goods in their own country and drive India to adopt local. Whether it is raw materials or any finished product, this movement will bring in new set of entrepreneurs, who will drive India and also play a larger role in the media business for their communications and promotional requirements. It definitely won’t happen overnight however, India will create opportunities for global players to invest and set up manufacturing in India, which I think will bring a different wave of growth required by the Indian economy.

How do you visualise the economy and your sector a year later? How much would it have recovered by then?

It is not possible to predict the future, so we will have to take one step at a time to recover. The situation might not be under control before September-October, so we need to be prepared to fight. Post that, a quarter later, is where the recovery will start. Since the lockdown is being eased a bit now, people will come together to find solutions to battle the huge task of stabilising the economy.

However, within media and entertainment industry, radio, digital, and television will be the first few mediums to recover faster in comparison to other mediums. Harnessing on our wide reach and capability to communicate to a vast audience, and our ability to localise the content, radio will be one of the medium, which will come out of the woods the fastest.

This is ultimately going to be about survival of the fittest in the true sense. Stronger organisations who have fundamentally robust plans will stand the test of time and will be able to recover faster.