Broadcast TV in critical state, needs resuscitation

THE TRADITIONAL TELEVISION INDUSTRY HAS SEEN DECLINING VIEWERSHIP, FALL IN PAY TV HOMES

- Shuchi Bansal

In a slew of recent interviews to business dailies, Uday Shankar, vice chairperson of the newly formed media joint venture JioStar, said television in India isn't dead and expressed confidence in its enduring relevance. His statement comes at a time when the traditional television industry has seen declining viewership, fall in pay TV homes and muted advertising spends on the medium.

In its latest report, TAM Media's AdEx India noted a 2% decline in TV advertising volumes between January 2024 and September 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Lalatendu Das, CEO, Publicis Media, South Asia, said ad volumes across top 50 advertisers on general entertainment channels (GECs) have dropped 6% in 2024 compared to 2023. "There's an increase in TV households but some drop in TV viewership. Except for Maharashtra, we observe decline in GEC viewership in all other major markets," he said.

Though Uday Shankar is a staunch advocate of digital platforms, his comment on TV emanates from the fact that JioStar operates more than 100 TV channels and produces 30,000 hours of TV programming. Also, the majority of the Rs 26,000 crore combined revenue of the new entity comes from broadcast TV.