The Indian Media Business 4th Edition
ByVanita
Kohli Khandekar
This is the updated 4th
edition of the Book “The Indian Media Business”; if you are a deep student of
Indian Business / Indian Media, then don’t miss this updated edition; but if
you have read the 3rd edition, and are not too serious about
Business in India as a student or analyst, then you can give this a pass. This
edition has many changes to it that warrants its listing as a separate book
almost; these flesh out the previous material, and make for an interesting and
absorbing read. There is a new introductory chapter in the beginning of the
book, as well as an analytical section in each chapter, updated data and more
relevant graphics, more relevant and updated regulations, changes and history,
making it overall a far superior effort to the previous one
THE FUTURE OF INDIAN
MEDIA – {Introduction}
This is a short, 3-4
page analysis of the trends in Indian Media, taking a look at investment,
profitability, fragmentation, consumer trends and segmentation; and is replete
with excellent supportive data on reach, growth in media, time spent, revenues,
investment, Media Groups etc
·
The constant
comparison {or, to be more precise, examples of
and from} with the developed markets, throughout the book, seems
premature and out of place for the Indian scenario. This is a significant
downside of the book – although it does give interesting insights of the
international scene. Since this concerns Media – differences in Economic
Status, Culture, Stage Of Development of the Industry renders any comparative
look irrelevant.
·
The notation – the consistent
western notations make no sense, as we are attuned to thinking in terms of Lakh
and Crore; thus, notations in Million and Billion are, frankly, useless, and
are a major strain os you struggle to compare with other numbers you have read,
or place it in perspective with Indian Data. This is a major problem throughout
the book.
·
The value-judgement
on segmentation along linguistic or cultural lines has been treated, in my
opinion, in a dismissive fashion – when the reality could just as well be that this
is what is actually firming cultural ties, preventing domination of one tongue,
leading to deepening democracy and prevention of fissiparous tendencies In its
own small way
PRINT : {The Indian Print Industries Death-Defying
Growth will continue for some some}
The analysis on print
is excellent, the objections notwithstanding; with a superb presentation of why
Print is in no danger, and will continue strong in India. It also identifies
the threat of corruption of content very accurately in a separate segment,
which is top-class, alongwith the presented linkage to advertising revenues. It
presents a complete overview of the entire print scenario spanning magazines as
well as dailies, regulations, metrics, valuations, changing readership trends
etc
·
Again, Language
Newspapers and Media has not got the attention it deserves; this book is
largely focused on the English Media, although around 90% of the material is
generic and applicable to Print in general, and extensive data for even
language media has been presented. That said, the focus in terms of analysis,
space in the book and interpretation is lacking
·
To
be fair, the author has herself identified this with an exemplary case study on
Hindi Newspapers, with some tough questions, like the over-emphasis by advertisers
on the English Media – leading to the question, are brands reaching the right
consumers? More research is needed- but
there, we are absent in both universities and companies…
TELEVISION : {The Indian Television Market is finally
coming into its own}
One of the best
chapters of the book – exhaustive, detailed, comprehensive and spectacular in
content as well as analysis.
·
Virtually
flawless in its entirety, with an excellent coverage of issues , though it does tend to, yet again, miss the
chance of analyzing the rise of regional channels fully, as well as advertising
revenues by language
·
The
preference, in my humble opinion, of pay revenues begets the question – is this
model workable in India? Can all Indians pay high fees? What about the regulation?
The identified problem of cartelization
in the book advocates a more measured response, and that regulated pricing is
the only way forward; in a limited competition, the risk of rising prices
cannot be negated.
·
Further, the
comparison with developed markets is again premature, as the paying power of
consumers is much lesser in India; the elitist focus on pay models, or the
opinion on exclusive broadcast rights of national events comes across as being
pro-Corporate; the Indian consumer cannot afford to pay for access that the
focus on pay or exclusivity will inevitably bring
FILMS : {In its 100th year, Indian Cinema
look young, fit, and with it}
An excellent chapter,
which identifies trends and developments that will surprise the reader; this is
a chapter that is riveting and well presented, with several deep learnings and
take-aways
·
Again the comparison
with Developed Markets! How can you compare ticket prices across India and the
USA? What about the difference in purchasing power?Are we reaching all
audiences? Can the poor afford your multiplexes? The pay models? Don’t they
have a right to fun?What about developing alternative models for them, and not
just in films? Cant some out-of-the-box thinking create a market out of that?
·
“underworld money -
industry is absolutely clean” : on what basis? No proof presented…
·
The
fragmentation of the market between NRI preferences and Resident Indian
Preferences, local and regional preference variation elevates this chapter to
the stuff of legend, with proof; as is the divide between A and B class cities
in India.
MUSIC : {The music industry best symbolizes the
possibilities and perils of digital}
The story of how an
industry can adjust, revive and ride to glory, overcoming all converting challenges
into opportunities… The story of music is, in the words of the author herself,
is “that digital can really trouble you,
disrupt your business and make life miserable for you, but if you can harness
it, it can still deliver”. That about sums it up; all other industries can
learn from this excellent chapter! The big surprise of the chapter is the fact
that of the Music Industry’s Rs. 1060
Crore sales in 2012, 60% came from new
formats or non-physical sales.
·
A
flawless in its entirety, I could not find anything out of place in this entire
chapter; which is replete with facts, is free from any assumptions unlike the
previous ones…
RADIO : {The Radio business really needs to move on}
Yet another
thought-provoking chapter, this goes deep into the Radio mess, looking at all
issues relating to the current mess, from license fees to roll-out to content
to localization in a very well-crafted chapter. The main take-away from the
chapter is a superb detailed analysis of the Licensing norms and process, and a
small examination of how decision paralysis is impacting the industry and
spectrum both. That said, this chapter could have been better :
·
Focus on content,
especially localized content, could have been greater; while it is true that localization
has, for the first time in the book, got
adequate space, the focus in not on the nature, language, content of the
programmes; that could have been attempted. Content is the product – not radio;
further, how will radio fare against Saavn, Hungama etc? How can FM differentiate
and make itself more relevant? This I missed in the chapter
·
A
small notation : radio, with its relative ease of setting up, needs regulation
more than most, imho : due to security considerations primarily, I don’t think
this can be argued with
DIGITAL : { Stop, take a breath, Digital. Think about
where you are headed }
A fantastic and deep
look at the current status of digital and telecom, and emphasizes the felt need
for a re-look, a re-think and the requirement of a sense of direction. The
prologue successfully tackles the belief that Digital is a panacea in a sharp 5-6
page critical analysis, proving that it is anything but a panacea and a utopian
ideal, using data, facts and figures to make its point. This one is a genuine
surprise in some parts. It deals with convergence, fragmentation, ROI, Scale,
Consolidation in a few behemoths, that no one is trying to grow the medium
strategically and that there exist huge errors in companies in this field,
·
I
will just paraphrase the author here for emphasis : I cannot put it better. “This chapter then is an attempt to create a
structure around all the forms of media emerging as a result of the affairs and
marriages between old and new formats, between technology and content, between
the medium and the message. It collapses the two old chapters on Internet and
Telecom into one overarching one”. Top stuff- convergence is the future!
OUT-OF-HOME { The similarities between out of home media
and cable TV are startling } & EVENTS { Everything is an event }
The last two chapters
deal with the underdogs in media – out of home, and events. These two are
deeply interesting, as for the first time, adequate attention has been paid to
these two step-daughters of Media, given their historical treatment by us not
from the Media trade at least. As in the rest of the chapters, everything from valuation,
regulation, how the business works, history to current issues and major players
to growth challenges have been covered in detail, making for a most absorbing
read! The only miss is that the out-of-home completely ignores {apart from one
mention in a table} Wall-Paintings, which were the mainstay in rural India; one
can still spot these wall-paintings.
CONCLUSION
The book is a
one-of-a-kind, placing in one place regulations, business internal, valuations,
metrics, history, operation, challenges, issues, current operational methods, – making it a top-notch resource if you want
to have a overall understanding of the Indian Media business, as well as a
starting point for deep studies. Reading this gives one a comprehensive idea of
the trade in at least the basics. A must read for everyone in Marketing, to be honest.
The book is good at
tracing the genesis on each industry right to its beginnings, studying the
interplay of market forces and regulations, also interventions, that lead to
the current state of affairs – giving deep insights into both market forces as
well as the good side of regulation & the perils of over-regulation. It
identifies burning issues like Consolidation, content corruption, regulatory
hurdles while also going deep into the genesis of some of these issues, while
also examining how these industries actually operate, making this book a unique
resource, and easily one of the best Business Books I have read.
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