E24- A Perfect Ten...for Positioning

As I was discussing the positioning of Hindi News Channels (that how they are lost and not clear about who they are) in the previous blog entry; the channel which has been able to Position itself really well, came to my mind and the channel is E24, India's First Bollywood News Channel.
The channel belong to Broadcast24, an initiative of BAG Films and Media Ltd. It was launched on March 27th. E24 gives the latest happenings of Bollywood and all the other masala including celebrity interviews, film reviews etc.
When other channels try to focus more on bollywood for TRPs, they look out of sorts as against their positioning. And this channel can focus 24 hour on bollywood happenings and rightly so, because of its positioning strategy. Brilliant!!!
The website also looks good, and by the way the website has an option where one can Showcase skills in acting, direction etc, sounds like a good platform..any takers!!!

So Called..Hindi News Channels!!!

"The one function that TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were." —David Brinkley
These lines by David Brinkley seem so true when one looks at the content of Hindi News Channels..(as I already said..so called)...In the race for TRPs, it seems they have thrown their wisdom out of the window. Their reporting has been consistently around 4C's (Crime, Cinema, Cricket & Controversy), because it sells here (or to their belief). And, when we look at their ever increasing reach, it (Satellite TV) seems to be a powerful medium playing a significant role in the society and should have a sense of responsibility. However, it seems all Hindi News Channels have forgotten the 'Cardinal Principles of Broadcasting which were laid out by Sir Alan Hulme at the first General Assembly of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union in 1964 and endorsed by the Fourth Asian Broadcasting Conference to be followed by the electronic media. Which are: (1) to ensure the objective presentation of news and fair and unbiased comments; (2) to promote the advancement of education and culture; (3) to provide programs for the young, which, by variety and content, will inculcate the principles of good citizenship; (4) to promote communal harmony, religious tolerance and international understanding; (5) to treat controversial public issues in an impartial and dispassionate manner; and (6) to respect human rights and dignity.'http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/2696.cfm
However, as per the latest surveys, it seems the news channels are doing just the opposite; As per one survey 'Hardly 25 percent of national news bulletins are about health, education, development, welfare, environment, etc.' Moreover, news channels indulge into bias reporting, inaccurate reporting, 'promote sensationalism and trivialization in news content, have conflicts of interest and a lack of depthlessness in their news'. Page 3 type of reporting is common and channels shamelessly cover stories like Shahid- Karina, Mika- Rakhi, Wardrobe Malfunctioning etc, and the way they present them is even more shameless.
It seems, news channels have also forgotten their Positioning (along with Cardinal Principles of Reporting), as some news channels have started showing excerpts of some Reality comedy shows from some other TV channels..(so, they are Hindi General Entertainment Channels with wrong names). Hindi news channels are yet to mature when it comes to selection of content and also diction and pronunciation of their anchors.
However, as per the studies, in-depth analysis and proper conclusion of the news is utmost important to have viewers riveted to a News Channel. So why news channels have gone so wrong.....
Was Privatization and Deregulation in this sector a big Mistake???....
Do we need a Watchdog to look over the Ethics of news channels???....
Do we really like the content of these so called news channels, as they keep on dropping their standard and getting more TRPs???....
Given the responsibility of broadcast media, is this the right business model for news channels???....

May be the time has arrived to ask ourselves these questions.....

So, What Sells in India!!!

India, a country of more than 1 billion people, growing at a rate of more than 8% annually with a huge (300 million to 500 million people, as per various estimates) and prospering middle class (so called) offers an attractive opportunity to wide range of businesses. So, why many companies failed in their inception stage in India and why giants like Walmart are still not sure about their "India Strategy" (Walmart would be working only at back-end in their JV with Bharti as per news). Welcome to this paradox, Welcome to Incredible India.

Coming back to our question, What sells in India? Why companies like Nokia are so successful and why Coke and Pepsi are still fighting for this unserved market of tea-drinkers. Well, if you ask me that what sells here, I would say practically anything (thanks to corruption). It sounds so simple a question, but only a CEO of any MNC or an entrepreneur can tell you, how difficult to decipher that how are we (read Indian consumers), what we want, the way we want, and why are we like that only.

Well as Dr. Rama has rightly said "the Indian market is about a lot of people consuming a little bit each that adds up to a lot, ...the Indian DNA is about continuity with change; it is about THIS as well as THAT; about cobbling together clever and low cost solutions that are ingenious combinations and adaptations of the products available in the market."

Dr. Rama calls it great Indian number trick, that even by targeting top 10% of Indian population one can have one third of the Indian Market to its disposal in value terms, and which is almost equivalent to what is being consumed by so called great Indian middle class. So, does hope lies at the bottom of the pyramid!!! as rest one third of the market is at bottom of the pyramid only. Well, it depends on one's 'India Strategy'. That 'India Strategy' has to be India specific, designed for India from scratch. As has been proved, copy paste models won't work here. India is developing in its own way in today's globalized world and cannot be compared to what developed countries were during their developing stages. Today, everything is accessible to Indian consumer in real time and they are good at negotiating (here also practically anything). There are multiple price-performance points for practically all product categories appealing to different consumer classes. Indian consumer is not poor (which is again a myth), Indian consumer is value conscious.

So, it depends on one's 'India Strategy' that how well one is able to provide This as well as That to demanding Indian consumer, and how better can one do than its global and local competitors in providing that...

Yeah, if you are in entertainment industry, then and easy solution for you is with Indian news channels (so called), as they are very clear with what Sells in India!!! (details in next blog entry)...

First Note...

Hi friends,

This is my first day on blog. First of all, I would like to thank and welcome you all. I hope we will have healthy conversations in the coming days, which will help us in sharing our views and enhancing our knowledge-base.

In this first blog entry I would like to express my gratitude towards Dr. Rama BijaPurkar, one of India's most respected thought leaders on market strategy and consumer related issues in India. After reading her book "We are like that only", I was forced to think that Really, we Indians are like this only.

This blog would be an attempt to understand consumer India, and also I would like to come up with my views on things happening around us. So, let us start with first obvious question- what sells in India...well it would be better to write about that in the next blog (I am trying and learning)..:)