Coexistence: Ethos Of Indian Media
While writing this, it was a pleasant nostalgia, taking me down memory lane to my school and college days - Doordarshan had a monopoly as it was the only TV channel available to the Indian audience and the wait for Chitrahaar and Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan had become a get-together for friends and families. Missing any of it meant going into sulk-mode! News bulletins were religiously followed, and anchors became style icons! I would call this era in the true sense as an era of Influencers and Appointment viewing. The advertising of that era was so famous that they are still memorable – Nirma, Vimal, Surf, Rasna among the many others.
Nostalgia is not restricted to just TV as a medium, it spans the entire spectrum of what we call today the traditional media. Newspapers until a long time were just Black & White, focused on National news, visiting a theatre was a euphoric activity, with its fixed 4 shows of the movie in a day; Radio was a mix of Film and classical / semi-classical music, with news bulletins in between. The legacy and story of Traditional media is nothing short of a Bollywood drama, it has evolved and survived the tests of time, from control by Government to liberalization to globalization – it has grown stronger each time.
Historically, India has been the 2nd largest market in the world for print, dating back from the times of Bengal Gazette during the British Raj era. It was the dominant medium and it was only till the 90s where its dominance was challenged with the emergence of cable and satellite TV. Currently, India publishes about 1000 Hindi dailies having a total circulation of around 8 Cr copies, about 250 English dailies with 4 Cr circulated copies and several regional newspapers catering to each individual Indian state. Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) boasts of approximately 1.3 Lakh publications registered with itself – very impressive for the oldest medium in the digital era.
Radio was next, starting in 1927 with All India Radio (christened so in 1937). AIR became the initiator of the movement of implementing Communication strategy being adopted by the government while contributing to the art and entertainment of the era.
The phenomenon of New medium challenging old medium dates back to when Radio was introduced in India, resulting in radio giving a strong competition to print, leading to questions about its existence. But it grew magnificently, banking on the increasing liberalisation and literary rate in the country to reach its boom.
TV, akin to Radio, started with the objective of development and education (it even started under AIR as an experiment). Initially, TV was just 2-3 hours of programming every day – a far cry from the ever-pervading medium that it is today. The reach of TV which was a mere 28% in 1984, today almost 2/3rd of the country’s population have access to TV, with access to about 1000+ channels. There are 3 milestones to mark TV’s journey in India
Print adopted localisation of news and rural reach to combat the rise of TV. With the advent of TV as an effective news medium, Print slightly declined but bounced back as people looked to a credible and trusted medium.
While Print and Radio remained relevant all these years, adapting and innovating along with the TV revolution, in the current years, the swift emergence, acceptance and fame of Digital Media are again raising the same question – Is traditional media relevant – this time TV included.
Let’s look at some statistics to answer the question of the Relevance of Traditional media, taking TV as an example. As per IRS 2019, out of a total of 31.2 Cr households (HHs), 19.7 Crs are TV-owning HHs i.e. penetration of 62%. If we break this further into Urban and Rural, while the penetration of TV in Urban India is > 80%, in Rural India it is a mere 47% - a huge market for the growth of TV. Completing the picture as to the relevance of TV - 95.4% of mobile connections in India are Pre-paid, limiting the data bandwidth. So, the question to be asked is, will smartphones be able to fulfil all the information and entertainment needs of the Indians?
This also brings me to another fact, often ignored, that when a new medium emerges, the previous medium becomes the content of the new medium. What’s the majority of content on the internet? Television – be it Movies, Music videos, Soap operas, News etc. So, TV is no longer just a medium, TV is now the content. It’s absorbed by this other medium. When News TV channels were launched what was the content – Print news.
And while discussions are happening about Traditional media vs Digital media, there is another vital fact which no one discusses. Look at the advertising and media platforms of some of the biggest Digital First sectors –
And the list can go on….all of these have and are using traditional media in a big manner- be it sponsorship or non-fiction - the advertising spends on TV are at least 3X-4X of that on the Digital platforms for the same association – and this is before getting into print and radio, not to mention Cinema, pre-pandemic.
From an advertiser’s perspective, if the goal is to reach the widest relevant audience possible, you must leverage both forms of media. Each form of media also has its advantages and disadvantages, and each can be used to build relationships in different ways. For example, people trust traditional media more than digital media, with more than half of consumers stating that they do not trust news delivered over social media. Despite the disadvantages, brands do benefit from the association with mass media.
Co-existence is deeply rooted in Indian culture, and it’s the same for Indian media. I would say it’s like a Big Indian Joint Family – Print, Radio, terrestrial TV being Gen X, C&S TV, FM radio and early forms of Internet platforms would be the Millennials and the new age Digital Platforms are Gen Z. Like the challenges of a joint family, today Indian media is also going through the same.
Media will surely keep changing – from a Marketer’s and Media Planner’s perspective – it just means you’ve got more opportunities to build strong relationships with people who care about your brand. And next time when we raise this question of traditional media’s relevance, let’s remember its journey over the years and the answer will be apparently obvious.
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