Heartland is essential for advertisers who wish to target any TG: Sandeep Gupta, Shemaroo

With most of the chatter being on how digital was expanding dramatically and TV may or may not be dying, Sandeep Gupta, COO - Broadcasting Business, Shemaroo, took the stage at e4m Confluence 2022 and said: "Most of us know the stats, but it's okay to remind them that TV is here to develop and in TV FTA is absolutely going to dominate."

Gupta was delivering the keynote speech on the topic FTA - a crucial platform to reach Hindi Heartland.

In his presentation, Gupta showcased how the TV penetration was increasing, reaching 66% in 2018 and is expected to rise further. “Unfortunately, no broadcast industry poll was conducted, otherwise the figures would have grown by a couple of percentage points,” he said. 

He went on to say that the Hindi heartland is where the possibility for headroom exists. States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan continue to have low TV penetration, creating an opportunity. “The Hindi heartland's audience is rapidly increasing. With a population of 1.3 billion, there are 300 households, with TV penetration of 21% in the HSM and 32% in the Hindi heartland. The heartland is essential for advertisers who wish to target any TG.”

According to Gupta, FTA was the biggest platform to reach Hindi heartland. “The growth in 2019 was close to 40% in states like UP, MP, Rajasthan and Bihar whereas growth in these states in 2022 is now close to 60%. As a result, it is a clear reality that television is increasing, and the growth is coming from the Hindi heartland.”

Gupta also shared that the majority of TV diversification was heading towards FTA for the simple reason that content availability in TV and FTA was increasing, and consumers wanted to pay less. 

Further talking about the numbers, Gupta shared that 46% of FTA audience were from NCCS AB. "How would you accomplish this 46% if you are not reaching those NCCS AB through FTA? When there is an opportunity to provide maximum benefits to your clients, you cannot afford to ignore the FTA.” He also mentioned how much the Hindi Heartland contributes to India's GDP, which is more than 25%. MP contributed 14%, followed by Bihar (12%) and UP and Rajasthan (both 10%).

Explaining the age-based TG, he stated that GenZ and GenAlpha impact purchasing in every home. In the FTA domain, GenZ and GenAlpha account for 48%, millennials 28%, and GenX 24%, respectively, whereas in the Pay TV world, GenZ accounts for 42%, millennials 31%, and GenX 27%.

While speaking about Shemaroo, he stated that the network launched two GEC channels in the last two years, with a total of 85 GRPs during the last 6-7 quarters. Gupta went on to discuss the network's three satellite channels - Shemaroo TV, Shemaroo Marathibana, and Shemaroo Umang. He also mentioned that the network was going to launch its first original show on Umang while they planned to launch 5-6 original shows on their television network.