‘Among Indian channels abroad, only regional ones are doing experimentation & innovation’

At the e4m NewsNext conference 2024, Rabindra Narayan, MD and President of PTC Network, spoke on “Are regional channels surpassing mainstream ones in projecting the Indian narrative globally?”

With PTC News being the only Indian news channel empanelled to the White House, Narayan was perfectly positioned to explain how the Punjabi language news channel catered to the scattered Indian diaspora of the Punjabi persuasion across the world. Narayan was speaking to Shantanu David, Special Correspondent, exchange4media.

“I sincerely believe all the experimentation and innovation is being done by Indian regional channels. Our success abroad lies with the fact that the Indian diasporas feel the need to connect with their roots, and not just to know what’s happening back home in India but what is happening in the place they’ve made a life, in a language they are familiar with, given the strong sense of community they feel,” said Narayan.

Narayan noted that the Indian TV rating system leaves a lot to be desired, which is another reason why channels like PTC News, which are viewed as regional language channels within India itself, whether by Indian audiences or ‘mainstream’ channels in Hindi and English, are so successful outside the country. “That’s why I’ve been fighting for CRP, Content Rating Points, which give a much more relevant and accurate measurement. If news channels use CRP, I’m sure they’ll get better ratings, better business opportunities and more hyperlocal advertising.”

“They have fair systems abroad, with proper measurements and accountability. And given our numbers and success, we are present at important news centers around the world, including being the only Indian news channel to be empanelled at the White House.”

“PTC News can get an interview with Trudeau in Canada or Sunak in the UK in our newsrooms, because those leaders are aware of our credibility and popularity with members of the Punjabi community. Indians have become increasingly important community members wherever they are in the world. The next PM of Canada could well be a Sikh, whose party is already running three local governments in the country. We are in regular touch with mayors, administrators and other government officials from the community who can comment on the issues local Indians are interested in,” said Narayan.

“As I said, innovation and even expansion are only being done through regional channels. From Sun TV and Asia Net in the Middle East to of course PTC, which is present in US, UK, Europe, Australia, Indonesia, all of them are growing their presence abroad. Because we have reporters on the ground there, we can cover the issues over there, whether local or national (given the number of elections happening around the world),” added Narayan, pointing out that ‘mainstream’ channels that are broadcast abroad still mostly show the same content being screened in India.

Narayan pointed out that in India, channels have to use mandatory satellite transmission on a single beam, the same beam going up and coming down. “In the US or Canada, you have separate beams. My West Coast beam is separate to my East Coast beam. My advertising, my content, my following is all different. That is possible because I’m not dependent on a single satellite beam, but have different beams and different options from P2P fiber-optics to cloud to cloud and so have varied advertising for varied markets,” he said.

Narayan also observed that a majority of PTC’s revenues abroad come from advertisers in those specific markets as opposed to Indian ones.