Lockdown driving viewership for English movie channels but is it helping ad revenues?

Television consumption has been peaking since the COVID-19 lockdown came into place.

The disruption has not only boosted TV viewership but has also helped certain genres to grow post the impact of NTO.

One such genre has been the English movies that was losing both viewership and revenue after implementation of the NTO regime. As per the FICCI-EY M&E Report for 2019, the English movie channel genre was among those worst hit by the new tariff rule. The genre had witnessed a drop of 37% in advertising revenue because of the assumption that English and lifestyle audiences had moved away to relatively more affordable OTT products.  

Leaving this behind, data for Week 13 provided by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India shows that the total TV growth over the last week has been driven by the movie channels. Viewers are spending more than an hour on movie channels and this has grown week-on-week.

 Interestingly, this growth has been achieved across languages. While the movie genre has grown 77% in Week 13, the English channels have shown a growth of 79%.

 However, despite the growth in viewership the genre has not been reflecting a similar trend in terms of advertising revenue. Although the BARC-Nielsen report states a growth of 5% in ad volumes for the entire movie genre, experts say the ad rates are at an all-time low. 

Speaking on the viewership growth for the genre, Vivek Srivastava, President - Strategy, Times Network shared, “Post NTO, there was a significant drop in viewership for several players. Hence, it is heartening to see that in this period the entire genre has been looking healthy in terms of viewership patterns - not just prime time but also the non-prime time slots have gained a lot in viewership.”

With the stay-at-home advisory in place, the network has been broadcasting blockbuster Hollywood movies like The Avengers, Thor Ragnarok, Thor The Dark World, Spider Man and Creed2. 

Sony Pix too has been showcasing successful franchises like Jurassic Park, Fast & Furious, Mummy, Wonder Woman, Batman vs Superman, Justice League, Harry Potter, Secret Life of Pets, Despicable Me among others, thus ensuring ample entertainment for viewers across all age groups.

Tushar Shah, Business Head, English Cluster, Sony Pictures Networks India, says: “Sony Pix was the fastest growing channel in the English Movies category in FY20 with 94% growth (from Mar’19 to Mar’20). We also have on our library the popular movie Contagion which has caught everyone’s attention and is trending at the moment. Being true to our brand promise of ‘Stay Amazed’, we continue to offer our viewers a wholesome Hollywood experience.”

 With other out-of-home entertainment avenues such as malls and movie theatres closed, viewers have naturally turned towards movie channels, says Kartik Mahadev, Business Head, Premium Channels, ZEEL. They have also gone back to watching conversational shows and sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory.

 “We have witnessed a significant uptick across big cities with audiences continuing to consume English entertainment through the day. Interestingly, in week 13 (week after full lockdown announcement) the English Movies HD category grew by 71% reaching an ‘all-time high’ and the English Movies SD genre saw a 39% growth. Tactical changes in our programming and a specially curated line-up included properties such as Flix Superheroes, Kids Flix on our Hollywood blockbuster movie channel &flix and a more nuanced selection of movies under ‘The Bookmarked Collection’ was curated on &PrivéHD. With upcoming properties such as the Flix Movie League, we are certain our audience will be riveted to engaging content from the comfort and safety of their homes.”

Even though all the broadcasters are putting their best foot forward, advertisers seem to be still shying away. Media planners believe that the ad rates during this lockdown period will be much lower than that witnessed after the implementation of NTO last year. The ad rates for the English movie channels has been estimated between Rs 1000- 2000 per 10-sec, as per sources. 

Presenting another side of the story was Karan Taurani, VP, Research Analyst (Media), Elara Capital: “People were anyway watching movies online and due to lockdown it has increased further. The disadvantage with the English movie channel is that there is no such content that is available exclusively to them unlike Hindi GEC content, which is not available on other platforms and is played on TV first. Even if there is a minimal spike in the genre, it is just a near-term phenomenon.” 

In terms of ad revenues, Taurani said: “Even if the viewership is high it is not going to translate into advertising money nor is it going to bring a structural change for the genre.”

Elaborating further on this was Srivastava. “We are seeing advertising from BFSI, FMCG, e-commerce, consumer durables and some brands in the automobile category.” However, there are some sectors which have been heavily impacted by COVID-19 - such as travel and hospitality - and they have stopped advertising.