NTO 2.0, love for OTT, focus on regional: Trends that will shape TV industry this year

Despite witnessing several challenges, including multiple lockdowns and the implementation of NTO, the television industry stood tall last year. Compared to 2020, 2021 was a year of recovery and growth for the sector. The festive period ensured a sharp recovery for TV, and now in 2022, the industry is expected to see double-digit growth in AdEx. TV continues to be the popular and influential medium for all categories of brands in India.

So as we enter the new year, we speak to experts to understand some trends that are likely to shape the industry in 2022.

According to Simran Hoon, CEO, The Q, the broadcast industry has seen a stark shift in content creation and consumption since the pandemic. "Given this evolution, we will see more content experimentation in the Hindi GEC category in terms of formats and genres, breaking away from the existing stereotypical benchmarks of soaps and dramas. Inclusive, relevant, and short-format content will gain prominence, and characters will drive storytelling," said Hoon.  

Regional languages will also command more attention and attract more marketers.

According to the FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment Industry Report (March 2021), regional languages will make up 60% of television consumption by 2025. 

Hoon believes that one of the biggest challenges, as well as opportunities, for GECs is going to be available on-demand and all across.

"Another challenge for our GEC category will be to hold viewers' attention. Hence, the kind of content that we as broadcasters showcase will directly be responsible for the channel's success in viewership and advertising," she added.

Having a mixed feeling for the broadcast industry for 2022, Shekhar Banerjee, Chief Client Officer & Head - West, Wavemaker India, shared three trends.

The first trend, according to Banerjee, will be ‘the age of unicorns’. “India is now home to 81 unicorns, of which only 25 are advertising. So when it comes to growth hacking, more and more unicorns will depend heavily on broadcast media. Going beyond CPG, these unicorns will fuel AdEx growth for broadcast media,” he said.

The second trend, he said, will be precision in broadcast. "Oxymoron, but 2022 will be the year of reinventing targeting and ad serving on broadcast medium. At Wavemaker, we are focused on enabling the necessary tech and partnerships that will help us accelerate the adoption of precision targeting and leverage connected TV base in India," he shared.

The third trend Banerjee spoke about is a drop in the number of audiences of the sector. While audience fragmentation is a known reality, 2022 will be the watershed year for the broadcast medium because of the disruptions caused by NTO 2.0, he believes.

“In the current form, anticipate NTO 2.0 rollout to push consumers to make some tough choices within TV channels or even between modes of receiving the content - cable/DTH mode or content over OTT. This means that in many years, physical availability of some of the largest broadcast networks in the country is likely to shrink," Banerjee opined.

The threat that TV faces from OTT platforms was also highlighted by Megha Ahuja, VP - Digital Media Planning, Carat India.
 

"With changes in viewing patterns after the pandemic, over-the-top platforms also posed a significant threat to television viewership," noted Ahuja.

"Also, curating multi-lingual content will lead to audiences developing an unbreakable bond with the storyline and its characters and further strengthen the relationship with the brand," Ahuja added.

But broadcast players have started understanding these changing patterns, realigning their goals, and adopting agile approaches for content development, said Ahuja.

"As a result, broadcasters have been working towards tailor-made content that is adept to multiple platforms' front-end user interfaces. This approach has accelerated digital transformation in the broadcast industry by a few years. It helped us believe that television and digital are capable of growing hand-in-hand in India. This trend will continue to take shape further in 2022 as well," shared Ahuja.
 
She also mentioned that homegrown kids' content is the one trend to watch out for.

"In 2021, several successful shows for kids that celebrate Indian flavours were launched. Relevant localized content continues to hold sway among Indian viewers."
  
Ahuja further added, "TV will be seen as a medium of entertainment and not the destination. GECs will have to re-strategize to showcase content that is original and relevant, and interactive and engagement-driven."