Only the quality of content will determine the business models: Avinash Kaul, Network18

Competition has always existed and news, fortunately or unfortunately, is a business that has existed since the dawn of time, with people needing to know what is going on around them in order to prepare themselves or warn others, said Avinash Kaul, CEO, Network18 & MD, History TV18. Kaul, who was in conversation with Sudhir Mishra, Managing Partner, Trustlegal, spoke about the media landscape and how managing editors manages your content feed, at the e4m NewsNext virtual conference held on April 30.

Kaul said, “Till the absence of a formal structure of disseminating news, one would gather news by word of mouth, which at times lead to gossip while at times, it lead to information flow, but all in the same way it has always continued. Competition spurred as people increased.”

He went on to say that in the current Indian landscape, there are more than 200 news channels/24-hour news channels in 15-16 languages. "There is already a lot of competition, with thousands of publications spread across the country, some with small and large circulations and multiple editions galore." We also have specialized online news verticals that cater to different demographics, geographies and content. As a result, you're already witnessing intense competition. Now, in that same context, look at social media, where we suddenly have a slew of people using it to both spread and receive news."

According to Kaul, in the case of television news, print, or any other such online publication, there is a managing editor who controls the narrative or who controls what one is seeing, separating the bad from the good or what is real and what is fake. Unfortunately, in the case of social media, it is friends on our social feed who contribute to the algorithm by liking or sharing a specific story. And, as the algorithm takes over, it becomes our managing editor, showing us what we are clicking more and more. Hence it's important for a user to follow people wisely. 

When asked about the brightest spots as far as conventional media is concerned, Kaul said, “It's ironic, we all seem to have a very dim view of the businesses that we run, but that's not the perspective that I shared. I began my career in the news around the year 2000, which was the time when only 37-38 million households in India had television.” 

He added, “We are adding around 10 to 12 million households every year who have not watched television before. Wow. We have to show up in our best attire and best game forward every single day because somebody is watching us for the first time. So you have a huge responsibility. We cannot suddenly think that just because few people around us, we will begin to really have a dim view of the business. We are still doing the biggest service to the nation, no matter what comes our way. So today, Network18 assets reached out to 70 crore people in India in a year, which is a huge responsibility.” 

Talking about the dissemination of information in today’s times, Kaul said that TV has a limitation because it's a linear network and expensive to produce and it is disseminated through DTH or setting up boxes.  Hence the entry barriers are high. “The best part is the video dissemination is happening online. There is no reason why you wouldn't have a 24-hour sports news channel only online or 24-hour news crime channel online that is where the golden opportunity lies.”

Kaul also shared that the best part of media is the beauty of the Indian democracy which is the control of what people listen to or what people watch, lies with the consumers. “They can switch off or on, it doesn't matter what any managing editor will serve them. Nobody can influence you if you do not want to be influenced. People will watch good content and the same goes for the business models too. If people find good content, they are attracted to it and consume it, and soon after, advertisers follow. And when you have advertisers following people for specific content, it really doesn't matter whether it's on TV or on digital. Today both are making money but the quality of the content will determine the business models, nothing else.”