‘TV’s reach continues to hold fort but time spent has dipped’

A host of industry leaders came together for the e4m TV First conference, held in Mumbai on Wednesday, to resolve the year-old dilemma of TV vs Digital.

Jai Lala, CEO, Zenith - The ROI Agency kicked off the discussion by asking the pertinent question, 'Is TV dead or is dying?'.

Replying to this, Madhu S Dutta, Head of Marketing & GM - Brand, Media, Digital Social, Raymond Limited, said, “It's a medium that gets into every nook and corner of India and has a huge mass appeal. The primary medium in every household has substantial regional penetration.”

She further said, "India is many countries in one country, therefore depending on the category, the percentage of media spends changes."

Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi, Director - Integrated Brand Experience Lead, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd. spoke on similar lines and said, “India has a fairly dynamic population. We have rural, urban, and a percentage of consumers with high-purchase power.”

As a stakeholder of a brand that has 100% penetration, she stated TV’s reach continues to hold the fort, although the time spent on TV has been coming down. "India is a country of 'and' and not 'or'. It continues to hold in segments, and it is equally possible to create demand generation without TV but it's not dying, it's all about the right mix of channels," she added.

Riya Joseph, Head - Media & Digital Marketing, Britannia Industries Ltd. reckoned, "Maybe not in the next 5 years, the TV will die soon. I don't know when or which year." There is substantial monitoring happening for Digital, and digital efficiency has to come down, for TV to grow,” she added.

Sandeep Gupta, COO - Broadcasting Business, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. shared the viewers' perspective, "As long as the family fabric of India remains... TV will not die". He pointed out that the family viewing experience in India will bolster TV as other content cannot be seen with family unless OTT regulations come in. Their content fabric changes. TV will continue to persist. He also pointed out that when we have so many options on OTT, we spend a lot of time deciding what to watch, TV channels have also not died because of the curation aspect of it. "The reach of TV has reduced but the total hours of consumption remains a stagnant number of around 5 hours and 30 minutes in the last 5 years except for the pandemic."

Talking about the advertising mix, Dutta mentioned planning or segregation depended on what is being advertised and correspondingly the media mix for each category changes.

Speaking of the reach being higher, Gandhi said that mobile penetration has led to digital reach being higher than TV but the principle is which medium gives the highest reach. "We also use digital in rural because it gives us incremental reach, and for a younger audience CTV is a part of the mix."

Meanwhile, Joseph highlighted that the approach should not be segmented as at the end of the day business challenges are being addressed, and promoting the products is the objective. Talking about the differentiation in TV, CTV, PayTV, etc, she stated, "For a consumer, they are watching everything on the same screen. It's for us media planners that the segmentation comes in."

Ending the TV vs Digital debate, Dutta stated, "From the media point of view, the mix that works will work will rule the roost".

Joseph also shared that AdEx is favouring digital. “It is going to keep on growing, and TV will keep on decreasing. That is because of SMEs inclined to Digital rather than the traditional players."

Lastly, Gandhi noted that TV will still enjoy a significant percentage in the media plan for the coming years.

"Advertisers chase consumers. TV would have to be more interactive and attuned to technology. If we can make these changes, advertisers will move to whichever media works," Gupta concluded.