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Do viewers' tastes change dramatically over
a period of time? Do channels take care to map those accurately?
How often must one track these changes… or how often
do viewers change their tastes?
While these are lots of FAQs in our industry,
the answers are never easy and quick. Viewer behavior is complex
to understand. Today they like something; tomorrow they will
reject it with unmitigated glee!
The team at TAM attempted mapping this change
with a small and simple analysis. Set three years apart, we
compared Week 28th of year 2000 [9th to 15th July 2000] to
Week 28th of 2003 [6th to 12th July 2003]. The results show
what was working then versus what seems to be working now.
Read on…
The Current Scenario for the Top 4 Metros:-
Currently, if we take one of the latest weeks
in July'2003 (say week 28th) and plot the share of TELECAST
TIME to share of VIEWERSHIP for the Top 4 Metro markets, it
gives some interesting clues to viewer behavior there.
As we can see, only 8% of total time on TV is today devoted
to Serials. But that 8% time brings in 30% of total viewership
on Television! That's fabulously efficient! However, there
isn't such great news for Films as a genre. Films account
for 16% telecast time deriving only 7% viewership.
The efficiencies for News as a genre seems
to be slipping… perhaps due to an overdose. 13% share
of telecast time yields a 13% share of revenues… a ratio
that used to be 1:3 in 2001 is now reduced to 1:1 !
Teen saal baad… a comparison with
same time three years ago
Lets now take the same week 28th in 2000
and compare the top 6 channels (DD1, DD2, Star Plus, Zee TV,
SET and Sun TV) between then and now. The emphasis on Serials
is much more pronounced now as more and more of Telecast Time
available is going behind serials as shown -
Action-Thriller shows which accounted only for 2% Telecast
Time in 2000 are up to 4% today. So are Religious-Devotional
shows. Feature Films and Film Songs are however losing preference
from channels perspectives. The reasons for this are evident
from the next chart
Serials which generated only a fourth of all mass channel
viewership three years ago, accounts for almost half of mass
channel viewership today! Feature Films and Film songs collectively
used to generate 12% viewership three years back. However,
today they account for only 7% viewership… explaining
why fewer hours of telecast time were going behind these two
Bollywood genres!
Analysis by TAM Media Research (July 31, 2003)
Source : TAM Peoplemeter Study
Weeks considered - 6th-12th July 2003 & 9th-15th July
2000
Target Audience - All Individuals, 4+ years
Markets - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai
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