How benefits of scale will make ZEE-Sony a TV & digital powerhouse
In FY21, the combined revenue of Sony and ZEE stood at Rs 13,451.5 crore which included Rs 6311.8 crore of ad revenue and Rs 5572 crore of subscription revenue
The merger deal between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) will allow the two companies to achieve economies of scale in a rapidly changing media landscape marked by the rise of digital, say industry experts.
ZEEL and SPNI are the second and third-largest TV broadcasting companies in the country by revenue. According to industry watchers, their merger will create a media behemoth that will transcend linear channels, video streaming, and film production. It will emerge as the main challenger to Disney-owned Star India that has become the top M&E company in India, thanks in part due to its acquisition of Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights and a profitable TV entertainment business.
During a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka, who will also head the merged entity as its MD and CEO, had made it clear that sports will be a major focus area for the new entity. Three major cricket rights — IPL, BCCI, and ICC — which drive the sports broadcasting economy in India are coming up for bidding in the next six to 12 months. The Sony-Zee combo will be up against an aggressive Reliance-backed Viacom18 and the incumbent rights' holder Star India for the three cricket properties.
With a combined bouquet of 75 TV channels across genres, the Sony-ZEE combine will be a must-have bouquet in pay-TV homes. It will also have significant leverage when it comes to negotiating ad deals with clients. The presence of two strong OTT platforms, SonyLIV and ZEE5, will help the merged entity to put up a strong fight against the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar, feel the experts.
In FY21, the combined revenue of Sony and ZEE stood at Rs 13,451.5 crore which included Rs 6311.8 crore of ad revenue and Rs 5572 crore of subscription revenue, as per company filings. In FY20, Star India's revenue was Rs 14,337.46 crore which included ad revenue of Rs 7901.30 crore and subscription revenue of Rs 5262.81 crore.
The merged entity will also have a strong movie business, with a healthy mix of Bollywood and Hollywood movies, which will come mainly from the Sony Pictures stable. Compared to SPNI, ZEEL has been investing aggressively in films due to the strategic value that it brings to the company's TV, streaming, and music businesses.
“The merger will have ramifications for the advertising market due to the bouquet strength. The best thing about the merger is that both the networks complement each other. They don't have any competing products, so everything gets added. ZEEL is strong in regional, while SPNI doesn't have a presence in regional. The merged entity will virtually capture the Hindi movie genre. In Hindi GEC, ZEEL is strong in fiction while SPNI has great non-fiction properties. Plus, SPNI has sports and kids, whereas ZEEL doesn't have these channels,” a senior TV broadcasting executive said on condition of anonymity. “In OTT, SonyLIV and ZEE5 will complement each other as the former has live sports while the latter has originals and regional content. Plus, it's better to have two OTT platforms rather than one.”
According to a veteran media executive, the merger has also been necessitated due to the changing landscape where digital is gaining prominence. Scale, he said, is very important for any company that wants to compete with the emerging giants in the media space. “The merged entity will have lots of synergies, but the main game is about digital, as linear television is on the dip. In the next few years, the landscape will completely change. It's no longer only about aggregating channels, now content aggregation on digital is the name of the game,” the executive averred.
A top executive from a leading media company said that the two companies will have significant scale, but the biggest challenge will be integration since both have diverse cultures. The executive further stated that the merger will lead to cost rationalisation even as it will bring synergies. “The two companies don't overlap from a product point of view, but there will be overlap from a people point of view. This will necessitate rationalisation since you can't have separate offices or two different sets of people running the same business whether it is ad sales, distribution or programming,” the executive noted.
The CFO of a DTH company said that the ZEE-Sony merger only means that distribution platform operators (DPOs) will have one player less to negotiate with. He further stated that the merger is akin to Vodafone-Idea merger in telecom and the success of the merger will depend on how well the new entity adapts to a new culture. “What happens typically when two players integrate is that there is a lot of synergy. In this case, they have synergies, but they will not become a monopoly since there are other strong players in the market. In a non-monopolistic scenario, the benefits of synergy will pass on to the rest of the chain. The combined entity will have huge scale, but for distributors there is nothing to worry about,” he noted.
A senior ad sales executive stated that it is too early to talk about the synergies since these are two very different companies. He also said that integrating two companies from day one is not a good idea. “Cultural synergy will be an important factor apart from cost and revenue synergies. On the face of it, you can say that there are 75 channels therefore there is an aggregation and there is merit in this, but that's the end product and not the beginning of the synthesis. In order to get the maximum value from the merger, the two companies should be allowed to run independently for some more time and identify which is the model that you want to take and then universalise that model.”
Having said that, the executive further stated that the two organisations also have certain cultural similarities. “Both organisations have people who have been working here for many years. Both the companies operate with an owner-driven mindset. ZEEL is promoter-driven, but even Sony is very owner-driven, although it is owned by an MNC.
The CEO of a cable distribution company said that there will be no impact of the merger on the DPOs since there is no price disparity and the incentive structure is the same for everyone. He, however, noted that the merged entity will have a rich product portfolio. “As a DPO, we don't care where the content is coming from, whether it is Zee and Sony separately or as a merged entity. That said, Sony + ZEE will have a strong portfolio with channels like Zee TV, SET and Sab, but that is not enough to be attractive to subscribers. Content is ever evolving and the quality of content needs to be continuously upgraded. Viewers keep shifting from one channel to another depending on the content,” the executive said.
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Longest-ever DD Free Dish auction gives Prasar Bharati Rs 1069 crore
The average price per slot stands at Rs 16.5 crore
By Sonam Saini | Mar 21, 2023 8:49 AM | 3 min read
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has mopped up Rs 1069.60 crore from the e-auction of 65 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish. The broadcaster's total revenue has seen a 66 per cent jump compared to last year's auction.
On the last day of the auction on Monday, seven slots were sold, with the highest bid of Rs 18.7 crore coming from Bflix. Other channels that secured the slots on the last day were Enterr10 (Rs 17 crore), GNT (Rs 17.9 crore), India TV (Rs 18.65 crore), Bharat 24 (Rs 17.15 crore), ABZY Cool (Rs 16 crore) and Sun Marathi (Rs 18.5 crore).
This is the first time in the history of DD Free Dish auction that the process went on for eight days. The auction was conducted over the weekend as well.
The auction saw participation of broadcasters from different genres. However, the big four networks' Hindi general entertainment channels Star Utsav, Zee Anmol, Sony Pal and Colors Rishtey stayed out of the auction.
"The revenue could have gone up if these four channels had participated," said industry sources.
The average price per slot this year stands at Rs 16.5 crore.
In the Bucket A+ category, which comprises Hindi GECs, 11 slots were sold for Rs 189.65 crore.
Last year, there were six slots in this category which were sold for Rs 91.1 crore. The highest bid in this genre was made by The Q India for Rs 17.9 crore. Other channels that bagged the slots were Dangal, Shemaroo TV, Manoranjan Grand, Manoranjan TV, Big Magic, Shemaroo Umang, Nazara, Dangal 2, Ishara TV and Shemaroo Ashirwad. The base price for this category last year was Rs 15 crore.
Under the Bucket A (movie channels), 19 slots were sold for Rs 329.55 crore this year. The highest bid in this category was made by Zee Anmol Cinema for Rs 24.05 crore. In fact this was the highest price ever paid for a movie channel slot in the history of DD Free Dish auction. Last year, 16 slots were sold for a total of Rs 166.55 crore in this category.
Under Bucket B, which comprises (music Hindi channels, sports, and all channels of Bhojpuri languages), 12 channels were sold for Rs 206.85 crore. The highest bid in this category was by Zee Biskope for Rs 22.1 crore. The lowest bid in the music genre was made by 9XM for Rs 15.2 crore.
Sources said, “The best bid came from 9XM, a music channel. They strategically waited for their turn and took a slot at Rs 15.2 crore, which is well below the average price paid for the other six music channel slots.”
Under Bucket C (Hindi news channels), 12 channels secured slots for Rs 199.1 crore in this year's auction. News18 India paid the highest price for the first slot at Rs 19.85 crore. Other channels that secured slots were Aaj Tak, TV9 Bharatvarsh, R Bharat, Zee News, ABP News, NDTV India, News Nation, Times Now Navbharat, Bharat 24, India TV and GNT.
In the 2022 e-auction, the pubcaster earned Rs 120 crore from the sale of 14 slots in this category.
Under Bucket D (all other remaining genre of Hindi, devotional channels, all genre of marathi, Punjabi and Urdu channels and news english channels), 10 slots sold out for Rs 144.45 crore. At Rs 18.5 crore, the top bidder in this category was Sun Marathi. Under Bucket R1 only one channel, Popular TV, bagged the slot for Rs 3.05 crore.
Compared to 2023, in 2022, the pubcaster earned Rs 645 crore from the allotment of 59 MPEG-2 slots.
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FreeDish e-auction ends, Prasar Bharati earns Rs 1073 crore from 65 slots
On the last day on Monday, seven slots were auctioned. The highest bid came from Bflix
By exchange4media Staff | Mar 20, 2023 6:43 PM | 1 min read
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has mopped up Rs 1073 crore from the e-auction of 65 MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish.
On the last day of the auction on Monday, seven slots were sold, with the highest bid of Rs 18.7 crore coming from Bflix. Other channels that secured the slots on the last day were Enterr10 (Rs 17 crore), GNT (Rs 17.9 crore), India TV (Rs 18.65 crore), Bharat 24 (Rs 17.15 crore), ABZY Cool (Rs 16 crore) and Sun Marathi (Rs 18.5 crore).
This is the first time in the history of DD Free Dish auction that the process went on for eight days. In fact, the auction was conducted over the weekend as well.
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enba: Prasanth Kumar joins jury panel
Kumar is the CEO of GroupM-South Asia
By exchange4media Staff | Mar 20, 2023 8:19 AM | 1 min read
Prasanth Kumar, CEO - GroupM South Asia, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (ENBA) jury panel. Kumar, popularly known as PK, has over 25 years of industry experience.
Before joining GroupM, Kumar was associated with companies like Pepsi, The Hindu, The Media Edge & McCann Erickson.
Kumar is currently President of AAAI for the 2022-23 term.
The exchange4media Group formulated enba in 2008 with the sole objective of recognizing the best in television news. The awards recognise and acknowledge industry leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, ENBA is in its 15th edition. The grand jury this year will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.
In the previous editions, the enba jury was led by Harivansh Narayan Singh – Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr Kiran Karnik – Former President – Nasscom, Dr Nasim Zaidi - Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, SY Quraishi – Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, N Ram – Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd., Former Editor–in-Chief The Hindu and Group Newspapers, Sanjay Gupta – Managing Director – Star India.
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Free Dish e-auction: 25 channels pick up slots in rounds 2 & 3
According to sources, the pubcaster has mopped up approximately Rs 409 crore in these two rounds; bidding for remaining rounds to continue on March 20
By Sonam Saini | Mar 20, 2023 8:01 AM | 2 min read
Prasar Bharati continued the e-auction for vacant MPEG-2 slots on DD Free Dish on the weekend with 25 channels picking up slots in rounds 2 and 3.
The starting receive prices for each round were Rs 16 crore and Rs 13 crore, respectively.
While the buckets eligible for bidding in round 2 were A+, A, B, C, D and R1, round 3 saw bidding for buckets A, B, C, D and R1.
According to industry sources, the pubcaster has mopped up approximately Rs 409 crore in these two rounds.
The channels that secured slots in round 2 were Sony Wah (Rs 20.25 crore), Star Gold Thrill (Rs 17.85 crore), Colors Cineplex Bollywood (Rs 17.5 crore), Shemaroo Ashirwad (Rs 17 crore), Dangal 2 (Rs 16.8 crore), Shemaroo Umang (Rs 16.65 crore), Nazara (Rs 16.6 crore), Manoranjan Prime (Rs 16.7 crore), Goldmine Bollywood (Rs 16.7 crore), Ishara (Rs 16.75 crore), Goldmines (Rs 16.9 crore) and B4U Music (Rs 17.05 crore).
The channels that picked up slots in round 3 were Showbox (Rs 17.05 crore), Dil Se (Rs 17.05 crore), Filmachi (Rs 16.7 crore), Goldmines (Rs 15 crore), Aastha Channel (Rs 15.05 crore), Times Navbharat (Rs 15.15 crore), another slot by Goldmines (Rs 15.35 crore), B4U Bhojpuri (Rs 15.05 crore), Bhojpuri Cinema (Rs 15.1 crore), News Nation (Rs 15.05 crore), Aaj Tak (Rs 15.1 crore), 9XM (Rs 15.2 crore) and Movie Plus (Rs 15.2 crore).
In round 1, 33 channels bought slots for over Rs 538 crore.
The pubcaster has so far earned around Rs 947 crore from the e-auction. The remaining rounds (i.e. rounds 4, 5, 6 and 7) will go up for bidding on March 20.
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Madan Bahal joins enba jury panel
Bahal is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Adfactors PR
By exchange4media Staff | Mar 18, 2023 8:30 AM | 1 min read
Madan Bahal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of public relations firm - Adfactors PR, has joined the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (ENBA) jury panel. Over the past 25 years, Bahal has served as a lead communication counsel in many of the milestone events of Corporate India, including fundraises, M&As, disputes, litigations, issues, and crises.
Bahal is known for providing leadership to the Indian PR industry during major events such as the global financial meltdown in 2008, and the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is also a member of the governing council of The Yoga Institute, Mumbai – the world's oldest body of organised yoga teaching.
In September 2022, the Arthur W. Page Society inducted Bahal into its Hall of Fame. In October 2020, PRovoke recognised his firm Adfactors PR as one of the seven global agencies of the decade.
enba was formulated by the exchange4media Group in 2008 with the objective of recognizing the best in television news, and for rewarding industry leaders who have shaped the future of television broadcasting in India. This year, enba is in its 15th edition, and the jury will be led by Sunil Arora, a senior bureaucrat and former Election Commissioner of India.
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Free Dish e-auction: 7 slots of Bucket D sold out for over Rs 79 cr
Zee Chitramandir, Zee Punjabi, Fakt Marathi, Shemaroo MarathiBana, Manoranjan Movies, Sanskar TV and Sun Marathi picked up the slots
By exchange4media Staff | Mar 18, 2023 7:50 AM | 1 min read
Prasar Bharati has mopped up over Rs 79 crore from the sale of seven slots under Bucket D of the DD Free Dish e-auction.
This bucket comprises all other remaining genres of Hindi, Devotional/ Spiritual/Ayush, all genres of Marathi, Punjabi and Urdu channels and news and current affairs (English) channels. The base price was Rs 6 crore.
Sources close to the development confirmed six channels that picked up the slots were Zee Chitramandir (Rs 13.40 crore), Zee Punjabi (Rs 12.45 crore), Fakt Marathi (Rs 12.65 crore), Shemaroo MarathiBana (Rs 13 crore), Manoranjan Movies for Rs (13.4 crore), Sanskar TV (Rs 14.6 crore) and Sun Marathi.
Bucket D has eight slots, out of which seven have been sold out. Bidding for the eighth slot will continue today.
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Free Dish e-auction: ABP News picks up 6th slot for Rs 17 cr
The six slots under Bucket C category have been secured by News18, Republic Bharat, TV9, Zee News, NDTV and ABP News
By exchange4media Staff | Mar 17, 2023 12:23 PM | 1 min read
ABP Network has picked the last slot on DD Free Dish. According to sources, ABP News secured the last slot on DD FreeDish for Rs 17.10 crore.
Under Bucket C, which comprises news and current affairs (Hindi) channels, News18, Republic Bharat, TV9, Zee News, NDTV and ABP News bagged the slots. The base price for the bucket was Rs 7 crore.
Prasar Bharati has now made Rs103.15 crore from the six slots under Bucket C.
The highest price paid in this category was Rs 19.85 crore.
As reported earlier by exchange4media, News18 bought the first slot for Rs 19.85 crore, Republic Bharat secured the second one for Rs 16.55 crore, TV9 took the third slot for Rs 14.55 crore, Zee News bought the fourth slot for Rs 15.5 crore and NDTV bought the slot for Rs 16.55 crore.
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