Broadcast Editors' Association (BEA) has called for an “urgent” meeting to discuss reports that 11 chief ministers who are part of the I.N.D.I.A alliance are considering to stop advertising on some TV channels that they believe are pro-BJP.

The BEA's General Body meeting is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, 19th September, 2023 at 14:00 hrs at India Today Group Mediaplex.

“The recent decision of India Alliance to boycott certain journalists forced us to meet on urgent basis.  Therefore, this meeting is called on very short notice,” stated an invite sent out by BEA President Supriya Prasad.

The agenda of the meeting, according to the invite, is: to discuss election for the new executive committee of BEA, to discuss ban on few Journalists by INDIA and any other issue with the permission of the President.

After a month-long wait, BARC on Monday evening finally fixed the price for Respondent Level Data at Rs 15 lakh per annum for the broadcasters. The news has been shared with exchange4media by highly placed sources in the industry.

As of now, only agencies have access to Respondent Level Data at a cost of Rs 60 lakh per annum. exchange4media had earlier reported that BARC was planning to make the Respondent Level Data available to broadcasters at a more reasonable price compared to what agencies pay for it. Suggestions for the price at which the data should be made available to broadcasters was shared with the BARC board members for approval last week.

The details of the price were shared by BARC with broadcasters on Monday evening.

In a letter written to broadacsters, BARC said Respondent Level Data (RLD) will be made available weekly to broadcasters, starting with the data of Week 40, on 12th October 2023.

“BARC India is pleased to announce that Respondent Level Data (RLD) will be made available weekly to Broadcasters, starting with the data of Week 40, on 12th October 2023. Like the currency data, RLD will also be released every Thursday by 2 PM to subscribers of this data,” it stated.

“The RLD provided will adequately be anonymised to maintain the integrity of panel homes, not include OOH data and have Individual level data but not Household level information,” read the letter.

The letter further stated:

RLD is the final validated viewership and has demographic details of each panellist which is aggregated in YUMI in order to produce the final published audience estimates. The data enables end-users to link a particular panellist, or group of panellists, to understand how their viewing may have evolved over time with respect to a channel, or their competition. This will be possible since they will have the ability to view the viewership details, panellist by panellist, at a minute-by-minute level.

The individual level RLD will be released simultaneously in three component parts every week:

1. Demographic Files - which provide a unique anonymised ID for each panellist along with their demographics and the daily weights which they have been assigned.

2. Viewership File - which provides for each panellist their viewing for each day of the week, in particular, which channels were viewed and at what times of the day.

3. Playout File- which provides the playout data for each channel across all minutes of the week (as it currently appears in YUMI).

Market research company Elara Capital has released a Consumer Discretionary report on the upcoming Cricket World Cup. According to Karan Taurani, Senior VP, Elara Capital, one can expect the tournament to generate Rs 20-22bn in ad revenue on TV/digital platforms combined. Taurani states that the digital revenues for CWC may prop significantly this year.

Here are excerpts from the report.

Consumption to wax with Cricket World Cup

Favourable timings to boost viewership

India is hosting the Cricket World Cup (CWC) after 12 years (through 5 October-19 November 2023). For the first time, India will host all the matches solo – Earlier, other Asian nations have co-hosted with India. Favourable timings (matches will begin at 10:30 IST/14:00 IST) may boost consumption of the property on TV/digital platforms. Expect the CWC to generate INR 20-22bn in ad revenue on TV/digital platforms combined. And digital revenues for CWC may prop significantly this year as: 1) timings are favourable (viewers may watch the first half of the match on OTT) and 2) CWC will be available free for all mobile users on Disney+ Hotstar app. In terms of TV advertising, expect a 6% CAGR versus the prior edition of the CWC in CY19. For the digital medium, CAGR may touch 21% versus 2019 levels.

Consumer discretionary – Win-win proposition

The CWC may positively impact online food ordering for aggregators such as Zomato/Swiggy. Through 2019 and prior world cups, JUBI alone saw a boost in SSSG (higher SSSG growth of ~3% in the CWC quarter) due to best experience offered in food delivery. But this time, expect other categories – burgers, fried chicken and biryani – to perform well, led by higher penetration of online aggregators, and likely replication of JUBI’s delivery experience. Also, pizza may see significant demand (preferred by large groups). But the segment is highly fragmented with many competitors in the fray, which may dampen prospects of a big delta/advantage for JUBI in this CWC. QSR/food tech companies may see a positive impact of 6-8% (2%-3% higher quarterly growth in Q3FY24) from higher orders during the CWC (six weeks). The alcobev industry may see a boost in consumption as beer volumes have an on-premise share of ~30% – Premium beer such as Corona, Heineken, Bira and Budweiser could see strong growth. Within spirits, scotch whiskey and upper prestige could see a boost in volume growth due to higher on premise share (~40%). We estimate positive impact of 4%/6% (1.5%-2% higher quarterly growth in Q3FY24) for overall whiskey/beer volumes in October-November due to the CWC. Bars/pubs may see better occupancy, which may positively impact alcobev volume growth in Q3FY24.

TV advertising (non-cricket) may be strained

In the past year, many consumer tech companies (edtech, fintech, foodtech and e-commerce) have shifted focus to profitability, thus curtailing ad spends. This has hurt the market as regards ad spend growth on TV/digital. These verticals have not yet made a come-back in terms of larger ad budgets, and the market is depending on larger, traditional verticals such as FMCG, Auto and Telecom. Expect TV ad spends for GEC-based players – Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Z IN) and Sun TV (SUNTV IN) – to see a mild strain in Q3FY24, due to spends being diverted to cricket. But the positive impact from the festival season may largely offset this hit. The mix of advertisers has also changed – from new-age plays to traditional verticals – which has hit the overall pricing (sports and GEC). ZOMATO, UBBL, DEVYANI, WLDL and UNSP seem to be the key beneficiaries from the overlap between the WC and the festive season which will boost overall consumption.

Cricket World Cup adex

CWC 2023E to yield 20% more TV adex than 2019

The upcoming CWC may generate at least 20% more in TV adex than it did in 2019. Sports advertising revenue has witnessed a CAGR of ~20% in CY15-22. And for 2023 CWC, advertising yields are at a mild premium vs 2019 pricing levels, indicating that the same pricing structure is being maintained. Most International Cricket Council (ICC) event sponsors are Indian brands and have committed substantial investments.

Digital adex: CWC 2023E to grow at least 70% versus CWC 2019

In contrast, digital adex for 2023E CWC may likely grow at least 70% more than the prior editions led by: 1) favorable timings (viewers may watch the first half of the match on OTT), 2) CWC will be available free for all mobile users on Disney+ Hotstar app and 3) better growth in digital advertising versus traditional media. CWC 2023 may see a similar growth as in digital ad spends during the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023. While the absolute value of digital advertising may not be as high as TV advertising, the growth rate may be higher. Cricket has gained popularity on digital platforms, and lower advertising prices on digital channels have allowed many brands to participate. In 2019 CWC, digital advertising-led revenue ranged within INR 4,000-INR 5,000mn. Asia Cup may generate TV adex within INR 3,000-INR 4,000mn.

Consumption boost during CWC

Sales/volume growth higher in CWC quarter Consumer Discretionary, especially Food & Beverages and Alcobev, has seen a correlation with the past two CWCs (in 2015/2019). Per our findings, SSSG/volume growth in the CWC quarter surpassed the annual SSSG/volume growth in the past two CWCs. JUBI’s annual SSSG dipped 4.5% YoY in FY15 whereas in the CWC quarter, the SSSG rose 6.6% YoY. In 2019 CWC quarter too, JUBI’s SSSG was much higher at 4.5% YoY versus an annual average SSSG of 1.7% YoY in FY20. For Alcobev, the delta was visible (on high ‘on-premise’ growth) more for beer – UBBL’s annual volume pared 4.2% YoY in FY20 but volume grew 5.6% YoY in CWC quarter.

Avinash Pandey, CEO of ABP Network, has been re-elected the President of the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA).

According to sources, there is no change in the management. MV Shreyams Kumar, Managing Director of Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd., has been re-elected as Vice President, and Anuradha Prasad Shukla, Chairperson-cum-Managing Director, News24 Broadcast India Ltd., will continue as Honorary Treasurer of NBDA for the year 2023-24.

The election process was followed by the new office-bearers having lunch with MIB Secretary Apurva Chandra.  

The Supreme Court has reportedly asked News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) to submit fresh guidelines to “tighten up” the self-regulatory mechanism of monitoring TV news channels. According to a media report, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra has given NBDA four weeks’ time for this.

The Bench took note of submissions that the NBDA was already working on the guidelines  in consultation with its present and former chairpersons, Justice (retd) A K Sikri and R V Raveendran, respectively.

Meanwhile, the News Broadcaster Federation of India (NBFI), through its counsel said that it should also be permitted to submit its own self regulations since it is the only regulatory body registered with the Centre as per the 2022 rules, unlike NBDA. Replying to the request, the court said “that suggestions and guidelines are welcome.”

To which the court reportedly replied, “We cannot sort out your ideological differences (NBDA and NBFI) here. We do not want this plea to get lost in the cacophony of rival organisations. We will see their regulations and then see yours as well,” the CJI said.

Earlier, the apex court had expressed that the existing self-regulatory mechanism to monitor TV news channels was not satisfactory and had asked the government response on making it “more effective”.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has issued a notice to Disney Star on a plea challenging free streaming of cricket matches, including the recently concluded Asia Cup and the upcoming cricket World Cup on Hotstar on mobile devices.

The petition, filed by All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), alleges that this practice is unfair to the cable industry, which has paid the broadcaster for distributing and transmitting signals.

“While on one hand, the respondent (Disney Star), has contracted for distributing and transmitting signals of the live events (Asia Cup and World Cup) to the petitioner (AIDCF) and similarly situated entities on payment basis (ala carte or part of bouquet), on the other hand, the respondent is causing transmission in respect of the very same content on a completely free-to-view basis so far as the consumers of respondent’s own platform was concerned.

“This has resulted in a clear breach of non-discriminatory principle which underpins regulatory framework covering and controlling transmission of TV signals over Telegraph i.e., wire or wireless system,” the plea said.

AIDCF, a body which has nine cable networks under it, sought the TDSAT to issue directions to Disney Star to stop the broadcast of the cricket matches on a free-to-view basis on its platform Disney+ Hotstar.