NDTV: Analyzing the anchors of its strategy

Abstract

Indian news broadcasting industry has evolved from being a monopoly of state-run Doordarshan to a monopolistic industry consisting of many private players like NDTV, Times Now, India TV etc. News broadcasting industry follows a star-led model. In present day, each channel is recognized by its star news anchors such as Rajat Sharma for India TV, Arnab Goswami for Times Now, Ravish Kumar for NDTV India etc. These news anchors drive the channel's viewership which in turn determines revenues. They not only have mass following among viewers but also hold substantial power inside the firm, and have extensive social and political connections. While star news anchors are crucial to the success of the news channels, increasing popularity of the news anchor increases their bargaining power. The important question then becomes whether to develop or hire stars and how to retain them as competitors are willing to pay huge premiums to them for their talent? We have analyzed evolution of NDTV over the years to understand how its star-led model has evolved and what role did it play in their strategic choices. NDTV’s evolution can be broken down into four phases – Entrepreneurial, Formalization, Expansion and Consolidation. It has evolved over the years from being a news content provider to operating news channels to a group based around news related businesses. Star-led model has been the center-piece of its strategy and over the years, it has produced some of the most popular news anchor such as Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt etc. In our study, we find that NDTV has adopted different strategies of acquiring stars - Build or Buy- depending upon their internal capabilities and the market situation. We observe that NDTV was unsuccessful when it expanded into businesses that deviated from its star-led model. Therefore, lately, it has experimented with business expansions that are consistent with its core star-led model.