Strategic analysis of the changing face of Indian television content industry - ‘Chitrahaar’ to ‘IPL’

Abstract

Indian Television Content Industry is a fascinating study as there are a large number of factors that impact its state. These factors range from Government laws to Technological capability to Consumer whims. The industry employs a large number of human resources as it is a skill intensive as well as capital intensive industry. This study, as the name ‘Strategic Analysis of Indian Television Content Industry: Chitrahaar to IPL’ suggests, tries to map the progress of the industry from its early days in 1959 till the current date. We define ‘Indian Television Content Industry’ as the firms that develop or broadcast television programmes as although these two could be very separate, still there is scope of huge overlap between the two as we also have seen in past and present, and hence would be referring to both when we use the term Indian Television content Industry We have tried to observe the various changes that have occurred in various variables that impact or are reflective of the state of the industry. These include Technology, Regulations, Advertising, Events, Content developers and viewership data among others. Thus, by taking into account all these factors, we have found out the drivers of change in the industry. This was done by taking interviews of various industry stalwarts, analyzing published literature and secondary sources like Industry reports and opinions. We argue in the study that there broadly have been three distinct stages or Inflection Points this industry has gone through. The first period was between 1959-1991, which could be described as the Dormant State as not much activity took place during the period and most of the factors remained constant throughout or showed nominal change. The second period was from 1991-2004 which could be described as Evolution Stage as lots of changes took place in a very short period of time and most, if not all the factors showed dramatic gradients. And finally, we live at this point of time the third period which started from 2004 and can be described as Turbulent as the industry now seems to be changing in a very rapid manner and no one knows which direction it will take. Also the dynamics between the players have become too dynamic with new players coming in and some old ones leaving out each day. Finally, having analyzed the functioning and operators of the industry, we have developed a road map for the firms by enumerating present concerns, future challenges and opportunities and advised recommendations.