The battle for one of the smallest territories on the Indian television landscape seems to have taken a serious turn. The launch of ET Now, the English business news channel by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, or BCCL, the largest media company in the country, is causing more than a stir in a genre that has had a minuscule share in the total television viewership, as well as the advertising pie. English business news channels currently account for 0.2% of the total viewership and have a 2% share in the total television advertising revenue.
Serious contender: We think there is an opportunity here, says Chintamani Rao, chief executive officer, Times Global Broadcasting Corp. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint
ET Now entered a space that was already a bit crowded with three players—CNBC TV18, NDTV Profit and UTVi. CNBC TV18 belongs to Television Eighteen India Ltd, or TV18, one of the most aggressive news broadcast companies in the country, while NDTV Profit is run by New Delhi Television Ltd, one of the oldest television news operators. Launched in 2008, UTVi, promoted by Ronnie Screwvala, managing director and founder CEO, UTV Software Communications Ltd, was the last entrant into the space before ET Now made its debut on 22 June. Besides these, there are two Hindi business news channels—Zee Business, owned by Essel Group-promoted Zee News Ltd, and CNBC Awaaz, run by TV18.
Six business news channels in a country where a very small percentage of the population reads financial dailies or dabbles in financial markets is, indeed, surprising. According to Invest India Economic Foundation Pvt. Ltd, a Gurgaon-based independent financial policy think tank, only 0.75% of the country’s total population trades in stocks of any kind. According to the latest Indian Readership Survey, readership of business publications in the country is only 0.85% of the total readership of all dailies.
In the US, the world’s largest economy, there are three 24-hour business news channels—CNBC (which has a content partnership with TV18 in India), owned and managed by NBC Universal Inc., the broadcasting arm of General Electric Co.; Fox Business Network, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.; and Bloomberg TV, owned by Bloomberg Lp.
Hidden opportunity
“Yes, business channels have a small share. But we think there is an opportunity here,” says Chintamani Rao, chief executive officer, Times Global Broadcasting Corp. Ltd, the BCCL arm that oversees its television business. “There is only one channel that is having the major share. And there lies the opportunity.” (BCCL, the publisher of the largest read English daily in the country, The Times of India, and the business daily, The Economic Times, competes with HT Media Ltd, which publishes Hindustan Times and Mint.)