Broadbandindia Magazine

Regional channels in West Bengal have given to national broadcasters a run for their money in the general entertainment segament.

Despite a sizable population that understands and speaks Hindi, Bengali-language channels in West Bengal hold the three leading slots, in terms of market share, amongst the top 10 channels in the general entertainment category (GEC) with a combined share of over 32%.

While Star TV’s local offering, Star Jalsha, is the outright leader with 17.6% of the market share, Zee Bangla comes a distant second with 8% and ETV Bangla, one of the oldest horses in the stable, retains a 6.6% share, according to figures available with TAM Media Research.

Trailing behind the local pack, the top three national players — Zee TV, Colours and Star Plus — notch up a mere 12% market share in the state. The numbers are not only indicative of the phenomenal growth that West Bengal’s broadcast entertainment industry has witnessed in recent years, but it also demonstrates the Bengalis’ love for their language, in what is a staunchly culturally aware region.

“The West Bengal market behaves quite differently from other regional markets. Although many understand Hindi and English, there is a lot of pride in the primary language which is spoken at home. This is why Bengali-language channels as well as vernacular newspaper do very well in the state,” says broadcast media consultant Sanjay Salil.

“The sort of growth the Indian broadcast scene went through in 2001-02, the Bengali-language channels have witnessed in the last 3-4 years. Advertising as well as ratings have picked up significantly. On a conservative scale, advertising rates have trebled in the last couple of years,” Salil adds.

Apart from the southern markets of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where Hindi-language channels have minimal spill, West Bengal, in spite of its demography, is emerging as a stronghold for regional players. If the top 10 programmes in the last four weeks across all channels are anything to go by, Bengali-language channels have established a near monopoly.

According to TAM Media Research, nine out of the top 10 programmes in the state have been hosted by Bengali-language channels and, moreover, eight out of these top nine programmes are aired on Star Jalsha.

Riding over a bunch of romantic shows that appealed to youth audiences, Star Jalsha has widened the genre share to 35.4% as local audiences have increasingly migrated from non-Bengali to Bengali content.

According to ETV Network associate chief producer Kaushik Duttasharma, Jalsha made huge investments in upping the production value of its properties which put into effect competitive channels to push up the value of their productions.

Agrees a Zee Bangla top executive on conditions of anonymity, “Jalsha brought freshness into the viewing habits, added youth, exuberance and gloss and also a lot of relatable content.”

As more Bengali channels were beginning to be viewed since the last 1-2 years and eyeballs were gradually moving from non- Bengali to Bengali content, Jalsha was also endorsed as a welcome entrant.

States Zee Bangla senior VP and business head Sanjay Chatterjee, “At a time when the shift in viewership from non-Bengali to Bengali content was helping the ad revenue to grow, Jalsha’s entry was a welcome move as it benefitted the two most sought after elements – eyeballs and monies. This is exactly what Zee Bangla did three years ago to the Bengali GEC space.”

“The regional GEC category has picked up very well over the last few years. Apart from sports, regional channels are clocking the fastest growth and advertising spends have grown between 15-20% year-on-year. The West Bengal market is now about Rs 300 crore and it will continue to grow,” said Anand Shah, a media analyst with Angel Broking.

But that’s not to say that this robust growth wasn’t anticipated. In a TAM Media Research study undertaken in 2004, compared to Delhi and Mumbai, Kolkata’s inclination towards regional channels was telling.

While over 50% of Kolkata’s viewership watched regional channels in the early mornings, only 20% of Mumbai and 5% of Delhi tuned in to their local broadcasters. In the  afternoons, only 3% of Delhi and 13% of Mumbai watched regional channels compared to 33% of viewers in Kolkata. During late nights, too, regional channels in Mumbai and Delhi took a beating with 6% and 2% of viewership respectively, while 21% of Kolkata retained their interest in the regional broadcasters.