Doordarshan is too staid and boring... Yeah right, so what’s new?

Ratan Lal Bhagat of 4Ps B&M screams out loud why we’re all Rip Van Winkles and why DD now has the top 10 prime time shows!!!

Does the mere mention of Krishi Darshan make you break out in teary-eyed nostalgia? Pardon our trite gluttonous presumptions, but if you’re one of those who still buy multiple rerun DVDs of extinct Doordarshan (DD, if you please) weeklies like Chitrahaar, or Chandrakanta, then this article is obviously not for you. But for all the others this side of Proxima Centauri, who truly believe – like I did before I started writing this article – that DD is as out of fashion a channel as Elton John’s atrocious dressing sense, may I kindly correct you dear gentlemen! As on date, as per TAM data, the top ten programmes watched “during Prime Time are from DD1 across all platforms.” And if that weren’t enough dope to send Cobain (god rest your soul Kurt) to eighth heaven, then eat this – DD1 now gets “the highest share even in the news time band among both Hindi and English news channels!!!” And that figure also holds in the cable and satellite platforms!

There! I said it! If you found the figures shocking and unbelievable, my advice is, take your time, as these figures don’t seem to be going away anywhere and cannot simply be wished away. DD’s fantastic rebirth seems to be more stunning than Bachchan’s in Don, and better in money terms too!

To its credit, DD – started a whopping 50 years ago in 1959 by the government – of course used to have great products ranging from the mass audience pulling Hum Log, Buniyaad, Nukkad, Fauji to the beyond legendary episodes of Ramayan and Mahabharat. These popular programmes, serials and mythological dramas did have millions glued to the channel in the eighties and even in the early nineties. The Indian audience of that era grew on the entertainment and information imparted by . But all these names faded into oblivion over time and DD seemed to be truly a thing of the past. DD, since the opening up of airwaves in 1992, evidently and slowly lost its presence and significance among the medley of sprawling general entertainment channels (GECs) across the nation; its first mover’s advantage clearly rendered useless by the entry of stalwart private channels like Star, Zee, Sony, NDTV etc.


Then what in heavens changed the equation where DD has again rocked the vogue yacht to rule again? “Reach! Reach! Reach! And of course, better viewership metrics and analysis by rating agencies,” argues Namita Chhetri, CEO, ICMR (Indian Council for Market Research). It’s astounding that currently, more than 90% of the Indian population receives DD terrestrially. Not many are aware that DD operates through as many as 30 channels – seven all India channels (DD National, DD News, DD Sports, DD Gyandarshan, DD Bharti, DD Rajya Sabha and DD Urdu), 11 regional languages satellite channels, 11 state networks and an international channel (DD India) available in 146 countries!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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A billion dollar baby or just a midnight dream?

No doubt the company has started thinking in the direction and is continuously working on it but it really needs to be more aggressive as Victor Hugo had once said, “there is nothing like a dream to create the future.” Certainly Gupta too is more or less dreaming on the same theme, as he wants to create an independent business for Adobe in India and “if it can be a billion dollar business, then there can’t be anything better that I can think of,” he shares with 4Ps B&M. But then it’s an easy said than done task as there are not many billion dollar software businesses running today across the world. Moreover he shouldn’t forget that the best way to beat your competition, particularly in the IT arena is to come out with a technology, which is far superior to your competitor’s.

That’s surely not impossible for the company which is one of the best places to work for in the country. However, given the hiccups like broadband reach and connectivity in India the task looks a little difficult for Gupta. “The hiccups are just a part of the story but at the macro level we have made huge progress and we will continue to do so,” Gupta disagrees with us. But then Adobe India has definitely been hit by the prevailing slowdown and like others it too has lowered its Q1 forecasts for 2009. Considering this, it would really be a tough time ahead for Adobe to manage competitors that have huge cash chests. However, Gupta doesn’t seems bothered much by the fact and is all gung ho about Adobe’s Indian business. And more importantly, at a time when all the other companies are in love with the pink colour, Adobe India is planning to hire more people than the company did in 2008. Though, the company recently fired 600 people globally, none of them were from India, as it only let go people from where the projects were being shelved. Moreover, “we will continue hiring in India very aggressively and will come out with great sales and marketing strategies. And as the slowdown ends, we will be in a very good position,” claims Gupta.

The company is also exploring the possibility of striking gold in the short run by tagging ads on its products. In fact they are running a pilot with Yahoo! to make it a huge success. Keeping in mind Adobe’s massive reach, the opportunity certainly seems to be huge for it. “Our products are available on almost each and every system in place on earth. So, it is a pretty attractive business for us,” agrees Gupta. And if they can do it in a way that adds value to the advertiser, publisher and user, there is surely an opportunity for Adobe to build its business. Though Adobe doesn’t want to decide its next step unless it ends the currently running pilot but surely, the company is focusing on this area in a more aggressive mode than before. However, when we asked Gupta about the possibility of their new ads business taking over their core software project, he had a very straight forward answer, “The ad business will never replace or displace our core business.”

But considering the ambitious plans that Adobe has for India it’s sure that it’s going to face a lot of challenges in times to come. Though, they have a big ecosystem but Microsoft and Google are not those competitors that can be taken lightly. So, as we moved out of the Adobe office we still doubted Gupta’s dream of making Adobe a billion dollar business in India, but one thing that we were sure of was that the Great Indian IT story was still not over!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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