English Entertainment
Observers upbeat on ‘Desperate Housewives’ despite ratings
MUMBAI: The West has been won but the East is proving a tougher nut to crack. Desperate Housewives, the show that turned around the fortunes of US broadcaster ABC, has still to set the ratings charts alight for Star World, which airs it in India.
Tam data c&s 15+ 5 Metros SEC A, B shows while the show is catching on it is has still failed to match the viewership gotten by its top rated shows in the past. The first episode of the show which aired on 15 July 2005 at 10 pm managed a TVR of 0.03. The fourth episode on 5 August got a TVR of 0.26 which shows that the show might just be picking up. By comparison Friends, Star Asia Travel earlier this year comfortably managed to get TVRs over 0.50. Clearly the sitcom has managed to carve a loyal fan base over the years while Desperate Housewives is still finding its feet.
A scene from Desperate Housewives
As far as Oprah Primetime, which airs every Sunday at 8:30 pm is concerned the maximum TVR it managed was for the first episode 0.21. Since then it has dropped to 0.02 on 7 August 2005. The fact is that neither of these two shows has local relevance. In this scenario there is always the chance that people who initially sampled the show will not return. The time that viewers spend on an average each week on the channel has risen marginally from 2.3 minutes in 2004 to 2.5 minutes in 2005.
Of course TVRs are not the only thing that planners look for. A media planner adds that in Mumbai Desperate Housewives managed to fare better. What the ratings do show is that some of the new viewers that Koffee With Karan gave Star World may have gone off it. At the same time as far as Quality Ratings Points are concerned Star World is doing a good job in helping planners boost incremental reach among SEC A.
Channel Speak: Speaking on this Star India senior VP marketing and PR Ajay Vidyasagar says, “For premium English entertainment content, Tam may not really be the absolute barometer for success. Going simply by the buzz around the show, the number of huge articles in mainline print media (including those on the cultural relevance and impact of the show), it’s clear that the show has struck a huge chord with the discerning upscale consumer of premium English entertainment. We are more than satisfied with the response as Desperate Housewives is clearly the most talked about show in the English general entertainment genre.”
The stars of Arrested Development strike a pose
Madison’s Rahul Panchal, whose clients sunk money into the show agrees with Vidyasagar. He says that he is not overly concerned about the ratings. “Basically I am trying to reach a high quality audience that does not always get properly reflected in the ratings. I am sure that there will be shows which have a rating of zero (which is the case with Rock Star INXS). The same logic applies to F1. I am sure that when Tam introduces its Elite Panel, things will change.
“Also one must remember that Desperate Housewives has to contend with news shows on a Friday night like Star Plus’ soap Ba, Bahu Aur Beti which airs after KBC 2 on Star Plus. Earlier there was no strong competition in terms of a compelling soap on a Friday night.
“India is a one television household and if one’s mother wants to watch Star Plus’ soap then even if I am a fan of Desperate Housewives I will not be able to watch it. In terms of ad revenue growth it very much depends on how much inventory Star World is able to sell at higher rates with the new rate card.”
Vidyasagar adds that the TG for show was not just women. Across the world the audience split was 55 per cent women and 45 per cent men for this show. “Given that the premium English entertainment consumers in India are at the top most end of the socio-economic spectrum they are expected to behave more or less like their counterparts in US/UK. We expected similar consumption patterns gender wise in India as well.”
Talking about the ratings scene Vidyasagar says there is certainly a need for an Elite Panel that measures niche channels on parameters different from mass channels, or measures audiences differently. “It is quite a difficult task to accurately capture the top strata of English entertainment consuming viewers, and existing systems are not quite up to the task. So I do hope that the Elite Panel from Tam will do the trick.”
When asked what the plan was going forward Vidyasagar points out that while any channel wants to increase eyeballs with premium English entertainment the additional task is to service the existing audiences better. That is because more than any other genre, these consumers are exposed to the best of entertainment abroad and therefore are more demanding and less sticky. That is why one will never see endless repeats or new seasons of the same shows on Star World says Vidyasagar.
He goes on to point out that today Star World is the only channel that is bringing the very best of American entertainment to Indian audiences, barely five-six months after their success in the US. And every month there are at least two or three new shows launched – most of them critically and commercially acclaimed in their country of origin. “For example in the last couple of months we have launched Desperate
Housewives, Arrested Development and Scrubs. In the near future we will launch 8 Simple Rules and Grey’s Anatomy, among others.”
That it is not just about ratings is clearly borne out by the fact that Star charged a premium for Desperate Housewives. Information available with Indiantelevision.com indicates that it was at least 45 per cent higher than what the broadcaster charges for regular shows. The minimum outlay that a brand had to spend on the channel was also raised. Observers point out that Desperate Housewives was probably the first time that Star World went out of its way to promote a Western show.
On the numbers front though, if it wants to get in more eyeballs then an elitist local show would be in order opine observes. This will help complement the Western shows it has. Vidyasagar declined to comment on plans in this arena saying that it was too premature. If Koffee With Karan and Rendezvous With Simi Garewal do move to Star One then some new ideas will have to be thought of for Star World.
Planners also point out that the growth in the English news and infotainment genres has put some pressure on the English general entertainment genre. That is because clients have more outlets to reach upscale viewers.
Talking the relationship the channel has with the ad fraternity Vidyasagar says the new ad sales rate card which was introduced for the entire Star network has been in force for a couple of months now and the response to Star World as a brand is as robust as ever. Today there are increasingly more and more top notch brands launching in India. And more and more brands are introducing higher priced variants of extending existing product lines. “Star World will continue to be one of the primary vehicles for brands targeting the upscale Indian.”
In terms of the way in which the channel deals with clients, Vidyasagar says that there is a much sharper focus on the needs of the client with the separation of the teams into the network and channel teams. This means that both the big and the small clients are being serviced much more efficiently today and client expectations are being met better than ever
before.
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
