GECs
Novelty, originality and availability: the keys to content success
MUMBAI: The NoTa (New on the Air) Conference reviewing television trends and consumption around the world in 2019 presented on 6 February 2020 in Los Angeles confirms that catch-up and preview viewing for television programmes can significantly add-up to the ratings. In terms of content, “emotainment” represents a strong trend to unite the whole family around television. Fiction remains the key genre addressing both real events and supernatural fiction formats.
Said research firm Glance (earlier Mediametrie) vice-president Frédéric Vaulpré: “The profusion of content presents a real challenge for the market: how to capture and then retain an increasingly sought-after audience and how to adapt to the new consumption habits of TV viewers. Making content available during an extended time period via live broadcasts, catch-up and, more recently, preview appears to be essential for the television offer going forward into the future.”
Added Glance content insight director Avril Blondelot: “Now more than ever, novelty is synonymous with audience success. In 2019, 10,600 new series were identified in the countries studied by the NoTa monitoring service. Among these new programme launches on the channels measured, the proportion of audience hits has risen in two years. Besides, over a three year period, quite many channels have had their most successful launch by genre in 2019 in ratings.”
New timings benefit ratings
Watch a TV programme … as it airs today, via catch-up tomorrow, or even as an advance preview before the show broadcasts in the coming days or weeks. In 2019, new ways to watch TV have become part of viewer habits. Although live TV broadcasts still account for the vast majority of daily TV viewing time, other practices are becoming established: let’s start with catch-up, which is now a well-known alternative amongst viewers. In 2019, out of the average of 3 hrs and 40 mins daily TV viewing time in five countries combined (France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States), 10 per cent was catch-up. This practice is growing its appeal across different age groups and is no longer the prerogative of young people.
Preview – the possibility of watching a programme before it airs on a scheduled broadcast – represents a remarkable audience booster for the programmes that offer this option. In the United Kingdom for example, where preview is offered, it can bring an additional 37 per cent audience share to a programme. On that side of the Channel, most preview shows are in the fictional genre, and are generally aired in the late-evening time slot. Other examples include the British series Manifest, broadcast on Sky One, and Gold Digger aired on BBC One for which 90 per cent and 58 per cent of their total audiences respectively were thanks to preview.
Emotional content and original game formats bring audiences together
Entertainment is still a strong draw to TV sets, especially as a family. Embracing this trend, the concept of “emotainment” means content that generates positive emotions around the themes of music, nostalgia and celebrations.
Over its first month on air, Song of My Life (YLE TV1, Finland), a musical look back over events in the personal and professional lives of famous guests, boosted the prime time audience share for that country’s leading channel by more than 50% among its target audience: 25-44 year olds.
Similarly, Studio G (TVA, Quebec), threw a Champagne party for celebrities whose 4 episodes were watched by one third of young adult TV viewers on average.
TV game shows are ever popular and gather viewers around their television sets. This year was particularly strong for original shows (twice the number versus 2017). One such example was: The Way Out (VTM, Belgium), a format that crossed a science experiment with a physical challenge and tinged it with humour; leading to an almost 80% average boost in evening market share for its channel across the four episodes.
Lastly, as far as factual programming is concerned, the search for emotion is still there, but success lies in content that promotes helping others and which prompts all generations of the general public to get involved. Reflecting the current state of society, the programme The Key (RTL4, Netherlands), for example, gives homeless people the chance to make a new start by moving into accommodation. For its launch, the programme brought the channel an average audience gain of almost 75% among the 20-34 year old age group.
Fiction: between reality and the supernatural
With 4,700 series launched in 2019 (i.e. 45 per cent of the new shows studied), fiction remains one of TV content’s dominant genres. The two trends that emerged or were strengthened this year: fiction based on real events (news items and historical stories) and, on the opposite end, supernatural fiction formats.
A common sight on special interest channels, documentaries that dissect news stories and unsolved crimes are a sure-fire hit with viewers. The phenomenon now extends to fiction, with the same demands in the search for truth and information. Examples include the series Stanley H. (NPO3, Netherlands) which tells the story of Stanley Hillis, one of the most famous criminals in that country; or White House Farm (ITV, UK), which focuses on the murders of five members of the same family on their Essex farm in 1985. Finally, digging up a national incident, relying on historical elements and sticking as closely to reality as possible is the subject of the one-of-a-kind fiction: 22 July (NRK1, Norway), which returns to the Utoya massacre perpetrated by terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. This fictional evocation of a trauma that gripped the nation focused on the professionals who were affected by the events (police, paramedics, journalists, etc.), and earned the channel an extra 28 per cent (ear average for its launch in primetime in all individuals.
Fantasy and horror series are spreading out in Western Europe and Asia on major channels. BBC has opted to air the mini-series Dracula created by the authors of Sherlock, and Hotel del Luna (TVN, South Korea), broadcast on Korea's fourth largest channel, was introduced as one of the best science-fiction productions in 2019, increasing the average audience share for the channel by a factor of 3.5 amongst 15-34 year olds, across the first eight episodes.
GECs
Sahara One reports financial results, notes director exit and business realignment
Muted revenues, steady expenses and strategic adjustments shape company’s current phase
MUMBAI: In a tale where the sands seem to be slipping faster than they can be gathered, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited has reported another quarter of wafer-thin income and widening losses, even as a boardroom exit adds to the unease.
The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that its board, in a meeting held on April 4, approved its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. The numbers paint a stark picture. Total income for the quarter stood at just Rs 0.13 lakh, unchanged sequentially and sharply down from Rs 0.26 lakh a year earlier.
Losses, meanwhile, deepened. The company posted a net loss of Rs 24.16 lakh for the quarter, compared to Rs 18.81 lakh in the June quarter and Rs 39.69 lakh in the same period last year. For the six months ended September 2025, the cumulative loss stood at Rs 39.69 lakh, while the full-year loss for FY25 was reported at Rs 60.72 lakh.
Expenses continued to outweigh income by a wide margin. Total expenses for the quarter came in at Rs 24.30 lakh, led by employee benefit costs of Rs 6.51 lakh and other expenses of Rs 17.78 lakh. Earnings per share remained in the red at Rs (0.11) for the quarter.
The balance sheet reflects a company with significant assets on paper but limited operational momentum. Total assets stood at Rs 23,065.57 lakh as of September 30, 2025, broadly unchanged from March 2025. Equity share capital remained steady at Rs 2,152.50 lakh, while total equity was reported at Rs 18,004.85 lakh.
Cash and cash equivalents saw a modest uptick to Rs 6.75 lakh from Rs 4.68 lakh earlier, supported by a positive operating cash flow of Rs 180.01 lakh for the period.
Yet, beneath these numbers lies a more complex narrative. The company’s auditors flagged their inability to obtain sufficient evidence to form a conclusion on the financial statements, citing lack of access to records. They also raised concerns over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to insufficient funds, delayed recoveries, and stalled content investments.
Adding to the governance overhang, the company disclosed that Rana Zia has resigned as whole-time director, effective October 16, 2025, citing other professional commitments. The resignation, noted and accepted by the board, also brings an end to her role across company committees.
Regulatory pressures continue to loom large. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has already initiated penal actions for non-compliance with listing norms, with trading in the company’s shares remaining suspended. There is also a risk of promoter demat accounts being frozen.
Legacy legal issues remain unresolved. A substantial deposit of Rs 694,027.88 thousand linked to the long-running OFCD dispute involving Sahara group entities is still under the purview of the Supreme Court of India. Restrictions on asset disposal continue to weigh on the company’s financial flexibility.
Operationally, challenges persist across multiple fronts. Advances worth Rs 1,92,916 thousand given for film content remain stuck, with delays in project completion and uncertain recoverability. The company’s YouTube channel, despite being operational, has generated no revenue for over three years due to compliance lapses. In a further twist, management has indicated that revenues may have been fraudulently diverted through unauthorised changes to its AdSense account, with a police complaint in the works.
There are also missed revenue opportunities. Television content rights continue to be used by a related party despite the expiry of the licence agreement, with fresh negotiations still underway.
For now, Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited appears caught between legacy disputes and present-day operational hurdles. As losses linger and governance questions mount, the road to recovery looks less like a sprint and more like a slow trudge through shifting sands.
