MARKETING STRATEGIES OF RAJ TELEVISION NETWORK LTD

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Television is one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century. Today it is as popular as a radio. Television is a good and healthy source of both entertainment and education. The world seems to have become small because of television. We can see with our eyes the events that take place hundred and thousands of kilometers away from us. Thus television is a powerful medium of mass communication.
Indian Television industry today is found to be one of the fastest growing entertainment industries throughout Asia.Television Industry in India has faced a diverse change in script, screenplay, concept or themes and storytelling pattern with private channels coming to the front row like Zee TV, Colors, Star Plus, Sony Entertainment and Sun Network television. The consumption pattern of the people has changed due to education, knowledge and societal changes and this has been facilitated by the reach and spread of cable network from urban to rural, home to home this makes viewers vulnerable to change and they had welcomed this change.
There are several ways in which the responsibility for running a national television service in India can be apportioned. We have complete state control of 'Doordarshan' as exists in the case of the All India Radio. In moving towards the goals it has set for itself, a developing country like India needs a greater amount of national discipline, even regiment­ation, than could be countenanced in an economically well-deve­loped democracy. Television can play a very significant role in enlightening them about the latest technical devices of agriculture the utility of various kinds of ferti­lizers and pesticides, or any other methods of raising agriculture pro­ductivity. It can also pull them out of their superstitious world and modernize their thinking. 

Indian Media and Entertainment Industry
The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) Industry, one of the most vibrant and exciting industries in the world,has had a tremendous impact on the lives and the Indian economy. As the M&E industry widens its reach, it plays critical role in creating awareness on issues affecting,channelling the energy of and building aspirations amongIndia’s millions. As it entertains and informs the country,the M&E industry has been a catalyst for the growth of large parts of the Indian economy. Take for example,a villager – illiterate and previously unaware of what life has to offer, who begins to see a better life through entertainment programs on TV and aspires for a better life for him and his family. This drives demand for various products and services. These aspirations has led to self-motivated transformation taking deep root in India– Transformation not just from handouts and government schemes, but transformation stemming from ambition and aspiration. The media plays a significant role in our lives today and is all pervasive with touch points ranging from television to newspapers to films to radio to outdoor properties. With the addition of new media such as social networking services, animation, VFX, online gaming and applications running on mobile devices, a new dimension has been added to the world of media that was dominated by traditional media. In addition to their implicit impact, all media platforms provide a great opportunity to carry explicit messages to create social impact. Further,interactive and social platforms give people a voice.
Indian Television Industry an Overview
Indian Television Industry has been in existence for nearly since four decades. Initially for the first 17 years, it spread haltingly and transmission was mainly in black & white. The thinkers and policy makers of the country, who had just been liberated from centuries of colonial rule, frowned upon television, looking on at it as a luxury for Indians. In 1955 a Cabinet decision was taken disallowing with any foreign investments in print media which has since been followed religiously for nearly 45 years. Sales of TV sets, as reflected by licenses issued to buyers were just 676,615 until 1977.             
For the past 21 years Television has come to everyone as a forefront. There were initially two ignition points: the first in the eighties when color TV was introduced by state-owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) coinciding with the 1982 Asian Games which India hosted. In this period no private enterprise was allowed to set up TV stations or to transmit TV signals.
The second spark for Indian Television Industry came in the early nineties with the broadcast of satellite TV by foreign programmers like CNN followed by Star TV and a little later by domestic channels such as Zee TV and Sun TV in the Indian house-hold. Before this spark the Indian viewers had to make do with DD's chosen fare which was dull, non-commercial in nature, directed towards only education and socio-economic development with no choice left for them. There were only few Entertainment programmes. In 1984 the solitary little soap like Hum Log (1984), and mythological dramas: Ramayan (1987-88) and Mahabharat (1988-89) were televised, millions of viewers stayed glued to their sets.
When, urban Indians found that it was possible to watch the Gulf War on television, they rushed out and bought dishes for their homes. People turned entrepreneurs and started offering the signal to their neighbours by flinging cable over treetops and verandahs. From the large metros satellite TV delivered via cable moved into smaller towns, spurring the purchase of TV sets and even the up-gradation from black & white to colour TVs.
The initial success of the channels in the Indian house hold had a snowball effect: more foreign programmers and Indian entrepreneurs flagged off their own versions. From two channels prior to 1991, in 1996 the Indian viewers were exposed to more than 50 channels. This was time when Software producers emerged to cater to the programming boom almost overnight and some talent came from the film industry, advertising and from journalism.
During 1995-96 more and more people set up networks until there was a time when an estimated 60,000 cable operators were existing in the country. Some of them had subscriber bases as low as 50 to as high as in the thousands. The multi-system operators (MSO's) took over the local networks or franchising cable TV for feeding the smaller operators for a fee. This phenomenon led to resistance from smaller cable operators who joined forces and started functioning as MSOs. The net outcome was that the number of cable operators in the country has fallen to 30,000.
Some of the popular Indian Television soap operas during 80's which come to our mind are WaglekiDuniya, Malgudi days, Rajni, Nukkad, Humlog, Ramayana, Mahabharata,etc.
Commercials were very simple and sometimes got very popular too, whoever watched Indian Television during 80's should still remembers most of them by heart, some commercials like Nirma Washing powder, Viccovagradanti, Daburchavanprash, Maggi noodles, Rasna were popular.

Television – Value Chain
TV value chain consists of three main players, content creators, broadcasters and distributors. Content creators produce the TV programming which is aggregated broadcasters and aired to the end user through the pipe providers i.e. Cable, DTH.
SWOT Analysis of Indian Entertainment Industry
Strengths
·        Vast Customer Reach
·         Growing Middle Class
·         Change in Lifestyle
·        Technological Innovations
·         Second Largest
·         Low Cost of Production

Weakness
·        Highly Fragmented
·        Lack of Cohesive Production & Distribution Infrastructure
·        Lack of Efforts for Media Penetration

Opportunities
·        Concept of Crossover Movies
·        Poor Sections of the Society
·        New Distribution Channels
·        Rapid Deregulation
·        Rise in Viewership
·        Technological Innovations like Animations

Threats
·        Piracy
·        Lack of Quality Content

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of Entertainment Industry
Bargaining Power of Consumer (High)
Consumer can switch channels
Increased globalisation
Availability of a variety of alternative sources of entertainment

Threat of New Entrants (Low)
High sunk costs
High capital requirement
Difficult access to distribution
Steeper learning curve because of mature market

Competitiveness within the Industry(High)
Highly Fragmented Industry
High Fixed Cost
Highly perishable products
Highly diversified rivals

Bargaining Power of Suppliers(Low)
Decreasing bargaining power of suppliers
Increasing number of content providers

Threat of Substitutes
Film Industry
Significant sporting events like World Cups/IPLs
Significant cultural events
Print Media
Social Media
Internet

The Indian entertainment and media industry today has everything going for it - regulations that allow foreign investment, the impetus from the economy, the digital lifestyle and spending habits of the consumers and the opportunities thrown open by the advancements in technology. The entertainment and media industry has all that it takes to be a star performer of the Indian economy. 

Market capitalisation
Indian Television Industry has gained new momentum due to liberalisation and enhanced enthusiasm shown by the broadcasters to seize a huge share of the entertainment industry. Indian Television industry in 2009 stood at US$ 5.65 billion registering a growth of 6.8%. The industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15.5 and reach around US$ 11.45 billion by 2014.

Size of the Industry
Over the years the number of private satellite TV channels has grown astronomically, from 1 TV channel in 2000 to 394 TV channels in 2009.The number of non-news & current affairs TV channels has grown from 0 to 183 and that of news & current affairs TV channels has grown from 1 to 211.

Total contribution to the economy/sales
According to the report released by the Price water house coopers today India's burgeoning Film and Television Industry created nearly 1.8 million jobs and contributes an immense $6.2 billion (Rs 28,305 crores) to the Indian economy.
The report also has given evidences of Economic Contribution of the Indian Film and Television Industry which shows that the sector has a total gross output of $20.4 billion (Rs 92,645 crores) and contributes more to the GDP of India than the advertising industry.

Top leading Companies
  • Sony Picture
  • Zee Televisions
  • Star TV
  • Sun Network
  • Cinevastas
  • Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd
  • Saregama India Ltd
  • UTV Software Communications Ltd
  • Balaji Tele films Ltd
  •  Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd


Latest Developments
Indian Film and Television industry combined revenue was over $7.7 billion (Rs 35,000 crores) in the year 2008. This is expected to grow at a rate of 11% over the next five years, reaching a size of over $13 billion (Rs 60,000 crores).
Indian Television Industry is witnessing a spark in the new channels being launched every year. TV is also penetrating into the rural areas and is a promising segment. Homes with TVs are expected to grow from 112 million to 200 million in a few years. The Current size: Rs 14,800 crore, Projected size by 2010: Rs 42,700 crore and CAGR: 24%
Today India boasts of being the third largest television market in the world and the cable penetration (pay TV market) is expected to grow from the present 70 million to all TV homes. More than 350 channels (paid and free) are available to viewers in India today.
The fact that 40% households of India are still without television connectivity highlights the scope of growth in this Industry.The Television Industry in India generates revenue through advertisements, followed by subscriptions. The Indian television advertisements market today is currently valued at about US$ 1,067 million and is expected to grow at a rapid rate with the increase in the number of channels and television viewers.
The number of pay TV homes and the increased subscription rates will increase the subscription revenues and spread among the lower- income groups and offers a wide scope for growth. The Indian television industry is currently being dominated by Star India, which is the top player in the sector at present.

RULES AND REGULATIONS
TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) (Amendment) Regulations, 2012
Background
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), established under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997(24 of 1997) has been entrusted with discharge of certain functions, inter alia, to regulate the telecommunications services and to protect the interests of service providers and consumers of the telecom sector. Government of India, in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology Gazette Notification NO. 39, dated 9th January 2004, has notified the Broadcasting Services and Cable Services to be Telecommunication Services thereby bringing the regulation of Broadcasting and Cable TV services under the ambit of TRAI.
As per the extant regulatory position, all the television channels are required to follow the advertising code as prescribed in the Cable Television Networks Rules 1994, as amended from time to time. As far as the duration and format of the advertisements that can be carried by the TV channels are concerned, the relevant provisions of the said advertising code are as under:
·        All advertisement should be clearly distinguishable from the programme and should not in any manner interfere with the programme viz., use of lower part of screen to carry captions, static or moving alongside the programme.
·        No programme shall carry advertisements exceeding 12 minutes per hour, which may include up to 10 minutes per hour of commercial advertisements, and up to 2 minutes per hour of a channel’s self-promotional programmes.
·        The time gap between end of one advertisement session and the commencement of next advertisement session shall not be less than fifteen minutes (thirty minutes in case of a movie). However, this restriction is not applicable to live broadcast of a sporting event.
Generally, the duration of advertisements, as being carried in the TV channels, are not in accordance with the provisions stated above. Moreover, the advertisements are played/ repeated several times in between the programmes, which break the continuity of the programme. With the primary objective of striking a balance between giving a consumer a good TV viewing experience and protecting the commercial interests of broadcasters, a consultation paper, titled “Issues related to Advertisements in the TV channels” was issued on 16th March 2012. Based on the views/comments of the stakeholders, including consumers and consumer organisations, analysis of various aspects, facts and available studies, TRAI notified the “Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations” dated 14th May 2012.
The said regulation has been challenged by several broadcasters in the Hon’ble TDSAT. Taking into consideration the issues raised by the broadcasters, the Authority has decided to amend the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations, dated 14th May 2012.

Provisions contained in the regulations
As far as consumers are concerned, they have to pay for all the subscribed channels, whether it is pay or FTA. Therefore, it is a legitimate expectation on the part of the consumers to get the programmes for which the channel is subscribed rather than it being loaded with advertisements beyond a point. Thus, the prime irritant for the consumer with regard to the advertisements is their excessive time duration in programmes. If this issue is addressed, most of the other issues related to advertisements in a TV channel are likely to get addressed, as far the consumer is concerned. Keeping this in view, the Authority has decided to amend regulation 3 of the principal regulations. However, the Authority would periodically review the quality of service parameters with respect to the carriage of advertisements in the TV channels.

Restriction on duration of advertisements to be based on clock hour basis
The quantum of permissible duration of advertisements carried in the television programmes has been specified in the Cable Television Networks Rules 1994. It is worth mentioning here that the provisions in the principal regulation does not attempt to disturb the time limit fixed by the Central Government of twelve minutes and so the same duration was prescribed in the principal regulations dated 14th May 2012. The provisions in the Cable Television Networks Rules with regard to the maximum duration of advertisements that can be carried per hour cannot be different for different hours of the day thereby discriminating the consumers’ viewing experience depending upon the hour of the day. The duration of advertisements carried, during the programmes, in the TV channels is closely related to the quality of viewing experience of the consumers. The quality of viewing experience of the consumers is akin to the quality of service provided by the service providers to the consumers. Accordingly, the Authority has decided that the restriction on maximum duration of advertisements carried in the programmes of a TV channel, as prescribed in the Cable Television Networks rules, shall be regulated on a clock hour basis.

Reporting requirement
In order to provide an effective monitoring mechanism, every broadcaster shall, submit a report to the authority, in the prescribed format, the details of advertisements carried in the channel on quarterly basis.

Regulations Related to Media Channels
Billboard Advertising
Outdoor advertisement through billboards is regulated by jurisdictional municipal corporations. The content of the advertisement should however be in accordance with ASCI Code and other applicable laws.

Digital Media advertising
Online advertisement and website content including social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter must comply with a range of marketing, consumer, privacy, and contract laws. Online advertisers should comply with ASCI, the Indian Penal Code,   the Information Technology Act, 2000 and other applicable laws. For this purpose, the Information Technology Act was amended in 2011.

TV Advertising
The advertising code issued under the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 require advertising carried on the cable service to conform to the laws of the country and not to offend morality, decency, or religious sensibilities of the subscribers. The rules make the ASCI Code compulsory for television and state that no advertisement which violates the ASCI Code shall be carried on the cable service. Under the rules, no advertisement shall be permitted though cable services which:
  • Derides any race, caste, color, creed, or nationality.
  • Is against any provision of the Constitution of India.
  • Tends to incite people to crime, cause disorder or violence or breach of law or glorifies violence or obscenity in any way.
  • Presents criminality as desirable.
  • Exploits the national emblem, or any part of the Constitution or the person or personality of a national leader or a State dignitary.
  • In its depiction of women, violates the constitutional guarantees to all citizens.
  • In particular, no advertisement shall be permitted which projects a derogatory image of women.
  • Exploits social evils like dowry, child marriage.
  • Promotes directly or indirectly production, sale or consumption of cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants. However a product that uses a brand name or logo which is also used for cigarettes, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants, may be advertised subject to prescribed conditions.
  • Promotes infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles, or infant food.
  • Be wholly or mainly of a religious or political nature or be directed towards any religious or political end.
  • Contain references which hurt religious sentiments.
  • Endanger the safety of children or creates in them any interest in unhealthy practises or shows them begging or in an undignified or indecent manner.
  • Promote goods or services that suffer from any defect or deficiency as mentioned in Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
  • Contain references which are likely to lead the public to infer that the product advertised or any of its ingredients has some special or miraculous or super-natural property or quality which is difficult to prove.
  • The picture and the audible matter of the advertisement shall not be excessively "loud".
  • Contain indecent, vulgar, suggestive, repulsive or offencive themes.
  • All advertisement should be clearly distinguishable from the programme and should not in any manner interfere with the programme viz, use of lower part of screen to carry captions, static or moving alongside the programme.
  • No programme shall carry advertisements exceeding twelve minutes per hour, which may include up to ten minutes per hour of commercial advertisements, and up to two minutes per hour of a channel's self-promotional programmes.
News Broadcasters Association Regulations
News Broadcasters Association ("NBA") represents the private television news & current affairs broadcasters in India. NBA presently has 20 leading news and current affairs broadcasters (comprising 45 news and current affairs channels) as its members. According to News Broadcasting Standards Regulations (NBA Regulations) issued by NBA any broadcast (which includes advertisement) should be in compliance with NBA's code of conduct. NBA's code has made procedure for compliant against broadcaster who is in breach inter alia of the following:
a.      Depiction of violence or intimidation against women and children;
b.      Sex and nudity;
c.      Endangering national security; and
d.      Refraining from advocating or encouraging superstition and occultism.
Television Viewership Ratings (TAM)
At present, television viewership ratings in India are published by TAM Media Research (TAM) and Audience Measurement and Analytics Limited (aMap). While TAM publishes its viewership data twice a week, aMap publishes its data every day. All television channels in the industry are focused on obtaining high ratings to increase their advertising revenues as these ratings are used by media planners to devise advertising strategies. As the broadcasters are closely monitored and frequently rated, competition amongst them is intensified owing to the dependence of the advertising revenues on these ratings. Transparency, accountability and objectivity of the ratings are of prime importance as false and misleading ratings can harm the broadcasters, advertisers and viewers. Hence, ratings have a major impact on the programming content of television channels. Since there are only two rating agencies, the competition for television ratings is limited, thereby leading to a possibility of abuse of dominance and the ratings published can also be biased.
In 2010, MIB constituted a committee chaired by Dr. Amit Mitra to review the existing ratings measurement system. In November 2010, the committee recommended a road map for improving the existing system. One of the critical recommendations was increasing the number of ‘People meters’ from a small sample base of 8,000 to 15,000 in two years and further to 30,000 in next three years covering the entire nation.

Television Rating Point (TRP)
Television rating point TRP is a tool provided to judge which programmes are viewed the most. This gives us an index of the choice of the people and also the popularity of a particular channel. For calculation purpose a device is attached to the TV set in a few thousand viewers’ houses for judging purpose. These numbers are treated as sample from the overall TV owners in different geographical and demographical sector. The device is called as people’s meter. It records the time and the programme that a viewer watches on a particular day. Then, the average is taken for a 30 days period which gives the viewership status for a particular channel.


COMPANY PROFILE
Background
                           In 1983, four brothers (M. Raajhendran, M. Rajarathinam, M. Ravindran, and M. Ragunathan) of Raj group established a video cassette lending library named Raj Video Vision. From 1984, the group started acquiring rights for Tamil films. In 1987, Rajendras an integrated studio which was opened by raj group were used by independent movie and TV serial producers. The group used the studio to export various 35 mm films and tele-serials to countries like Singapore, Malaysia, UK, UAE and others.
On 3 June, 1994 the group started The Raj Television Network an Indian satellite television Channel. It owns a variety of television channels in multiple languages covering south Indian states. Its flagship channel is RAJ TV.It provides wholesome entertainment for the entire family. With programs targeted at young and old, male and female alike, the Network has positioned itself as The People's Channel.
Through its 13 channels - Raj TV, Raj Digital Plus, Raj News 24x7, Raj Musix, Vissa, Raj News Telugu, Raj Musix Telugu, Raj Musix Kannada, Raj News Kannada, Raj Pariwar the network presents its viewers a smorgasbord of some of the best shows in South Indian entertainment today.
 Due to its close interaction with the local market, the Network has come to understand not just the South Indian entertainment industry, but also the needs of the South Indian audience, their culture and aesthetic sense.
This understanding when combined with a strong commitment to content development has resulted in a combination of programs appealing not just for South Indian viewers in urban and rural India but also to those outside India.
Any television channel is only as popular as its shows and at the Raj Television Network, there is every effort being taken to ensure the audience gets just the right mix of music and dance, entertainment and information, film and fantasy.
The Network runs a number of popular serials presented by some of the best names in South Indian films today. These in combination with a number of popular chat shows and game shows give the network an edge with the viewers. In addition the Network has built up a library of some of the best in Tamil and Telugu films from the nostalgic old favorites to the box office hits of today.
In today's world information is the catch word and the Raj Television Network has capitalized on the increasing demand for news that is unbiased, timely and accurate.
Today, the Network is equipped to give you the news the moment it happens and has often been the first to air the news. But speed while important, has never been at the expense of sensitive and accurate reporting.
Today, we are at the dawn of a new millennium. News and entertainment are more important than they have ever been before. But with the growing competition, it is the people who will choose, who will decide what they want and what they do not.
The Raj Television Network understands this. A lot of effort is being taken to ensure that the programming mix appeals to people of all ages, of all backgrounds making it truly a People's Channel.

Outlook
As the Company's channels are now available in Internet - Google and YouTube, DTH, IPTV and other digital platforms besides cable distribution, the Company is hopeful of adding more subscription revenue. The Company is also expecting growth in advertisement revenue due to increase in advertisementspends by the business houses.

Company Financials
The Company achieved revenue of Rs. 6827.13 Lakhs as against Rs. 5474.35 lakhs in the previousyear. Net profit after tax stood at Rs. 928.62 lakhs as compared to Net Profit after tax of Rs. 921.31Lakhs in the previous year.


LEARININGS
Organizational Structure
Organizational structure determines how the roles, power and responsibilities are assigned, controlled and coordinated, and how information flows between the different levels of management.
 A structure depends on the organizations, objectives and strategy. In a centralized structure, the top layer of management has most of the decision making power and has tight control over all departments and divisions. In a decentralized structure, the decision making power is distributed among the departments and divisions may have different degrees of independence.
There are several ways of division of work and distribution of authority. As a result, several types of organizational structure have been evolved.
The organizational structure of Raj Television Network is a functional based structure. The departments are formed based on their work nature. The organization is divided into a number of functional areas; each function is managed by functional expert in that area, every functional area serves all other areas in the organization.  For example, the accounts department audits accounts for all departments.
Raj Television Network has 8 main departments; (MARKETING & PR, HR, OPERATIONS & SCHEDULING, FINANCE, PROGRAMMING, IT & TAM, BROAD CASTING and NEWS) these departments work jointly together and clubbed as one department.
Raj Television Network has Managing Director, Director Finance, Director Operations, Director Marketing & Sales and 4 Independent Directors. The Board of Directors holds the overall authority of all departments. Each department has its own head taking in charge of those particular departments. 

Marketing & Public Relation (PR)
Marketing and PR department plays very crucial role in any Media organization. The marketing department will be responsible for demand generation for the channel.Understanding current and potential customers, Managing the customer journey (customer relationship management), they are often responsible for researching new markets, developing the marketing strategy and plan Management of the marketing mix, Managing agencies etc.
In case of TV channels the programmes are the products, the sponsors and advertisers are the clients. The business nature of TV channels is by telecasting the ads of the advertisers between the programmes to reach wide audience.
The programmes are telecasted to the public at free of cost but the revenue is gained from advertisers. Advertisers pay huge amount of money to advertise their ads in between programmes. It also includes main sponsors, title sponsors and partner launch activities. The work of the marketing team is to bring in more advertisement for the channel. The marketing teams get orders from the advertisement agencies, MNCs, NGOs, and governmental organization as their clients.
Public relations are seen as a vital part of maintaining the organization’s image, reputation and communicating its message to its customers, investors and the general public. A positive perception of a company or non-profit can increase its sales and improve its bottom line. The functions and key tasks of a PR team also takes in charge of developing public image strategy, conduct outreach events, managing media relations, handling emergencies etc.

Human Resource (HR)
The main duty of a Human Resource department is to provide organization with structure and the ability to meet business needs through managing company's most valuable resources -- its employees. The HR department manages with Compensation and Benefits, Employee Relations, Compliance, Training and Development, motivates their employee for the efficient working. This department is headed by HR Manager and assisted by HR executives.

Operations & Scheduling
Operations and scheduling plays an important role in working of the TV channels. There is an inverse relation with the marketing and operational & scheduling department. The advertisement orders received through marketing team are executed by this department. They work along with the marketing team and interact with the clients but create link between the clients and the channel. There are several criteria the networks must meet in scheduling commercials in a show according to the Cable Television Networks rules.

Finance
Finance is the backbone of any organization. The main source of revenue is from the advertisers and sponsors. Major expenses here include the programme production, maintenance, equipment and other administrative expenses. This department is headed by the chief finance officer (CFO).
The CFO plays a crucial role here by deciding the project to invest, to obtain more returns. The decision of investing in new programmes, events and licensing new films is the project here. By producing new programmes or new films would generate more sponsors at higher prices. Optimal utilization of the finance would increase profitability. Finance also takes care of maintaining the logs for the clients for proper billing and payments.

Production
Production department plays a very important role. Programmes are the actual products of TV channel. The basic responsibilities of an Production department is to maintain a studio schedule, providing quality control over shows, and approving new show pitches for production. The good programmes have good reach among the audience and they increase TRP ratings which will influence the advertisers to book commercial spots in the commercial breaks provided between programmes and can also sponsor programmes shown on a TV network.
There are separate Programming head for Friction & Non-Friction programmes. They have control over all the programmes in all Raj Network Channels. They are assisted by Production managers. The Production Manager is the key person in the production department. They report directly to Producers. They work closely with all other heads of department to ensure that productions run smoothly, meet deadlines, and stay within budgets. Throughout shooting, they monitor schedules and budgets, and prepare daily report sheets for Producers, detailing all aspects of each day's shoot. The production team consists of production managers, directors, content creators, script writers, camera, artist, linear & non-linear editors, and graphics designers.
The program producers take care of the pre-production, production and post-production work of the programmes assigned to them. The overall performance of the programme producers are supervised by the executive producer and Programming head.

Information Technology (IT) & Television Audience Measurement (TAM)
The Information Technology Department is responsible to deal with the IT up-gradation and solutions to bring improvement on screen and ensure non-stop programming. They provide IT support to other departments by developing software’s and assist them in hardware and networking problems.  It is headed by IT manager and assisted by Executives and technicians.
TAM is department that monitors the commercials telecasted in their channels and verifies with the ROs entered in the software. This is a process of quality control to reduce the manual mistakes by the scheduling and broadcasting departments.

BROADCASTING
Broadcasting department works on the technical part of transmitting the visuals to the satellite and telecasting. This department receives the master tape of the programmes and commercials to telecast it according to the schedule sheet prepared by the scheduling department.  They arrange the commercials visually on the system between the programmes according to the schedule. These arrange videos that are telecasted accordingly.    
There are different MCR for each channels of Raj Network. MCR are responsible for monitoring the quality and accuracy of the on-air product, ensuring the transmission meets, government regulations, troubleshooting equipment malfunctions, and preparing programmes for future playback. Regulations include both technical ones (such as those against over modulation and dead air), as well as content ones. This department is headed by the chief broadcasting manager with different MCRs and their teams.

NEWS DEPARTMENT
News department is responsible for gathering, production and telecast of news. Raj network has 04, 24x7 news channels (Raj News24x7, Raj News Telegu, Raj News Malayalam and Raj News Kannada). News department is headed by Dean, News, National head and he is assisted by Regional News Heads (Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad).
The news Editor edits tapes for newscasts, monitor, record network feeds, maintain archives, and coordinate feeds from bureaus and live trucks. The Editor usually edits according to the style guidelines set by the news directors, but often has creative control.
Reporters gather and verify factual information regarding story through interview, observation, and research. They give live reports form site of event for mobile broadcast unit. Reports are assigned to outlying areas or foreign countries, through designated correspondent or foreign correspondent.
News department consist of Director News, news editors, reporters, news readers/anchors and headed by Dean News at national level. 

Track Records of Successful Turnarounds, Leading Start ups & Growing Business 

Strategic Planning
Contributed to turning around the organization by driving change, innovative approach and strategy at raj television network ltd. Operating profit in quarter for the year 2010-11 after four years. Company is turned profitable in the year 2011-12, increasing shareholder value significantly.
  • Strategized of launching Raj News Karnataka and re-launching VISSA (GEC Channel), Raj News Telugu and Raj Music Telugu.
  • Strategized the content and marketing plan of raj TV to grow the viewership to 100 + GRP’s in the core TG of women across TN Market.
  • Mentored the ad sales team to increase the revenues by more than 100% in FY 2011-12 over previous year.
Business Development and Revenue Leadership
Consistent growth in the view hip of raj TV the flagship channel from the group, from average of 50 GRP’s per week to 90 GRP’s per week and growing. Raj TV network ad sales revenue doubled in FY 2011-12 over previous year.

Entrepreneur Skill
Set up complete TV channel infrastructure at Bangalore for news and music channel from scratch and successfully launched Raj Music Karnataka marking it operationally profitable with in the year of operation.

Commitment of Top Management
Raj Television Network has promoted Sanjay Banerjee, associate vice-president to national head, sales and marketing. He would be based in Delhi and will report to M Regunathan, director, Raj TV Network. Banerjee who heads the all India sales operations, including managing the channel's operations in the north, east, south and west. In effect, he would be looking after the channel's growing business in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
Top management of Raj is committed to provide best entertainment to the viewers and along with that they are concerned about employee satisfaction.


Current Scenario
  • Raj TV is the second profitable company for the year 2012-2013. With a profit of Rs 21 crores, being only second to sun network with a profit of Rs 30 crores.
  • Raj TV is watched by over 95 million households in India.
  • Raj TV is the only TV channel which concentrates on Carnatic music i.e., Swarna Sangeetham for past 7 years, with recent collaboration with Tanishq, a Tata product for the past 2 years.

Marketing & Promotion Strategies of Raj Television Network

Maintaining aggressive promotion and packaging approach for all programmes.

For Example, Raj promoted recently TV show “Tanishq Swarna Sangeetham” in such a way that it created excitement in viewers’ mind.
The flagship Carnatic music talent hunt i.e., “Swarna Sangeetham”, in collaboration with Tanishq, a TATA Product, has become big and better avatar this year. Tanishq, a brand associated with trust and purity has always celebrated Indian culture and heritage.
Hold on to the leadership position through timely innovations based on audience response.
For the response of the programmes, Raj television network conducts various competitions related to Celebrities birthdays, like best birthday wish competitions etc. and the winners of this programme will get to meet the celebrities, so it creates a kind of excitement in viewers’mind.


For example:
Vijay's Birthday Special   Namma Veettu Pillai - Ilayathalapathy Vijay
Rajini’s Birthday Special Rajini’sPuunchthandram

Expand the market by launching programmes that are ratable to all generations’ audience.
Raj TV concentrates on each age group of viewers and broadcast programmes at specific time.
During morning time, Raj TV broadcast spiritual programmes.
For example:       05:00 Sivasthuthi
05:30 AalayaDharisanam
05:50 BakthiPaadalgal
06:00 Jesus calls

During noon time Raj TV broadcast TV serials for women, as women are generally free during noon period.
For example: 12:00 - 12:30 PenngalNaeram
  12:30 - 13:00 Gouravam
  13:00 - 13:30 News
  13:30 - Film




Raj TV has a unique way of gathering market share by introducing old collection of movies, which was originally owned by them, it is a competitive advantage. Gearing up for the impending digitisation in metros, Raj Television Network has digitised its entire library of Tamil movie rights as part of a pilot project. The company owns the rights to 3,000 movies. Raj TV sees potential for revenue generation by exploring movie rights by way of digitisation in various languages and dubbing. The company had recently remade old super-hit movie Karnan with Sivaji Ganesan in the title role.

Advertisement of Programmes by Media
Raj advertises about their programes through various mediums such as newspapers Raj TV has spent an estimated one million rupees on promoting the event, via ads in the Dinakaran dailies and The Hindu, as well as nearly 7000 wall posters and on air promos. 
Radio channels (Big Fm, Radio City), Internet (official website: www.rajtvnet.in), social media i.e., Facebook (www.facebook.com/Raj Television) and YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/Raj TV Tamil).In a pleasant manner to promote and advertise their current new shows. This advertisement shows such a slogan or tag line about the next episode that create curiosity in viewers.

Celebration of Festivals
India is a country of festivals. We have countless festivals in all seasons. Looking towards the Indian culture, Raj celebrates all the festivals in their daily shows. 
      Raj invites celebrities in their shows during festival season.They decorate the home of daily TV serials according to festivals and show them celebrating festivals in pure Indian culture, which in turn attracts people towards the shows and hence the channel. Raj TV also celebrates Celebrities birthdays and special programs are aired.
Eg: Pattimandram, Interview with Celebrities etc


Broadcasting famous TV show for full day
Raj frequently broadcast some of their very famous TV shows during vacation season to promote their channel through popularity of that particular TV show.

For Example: Nilavaemalarae 09.00pm-repeated next day at 10.00am
                       Karuthamma 10.00pm-repeated next day at 11.00am
                       Koppiyam crime time 10.300pm-repeated next day at 9.00 am




Indian Short Film Festival
            It’s Indian Short Film Festival Conducted By Raj Television Network Ltd. An opportunity for exhibiting the talent directly to the Public. A platform to identify how innovative and creative you are.
The short films submitted were directly judged by the public the judgment was transparent. The short films were uploaded in the YouTube Raj TV channel (www.youtube.com/user/RajTVTamil) for public ratings and comments.

Raj Appreciation Programmes
            Raj television network organizes “Appreciation Programme” every year. In that, they facilitate celebrities who have contributed to film industry; in regard to this it conducts special programmes like telecasting blockbuster movies of the celebrity, talk shows with various other film personalities. This strategy creates curiosity in viewers.
Eg: “EndrendrumRavikumar”, was conducted this year, in order to facilitate director K. S. Ravikumar for his contribution to Tamil film industry
.
     
Service Differentiation Management by Raj
Raj has covered all areas of entertainment through various channels. Currently Raj is having 13 channels in India which include News, Music, Movies, entertainment and regional channel.
Raj TV is India’s largest conglomerate and has power packed 13 channels with the reach of more of 95 million households in India.
Raj television network has refined Tamil television entertainment with the programing lineup that includes popular drama series, popular comedies, Kollywood movie blockbusters, life style, current affairs and game shows. Raj television network can be viewed in all countries.

 




SWOT Analysis
Strength
  • Raj TV Network ensures that the programming mix appeals to people of all ages, of all backgrounds making it truly a People's Channel.
  • Global Presence.
  • Raj TV Network delivers the channels in multilingual Indian languages has close interaction with the local market.
  •  Strong commitment to content development.
  • Network has built up a library of some of the best in Tamil and Telegu films.
  •  Diverse offerings in news, music and entertainment.
  • Capitalised on the increasing demand for news that is unbiased, timely and accurate.
  • Carnatic music talent hunt i.e., “Swarna Sangeetham”, in collaboration with Tanishq, a TATA Product, has become big and better avatar this year.
  • Company has also tied up with Bharati Airtel for beaming its channel through IPTV platform.
Weakness

·        Market share is lesser as compared to big international and national industry players.
·        High level of expenditure involved in creation/acquisition of content and development of artistes.
·        Involves too much capital expenditure.
·        No HD quality.

Opportunity
  • Additional subscription revenue from pay channel segment.
  • New distribution platforms like DTH and IPTV will only increase the subscriber base and push up subscription revenues.
  • Massive international presence of Indian film industry.
  • Indian Radio and Animation industry is emerging fast.
  • Use internet as a medium.
  • Indian Media and Entertainment industry has out-performed the Indian economy and is one of the fastest growing sectors.
  • Enter into domain of film production and distribution of movie.
  • Reach Tamil population residing across the globe in countries that includes Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, UK and US.

Threats
  • Inflated costs of TV Programs during prime time.
  • Reduction in TV viewers due to piracy.
  • Intense rivalry amongst competitors.
  • Publication industry is overcrowded.
  •  High Entertainment tax also affects the revenue to some extent.
  • Cyclical or seasonal fluctuations in the operating results.


Competitors
  • Zee Entertainment
  • Sun TV Network
  • Creative Eye

SUGGESTIONS
Deciding on a marketing strategy is one of the primary roles of the marketing manager and this process involves some key decisions about who the customer is, how to contact them, and what the message should be.
There are a few things unique about marketing TV shows. Timing is incredibly important you must build up as much hype (sensational interest) in the short space of time leading up to and around the launch as possible.
Another unique factor is that TV shows, by their very nature, are content gold mines. A huge privilege when it comes to crafting a powerful content marketing strategy for upcoming TV show launch.
There are various strategies, tactics and ideas for creating marketing campaign for TV shows.

  • In-built Film Branding
  • The Publicity Stunt
  • Strong PR activities-press launch, PR events-press release
  • Strong social content
  • Mobile phone promotion such as android, app store& Windows platform
  • Pre-roll video advertising
  • To start an association/independent body to facilitate award
  • Merchandising marketing
  • Making FB page interactive
  • Use social competitions & quizzes
  • Hash tag # propagation
  • Good VFX
  • HD telecasting
  • Increase production values
  • Syndication
  • Awareness campaigns
  • Public social announcements (PSA)

Conclusion
The TV channel Market is evolving continuously. The major players would like to consolidate their positions while new channels are increasingly posing a threat to them. With immense advertising revenues and viewership at stake, the channels need to continually assess and re-assess their strategies.
Catering to the taste of Indian viewers can often be a tricky proposition. Words like "Fresh and Innovative Programmes" and "Promotion Blitz" might sound trite but a lot of smart and hard effort goes in creating the appropriate content for the audience. A proper insight of audience taste is, therefore, a pre-requisite to any successful programme launch.
India’s growing middle class, rising disposable incomes, high volume of content consumption and conducive regulatory environment hold significant potential for foreign investments across all segments of the M&E industry. Digital adoption, at a tipping point due to wireless broadband availability, will create additional opportunities for global companies to cater to a new generation of digital consumers.
The evolving integration of media vehicles (TV, Radio, Internet, Print, etc.) is also an interesting development and in future, many exciting activities are likely in this arena.


Bibliography

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