A

REPORT

ON

STUDY OF AUDIENCE PREFERENCE TO NEWS CHANNEL

Submitted By:
Ankur Dixit 10BSP1225
Bimlesh kumar 10BSP1284
Meena Kumari 10BSP1169
Praffulla Jha 10BSP1168

Submitted To:

Shanu Pathak 10BSP1207

Dr. Vikram Sharma

Shruti Singh 10BSP1255

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Carrying out a project like this can never be the outcome of a single person; rather its bears
imprints of many person who directly or indirectly helped us in completing this project. It gives
us immense pleasure to take opportunity of expressing my sincere gratitude towards our
classmates, respective faculty and our cordial respondents.

We would like to express my heart-felt gratitude toward our faculty Mr. Vikram Sharma, for
giving us opportunity to work on this project and supporting us throughout the project life.
The project has enriched our knowledge in marketing research in practical manner.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The project is entitled to study the audience preference to news channel. The excel
entertainment is a leading player in entertainment industry and want to enter in lucrative
business of news channel. The objective of our project to find audience preference for different
news channel, analyze their viewership pattern and marketing proposition of different news
channel.

Audience preference was done through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research
and analysis of their viewership was done through with help of Ms Excel/SPSS software and
questionnaire.

In qualitative research we did focus group discussion (FGD) and in-depth interviews. After that
we framed a questionnaire of 16 questions. The respondents taken were 50. In questionnaire
we put in question like how many hour do they watch TV in order to get idea of their
viewership pattern, type of news they like to watch on TV. After getting the data we did
analysis of data with help of Ms Excel software.

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................... v
Methodology: .............................................................................................................................................. vii
Overview of Media and Entertainment Industry .......................................................................................... x
SWOT Analysis of Industry ........................................................................................................................... xi
Competition and positioning ....................................................................................................................... xii
Survey Result .............................................................................................................................................. xiii
Recommendations ..................................................................................................................................... xix
Limitations ................................................................................................................................................... xx
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. xxi

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Introduction
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the
marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing
opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor
marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing
research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for
collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and
communicates the findings and their implications.
The process of marketing research include following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Define the problem

Determine research design
Identify data types and sources
Designing data collection forms and questionnaire
Determine sample plan and size
Collect the data
Analyze and interpret the data
Prepare the research report.

The project report entails the study of the News Channel Industry in India. The objective of the
report is to carry out a market research study in order to analyze the News channel industry
and suggest Excel Entertainment possible strategies to enter into this market.
The study aims at understanding the trends in Indian TV Channels industry. The study aims at
analyze the feasibility of a new entrant in this growing segment of market.
The market research is devised by using quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection
and then analyzing the data using different market research tools.
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Current Trends in the Industry: from the research it has found that in Indian News Industry the
Hindi and English news channels are main players. The Hindi news channels Industry is
dominated by the main players like AajTak, IBN-7, NDTV India, Zee News, Zee business, Live
India, India TV, A2Z, DD News, Total News etc. whereas in English News Channels main players
are BBC world, CNBC-TV18, CNN IBN, ET Now, Headlines Today, NDTV 24x7, NDTV profit, Times
Now etc.
It is estimated that television industry in India is worth Rs 19,100 crore and expected to grow at
a compound annual rate of 22 per cent over the next five years.The growth rate expected for
year 2011 is 13% which is a positive sign to attract any new entrant. The per capita expected
investment in the Industry is about 4 USD.
The competitors in the industry already exit. The competition is on the front of content, target
audience, and general position of the channels. On the content front both the Hindi and English
news channels have the almost same contents like the news are related to politics, economics,
weather, current trends, etc. which target on the different audience like the people who are
interested in political news can go for political news content and who are interested in
economics news can go for business channels etc. The other contents which affect the revenue
for the channels and preference of the audience are advertisement time and kind of
advertisement these channels broadcast. Time slot of broadcasting the programs also affect
the preference of the channels, like housewives in India love to watch news related to daily
soaps and they are free to watch TV at around 12pm -2pm, likewise different demographic
groups have different preference according to the time slot of their programs.
Positioning of the channels also affect the viewership of the channels and affect the
competition level of the different channels. For example, channel like Aajtak position itself on
the basis of providing news till now and before everyone. So people like to watch it.
Through this study, the report will analyze market condition and will suggest opportunity for
the entrance Excel Entertainment in this Industry.

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Methodology:

SAMPLE SIZE:- 50

The data collection method for the project included the following :-

PRIMARY RESEARCH:-

1. In Depth interview:We conducted in depth interviews of people like :

o Students.
o Employees
o Businessmen
We included the persons of age group 18-45 yrs for in depth interviews. Basically we
asked them about their perception about the INDIAN news channels.

2.Focus Group Discussion:-

We conducted a FGD among 8 people of age of 18-40 in order to get insight about the audience
preference to TV news channel. It was an open discussion and we coordinated people to share
their views regarding various news channels, with us .The questions which had been asked
were like:

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Q1: What channels do you watch?

Q2: How many hours per day do you watch television?
Q3: How often do you watch the news on television?
Q4: Generally, do you watch the whole news broadcast, or specific segments? (If so, which
ones?)

QUESTIONNAIRE:Each respondent had been interviewed through a questionnaire. We used all four scales in our
questionnaire.
We have also used open ended questions in our questionnaire.

SECONDARY RESEARCH
We also analyzed the information available on internet regarding ranking of top 10 news
channels ,their TRPs and various strategies followed by the top 5 competitors.
We also gained the insights about the current trends in the Indian media and entertainment
industry regarding launching of hindi and English language news channel.

WHO WERE INTERVIEWED:We interviewed students ,businessmen and employees of the age group 18-45.
WHY?
o Students :
Students are directly related with the economy of the country and every decision taken
by government affects their career so they are more willing to watch news.

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o Businessmen:
The day to day decision of these people is directly related with financial condition of
market. So they want reliable and quick news providing channels .

o Employees:
These are the working people who want a diverse news which enhances their
knowledge and also provide them with some entertainment.

LOCALE OF STUDY:
For this project we have taken DELHI/NCR as the locale of this research.

TECHNIQUES USED:
We have used MS-EXCEL for the analysis of the data.

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Overview of Media and Entertainment Industry

v One of the fastest growing sectors in India.

v Low media penetration in lower socio-economic class.
v It is rising on the back of rising income level that India has been experiencing in the past
years.

v According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) the television industry is expected to grow

by 12.9 per cent cumulatively over 2009-14.

v The Industry grew by 15.5 per cent in 2010 and is slated to register a growth rate of 13
per cent in 2012, according to the KPMG report.

v TV will remain the highest grosser of revenues and is expected to corner 45.7 per cent
of the total ad pie this year, a further rise from 44.5 per cent in 2010.

v India is also poised to become the world's largest DTH satellite pay TV market by 2015,
with a projected 70 million subscribers.

v New distribution technologies like DTH, Conditional Access System (CAS) and IPTV, hold
a promising future for the media industry according to the Ernst & Young India.

v In 2010, advertising spends grew by 17 per cent to US$ 5.93 billion and accounted for 41
per cent of overall industry size.

v Revenues from television advertising and subscription are expected to touch US$ 4.8
billion during 2015, according to the report.

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SWOT Analysis of Industry

Strength:
v Vast Customer reach.
v Growing middle class
v Change in lifestyle.
v Low cost of production.

Weakness:
v Highly fragmented.
v Lack of efforts for media penetration.
v Lack of cohesive production and distribution infrastructure.

Opportunities:
v Poor Sections of the society.
v Technological innovations.
v Rise in Viewer ship.

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Threat:
v Piracy.
v Lack of Content.

Competition and positioning

The major competitors and their positioning strategies are:
1. AAJ TAK:
v No. 1 news channel its strength
v Variety of program
v Best in live reporting people perceive as sabsetez.

2. STAR NEWS:
v Better focus on politics and business news.
v News relating upper middle class interest.

3. NDTV
v Better graphic animation
v Varity in program and powerful anchors

4. IBN7:
v Good coverage of international news.
v No discrepancy between statements and figures.
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5. ZEE NEWS:
v The zee mother brand
v Detailed reporting
v No biasness to political parties.

Survey Result
Watching Television
v 85% of the respondents watch TV news channels.
v 13% of the respondents watch TV news channel sometimes.
v 2% of the respondents do not watch TV news Channel.
Time spent

v 31% of the respondents spend watching Television 1hr or less.

v 48% of the respondents spend watching Television 2-3 hour.
v 15% of the respondents spend watching television 3-4 hour.
v 6% of the respondents spend watching television more than 4 hours.
v 82% of the viewers give 30 minutes or less to watch news channels.

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v 14 % of the viewers give 1-2 hour to watch news channels

v 4% of the viewers give 2-3 hour to watch news channels.
v 75% of the respondents watches television at prime time (evening).
This means that the scope of increasing TRP and improving brand association and image is
high in this period of time.

Language preferred:
v 50% of the respondents spend watching television in Hindi.
v 35% of the respondents spend watching television in both Hindi and English.
v 14% of the respondents spend watching television in English.
This implies company should launch tv news channel in both languages.

Top 5 Hindi News Channels:

v AajTak stands on first position in the viewer ship shares.ie.32%.
v NDTV stands on second position in the viewer ship shares,ie21%
v Star News stands on third position in the viewer ship shares,ie.17%
v India Tv stands on fourth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..16%
v Zee News stands on fifth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..14%

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Top 5 English News Channels:

v Times Now stands on first position in the viewer ship shares.ie.32%.
v Headlines Today stands on second position in the viewer ship shares,ie25%
v CNN IBN stands on third position in the viewer ship shares,ie.18%
v CNBC Tv -18 stands on fourth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..13%
v News X stands on fifth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..12%

Program Preferences:

v 21% of viewers like watching political news

v 17% of viewers like watching business news
v 16 % of viewers like watching sports news.
v 11 % of viewers like watching astrology.
v 23 % of viewers like watching entertainment.

These choices will be taken into consideration for the program compilation and schedule for
the targeted audience.

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On the basis of Content:

v NDTV stands on first position in the viewer ship shares.ie.30%.

v AajTak stands on second position in the viewer ship shares,ie26%
v Star News stands on third position in the viewer ship shares,ie. 20%
v India Tv stands on fourth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..13%
v Zee News stands on fifth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..11%

On the basis of Reliability:

v NDTV stands on first position in the viewer ship shares.ie.27%.

v AajTak stands on second position in the viewer ship shares,ie22%
v Star News stands on third position in the viewer ship shares,ie. 21%
v India Tv stands on fourth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..17%
v Zee News stands on fifth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..13%

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On the basis of Presentation:

v AajTak stands on first position in the viewer ship shares.ie.27%.

v India Tv stands on second position in the viewer ship shares,ie22%
v Star News stands on third position in the viewer ship shares,ie. 21%
v NDTV stands on fourth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..19%
v Zee News stands on fifth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..11%

On the basis of Entertainment:

v AajTak stands on first position in the viewer ship shares.ie.35%.

v India Tv stands on second position in the viewer ship shares,ie28%
v NDTV stands on third position in the viewer ship shares, ie. 27%
v Star news stands on fourth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..15%
v Zee News stands on fifth position in the viewer ship shares.ie..10%

Duration and Frequency of advertisement:

v 90% of viewers say that 1min should be idle duration within a program.
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v 95% of viewers say that 2 times should be the frequency of advertisement in between a
program of 1 hour.

From all the research done,the strategy for EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT to achieve a dominant
position in the news channel industry would include:

NATURE OF CONTENT:
It should include news on
politics,sports,bollywood,society,art,culture,literature,science.the content should follow
some standard and should be of national importance and give focus on positive news
stories without adding much sensitization.

PRESENTATION:
Good and professional presentation of both the anchors and the reporters. Much
interactive and knowledge sharing live discussions and debates

RELIABILTY:
The news content should be from reliable and genuine resources. The news should
present the truth to the viewers rather than faking out just to create a hype.the channel
shoul have reliable international tie ups so that the world news presented could be
relied upon by the viewers.

ADVERTISEMENT FREQUENCY:
Respondents prefer a one minute long advertisement for two times in a 1 hour duration
program.

DELIVERY OF NEWS:
The channel should focus on providing first hand and fast news without manipulations.
There should be maximum live coverages as it gives the viewers a sense of justification
and they can associate with the news more.

BRANDING:

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The EXCEL entertainment being a leading player in the entertainment industry as in

video games television serials can get an upper edge in news channel segment because
of its already established and well known brand.

Recommendations

v The focus on revenues should come by bringing more news to the doorsteps of the
public.

v The coverage of political news should not be restricted to the mainstream political
parties alone.

v Apart from the politics, films and sports, the coverage should also include from the
fields of arts, culture, science etc.

v The Breaking news items must be of some standard and national importance and not
routine item.

v More focus on positive news stories and more focus on younger generation.
v The channel need advertisement revenue but not at the cost of interruption every three
or 5 minutes. News has to be continuous with maximum one-two breaks for a minute.

v The news content should be from reliable and genuine resources. The news should
present the truth to the viewers rather than faking out just to create hype.
v Good and professional presentation of both the anchors and the reporters. Much
interactive and knowledge sharing live discussions and debates.

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v The channel should focus on providing first hand and fast news without manipulations.
There should be maximum live coverages as it gives the viewers a sense of justification
and they can associate with the news more.

Limitations

v Non representable:- As the population size is very large in Delhi region and our sample
size is 50,so practically it cannot represent large population

v Time consuming: As we have to go to each and every person to get our Questionnaire
filled.

v Biased: There may be more business or employed or may be of one profile and thus
their opinions can be biased.

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Conclusion

From the last decade Indian Television media has seen several TV channels emerging and
conquering audience share of mind. These channels are trying to connect wider aspects of
audience life. A large number of TV news channels are found competing with each other to
increase their TRP which is the source of revenue generation.
In this project we have analyzed and interpreted the current trends, competition and audience
perception and viewing behavior of the TV news channels.
Thus keeping in mind the positioning strategies of the major competitors, THE EXCEL
ENTERTAINMENT should devise a strategy which helps it establish well in the news world.
The channel should create a reputation of quality, consistency, security, variety, reliability,
focused approach, all round coverage, better presentation and relevancy. The image should be
enhanced in a manner that the viewers seldom change to the second news channel to cross
check the relevancy of the news.

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