As CNBC-TV18 turns 15, Simran Sabherwal takes a look at how the genre creator has maintained its leadership position and what differentiates it from the competition
Long before segmentation and niche became the buzzwords in the Indian broadcast space, Raghav Bahl – founder of TV18, tied up with American television channel CNBC to launch India’s first business news channel and in the process, created a whole new genre in the Indian television space. Launched in 1999, CNBC-TV18 turned 15 on December 7, and taking a cue from its international partner’s tagline, “First in Business Worldwide”, the channel has maintained its leadership position despite a much competition in its domain. Today, it has extended its franchise to become a four-channel network that includes the CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNBC Awaaz in Hindi and the more recent CNBC Bajar, India's first Gujarati business channel.
A Whole New Genre
On February 11, 2000, just a couple of months after the channel’s launch, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex crossed the 6,000 mark and today, the index trades at 28000+. This quantum jump is also seen in the number of investors trading in the market today and CNBC-TV18 can claim to have played a crucial role in this. The stock market has grown from a small club to being ‘democratized’ in the true sense. Commenting on CNBC-TV18’s role, Anil Uniyal, CEO, CNBC TV18 says, “We created the entire business news genre at a time when business was confined to the commercial capital – Mumbai, and it was a one-city market. Taking a leap like that and having the gumption and belief that this genre can self-sustain and become mass is something that one can really take credit for. We have partnered in building the equity cult but democratization of the market has been the single biggest achievement of CNBC-TV18.” Reiterating this point, Senthil Chengalvarayan, Editor-in-Chief, Network18 Business Newsroom says, “We serve as a platform for various views and have made the stock markets safer, accessible and easier for people to come in. As the markets have got deeper and more information is available, the impact on the stock market is immediate.”
First in Business
For the first five years, CNBC-TV18’s single player advantage gave it total monopoly, and competition came first in 2005 with NDTV Profit and then UTVi (now Bloomberg TV India) and ET Now in quick succession. However, CNBC-TV18 managed to retain the top spot both in the TRP race as well as the viewers’ mind. On dealing with competition, Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 says, “We have never taken the competition lightly but neither have we allowed the competition to dictate what we ought to do. We have been very clear about our purpose to be the business news specialist in the country. We haven’t been complacent about the first mover advantage, we have constantly tried to adapt and innovate and be relevant.” Bhan adds, “Despite the competitive pressures, we have always been very clear within the news room that while it is important to break the story first, it is critical to get it right.” New channels have also meant attrition from the channel, resulting in CNBC-TV18 becoming the talent incubator, nurturing and grooming new talent for business news channels. In addition, despite management changes at the parent organization level (and even layoffs in the group at certain points), the current core team (including Uniyal, Chengalvarayan, Bhan, Latha Venkatesh and Menaka Doshi) has stayed together providing the much needed stability.
Creating New Niches
While CNBC-TV18 is seen as a stock market channel, due to the live market coverage, a conscious effort has been made to develop deeper competencies in the business space through specialized programmes catering to specific audiences and niches within the market - from tackling corporate law, M&A, financial regulation, tax and audit matters in The Firm, delving into the economy with Indianomics to putting the spotlight on young entrepreneurs in Young Turks.
With its differentiated programming, the channel is attempting to move beyond the traditional male stock market viewer profile. While the retail investors, traders and the corporate audience are the usual suspects, the focus is increasingly shifting to an audience looking to consume business news and which cuts across age groups to include students, executives, professionals and entrepreneurs and offering programming pegs/hooks to get them on the channel. As part of this, the channel has extended its offering with initiatives such as the ‘Emerging India Awards’ that reach out to entrepreneurs, particularly in the SME sector. The channel has engaged with the community of doctors and healthcare specialists with relevant programming and similarly targeted other communities to get them on board. Uniyal says that the onus of market expansion still lies with CNBC-TV18: “As a leader, we seem to be the only one working to expand the market by reaching out to people, newer investors and trying to get a newer set of audiences onto the channel.”
Similarly, even in programming, Bhan says CNBC-TV18 is focused on specialized programmes catering to specific audiences and niches within the market and that no other player has been able to do this as effectively. She emphasizes, “We haven’t been complacent about the first mover advantage. We have constantly tried to adapt and innovate and be relevant.” The channel has also addressed issues - inclusive growth and corporate social responsibility (CSR), much before they became the talking point in public discourse.
The genesis for all incentives lies in innovation, which has been the hallmark for the brand since its inception. Uniyal says, “Innovation is happening in all formats, on the commercial side – in events, in our customized content and have helped create revenue streams which are out of the ordinary. So the focussed division (events) or the bestsellers division are streams that we have been able to build over a period of time and this helps keep balance in growth, with one division contributing and compensating if another does not deliver to expectations.”
With a lot at stake, in terms of money, a lot rides on the credibility of the channel not just when it comes to retail investors but also corporates who if portrayed negatively could pull out advertisements, thus directly impacting revenue. While stressing on the importance of being fair in their coverage, Chengalvarayan observes, “Our philosophy is that we are pro-business but not pro-business people, pro-capitalism but not pro-capitalist, pro markets, not pro-market men. For us capitalism is very important, we are all here because we believe that’s the best way but it doesn’t make us pro the businessmen.”
Driving synergies
Also turning 15 is the digital arm moneycontrol.com (originally called Rupeecontrol.com) which has maintained its dominance among financial portals since its inception, thus making it a brand to be reckoned with. With the newsroom positioned as a hub, it ensures seamless integration between the broadcast and digital platforms; not just content sharing but also optimizing utilization of all resources, especially reporters. Looking ahead, the network sees its role as content creators available across all platforms and not just restricted to the TV domain. Chengalvarayan says, “We are content creators - not TV or digital content creators. We create content and our content has to be available on all platforms. That is the only way of going forward.”
The channel also entered into a strategic content alliance with Mint to share content on a daily basis and also extended the partnership for regular content exchange between the two digital assets, livemint.com and moneycontrol.com. Commenting on this association Bhan says, “Mint is a great brand to be associated with and the way they think of news is similar to CNBC-TV18. It is a nice avenue for us to be able to present our content in a newspaper and we get to partner with another influential brand that is aligned to our values. It just adds another dimension to our offering as now it’s TV, Print, and digital so you provide a 360-degree experience.”
The channel’s future agenda includes broadening the viewer base by engaging with the youth and creating new niches. Shows like Young Turks Mentor Programme, which provide B-school students an opportunity to engage with business icons such as Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy and Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, HSBC India. Says Bhan, “We are constantly thinking of new ways to create newer segments of programing and newer communities on the channel and within the CNBC universe. We are looking for ways to add value to our viewers, both on the news side as well as the aspirational or lifestyle side.”
However, the primary focus for the channel remains being the information provider to its viewer, be it the trader or the investor, and be the go-to advisor when it comes to allocating money both during a bull run or during a slowdown. “If you want to create wealth we give you advice, if you want to decide how to allocate your portfolio between equity, debt, mutual funds, real estate we will give you the advice, but clearly the message to everybody is invest your money safely but make it work for you,” states Chengalvarayan. He adds, “India needs a lot of advice on where to put its money and how to get the best returns. So the message we keep trying to tell people is that don’t look at your returns in the stock market to substitute your earning for today but it is something that will help you live a dignified retired life. If you want to do that, then the best way is saving properly and that is what we teach you, we try and get people to teach you.”
Shereen Bhan
Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18
ON a year as Managing Editor
It’s been interesting to drive creation of a seamless newsroom - the reporters are now also a part of the stock market programming, whereas earlier they were seen more post the market closing. Aligning the organization and moving as one channel, that’s been the most exciting part.
ON role in influencing policy-makers
We have got the most influential voices - from the world of business, markets (domestic or global) - to actually talk about what could work, what do they think the government/business ought to do or how do you address government’s deficit issue/ infrastructure deficit issue to even relevant big ticket policy decisions....
Senthil Chengalvarayan
Editor-in-Chief, Network18 Business Newsroom
ON MAJOR EDITORIAL CHANGES AT CNBC-TV18
Post the changes implemented a year back, our viewership has gone up... We have never had this much of dominance in a long time. We have excellent talent and being a people’s business, it’s just about creating a happy environment and when people are happy, they work in a team and give their best.
ON THE CHANNEL’s USP IN BUSINESS NEWS
Our viewership today is higher than a lot of other English news channels. We are passionate and business news excites us. We have got by far the most experienced team of business journalists in the country today sitting in any news room; 95% of our anchors are domain experts and researchers and possibly know more about the company. We interpret the news much better than anybody else and are always ahead of the curve.
ON driving appointment viewing
For the live stock market, appointment viewing is set by the market timing. For the rest, appointment viewing is getting more difficult and here the digital platform comes to our help. If people miss any programme, they go on the net. Appointment viewing is important but it’s not a big deal anymore because there are other ways for viewers to find you.
Feedback: simran.sabherwal@exchange4media.com
