For Sunil Lulla, MD and CEO, Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd, the mission is to make the entire network profitable as an entity, expand its reach to Europe and drive value for television content
In India’s rapidly expanding television space, the Times Television Network could be called a new kid on the block. But it is definitely a smart kid that has managed to win over a substantial chunk of viewers in its channel categories, that too without a single soap. It may not be big in terms of size – barely Rs 400 crore in an industry estimated at Rs 30-35,000 crore – but the man at its helm, MD and CEO Sunil Lulla, is confident that size does not matter just now; building strong brands and profitability come first. “Businesses are not built in a day,” he points out.
As of now, Lulla is content grooming the channels that make up the TTN network – Zoom, Times Now, ET Now and Movies Now – owned by the Times Global Broadcasting Co. Ltd. “For a profitable, enduring, sustainable enterprise, it is very important to decide what we focus on... and where we stand today,” says Lulla, adding. “We have built strong brands... power brands... and the proposition of the Times Group is to have sustainable brands that stand on their own over the years and have a competitive edge. Today, our brands have that and that’s what we are doing.” He points out that the Times Television Network branding has been created to bring synergy and understanding of expectancy when one deals with a customer or a constituent.
SUCCESS AT A COST
“In our country, the cost of TV viewing is only 50 paise per hour of TV per person. Globally, people pay Rs 10 – 20 times of what you are paying - for the same content,” rues Lulla. The first network channel to roll out - when it was still under Bennett Coleman & Co. - was Zoom in September, 2004. It was positioned as a glamour product, with some elements of Bollywood and fashion. It was later migrated to a strong Bollywood position and has done well ever since. Times Now came in January, 2006. There was great competition, as it was challenging the 1988-born NDTV - then the leader in the category – and CNN-IBN, launched just a few weeks earlier. Though the starting year was not spectacular, Times Now has become the leader in its genre. ET Now was the third channel to roll out in June, 2009, facing significantly higher competition because of CNBC’S legacy value and it being the bellwether globally for a stock market channel. “It’s taken us more time to build that presence, but we’ve got there. It has been No. 1 by and large for over a year,” says Lulla. Then came Movies Now in December 2010, “designed to surprise the marketplace”. A year down the line, it too is a leader in the English movie channel genre.
But is profitability easily achievable, considering that TTN still operates in the niche segment, with English news, business, movie and Bollywood channels? Lulla is quick to retort that TTN can’t be called niche because it reaches out to 100 million viewers. “I don’t think that is niche. These are all multi-crore businesses and there is nothing niche about them,” he maintains. “Today, we are in 26 other countries besides India. We are in America, Canada, Taiwan, Africa, Singapore... We still have Europe to do, so let’s leave some work for 2012.”
So how does he go about creating a good topline? “You must have a competitive advantage in monetising your content. You have to have good brands, and the ability to create an environment for which people will pay. So we always launch channels that have subscription. We don’t do free-to-air channels - doesn’t matter if it takes a little more time to make the money, but we will get there. In a pathway where capacity is available, I am not saying that carriage fees will become zero, it’s not fair to expect that, but in time, they will reduce dramatically and you will have the power to say I want to charge so much for my brand if you want to see it.”
IS A GEC COOKING?
Going by viewership numbers that decide ratings that bring in advertisements, we decide to ask whether the TTN bouquet should include a high-viewership General Entertainment Channel (GEC), Hindi or regional language channel to build scale for the business. Lulla’s first reaction is cryptic: “That’s like saying that in every cuisine we serve, we must have potatoes.”
But why not potatoes, if people the world over consider them a staple food, and pay good money to buy them? His second reaction gives more away: “Businesses are built over a long time... so how do you know we don’t have that plan?”
So how soon can one expect a GEC from the network? Lulla says, “We will certainly expand. We will do it when we believe there is a pathway of profitability. The biggest detriment for any new channel to be launched is the operating cost of TV. We have invested a lot of money in this business. We would have liked to spend less, but the infrastructure to build a good television operation costs money. It always pays off, obviously, though the reality of India is that distribution is becoming unnecessarily and prohibitively expensive.”
Though the network began with Star India as a strategic partner for distribution, it now has a JV with Yogesh Radhakrishnan, a veteran in the cable & satellite industry, to form Media Network & Distribution (India) Ltd (MNDIL). Prime Connect, an independent distribution platform launched by MNDIL, distributes the TTN channels.
MORE VALUE & SPACE
According to Lulla, the Rs 30-35,000 crore television industry deserves to be more than worth a lakh crore, the price for content must go up, and the value for content must be driven... “TTN has come from a 30 million household TV base to a 100 million household base in 7-8 yrs; I don’t think advertising has grown that fast. The economic bar is just not 100 million homes; it is the value we derive from the 100 million homes. Our ad revenues haven’t grown in line with that,” he observes.
Talking of advertisements on television, how does he react to the new uplinking and downlinking policy that allows the government to revoke licences after five violations of the Programme and Advertising Code? “When a notice is given, a channel is asked to explain itself. Usually, channels that have explained themselves till date have been heard and life has moved on. So violation is not a show cause notice. This is only about violations that are proven and not about violations that have been addressed and where the channel has explained itself. Sometimes the allegation itself may not be right. Having a framework in which you are supposed to operate is absolutely fine,” he says.
However, he refuses to comment on the Supreme Court upholding the Rs 100 crore penalty imposed on Times Now for wrongly showing Justice PB Sawant’s photograph in a report on the Ghaziabad PF scam. There are reports that TTN plans to file an appeal.
Meanwhile, there is this whole debate about self-regulation and whether to have a regulatory body in the broadcast sector. While news and entertainment channels have started with self-regulation rather well, it is still an evolving space. “The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) and Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) have acted in good faith, and worked well with the television businesses. The news business has issued frequent guidelines on managing certain events, which have been appreciated by the Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Home Ministry and many states. So it means the principle of self-regulation works when the principle of self-regulation works, allow it to evolve and it will always improve itself. The Ministry has some form of regulator because licenses are only given by the Ministry and they set down terms and conditions,” Lulla says.
As vice-president of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Lulla has to work closely with people who are otherwise his competitors. But he says the IBF’s initiatives are towards a better and stronger industry, “and an environment in which you leave competition out and collaborate”. “Outside the IBF, we are all very aggressive competitors, but we are also very, very strong collaborators. My boss at the IBF, its president Uday Shankar, says it is social work that we do. The IBF gives members an opportunity to contribute to the industry. We have many initiatives -- be it digitization, or the formation of BCCC or a very important survey done about what people think of television. We are hosting a festival for television in 2012. Prime on our agenda is driving the economic value of this industry,” he adds.
‘God is in the details and in this building, atheists are not allowed’
Sunil Lulla, MD and CEO of Times Television Network, tells Srabana Lahiri that working harder than anyone else is his success mantra in the detail-oriented TV business
Q] This is your second stint with Times Television Network... can you compare the two stints... and the business during these times?
It only gets better... we have had a good year 2011, though it has been tough and challenging. We have grown in the range of 40-50% in our business overall. We have had a new channel. Even if I don’t consider the new channel, we have still grown by 25-30%, which is remarkable under the current circumstances. Our company expects that year to year, we continue to outperform. It empowers its people with the authority and responsibility. I am happy to be with the Times Group.
Q] What are your ad revenues like and overall profitability? Can you share the turnover figures for the channels?
No. We are a privately held company; we will continue to retain our privacy. If I look at the last five years as a network, we have 50% year-on-year growth. Next year’s target is the same, so that is our rate of growth. Most of our channels are on the cusp of profitability – two of them are already profitable. So we will get profitable. This is not an easy business. Some of the speed bumps that we encountered in the last few years with carriage fees being obscenely, absurdly and shamefully high have hurt the businesses, but at the end of the day, we have ploughed on... we have shown a brave face and fought. The network at an entity level is not yet profitable, but some of the channels are.
Q] What is the way forward for TTN going from here? Are there any plans to integrate with the Times Group’s highly profitable print business?
We are proud to be part of the Times Group... we could not be otherwise... There is great synergy we get from the media value it has, from the balance sheet it has, from the risk-taking ability it has, practices it has learnt over the years. The best part of the Group is that it understands that the business must be run within domains and so the TV domain is also respected as a domain very much like Radio and Internet is, and allowed to compete in the manner it chooses best. Now the paper is a legacy business over many years, it has been built as a first class brand. We are a babe in the woods, one day we will have oaks, I hope. I may not be there, but one day we will.
Q] There is a whole debate about Arnab Goswami being a brand by himself, overpowering Times Now. Is that good or bad for the channel?
IRK Laxman is a brand unto himself... that has never seemed to be good or bad for the Times of India... it fits in the larger scale of things. TV is a medium where personalities will make a difference, so you got to have personalities who can do that. It speaks volumes of Arnab’s success that at a very young age, he has had the gumption to challenge and he has done it responsibly. I’m sure if you speak to him, he will recognise and respect that Times Now has created him, so the brand is always bigger than any individual, bigger than us who sit in this building or beyond, and we know that. Arnab works extremely hard, does a great job of it and he always gets it. But he is not on 24 hours a day, and our viewership is not restricted to one programme a day. Yes, the show that Arnab hosts, News Hour, is stellar not only because he asks the right questions and that he can create the engagement, but also because it gets the best people who come because of the brand. They come because of the Times Group, because of Bennett and Coleman, because of a number of other reasons. If you are going to ask me to peel off the layers and share the recipe... NO!
Q] Where does Zoom TV stand, especially with the advent of aggressive competitors like UTV Stars, etc., on the horizon?
It stays on top of them - as simple as that. We produce first class Bollywood news. It breaks on Zoom, you get the best stars, the best movies, the best music you want to hear... it just stays on top. It is run by a very talented team and knows what it is doing. Competition is good; it will make the category even bigger and better. So we welcome competition and we beat them.
Q] How will digitization of TV services change the industry outlook?
We are sitting on the cusp of a defining moment, something that can define the industry. We must not take it for granted that all viewers are going to migrate because many don’t know what they have to do. The government has to play a very important role in educating consumers, and say look guys, this is the process and this is the way it is going to work. It won’t be seamless and automatic like the flick of a switch... we have to tell viewers that if they want to continue watching us in some cities, they have to get a set-top box if they don’t have one. If we get short-term about this, we will hurt ourselves. If we strategically collaborate and push this through, it will mean more channels, more specialised content, stronger brands which will emerge, and hopefully better revenues for all parts of the business. If consumers get better value, they will pay for it. The revenues can be shared by the government, LCOs, MSOs, broadcasters and content owners.
Q] Let’s come to Sunil Lulla, the man... apart from your well known collection of socks, what are the other interesting things that you do? Tell us about the collection of cars we see in your office...
The cars are here because there is no parking on the streets! I think the brands we have in our TV business are interesting, so it depends on what you call interesting. This year, I have not had much personal time... it’s been a busy year rolling out Movies Now. I like the excitement of building a brand and a business and I engage myself in this. I’m now able to give a little more of my time to the industry. I spend more time working actively at associations. At a personal level, I enjoy reading, travelling and watching movies, both Bollywood and Hollywood. I enjoy making and consuming cocktails. I used to spend some time drawing, but I haven’t been able to do that of late. That’s my 2012 resolution – to draw.
Q] What is your work mantra... something that you live by in the office?
I have a very simple philosophy in life that those who work harder than anybody else always succeed. You cannot overtake the competition only because you have luck, a good product, great brands and lots of money behind it. I try to work harder than most of our competitors and the average of our industry so that we can deliver a much better product, a much better business. I believe God is in the details; and in this building, atheists are not allowed. TV is a detail-oriented business, every time there is a mistake, I cringe. I also believe in the idea of dreams, so if you dream, then you take the responsibility of those dreams coming true, otherwise stop dreaming.
Q] Do you believe in processes or letting people do their own thing?
Doing your own thing is good when you bring an enterprising spirit. People misunderstand creativity, freedom... enterprise comes with responsibility... so if you are not responsible for what you do, then you are really in very big trouble. You must be responsible for what you do. Each business has its own framework. I believe in processes -- they don’t have to be very visible. A human body has so many processes, otherwise we can’t function. So we can’t operate without processes. But process does not create the principle, the principle creates the process. The principle is that you want to be the best in your category, you have to be able to work harder, you have to be able to create the canvas to create something better and you have to detail it and deliver... so that’s all process-driven.
Q] Tell us an anecdote related to your personal experience in the industry or linked to any of the TTN channels- anything that you would call a defining moment or a funny incident or something that has remained in your memory...
Where I’m sitting... my office here, used to be the toilet... so it can’t be worse than this! But jokes apart, I enjoy myself at work... I enjoy working with people... to me, that’s really very important. This industry brings a great amount of hope, but it’s time that we are able to scale up this business... as an industry, it’s really time, and the levers are all there. We just need to make the synchronization work; over the next three years, we can pull this off as the TV industry will change this business, make it profitable and successful... and the investment patterns very, very significant.
Q] So you want to scale up the industry as a whole but are seemingly not looking at size for TTN, as you earlier said...
We have scaled up year on year; our size may not be as big as anybody else, but we provide employment to more than 1,300 people directly and more indirectly... that’s not small by any stretch of the imagination. We reach out to 100 million viewers, we are in 26 countries and responsible for what we put out there - that’s not small. We will make more money as time goes by, I am convinced about that.
Feedback: srabana@exchange4media.com
