Mediaman Pradeep Guha is known to have a Midas touch with many big ticket properties he helped create during his long association with Bennett Coleman & Co Limited and Zee Group. Guha, recently credited with turning the tide for 9XMedia, has a solid ad sales background, beginning his career with BCCL in the advertising department in 1977. He also worked in BCCL’s Revenue Department from 1986 to 2000. Shobhana Nair caught up with him to understand how essential it is for CEOs to have first-hand knowledge of the revenue portfolio. Here are excerpts from the conversation.
You have a strong revenue background. How does the sales function experience help you today?
I can’t say that if it was any other function, it wouldn’t have helped me. It would be wrong to say that. But certainly in any organization, there’s a special respect for the revenue side of the business. Typically in a media company, either the content side or the revenue side go right up to the top. Very rarely do we have any other function making it to the top. Some companies are content-focused while others are revenue-focused. I happen to come from a company which is revenue-focused.
You have a long experience of handling the revenue portfolio at Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. What learnings have you incorporated in your current profile?
It is difficult to pinpoint one particular learning. My background is both – content and revenue, because I was the publishing director of a few newspapers and magazines. Therefore, I have very good understanding of the content side of the business as well. The whole business is a balance between content and revenue.
If you have spent enough time in both, it gives you a fair idea of how to balance as you progress. If you only have a sales background, you could go wrong. Personally, I would think that to be at the helm of affairs of a company, as a CEO or MD, you need to have sufficient exposure in both content and sales, essentially ad sales.
How have things changed over a period of time in the revenue department?
The fundamental change is the stress on return on investment. Media costs started going up, advertisers became more and more cautious about where their spends were going, because in the olden times, one used to talk about relationship selling… that doesn’t work at all now. You need a product that delivers on various measurement metrics like IRNS and TAM.
What obstacles do you see for sales teams in the media domain today?
Frankly, I don’t see any obstacle – if you have a good product, it will sell. You need to have good understanding of content. Content and revenue together give you an insight into your consumer. If you don’t have your consumer’s insights in place, then you may not have the right product… if you don’t have the right product, then you don’t have the right revenue. So it is all inter-linked.
What would you like to tell the current crop that runs the sales business?
There’s a very strong tendency amongst media owners now to monetize content. As of now, it seems to be working for most media owners. But this could be dangerous in the long run for the industry. If we do not have some amount of self-control and self-regulation in this area, I will not be surprised if the government steps in at some point. That is the last thing one would like to happen to this industry.
FROM REVENUE HEADS TO CEOS
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