Regional media to outgrow Hindi by 2015

The third and final day of FICCI FRAMES 2011 started with an expert panel discussing the future of regional content in India.
Rajesh Jain from KPMG, Jayant M Mathew from Malayala Manorama and Sanjay Reddy of Sun TV Network and A P Parigi made some observations that paint a very positive picture of the future of regional content.
Discussing the ‘Resurgence of Regional Media’, Rajesh Jain pointed out.“The regional content currently commands a 33 per cent viewership share but with the consistent growth in numbers, it is bound to grow more than Hindi. The trend was observed last year and it is expected to continue.
“Talking about what ails the creation of regional content experts said that it’s the low advertising revenues that are a deterrent for producers. Mathew said, “For a 2.5 per cent reach, English media commands 60 per cent of the ad pie and the 20 per cent non-English content (i.e. Hindi and Regional) commands 40 per cent of the ad pie.”
It’s not hard to guess that this difference is due to the lesser ad rates that the regional space is getting. However, looking at the brighter side, Reddy underlined, “Advertising revenues for the regional sector have increased from 21 per cent in 2006 to 29 per cent in 2009. Markets are underpriced compared to Hindi though both the medium have comparable viewership.”
The panel was optimistic that considering the low ad price and increasing viewership, the markets will grow and then there will be a day when regional producers will get the right and deserving value for their content.
Talking about the fastest growing content from regional circuits, Jain said, “Content in Marathi, Bengali and South languages are the fastest growing while Bhojpuri, Punjabi and Oriya are the other emerging sections.”
Apart from content from Movies and Music, programmes targeted at kids, youth and belonging to the comedy genre are getting audience. Experts are certain that by 2015, vernacular will exceed Hindi market - be it print, theatrical or television content.
Reddy summed up his observations with one statement, “Emotion is going regional! Regional is the new National!” Reddy feels that where the grip of Hindi ends, the reign of regional begins and his thoughts were resonated by Mr. Parigi who said, “More you localize, the more you grow.”
Parigi pointed out the fact that Indians are attached to their local cultures. “Politics is local, food is local, language is local, music is local, emotion is local! India consistently continues to be a caste driven society where English language has an aspirational value. But it can certainly not match the way an Indian will feel about things that are local.”
All in all, the bottom line of the discussion was, ‘if someone wants hot steamed idli, you cannot serve him tandoori chicken!’