What's next for the new IBDF president amid new industry dynamics

New Delhi: The new IBDF president in a completely new industry dynamics that emerged after the merger of Disney Star and Viacom18 will have a larger responsibility to ensure orderly growth of the media and entertainment sector, several media observers told BestMediaInfo.com.

“Today, JioStar is half of the industry in terms of market share across television and digital. In terms of revenue, the joint entity has a huge headroom to grow from here and that’s possible if the industry grows, particularly Indian broadcasters successfully cut down the revenues of tech giants,” said an industry veteran.

Also read: Race to IBDF president heats up as Disney Star, Viacom18 become JioStar

“The role of the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Federation (IBDF) is to protect the interests of the entire broadcast ecosystem. Whoever will lead the industry body must have a clear objective to achieve within a set timeframe. The new president will have to address the industry's common concerns. If these things are not kept in mind, it would turn into a big boys' club,” the industry veteran added.

Ensuring that the whole stakes in advertising and the ad rates go up for all the broadcasters should be the agenda of the incoming president, said a senior broadcast executive.

“When JioStar vice-chairman Uday Shankar was IBDF president, there were talks of shifting to CPM from CPRP buying. However, advertisers did not let that happen and as a result, rates have not increased despite inflation levels,” the executive added.

The industry believes that the historic tussle between big advertisers and broadcasters continues to suppress the ad rates. 

“Earlier, people blamed the lack of unity among the broadcasters for succumbing to the advertisers’ pressure. Now we have one big giant and this new power balance is expected to change things,” the executive said.

“There was a time when agency heads would wait outside Sameer Jain’s cabin, such was TOI’s power. I see JioStar as a far bigger power centre, although the times have changed.”

When asked how JioStar can influence the ad rates in the context of assurances given to the Competition Commission of India, the executive said, “Whatever both Disney and Reliance assured CCI must have been well calculated and carefully worded. The world doesn’t end there and there are always unsaid rules of the advertising business.”

Adding to the task cut out for the new president of the top broadcasters body, a former CEO of a broadcast network said, “Maintaining a healthy relationship with the government and influencing broadcasters friendly policies are equally important for the growth of the M&E sector.”

“If Indian publishers are not able to convince the government to clip the wings of social media giants, they will continue to struggle. Even for JioStar to grow, cutting into revenues cornered by social media giants is the way forward,” the former CEO explained.

JioStar is undeniably the largest Media and entertainment company in India with pro forma combined revenue of approximately Rs 26,000 crore for the fiscal year ended March 2024. 

While the company operates over 100 TV channels and produces 30,000+ hours of TV entertainment content annually, its OTT platforms – JioCinema and Hotstar – have an aggregate subscription base of over 50 million. 

In addition, JioStar holds a portfolio of sports rights across cricket, football and other sports.

“JioStar is already cornering more than half of the revenue earned by the Indian media houses. Now they have to aim for the revenues going to social media giants. Policies will be crucial for that,” the former CEO added.