Unexpected rise of DD Freedish reflects linear TV is alive and growing
The rise of DD Freedish emphasises that linear TV continues to grow, albeit on different distribution platforms. More importantly it draws attention to the free programming ecosystem that is, possibly, the biggest shift in the Rs 1.61 trillion Indian media and entertainment business. That a state-controlled DTH operator is, along with YouTube, at the centre of this ecosystem is remarkable.
YouTube’s growth reflects that of streaming. But how does one explain the phenomenal growth of a linear TV service like DD Freedish in the past three or four years?
This year it netted over Rs 1,070 crore from the auction of 65 channels, each of which paid from Rs 6 crore to Rs 24 crore to be on the platform. That is up from about Rs 700 crore in 2022.
DD Freedish was launched in 2010. In 2015, when “the Broadcast Audience Research Council started reporting rural data, Hindi channels saw their numbers jump,” said Vempati. That is when the rural and small town audience and, therefore, DD Freedish finally came into play. Many of the big broadcasters took their free-to-air channels like Star Bharat or Zee Anmol on DD Freedish with great success. After that, two things helped push it to over 43 million, reckons Constantinos Papavassilopoulos, media analyst formerly with Omdia. “The first is cord-cutting prompted by the growth of the OTT video market. The second is the introduction of stricter regulation in the form of the New Tariff Order(s),” he said. The three tariff orders, which came in quick succession from 2018 onwards, complicated choices and pushed up prices, forcing millions of viewers away from pay TV even as streaming was rising. The ones who could afford to, moved to OTT, others went to DD Freedish.
“Channels like us are targeting smaller towns and young India resonates with the creator economy. We take the best of YouTube and digital creators and licence to put that on linear,” said Simran Hoon, CEO, QYOU Media India.
The first is that its reach and power are limited “to the Hindi heartland and a little bit of Maharashtra,” says Anuj Gandhi, founder, Plug and Play Entertainment, and a former television executive. He points out that DD Freedish is very strong in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Note that these are states with low cable and DTH penetration unlike the south and Maharashtra. That brings up the question: Is DD Freedish the poor man’s TV that works in states with low per capita incomes and poor infrastructure? Broadcasters and analysts disagree. “It is a chicken and egg situation. There is no content (in non-Hindi languages) therefore there are no viewers. And there are no viewers in those languages therefore there is no content,” said Gada. There is some thought being applied to getting more languages on board, say insiders. Soon, there could be more Bengali and Assamese channels to start with.
But not encrypting and having an annual auction for slots means that there is no stability. Dangal might be on DD Freedish one year and not the next. Unlike other DTH operators such as Tata Play or Airtel Digital TV, “most advertisers don’t have a handle on what shifts can happen because the channels change every year. So we cannot do a fixed plan,” said Shrikant Shenoy, associate vice president at media buying agency Lodestar UM.
To get around the problem the agency checks the channel list every quarter to figure out the free channels’ clients, such as ITC or J&J, that need small-town reach, could be advertising on.
That however hasn’t stopped growth for now. Media Partners Asia estimates that DD Freedish will reach 67 million homes in the next five years even as pay TV continues to drop.
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