From the way CEOs and editors keep defending the brain-dead programming on Hindi channels, you would think that the population of morons is galloping in the country.

Thankfully, the contrary is true.

Every time we question their stupid content decisions, the channels come out with facts and figures to silence us. They tell us how their cut-and-paste coverage of Rakhi Sawant’s “swayamvar” walloped Manmohan Singh’s second coming in the TRPs.

That argument settles it. The viewer is responsible for the puerile news content. We are the perverts, they are our benefactors who give us our daily fix without which we will wilt and die.

The channels have used this twisted logic to not just absolve themselves of the falling standards of news on TV but to give an impression that the only way to protect or grow their business in the Hindi news genre is to cater to this growing tribe of perverts.

Well then, here’s the breaking news. The perverts are not growing, they are dwindling. Let’s grab this rare chance to throw some figure in their face, for a change:

Year                 Share

2006                 7.61% (9 channels)

2007                 8.03% (11 channels)

2008                 7.89% (11 channels)

2009                 5.85% (11 channels)

(Source: TAM, HSM CS 15+)

These are the year-wise market share figures for the news genre. The TV viewership universe consists of various genres such as general entertainment, infotainment, movies, sports, news, etc.

The stats above show that in 2006, the news genre (nine Hindi “national” news channels) had an average share of 7.61% of the overall TV viewership. That is, 7.61 out of every 100 viewers watched news then. The figure rose to 8.03% for 11 channels in 2007, dropped a little to 7.89% in 2008 and dived to a pitiful 5.85% in 2009.

From the highest (in 2007) to the lowest (in 2009), it is a sharp fall of 27 per cent. In other words, in the last two years alone, the Hindi news universe has shrunk by more than one-fourth. Any other industry would consider such a steep fall in market share as catastrophic, but not the Hindi news industry. The Hindi industry assumes that there will always be a good number of masochists to help it survive.

If there is one crisis that is facing the Hindi news industry, it is this. Much as the industry tries to paint a picture of the viewer as a willing consumer of pulp, the ground is slipping under its feet. It is clear that the average viewer has had enough of nonsense and is turning off. And yet, I have never heard any CEO or editor talk about this looming danger at any industry meet or interview. Talk of living in denial.

But that’s so typical of the channel-wallahs. They will just shut out the inconvenient truths. They will never tell you that sensible programming also brings in the numbers as often as popcorn journalism and that they do more of the latter just because it is easier and cheaper to cut-paste content from entertainment channels than to create their own.

Let me illustrate this with just the example of one channel, Star News, which has over the last few months tried to correct the balance between sense and nonsense. The pains it took to create some special programmes paid off with ratings way above the channel average, sometimes turning in double or nearly three times that (Star News’ channel TRPs average around 14/15).

Here’s a quick list:

• Uttradhakari, a special show on Rahul Gandhi, turned in 21% share.
• Tiranga, their I-Day special gave an astounding 33%
• Vansh, on the Thackeray family, 26%
• Vansh, on the Mahajan family, 19%
• Raj Ka Uday, on Raj Thackeray, 22%
• Mere Khoon Ka Ek Ek Katra, on Indira Gandhi’s death anniv, 32%

If that is not indication that the viewer is more than willing to spend his time on good content, what is? The difficulty is that such content needs a lot of planning, travelling, spending and ideating and the other content (of the Rakhi Swayamvar type) comes easy, packaged, and free. The former content takes time and effort to build a brand and bring in the TRPs and the latter brings instant gratification.

Most CEOs and editors have resolved this stand-off between instant gratification and long-term returns in favour of the former. It is beyond their capacity and vision to change the game now and play for the future. That is a call only the owners can take because it could mean taking a hit for a bit and the possibility of failure is real, too.

That’s the crucial difference between News 24 and Zee News. The owners of News 24 started with the “news is back” proposition but quickly abandoned it. They did not have enough faith in news and took the silly route within no time. That has not given them any great business advantage. The proprietors of Zee News gave a clear diktat to return to sensible news and stay with it. They risked falling ratings and business. That clarity and patience has helped Zee News gain respectability without hurting its profitability.

If tomorrow all Hindi news channels were to suddenly pull the plug on stupid content, what would the viewer do, stop watching news? Nah, even if it is true that the viewers hate sensible content (the channels keep telling us that all the time) they would still have no choice but to watch the channels.

So, the burden of change is on the channels, not the viewers. If only more owners had Subhash Chandra’s guts.

Team, I am aware the box office numbers this morning have disappointed all of you. I was disappointed, too, though I was not expecting anything other than a drubbing. We have suddenly stopped the supply of opium to our viewers and it is only natural that they should show severe withdrawal symptoms.  Rather than restart the supply to them, we should stay the course and remove all traces of the drug from their veins, after all, it is we who put them on the dangerous drug diet.

That, or something like that, was the note I wrote to my senior colleagues at Zee News in early May 2008 to pep up the mood in the newsroom. We had just relaunched the channel (May 8). We threw out all dirty content (some of which, such as “kaal kapaal mahakaal”, we ourselves were guilty of introducing to news TV) and took an about turn towards news of relevance.

“News, not nuisance” was one of our war cries and the channel tagline changed to “Zara Sochiye” (just think), to suggest we were now seeking the discerning viewer.

A few days later, the ratings arrived and we were vanquished. We dropped three points to end up in single digit TRPs after a long time. All the excitement of the relaunch went pssssss and the mood was low, prompting that pep talk from me.

I’ve been out of Zee News for nearly one year now, so no credit or blame for what’s happening there now should attach to me. Hence I suppose I can talk a bit about the Zee News experiment to make a case against all those news channel worthies, editors and CEOs, who keep feeding you lies that they are like this only because you are like this.

The ratings remained sluggish for another few weeks, but Zee News didn’t blink. The alarm bells began ringing and we did consider if we should tuck our tails and return to the same old nonsense. Thankfully, those were only transient thoughts and we stuck to our guns. We put our trust in news that no channel worth its meager TRPs would touch with a barge pole.

Earlier in March that year, we had already tasted the fruits of putting our faith in news of relevance. On March 23, the Sixth Pay Commission turned in its report. That kind of story touches the lives of more than four million families of central government employees and millions more families of state government employees, defence and para military forces.

But it rates poorly in the TRP sweepstakes because though it might pauperise governments, it is tough to extrapolate and announce the end of the world, to the accompaniment of deadly, stolen-from-the-net, music. So no channel would touch it. But Zee News covered it aggressively and exhaustively. It worked. It worked so much that our prime time show that day beat all the shows across all channels.

Though the post-relaunch drubbing was a problem, the Pay Commission experience told us news can deliver. Along came the big controversy on the nuclear deal with the US. It may have ended up in a very fractious vote of confidence on July 23 that every channel was forced to cover, but in early May when it was raising its head, contemporary newsroom wisdom considered it a TRP dud. We did not. We saw an opportunity. Helped by some good reporting and led by a channel editor with a good political acumen, we grabbed the story by its horns. That helped send the message that something fresh was happening at Zee News.

The TRP worm started nudging upwards, though it is yet to drill a hole in the roof, really.

It makes sense to recount all this because last week’s ratings are very interesting. AajTak, the leader, fell two points to 17, India TV came in second at 16, Star News at 15 and Zee News at 13 with a 2-point spike (week 45, HSM, CS 15+ ABC).  That’s just a 4-point difference between the No. 1 and the No. 4, perhaps the best for Zee in a long time.

That is creditable because of the four channels at the top of the Hindi heap, Zee News is the one which has steadfastly stuck to the sensible news formula. When all channels scare the daylights out of you because an eclipse is round the corner, Zee tells you not to be afraid of such scientific phenomenon. When all channels tell you how the world will come to an end in 2012, Zee exposes the conspiracy of a Hollywood studio to hype its disaster movie by the same name that released last week.

Zee has stayed on the higher side of the average of its pre-relaunch TRPs for many more weeks than it has dropped below that threshold, if at all.  Which is a very statistical way of saying that the faith Zee News has shown in news for 18 months has helped it more than it has hurt. If Zee News has not done better with the ratings, it is not because news has let it down, maybe Zee News still has a few things to sort out.

At around the same time that Zee News was trying this experiment, News 24, was doing exactly the opposite. News 24 came with a big promise: News is back, it claimed. For the first four or five months, it did seem like news was back. The channel steadfastly kept away from the India TV formula, a content no-brainer. But it was stuck at the bottom of the heap with TRPs in the 4-6 range.

Suddenly, the channel caved in. It joined the nuisance bandwagon. It’s been there for the last 18 months but is still in the same TRP band. In the 18 months that Zee News gained marginally and protected its profitability, News 24, is still a struggling also-running. If it had persisted with its unique content, it could have gained respectability and, who knows, a few points more, too.

You want to know what is the crucial difference in the experiences of Zee News and News 24? Let’s meet here next week, please.

– B V Rao was Group Editor of Zee News briefly in 2008 and feels lucky to have been part of the team to initiate the changes.