 Well, our next speaker brings over 35 years of significant leadership and domain proven knowledge with grounds of experience in growing brands and building businesses. Having worked across media, brands and advertising, he has served in leadership roles at MTV, Sony, Times Television Network, Sarigama, Piyajio, india.com, Grey Group, JWT, and Balaji Telephones. He maintains active interests in serving industry interests to foster the spirit of self-regulation and collaboration. He's an active long-distance runner, enjoys saving and evocative conversations. But ladies and gentlemen, with a huge round of applause, I know we are all watching it virtually. I would now like to call on the screen as he's already there, Mr. Sunil Lalala, CEO of Bark India, who's gonna be talking on the topic, how TV is the screen of the house soon. Thank you so much, Mr. Lalala, for joining us. And ladies and gentlemen, on the other side of the session, you're gonna be joined by eminent speakers and topic playing to win the sports television games. It's all happening right now here. Thank you, Mr. Lalala, for joining us today and giving us your precious time. Over to you, sir. Pleasure, thank you very much. I trust somebody has control of my slides. So while you do that, good afternoon, everybody. I don't think there should be a reason for any one of us to say that TV is the most trusted and most effective. But I imagine for many of us or for quite a few of us, perhaps it's not a medium that we individually or personally use as often. But I've always believed and continue to believe that television is the screen of the household. And I hope to put across some data points that established clearly that TV is the most trusted and most effective medium for brands. Could we go to the next slide, please? As a category, while in 2020, we saw a significant decline in consumption and use of media due to the pandemic and the lockdown. And we are still in pandemic mode. Television continues to be strong. Value as per Fikki grew from 40% to 42%. Digital video also grew and so did digital others, which is the non-video component. But those two mediums are the ones that had significant growth. The rest either remain flat or actually dropped. So TV continues to be at 42% of all spends and continues to be a significant driver of views for businesses to communicate and to engage their audiences. Could we go to the next slide, please? Thank you. Let's look at the growth of TV. A growth by 6.9% to 210 million homes. Most of that growth happened in rural at 9.4% at 119 million homes. Urban at 91 million homes grew by about 3.6%. 2020 over 2018 is really a growth in NCCS and B, which increased by 14 million and 11 million respectively. So we are seeing a change in that social classification as people have gone up the scale of NCCS and TV continues to be strong. At 210 million though, there are still approximately 100 million homes which don't own a TV set yet. So the future is ahead. Next slide, please. Let's look at the top advertisers. Most of them grew their volumes of advertising despite a tough year of 2020. Unilever, Rekerd Ben-Kisser, Colgate, Cadbury's continue to grow over 2019. And the top 10 advertisers went up from 38% of volume of advertising to 42% of advertising. This is despite having almost three months of lockdown. And then the comeback was slow in July, August, September. We go to the next slide, please. And one of the reasons you see that is because co-viewing continues to be high. Therefore, I said TV is the screen of the household. Television and brands move families because of that co-viewing. So we've looked on the left side of the screen pre-COVID and in the lockdown period, you see growth in news. You see significant growth in the kids' genre where parents started watching a lot more TV with their children. Look at Rama and Mahabharat, almost at 90% of co-viewing and GECs at 85% of co-viewing again. So it's these audiences and families which watch TV together, which get brands to trust it, to use it and make it an effective medium. And that's a phenomenon that is quite different from many other parts of the world, which is why it's the screen of the household, whereas the digital device, mobile phone or digital access is perhaps something that is more towards the one-to-one medium. This is the one-to-many medium. Next slide, please. Now, when it comes to mythologies and when Ramayana came back after many years of 1986 when perhaps many members of the audience which may have been seeing Ramayana last year for the first time, the growth came from men, it came from NCCSA, and that was a real spike for it. That is against contrary view. But what is interesting is that Dool Dasha not only had big growth and Ramayana was not only the most watched TV show of 2020 and the biggest in the world, but we saw ad volumes really surge. So it really grew on between April, May, June, even while there was lockdown in most of India, ad volumes grew because essential goods and services were the ones that were pushing the ad volume growth over there. And DD is a trusted source with a classic, which was about, I would say like bomb in fearful times and the mythological content served to establish that trust. And I think a very smart move by Prasar Bharti to bring Ramayana and Mahabharat back at that point of time. Next slide, please. So in the quarter one of 2020, there was ad volumes reasonably stable, sharply coming down in quarter two, going up in quarter three and high growth again in quarter four. So the second half, July, December saw a big growth of 12% over 2019 and the first half saw a big degrowth or a drop down in 2020 versus 2019. Overall, while volumes were softer at 3%, it was the second half which was starting to push the ad volumes up and brands leverage TV's mass reach to really fuel their business revival. And we saw many brands and many categories push this hard. Next slide, please. FMCG, quarter on quarter, if you look at quarter one, 2020 or the latest quarter of quarter one, 2021 calendar quarters, you see a growth in FMCG, right? From 55.3% going to 61.6%. And FMCG continues to advertise heavily on TV, 36% growth this quarter of 21 over the prior quarter in 2020. So big growth over there, building paints, cement, building materials, et cetera which saw sharp drop in during the lockdown period coming down to 2%, back at 4%. Even Otto saw a growth compared to the quarter under lockdown last year coming back in the first quarter, durables and retails however, continue to be almost flat compared to the period of the first quarter 2020. We saw an upswing in quarter four which is due to Diwali and the festive season and durables but retail as we know because of significant restrictions and safety reasons did not have the desired walk-ins but remain stable. So we saw volume growth across the board and these were the categories that pushed it. Cyclical sector started increasing their ad spend and many categories have restored the exposure on television, some even surpassed pre-COVID levels as we will see in digital in the next slide, please. So you would assume that, you know digital native advertisers will choose the category of digital but they chose television because they knew they were audiences, they were accessible, the best time to convert them while they were at home and you can see that peak in April, May, June and going all the way to almost November when it starts coming below last year. So the blue line is 2020, the darker line is 2019 and you can see that growth, you can see the use of TV by digital platforms and digital services. Some of the brand names are there in the next slide if you can go to the next slide please. So you see Amazon taking up its volumes over 2019 by 33%, you see Amazon Prime Video take it up by 28%, policy bizarre is like a 200% increase, buy juice 87% increase, Spotify at 48% increase and we actually saw this globally across as ad volumes went up, especially for digital products and services and in India, obviously it led to adoption of digital products and services. Next slide please. Even messaging about COVID, the government was very active in the second quarter, increased the COVID communication which went up from 3% to 7%, dropped to 7%, then to 15%, to 70%, dropped to 7%, then to 5% and is back again at 6% and I think there's again a rise over here. So you're seeing that communication being consistent where COVID is now occupying COVID related communication is about 5% plus of all volume communication, all advertising communication. So again, TV is a trusted medium which is why it's being used to communicate, it has high reach, go to the next slide please. And let's look at ad volumes. 2021 is the pink line, 2018 first quarter as you can see the first quarter each year of 2018, 29, 2020, virtually flat but look at 2021, there's a jump up over there that is both an effect of advertisers trying to build their business of unlock of brands coming back on TV. So the volume has gone up though advertiser account has come down. So advertiser account dropped in 2019 from 2018 which was that it's peak at 4,991 advertisers is down by 11% compared to last year and significantly lower than 2018 but volume is significantly higher up. So fewer advertisers but spending more on television perhaps the categories that have gone out are those categories which don't use TV as effectively anymore, some of them partially due to the supply chain related issues such as entertainment and media in that sense. We go to the next slide please. So if we look at it from categories you have news which has seen growth in this period of the first quarter going up by 25% you have GEC is going up by 21%, movies going up by 23% and music and youth going up by 26%. So in this quarter of Jan Feb March we have seen significant increase in ad volume which we have not seen in earlier quarters of 19 and 20. So certainly advertisers pushing the gas pedal on television that's driving the ad volume growth. Even when it comes to festive let's go to the next slide please. Even when it comes to festive one of the highest periods Sankranti in January and Republic Day both the events over there very high volumes around that period in January highest in last four years where you see big growth, 35% growth in Sankranti and 8% growth during Republic Day. See high and Republic Day as we know the second day of the news was all about the violent related activities in New Delhi but despite that we see high volume over there. So in the first quarter you see the festive period as well as growth in ad volumes. And just to conclude then last slide please. I think the data clearly established this is the screen of the Indian household it remains trusted and effective medium government and essential brands essential brands being like those which are about sanitization, COVID related communication and such like over there as well as digital brands which are powering the communication and the advertising last quarter as well as this quarter, this first quarter of the year they have used TV effectively to communicate their messages. Top brands continue to place their trust on television continues to be preferred medium its witness rise in volumes even though advertiser count may be down and this is over two quarters. So if you look at since October and November December, Jan, Feb, March and April as we are still in April we see continued growth for television bases the volume count. There are 210 million homes in India. There are still 110 million homes which don't have television but I think significant growth lies ahead for this industry. True digital will continue to grow digital video will continue to grow but I think both categories of television which is video on television and video on digital will both continue to grow and TV will continue to be trusted medium for all homes. Thank you. Last slide please. Thank you. With that, I think I've made sure that we are back on time. If anyone has questions, happy to take them. If not, thank you for participating and staying here through. Absolutely. Thank you so much Mr. Lula firstly for your participation today and giving us such a wonderful presentation it really encapsulated a lot in the 15 minutes you've spoken, definitely. Mr. Lula, we're definitely getting a lot of response and my team is curating a few questions accumulating from the audience which are watching us live. So if you do have time, could we address it? I can wait if your questions go ahead. Okay, perfect. So we'll just allow me a moment Mr. Lula for accumulating the questions from the audience right now watching us live. I'd like to meanwhile also go to where we're watching live and see some of the comments which are coming in. So a lot of people have loved the session and there are a lot of them who are committing live as well Mr. Lula. So thank you for that. I'd just like to see if I can read a couple of them. Just a little bit. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is all happening at TV first. Thank you all for your participation. Please keep tuned and talking about it on social media. We truly value your participation today. So just some of the live comments which are coming in is everyone's talking about one individual rights that certain celebrities are overriding the actual communication of advertisement. We only need to remember the face. There are a couple of them who are writing in about how this entire conversation's been very fruitful. So Mr. Lula, a lot's been happening on social media whilst people are watching it live. So I'd just like to ask one of the questions which is getting accumulated by the team. Firstly Mr. Lula, with regards to what you spoke today. How do you envision when it comes to the entire digital space, the TV space, let's say coming three to six months down the line, Mr. Lula, firstly, how do you envision that if we have to see in regards to the COVID pandemic being hit in? How do you envision the space growing, Mr. Lula? See, when you are locked in at home, one of the... Mr. Lula, I believe you're on mute. No, I'm not on mute. Yeah, I can hear you now, please go ahead. See, most of us are locked in today, right? We are in curfew mode, or we are restricted to our moments in our home. So we are going to TV. The news, unfortunately, is not good. As an example, I watched the Oscars last night because I saw it after many years. And while the Oscar ratings were the lowest that they have been in the last five years, but nonetheless, I'm just giving you an example. I may not be the target audience, but I think people are spending time on television. They are also going to spend time on digital assets, whether they see it on their phone, or they see it on some other device, or they connect their TV. The reality is both the forces will coexist, right? TV is a big advertising medium for brands to reach the families together, create the image on the bigger screen. It's very effective when you are making that communication. As a process, because we are conscious of this journey, Mark has already embarked and initiated progression to be able to measure audiences on both screens. And what's important is to be able to put together what is the common factor, right? Which is those who watch TV and digital. So it gives advertisers a very effective deployment of their own investments and gives them a neutral currency. We are about close to nine months or 12 months away from deploying this in the marketplace, but that's where we are headed at. I don't see the demise or decline of television. I see sustainability. As a percentage, digital will grow faster because it's coming from a different base. It's not so expensive to have a cable connection. Maybe it's cool to say I cut the cord, but what do you watch when you watch on your phone? You watch a new service which comes from television broadcaster. If advertising in the broadcasting space did not exist, the aspirations of digital content and digital communication could not be fulfilled. Those who are standalone digital players are largely subscription players. And those who are on both mediums, whether it is a star, it's a Z, it's a Sony, it's a Viacom. It's the advertising which is funding at the end of the day, the digital aspirations. So I think the good interesting part is both will exist. And I believe, so I think at the end of the day, TV is continuing to grow at a stable rate. Digital is growing faster. Now, TV has a lot of content over there that digital may or may not have. A lot of people are still watching either free content like let's say what's on YouTube, self-help videos or watching things which also have advertising on both. So they will both grow, they will both exist. They'll both coexist. And I believe that competition is healthy. What we need to see for is the digital content which is there having its own stream of large scale content like TV has active large scale content. That's what will really drive the force over there. And I'm not sure if I came across what I did mention we are embarked, we have embarked on a journey to measure digital and TV and the fusion of both which we should start taking out to the marketplace later next year. Thank you so much for that, Ms. Lola. You didn't mention about the TV viewership going down in terms of being the lowest currently like in terms of Oscars, especially, right? Oscars are watched by very few people. TV viewing has not gone down. We are still stable at last year's numbers, same time. Right, so just wanted to reconfirm on that, Mr. Lola that how do you think the second wave has brought about any change in the TV viewership? That's one question which has come in from the audience. I think on Thursday morning when the data gets released people will see higher viewership. Now they will see that the category of news has gone up. Right, so people are back to watching news because they are at home, it's not prime time, they are watching that. IPL is IPL, there is only one IPL so that continues to be there and the entertainment program is continue to hold. Some of the entertainment shows may be getting hit by IPL because it depends on the match. Movies continue to hold their forte despite not having many new movies over there. So TV is still a source of active engagement. Also another question which is coming Mr. Lola is that how do you see things spanning out last year in regards to assessing how TV advertising will pan out in the next quarter? Now that's a question which is coming. See October to now to April to March and I've seen the data up to last week on April, volumes continue to be stable. In fact, there is growth, right? Now that growth may be coming because as we are pushing the supply chain to ensure that their business continues to grow. Many markets, many states have come under curfew starting as recently as this week and last week and some are coming into curfew now. Now that may curtail the supply chain. So we have got to see what happens. If we remain under curfew or under restrictions supply chains will get hit. If supply chains get hit, volumes will get hit. But what we are seeing now is every time markets unlock there is an upward trend, a surge of advertising. And advertising is a parameter of optimism, of confidence and leading to consumption. Now that consumption may be a digital products or services may be essentials, maybe other things. So safety is primarily the most important thing, right? And as long as people can remain safe this may not be the best environment we are seeing right now but we are hoping this comes under control and we should be able to see volumes grow up. We've got many big events. We have IPL, we have the Olympics, we have the ICC World Cup. So we have many big events. And I think innately everybody is optimistic that we will bounce back. Yes, we need some time, but we will bounce back. Right. Mr. Lula, with your rich experience, I'd like to ask you, what's your advice to the advertisers or who are advertising on TV right now? What's that set of advice or your guidelines? What could you do on that front, Mr. Lula? See, I said this last year very often and I'm gonna say this again this year. If you don't have a supply chain challenge which is Sivya and if people are out there and shopping continue to advertise in television. It is effective, it engages audience, it's a smart decision. If you have audiences that are also on digital choose the fine balance that you need to in allocating your investments but don't walk out of television because it's a medium that still goes home. It engages many individuals and it's consistent. Thank you, thank you so much, Mr. Lula. And before we wrap up, we've got a couple more minutes but I'd really like your closing statement with all that is happening one towards the end, one thing which you'd like to talk to all the viewers who are watching us live, Mr. Lula, your light on that. So I think it's a competitive environment out there, 600 plus channels that are being measured. I think advertisers and the agencies are very smart when it comes to making choices that they choose for. I really believe that the medium is working in delivering audiences. Don't reflect on yourself as the audience. The people whom you are targeting maybe a person different from you and they trust this medium. They may also be using digital services and that's fine, right? But they continue to have faith in TV. The first thing you switch on is that we have seen this a number of times. Last year we saw TV was being watched from four in the morning to two in the morning next day which is very different than we've ever seen, right? Because people were scared. They have learned a lot better but they are back again watching. They are watching a lot more news, right? And they are watching cricket on IPA. They are watching entertainment. So they need something, they need positive communication. You got an advertiser out there, make your message relevant, make it positive and build that bridge. There is no better time than now. So make it relevant, make it positive and build that bridge. There isn't any time more relevant than right now. Say it, Mr. Lillar. Thank you so much for being a part of TV First. We really value your participation today and thank you for your value. Thank you for having me here. Have a nice day, stay safe, stay healthy. Thank you.