 Welcome to Exchange for Media, India brand conclave, virtual series and today's focus is Dakshan, the South market, which is such a huge driving force for the entire TV industry, the advertising industry. And the topic today is emerging stronger post COVID-19. It has, as we know, we are beset with us with a great challenge that we have never ever experienced before. And we are all coming to terms with this challenge and coming to know what to do, how to immerse stronger and let me quickly tell you that South, this is the first virtual South series and we are gonna do a series of a sequence of more webinars focused on various aspects of television, brand advertising and the like. So let me start with today's panel that we have. I just want to introduce my speakers quickly. I have with me, Ms. Rani Reddy, director of Sakshi Group, Mr. P. R. Satish, CEO, MMTV, Mr. Amit Setia, CMO, Cisco Group, Ms. Radhika Ramani, managing partner, South Motivator, Mr. Puneet Das, VP, marketing, data consumer products and Mr. V. Chandra Bharati, CEO, News 7. Welcome everyone to this webinar. We are live on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Annexing for Media Group, as well as we'll be taking live questions from the audiences. We'll have the last 15 minutes for the question and answer round. Let me start with you, Ms. Reddy. I want to come to you first. My question is, we have seen a spike in viewership over the last 50 days and television has benefited a lot from it. I want to understand from you that how are channels, especially the channels in the South trying to leverage this to get maximum brand support? What are the steps being taken in that direction if I have to ask you this? With the lockdown around, one has not been able to actually translate this into monetizing. You're not able to monetize it that well. And as you would know that regional channels mostly rely for a higher rate on local clients. And particularly this was a season for educational clients to advertise and be on air. So you see practically most of these people are now off-air, these clients are not advertising at all. So one has not been able to leverage additional viewership that we've got during this period. Mr. Satish, if I have to come to you with the same question, how are regional channels looking at this opportunity that they have? I think, but honestly, I don't think advertisers have really seized the opportunity. I can understand why they have it. They're also probably looking at their top line, the bottom line and so forth and getting the supply chain right. So if shops aren't open, except essentials, what are you trying to sell? So I think the last six to seven weeks have really gone in firefighting for all of us. And some brands of course, especially in the FMCG space, have seized this opportunity and got a lot more for money they're spending. So the reach, the frequency, all of it has really gone up and people have advertisers who have advertised during this period have benefited and have they taken advantage of it? It's a tough one. I guess everybody's not here to just about sustain and manage and look at life after COVID. Only FMCG has managed to stay afloat in the last six to seven weeks. Whereas in Kerala, fortunate enough that we live in Kerala, Kerala has seen a lesser number of cases flattening of the curve, downward curve. So I think most shops are now open in the last two weeks and we expect a certain uptake in the local business, like Rani was saying, the local retail, which is fairly large in Kerala, should start looking at, we've lost a big season in the case, which was the new year, the issue that went by in April and the wedding season and so on. But it sort of continues now into the early Indian festivals starting in August. I think the season, this is an opportunity. Yes, the greater viewership, the better reach available. So advertisers should look at it more seriously and we do hope that the local business will be back soon. Otherwise, it's been a tough two months. I want to come get a brand perspective before I move to Mr. Bharti. Amit, I want to come to you first. South is such a huge market for brands for just such a huge spike in viewership that we have seen and it has been a market that has driven the growth of television as well contributed significantly to it. How are brands looking at that market specifically? I just want to understand this perspective first. I think when it comes to my segment, which is FMEG, which is fast moving electrical goods, for me, there are two things which are very, very important. One is the distribution setup that we have in the country. And second is how are we communicating what we have as a brand? So I think for us, when you look at South versus Nonsouth, I think there is no demarcation in the head that which one you want to prefer, because it's a product which is required by everybody, right? Which is the LED pumps. So that's the way we look at media. That is the way we look at regional versus mainstream. But when it comes to South, I was just discussing with one of your team members before that the fundamental challenge that I face as a brand is, I have to actually always look at more investments if I am deciding on the fact that I need to go and communicate with the South audiences. Because when I can create something in Hindi, I can use that content across a lot of states. But when it comes to South India, I have to look at every state on its own actually, because I cannot overlap certain content pieces. And I think that's a huge, you can call it as a challenge for not only my brand, but also for other brands who are looking at the South's territory. So I think that's something that I face all the time when I'm looking at South. Right. Hi. Can you hear me? Mr. Mani, I want to come to you with the same question. How are the agencies looking at this, the spike in viewership that we see there? I mean, what is your advice to brands in such a situation? How are you guiding the brands that are with you to leverage this spike that we've been seeing? So I think, I mean, fundamentally, I think one of the things which continues to happen is of course, you know, a challenge ability, you know, is essentially to reach the brand objective, is to continue to play a very important role in determining what the challenge choices are. So when it comes to, you know, what we are looking at at this moment, you know, which challenge stands from brands as well, is about, you know, how do we get more for less? So essentially how are we getting, you know, a lot more in terms of, you know, through better effective planning and more efficient buying, right? So this is broadly what we are currently trying to do. So in this entire scenario where you're seeing a spike in viewership, you know, your ability, your choices are also, you know, quite wide. So it is about how do you, you know, what channel essentially plays the most efficient, effective route to your consumer is essentially what we are also looking at. And that's what we advise our, you know, our, transition. I'll come to you, Mr. Das. I want to go to Mr. Bharti first. Mr. Bharti, what is the story you've been at your network so far? What are you doing to get maximum attention from brands in this setting that we are witnessing? So I will largely concur with the Freddie and Mr. Satish. During this COVID period and during the lockdown period, obviously the number of high balls that the regional channels deliver went very high. Did we monetize it or did we had to get an opportunity to monetize it? No, it does not. Instead, there are brands which are negotiating with these channels for electronic rates. For example, even on TV, which is, which continues to be the number one channel, it continues to deliver 1,300, 1,400 plus even during this lockdown period. There has been very tough negotiations in terms of reducing the rate. So the increased high balls have not actually benefited the regional channels during the lockdown period. Going forward, given the fact that the economy is low and the lockdown has also contributed to severe constraints in the business of that sector, we expect the same trend to continue where there is going to be tough negotiations for the protesters from the advertisers. And the one interesting thing which has happened is that many of the brands were interested instead of playing their TVC, they would like to play in content integration by way of asset banks or L-bans or whatever at the rate of what they would have otherwise paid for their TVC. And normally these asset banks and L-bans were sold at the premium. Now that premium is lost. And going forward, I very much think that this trend is going to continue and the broadcasters are having a bar going to have a very tough time convincing the client to invest in their network. Mr. Das, how much is your brand looking at what is happening around the viewership patterns that we are witnessing? So I mean, I think these are obviously exceptional times and I think from a brand point of view, I think the challenge, immediate challenge remains to ensure there are adequate supplies in markets which are opening up or have opened up and ensuring your factories are running, your workers are safe while delivering and you have enough feet on the street to go and deliver products. I think post that it's more about understanding what the consumer concerns are today and then sort of seeing what's the right thing to do whether on air or, you know, and I think as some of the people have, I think, pointed out, this is not so much about just being on air. It's about also being relevant. I mean, it's not just being on air for being on air sake that if you're on air, what's the message you have for your consumer, is it relevant? And I think in a lot of cases, it's also about if you don't have anything to say around this time, just be silent. It's fine. You don't really need to have that pressure. So I think it's a bit of both, but yeah, I think the genuine challenges is about just ensuring that right now you have adequate stocks and, you know, and sort of conserve to show that you come back when you have the right thing to say to the audience. And I think somebody started off by saying before this, I think in the first week, second week of lockdown, people didn't even have brand choices. They were just, I think you had a list in mind and you would go and buy whether or not you come or anything. You'll end up buying pretty much everything, you know, which was very different because you were just going by availability. So what role does brand have at that time? I think it's proven to conserve and ensure. But of course, the idea is as a good marketer and as a good brand guys to keep your eyes on the ground and then see, there's now, we have spent enough time in the lockdown and now how do you react to the environment that you're in this week? Mr. Satish, I want to come to you. Tell me what is the thinking at networks largely when you are witnessing this unprecedented spike? Is there a fear that it might go away once the normalcy or the lockdown eases as other platforms open up? I mean, what is the network thinking? What's the strategy going to be as we move on to adjust to a setting where in your, you know, you can convince the brands that look, come advertise your, would the numbers still be with you post this lockdown eases? See two things, before I get to your question, I have a sort of a quick word for Amit. He spoke about a national brand like his working with a Hindi creative with a Hindi celebrity or a national celebrity which doesn't work in the South. Masalandar should also work with local content company like ours to try and create some local content, local celebrity. So that's a separate conversation we could have. The challenges I think to localize content to reach out to local audiences is something that we probably can specialize. The new normal is also going to be about you don't need necessarily a creative agency to create a brilliant TV commercial, right? There are opportunities lying with broadcasters and content creators and OTT original creators also like ours. To answer your question on whether the fear of when we lose our audience who has been here with us, everybody I think has had a certain fair share of channel share like our Narkeh celebration shares before lockdown. Post lockdown, the ratings have gone up, the viewers have gone up. Some people might have got some disproportionate growth, some people might have been grown, very few have been grown. Most people have only grown. Now post the lockdown, which is about seven, eight weeks now and like in Kerala, things are returning back to normalcy, we're already sort of seeing a trend that the audiences are settling down. It's not the high that we saw in April, which exists in May. It's about how good the comeback is gonna be from a content perspective from our side. How do you grab something that people might have missed out? It's all about the content that we wanna create, how quickly we can create the content. We hope to get some confirmation today how soon we can restart original content. Now at least restart original content, how are we gonna get somebody else's eyeballs too beyond what we already had? It would be a matter of time the next few weeks we will know. I guess everybody's effort is gonna be in that direction in trying to, especially in the entertainment space. As far as the new space is concerned, I think we're still on a high. It might have gone four X, five X sometime in April to settle down about three X thereabouts now. But that might be a bit of a drop and entertainment picking back again to a new normal or the earlier normal. That would probably be some time in June when original content could probably come back once the government gives permission. It's ready. How do we sustain the interest of audiences in television that is there right now? Post, when the cinemas open and live entertainment opens, you know? Is the strategy being worked on right now by networks to sustain the numbers that are in their favor right now? Yeah. See, television had its own audience always. That doesn't go away. I think cinemas is something a little far away yet. I don't see cinemas opening very soon now. And yeah, in terms of content, I guess I'm speaking from a news channel perspective. Maybe people are now looking at something beyond historical debates and all the time giving them news which is depressing. I think one needs to become like, at least news channels need to be mood elevators at this point in time and give a good measure of both reality out there and also the positive side and that needs to, they need to build more hope. Okay, so because something like this has been unprecedented, people were never prepared for something like this. So there's a role media has to play in sustaining interest. And if your content strategy is right, I'm sure you'll be able to sustain viewership. I wanna come to you, Mr. Ramani. Tell me, as you're witnessing this spike in digital consumption, we're seeing a lot of attention focus on digital as well. So is television, trend is nowhere. How would the marketing mix shape up as we move on? I don't know what is the post COVID world exactly because how far is that? But maybe when the lockdown eases and there is more normalcy around, how would the marketing spend shape up according to you? I said, you're basically asking me to be an astrologer at this moment because there are so many, at this point in time, there are many, many forces in play here, right? So you have on one hand, you have consumer sentiments and circumstances which are going to be determining what the demand for any product is going to be. You're gonna have a category's ability to produce and distribute which is going to be determined supply. And overall you're gonna have the evolving viewership patterns which are also going to be playing a role on what media platform is going to do there. So in this entire scenario, the way I see it at this moment, I mean, what are the two platforms which continued to survive during this COVID period with television and digital? And television at this moment is at about 45% share of market at this moment. And I don't think that's going to go down too much. So post-COVID, I think television and digital are still going to be quite important mediums which are going to survive. How the evolve is going to change quite considerably, I would think. And I think here regional media brands have a big role to play because one of the things which we are going to see post-COVID as you have your red, green and orange zones is the fact that you're probably gonna have almost a sinusoidal kind of wave of opening and closing for the near future which effectively would mean that market prioritization brands is going to continuously need to change depending on what is open, what is closed, et cetera. This actually provides a great opportunity for the local region brands because the entire point of localization is going to become very important. So one thing which we are likely to look at is local brands becoming a lot more important. You're gonna have an understanding tier two, tier three markets which previously probably did not provide an opportunity, a new opportunities right now for brands which were probably a lot more metrophocased. So here, what we're going to be seeing is that there's a big role to play for regional brands and that's kind of where I would think we'd potentially be going towards. Mr. Sikhiya, your thoughts on this. How was your brand looking at maybe a couple of months down the line? How would the marketing landscape shape up? I mean, how would the spends be divided according to you? If I have to take your brand's perspective. I think more or less I would say the life was very simple for us before COVID. I used to always remember telling people that 70% TV and 20% VTL and 10% digital, that was my easy life before COVID happened. And now I think because of the pandemic that we have now in life around us, things are going to be far more demanding and I think the immediate priority for us would be to ensure that whatever money we put in needs to work far more hard for us because yes, marketing is going to derive money from the top line itself. So I think depending upon the performance that we witness in the next coming months, the marketing is going to be fairly agile, I would say that's the right word. And yes, the pressure is going to be on the performance rather than the low hanging fruits of branding and related deliverables initially that we used to look at as well. So I think these are the priority areas for us going ahead. Mr. Bharti, I want to come to you with the same question that earlier was asking Mr. Satish and Ms. Reddy. How are networks planning to go into another phase where the viewer is with them? What is the strategy at your network right now? What are you doing in that regard? See, during the lockdown period, what really has happened is that especially Tamil Nadu where the theater penetration is about 97 to 98 percent, is that the time spent has gone up consequently to which all the channels have got more eyeballs. The only channel which has lost some amount of viewership in this is in the GEC, which is the Tamil. Every other channel has actually picked up viewership purely based on the time spent going up, which is true with the news channels also, which is what our network is offering. If you look at the relative shares of these channels, continue to remain the same. Absolute term, the number of eyeballs have gone up. But if you look at the relative shares, it continued to remain the same. So post-COVID situation, post-lockdown situation, yes, the same relative shares will continue to exist. Maybe the news channels or the frequency-building channels would have less number of impressions shown, but then the relative shares will continue to remain the same. Secondly, if you have to enhance and then retain the news channels for that matter, is that if you have to come up with newer type of shows and socially responsible kind of shows which are going to be costly, then the brand which believe in corporate social responsibility should be coming forward to support such an effort and assign those kinds of programs, which these channels are doing at this point in time during the lockdown. The only disappointment as a network, as many of the network, especially the news network, have is that the responsible actions of the news network during this time is not being appreciated by the so-called socially conscious brands by putting in not more money, at least the money that is adequately required for these channels to continue to do this kind of work. So, the socially responsible content which otherwise also being offered by the news channel to get enhanced post the lockdown period would very much depend on what these brands are willing to spend on these channels. Or rather, would they like to take the easiest route of placing their spots in a film which is being run by Khan TV or Vijay TV, which is what they are doing during the lockdown period. In the absence of original content being available. Thanks, Mr. Das, I want to come to you with another question which is that right now you cannot set through customers directly. At the moment, are brands looking beyond region frequency? What is the brand mindset right now if they are advertising? What are they looking at? So, I think it's about, like I said, it's about doing what is the right thing to do. I don't know what the other brands are looking for if they are advertising. I think it's mostly, I think those who are advertising still are there for the long term and I think the idea is to ensure that the long term engagement with viewers remain and I think that's why they are advertising. For brands like us, what we have done is, we have done what has been the need of the art. For example, we used to have a social property called Jagore. Which has been the clarion call for social causes that we have taken up. And during COVID actually, we came up with the same thing and we said this is what is right for the environments. We identified in the lease which actually are the most affected because of the COVID-19 crisis. And we thought most really structurally in a very organized manner talking about their plight. And we took up this cause and hence did a communication which was more social media and digital lead. So, it is actually, like I said, it is about understanding what's the need of the art and what your consumer is receptive to here. And then doing, and of course looking at that, how does it tie back to your brand? And because it's something that has been associated with us, it's something which is in our DNA. I mean, this was the right time to do this. Adapt to what the need of the art is. And that's what brands need to do. And like I said, you need to figure out what's your relevance during this time. And sometimes it can be fine. There can be no relevance, which is okay. Just don't be there because there is that thin line that you also need to walk. About being commercial advantage of situations versus actually being genuinely doing what is the need of the art. And like I said, nobody's, I think, wants to spend money just for spending money or to do what is right for that situation. And in that, what is the most ultimate thing for what is required? Mr. Reddy, my question to you is, I mean brands, those brands which are still advertising, still spending money on television. Are you offering them something else to maximize their value? What are you doing from your end at your end? What are you doing to maximize the value that you offer to those brands? Yeah, so the brands that we are talking about are basically two categories that I say. Some are the categories which are going to see a boom. And there are categories which are going to go bust. The categories which are going to go see a boom would be say FMCG. And you will see FMCG, you will see maybe fitness, home fitness products. You know, such categories which will still continue to see. For example, e-commerce, pharma, carry out food providers, online grossers. So these are the categories which will advertise. And coming back to your question, the boom category, they will definitely expect because any brand will try to work towards increasing their sale during this period. And so basically the strategy would be that you do not compromise on your rates, but give value ads. So the value ads could be in the form of brand integrations. It could be in the format of I think somebody mentioned about Aston Bands, L-Bands. The typical properties that you have on television. And of course some amount of PR, editorial kind of stuff. So yeah, that is what one can offer. But I think our strategy definitely would be to hold on to pricing. Because in a scenario like this, even if you are a brand which is in the booming category, the media planners or the brand custodians would like to see how they can further negotiate and get the best value for their investment. Yes, Satish, the same question to you. How are you ensuring that advertisers get maximum value for their spends? Advertisers are already getting maximum value for their spends simply because they are getting a lot of reach where people are sitting at home and watching lots and lots of television along with some OTT content too. So I guess they are getting enough and more for the money that they are spending now. In this, are you doing anything particularly different? Quite honestly, not really. There are a few advertisers who are spending money. So they are getting fair amount of reach. Local brands who are going to associate it with our public service campaigns, social distancing, wear a mask, use a sanitizer. So there are certain creatives that we are made and we are putting it out on our network. And some local brands have seized this opportunity and associated themselves with this. Of course, the usual stuff that everybody else who has spoken about, brands who are available and advertising on our channels have used all possible opportunities which is non-FCT and FCT-led. So I guess these are not the times to really now could be going forward as deep an association possible of brands. And brands come in some deeper briefs. As they look at the next 10 months, very good franchise here. Last two months, April and May, if I say May is almost over, has been about finding feet and figuring out how much money is likely to come this week. People are releasing advertising on a weekly basis. The largest FMCG in this country was giving out release orders four days at a time. I have not seen anything like this in the last 30 years. So I have not seen this even during demon and GST times. So these have been very, very abnormal times. So it's about just to go with whatever came in and look at opportunities when BL created, let's say a Mother's Day and so on and so forth. These are opportunities that have risen in the last six, seven weeks. We've tried to capitalize on that beyond which we also made some original content for an entertainment channel called Sneha Thode Vitaalinda, which is about with love from home connected with artists, musicians, and singers and celebrities. So it is like an anchor talking to somebody else on the other end. They're shooting using their mobile camera, doing post-production work. So we're innovative in our content in the entertainment space. Our news channel has managed to do interviews by sitting out of the studio with the politician or whoever on the other side is sitting in their house or office. So a normal interview, hard talk kind of shows have happened long distance. So we've been trying to keep alive, sustain the content that we could try and put together from a news perspective by staying safe and from an entertainment perspective, hardly any original content other than the one that we tried, which is just half an hour in a day for about three or four weeks. So going forward, I think there would be deeper reasons for brands to look at what can we do next. They also need to look at their top line for the rest of the year. So how do they manage to get business back and not think that this year is a washout? So then there could be opportunities for broadcasters and content creators to engage in a meaningful conversation. So I just want to tell the viewers that they can start sending their questions. We have started receiving questions and we'll be asking those after 15 minutes. My question to you, Mr. Amani, is that what is your advice to brands? Should they sell? Should they look at reach? What is your advice to them? What is the best way to go about advertising in these times? I think there are many papers to talk about this to say that people should not go completely quiet to the stage. Each brand has its own challenges, really depending on whether they're going to be making money if they're not affected. So just give me one minute to study once. So one of the things that we... I mean, one of the things that's quite clear is that brands who stay active at this moment are the brands which have a presence at this moment. We won't go completely quiet to the ones which are going to benefit. We have enough amount of research to back this up as well. The second thing to beneath point is to stay relevant. What is the communication that you are currently providing to your consumer? Something which is relevant to something which is going to be very, very key at this moment because you have consumer sentiments and behaviors at this moment are completely different from the pre-COVID time. So you've got to really understand what your consumer is at, what mindset he or she is at, and address it accordingly. So that's the second thing which is something which we've been talking about to our advertisers as well as our brands. So these are the two key points here. Mr. Stehia, my question to you, what should advertisers look at in these times? What is the best approach according to you? So I'll give you an example when it comes to my brand. So Cisco is a very diversified brand now as we speak. So it's not only into LED which is the flagship segment that we are known for but we are also into grooming appliances, mobile accessories, wires and cables and smart devices. What we saw in the last couple of weeks, the demand for grooming appliances just sort of shot up through the roof and more so because of the fact that everybody was not at all able to go out and get themselves groomed. So what do you do then? So I completely even agree with what Puneet spoke about. This is the time when the brand needs to go out and in fact help the consumers if it is really possible within their domain. So similarly even we as a brand decided as to how we can go out and help this particular need. So what we did was we optimized the distribution in fact. So the kind of distribution you have within the country traditionally while that was not working but yes there were medical stores, there were these local Kirana shops that were operating among whatever things happened. So we ensured that the product was available around these avenues and also we decided that we need to empower the consumers by giving them the support of self styling or self grooming by being at home and completely safe. So that is what we decided to sort of communicate and for that we decided that we'll use the digital channels and today as we speak the demand still continues very high for my grooming appliances and not only for grooming appliances even for the smart home devices that we have because now everybody knows that we are staying back at home we are spending a lot of time. So the demand has just short again through the roof and we are excited to sort of go out and meet those demands once the lockdown is over. So that has been the experience of these last two months I would say for us in the group. Mr. Bhatia, I want to understand you, what is the value that you are trying to offer advertisers who are with you in these tough times? Are you going beyond the brief? I mean what is happening on that front? We are working with certain clients who are interested in doing special content to suit their needs and to suit their communication. For example, real estate, Casa Grande, what associated with us during the lockdown period in a very big way where we had a painting competition done virtually. We had thousands and thousands of entries which had come in which is just to do with how people feel about the lockdown period and their impressions being put in the painting. That we had done with Casa Grande. Like that there are several other brands for which we are making tailor-made content for them besides giving the non-SQT options which they are asking. So we were not very keen to give in the past. Now we have actually sort of come down on that and are offering L-Bands and Aston-Bands which we originally thought that interferes with the editorial many of the time. We will continue to do this and we continue to work with both brands for wanting to take up certain social causes. For example, we have something called Anbu Palam which is a bridge between the seeker and the benefactor and the benefactor. So through which we had actually collected close to about a crore and we had helped hundreds of people who were in need where people used this arrangement of Anbu Palam to contribute and reach help to those who needed. There were certain brands who were associated with that who were willing to do that. Similar such activities we would like to take forward in future had become whether it could be from their CSR fund or if it's as a good summary term kind of act or for brand building at ground level. We are looking at activation like that of SM with the news channels also. As a news network we have very limited choice of doing content integration other than laptop branding or keeping a mug. Beyond that we will not have much of an opportunity to do a content integration. Whereas we can tailor make content to suit the brand image of the advertiser. Mr. Satish, I want to come to you. What do you think is what lies ahead from here now for networks in terms of advertising, in terms of viewership, content. I mean how do you see that spanning say in the next 5-6 months? What are we going to see? I think definitely good times. Hopefully life can't be as bad as it was over the last 2 months. The next 6-8 months certainly likely to be far better, far more exciting. Content has to come back. Original content has to come back. Cinemas have to come out. Entertainment has to come back to our life. Without which we continue to watch the news content. People have to consume content which they are used to and they like to watch those kinds of content. That will revive a great amount of positivity to the whole business and the entire mainstream. I think we all have a 12-hour work schedule. We want to come back and watch a movie, catch a bit of a news, watch our favorite soap or a sitcom. We need the same variety back. I think we all over the years, I'm sure is going through Netflix and Prime and Hotstar and all of the OTTs, all of these OTTs are also running out of content. We need content back. That will start the whole story. The journey is about getting back, getting the real shares back. Brands will start looking at you. That is what is going to happen. Soon you'll find brands have to get to their numbers and they will start doing what they've been used to do before COVID hit us. Yes, it is going to be challenging. It is going to be a lot more harder. Definitely far more exciting times than what we've seen in the last year. I think the worst is over. There could be this up and down that will happen, the W's and V's and U's and people have been talking about all kinds of alphabets. Economy, I am not a soothsayer to say that listen, we'll be back to what last year was. It probably is going to be very hard here. Some deaf positions, some people have been taking. Some more tough positions could follow in the weeks and months to come. But we over here are fairly positive that the worst is probably over. We have to live with this. COVID is here to stay. I am not saying anything new. Until the laxative is found, it is here. We have to be cautious. We have to maintain all the prescribed norms. We've got to get back to routine business. I guess it is going to be a lot better than definitely what the last eight weeks has been. Let's read your thoughts on this. What lies ahead? See, this pandemic has been very different than what we have seen before. Earlier, the recessions that have happened, the classic solution could always be that continue to spend during the recession. And research shows that brands which spent during recession actually gained because they kept investing in the brand, kept in touch with their consumers and kept their share of voice intact. Those recessions were different than what we are seeing now. So I don't think we can expect that the classic recessionary advice to keep spending will apply at this time because it's a dual thing. It's caused a demand and supply shock now. There are brands where they are hit because they are not able to supply. There are brands where there is no demand for their products except like I said, the brands which fall in the boom category. So if you also see what early signs are coming in from China, the recovery is going to be tentative with the significant normalization period. It's not going to be like it's going to be normal within a couple of weeks kind of a thing. So the normalization period itself is going to be significant. And brands require flexibility in terms of media outlay and maybe relook at the packaging delivery service. There are other issues that they'll be tackling other than just the marketing part. So they are going to be challenging times. It's not going to be easy. Globally also we are seeing that media spend and past have fallen sharply across categories. And we can only hope things will be different soon. I won't just go to the audience questions. I want to come to you Mr. Das. My question is from Ganesh Sarma. He's asking with the current scenario of going on Swadeshi, how much impact will it have on larger brands? Will Indian companies go aggressive to put down the global brands? I don't think so. I think I won't have too much comments on that. But I don't think that it's fundamentally change anything. I think also it's what you interpret what the government said and how it was interpreted. I think this is very important to understand. I think every brand has a role to play and the need of the R is to understand what is that role. And like I said in short term it's about ensuring that you're available. And I think in the medium long term it's about relevant. And hence I think I don't see this as on the longer term being such a major brand. Amit for you the question is how will we how do you see China factor going to make a difference to your brand as most of the FMCG brands have a supply chain from China? So when the whole LED technology was introduced in the country around 10 years back I think that time the dependence on China was fairly high because that time the technology was very new in fact. And because of the widespread usage of this technology in the past five to six years in this very country a lot of brands including in fact Cisco they have developed the capabilities to produce the different offerings within the very territory in fact. So as we speak right now Cisco has its own factories in India three of them and which are running up and high and that is in fact ensuring that the dependence on the offshore production capabilities keeps on reducing as we sort of go ahead. So I agree there was a point when we started with something else but I think the development is when you actually create your own systems your own factories, your own intelligence in fact to cater to the Indian audiences. Mr. Bharati for you the question is from Rajesh Nair will the investment on original content reduce or you know increase post-poverty? I don't see a situation where the content cost is going to go down at all. That is an important thing to note. None of the cost is going to come down. The broadcast cost is not going to come down. The platform cost is not going to come down. The carriage distribution cost is not going to come down. So also the program production cost will not come down. It's not going to come down at all. Now it is very important for the advertisers and the brands to ensure that the channels don't go under. We are all partners in the business and this is the time where each one has to support the other. It is not a time to go for a skill and you know negotiate stuff. It's a time where we all show solidarity with each other. If anybody is looking at the programming cost it's going to go down. I don't think so. Mr. Bharati for you the question is from Alex George will NBFC as a category C growth in south post COVID non banking finance you know in the south specifically. I'd like to think so yes. I mean I think specifically on that is maybe you can I mean what kind of categories would you kind of see that might be both oriented as far as television. I think broadly I mean if you're looking at it you'll have your sentience which will continue to do well. Now you know a lot of other categories it's about how brands and categories actually take an opportunity in this entire space as well. I mean we could stand here today and say that you know the auto category is not going to do well but it's about how brands and categories actually take opportunities in this particular uncertainty. So a brand could look an auto category for instance could look at this to say that people are going to be a bit worried about taking public transport so that we can use this opportunity to get in. So I think the categories which you know outside of essentials are the categories which are really going to do well and which are going to win at once are able to take advantage or look at an opportunity in this entire uncertainty. I think a lot of it is I mean even within the AT&T space you can see the premium products are not going to but you can also see the premium products could see an opportunity here because as people are going to be at home you could look at what was called lipstick effect so you could look at opportunities in this. So people are still going to want certain luxuries in their life it's about how your brand and product is able to speak to them and how your brand and product is able to convince them that they are still relevant in this industry in their lives. Sir please for you the question is from Shereen Decruz how do you see the onam festivities this year? Can you repeat the question? How do you see the onam festivities in this year? Brilliant. I was waiting for this question. I guess onam is the first festival in the Hindu the Indian calendar right? The festival starts from Kerala Onam has to be good. I don't think people stop celebrating onam. The only time probably Malayali is the recent past then celebrate onam was 2 years ago and we had the Asus floods and it fell right around the 2 days ago so that was the only time people didn't start their onam. I guess onam will definitely happen. A lot more Malayalis coming back home good or bad coming back from all over the world coming back to India, coming back to Kerala feeling a lot more safer here. The inputs that we have is onam is going to be great. All the local partners, all the retailers most of them are looking forward to onam mass or the pre-onam time. The first the COVID first quarter is almost going away. So it's an opportunity that is really looking forward to get the consumers back people feel a lot more safer by the time the schools will hopefully be back. The CBCs announced the exams in early July. So I guess admissions etc would be over. So it's going back to the normalcy or living with these pandemic times. So onam is likely to be extremely good is our ground input. For Mr. Reddy, for you the question is from the name is not given that you know network owners also promote their shows. They also spend will it continue in this environment if you are putting up new shows together would you still spend on promoting them on other networks or other mediums? I would say that you know the media houses that have you know other like for example Sakshi has a news channel. We also have a newspaper. So for us to do that is not difficult because we will use the you know the strength of our circulation to drive the programming the television programming. But otherwise if it is an expenditure where you're going to go out and spend a lot of money I'm not sure in this kind of a scenario they'll spend because from what I see monetization in the covid times is not only going to be the revenue that you generate monetization is also going to be what you save. I want to come to you Mr. Das. What are your expectations from regional channels right now? If I could understand it from you. See I think the expectation not just from regional but in general is how do you play to your strength? See what has covid done is basically there are two ways to treat this. One is all of us can think is something that has happened exceptional. Let's just put a bandaid on it and things will come back to normal and I think that would be the wrong approach in my opinion. I think crisis like this expose the trends which are already there. And I think clearly what one needs to look at from this is when we come out of this how have we changed ourselves or adapted ourselves to the new normal which people keep saying? Now if there is a demand in viewership which has gone in but it has not been able to monetize what does it tell you? It just tells you that and the shares are relatively equal. Is that are people waiting enough for example? So you know our broadcasters doing that, our brands asking for that kind of connection. So I think the expectation when we come out of this is that how do you learn from this and adapt to the new reality? A lot of I think people keep talking about new content would come back and you know it would be cool but what would the new content, what would we have learned with that new content? You know people have now got a taste of at a larger scale about the OTT and the variety over there. You know their expectation is variety like that when it comes back. So are the channels get up to deliver that? Second is about personalization. When you pick up a regional channel a lot of it is also about adding a bit of personalization over and above your overall plan. So how do you sort of cater to that in this new normal? So I think the expectations in my opinion are huge and I think it's exciting time. The only option is I think all of us both brands and broadcasters need to learn and the one who does it better will actually be the better option in the long term. This is my final question to everyone like a TV show host does it so I'm giving you 20 seconds for the answer. Mr. Steesh for you first what would be the new normal life for TV networks? Quickly, 20 seconds. New normal life for a TV network is to continue to work the way that we work once, do a lot more. We are part of essential services, continue to entertain our audiences and give out credible news content. Do better as Puneet Das mentioned about understanding the brand's requirements also and work with them to put together meaningful content. I guess yes also about understanding this one 2% audience segment who has also seen a lot of variety in OTT space. How do you address that challenge along with being a broadcaster? Mr. Bharathi, quick words from you. The new normal for networks. It is going to be pretty much the same. We are going to continue to do the good work that we have been doing. Of course, there has been a lot of learning and the learnings have to be put into practice. Look at newer and greener opportunities and try and work closely in those areas and get out of the situation. The situation can't be much worse than what it is. We have seen the worst. The future can't be bad worse than this. Okay. Ms. Reddy, your thoughts on this? I would say that it's not going to be only the ad sales department which will be worried about meeting the bottom lines and the numbers. It should be the entire organization. People are making content and everybody around the organization. Yes, we need to move from feeling like victims of the pandemic to survivors and then go on to be thrivers. Great words. Mr. Sethi, your thoughts? What will be the new normal for brands? For brands, I think and that's a personal perspective. We need to ensure that we don't go back to the same situation because if we go back to the same situation then I think we are going to be again as vulnerable as we are today in the future as well. We need to ensure that whatever the situation has taught us we need to go ahead and honestly implement that. That's the joy and the pride. Take the lesson seriously. Great. Ms. Ramani, your thoughts on this? Normal for brands? For networks? For viewers? On a broader perspective? I think what brands advertise as broadcasters I think for all of us, what we have to do is really understand, identify, adapt, change pretty much learn and relearn as we go along. I think pivoting quickly is one of the most important things that we need going forward because situations and circumstances are going to change quite rapidly. I think adapting to these and pivoting to take advantage of it is going to be important. Mr. Das, you have the last word. What would you like to add? Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah. I think Remains would be I think really adapt to new content vehicles, mediums and I think really I think that should help you sort of prepare for the future ahead and I think that should be made comfortable with whatever new content medium is being thrown at you. Mr. Das, you want to add to it? You want to say something and then that's the last point. Mr. Das, you are muted. We can hear you. I think it's about all working together as Chandra mentioned, the ecosystem working together to revive ourselves. Everybody has a problem. Let's all work together and find a solution. Things should look better. Yes, it's going to be hard. Unless we all work together, the agencies, the broadcasters, the content creators, the newspapers, the brands and so on and so forth, come to us with your briefs, your challenges, let's work together to see how we can create new markets for our entire ecosystem working together with the purpose, should see us through half times the next six months or a year. Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us today. It has been a great discussion, some very insightful points and we will continue. This was the first webinar of E4M India Brand Conclay virtual series Dukshin and we'll bring you many more as we go along. Thank you everyone for joining us and we had a lot of questions but we don't have time to go on answering them. So thanks once again for being part of this discussion.