With CAS rolling into less than half of the 2 million consumer and satellite or C&S homes, consumers are limiting their pick of pay channels to 20 per TV set. While broadcasters, media planners and clients wait for hard facts on the viewing habits of CAS and DTH viewers, broadcasters are already branding themselves to suit the needs of an addressable era.

Nearly two-thirds of the CAS impacted homes don't have set-top boxes yet and are not watching up to 94 pay channels. With nearly 72% of the Rs 6,000 crore TV advertising pumped into the pay tv market, some channels are jumping the fence. Two years back, when CAS rolled out in Chennai, regional channels like Sun TV, Raj TV and Udaya TV turned from pay to free-to-air. Similarly, niche pay channels in current CAS areas are also turning free. While MSOs dismiss these as teething problems, for advertisers and media planners, it's time to hunt for bargains.

Managing Partner, Spatial Access Solutions, Meenakshi Madhvani told CNBC-TV18, "While the inflow of revenues has not changed, the outflow of consumers who have access to those channels has changed dramatically. And therefore, a lot of advertisers are talking to broadcasters and their agencies asking for some form of compensation or some kind of clarity in terms of how many households are they actually getting in those cities."

While viewers vote with their wallets for their favourite pay channels, the industry is seeking hard facts. Initial surveys by TAM's elite data panel that scans SEC A viewers in Mumbai and Delhi shows that most GEC channels will be picked in CAS homes. But it's the niche channels that will see higher traction. And genres like sports and news are gearing up for the churn.

Channels like Neo Sports have spent up to Rs 15 crore on branding campaigns. While these campaigns let viewers know what cricket they can expect on the channel, it's also nudging them to pick this sports channel, when they make a la carte choices. Currently, branding remains on the show or programming level. But CAS may just force more niche channels to hike up their branding spends.

Elite Viewing Trends

Ramya Ramamurthy