The Indian Economy got dragged into the current global recession and all of us are feeling the pinch. The good part here is that the recession has necessitated several corrections across the board that were long overdue and should do wonders to the fundamentals of this economic powerhouse. The souring economy has resulted in lower ad revenues for the entire media industry and the additional burden of high newsprint costs is not helping the print publications. While the leading dailies and magazines will survive the onslaught and probably emerge stronger, a few smaller ones might be the obvious casualties. There are hundreds of these publications to which only PR agencies subscribe.
When we started BT-Cirrus six years ago, we covered around 80 leading publications; last year we did 180. There were complaints that hundreds of publications are not considered and hence the findings are not correct. Right now we are doing over 700 publications and let me tell you that over 90 per cent of the scores still come from the leading 200. The rest really didn’t matter as nobody reads them.
If we look at this year’s rankings, (assuming Tata Motors was an exception) the scores for #100 and #200 are only 10 per cent and 5 per cent of SBI (#2), respectively, and here we are talking about the Top 200 companies in India and there are another 2,000 that Cirrus covers. All these companies have their own PR divisions and most of them employ PR agencies. So, where is it going wrong?
The problem is at the top. There is lack of accountability and proper understanding. In media, you are either highly visible or you are not there. If you go through the list of top personalities, you will realise that their companies are among the most respected. These leaders drive more than 25 per cent of their company’s coverage. They lead from the front to build a powerful and sustained corporate image. It can be different when you have someone of Narayana Murthy’s stature taking up your cause.
Companies that are leaders in their segment also do well. However, their media performances are overly dependent on market share, financial performance and most importantly public interest in their sectors. Populism drives content across all sections, but the scene is a little worse when it comes to TV. Here it is all about eyeballs or TVRs (television viewer ratings).
The spurt of TVR-hungry channels has taken content to a new low (we now have episodes of laughter shows dedicated to news anchoring) and channels that made us proud in the past are forced to toe the populist line. Channels do not have the time to decipher whether the public is interested in a particular hate speech, but they will repeat it for days and hours just because others are doing so and if you have a worthy act of corporate social responsibility, you will probably get a minute in one and the rest might not do it because now someone else has already done it. So, when it comes to corporate image-building, your choice is restricted to a couple of channels.
Before I end, I must mention about one correction that went totally wrong. I was surprised that many companies used the downturn to extract 10-20 per cent reduction in PR retainer fees. I wonder what stopped them from bargaining for more services instead. Considering that retainer fees vary from Rs 60,000-5 lakh per month in India, it is high time for the leaders to re-evaluate the emphasis they are placing in their corporate image. Poor spending, inefficient resources, bad job, aren’t they all related? If we are serious about our image, share of voice—market share ratios and corporate image—turnover ratios should definitely be part of the CEO’s KRA (key result area).
Sourav De is Director of Cirrus Media Research, BT’s partner in the annual Newmakers study
