Balaji Telefilms: A Success Story
Case Length : 9 Pages Period : 1994-2010 Pub. Date : 2010 Organization Organization : Balaji Telefilms Ltd Industry : Media, Entertainment & Information Countries : India
Anirban Mazumdar(11074) Mazumdar(11074) Finance , sec –B.
Issues Strategic Vision, Indian Television Industry
Contents Page No.
Abstract
3
Making Waves
4
Starting from Scratch
7
A Recipe for Success
7
Aiming Still Higher
8
Brand
9
Vision and Values
10
Abstract Balaji Telefilms Ltd, a public-listed media software production company, helped to bring about the transformation of the Indian television industry.
The case explores the factors that led to the company's success, and examines the strategic vision of Ekta Kapoor, the creative genius behind the company.
"I get a kick when people react to the characters I have created. The power to make people cry, laugh and dream constantly amazes me."
"It's been seven years of hard work. But I've enjoyed myself." - - Ekta Kapoor, Associate Director, Balaji Telefilms, in 2001.
Making Waves In February 2001, in a totally unprecedented manner, Indian television viewers protested against the plot of a TV serial. The offices of Balaji Telefilms (Balaji), a leading television software production company, were swamped with e-mails, faxes, telephones and letters protesting against the 'death' of a popular character from the daily soap 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' (KSBKBT) aired on Star Plus (Star). A group of ladies in Mumbai took out a protest march demanding that the character be brought back to life. Similar protests were reported from across the country. Extensively covered in the media, the issue acquired mammoth proportions. “Explaining the reason behind the death of the KSBKBT character, Ekta said, "Sometimes, to hold the viewer's attention, for a couple of days you have to shock their taste buds." Balaji had to bring back the character to life after the mass protests. However, the company claimed that this was pre-written in the serial's script. “ Inspite of all the chaos, the Balaji people emerged as the winners. KSBKBT, which had already overtaken Star's hugely successful gameshow 'Kaun Banega Crorepati,' saw its TRPs
“Television Rating Points (TRP's) are measuring tools based on surveys to assess the popularity of television programs. “ Shooting up like never before, affirming the production house's leadership status in the television content production business. Much before all this, Balaji had become a much-talked about company due to its unprecedented success during 2000-01. Balaji had grown from providing 8.5 hours (per week) of programming in 2000 to 33 hours in 2001 and had 18 shows on air across all the leading television channels. These included Doordarshan, Zee network, Star network, Sony TV and the Sun TV network. Its content library stretched well over 1600 hours of programs with high re-run and dubbing values. Balaji's revenues increased by 52% in the fiscal year 2000, while operating profits increased by 102% in the same period. The company's turnover was all set to reach Rs 25 crore by 2002 and the programming was expected to go up to 40 hours.
Balaji Telefilms was incorporated in 1994 and has redefined the Indian television space in this period. Making a strong start with hit shows like “Hum Paanch”, the company rose to unprecedented heights in the late 1990s and 2000s.
The satellite boom in India can in a sense be said to have been created and led by Balaji. The performance of the Hindi television channels and the dominance of the Hindi General Entertainment Channel was pioneered by Balaji content and run successfully for over a decade, with blockbuster shows like “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” and “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki” garnering unheard of TRPs. The company has produced over 15,000 hours of television content since its inception, including content in Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada and Malayalam. Balaji also entered the motion picture business in the late 1990s, producing and distributing a number of films. Today, the company occupies a dominant space in the television content creation space, with the No.1 show on Indian television to its credit and all of its shows among the Top 50 on television. Balaji has also diversified itself into all the 4 screens by bringing in new teams for the motion pictures, internet and mobile space. The company has also evolved with the times and significantly corporatized itself, bringing in a Group CEO and experienced professional team for driving the future strategic direction of the company. From a television content provider, they have evolved into a media conglomerate with organizational divisions responsible for television, motion pictures, and internet and mobile.
Starting from Scratch Balaji was formed in 1994 as a private limited company. The first two serials produced by the company costing Balaji Rs 25 lakh were rejected by all satellite channels, the first serial to be aired was 'Mano Ya Na Mano' on Zee TV in 1995. This was followed by the music-based show 'Dhun Dhamaka', telecast on DD Metro, which was moderately successful. However, true success came with 'Hum Paanch' - a comedy serial which ran for five years on Zee TV. This was followed by the daily soaps 'Itihaas'
on Doordarshan, and 'Kudumbum' (in Tamil) on Sun TV. These soaps went on to become huge hits...
A Recipe for Success Balaji's success was attributed to its early entry into the business and presence in the regional markets. Balaji was credited for assessing the public demand properly. Its presence across the spectrum and its cordial relationship with most channels ensured it's continued growth. At the same time, its expenditure was controlled by its investment in high quality studios and equipment. Throughout the 1990s, Western-style plots had dominated Indian television soaps. Instead of following this trend, Balaji conducted research and TV shows and viewers. Balaji's research showed that the reach of fiction-based shows was about 60% and that they appealed to women across regions and languages...
Aiming Still Higher
In 2001, Balaji began exploring export markets for its content library. The markets in USA, UK, Canada, Middle East, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Mauritius with their significant NRI population were deemed to become major markets for the company in the future. Balaji was also planning serials in Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati. The Indian television software industry was highly competitive, comprising a few organized and many unorganized players. Padmalaya Telefilms, ATN International, Jain Studios, Galaxy Multimedia, TV18, Creative Eye, Pritish Nandy Communications and Sri Adhikari Brothers were the other major players in the sector. The fact that some of the channels were getting into backward integration by starting their own production house did not augur well for production houses like Balaji. However, the ever-increasing number of channels was expected to help the company...
Brands Balaji today is a different firm from what it was even one year back. Pioneering widely different genres of content across several distribution media, the firm has completely redefined its brand architecture to reflect these far-reaching changes.
The new Balaji logo reflects its fresh new outlook, while still reflecting the core values it stands for. The Balaji logo will be used for all of its traditional television content, as well as family-oriented, large scale feature films.
Envisaged as a cutting-edge, youth oriented brand, the Alt Entertainment brand will be used on all content catering to a younger, more urban demographic, across the television, movie, mobile and internet space.
Hoonur is a recently-launched online portal for media professionals and entertainment consumers. The brand will be used in the online and mobile space both for the entertainment portal and for user generated content.
Vision To consistently provide delightful and innovative entertainment experiences by engaging audiences and nurturing talent
Values
Storytelling
They always delight audiences with our content and the way we deliver it to them
Passion
Integrity
We go that extra mile because we love what we do
We are honest and ethical in all our dealings
Compassion
We care about our people, we listen, we take the initiative to understand what each one of us wants and work together as a team
Excellence
We push the bar and never settle for second best.
