Islamic television programming gaining share in India’s $9 billion market

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India’s television industry was estimated at $9 billion in 2015 and is projected to grow by 17 percent cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $16 billion by 2019. With India’s Muslims spending $2 billion on media and entertainment and accounting for over 10 percent of the country’s total spend in the segment, and with numerous dedicated channels emerging such as Salaam TV, Zindagi and Peace TV, what opportunities are there for new channels to address the demand for Islamic TV programming in India?

HIGH GROWTH TELEVISION INDUSTRY

The Indian television industry was estimated at $7.9 billion in 2014, according to KPMG, accounting for a large share of the broader $17.2 billion media and entertainment industry. TV is projected to grow by 17 percent CAGR to reach $15.9 billion by 2019. Applying this growth rate TV was a $9.2 billion market in 2015.

Market growth has been driven by a rapid rise in television ownership, with the number of households owning a television increasing steadily from 47 percent in 2011 to 71 percent in 2014, according to India-based research firm TAM Media Research. Hindi language and regional general entertainment channels account for the largest share of viewership (49 percent), followed by Hindi language movie channels (14 percent).

The leading TV players in India by revenue are Zee Entertainment, TV18 Broadcast and Sun TV Network.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd is a multinational entertainment brand with 33 domestic and 34 international channels. Addressing a broad range of genres, it has 959 million viewers globally and earned revenues of $799 million in 2015. The company also owns Dish TV, India’s largest Direct-to-Home Television operator, with 13.7 million household subscribers.

TV18 Broadcast has over 30 channels across a range of genres including general entertainment, and kids and music. It has 229 million viewers in total. The company earned revenues of $379 million in 2105.

Sun TV has over 20 channels and over 40 radio stations. It offers programming in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. While viewership numbers are not available, the company earned revenues of $367 million in 2015.  

ROBUST MUSLIM DEMAND

Muslims in India spent an estimated $2 billion on media and entertainment in 2015, accounting for over 10 percent of the total spent in this segment. This spend is expected to grow by 7 percent CAGR to reach $3 billion by 2020.

There is a rising demand for Islamic content among Muslims in India and to address the need, dedicated Islamic channels have emerged as well as specific programs on Islamic lifestyle, aired on mainstream channels.

Leading dedicated channels include Zee Salaam, Win TV, iPLUS TV, Zindagi TV and Peace TV.

Zee Salaam TV is an entertainment and lifestyle channel targeting Muslim audiences, with a monthly average viewership of 2.7 million. It was launched by Zee TV Network in 2010. The most popular programs on the show include those expressing culturally popular traditional poetry such as Salaam-e-Mehfil and Sadabahar Naghme; and fictional shows, such as Sabak, showing the Muslim lifestyle in India.

Win TV was launched in 2006. It is a channel mainly for Shia Muslim audiences and has access to over 1 million homes. Monthly viewership numbers are unavailable. The channel’s popular shows include Dastarkhwan, a cookery show, and Masael e Zindagi, a Q&A helpline show.

iPlus TV was launched in April 2015 by a Mumbai-based media Company  iPlus Telemedia. It broadcasts entertainment and educational Islamic content, including programs such as Deen for Teenz, for younger viewers, and Face 2 Face, connecting viewers with scholars.

Zindagi is an Indian Hindi-Urdu entertainment television channel, owned by the Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE). It launched in June 2014 by Zee and broadcasts daily soaps from Pakistani channels, including popular shows such as Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Humsafar and Kaisi Ye Qayamat.

Peace TV Urdu is the Urdu version of the UAE-based Peace TV run under the patronage of Zakir Naik, a Mumbai-based preacher. Peace TV has a global viewership of more than 100 million and broadcasts in English, Urdu and Bengali. It was launched in 2009 to promote peace and justice, but was banned in India in December 2012 due to controversy and objection by the Indian government over its content.

Mainstream entertainment channels have also developed specific shows for Muslim viewers, including Qubool Hai, a popular Muslim daily soap aired on Zee TV from 2012 to 2016, showcasing Muslim culture and values in a modern setting, and Humsafars, aired on Sony Entertainment Television from 2014 to 2015, about a love story involving Muslim characters.

CHALLENGES AND CONSIDERATIONS

While there is substantial demand for Islamic lifestyle content in television programming in India, there are several key considerations for new programs to succeed.

Firstly, developing new and innovative content is key to gaining a critical mass of viewers.

“There is a large untapped market for Muslim-specific content in India … However, content is the key to success. Prevailing Muslim channels in India are confined to covering election activities, and religious programming. But with the right research, many more innovative programming can be prepared, such as through animation and dramas,” Shakeel Ahmad, Assistant Editor at Urdu News Channel Aalami Sahara told Salaam Gateway.  

Secondly, having a dedicated Muslim channel may not in itself be a great idea – creating content that can appeal to a broad section of the population is likely to be met with more success.

“The competition is very high so an exclusive Muslim-specific TV channel may not work. However, a new program dedicated to Muslims on a mainstream channel could be a very good idea, until there is sufficient demand for Muslim content,” Said Rashid Malik, a researcher at the TV today Network.

Furthermore, it is important to think broadly about distribution channels for new content.

While television ownership has been typically lower for Muslims in comparison to the general population, Muslims are going online. Programs in Urdu on streaming services such as UK-based Alchemiya could gain substantial traction.

“Low television penetration is not an issue. There is a substantial increase in online penetration, and Muslim households will increasingly access online content,” said Aalami Sahara's Ahmad.

© SalaamGateway.com 2016