Friday, April 24, 2009

Why isn't there a Technology TV channel?

I spend atleast an hour everyday reading technology blogs like venturebeat.com, techcrunch.com, zdnet.com, labnol.org and aggregators like google reader and techmeme.com. But all that is in text format, where one has to actively consume those content by reading. For someone like me who is passionate about technology can take effort to read and visualize what is being written. But wouldn't it be handy if there is a TV channel that broadcasts exclusively technology related programmes.

Facts about telivision and advertising in India
1) TV reaches 112 million households which is 60% of total number of households
2) TV still gets 35% of total ad spend of $ 6 billion expected to grow at 15% over next 5 years
3) Advertising Expenditure to GDP ratio of 0.65% has potential to reach 1%
4) Average time spent per viewer is 150 minutes per day
5) Audience are increasingly getting fragmented into niche channels from general channels
Source - GroupM's "This Year, Next Year", India Media Forecasts, April 2008

Tech Industry is quite large, it is not just about IT and ITES which by itself is currently $50 billion expected to be $200 billion by 2020. It includes Consumer electronics, Industrial electronics, Consumer durables, e-commerce, social media and the big one i.e. Telecom. It is not only large but also the fastest growing to make it highly attractive to a media company to dedicate a channel to it. If I had tech brand, such a TV channel would form a significant portion of my media plan/budget. The cost to reach a potential customer is lowest for TV and impact of a video is highest among other formats.

A look at the table above shows clearly the fastest growth in TV ad spends is among tech companies. Doesn't it suggest that they are missing on that perfect media channel?

It is not techies alone, even the political parties are giving are giving a lot of thrust towards technology in their agenda. America for all its economic might is because of its tech companies and other companies using technology heavily. So if India is to get developed, it has to embrace technology and what better than to use TV as a medium to reach everybody in one stroke and educate them.

Critics of this idea can say
1) In these days of youtubes and fast broadband connections, people who like to watch videos already have their means. (But TV is more attractive)
2) There are already business channels that cover any important business news from tech world. (But it is too little)
3) Tech folks mostly work in IT companies throughout the day and TV is an insignificant form of media for them as they mostly spend time on internet. (Who watches business channels then? Certainly not house-wives)
4) As of now 60% of people live on Agriculture, 70% live in rural areas. Revenues from IT companies are just 5% of GDP. (That precisely is the point. It is not going to stay this way. When we know change is going to happen for better, why not initiate change and invest now?)