Promotional Strategy of Electronic Media in Bangladesh: A Comparative Study on Three Televisions

Abstract

Media industry in Bangladesh is the most important sector in our country. It contributes a lot in our economy in each year. At present Television is one of the most popular electronic media among the natives of this country and important sector for our national economy. This sector is turning into profitable day by day. Now Television is available at everywhere in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country with 155 million people; 70 per cent of them live in rural areas, and the rest in cities and towns, including 6 major metropolitan areas (metros). Currently their per capita income is 1,466/- in US$ which is increasing with rapid growth in their purchasing power. Currently, we have a national literacy rate of 75.4%, which was 20 per cent three decades ago. As expected, the urban population (86 per cent) is more literate than the rural people. Current access to electricity is 70%. Growth of access to television media in our country is impressive. In 1995, there were 31% people watched TV of the total number of the population. This has reached 72% in 2016 because of expansion of power supply and awareness of public in the rural area of Bangladesh. According to the media practitioners, Bangladesh media is ranked at 136th out of 178 countries of the world on the reporters without borders press freedom index. The country is now experiencing ‘media boom’ dominantly by the prevalence of electronic media, i.e. the satellite television channels. But, even before 1990s, Bangladesh media was strongly dominated by the print media. The privatization policy of the government has created a congenial environment for expanding the private television channels and FM Radios. In the early 1990s, Cable TV was introduced and it became popular quickly. As such growth of private television channels has tremendously increased over the last 20 years. There are about 29 television channels airing in Bangladesh including terrestrial channels and the broadcast of Channel 16, Diganta TV, Islamic TV, CSB news and Channel 1 has been suspended as per BTRC circular. The main reason behind the increasing of the TV Channels and its viewership is that the economy of our country is expanding rapidly. Therefore, this is the first time South Asia has experienced the phenomenon of a TV media 'boom' in Bangladesh. This unprecedented growth of Television channels brings a dire competition among the channels and try to boost up its image & trust to its viewers to survive in the market. As more competitors join in, the audience becomes larger, but the market is more fragmented. Therefore, In the channel industry each TV tries their level best to beat their opposition in the race of high rise of TRP business. For being strong and to form a brand image each firm form different types of strategic moves, constantly communicate with the audience/viewers and to be innovative as their strategy to sustain or survive in the market. The study has been conducted applying exploratory methods. The major emphasis in exploratory research is on the discovery of ideas and insights. Exploratory research begins with a review of secondary data, such as published or syndicated data, or trade literature that discuss similar case. Exploratory research may then involve interviewing knowledgeable people or conducting focus groups and case study etc. Both Qualitative and Quantitative research approach method is applied in this thesis. Primary data is collected from interview (E-mail and telephone) and survey, while secondary data is gathered from books, journals, and internet source. This thesis builds on multiple case study so that the research usually takes place at a much more detailed level for which the aim often is to produce comparative analysis & optimal knowledge. Out of 29 TV Channels, three Televison namely NTV, Channel-I & ATN Bangla were analyzed. While selecting channels, besides TRP, following aspects were taken into consideration: i. NTV was selected since it is one of the popular satellite channels of second generation. ii. Channels-i was selected for the first digital Bangla channel. iii. ATN Bangla was selected since it was one of the first generation satellite channels of the country. Throughout the research we gain an understanding of socio economic condition of the country as well as overall electronic media history from its inception to the present in Bangladesh. This study also focuses on promotional strategy of electronic media and what its role and objectives and also came to know how the channel employ effective promotional tools and techniques to create strong brand in the customers mind. We found from the survey that the selected TV Channels are the most popular channels in our country. The study reveals that 45% respondents are strongly aware about NTV where 51% respondents are strongly aware about Channel i & and 42% respondents are strongly aware about ATN Bangla. This data represents that Channel-1 is the most recognizable brand among the TV viewers. The findings also reveals that the most of the channels are using promotional mix strategy through blending all the promotional tools including Personal Selling, Advertising, Direct Marketing, Sales Promotion, Internet marketing, Publicity, Sponsorship and events etc but given the most priority on advertising. Researcher found in survey 42 % respondents of NTV think Advertising media is the most powerful media to create strong corporate brand, 46 % respondents of Channel-i thinks where 18% respondents of ATN Bangla thinks so. Hence, advertisements are also significant for TV Channels to promote their programs in the competitive business environment. They also focus on digital media especially social media is a great concern to them. The finding shows that most of the channels intend to apply more strong promotional campaigns through digital media and social networks. In study reveals that NTV usage social media 63%, Channel-I use 65% & ATN Bangla use 60% which means that Social Media can be the most efficient and effective e- source of creating brand awareness for TV Channels. However the study highlights that Public Relations/Publicity is one of the cost effective brand building tools. The respective TV Channels frequently got a wide range of exposure and obtained desired response from the viewers using all kinds of PR activities such as press releases, media interviews/campaigns, press conferences, features articles, interviews, newsletters, photographs, films and tapes, sponsorship, event marketing. This frequent exposure certainly affects to the viewers with a credible way as we see publicity /PR is more effective than any other promotional tools in terms of cost effective, innovative & trustworthy. Because publicity is always highly credible for its news value. In the study we also found that Channel-I comparatively spent more promotional expenditure than other channels. Especially they emphasize on digital media or web media marketing whereas NTV emphasize on Event/Sponsorship and ATN Bangla spent comparatively lower than others. The research has also attempted to point out the marketing problems especially in the use of new communication tools & techniques and at the same time researchers have suggested that the electronic media should utilize different promotional tools such as advertisement, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling, publicity, digital / internet marketing in a way that address the spectrum of different programs properly and coordinate between the media and its reference people with a view to creating strong brand awareness and make long term relationship with viewers.