Lacklustre performance in CTV market, Olympics offer no respite

Prachi Joshi Johar

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, September 22

In contrast to the past few years, the first six months of calendar year 2000 witnessed a slump in the sales of colour televisions (CTV) in the country. Industry veterans have cited the shift in consumer purchasing patterns towards other home durables and a lack of any major event as reasons for the lacklustre performance in the CTV market. While the industry growth rate hovered at 30 per cent over the last five years, marketers are looking at a much lower growth rate this year.

While CTV sales refused to pick up, marketers pinned their hopes on the Olympics 2000 to act as a stimulant to boost sales. However, unlike the cricket World cup last year, the Sydney Olympics have been unsuccessful in pulling up CTV sales.

Though the popularity of cricket in India is much higher than that of Olympics, industry sources put part of the blame on Doordarshan, which has exclusive telecast rights of the big event in India. An executive working for one of India's top television companies said, "It's a case of poor marketing. They (DD) have not been able to whip up any passion among consumers for the event." He added that if the Olympics were to be telecast on channels like ESPN or Star Sports, there would have been a lot of hype built up by now and that in turn would have given the much-needed buoyancy to CTV sales.

According to data released by Cetma, an association which monitors the television industry, total industry sales stood at 3.75 lakh units in July-August. Cetma projects sales to remain stagnant or even fall in September.

The general slump in the industry has affected the performance of domestic CTV manufacturers in consequence. While Philips was one of the big losers last year, with a 16.6 per cent decline in sales to Rs 3,640.5 between July and September 1999, BPL is facing a big challenge this year. The CTV market leader registered a 25 per cent decline in sales to Rs 3,720.5 million between April and June this year,

Now, manufacturers are hoping to put all this behind them by focusing on the forthcoming festival season. Most of them have lined up interesting sales promos which would hit the market around the time of Onam in Kerala and Durga Pooja in West Bengal.

© 2000 agencyfaqs!