Balaji Telefilms: A Success Story

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Case Details:

Case Code : BSTR007
Case Length : 5 Pages
Period : 1994-2002
Organization : Balaji Telefilms Ltd
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Media, Entertainment & Information

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This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.

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"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 soap¹ '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.² 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 TRPs³ shooting up like never before, affirming the production house's leadership status in the television content production business.

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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.

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1] The term 'soap,' for a television serial was coined by the press media in US in the 1930s to denote the extraordinarily popular genre of serialized domestic radio dramas. This was extended to television serials later on. The term was originally coined as 'soap opera' due to the sponsorship of such programs by manufacturers of household cleaning products.

2] 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.

3] Television Rating Points (TRP's) are measuring tools based on surveys to assess the popularity of television programs.