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. 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 TRPs shooting up like never before, affirming the production house's leadership status in the television content production business. 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.

Balaji was formed in 1994 as a private limited company. The first two serials produced by the company costing Balaji Rs 25 lakh were rejected by all satellite channels, the first serial to be aired was 'Mano Ya Na Mano' on Zee TV in 1995. This was followed by the music-based show 'Dhun Dhamaka', telecast on DD Metro, which was moderately successful. However, true success came with 'Hum Paanch' – a comedy serial which ran for five years on Zee TV. This was followed by the daily soaps 'Itihaas' on Doordarshan, and 'Kudumbum' (in Tamil) on Sun TV. These soaps went on to become huge hits. Over the next few years, Balaji's portfolio comprised comedies, soaps, game shows, fantasy and adventure, suspense, thrillers and children's programs in Hindi and in regional languages. Besides KSBKBT, Balaji's other serials included 'Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki', 'Kavita', 'Kanyadaan', 'Koshish – Ek Asha', 'Kundali', 'Kabhi Souten Kabhi Saheli', 'Kalash', 'Ghar Ek Mandir', 'Kaun', 'Kasam', 'Kahin Kissi Roz' and 'Karma'. The regional language serials included 'Pavitra Bandhan', 'Kulaa Villaakku', 'Pasamalargal' and 'Anubandham' among others. Balaji came out with its initial public offer (IPO) in October 2000 to set up an integrated studio in Mumbai and to buy advanced equipment. A day prior to its listing on BSE, Balaji merged with Nine Network Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Nine Broadcasting India Pvt. Ltd.5) in the ratio of 65:200 in an all-share deal. In its first year as a public company, Balaji showed a net profit of Rs 64.6 crore rupees on net sales of 345.3 crore rupees for the nine month period ending in December 2000. Balaji made both sponsored as well as commissioned programs6 to diversify its risk and maximize returns. The revenue ratio of commissioned to sponsored programs was 31:69 in the fiscal year 2000. The company focused more on commissioned programs as compared to sponsored programs. The attractive rates obtained for the commissioned programs and the TRP linked incentive scheme entered into by private broadcasters with Balaji were cited as the primary reasons for this.

Balaji's success was attributed to its early entry into the business and presence in the regional markets. Balaji was credited for assessing the public demand properly. Its presence across the spectrum and its cordial relationship with most channels ensured it?s continued growth. At the same time, its expenditure was controlled by its investment in high quality studios and equipment. Throughout the 1990s, Western-style plots had dominated Indian television soaps. Instead of following this trend, Balaji conducted research and TV shows and viewers. Balaji's research showed that the reach of fiction-based shows was about 60% and that they appealed to women across regions and languages. Working on this information, Balaji changed the rules of the industry by focusing on women homemakers and striking a chord with traditional Indian families, the lower middle class, and small town viewers. A television market watcher remarked, “Audiences are bored with conflicts and convoluted relationships. Today, audiences are looking for stress busters. They experience enough complications in their homes and careers to take more from their entertainment channels. There is also a huge nostalgia for the family patterns of the past where families stuck together through thick and thin and every person had his or her own characteristics and uniqueness. Children enjoyed being loved in the extended family and festive and family occasions created cherished memories.” Balaji's programs were carefully tailored to meet these very requirements. Its soaps came as a welcome break from the monotony of adultery and extra-marital relationship based serials. Ekta said, “I felt there was an overdose of extra-marital themes and wanted to make something different.” As most of Balaji's programs were targeted towards families and women - the prime targets for companies manufacturing soaps, detergents, personal care and food products - the advertising clientele was attracted towards them. The high TRPs enjoyed by Balaji's serials ensured that it got better rates from advertisers. As Balaji had a high composition of sponsored programs, the company was ensured better revenues as the popularity of the program went up. The company had a well-oiled marketing network in place to sell itself to advertisers and ad agencies. Balaji's efforts towards controlling its costs also increased its profits. Production cost as a percentage of sales reduced from 66.5% in 1998-99 to 58% in 1999-00. The selling, distribution, administration and other expenses also declined as a percentage of sales from 8.4% in 1998-99 to 7.8% in 1999-00. The company also kept the artist costs under check as the artists were signed under a contract and were paid a fixed rate for the life of a serial. Any upward revision in rates charged to the channels and advertisers directly added to the company's bottomline. To a large extent, Balaji was responsible for popularizing daily soaps, as opposed to weekly soaps. As a majority of Balaji's serials were daily soaps, viewers across the channels began to feel that daily soaps were far more absorbing and convenient to watch than weekly ones. For the company, the daily soap was more attractive because of the creative challenges it offered. A daily soap was also more profitable as it brought in five times the money that a weekly soap would. Ekta believed that her understanding of the Indian family system helped Balaji produce so many family based serials one after the other. She said, “Being in a nuclear family, I always wondered about the warmth as well as the fights in a joint family. I realized that it can be a lot of fun, besides the hatred and jealousy.” This belief led to creation of KSBKBT and KGGK. Reacting to the success of Balaji's programs, she commented, “I know the pulse of each channel. I know what they are looking for. I oversee the creation and marketing of every soap from our stable and this is how the company has grown in the past year.” Constantly on the lookout for new ideas, Ekta wrote the plot outlines for the serials herself, working with a loosely-knit team of about 25 freelance writers. The conceptualization of characters was given special attention. A lot of characters in the serials were Ekta?s contributions, and their mannerisms and nuances were worked out to the finest details by her. She was personally involved with the first 50 episodes of every serial, and then her team took over. She interfered again only if the ratings dropped or some expert help was sought. Besides three associate creative directors, Balaji had nine executive producers spread over three cities. Each serial had a separate team, including an executive producer and a creative head. The production house shot up to six serials at a time on tight schedules. Most TV serials rented the same 20-22 bungalows in Mumbai and did not even bother to change their look. However, Balaji owned Balaji House, its production base, with its own living room, bedrooms, well-stocked bar and furnished library. The look of the rooms was changed keeping in view the requirements of each serial. Balaji House had in-house editing rooms and two floors with in-built lighting - all ready for shooting at any time of the day or night.

Balaji's success was attributed to its early entry into the business and presence in the regional markets. Balaji was credited for assessing the public demand properly. Its presence across the spectrum and its cordial relationship with most channels ensured it?s continued growth. At the same time, its expenditure was controlled by its investment in high quality studios and equipment. Throughout the 1990s, Western-style plots had dominated Indian television soaps. Instead of following this trend, Balaji conducted research and TV shows and viewers. Balaji's research showed that the reach of fiction-based shows was about 60% and that they appealed to women across regions and languages. Working on this information, Balaji changed the rules of the industry by focusing on women homemakers and striking a chord with traditional Indian families, the lower middle class, and small town viewers. A television market watcher remarked, “Audiences are bored with conflicts and convoluted relationships. Today, audiences are looking for stress busters. They experience enough complications in their homes and careers to take more from their entertainment channels. There is also a huge nostalgia for the family patterns of the past where families stuck together through thick and thin and every person had his or her own characteristics and uniqueness. Children enjoyed being loved in the extended family and festive and family occasions created cherished memories.” Balaji's programs were carefully tailored to meet these very requirements. Its soaps came as a welcome break from the monotony of adultery and extra-marital relationship based serials. Ekta said, “I felt there was an overdose of extra-marital themes and wanted to make something different.” As most of Balaji's programs were targeted towards families and women - the prime targets for companies manufacturing soaps, detergents, personal care and food products - the advertising clientele was attracted towards them. The high TRPs enjoyed by Balaji's serials ensured that it got better rates from advertisers. As Balaji had a high composition of sponsored programs, the company was ensured better revenues as the popularity of the program went up. The company had a well-oiled marketing network in place to sell itself to advertisers and ad agencies. Balaji's efforts towards controlling its costs also increased its profits. Production cost as a percentage of sales reduced from 66.5% in 1998-99 to 58% in 1999-00. The selling, distribution, administration and other expenses also declined as a percentage of sales from 8.4% in 1998-99 to 7.8% in 1999-00. The company also kept the artist costs under check as the artists were signed under a contract and were paid a fixed rate for the life of a serial. Any upward revision in rates charged to the channels and advertisers directly added to the company's bottomline. To a large extent, Balaji was responsible for popularizing daily soaps, as opposed to weekly soaps. As a majority of Balaji?s serials were daily soaps, viewers across the channels began to feel that daily soaps were far more absorbing and convenient to watch than weekly ones. For the company, the daily soap was more attractive because of the creative challenges it offered. A daily soap was also more profitable as it brought in five times the money that a weekly soap would. Ekta believed that her understanding of the Indian family system helped Balaji produce so many family based serials one after the other. She said, “Being in a nuclear family, I always wondered about the warmth as well as the fights in a joint family. I realized that it can be a lot of fun, besides the hatred and jealousy.” This belief led to creation of KSBKBT and KGGK. Reacting to the success of Balaji?s programs, she commented, “I know the pulse of each channel. I know what they are looking for. I oversee the creation and marketing of every soap from our stable and this is how the company has grown in the past year.” Constantly on the lookout for new ideas, Ekta wrote the plot outlines for the serials herself, working with a loosely-knit team of about 25 freelance writers. The conceptualization of characters was given special attention. A lot of characters in the serials were Ekta?s contributions, and their mannerisms and nuances were worked out to the finest details by her. She was personally involved with the first 50 episodes of every serial, and then her team took over. She interfered again only if the ratings dropped or some expert help was sought. Besides three associate creative directors, Balaji had nine executive producers spread over three cities. Each serial had a separate team, including an executive producer and a creative head. The production house shot up to six serials at a time on tight schedules. Most TV serials rented the same 20-22 bungalows in Mumbai and did not even bother to change their look. However, Balaji owned Balaji House, its production base, with its own living room, bedrooms, well-stocked bar and furnished library. The look of the rooms was changed keeping in view the requirements of each serial. Balaji House had in-house editing rooms and two floors with in-built lighting - all ready for shooting at any time of the day or night.

In 2001, Balaji began exploring export markets for its content library. The markets in USA, UK, Canada, Middle East, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Mauritius with their significant NRI population were deemed to become major markets for the company in the future. Balaji was also planning serials in Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati. The Indian television software industry was highly competitive, comprising a few organized and many unorganized players. Padmalaya Telefilms, ATN International, Jain Studios, Galaxy Multimedia, TV18, Creative Eye, Pritish Nandy Communications and Sri Adhikari Brothers were the other major players in the sector. The fact that some of the channels were getting into backward integration by starting their own production house did not augur well for production houses like Balaji. However, the ever-increasing number of channels was expected to help the company. Ekta's inclusion in the list of the 50 most powerful people in Asia in a poll conducted by the Asiaweek magazine seemed to be yet another recognition for a company that came up the hard way. With new serials viz. Kkusum on Sony among others beginning to pick up on the TRP charts and plans to make a Hindi feature film on the anvil, Balaji seemed to be headed for yet another successful innings.

1. Explain how Balaji Telefilms achieved success in such a short span of time. Do you agree that the company's success is largely a 'one-woman-show?' Justify your stand with reasons. 2. Explain the two different models used by television software producers for providing content to the television channels. Why is Balaji focussing more on the commissioned programs? 3. Almost all of Balaji Telefilms serials followed the same pattern of women centric family dramas and did not offer any creative and innovative content. Balaji might see the TRPs of its programs decline as audience tastes changed with time. Do you think Balaji should diversify its program portfolio in order to meet this challenge? Give reasons to support your answer.