What is management?
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| Media Management |
Management in all business and
organisational activities is the act of coordinating the efforts of people to
accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and
effectively. Management comprises planning, organising, staffing, leading or
directing, and controlling an organisation or effort for the purpose of
accomplishing a goal.The resource may be human, financial, technological and
natural.
Since organisations can be viewed as
systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the
opportunity to ‘manage’ oneself, a prerequisite to attempting to manage others.
Media Management
To be precise, managing a media
enterprise is media management. It involves the manipulation of human capital of
an media enterprise to contribute to the success of the enterprise. It is a
general job title that describes people who manage talent for media
professionals. Professionals in the media management field work with many types
of media related talent including actors, artists, writers and musicians.
Managers of this kind are common in
print and broadcast media enterprises. They often facilitate contact between
those seeking and those providing media talent. It includes many types of
management including management of finances to fame.
Media managers usually have a number
of copy right and trademark laws that guide and restrict the way they conduct
business within their media field. In most places the laws that govern music
copy rights differ from laws that control copy rights of motion pictures and
photographs, so some media managers specialize in only one type of media.
A media professional can benefit from
the use of a manager because it allows the talent to focus on media work instead
of promoting the work because managers specialize in promoting tallent to
industry professionals.
Growth of Media Management
Size
For five years since 2003 almost every
one of the top 10 media companies has grown twice in size. India’s largest
media firm, Bennett, Coleman & Company grew from Rs 19.9 billion to an
estimate of Rs 42.82 billion in its financial year ending. Network18 wanted to
become a media conglomerate that it went on an acquisition spree that many analysts dubbed as ‘over leveraging.’ The result was that it grow from minuscule Rs 440 million in March 2004 to a claimed Rs 19 billion in group
revenues in March 2009.
Spread
The growth in size was accompanied by
growth in spread. Indian media companies are attempting to set their feet upon
other media a lot of companies who produced news papers started new ventures in
broadcast media. Production houses started venturing into direction and vica
versa.
Most of the media buying in India got
consolidated more than over eight years ago.The dice has always been loaded in favor of the buyers. Now the sellers are consolidating. It will change mainly because of the levels of expansion and because pay revenues are on a raise.
Case studies
Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited
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| Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (The Times of India Group) |
It is India’s largest media
company.One part of BCCL’s allure stems from the recursiveness of the two
brothers who run it and also own parts of it along with the other members of
the family. Inspite of its age, status and profits, BCCL remains the most
aggressive media companies in India. BCCL is the flagship of The Times Group.
Till about 2005 the group believed in
what is known as BEDUM policy- Broadsheet English Daily Urban and metro
Newspapers only. However in the last 10 years small towns have prospered and
advertisers wanting to reach them had been spending more on language
newspapers. This, in turn was being reflected in the valuation multiples that
companies such as Jagaran prakashan where attracting. This is when BCCL changed
and decided that it has to grow across India for growth.
It then started acquiring language
brands. In 2006 it acquired Bengaluru based publishing house Vijayanand
printers to tap the southern market. It signed a joint venture agreement with
rival HT media to launch metro now and allied with Rajastan Patrika for the
market there.
While there are no estimates, its
print business remains its biggest contributor to both revenues and profits.
There are three other media businesses that BCCL has found some level of
success with i.e’ Radio, Internet and out door.
Today television broadcasting is
about one and a half size of the print industry and The Times Group it doesn't have a firm foothold in that business. More importantly, companies born long
after BCCL such as Zee are now close to its size. Times global Broadcasting, a
joint venture with Reuters did finally launch Times Now. But largely the group
is not yet seen as a force to recon withing television the way it is in the
radio or Internet.
BCCL also made a small foray in the
overseas market with the purchase of virgin radio a UK based station in 2008.
So far BCCL has only been tested in
Indian waters. Its sub billion dollar revenue seems like a drop of water in the
ocean compared to the size of other global companies.
For now when the inner workings of the
media giant remain closely guarded secret.
