As the year draws to a close, we take a look at the key events of the broadcast industry from NTO 2.0 to the TRP scam While 2020 may have been a dull year for businesses, it's definitely been an eventful year for the broadcast industry. Right from the announcement of NTO 2.0 on the first day of the year to the covid lockdown in March 2020 to IPL 13 in September to the latest on-going TRP scam, the industry has witnessed the toughest times this year but despite all these challenges, it is still standing tall and strong. At exchange4media, we take a look at the key events that emerged in the broadcast industry during 2020. Uncertainty around TRAI’s NTO 2.0

On October 22, 2020, the Bombay High Court, reserved its final judgment in the TRAI vs broadcasters’ case about the implementation of New Tariff Order (NTO) 2.0. In the final hearing, the court passed an order recording TRAI’s assurance that it will take no coercive steps for the implementation of NTO 2.0. The order came as a big relief for the broadcasters and other stakeholders in the current situation, even though the uncertainty on the implementation of NTO 2.0 will remain till the final order is announced. COVID-19 impact on the broadcast business On March 23 commenced the COVID lockdown, which impacted several industries including broadcasting as well. During the period, most of the major advertisers started cutting down their advertising budgets, which impacted advertising revenues.  As per the Pitch Madison Advertising Report, adex saw a dramatic decline of 39% in the first half of 2020, shaving off almost Rs 14,000 crore from the ad pie. The mid-year review, necessitated by the extraordinary circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, also brought dismal news for traditional media, which saw 47% de-growth in H1. The old shows made a comeback  Lack of fresh content on general entertainment channels pushed channels to put out the best of their iconic shows. During the lockdown period, Ramayan and Mahabharat on Doordarshan emerged as the most-watched shows in lockdown. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), the re-telecast of Ramayan, garnered the highest ever rating for a Hindi GEC show since 2015 when BARC started measuring TV audience. The other GECs also launched their famous shows like Khichdi, Mahakali, Ram Siya Ke Luv Kush etc. Major Sports leagues got postponed The sports genre was adversely affected with all the major sports leagues across the world cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was scheduled for March 2020 but got postponed due to the lockdown constraints. Similarly, the Euro 2020 championship, which was scheduled to take place from June 12, 2020  to July 12, 2020, was postponed by a year. Tokyo Olympics 2020, Wimbledon, ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Swiss Open, India Open, Orleans Masters, Malaysia Open, Singapore Open, and German Open were among the few leagues which postponed due to pandemic. Viacom18 and Sony merger off  One of the most talked-about mergers in the broadcast industry – Viacom18 and Sony deal – was called off in October. As per reports, Reliance Jio decided to retain a majority stake and control over the management.  The deal for the merger of Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India and Viacom18 was likely to be announced in the third week of September. New channel launches  Despite the pandemic, the broadcast industry continued to invest in new channels. The year 2020 saw a number of new launches during this period. Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) after announcing the launch of four regional channels last year, flagged off two new channels this year. The network added one lifestyle channel- Zee Zest and a Marathi music channel Zee Vajwa to its portfolio. Enterr 10 Television too launched two new channels this year -- Dangal Kannada and Enterr10 Rangeela. Similarly, Star India launched a Tamil music channel- Vijay Music. In10 Media’s kids channel- Gubbare, Bhojpuri channel Filamchi, and Shemaroo TV - a Hindi GEC from Shermaroo Entertainment were among the new channel launched this year. Big Network’s comeback on DD FreeDish  After pulling out of DD Free Dish in February 2019 post-TRAI’s announcement of NTO, all major broadcasters, including the likes of Zee Entertainment, Star India, Sony Pictures Networks India, and Viacom18 were back on the platform. All four broadcasters participated in the bid invitation for an e-auction of vacant MPEG-2 slots by Prasar Bharati. The winners included Star Utsav, Sony Pal, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Zee Anmol Cinema. The MPEG-2 slots of DD Free Dish DTH Platform were given out on a pro-rata basis for the period 10.06.2020 to 31.03.2021. Indian Premier League (IPL) 13 This year IPL 13 broke all the records both in terms of viewership and advertising revenue. In an interview with exchange4media, BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla said that IPL-13 surpassed the viewership of IPL 12 by 23% with a total viewership of 400 billion viewing minutes as compared to 326 billion viewing minutes. Average Viewership per match too increased by 23%. A total of 405 million viewers watched the series this year. Also, IPL 2020 raking in over Rs 2,500 crore of advertising revenue for Star India clearly indicates that this year was big for IPL. TV sees the highest ad volume in 5 years The festive season has brought cheers to the industry as the television industry has witnessed the highest growth in ad volumes. Data for Week 43 of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has witnessed the highest-ever advertising volume on television since Week 16 of 2015.  As per the data, 38.7 million seconds is the highest ever ad volume on television in Week 43. TRP Scam  The TRP scam is not only big and important development for the news industry but also for the entire broadcasting, advertising, and media agencies. The scam has put a lot of questions on the working method of the television viewership measuring body- Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. So far 15 people have been arrested in this case. A couple of days back the Mumbai Crime Branch in its press conference said that the audit report of BARC confirms that the organisation’s former executives did manipulate the TRPs. The audit was performed reportedly after the new management took over in January this year, following complaints from the whistleblower.