Balaji Telefilms: A Success Story

Case Length : 9 Pages

Period : 1994-2010
Pub. Date : 2010
Organization : Balaji Telefilms Ltd
Industry : Media, Entertainment & Information
Countries : India

Anirban Mazumdar(11074)
Finance , sec –B.
 Issues
Strategic Vision, Indian Television Industry

Contents
Page
No.
Abstract
3
Making Waves 4

Starting from Scratch 7

A Recipe for Success 7

Aiming Still Higher 8

Brand 9
Vision and Values 10
 Abstract
Balaji Telefilms Ltd, a public-listed media software
production company, helped to bring about the
transformation of the Indian television industry.

The case explores the factors that led to the

company's success, and examines the strategic
vision of Ekta Kapoor, the creative genius behind
the company.

"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
soap '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.
“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. “
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
“Television Rating Points (TRP's) are measuring tools
based on surveys to assess the popularity of television
programs. “
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 Telefilms was incorporated in 1994 and has

redefined the Indian television space in this period.
Making a strong start with hit shows like “Hum Paanch”,
the company rose to unprecedented heights in the late
1990s and 2000s.
The satellite boom in India can in a sense be said
to have been created and led by Balaji. The
performance of the Hindi television channels and
the dominance of the Hindi General Entertainment
Channel was pioneered by Balaji content and run
successfully for over a decade, with blockbuster
shows like “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” and
“Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki” garnering unheard of
TRPs. The company has produced over 15,000
hours of television content since its inception,
including content in Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Kannada
and Malayalam.
Balaji also entered the motion picture business in the late
1990s, producing and distributing a number of films.
Today, the company occupies a dominant space in the
television content creation space, with the No.1 show on
Indian television to its credit and all of its shows among
the Top 50 on television. Balaji has also diversified itself
into all the 4 screens by bringing in new teams for the
motion pictures, internet and mobile space. The company
has also evolved with the times and significantly
corporatized itself, bringing in a Group CEO and
experienced professional team for driving the future
strategic direction of the company.
From a television content provider, they have evolved
into a media conglomerate with organizational divisions
responsible for television, motion pictures, and internet
and mobile.
 Starting from Scratch
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...

A Recipe for Success

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...

Aiming Still Higher

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...

Brands
Balaji today is a different firm from what it was even one year back.
Pioneering widely different genres of content across several distribution
media, the firm has completely redefined its brand architecture to reflect
these far-reaching changes.
The new Balaji logo reflects its fresh new outlook, while still reflecting
the core values it stands for. The Balaji logo will be used for all of its
traditional television content, as well as family-oriented, large scale
feature films.

Envisaged as a cutting-edge, youth oriented brand, the Alt Entertainment

brand will be used on all content catering to a younger, more urban
demographic, across the television, movie, mobile and internet space.

Hoonur is a recently-launched online portal for media professionals and

entertainment consumers. The brand will be used in the online and
mobile space both for the entertainment portal and for user generated
content.

Vision
To consistently provide delightful and innovative entertainment
experiences by engaging audiences and nurturing talent

Values
Storytelling They always delight audiences with our
content and the way we deliver it to them

Passion We go that extra mile because we love what we do

Integrity We are honest and ethical in all our dealings

Compassion We care about our people, we listen, we

take the initiative to understand what each one of us wants and work
together as a team

Excellence We push the bar and never settle for second best.