TV.NXT 2012: There's no dearth of talent in the Indian TV industry

A group of decision makers from the Indian TV industry spoke on what is perhaps the most important issue in any industry - the issue of people. The general sense was that while there is no dearth of creative talent in the TV industry, nurturing it and leading this talent well is crucial.

A system is as effective as the people who run it. We've heard this adage several times. On Day One of TV.NXT 2012, an opinionated panel addressed the oft-neglected issue of people in the TV industry. The discussion was titled 'Where are the People?' and the topics under this included recruitment (and of course, retention) of talent, compensation (it's never enough!), training (or the lack thereof) and leadership, amongst others.

The panel comprised Raj Nayak, chief executive officer, Colors, Viacom18; Rekha Koshy, partner, Accord Group; Priya Chetty Rajagopal, vice-president and partner, Stanton Chase International; M K Anand, managing director, media networks, Disney UTV; Ashok Venkatramani, chief executive officer, MCCS; and Rohit Gupta, president, network sales, licensing and telephony, MSM. Dilip Cherian, founder-partner, Perfect Relations moderated the session.

Cherian began by spelling out the topic and lending some context to the same. "Today, the challenge is less about technology and more about people," he said. In this regard, he threw two broad questions to the panel, which the panellists tried to answer through the course of the discussion. The questions, in part, also served as the backbone of the chat that ensued.

"Is there something unique we're looking for in the people that this industry needs to have? What is unique about the 'people problem' in this industry?" Cherian asked, followed by an interesting discussion.

According to Gupta, it is possible to dichotomise talent in the TV industry into creative people and what he calls the 'back end' or sales/marketing people. He opined that while it is relatively easier to find the back end people (who, he claims, comprise 60 to 70 per cent of the employees in a typical broadcast environment), it is a real challenge to find good creative people. "This is probably the 'missing link' in the system," he said.

Answering one of Cherian's questions, Gupta added that while sourcing talent into the TV industry, one must ask if the concerned person can handle a larger role and the scale that comes with growth.

Nayak, however, countered, saying that there is no real dearth of creative talent in the industry. "Had there been a dearth of creative talent, we wouldn't have had such a large industry in the first place," he reasoned, adding nonetheless, "What is lacking is a sense of belonging to a large organisation."

He went on to state that people in the TV industry tend to be extremely risk-averse. If one type of format is successful, everyone follows suit. "There is a high degree of herd mentality in the industry today; everyone wants to replicate success," Nayak said.

Agreeing, Venkatramani attributed this problem to the issue of poor leadership. He feels channel owners and heads of TV companies ought to push their teams towards excellence. "Whether it is the teams responsible for creative content on TV or journalism in the broadcast space, the push for and towards excellence is clearly missing today," he declared.

Moving on, Anand pointed out that most people in the TV, broadcast and audio-visual industry have faced a lot of new challenges after 2008-09, before which people were a bit more laid-back. "After 2008-09, it has been a situation of survival of the fittest," he said, drawing attention to the issue of competition in the TV industry on the people front. Speaking on hiring and sourcing the right talent, he rubbished the notion that a great deal of elusive talent is sitting 'out there' waiting to be approached and grabbed. Rather, Anand feels talent is present everywhere (including internally) and that one needs to empower the right employees to awaken this latent talent. "I look at HR (human resources) the way I look at marketing - as an investment," he quipped.

Koshy emphasised on the need to cross-pollinate across industries as far as sourcing talent is concerned. According to her, the market will force leaders to look for "business talent" outside their own respective industries. This, she added, will yield favourable results because today not too many creative people wish to work in the TV industry; several gravitate towards films. So, looking elsewhere will help, she argued.

Stressing on the importance of tracking and retaining talent at the right price, Rajagopal said, "This industry is relatively young; as it evolves and matures, things will change." She said this in the context of the lack of a structured training programme in the TV industry as opposed to several other industries (FMCG or telecom, for instance), where training for new employees is very structured and process-driven. To this, Anand responded, "The nature of the industry is such that a lot of training happens on-the-job."

Cherian concluded on an optimistic yet cautious note. "There is no dearth of talent in the Indian TV industry, but we need to be mindful of the fact that the industry will change in the next few years. The customer will get demanding and will start to determine the course of the industry in the future," he concluded.

This was the third edition of TV.NXT, an afaqs! event presented by ABP News.