As advertisers shift their focus to regional markets to tap rising consumption, television broadcasters, too, are chasing regional channels, which are growing faster than non-Hindi television markets.

On Monday, Sony Pictures Television, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said it purchased a 30% stake in Telugu television broadcaster MAA Television Network. MAA Television Network owns four channels, including MAA TV, MAA Music, MAA Movies and MAA Junior.

In January, the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries struck a landmark deal with Raghav Bahl-run Network 18 in a unique arrangement that saw the latter buying out RIL's stake in Eenadu TV's news business and also purchasing a 24.5% stake in its Telugu general entertainment channel (GEC) and 50% in other regional GECs.

"When advertising shifted to regional channels, television broadcasters woke up to these markets," said Jehil Thakkar, head (media and entertainment) at KPMG India. "Advertising on regional channels is now growing at 15-18%, higher than the overall ad growth of 12-15%."

Sony Pictures first ventured into regional television in 2009, when it acquired Channel 8, a Bengali movie channel and rebranded it as Sony 8.

"Sony had been looking to get into regional broadcasting for a long time and Andhra was the best test market," a media analyst at a Mumbai-based brokerage said. Consultants and media observers say the tipping point in regional television was reached, ironically, during the economic downturn of 2008, when consumption tanked in the metros and tier-I cities while it continued to grow in the tier-II and tier-III cities. This led top advertisers like FMCG companies, consumer durables firms and telcos focusing on growth-oriented regional markets.

Regional channels are growing both in terms of advertising and viewership. According to industry estimates, 55% of the total ad volumes on TV was on regional channels, growing from 47% in 2009.

Click here to read the full story.