About US TV Market

I have been in the Bay area for last few days. This trip has given me a chance to learn more about the US economy and the American consumer. At nearly 29 trillion, it is 7 times India’s. But this is when it has less than 1/5th India’s population. The average American is very rich, nearly 35 times richer than an average Indian. This means that she has much higher disposable income. The American consumer drives many businesses around the world. As a corollary, many businesses start making sense only when this high disposable income is present.

Some of my observations from America:

I love watching American television, but I watch it to see their ads. It is a great insight to understand the american consumer.

High disposable income enables channels aimed at a very specific narrow cohort. Thereare channels for republicans, democrats, whates, blacks, families with children, extreme sports lovers, rock fans etc.

But having such a large choice means that brands have a limited time to make an impact. So the messaging is direct, to the point focusing on the core feature and the emotion is depicted via the pictures.

About 50% of the ads are about medicines. I do not understand this. For a country notorious for its healthcare costs, why are there so many ads about medicines

There is no hippocracy, FOX is unabashedly republican, making fun of the democratic nominee and there are no lawsuits. CNN does the same on the other side

A lot of these choices are made because of high disposable income. TV in India is one side fits all - same audience, same ads trying to capture the same cohort. Yet things are changing and the change is being driven by youtube and instagram. With targetted channels and influencers, people are finding small niches in the population of a billlion. The phase where India needs to come up with is the ads quality.