#CongregationsIndia: If an Event Gets More Eyeballs, You Should Charge More – PTC’s Rabindra Narayan

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | December 24, 2020 | News

Rabindra Narayan PTC Network Congregations India Lalit Gattani Showcraft Productions

The current pain point of sponsors being unwilling to pay for virtual events what they would for in-person events came up more than once at the virtual ‘CONGREGATIONS INDIA: Government, Political, Sport & Religious Events Summit’ organised by EVENTFAQs Media on December 24, 2020.  

In a session themed ‘Can the events industry cater to India’s rejuvenated religious fervour post the pandemic?’, co-curator and moderator Lalit Gattani, CEO, Showcraft Productions, posed the question on sponsor and advertiser response to virtual events. It was addressed to Rabindra Narayan, Managing Director & President, PTC Network, which started a religious telecast in 1998 and launched a daily 360-degree virtual reality telecast from the Golden Temple last year.

Narayan said, “Advertisers need eyeballs. The events industry should actually charge more if more people are watching the show. If they feel that the work on fabricating stage and set is lacking, you should tell them that they just happened to be there, to enable the real thing – which is the performance.”

Narayan billed the post COVID-19 phase as a boom time for events, with companies like Facebook offering to host events and sell tickets for organisers and performers, while giving the latter the entire proceeds. “For creators, artistes and event managers, they can reach people they could never dream of reaching with virtual events,” he added.

When Gurbani Went Virtual – and Global

Simarjeet Singh, Assistant Secretary, Dharam Prachar Samiti, SGPC, spelt out for the audience how the SGPC spread its web across the world and kept followers of the faith engaged. The need to telecast was felt circa 1980, with the Sikh community migrating to different parts of the world. “Our issue was, how to keep the flock together, how to keep them connected with their roots. We started live telecast with PTC. There were worries that the people would sit at home and watch and that none of them would physically come to the Gurdwara. But what we realised was that more and more people started coming after seeing the telecast,” said Singh.  The instance reiterates the belief that virtually viewed events will only add to the allure of the in-person event. 

In COVID-19 times, the SGPC official said its pracharaks had turned to the online world to spread the good word.

Internet and ‘Innernet’ Should Go Hand in Hand

Speaker Swami Chidanand Saraswati, Founder, President and Spiritual Head, Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh and Hindu Jain Temple in Pittsburgh, observed that during the COVID-19 crisis, more and more people had turned to technology through which they are accessing yoga, meditation, motivation and to access religious functions.

He cited cases like Yoga in Rishikesh and the Ganga Aarti, which he said had witnessed increased participation this year, albeit virtually. Among several catchy sentences he coined was this: “Internet and ‘innernet’ should go hand in hand.”

Offering a word of advice for the events industry, he said, “Technology has played a major role during the COVID-19 pandemic. If using event management this can be shaped even better, where there are thousands currently trying it, there will be lakhs tomorrow. COVID-19 has given us a new world and new vision. With the help of the events industry, we can achieve great things, be it a global Kumbh Mela or something else. The thing is that these won’t be ‘melas’ anymore – people will participate from their houses, using technology. The events industry should not lose hope. Bring in new methods and technologies, using which we can congregate more and more people.”