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Nithya Subramanian

New Delhi , June 28

BUYING advertising time across various channels of a broadcasting network and getting a cheaper deal has become a thing of the past. Most broadcasting companies have now started selling airtime in each channel individually to advertisers.

Media planners said that in the last few months this trend has become even more pronounced with television networks creating separate sales teams for each channel.

According to Mr Ajit Varghese, General Manager-South , Madison Communications, "These days channels are not overtly pushing for the network." Earlier, advertisers got the best deals if they bought across various channels in a network.

Star India, which had previously resorted to network deals quite aggressively, has also now started to sell its channels individually.

"We now have separate sales teams for different channels and a single person to head all these teams. This will enable us to generate more revenues as each team will be accountable and will have to meet their yearly sales targets," said a Star India official. He also added that if an advertiser wants to buy across channels, then the deal could be tailor-made to suit the demand.

Mr Rohit Gupta, Executive Vice-President, Sales and Revenue Management, Sony Entertainment Television, said that the broadcaster had always sold its channels individually and had never used the bouquet approach.

"By bundling together channels, the smaller ones are normally ignored and the focus is on the larger and more successful channels. We have always been focusing on individual channels and have been able to get together a bunch of advertisers."

Media planners see this as a healthy trend. "The unbundling has enabled us to buy what we want. It gives us a lot of leveraging opportunity, especially since there are a number of niche channels waiting to go on air in the forthcoming months," said Mr Sandip Tarkas, CEO, Media Direction, RK Swamy/BBDO.

This also works as an advantage to small and medium advertisers, especially since these advertisers are now contributing to a significant portion of the Rs 4,500-crore television advertising pie.

"Previously the larger advertisers got preferential treatment, while the smaller ones were ignored. Now this is not happening," said Mr Varghese.

Another interesting related trend is that broadcasters have reduced the number of freebies given to advertisers. Till sometime ago, if advertisers bought time on popular channels some free spots were given on weaker channels. This is not happening as broadcasters now face tax-related problems.

More Stories on : Advertising | Radio/TV

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