The Hindu Business Line : More niche channels may pressure ad rates

WITH more number of television channels planned for this year, the merrier it will be for advertisers. According to senior media planners, downward pressure on advertising rates seems inevitable.

And this is already evident from the fact that advertising spots are available for as low as Rs 500 for a 10-seconder on channels such as Zoom and some of the cable television channels.

Ad slots on channels such as MTV, Channel [V], Discovery, National Geographic Channel and Sab TV are available for Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 for 10 seconds. Spots on English news and movie channels are available for Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000, while airtime on some of kids' entertainment channels and Hindi news channels can be bought for about Rs 10,000 a slot. Others such as Sahara and B4U have already slashed rates.

Compare this to the K-serials. A 10-seconder on any of the popular saas-bahu sagas on Star Plus would be available for as much as Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, while ad spots during the afternoon on the channel is available at anything between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. The card rate during prime time for channels such as Sony and Zee vary between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh for a 10-seconder.

"The advertisers today have several options. It is the case of excess supply. Therefore, advertisers are in a position to buy advertising spots at low rates, especially on niche channels. This situation is likely to intensify this year as well if the number of niche channels go up further," said a senior Mumbai-based media planner. This is likely to happen even as the advertising industry is expected to surpass last year's growth rate of 13 per cent and cross the Rs 5,000-crore advertising revenue generated by the television channels.

The launch of several more news channels, regional language channels as well as foreign channels will only lead to further segmentation of the market. "With so many new channels set to hit the airwaves, broadcasters would have to firm up their strategies to ensure that revenues do not get hit. Either they would have to cut rates to fill up inventory or hold the prices and attract fewer advertisers," said a senior executive in a broadcasting company.

Advertising industry officials said that channels would have to spend more money on marketing of channels to advertisers. "So far, media buyers mainly looked at reach while deciding on the rates. Now, channels may have to do more market research on viewership profile and pattern for advertisers," they said.

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