The Hindu Business Line : Internet a big contender for ad space

With the print media industry, at close to Rs 9,000 crore, commanding a share of 49 per cent of total ad industry revenue, and with 2.6 lakh commercials a week being aired on television in 2005 as compared to 86,000 a week in 2001, a seminar to debate the reach of the advertising industry would be compelling.

The Internet is fast becoming a contender for ad space with 38 million users in India in 2006. The number of Internet users is expected to grow to 64 million in the current year, of whom 3.24 million are broadband subscribers in India as on January 2008, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The Internet contributed Rs 208 crore of advertising revenue in 2007, said Mr N. Parthasarthy, Regional General Manager, The Hindu Group. While maintaining that within a medium, some vehicle facilitates higher factor than the others, due to trust and reliability developed over a period of time, he said, “Simplicity, credibility, concreteness and emotions are the four key factors which make any advertising campaign effective.”

Advertiser’s medium

What dictates the medium an advertiser should use? Amongst others, the theory of contradictions plays an important role in gaining audience attention, said Mr R. Balkrishnan, National Creative Head, Lowe.

“In today’s competitive times where the viewers are bombarded with ads, it becomes necessary to reach out to the right target audience with appropriate communication strategies and break through the clutter of convention. Audience from the urban areas would probably notice a rural ad setting more than an urban one.”

Mr Bharat Dabholkar, Managing Director, Zen Tanzania, took the MBA student audience through the journey of Amul to show how complete freedom in the communications strategy was not well received by certain political groups and how the agency fought its way to success. “Today, Amul is synonymous with witty bill boards, satirical humour and has become the talk- of-the-town in terms of its advertising strategy,” he said.

The event convened by Professor Cheema of LLIM, saw participation by Ms Veena Gidwani, CEO, Madison; Mr Vijay Subramani, Creative Team Head, Saints and Warriors; Mr Biju Domnic, CEO, Final Mile Consulting; Mr Munawar Syed, Director, Triton Communication and Mr Rajeev Ruia, Managing Director, Overture Communications, to discuss the emerging trends in Indian advertising.

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