The Hindu Business Line : CAStaway!

T he new year has seen fewer people watching television in the three metros of Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi where there have been hiccups in the CAS roll-out. Going by a study by Audience Measurement & Analytics (a-Map), the total time spent on TV viewing per person has dropped by 14 per cent in the first week of January compared to the last week of the previous year. The biggest setback has been for Star Plus, which has seen a drop of five minutes per person of viewing time in this time span.

As expected, the free-to-air channels such as English news and lifestyle channels added to their shares, while niche channels in genres such as English movies were hit the most. So, are advertisers complaining about the lack of audience share due to the effects of the CAS roll-out?

Media planners claim advertisers are concerned but have not started complaining. "Advertisers are looking at audiences since there has definitely been a change in viewership. It is predominantly the niche channels such as English movies and the kids' channels which have been impacted. There would be some compensation made for the existing deals while the new deals would come with a fresh rate structure," says R. Gowthman, Managing Director, Mindshare.

"As if the advertisers didn't know that this would happen ... as the dust settles, they would look at different ways of reaching the same audience. Besides, the boxes have become cheaper and it is not necessary that there will be a large drop-out in the C&S markets," says Ravi Kiran, Chief Executive Officer - South Asia, Starcom Media Vest Group.

At the same time, broadcasters and advertisers are locking horns over a cut in ad rates. For the moment, television channel owners have spiked a plea by advertisers to slash ad rates following a fall in viewership after the CAS roll-out in these three metros. Broadcasters feel the impact of the CAS rollout is only temporary and there is no reason to trim ad rates.

According to Paritosh Joshi, President, Ad Sales Distribution, Star India: "In the CAS roll-out, there has been a temporary aberration. This can happen in any market in any part of the world. It would be petty on the part of the advertiser to pinch pennies. In fact, it should be in the common interest of the broadcaster, agency and the client to build the value chain. Partnerships can never be formed if advertisers use such a situation as an opportunity."

Besides, poor reporting of viewership has already taken its toll on ad revenues, say broadcasters who are unwilling to re-negotiate terms with advertisers. Rohit Gupta, Head of Ad sales, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) says: "In any case, TAM covers only 30 per cent of the C&S (cable and satellite) market and we do not get paid for the rest of the viewership. So why should we go and drop rates? Besides, TAM does not cover towns and cities with less than one lakh population, and, of course, we are not paid for DTH viewership either. There is no question of agreeing to a drop in rates."

Says Joy Chakraborthy, Executive Vice-President, Zee Network Sales, "It is still a negligible market where CAS has been implemented. The TAM data is already understated and we are still not being paid as much as were are supposed to get. Even when our programmes get high ratings, we do not charge a premium as deals are made in advance. It is a sensitive issue. On top of it if advertisers ask for lower rates our relationship with them will get affected."

Considering the C&S markets have been expanding, broadcasters feel it is unjustified to ask for lower rates. Says Raj Naik, CEO, NDTV Media: "Advertisers are being opportunistic.

When C&S markets were being expanded, broadcasters did not hike their rates, so why should they lower it now? It is all about forming long-term partnerships and no broadcaster will agree to lower rates."

Media buyers and planners are still figuring out ways to pacify the advertisers about the loss of viewership post CAS roll-out.

Manish Porwal, Executive Director, India-West, Starcom Media Vest Group, says, "Advertisers are not fly-by-night operators that they will suddenly ask for a different rate. We will assure the advertisers about the lack of deliveries and look at ways to compensate them and value add later. There may not be any immediate compensation for them. After all, every time the subscriber base changes, there is no change in the ad rates."

Says Shubha George, Managing Director, Media Edge, India: "Our estimate is that in the Zone 1 CAS roll-out, around 15 lakh homes will be affected. TAM's baseline study is expected in February and will provide inputs to measure the CAS impact. We do expect programme ratings to be affected as a result of CAS and yes, media buyers are in discussions with media owners on compensation for this likely impact. I would not like at this stage to speculate on how much and what types of compensation. With big media properties such as KBC 3 and the World Cup in Q1 2007, we will monitor this closely."

Mass advertisers, meanwhile, are closely watching the impact of the CAS roll-out. "At the moment we are assessing the impact of the CAS roll-out," says Saugata Gupta, Marketing Manager, Marico Industries.

Addss Sanjeev Agrawal, President-Marketing, Pantaloon Retail, "We would be closely watching the impact of CAS. After all, the objective is about return on investment. We will discuss it accordingly with the relevant channels if there is an obvious need for better rates."

More Stories on : Radio/TV | Advertising | Insight

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
CAStaway!