Cutting government ad spends will lead to job losses in broadcast sector: IBF

After News Broadcasters Association, The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), too said it was “deeply saddened” by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's call to put an end to all advertisements by the various state Governments and Public Sector Enterprises for a period of two years.

“Like other sectors which have been economically impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, the media and broadcasting industry cannot claim immunity. In these testing times, any decision by the Government to curtail budgetary allocation to advertisements carried out by various channels in lieu of government advertising will sound the death knell for the sector and particularly so, for the regional and smaller channels whose overwhelming dependence on Government ads cannot be both overstated and undermined,” the apex industry body of broadcasters said in a statement.

IBF stated that the media and entertainment industry is already facing the brunt of the slowdown as ad bookings have nosedived by nearly 50 per cent. Cinemas are closed, production of films and TV shows has stopped and there are delays in payments by advertising agencies and distribution platform operators, it pointed out.

“Under such a scenario, we will resist any such move by the government to undercut revenue for government advertising as many of our member channels will lose substantial revenues and will be compelled to shut down resulting in massive job losses,” it added.

At this critical moment when the nation stands united to deal with the aftermath of Covid-19 outbreak, we request all parties to give a thought for the media sector which is known for its neutrality and objectivity, it added.

IBF added that a lot of Government ads relate to social messages concerning health, education, etc. TV still remains the primary mode of disseminating these messages to the citizens of India and stopping these ads is not in public interest.

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