PWC prepared the report for the Internet Advertising Bureau and it said that ad revenue for the first three quarters of 1998 was $1.3 billion. That was a growth of 128 per cent over the previous corresponding period. The survey also showed that consumer-related (27 per cent), computing (24 per cent), financial services (16 per cent), telecom (11 per cent) and new media (7 per cent) businesses were among the major contributors to the surge in web advertising.

What about the Indian internet advertising market? Estimates are that advertising on the web is still below the Rs 20 crore mark. The first problem is the restricted number of web surfers (estimates are that there are about 7,50,000 to 1 million surfers in India). Then thereis a paucity of sites with Indian content, which would attract surfers to take a peep.For sites to attract advertising, they have to get traffic. (A few of the major sites like Rediff-on-the-Net, Times Interactive, Express On-line, The Hindu, Business Standard are attracting ads, though they may not be making pots of money). There is also the absence of marketing hype around the internet. There have been a few noises, but not enough is being done to make the net look exciting. Sundry other problems such as an extreme caution on on-line payments are retarding the growth of Internet advertisng.

Finally, there is the lack of initiative amongst major ad agencies and advertisers to recognise the net as an ad medium. They are busy backing the old trusted racehorses such as television, print, the outdoors and cable TV. In the long run, advertising on the net is likely to surge sharply in India as content and traffic grow. But whether it will be effective is a key question.

Independent cable operatorforges an alliance
Mumbai independent multisystem operator (MSO) Shri Bhawani Cabletel has struck a deal with the Rajan Raheja group which last year took over BiTV Cable Networks.

Not much is known about the transaction, but Shri Bhawani, which had resisted the advances of other larger operators like InCableNet and Siticable, has started carrying the Cine Cable Channel. The Raheja group had flagged off Cine Cable Channel last year in a bid to offer subscribers a value-added service. The Raheja group also hoped that the Cine Cable would woo cable TV operators to sign up with the network, which has ambitions to emerge as a major force on the Indian landscape.

The entire arrangement is being kept low-profile because of the fear psychosis that has crept in in most MSO's offices after the dreaded cable TV murders last year.

The advertising ownership dilemma
There has been a lot of flip-flop about allowing foreigners to take up 100 per cent stakes in Indian advertising agencies. Minister ofstate for information and broadcasting MA Naqvi spoke out against it. And just before Sushma Swaraj was eased out of her chair at the I&B ministry, she was threatening to make some changes too.

Hopefully, Pramod Mahajan will take a more liberal view. There is no rationale behind not allowing an entrepreneur to sell off his stake in an advertising firm, which he has built up during his lifetime, to anybody, even a foreigner.

For one, the foreigner is likely to give a better price because he has a longer handle on the business. And let's say if an advertising agency owner has sold just 60 per cent of his holder to his foreign agency partner, he will have to hold on to his 40 per cent stake whether he wants to or not.

Probably forever if the government passes the law, which it has been threatening to, disallowing 100 per cent foreign ownership of Indian ad agencies. Or the owner could keep scouting for another buyer: