Festive season is the most crucial period of the year for most advertisers and they plan their media spends well in advance to get maximum bang out of every rupee spent, especially on television, the biggest mass media platform. This festive season, however, is likely to be different. Most advertisers, their army of sharp and bright media planners and buyers notwithstanding, will largely be shooting in the dark and wouldn?t know if money spent on their marketing communication on television is well targetted. They will have no opportunity for course correction either. The reason: As India moves from the analogue regime to digital, the three industry bodies the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society Of advertisers (ISA) and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) in association with television ratings company Tam Me- dia Research Pvt Ltd have decided to not release viewership data for nine weeks beginning October 7. TAM will resume regular release of data from December 19.
This deferment has sent media plans of advertisers haywire, especially of those categories that are quiet during the first half of the year but unfold a blitzkrieg of ads during the festive season. LK Gupta, chief marketing officer, LG Electronics India, says it?s a poor showing by IBF, ISA and AAAI and feels they should have been better prepared for this eventuality. LG set aside Rs 150 crore as marketing spends for this festive season but now, has no way of determining what fetches them maximum return on investment (RoI). ?I am spending money and it is no meagre sum. There is no way of determining what?s working and what?s not.? says Gupta. ?Most advertisers would feel that the transition to digitization has come at the worst possible time since it coincides with the festive season.?Also, television is a significant medium and one can?t possibly do without it.? He also said the jury was still out on whether the ratings would be just as volatile, in the later half of December. ?At the moment, no one knows for sure how things will pan out. We are all sitting in a black box,? says Gupta.
Tam data will only be released after it is curetted and validated by a panel of experts from The Nielsen/Kantar and a representative from the board of the IBF, AAAI and ISA. A statement from the bodies states that IBF has assured AAAI and ISA that it has no specific intent to requisition a similar blackout in the subsequent phases, as long as the data integrity and quality consistency is maintained in the interest of the TV industry and its stakeholders. Tam on its part said that as soon as the government notification came for digitization in May 2012, it had commisioned a special Establishment Survey across the four metros that will continue to capture the data for the November period. In addition, TAM will conduct an All India Digital Establishment Survey (DES) which will cover both urban and rural markets including metros in December 2012.?LV Krishnan, chief executive of Tam said that there was a specific request for data deferment by the industry to aid digitisation and they were ready to partner with them?on this excercise.
Advertisers aren?t amused with the excercise in question. Mona Jain, chief executive of Vivaki Exchange says Hindi general entertainment channels charge heavy premiums for their marquee properties, especially during the festive season. In the absence of any viewership data, it will be difficult to ascertain whether certain ads, strategies, or sponsorships are working for the advertisers. ?Media agencies make their living from interpretting this data and picking the best buys for their clients. Without viewership data – and for a period as long as two months, we will all be lost,? she said.
A television executive who did not wish to be identified said that the issue was sensitive not just for advertisers but also, broadcasters.?Many of them (advertiser) are miffed that viewership data is suspended for the whole of India whereas digitisation is taking place only in the four metros. Regional broadcasters tend to look upon this as a lost opportunity,? he says. Indeed, this could have been a moment of glory for regional broadcasters. ?Regoinal players feel this could have been the time when advertisers looked beyond the metros and may have resulted in a windfall for them,? says the executive. Arvind Sharma, president, AAAI and Man Jit Singh, president, IBF declined to comment on the story.
Kurush Grant,?chairman of?Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) says that the publishing of TAM reports has been deferred for only two months. ? At the end of this period the deferred data will be released along with on-going data. IBF and TAM have confirmed that this deferment is a one-time affair, and will not be repeated,?
There are some in the industry who, though, feel that deferment is an extreme step but it was inevitable given the circumstances. Given that the household profile will change each week as more and more households go digital, the current Tam sample may present an incorrect picture, says Tarun Katial, chief executive, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd.
?However the issue with TAM measurement will not be sorted with digitization and post digitization sample correction. For genres such as English Entertainment or English Business news, which cater to specific segments of audiences, the TAM system is very poorly enabled to deliver accurate ratings. These anomalies need to be corrected in order to stop the loss of both revenue and reputation to the media brands, especially niche players who do not have a sizeable representation of relevant viewers in the sample size.? Katial says.
anushree.mohan@expressindia.com