India: Less is More!

So, is it a surprise that broadcasters are unhappy with the TRAI for enforcing the 10+2 per hour of commercial time on TV channels?

Short-term pain for long-term gain in simple terms is what it will be. But no one wants short-term pain.

Many of my friends in the broadcast industry are up in arms about this ruling, but when we talk about this, to be fair, they do conclude that it is actually the right thing to do for their business. After all, it will see the advertising rates go up, which will benefit their individual revenue lines and their shareholders in turn. Once the 10+2 regulation sets in and becomes standard operating principle, investors both national and international will re-look at the Indian broadcast industry as an investment opportunity. They will see that the supply-demand ratio is finite and not infinite as it is today. Infinite makes no ‘big picture’ sense.

Advertisers, brand managers, small, medium and large will not like the sound of this 10+2 directive either, as it will mean that they will need to increase their TV budgets if they want to continue to get the same ‘secondage’ as they’re getting today. There just won’t be enough ‘secondage’ to go round and advertisers could get into a bidding war for the best TV properties. But the flip side to that is that they will get a secure share of voice. Surely advertisers see more value in their brands being 1/20 than being 1/30. And, if they tell you they don’t care about that, then that’s the biggest load of rubbish you will hear and you can’t let them get away with that.

And all credit to the TRAI who have now really begun to act like the regulator it should be ie to look at the big picture – digitization, commercial time, quality of service and so on – but not get drawn into the itsy bitsy litigation attempts of the various stakeholders in the business.  Read more http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/03/peter-mukerjeas-media-mullings-less-is-more/