Direct –To- Home or DTH service providers have overwhelmingly switched their advertising to printed media in the first half of 2010. The volume of print ads has more than doubled during the first half of the year, according to figures released by TAM AdEx. In comparison, the volume of television ads only increased 58 per cent.
The print ad volume of the DTH service provider category grew by 101 per cent during January-July '10 as compared to same period last year, which was a very large growth over a small period.
Sugato Banerji, CMO, Airtel Digital TV, explained: “The obvious rationale for this climb is the cost factor related to this medium. The base for print advertising spends is much smaller as compared to TV.”
Bharti Airtel, Airtel’s digital TV arm, was the top advertiser in print, closely followed by Tata Sky. “The focused geographic reach of print is the basic reason for us to choose print over television as a main promotion medium. Print is also more appropriate as far as tactical advertising is concerned,” said Banerji.
According to Suvendu Banerjee, an ad expert, “The focus on print ads has been increased to tap the other layer of consumers who are not using the service yet. The users who are already watching high definition channels do not need the promotion any more. Also, the shelf life of a magazine or newspaper is more than a TV ad’s.”
{{/usCountry}}According to Suvendu Banerjee, an ad expert, “The focus on print ads has been increased to tap the other layer of consumers who are not using the service yet. The users who are already watching high definition channels do not need the promotion any more. Also, the shelf life of a magazine or newspaper is more than a TV ad’s.”
{{/usCountry}}DTH’s subscriber base is slated to grow from 22 million as on March 31, 2010, to 33 million by March 31, 2011.