The levying of 5 per cent customs duty on the import of set-top boxes (STB) in the Union Budget 2009-10 has come as jolt to the direct-to-home (DTH) players. exchange4media spoke to leading DTH players to find out the Budget implications for the DTH industry and whether the Finance Minister has been able to meet their demands.
The extension of the special stimulus package for the print industry, announced by the Finance Minister in his Budget for 2009-10 on July 6, doesn’t exactly have the print players over the moon as most see it as a mere continuation of what the Government had offered earlier and that the DAVP ad rates are below commercial ad rate limits.
Samsonite India has assigned the creative duties for its two luggage brands – Samsonite and American Tourister – to Contract Advertising. The win comes following a multi-agency pitch that also involved Percept, Leo Burnett, Everest Brand Solutions and JWT. TBWA India is the incumbent agency.
Les Margulis has been roped in as President for RK Swamy Media Group/Media Direction. Margulis was instrumental in setting up Media Direction in 1996. In a homecoming move of sorts, Margulis is back from New York at the RK Swamy family in India.
From harbouring dreams of becoming an air hostess, Vinita Pachisia, Director – The Exchange, Mindshare, has come a long way. The roster of clients that she has handled in a short span of time is impressive and includes the much appreciated Idea Cellular initiatives too. The GenNext Media Magnate is chosen by a committee comprising the exchange4media editorial team in consultation with Raj Nayak.
In a bid to tap regional and local advertisers, R-ADAG’s Adlabs Films, which operates Big Cinemas, has entered into strategic alliances with Sambhaav Media in Gujarat, and with Media Prophet India for the Uttar Pradesh market.
It may be noted that Mint has emerged as the fastest growing English daily as per the IRS 2009 R1 data and has grown 26 per cent in Delhi and Mumbai and all India. The AIR of Mint as per IRS 2009 R1 has touched the 1.72 L mark in Delhi and Mumbai, as against the 1.37 L mark last year.
After launching a spate of specialised units like Water, Terra, and Celcius last year, Mudra is now ready to launch yet another such unit on July 7, 2009. This unit will be headquartered in Ahmedabad, but would spread its expertise pan-India.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has listened to the media industry’s demand and abolished fringe benefit tax (FBT) in his Budget speech at Parliament on July 6, 2009. However, a duty of 5 per cent has been imposed on import of set-top boxes.
The Union Budget 2009-10 was pegged to redefine the contours of India’s economic growth and the media sector to a certain extent. However, the Budget was highly muted for the industry, leading to an indifferent stock performance of listed media companies.
Overall, the advertising industry sees the Union Budget 2009-10, presented in Parliament on July 6 in a favourable light. However, most feel there isn’t much in it for the ad industry, barring scrapping of FBT. exchange4media spoke to a cross-section of ad industry honchos to find out what they felt about the Budget.
Digital OOH started off in the last one year or so. Though it expands the overall OOH market, it still remains to achieve critical mass. As a medium there is a possibility of interacting with the TG on real-time which needs to be exploited. In large formats we have been hearing a lot of opportunity with blue casting but we haven’t seen much happening on that front.