MUMBAI: Indian DTH players have been scouting for newer revenue opportunities in order to reduce their dependency on subscription revenues. One of the bigger ones, Tata Sky, yesterday announced that it would be selling advertising space on its Actve Series platform allowing advertisers and brands to effectively reach out to the desired TG through either commercials or integrate brand communication in the programmes.
Some of the popular series include Actve Fun Learn for kids under 10 years, Actve English, Actve Cooking, Actve Vedic Maths and Actve Music. According to the DTH provider, almost 2 million of its subscribers watch the Actve Series with cooking and English being the preferred choices, especially in tier II cities and towns. Brands such as McCain Foods, Google, Yakult, Maggi and Britannia have already been signed on to showcase their infomercials on Actve Cooking.
“Reaching out to the audience based on research and preferences has helped our Actve services become a huge success in India. Being a paid platform, there is a high level of interaction with repeat viewers every day consuming content that they desire and expect. The infomercials hence integrated aptly with the Actve channels have resulted in a positive impact on our subscribers," states Tata Sky CCO Vikram Mehra.
Media planners seem sold out on the idea of getting segmented viewers for their clients. “It is a good way to reach out to people. Ultimately it is content that could be in any form. 2 million isn’t a small audience. The key thing is that it gives you a focused audience,” says MindShare India principle partner Jai Lala.
“Each of these DTH players has launched such content platforms of their own so that they get to know the profile of their users. It is a thing we have been waiting for since long,” adds Lodestar UM CEO Nandini Dias.
Some brand names have been signed up already, but that apparently is only the tip of the iceberg, as bigger advertisers will surely get on board. Dias is of the opinion that personalised brands will do well in this series and FMCG brands will surely advertise as they advertise on an overall basis. Lala feels that brands that can integrate well with the programme will work best. “Consumers are getting onto this platform to learn. So educational brands, retail brands would work well here,” he says.
However, this being a first attempt the ad rates will be at a bare minimum. “The ad rates need to be evolved. They have to be competitively priced because there should be a logic as to why should money be invested into these active services. If there is better segmentation for clients then we can invest and ensure that money is not wasted,” points out Dias.
Tata Sky claims that through its various interactive series, advertisers can directly target customised TGs. Currently, the only way to advertise on the DTH provider is on its channel 100, its initiation channel.
