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DTH BATTLEGROUND
Big TV promo takes off on Bharti’s teaser ad
Namrata Singh & Partha Sinha | TNN
Mumbai: Battle lines have been drawn. With newer players hopping onto the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV bandwagon, advertising is emerging as the new turf where marketing wars are being fought for grabbing a chunk of the subscriber base. This is similar to what FMCGs, in particular colas, have witnessed in the past.
A teaser ad by a strong new entrant has been completely hijacked by an equally aggressive rival. Over the last few weeks, a 10-second commercial of a plush red sofa was running with a voiceover which announced, ‘See you home...soon’. The ad in question was a pre-launch campaign for Bharti Airtel’s DTH foray.
Even as viewers were left guessing as to what the advertisement was trying to sell to consumers, Reliance Communication’s Big TV was quick to spot an opportunity here by releasing its own 10-second commercial. The setting was similar with a red sofa and a voice-over that said, “See you home soon’, except that this time the ad was accompanied with a Big TV logo, announcing all features like 32 cinemas and 200+ channels.
Clearly, the Big TV commercial took full advantage of the curiosity level that was created by Bharti Airtel, so much so, that viewers started to think the teaser ad actually belonged to Big TV. Said Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer, Mudra group, the agency handling the creative for Big TV: “Marketing is war. Competition presented us with an opening, and we took it and capitalised on it very quickly. It was done in a matter of hours, in fact, overnight.’’ Bharti Airtel’s subsidiary, Bharti Telemedia, had appointed JWT as the national advertising agency for its DTH business.
Bharti Airtel, which launched its DTH service in Delhi on Tuesday, refused to comment.
Given that DTH is expected to grow to around Rs 3,000 crore in the next couple of years, the stakes are quite high. All players, including Tata Sky and Dish TV, are planning to roll out aggressive marketing plans to grab customers’ eyeballs. There seems to be a lot of similarity with FMCG companies in the manner in which DTH players are promoting their services like pricing offers, special promotions and free packages. Subscription rates are being dropped each time a new player announces his arrival in the DTH space.
For instance, Airtel claims that its digital TV uses 20% larger dish antenna that offers better performance during rains, something that existing companies did not offer in the past. The company also offers a single universal remote for both set-top-box and television for the sake of convenience. All new features offered by the new entrants are likely to prompt older players to improvise upon their service. Prior to the launch of Big TV, both Tata Sky and Dish TV offered price points ranging between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000. With the entry of Big TV at Rs 1,490 along with a three-month free subscription offer and a host of other inaugural incentives, Tata Sky and Dish TV dropped prices and announced fresh sops to existing and new customers.
Big TV promo takes off on Bharti’s teaser ad
Namrata Singh & Partha Sinha | TNN
Mumbai: Battle lines have been drawn. With newer players hopping onto the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV bandwagon, advertising is emerging as the new turf where marketing wars are being fought for grabbing a chunk of the subscriber base. This is similar to what FMCGs, in particular colas, have witnessed in the past.
A teaser ad by a strong new entrant has been completely hijacked by an equally aggressive rival. Over the last few weeks, a 10-second commercial of a plush red sofa was running with a voiceover which announced, ‘See you home...soon’. The ad in question was a pre-launch campaign for Bharti Airtel’s DTH foray.
Even as viewers were left guessing as to what the advertisement was trying to sell to consumers, Reliance Communication’s Big TV was quick to spot an opportunity here by releasing its own 10-second commercial. The setting was similar with a red sofa and a voice-over that said, “See you home soon’, except that this time the ad was accompanied with a Big TV logo, announcing all features like 32 cinemas and 200+ channels.
Clearly, the Big TV commercial took full advantage of the curiosity level that was created by Bharti Airtel, so much so, that viewers started to think the teaser ad actually belonged to Big TV. Said Bobby Pawar, chief creative officer, Mudra group, the agency handling the creative for Big TV: “Marketing is war. Competition presented us with an opening, and we took it and capitalised on it very quickly. It was done in a matter of hours, in fact, overnight.’’ Bharti Airtel’s subsidiary, Bharti Telemedia, had appointed JWT as the national advertising agency for its DTH business.
Bharti Airtel, which launched its DTH service in Delhi on Tuesday, refused to comment.
Given that DTH is expected to grow to around Rs 3,000 crore in the next couple of years, the stakes are quite high. All players, including Tata Sky and Dish TV, are planning to roll out aggressive marketing plans to grab customers’ eyeballs. There seems to be a lot of similarity with FMCG companies in the manner in which DTH players are promoting their services like pricing offers, special promotions and free packages. Subscription rates are being dropped each time a new player announces his arrival in the DTH space.
For instance, Airtel claims that its digital TV uses 20% larger dish antenna that offers better performance during rains, something that existing companies did not offer in the past. The company also offers a single universal remote for both set-top-box and television for the sake of convenience. All new features offered by the new entrants are likely to prompt older players to improvise upon their service. Prior to the launch of Big TV, both Tata Sky and Dish TV offered price points ranging between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000. With the entry of Big TV at Rs 1,490 along with a three-month free subscription offer and a host of other inaugural incentives, Tata Sky and Dish TV dropped prices and announced fresh sops to existing and new customers.
