Dish TV, Tata Sky may line up Rs 300 crore for commercials.
The direct-to-home (DTH) service providers are all set to join the league of large spenders on advertising and promotions by crossing the Rs 1,000-crore mark this fiscal.
Currently, only two categories—FMCG and automobile—have their ad-spends in excess of Rs 1,000 crore on an annual basis, according to estimates by the media buying agencies.
The advertising budget of all the current and yet-to-be launched DTH operators is likely to cross Rs 1,000 crore mark this fiscal with new entrants like Big TV, Bharti Airtel and Videocon accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the estimated amount, the agencies say.
According to sources in these DTH companies, while both Dish TV and Tata Sky—the two national DTH operators—may spend close to Rs 300 crore on advertising and promotions, the new entrants like Big TV, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) company, have earmarked Rs 600-odd crore as their proposed advertising budget.
Big TV and the DTH venture from Bharti Airtel are expected to launch commercially within a couple of months, backed by large advertising and promotion blitz across television, print and outdoor medium.
"The Videocon group, that is also a DTH licence holder, will roll-out its services by the year end with an advertising budget in excess of Rs 250 crore," an industry source familar with the development said.
Sun Direct, the DTH venture of regional broadcaster Sun Network which has a presence in Tamil Nadu and adjoining Kerala and Karnataka, is believed to have spent over Rs 50-60 crore on advertising and promotions so far.
Between the print and television mediums, the FMCG companies spent about Rs 2,200 crore in 2007-08 on advertising and promotions, while the automobile majors shelled out over Rs 1,000 crore in the same period.
"Going forward, while both FMCG and automobile categories may continue to spend over Rs 1,000-crore as their ad-spends, growing competition among the DTH companies will also push them beyond the Rs 1,000 crore-mark," the senior media planner working with a leading media buying agency said.
According to the recently-published results of Dish TV, the largest DTH operator, the company spent about Rs 100 crore on promotion in 2007-08, during which it added over one million subscribers.
"On an average monthly basis, the second largest DTH operator Tata Sky is estimated to spend Rs 10-12 crore and adds about 100,000 subscribers almost at par with Dish TV. This translates into the DTH operators spending roughly nearly Rs 10,000 to acquire one subscriber. This cost for the DTH players will shoot up further as more companies start their services," a senior executive of Tata Sky said.
DTH firms set to enter Rs 1k cr ad spenders` club
The direct-to-home (DTH) service providers are all set to join the league of large spenders on advertising and promotions by crossing the Rs 1,000-crore mark this fiscal.
Currently, only two categories—FMCG and automobile—have their ad-spends in excess of Rs 1,000 crore on an annual basis, according to estimates by the media buying agencies.
The advertising budget of all the current and yet-to-be launched DTH operators is likely to cross Rs 1,000 crore mark this fiscal with new entrants like Big TV, Bharti Airtel and Videocon accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the estimated amount, the agencies say.
According to sources in these DTH companies, while both Dish TV and Tata Sky—the two national DTH operators—may spend close to Rs 300 crore on advertising and promotions, the new entrants like Big TV, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) company, have earmarked Rs 600-odd crore as their proposed advertising budget.
Big TV and the DTH venture from Bharti Airtel are expected to launch commercially within a couple of months, backed by large advertising and promotion blitz across television, print and outdoor medium.
"The Videocon group, that is also a DTH licence holder, will roll-out its services by the year end with an advertising budget in excess of Rs 250 crore," an industry source familar with the development said.
Sun Direct, the DTH venture of regional broadcaster Sun Network which has a presence in Tamil Nadu and adjoining Kerala and Karnataka, is believed to have spent over Rs 50-60 crore on advertising and promotions so far.
Between the print and television mediums, the FMCG companies spent about Rs 2,200 crore in 2007-08 on advertising and promotions, while the automobile majors shelled out over Rs 1,000 crore in the same period.
"Going forward, while both FMCG and automobile categories may continue to spend over Rs 1,000-crore as their ad-spends, growing competition among the DTH companies will also push them beyond the Rs 1,000 crore-mark," the senior media planner working with a leading media buying agency said.
According to the recently-published results of Dish TV, the largest DTH operator, the company spent about Rs 100 crore on promotion in 2007-08, during which it added over one million subscribers.
"On an average monthly basis, the second largest DTH operator Tata Sky is estimated to spend Rs 10-12 crore and adds about 100,000 subscribers almost at par with Dish TV. This translates into the DTH operators spending roughly nearly Rs 10,000 to acquire one subscriber. This cost for the DTH players will shoot up further as more companies start their services," a senior executive of Tata Sky said.
DTH firms set to enter Rs 1k cr ad spenders` club