Category: Media

TAM ( Television Audience Measurement ) data has been in use for the last 15 years for assessing TV viewership. Towards the end of April , 2015 , TV and advertising industry have switched to a new system with Broadcasting Audience Research Council ( BARC ) releasing the first data. BARC data release is joint venture between the TV and advertising industry. The base for the data is the new consumer classification system ( NCCS ). It is the new SEC system ( socio-economic classification ).

The first data release by BARC includes 1 lac plus C & S markets, corresponding to a sample of 10,760 householders. They propose to sample 12000 householders using  a stratified random sampling. The sample will go up to 20,000 reporting homes.

They are studying 300 channels, and the technology used is state -of-the-art.

When BARC was originally conceived on 2008, it was to be a joint venture with the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Indian Society for Advertisers (ISA) where both had stakes in 60:40 ratio, and an initial investment of Rs 30 crore.

TAM Media Research released its data just after the BARC data was released.Though the viewership estimates of both these outfits are more or less the same, the ranking of channels in some categories differ. However, a large number of users (broadcasters and advertising agencies) have unsubscribed from TAM’s report. It is felt that there is enough room for both to co-exist. Some clients do buy data from both. TAM claims that it provides individual-level data with demographic sets.BARC uses a new system — NCCS. TAM has a legacy of 17 years and that gives them a perspective.

Ibne Safi was born in Allahabad in 1928. He was a prolific and popular writer of Urdu crime fiction. He migrated to Pakistan soon after independence and continued to be popular in India for close to three decades owing to the availability of  high quality translations.He passed away in 1980 in Karachi. He has extensive body of work — around 125 novels in the Jasusi Duniya series dealing with the exploits of Col Ahmad Kamal Faridi and his sidekick Capt. Sajid Hameed. There are another 120 odd books dealing with Imran, a buffoon who is a secret service chief. In all he produced around 241 detective novels. He put two novels a month at his peak. In 2010, a few Indian publishers approached his Karachi-based son for rights to translate his novels into English. Ahmad Safi, his son, has launched recently the translations of four of his father’s novels into English. These are Poisoned Arrow, Smokewater, The Laughing Corpse and Doctor Dread. The translator is Shamsur Rehman Faruqui. These books could be seen as the origins or at least the foreshadowing of some of the coventions of popular Hindi cinema of the 1970s and 1980s. The heroes were pitted against the villains. There were extravagant action scenes. There was a dose of comedy and romance. Javed Akhtar was inspired by Ibne Safi while creating larger-than-life characters such as Gabbar Singh and Mogambo. The sub-continent thought the West to be morally lax and a foreigner was not easily acceptable.

Formerly, there were authors writing exclusively for Diwali anks. Some of them got fame only on account of their writings in Diwali anks. Some Diwali anks were so reputed that writing for them was considered prestigious. These days it is difficult to get authors to write for these anks. The editors fail to get them. Riturang, a diwali ank, commissions new authors. These days topics apart from literature are discussed. There is lack of romanticism in writing. The write ups have become more realistic. In the 1960s, short stories were written and read mainly. These days there are a few authors who can handle short stories. Though the number of issues published has touched 700, the quantitative growth is not qualitative as well.

Awaz was devoted to humour. Rasrang, Chitranand and Chanderi were devoted to film industry. But mostly there was a large number of anks devoted to literature. In the last 20 years, there is a trend of having theme-based issues, e.g. health, spiritualism,eroticism, homour, thrillers, travel, cooking, nature etc. Each has its own following.

Most of the issues now come as a package. In the package, you get additional gifts, e.g.a new book, a diary, a calendar. It is a sales promotional scheme.

The major customers of Diwali anks are the libraries. The largest circulation is commanded by astrological issues. The windows of Awaz are still liked but there are many clones.

If the Diwali ank is not backed up by advertising support, it becomes uneconomical to produce it. Organisations with good infrastructure find it easier to get advertisements. Some use their PR skills to get ad revenues, but the editorial matter in their ank is just so so. Some find it difficult to collect the bill

H S Neira, a market research expert, describes the new media environment. He classifies the communication channels. Communication channels can be put in three categories — talk channels, think channels and trust channels.

Talk channels (Traditional media) Here brands talk to people. It is a carpet bombing of messages.

Think channels Here a conversation is established and so thinking is necessary. The examples are call centres, web sites, stores, sales representatives and every aspect of the company which is in touch with people.

Trust channels People talk about brands and have open brand related conversations. The examples are the traditional media in the past and now the social media.

What we are promising in talk channels is materializing through think channels. Talk, think and trust channels must work together. If we combine good messaging in the talk channel, right experience in the think, we will get the trust channel working positively with us for value creation.

Outdoor billboards or posters or hoardings is one important advertising medium. Transit advertising ( inside the buses, outside the buses, on taxi-cabs, on suburban railway coaches ) is another example of out-of-home advertising. The audiences of both outdoor and transit advertising are different.

Hoardings are controversial since they disfigure the environment. But they are extensively used. Automobile products, beverages, fast moving consumer goods, retailers, fashion goods and movies are the frequent users of outdoors. If used artistically, outdoors are the first stepping stones to an upcoming artist.

Outdoors copy should arrest the attention quickly.

How to Make Effective Outdoors

Outdoor ads should be brief and to-the-point. They should be easy  to understand. It should use the big idea to register its presence. It should use good graphics and bold lettering, at least 12″ in height so as to be read from a distance. Colour scheme should be such which improves readability, say black on yellow, red on white. The message can be localized. Humour has worked well outdoors. Outdoors can announce news, as a few posters can cover the entire city. Outdoor can carry direct marketing messages. Outdoor is a good reminder medium.

It is the third most popular social media platform after Twitter and Facebook. It has a message for the media: a picture is worth a thousand words. It shows the rise of the visual web. It allows its users images to share images by ‘ pinning ‘ them. Instagram, acquired by Facebook, is another example. Facebook’s timeline feature is heavily driven by images instead of text. Printerest does not have ads on the site but publishers and brands can use the images to link to their own websites. It encourages companies to pin from various sources and to create pin boards for different types of material.

Twitter was created and launched by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass in 2006.It has 500 million plus registered users. Tweets are short messages of less than 140 characters. Everyday, more than 350 million tweets are posted. It handles 1.6 billion search queries per day.It is one of the most visited sites in the world.It has yet to make money out of this traffic.Jay Leno’s joke about Facebook buying Twitter : It will create the biggest waste of time the world has ever seen. Old- style media readers are wedded to pen, paper and the printed word –none of these make sense to the users of the new media.

The following factors affect scheduling.

Sales Pattern The sales pattern is to be studied carefully to identify the element of seasonality or absence of it. Vicks Pain Balm sells throughout the year, but there is surge during winter and monsoons. Some products are solely seasonal, e.g. Alphonso mangoes, rainwear, umbrellas, woollens.

Purchase Cycle Some products are consumed throughout the month. Some find  consumption either at the beginning or end of the month. Smaller units may sell throughout the month, but family packs are bought at the beginning of the month.

Budget Constraints We would like to outspend our competitors, but financial constraints prevent us from doing so. We should devise suitable scheduling keeping in mind the funds available.

Product Availability Some products are heavily advertised. Costumers go to the retail counters and demand them. But on account of distribution problems, they are not available. The distribution problems must be sorted out first before further advertising activity is undertaken.

Marketing Task Scheduling is largely influenced by the marketing task. While launching a product, heavy promotion is needed to penetrate the market.

Competitive Activity We should match more or less our competitor in terms of promotion. This is competitive parity. We should consider our marketing muscle while deciding to mimic the competitor.

Target Audience The demography of target audience influences our scheduling, e.g. whether our product is for males or females. If it is for female housewives, we will concentrate on afternoon TV shows.

Receptivity Targeting Are the consumers in a proper frame of mind while receiving our message? Liquor ads are well-received in the evening. Biscuits are to be promoted for tea breaks. Pastes are advertised in the morning.

Scheduling can be used to create impact.

Roadblocks

Here the ad is put on air across all channels simultaneously. It cannot be missed. It takes care of the habit of channel switching on the part of the consumer. It is a costly strategy.

Day ( Day Part ) Emphasis

Market followers follow this strategy. They are not expected to have the budget of the lead brands. A  specific day is chosen, or a day part. The advertising activity is  focused on these chosen days/day parts.Higher weights and  visibility are ensured as compared to competitors.

Teasers

Teaser ads are on air before the main ad and these have to create just interest in the main ad. They do not mention the brand as such Teasers in print can be in the same issue or successive issue . There is, however, a possibility that the consumer fails to connect the teaser to the main ad.

Multiple Spotting

The ad is repeated in the same break period. It arrests the attention of the target audience. It may compromise on overall reach delivery.

Ad Responses

How many exposures are enough to generate response to ads? Krugman talks of  three  exposures corresponding to curiosity, recognition and decision. A single exposure is not enough. Two exposures are effective three are optional.

The response to advertising is sales or purchases. If ads are increased ( in other words frequency), the response shows an S-curve. The response increases at an increasing rate till the bend of the curve (inflection point) after which the increases are at a decreasing rate. The concept of Effective Frequency leads to flighting as a scheduling strategy.The later research work questioned the theory of three plus effective frequency. John Philips (1995) proposed the shelf-space model of recency. If a time period of a week is considered, a single ad is capable of generating a strong purchase effect. During the same week further exposures add very little to the effect. The response function follows a concave diminishing curve. The first exposure to the ad begins the effect. It increases at an increasing rate till a bump in the curve (inflection point) after which the increase is at a decreasing rate.

Advertising has a task cut out. Remind the consumer when he is ready for the purchase. Since consumers buy everyday, presence, rather than frequency, counts. The maximum effect of advertising is when it is close to purchase. The attempt should be to maximize weekly reach at one plus. Recency is tantamount to continuity as a scheduling pattern.It works with an S-shaped response function too. Most FMCG brans have adopted recency as a scheduling option. Its success depends on the market conditions. In mature markets it is relevant. In India, perhaps flighting works better. All this is debatable.

Ad stock

Advertising recall is a function of the current advertising and previous advertising’s carry-over effect. Ad stock is s a measure of both these recalls. A fresh exposure enhances ad effect in terms of sales, brand preference or awareness. This is the response function or advertising wearing. The same effect wears out later depending on the content effectiveness, weight of the media plan, media used etc. The wear off is till the next exposure. This wear off is technically advertising decay. Ad stock is a model of communication build up and decay. Each message has its peculiar wear in and decay/wearout. The GRPs of each successive message are adjusted for the carry over effect of the previous exposures. In scheduling, the base GRPs and GRP-adjusted-for-decay are considered. Such adstock-adjusted-GRPs decline below a threshold level. It is then time to resume futher advertising activity. Such scheduling is pretty common. Still some people oppose it on the ground of recency. Recency prcludes any off-air time.Its basic premise is to have presence for as much time as possible.

Mainstream media journalist is a pen and paper person, though he also uses modern gadgets whenever necessary.A digital media journalist works online.Mainstream journalist is not expected to know the production aspects whereas a digital fellow is savvy about the digital media.

One very important distinction is the focus — a mainstream journalist has the language focus while framing the head line but the digital journalist focuses on key words, trending topics and ease of discovery for the user.In mainstream media, the articles are elaborate.Digital media has multi-media consumption.Here brevity is the name of the game.Some write ups are read on the screens smaller than five inches.

Mainstream media can afford complicated expressions. Digital language is the everyday spoken language with commonly used phrases and idiom.In mainstream media, there is little or no feedback. Digital is used to feedback.

Mainstream is attached to copy. It becomes inflexible at times.It becomes emotionally involved. Digital is detached from the copy — there are reality checks regularly.The approach is flexible. They are less emotionally involved.

Mainstream is research-based. Digital has got to be instant — there is no luxury of time, and a page line-up changes several times.

Im mainstream, there is less convergence of content whereas in digital there is convergence of content. Mainstream has vast infrastructure. Digital relies on power of speed and muli-media. They use engaging tools to hook the reader.In mainstream, there is less user-generated content. In digital, there is more user-generated content. They encourage citizen journalism.They are quick to assess the potential of the content.

Mainstream is static and digital is dynamic.Stories are tweaked based on traffic ranking and search results.Mainstream is a literary indulgence and digital aims at user engagement.Mainstream is opinion generator and digital is opinion moderator. It is aggregator.

Mainstream media is not so democratic but digital media is democratic.