DD scores over Neo

Most of the big advertisers are opting for the national broadcaster for the reach and high RoI Doordarshan provides

Doordarshan seems to be winning the bulk of television advertising for the ongoing Indo-Pakistan series with major media planners shying away from the Nimbus owned Neo Sports, citing low penetration.

Last week, Nimbus and the state owned Doordarshan reached a consensus wherein Doordarshan agreed to pay Rs 96 crore (gross) to the Nimbus Group as a minimum guarantee from the airtime sales the former will earn during the telecast of the current India-Pakistan cricket series.

The deal was expected to help both parties maximise their respective revenues, as both Nimbus and Doordarshan would individually target C&S and terrestrial markets, respectively, and there would be no clash of interests.

Most of the big advertisers are opting for Doordarshan for its reach and high RoI. “There are studies that show 70-80 per cent of viewership in C&S homes comes from DD and the rest from Neo. Add to that the high terrestrial reach, which makes it a great deal for most big advertisers,” says Amin Lakhani, Group M. The happy footnote, however, from Neo's point of view is that it gets to earn a 75 per cent share of the surplus, over and above the Rs 96 crore that DD has promised to pay.

Neo, which used to charge Rs 2.9-3.65 lakh per 10 seconds earlier, is now charging Rs 1.4-1.65 lakh per 10 seconds. Doordarshan, which had a rate card of Rs 3 lakh per 10 seconds, is known to have finally settled for a market operating rate (MoR) of Rs 2.5-2.75 lakh per 10 seconds.

“Surely it’s a win-win for clients as one can reach both terrestrial and the majority of C&S homes with just channel,” says another senior media planner.

That’s probably why all top advertisers, including HLL, S Kumar, Pidilite, HDFC and Bajaj Alliance, are spending most of their advertising budgets with Doordarshan. Also, during the India-Australia series, Neo could manage TRPs of just 4-5 due to low penetration as the channel has a reach of only around 40 per cent in C&S homes.

At first look, Doordarshan’s agreement to pay Rs 96 crore to Neo seemed expensive. Now it is beginning to appear like an excellent decision.

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