Amit Shukla: FMCG sector's investment decisions are based on maximising reach

The key developments in 2011 will be on the advertising front. FMCG companies, for example, will divert their advertising monies back to print while electronic media's share will be reduced.

The FMCG sector's investment decisions are based on maximising reach and, so far, it has found TV to be more economical. However, there was always a belief that newspaper ads have a much stronger impact. A newspaper ad generates much more sales than when the same number of people are reached through a TV ad. My hypothesis is that a newspaper ad is surrounded by editorial matter and is not part of an advertising capsule.

Now this belief has become specific, quantifiable and measurable, by statistical techniques which link sales offtake with media advertising. FMCG brands that have done such studies have invested more in print advertising.

As the practice for tracking the effectiveness of advertising (in terms of inquiries, sales and retail offtake) spreads, a sizeable portion of FMCG budgets will swing back to print advertising and have a more balanced spread across multiple media.

Deccan Chronicle is the largest circulated English daily of South India and is, by far, the leader in the three southern metros - Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad - put together. We expect strong growth in our advertising volume and revenue, fuelled by first-time advertisers in a significant way.

Deccan Chronicle will continue to grow with increasing circulation and further consolidate the leadership in the southern markets. The concerns that will bother or make a big difference to the English newspaper industry in India will be the rising cost of newsprint, which will impact all the newspapers, be it English, Hindi or local language newspapers across the country.

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