Regional channels
are thriving both in terms of viewership and innovative programming. But is the
rise of regional at the cost of national channels? Are brands getting better
ROI on regional?
Regional
channels, a category that till very recently played second fiddle to its
national counterpart, is now at the centre stage of big advertisers’ media
plans. On the back of high-quality content, regional channels (across genres)
are not only getting viewership equivalent to national channels but also ad
rates.
It’s being witnessed that
Ad spends are increasing on both national and regional channels, but the
increase in regional is much more.
In the case of
national channels, the youth has almost shifted to digital and other modes of
entertainment. But regional language content is still not so prevalent on
online or other mediums. People still go back to TV sets for local news, shows
or movies. In a country like India where 68% people still live in villages,
regional language channels make a lot of sense.
The targeted outreach programme of marketers
in the rural belts, especially in south and east, is giving a push to regional
channels.
Increasingly,
marketers are becoming hyper local. This hyper local nature allows you to
experiment at a relatively lower cost. All the guerrilla marketers go for
regional channels, as they would not have the appetite to spend on national
channels. So, they start with regional markets and keep expanding.
For region-specific
products, regional channels make more sense. It is becoming difficult for any
FMCG company to launch a regional product on a national level.
Both
national and regional channels play a typical role in the media plan. One can
use both either independently or in combination, depending on what are your
objectives in media.
Regional channels form
an important part of our TV plans, especially when brands want to reach rural
and small urban customer base. In states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu,
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa or WB, the reach through national channels
alone becomes inefficient beyond a point. There is anecdotal feedback that
communication connects better through regional channels but we have not seen
data-based evidence of it. Therefore, for brands the choice is led from a media
planning standpoint and not as much from communication effectiveness.
Regional channels, however, have always been under-indexed.
The viewership of regional language channels is much higher than national
channels in a specific market. However, the pricing of ad slots isn’t the same.
In certain markets, regional channels are not at
all under-indexed. The southern channels are quite expensive and are getting ad
rates comparable to their viewership and to the national channels.
Industry experts believes that the economics
on which the costs are decided varied are not only viewership – Since regional channels
are catering to a specific market, how important that market is, the
demand-supply in that market and whether there are enough and more local
players in that market who have a local demand for inventory. South (Tamil
Nadu) is the most expensive regional market followed by Maharashtra and West
Bengal. The rates also depend on the amount of money spent on content. Some of
the mature markets have high quality original content – reality shows and
fiction both. Better content means more viewers and hence, advertisers are
ready to pay more.
As we all know that South is an isolated
market and no other language works there. The cost theory is majorly applicable
for North, East and West markets where the national channels were still a huge
phenomenon.
According to Industry Experts, uniqueness is
an important factor for ad rates. The rates are a function of uniqueness and
demand-supply. In the regional space, new channels are constantly coming up,
shooting the supply up and that is exceeding the demand. Let’s Consider this –
Why is the rate for Hindi GECs steadily growing? Because you still have only
4-5 successful Hindi GECs. Even if there are 13 channels, none of them are able
to create that uniqueness. Look at IPL, KBC, Bigg Boss, they are short in
supply and their uniqueness is unmatched.
Shifting of budgets from
national to regional
There is no clear conclusion however some
brand owners believe that except for the metros, almost all markets can be
reached through the regional channels. While Hindi GECs are still a prime
aspect of media plans, the regional language channels are winning it in all
other genres, especially news. Regional news channels give much more
effectiveness than the Hindi/ English news channels. Today news channels are
available in almost all languages, which increases the reach and most of audiences
wants to consume news in their own language.
However, in certain segments like sports and
infotainment, the national channels are the most effective.
The growth in terms of the ad volumes is very
low in the case of national channels. Currently, the national channels are
growing at far lower rate in terms of volumes of advertising, compared to the
regional channels. The fastest growing genre is the Hindi movie channels, but
even this growth is tapering now. In case of regional channels, all genres –
news, GECs, movies, music – are growing at a healthy double-digit number, while
the corresponding national genres are at lower single digit growth on
advertising volumes. Hence, depending on the objective of the advertiser, the
monies might be shifting slightly from the national to the regional channels
for some of the advertisers. Brands are getting good results from regional
channels, partly because they are cheaper from ROI perspective.
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