The 1981 census revealed that the literacy in the country is a bare 36.2%, and that the largest concentration of literates is in the metros and mini-metros. Consequently, the coverage of press ads is limited to less than 40% of the population comprises women who are by and large more fond of periodicals the daily newspapers. Since women are the main decision-makers regarding household purchases (so advertisers believe), periodicals score over the dailies as advertising media. However, magazines or periodicals generally have a low regular readership compared to newspapers. Yet, magazines have a longer ‘life’ in the sense they are around for a longer time, and generally lack the ‘clutter’ of newspaper ads. Further, the reproduction of both color and black and white visuals and copy is usually of a much higher quality. And, since there are around 21 special interest magazines catering to various interests and lifestyles, it is easier for the advertiser to tailor his ads to target audiences and avoid a lot of wasteful advertising in general interest magazines and daily newspapers.
Labels: Advertisement, daily newspapers, general, magazines, Media, Print
1. Cinema ensures a captive audience; People visit a hall to see a movie of their choice. This choice ensures a higher degree of concentration (as compared to TV viewing). TV cannot command the complete attention of the viewers.
2. Cinema is the ideal media for niche marketing. Here the advertiser can be segment – specific, market-specific, right down to a particular district, city or even a theatre.
3. Advertiser on cinema is economical: The cost of screening an advertisement film in a theater of average seating capacity with 50% attendance or 1000 audience in towns of over 10 lakh population would just cost Rs.300 a week.
Labels: Advertisement, audience, Cinema, economical, Merits, screening
While it is comparatively easy to keep a tab on the exposure of ads on television, radio and the press, it is next to impossible to check whether a company’s ads being regularly screened in cinema houses. The Blaze organization is the sole distributor in the field of cinema advertising and advertisers have to take its word that their ads are screened at the shows and theatres contracted for.
A further disadvantage of advertising in cinema theaters is that the movement of prints from one place to another, and from one theater to another, is very slow, and theater-owners are often careless in handling them. The result is that poor quality prints are shown to the public. The expense of producing slides and high-quality film advertisements is thus not compensated.
Yet, cinema remains the most popular medium of entertainment in India. It is also patronized by the rural folk, especially those who live near small towns. Another clear advantage is that in cinema theaters advertisers have ‘captive’ audiences; the distractions of home viewing of video and cable are kept out from the theatres. And unlike the print media, films appeal to the literate an illiterate, children and adults. A further for ‘adults’, general audiences, and PG (Parental guidance; that is, accompaniment of an adult is necessary).
Labels: advertisements, audiences, Cinema, houses, illiterate, Media, patronized
What makes the medium is the program – the software and its quality. In the west, they take care of the programs and build up ratings. They have to pull audiences. In India, cable operators have not gone beyond Hindi/ regional movies. They have to get quality programs from abroad. In the ultimate analysis, they have to produce special programs for subscribers. These types of programs will create ratings the advertisers are working for. High video copyright royalty rates forced producers to cram as many ads as they could do enormous damage to this medium. There should not be more than 10 minutes of advertising for a three-hour program, and absolutely no supers as in case in video.
Labels: abroad, audiences, Cable TV, India, medium, quality, software
