NEW DELHI: The television and print media are holding their own
despite the rapidly-growing popularity of the internet, according to
findings of the seventh Indian Readership Survey (IRS).
Conducted by research house Org-Marg, IRS findings showed that
television has a reach of 49.3 per cent in the country of about one
billion people.
The urban and rural press reaches 33.4 per cent, while the figures for
radio and cinema are 15.85 and 9.7 per cent respectively.
Although internet penetration has been growing rapidly in India, the
research found that the number of web users was still small - 4.19
million - representing less than one per cent of the total
population.
Industry observers said the internet's appeal as an advertising medium
was still limited as its access was concentrated in the big cities and
among more affluent families. Much of the country, they pointed out, was
still mired in poverty.
State-owned Doordarshan leads the television race, with a 41 per cent
share of the market.
Hindi language newspaper Dainik Bhaskar was the most widely-read
newspaper with a readership of 11.2 million, while the English language
Times of India placed 10th with 5.95 million readers.
IRS 2001 covered a sample size of more than 220,000 people, with a total
of 741 towns and 2,475 villages surveyed.
Around 100 companies subscribe to the survey's research on 500
products.
The majority of the subscribers are advertising agencies and media
houses and the rest are large advertisers such as packaged goods
companies such as Lever, Procter & Gamble and Colgate. However, IRS
cannot provide adspend data, said agencies.
C. V. L. Srinivas, chief operating officer of Madison Communications,
said: "Real figures on media spend are difficult to come by because of
the huge gap between published rate cards and negotiated rates on
different media. Our best estimate says that the media spend growth in
India has been coming down over the years.
"Last year it was around 12 to 15 per cent, and this year, it is
expected to be much lower at five to eight per cent."
Ad agencies estimated that as much as 40 per cent of India's advertising
inventory is left unsold each year. They said the size of the unsold
inventory provided advertisers with a major leverage factor, accounting
for the large gap that exists between published and negotiated
rates.
India's annual adspend is estimated to be US$1.8 billion and
growing at between three and five per cent each year.
