MUMBAI: Zee’s Marathi channel, Zee Marathi, is playing on the advantage it has as a regional channel by using non-traditional methods to lure local advertisers. The channel charges the advertisers whose products are profiled in its Sunday afternoon shows Home Sweet Home and Shopping Shopping.
Apart from this, Zee Marathi has initiated classified advertising through text scrolls.
While Home Sweet Home features prominent real estate companies and builders, Shopping Shopping caters to various local advertisers such as jewellery firms and apparel outlets. The spot duration varies from two to five minutes. Depending on the duration, camera work and content, Zee Marathi charges anything between Rs 50,000 to Rs 3,00,000 for the slots. The channel runs classified scrolls, which feature local products and services, from 7 am to 12 pm and then from 10:30 pm onwards.
“This is part of our strategy to expand our revenue generation opportunities. Our classified advertising targets local firms which perceive television advertising as a costly affair. The facility is open to local advertisers only,” says Zee Marathi business head, Nitin Vaidya. According to Vaidya, the channel recently telecast an one hour edition of Home Sweet Home as a special package to keep up with the growing demand.
“In the last six months, Mumbai and Pune have witnessed a boom of sorts in sectors such as real estate and shopping. The retail sector has been solely explored by the print media. We wanted to change that and establish television as a cost-effective medium for local advertisers. Since the last three months, we have roped in about 50 clients, says a Zee spokesperson.
Zee Marathi had introduced the scroll-based classified ad feature early in 2004 on an experimental basis. According to Vaidya, now,scroll advertising has become a permanent feature in the channel. “We have even set up a separate team to sell classified advertising. Our clientele includes various jewellery outlets and real estate firms,” he says.
Zee Marathi has also brought in an overall hike in its ad rates by 40 per cent. The spot rates for our premium properties have increased by 300 per cent. For example, the channel recently sold 10 seconds slots for Zee Marathi Awards and Shwaas for Rs 15,000 while the normal rates for those time slots are Rs 5,000.
Leave a Reply