Tag: Ad revenues

  • Gaurav Dhawan is Times Network’s new CRO

    Gaurav Dhawan is Times Network’s new CRO

    Mumbai : Times Network has promoted Gaurav Dhawan as its chief revenue officer. Gaurav will be in charge of the network’s broadcast ad revenue operations as well as the monetisation strategy for the network’s bouquet of channels covering Hindi and English news, entertainment, and branded content.

    Times Network managing director & CEO MK Anand said, “Given Gaurav’s successful background leading go-to-market teams and his relentless focus that drives sustained growth, the decision to move him into the Chief Revenue Officer role was clear. He’s already proven to be a strong leader and I’m confident he will continue to drive our strong revenue growth strategy.”

    Dhawan is a Times Network stalwart who has played a pivotal role in shaping the brand’s market leadership and has been passionately involved in scaling revenue and new opportunities throughout his tenure with the network.

    Talking about his new role, Dhawan said, “I’m excited and honoured to helm this mandate. I have been associated with Times Network for over 17 years and it is heartening to see the Network’s commendable growth over the years, demonstrating market dominance in its respective genres. This is an exciting phase as we continue to build new opportunities for our Hindi news brands and optimize emerging revenue streams and strategic partnerships to propel the network’s growth.”

    Gaurav has over 26 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, and has a proven track record of driving businesses to profitability, impacting solutions, and innovating to deliver aggressive revenue expectations and sustained growth for businesses in television, print, and web.

  • Discovery ends Q3 with $20 mn DTC subs, $425 mn next generation revenues

    Discovery ends Q3 with $20 mn DTC subs, $425 mn next generation revenues

    Mumbai: Discovery Inc ended Q3 with 20 million DTC (direct-to-consumer) subscribers, an increase of three million subscribers since the end of Q2. The company generated $425 million of next generation revenues (growth of approximately 100 per cent versus the prior year quarter) with global D2C ARPU of approximately $ five and $ seven blended discovery+ ARPU in the US, supported by our over $10 ARPU for the discovery+ Ad Lite product.

    Discovery Inc recently launched discovery+ in Canada and the Philippines in addition to finalising a multi-year US distribution agreements with DirecTV and Verizon. The company also successfully broadcast the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, which reached over 372 million people in Europe across TV and digital platforms, and delivered 1.3 billion minutes of Olympics content on its streaming services, it said in a statement.

    Total US networks revenues increased 12 per cent to $1,858 million compared to the prior year quarter. Total revenue reported was $3,150 million; increased 23 per cent compared to the prior year quarter.

    Among the reporting segments, starting with the US, Q3 advertising revenues increased five per cent year-over-year. There was strong demand for discovery+ Ad Lite product, which contributed to the growth in the quarter. Distribution revenues increased 21 per cent year-over-year, largely due to the continued growth of discovery+ as well as linear affiliate rate increases, in part helped by successful renewals with DirectTV, Verizon, Hulu, and Altice.

    International advertising increased 26 per cent versus last year as the global advertising marketplace continued to recover from the pandemic. International distribution revenues grew six per cent during the quarter, primarily due to the growth in direct-to-consumer subscribers, which have nearly tripled over the past year across our footprint outside the US, in part aided by Olympics sign-ups.

    Investment losses for the quarter were in the low $200 million range, slightly better than last quarter.

  • Is Facebook losing lustre among advertisers?

    Is Facebook losing lustre among advertisers?

    NEW DELHI: Covid2019 has left a serious impact on ad revenues across platforms. The advertisers have controlled outflowing monies, are investing very cautiously in certain properties and some of them have stopped advertising completely. Despite the incredible growth in time spent on smartphones and other digital platforms, the ad revenues have been low for all mediums.

    Facebook, one of the most popular social media platforms across the globe, also reported a dip in ad demands in the first quarter of the year.

    While the APAC region remained the only area to show growth in percentage-wise contributions to FB’s ad revenues, it witnessed an 11.13 per cent Q-o-Q decline in Q1 FY20.

    Schbang founder-MD Harshil Karia believes that it is not only because of the pandemic that the platform is losing ad money. “Facebook has been losing steam because other platforms like Instagram and TikTok have taken over. Also, YouTube has been a pretty strong medium. Because advertisers now have more avenues (to explore), they are removing some of the expenditure from Facebook. Also, advertisers are not seeing good returns on their video spends on the platform. As a lot of content moves towards video, Facebook is facing a challenge.”

    He added that it will be better for the platform in terms of ad revenues once the lockdown is lifted but there are certain fundamental challenges that it will have to address to remain relevant for the advertisers.

    WATConsult EVP-media operations (south and west) Sahil Shah also noted that the popularity of Facebook is certainly not at the top for advertisers. “Consumers have moved to more and more platforms, resulting in explorations. But I reckon it’s still early to tell that big monies are shifting from FB to its competition. Facebook is still one of the largest addressable bases with some good targeting and relatively better brand-safe ad options available for advertisers.”

    However, #ARM Worldwide CEO and co-founder Manas Gulati thinks otherwise. “I think it is a mandatory glitch across platforms as we are seeing most of the advertisers playing it safe, so that they open with the additional reserve when the market opens. We have seen an overall drop in the digital marketing spends especially on the categories which have been directly impacted. Close to a good 45-60 per cent drop in ad spends has been noticed across categories.”

    He added that Facebook remains a central part of the advertising mix for his firm as it delivers great results in driving awareness as well as business results. “Content consumption on Facebook has increased drastically especially during these times. I think the change they have brought about in the recent upgrades of their user interface is amazing. Facebook has always been a great source of profile targeting with great technology. It has been great when it comes to results coming out of the overall umbrella of Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook itself. Its approach as a product company was always to demographic profile audience so that the leakage of ad spends is kept to the minimum to drive optimum business results.”

  • AsiaPac leads global ad growth: Nielsen

    AsiaPac leads global ad growth: Nielsen

    MUMBAI: Global advertising expenditures were up 3.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2013 for year-over-year period, driven largely by Asia Pacific’s expanding powerhouse ad market, as well as a bottoming out of Europe’s contracting ad market.

     

    According to Nielsen’s latest Global AdView Pulse report, Asia Pacific ad revenues surged seven per cent in the first nine months of 2013. China was up 16.7 per cent, Indonesia 22.1 per cent and Malaysia 15.7 per cent. The gains offset declines in Australia and South Korea.

     

    Television continues to be the favourite medium through which advertisers attempt to reach their consumers, commanding a 57.6 per cent share of all spending and growing 4.3 per cent. Display Internet, though representing a smaller share of spends at 4.5 per cent grew significantly by 32.4 per cent.

     

    Macro sectors contributing to the growth include FMCG, which saw a 5.9 per cent increase in ad spending for the year-to-date, and Industry & Services, which grew 11.3 per cent.

     

    The period also saw a slight improvement in Europe, with the market down just 0.4 per cent in Q3. Nielsen notes that the region’s ad market appears to be bottoming out. Indeed, Italy and Spain, among the hardest hit, may have the worst behind them, the report notes, and Greece saw its ad revenues gain 10.3 per cent.

     

    In the US the market was up 1.7 per cent by the end of September, even though it fell 1.3 per cent in the third quarter itself. And in Latin America, the year-on-year change was 13 per cent.

  • Ad revenues to sustain despite of hike in excise rates

    Ad revenues to sustain despite of hike in excise rates

    The ad industry seems to have no qualms about the recent budget. Industry professionals believe that the recent excise hike that the budget imposed on several categories of goods, among which figure FMCGs, automotive and consumer durables, is unlikely to prove a dampener to advertising fortunes in the coming year.

    In the past a rapid rampup of prices courtesy government levies has led to slow offtake of goods which in turn has led to a reduction in ad spend by advertisers. Ad agencies have in the process seen their billings dry up.

    Industry professionals however don’t think the scenario will be replicated this time around. Says Saatchi & Saatchi media head T.V. Shivkumar: “The hike in excise rates won’t in anyway have an effect on the ad spend of companies. There is no blanket increase in the price of commodities. The ad spend has got more to do with the bottomline of the company, whether it is able to keep its commitment with its shareholders.”

    Euro RSCG’s Gautam echoed the same sentiments: “The ad budget of a company depends more on the state of the economy as a whole. Price rise is a common feature. I don’t think there should be any change in the ad spends.”

    The excise rates, which have gone up to 16%, seem to have raised no alarms as far as the advertising and promotional expenditure of the companies is concerned. If at all, ad pros maintain that this may go up so as to cheer the slackening markets.

    What needs to be seen is whether consumers will react similarly to the situation. Will they cut back or postpone consumption like they did in the early nineties which led to reduced ad expenditures? If they do react negatively, the ad industry will be caught unawares like in the nineties when they overstaffed and overcommitted resources in the hope of good economic growth.