MAM
Broadcasters to send off net bills; AAAI reluctant to accept
MUMBAI: The curtains are slated to go down on a very long-standing practice in the media industry tonight. Sources in the broadcasting fraternity reveal that net bills will be dispatched to media agencies for television commercials carried on channels. These will replace the gross bills which used to be the norm.
This move comes following an Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) decision on the matter. A month or so back, certain broadcasters received notices from the income tax department on gross bills not having a deduction of TDS on agency commissions. The IBF then decided to move over to the net billing system from the first billing cycle of April, something which the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) opposed. The IBF then told its members to defer the dispatch for another week to allow the IBF, the AAAI and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) to hammer out a solution. Somehow, the three could not meet last week.
And the IBF sent out another circular on Friday (19 April), advising its members to send out net bills on 22 April.
“IBF‘s circulars are always in advisory form. After consultation with some more tax experts, the IBF has told us to dispatch the net bills tonight,” said the chief financial officer of a leading broadcast company.
While broadcasters have already decided to go ahead with the issuance of net bills on 22 April, AAAI appeared to be oblivious to this development when Indiantelevision.com telephoned its president and Leo Burnett chairman & CEO Indian subcontinent Arvind Sharma. He pointed out that there has been no communication from the IBF that broadcaster members would be dispatching net bills tonight. “I hope it is not true. If they were to dispatch the net bills tonight, we will be constrained to send them back,” he said.
“We at AAAI as well as our clients represented by ISA understand the challenges faced by the broadcasters and that is why we had proposed a joint association meeting on 23 April. The IBF, however informed us that it would not be possible to have it on that day. We still believe that if the three associations put their heads together along with some expert tax consultants, a win-win answer for all can be formed. We would urge IBF to come for such a joint meeting,” Sharma added.
Obviously, the industry has not seen the last of the net vs gross billing issue.
MAM
How beverage brands are rethinking marketing strategies for weather-led demand
SLMG Beverages Private Limited joint managing director Paritosh Ladhani.
MUMBAI: As Sun climbs up the hemisphere, summer has clearly arrived in India. On 7th March 2026 Delhi registered a maximum temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius which is the highest reading logged for the first week of March in the last 50 years. Climate Change has been prolonging summers by causing earlier spring warming, delayed autumn cooling, and more frequent, intense heatwaves that persist for much longer periods.
In an endeavor to stay ahead of the curve, Beverage Brands are shifting from fixed seasonal marketing tactics to weather responsive strategies backed by data-driven insights, flexible campaigns, and diversified portfolios to capitalize on unruly temperature spike. In 2025, India’s beverage market experienced a massive, heat-triggered surge with carbonated drinks and ice cream volumes spiking 20–25 per cent in the March quarter itself on the back of hottest February in 125 years.
Clearly campaign timelines are being advanced to reap the seasonal shift in line with the jumping mercury. In the Indian context where Cricket is nothing short of religion, big ticket tournaments like T20 World Cup, Indian Premier League, ICC Champions Trophy provide plethora of opportunities to calibrate marketing campaign designs and associated business strategies to associate refreshment with community viewing both outdoor and indoors. A new trend that has taken the world by storm is that of booking the theatres for bonhomie viewing. It has also opened avenues for joint marketing initiatives by the Multiplex and Beverage Brands.
Price disrupting small potions and value packs tend to drive significantly higher volumes owing to volumetric flexibility and affordability to the consumers. Ramping up of cold supply chains for transit and at point of sales (POS) are strategic business imperatives that again define success of beverage brands.
In the era of AI and Big Data it is easy to track and calibrate messaging based on daily or weekly weather changes. Geo-targeted digital advertisement campaigns are also being run during heatwaves to make the business and marketing imperative very contextual. These pre-emptive strategies fueled by real time data and technology immensely help beverage brands to adjust supplies to the areas that are likely to generate more demand.
Novelty brings premium to the FMCG Sector and Beverage Brands are no exception. Newer SKUs build up excitement in consumers besides imparting the scope of frequent revitalization of brand marketing campaigns. Ensuring continuum of supply chain across material suppliers, logistics providers, distributors/wholesalers, and retailers become a strategic business strategy imperative for beverage brands during peak season.
Carbonated drinks among other beverages including packaged mineral water sell like hotcakes in summers, a period where holiday season gives big impetus to sales volumes. Tying up with air carriers railways, amusement parks, malls, convention centers for inclusion in the onboard beverage deck also holds a big window of opportunity for brands.
Limited period diversification into special summer categories entailing juices and functional beverages to capture the broader hydration market is also a business cum marketing imperative that beverage brands eye on. This also brings to fore the responsible side of the brand placing the compass on wellness of consumers.
Seasons are cyclic, hence summers are inevitable. Further, due to anthropogenic climate change, summers surely have been staging prolonged appearance that keep bringing beverage brands on to their drawing boards frequently for strategizing business and marketing campaigns that are agile, refreshment-focused, visually dominant in retail, affordable, and optimally promoted through seasonal campaigns in above and below the line media.
