MAM
FMCG advertisers hogged TV eyeballs in Jan ’17
BENGALURU: Thirteen advertisers shared places in list of top ten television advertisers in terms of number of insertions (or spots) across the first 4 weeks of 2017. The total number of insertions in the first four weeks of 2017 by the top ten television advertisers was 12,51,529.As is the norm, FMCG Brands grabbed the bulk of the spots – 93.56 percent or 11,70,874 insertions during weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Saturday, 31 December 2016 to Friday, 27th January 2017) as per Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data for top 10 advertisers Across Genre: All India (U+R): 4+ Individuals.
Of these 13, 11 were FMCG advertisers, with Amazon Online India Pvt Ltd (online) and Super Cassettes Industries (Music) being the sole exceptions. Both these non-FMCG advertisers were among the top ten television advertisers in two of the four weeks. Amazon ranked eighth in week 2 and fifth in week 3, while Super Cassettes ranked ninth and eighth in weeks 2 and 4 respectively in terms of number of television insertions per week.
Eight of the 13 advertisers were present in the top 10 list of advertisers in terms of television insertions in all the four weeks. Three were present in in the list during two of the four weeks and two were present in the list in only one week (week 1 of 2017).
Please refer to Fig A below:
The total number of television insertions by the top 10 advertisers per week increased from 2,68,323 in week 1 to 3,47,695 in week 3 before petering off by 9.81 percent to 3,13,579 in week 4. As is obvious, Hindustan Lever Limited (Lever) has been the top advertiser in the four weeks with 31.28 percent of total insertions by the top ten advertisers in terms of insertions.
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Limited which had stood third in the first three weeks of 2017 behind Reckiyy Benckiser (India) Limited climbed to the second spot in week 4 of 2017, pushing Reckit down to third spot. While Reckitt had cut down its ad insertions in week 4 by a massive 41.96 percent to 35,481 from 61,127 in week 3, Patanjali had increased its insertions by 20.5 percent in week 4 to 38,886 from 32,270 in week 3. Super Cassettes was the sole non-FMCG brand in the list of top 10 television advertisers in terms of ad insertions in week 4.
Fig B below gives the breakup of the top 10 advertisers in terms of number of insertions for individual weeks:
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
