MAM
Zenith Media bullish on ad spend in India next fiscal
There‘s good news round the corner for the Indian ad industry.
The annual forecast of global advertising expenditure till 2004 released by Zenith Optimedia Group this week, paints a relatively rosy picture for the country and neighbouring China even as it predicts a faintly dismal scenario for the rest of the world.
2001, the forecast reads, is heading for minus six per cent in real term growth, while 2002 will see a minus one per cent growth. 23 ad markets will contract in 2001 as the global economy shrinks much more in 2001/2002 than in it did in the global recession of 1991.While the report hopes consumer confidence will pull the sluggish ad industry out of the troughs, India and China are the only growth markets highlighted for ad spends in Asia/Pacific in 2002. Zenith Optimedia Asia CEO Antony Young says while the events of 11 September did indicate negative sentiments, India is likely to show marginal growth in the coming year.
The present survey, the first to be released after 11/9, reveals that while travel advertising was obviously hit hard, the industry is posed for a quick recovery. The shock of 11 September galvanised business into addressing its pre-existing problems quickly, it says. The first to recover from the downturn and raise their ad investment, notes the report, will get the best media bargains: ad space will be available at 1990s prices. While corporate earnings may disappoint stock investors in 2002, even modest improvement will show up in advertising, predicts Zenith.
For India, the picture is even brighter. While the second and third quarters of the year have shown dips in ad spend growth, signs of plateauing will be seen in the second quarter and recovery expected from the third quarter 2002.
Overall, single digit positive growth is expected the next fiscal.
India Advertising Expenditure Summary
Major media (TV, print, radio, cinema, outdoor)
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The global scenario is not as cheerful though. 2002 is expected to be slightly negative in North America, according to the report. The slightly optimistic note is that ingredients for advertising recovery become visible during the next fiscal.
World Advertising Expenditure Summary
Major media (TV, print, radio, cinema, outdoor)
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Compound average annual growth in worldwide advertising spend 1990-1999 was 2.4% in constant prices terms. On our present numbers, the 1999-2004 rate is 1.0%.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
