MOSL: MEDIA-GST/demon impact waning, expect festive season boost

​MEDIA: GST/demon impact waning, expect festive season boost

We conducted a series of channel checks with experts in the media space, including ad planners and marketing/sales personnel of broadcasters/radio players. Key takeaways:

• GST-led impact appears to be subsiding. More encouragingly, ad growth is showing signs of a strong recovery with the onset of the festive season from mid-August. The improvement is seen across the TV, Print and Radio segments.
  
• Broadcasters are chasing free-to-air (FTA) ad market with better content, but not at the cost of cannibalization of their own Pay-TV subscriber revenues. This will gradually lower the risk posed by DD Freedish over the next 1-2 years.
  
• Radio phase III has widened the reach of large players, attracting more advertiser interest. With latent ad demand, the Radio industry should outpace the TV and Print mediums over the next 3-5 years. Notably, despite higher inventory supply, pricing in the Radio space remains firm.
  
• In print media, compared to vernacular, English has been more susceptible to risks posed by rising digital viewership.
  
• The future of the digital medium remains uncertain, though. Although longer-term digital viewership prospects appear promising, the near-term trends lack visibility - it remains to be seen whether it will widen or cannibalize the audience base.