Government woos print media before general elections, hikes ad rates by 25%

Bringing cheer to India’s embattled print industry, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government has increased the rates at which it gives ads to newspapers by 25%.The hike is over and above the existing rate structure for advertisement in print media by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (erstwhile DAVP).

Experts believe the government is trying to keep the print media in good humour before the upcoming general elections. The hike is effective from January 8, 2019, and will be valid for a period of three years.                                                

The last such revision had taken place in 2013, when an increase of 19% had been announced over and above the rates of 2010.

BestMediaInfo.com had reported in April last year about the government’s decision to consider revision of ad rates.

This decision has been taken on the basis of recommendations of the 8th Rate Structure Committee constituted by I&B Ministry, which took into account several factors, including the increase in price of newsprint, processing charges and other factors that go into the computation of advertisement rates.

The move is a huge relief for India's embattled print industry. The ad rates offered by the government were one-tenth of the commercial ad rates on print but contributed around 12-15% of the total adex of small and medium sized papers.

India’s print industry has a total revenue of more than Rs 20,000 crore but a major chunk goes to the top seven-eight publication houses led by the Times of India group, The Hindustan Times group of papers, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar and Amar Ujala.

Government ads contribute nearly Rs 900-1000 crore, annually, despite the lowest ad rates.

For the last few years, the government has been under constant pressure to revise and improve ad rates that it offers to the publishers and broadcasters — both TV and radio — against publishing/ telecasting government ads.

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