Challenging year for broadcasters seeking advertisers attention: Mayank Shah of Parle

Delhi: Mayank Shah, VP Marketing at Parle Products, highlighted the challenging landscape for broadcasters in 2024 regarding attracting advertisers, attributed to the multitude of significant events occurring throughout the year, during an interview with BestMediaInfo.com.

Shah emphasised the challenging landscape faced by broadcasters since January, with events ranging from the Ram Temple Consecration to the Women's Premier League, IPL, general elections, World Cup, Olympics, and more. 

“With such a plethora of events and airtime at advertisers' disposal, it has indeed been a challenging year for broadcasters and streamers,” commented Shah.

This year, Parle Products is the official broadcast sponsor on Star Sports and Associate Sponsor on JioCinema for IPL 2024. 

The property has generated a good ROI for brands this season, said Mayank Shah, VP Marketing at Parle Products. 

“Last year, IPL performed well for us. This year, it’s doing even better in terms of reach on both Star Sports and JioCinema. IPL has worked for most of the advertisers in terms of ROI,” said Shah.

Disney Star, the official television broadcaster for IPL 2024, has recorded a total reach of 52 crores for the first 59 matches. As per BARC, the total reach of the tournament has grown by 6% compared to the 2023 edition and 41% since the expansion to 10 teams in 2022 (source: BARC data for 2+U+R).

“Even on JioCinema, the viewership has increased by 15-20%,” added Shah. 

Digital sponsorship for IPL had long been in Parle Products' plans. They seized the opportunity to sponsor Star Sports at the last moment, enticed by the broadcaster's offer of additional lucrative value additions.

In 2017, the ‘Naam Toh Suna Hi Hoga’ IPL campaign by Parle Products established the multitude of products nested under its umbrella. Retaining the same campaign line, the current IPL campaign has taken the same narrative forward. 

A series of five short commercials, conceptualised by Fundamental and directed by Sukriti Tyagi of Klture Studios, aims to bring together the values that define Parle Products and their variety of snacks, biscuits, cookies, and confectionery items.

The campaign, created by Fundamental, aims to showcase the grandeur of the Parle corporate brand. Unlike regular corporate campaigns, which have a serious tonality, Parle has tried to deliver the brand messaging with wit and humour.

The objective behind the corporate campaign is to take forward the initiative started in 2017-18 of positioning ‘Parle’ as a ‘Branded House’ from a ‘House of Brands’. 

It's worth mentioning that one of the co-founders of Fundamental, Pallavi Chakravarti, previously contributed to Parle's 2017 campaign during her tenure at Taproot dentsu.

The five films:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0MNPttwBJGc?si=-pu1HukR_kpgBydQ

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VwatSVAWr7Q?si=0WKK-WhYf5LAYu5_

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qjkc99NgS9M?si=3aHTP9yV8PhUpA9U

https://www.youtube.com/embed/M3PqkYhoCC4?si=FfOGsXI9PJwkjEzn

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6k9HhklCDJY?si=k0cENTILlXYe-khE

Each film solves different objectives, be it quality, trust, innovation, variety, being contemporary, progressive, etc.

“The campaign aims to project the grandeur of corporate brand Parle and show the dominant leadership position that Parle holds in the market today using attributes and values that the company stands for and is associated with, like quality, trust, innovation, variety, being contemporary, progressive, etc.” commented Shah. 

“We are also seeing some early greenshoots in terms of improvement in corporate imagery through our brand tracking mechanism,” Shah told BestMediaInfo.com.

Starting on June 1, 2024, the T20 World Cup is just around the corner and will be broadcast on Star Sports and streamed on Hotstar.

Discussing Parle Products' anticipation for the World Cup and whether it will pursue sponsorships similar to the IPL or opt for buying ad spots, Shah stated, "We will assess the World Cup depending on the investment and deal offered by Disney Star, as it is a different scenario from the IPL. In the IPL, all teams have Indian players, whereas in the World Cup, matches may not attract significant viewership as many matches feature only foreign teams."

However, Shah added that removing the World Cup from behind the paywall would help Disney Star attract more advertisers, as viewership would increase when audiences do not have to pay to watch the content.

Talking about what works better when it comes to spending on TV or digital with regards to sports advertising, Shah bifurcated TV into HD and SD and digital into CTV and mobile. 

He explained, “The effectiveness of TV and digital advertising depends on the brand's target audience. SD targets traditional viewers sitting at home; HD targets an affluent 35–40-year-old and above audience. Mobile advertising works better for brands targeting a mass segment or the lower part of the SEC. CTV advertising in digital works for brands targeting affluent and younger audiences.”

However, Shah suggested that there would be an overlap of audiences. “It’s not that a younger, affluent person will not consume sports on HD. Mobile can be consumed by anyone on the move. Similarly, a person who might watch sports on TV, be it CTV, HD, or SD, can still consume the same sports on mobile and use it as a second screen,” he asserted.