M&E players await ROs as Navratri kicks in on Thursday

New Delhi: As platforms across mediums await the release order from their advertisers and agencies with just a few days left for Navratri to kick in, the media and entertainment industry is expecting a robust festive season.

While the top media houses remain optimistic about 15-20% growth in their festive revenues over the previous year, a couple of industry veterans see a subdude growth.

“Aligned to our expectations,” said a media network CEO told BestMediaInfo.com.

Another senior executive of a large news network said that the advertisers will start releasing ROs on Wednesday as soon as the inauspicious period of ‘Shradh’ is over.

However, a top media agency head was apprehensive about the overall uplift in festive spends as per the market expectations.

“It is true that the ROs will be sent starting Thursday during the Navratri period but what I can see from the sentiments point of view is that the planning is slow. We expect this to pick up with Navratri but as on date, the overall festive growth may be subdued,” the agency head said.

When asked why he is still hopeful, the agency head explained it takes one brand to kick off a big campaign and others follow. “We saw how Google Pixel and Samsung reacted to Apple’s iPhone launch. We are hopeful that this will replicate across categories.”

A senior executive from a global media agency network added that the print and television mediums continue to rule the festive planning despite the speculations around digital overtaking the traditional media for the first time this festive season.

“Today, digital is largely performance via e-commerce advertising and social media. But if you look at their size, it is tough to say the new media will outperform the traditional,” the executive said.

Contesting the claims that this festive season will be better than the previous year for the whole M&E sector, an industry veteran said, “Last year, we had ICC Men’s World Cup Cricket adding more than Rs 2,200 crore to the adex. Will that be compensated this year is a big concern this year.”

“The first and foremost question is whether brands are increasing their budget this festive season. Then the question of medium-wise spending will arise,” he added.