LS polls: How News18 is attracting advertisers with unparalleled reach, TV+digital offering

New Delhi: As the advertisers are eyeing to ride on the general elections, especially during the week-long period including exit polls to counting day and government formation, news channels have upped their ante to corner a larger share of the advertising spends.

Speaking with BestMediaInfo.com, Mitul Sangani, CEO of Indian-language businesses at Network18, said that Newtwork18 offers unparalleled reach with 20 national and regional news channels under one umbrella. 

“This is our USP. All our channels are in the top league with an unparalleled reach. I think that is something which the brands want to leverage,” Sangani said.

While the network has locked in most of the sponsorship, it is throwing its might to make the most of the last leg – from exit polls to government formation – when more and more advertisers are expected to be present on the news channels.

“So generally, the action builds up four weeks before the counting day. The first phase of polling took place on April 19. We still have about a month and a half to go. I think the election is the time when most of the big spenders, who were on TV but were not spending on news, will come back or will add or will be quite active around the counting day,” Sangani said.

“Being the top players in all the markets we operate, our rates have been established and we do command a significant premium if I compare the rates with our competition in the market,” he added.

Most of the business categories are expected to be active during the counting week but the automobile and consumer durables are already present across the news genre since the beginning of the elections. 

Talking about brand integrations, Sangani said that the News18 network roped in TVS for a bike show while Kia is riding on the Bhaiya Ji Kahin show. 

“We are doing something with Tata to encourage people to vote. We did a campaign in Tamil Nadu where we asked people to pledge to reach out to new users, who are precisely first-time voters. While all the channels are trying to do something, the might of our network is the key differentiator,” Sangani added.

During earlier conversations with BestMediaInfo.com, advertisers across categories expressed their concerns about sameness in the content across news channels. 

Responding to the advertisers’ concerns, Sangani said, “We've done everything possible to make sure that our outreach is unparalleled and it is maximum, while the content being differentiated.”

“You only get a 30,000-foot view from a helicopter. Our reporters are reaching people via cycles, motorcycles and jeeps to showcase the issues of their area. Focusing on ground reality and watching democracy unfold from a ground level is what News18 Network is bringing to the viewers and advertisers,” he said.

Most of the top faces in the TV news are with News18 Network and all have hit the ground, be it Rubika Liyaquat, Prateek Trivedi or Amish Devgan, Sangani added.

Advertisers, especially in the high-end categories, have been raising concerns about the quality of the audience on the news channels. 

Asked about how Network18 will help high-end brands reach out to their specific TGs, Sangani said CNN-News18 caters to the audience you are talking about. 

“If you are looking at a very focused and targeted audience, there are multiple ways how you can reach out to them. When you associate with a channel, you do not associate the channel in its entirety, you also associate with a channel with a certain content. We do not limit you only to a TV channel, we also have our offline offerings, we also have our digital offerings and you know on digital you can understand the subset of the user which is consuming that content,” he added.

Sangani told BestMediaInfo.com that all the offerings of Network18 are multi-screen. 

“This helps advertisers to be a part of the content wherever it travels. Some of them want only to be on digital but most of the mass brands buy the combination TV plus digital,” he added.