Unlike TV, where most advertisers come with big pockets and marketing budgets, radio and print are mediums that see advertisers of every scale. The self-declaration certificate for ads, as mandated by the Supreme Court, will turn out to be a cumbersome task for these small-scale advertisers, in turn hitting the revenue of the print and radio mediums.
Even though the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has promised to address the generic issues being faced by the advertisers, some medium-specific concerns still prevail.
Among other grave concerns, as shared by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), is that the submission of SDCs would create problems not just for the advertisers but the publications too as publications would need additional manpower and resources to manage such a high volume of ads.
Publications would need to allocate additional manpower to accept, verify, and store these certificates, thereby increasing administrative costs. Small and medium-sized publications, in particular, may struggle with these additional burdens, as per the letter, the INS stated.
"Also, many small advertisers/agencies still provide hard copy of ROs, making this mandatory digital compliance difficult for them. These agencies lack the technical infrastructure and expertise to comply with the new requirements, potentially leading to a decline in their advertising activities,” it said.
A print industry expert highlighted, "Even if it is a mid-sized advertiser, they need to create a new role whose job is to take every creative and put it on the government portal, then put an application on it, then bring that certificate. Therefore, a lot of bureaucracy will be added."
Just like print, FM radio is a hyper-local broadcast medium and is driven by ad-revenues. It mostly relies on local advertisers in the tier 2-3 markets, who lack the infrastructure to fulfill the complex requirements of the Broadcast Seva portal.
This additional expenditure and hassle may even drive advertisers away from both the platforms.
According to Monalisa Mandal, Vice President-Marketing of Fever FM, “On radio, we thrive on local businesses which are mostly human to human, person to person, where most of the time getting an RO also is a big challenge for the radio industry. Now, you are asking a local shopkeeper, whose monthly turnover is in some few thousands, to try radio for the hyperlocal reach that it brings to the table. Navigate his way through the platform and understand, he will be completely demotivated.”
Another industry source said, “For the small player, it is really a bother to do a declaration for every campaign. Because in India, the campaigns are not for a 6 month or 12 month period. It's like a 15-day, 7-day campaign, based on the topicality.”
As a solution, industry stakeholders in a recent meeting with MIB suggested various ways to reduce the ambiguity and hassle, one of which was to restrict the categories applicable for SDC to health/pharma and food only.
Mandal is of the opinion that because one brand has faltered, the concerned authorities cannot make the business difficult for the rest of the universe. She added, “We need to take this entire mandate, think it through, go back to the table, re-do the entire mechanics of the system and figure out some other way to tackle this problem that has just now arrived.”
Execution needs more thought process, said another source, and maybe there is more deliberation required from the industry. It is important to spell out what the government wants to achieve and maybe the execution could have been better.
For more updates, be socially connected with us on
Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Youtube & Google News
