The official broadcaster for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Doordarshan, is understood to have cut its advertising revenue target by half to Rs 100 crore from the 12-day long event due to poor response from advertisers.
The decision is not surprising in the wake of many of the big time spenders, including PSUs like NTPC and Power Grid witholding their sponsorship for the Games being held from October 3-14. Poor response from advertisers due to controversies surrounding the CWG has also forced Prasar Bharti to revise packages that it had earlier designed.
"The packages that were originally offered have been revised as the advertisers' response was lukewarm due to obvious reasons," a senior Prasar Bharti official said on condition of anonymity.
For instance, DD was earlier offering packages of Rs 25 crore and above, but there weren't too many takers. It is now trying to sell packages for Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore, the official said.
"However, thankfully, now the interest level of advertisers has gone up," the official added.
Asked how the revised package will affect the ad revenue targets, the official said it has been revised downwards from Rs 200 crore to only Rs 100 crore.
"The target has come down to Rs 100 crore now. However, there is an intensified focus on advertisers, including state governments, PSUs and corporates," the official said.
However, Prasar Bharti is yet to clinch a deal and only negotiations are going on at present. It hopes to finalise most of the advertisers by September 15, the official added.
Besides the big packages, the standalone ad slots on per ten seconds basis would be released for sale by the first week of next month.
"Currently the effort is to make money by selling the big packages and also customising them for the advertisers. The smaller ad slots would be sold by September 1," the official informed.
It is understood that a ten second slot is likely to be priced around Rs 1 lakh and advertisers would have to option of choosing the channels and days, including the opening and closing ceremonies that are likely to be priced higher.
The games would be telecast on six national DD channels and 16 regional channels.
