The Election Commission of India has issued directives to political parties and candidates in Kerala, restricting the publication of print advertisements on the eve and day of the Assembly elections without prior certification.
The print media's declining share of the media industry is not as worrying as its attitude to the factors critical to growth.
But the sector will be impacted due to sluggishness in the Indian economy.
In his Budget speech, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the stimulus package given in February this year has been extended from June 30 to December 31 this year.
Monetising online readership, a deeper focus on content and getting revenue from the reader are ways to make the business future-proof, observes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Print's credibility, and its power to give readers control of how much time they spend, makes it a strong medium.
'Demonetisation is just a trigger; the Indian print industry had this coming for years.'
Thakur said no expenditure was incurred on advertisements in foreign media through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets worth a combined Rs 8 crore of former Indian cricketers, actors and models like Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, former Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty, Sonu Sood and some others as part of its money laundering probe against an 'illegal' betting app named 1xBet.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission on Friday announced that Thursday, January 15, will be a public holiday in areas falling under the 29 municipal corporations where polling for civic elections will be held, an official said.
'If you want to force the press into blacking out the Opposition's views or colour the news to your own liking, we will not do so.' 'We stand by freedom of expression. It is our Constitutional right. We stand by our Constitutional right.'
Maharashtra is set to hold local body elections for municipal councils and nagar panchayats, marking the first phase of a Supreme Court-mandated process. The elections are seen as a key indicator of political sentiment following the BJP-led Mahayuti's victory in the assembly elections.
'Skirmishes with officials in the Press Information Bureau were an everyday affair as the newspapers sought clearances from the media censors for publishing the next day's editions'
'India's print media appears to be on the ventilator, gasping for breath, cutting staff, cutting salaries, cutting editions, cutting off its hands and legs,' notes Krishna Prasad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent Rs 1,737.68 crore for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to the expenditure report submitted to the Election Commission of India. A majority of the funds were allocated to general party propaganda and candidate-related expenses, with media advertisements accounting for a significant portion. The BJP's election outreach also included extensive use of publicity materials and campaign-related travel. The party's expenditure on public meetings, processions, and rallies, including arrangements for stages, audio setups, barricades, and vehicles, stood at Rs 19.84 crore. The travel expenditure of star campaigners authorized by the party's central headquarters amounted to Rs 168.92 crore, while Rs 2.53 crore was spent on the travel of other party leaders.
Or a brief stop on the way to better times, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Maximum cases of advertisement norms violations were reported from the healthcare sector during 2023-24, followed by illegal offshore betting and personal care categories, according to the Advertising Standards Council of India's (Asci's) Annual Complaints Report released on Wednesday. The healthcare sector accounted for a maximum 19 per cent or 1,569 of 8,229 advertisements scrutinised by Asci during the year. Illegal offshore betting accounted for 17 per cent, while the share of personal care advertisements was 13 per cent.
Harmanpreet Kaur, Smrit Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, and Jemimah Rodrigues are poised to see an uplift of 25 to 35 per cent in brand value.
While Zee managed single-digit growth in revenue, HT Media's income dipped marginally, reports Urvi Malvania/Business Standard.
Advertisement revenues will go up in 2016-17 with automobiles and e-commerce being big contributors.
The move triggered sharp reaction from the opposition, which has accused the state's BJP government of trying to stifle freedom of expression.
In the advisory to political parties, the poll authority also emphasised on "clean and serious" campaign as electioneering reached feverish pitch in the southern state.
Advertising couched as editorial is working best on digital media across the world.
Aam Aadmi Party government spent nearly Rs 15 crore on advertisements in the print media during the 91-day period till May 11, according to an Right to Information reply.
The bench also cautioned Patanjali Ayurved and its officers from making any statements adverse to any system of medicine in the media, both print and electronic, in any form as they said in their undertaking before the court earlier.
'The satisfaction of making content only comes when it reaches theatres as you are directly connecting to the masses.'
Print media will not benefit from the Budget.
The scale of illegal gambling and betting in India is staggering, with 1.6 billion visits recorded between October and December 2024 across four analysed platforms -- Parimatch, Stake, 1xBet, and Battery Bet.
The Delhi High Court expressed shock and termed as "indefensible" Yoga guru Ramdev's purported remark of "sharbat jihad" on Hamdard's Rooh Afza. The court was hearing a plea by Hamdard National Foundation India against Ramdev's Patanjali Foods Ltd. Ramdev's counsel was unavailable, and the court will take up the matter again later.
The expenditure was incurred by the government through the Central Bureau of Communication, Thakur said.
The ministry said the advisory has been issued in larger public interest and comes in the light of instances of a number of advertisements of online betting websites/platforms appearing in print, electronic, social and online media.
It has been a slow year for the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) business. After two years of double-digit growth, it grew at just about 8 per cent in 2023 over 2022. It now stands at Rs 2.33 trillion in advertising and pay revenues.
In India, traditional media, such as television and print, account for over 80 per cent of the total advertising industry. However, advertisers in India are slowly realising the potential of digital advertising media led by internet and mobile. Microsoft recently made a successful campaign for for what was perceived as an un-cool software on accountancy. The Ideawins website led to 1.5mn downloads of the software in one year, which was three times their original sales target.
'When you are a pioneer and someone who's put on a pedestal, but then the pedestal gets dusty, people don't look at the statue anymore.' 'They would say, 'Yes, yes, of course I know Bimal Roy. He made Do Bigha Zamin.'.'
The impact of the Union Budget 2012-13 on the Media & Entertainment sector is neutral. The Budget did not address the issues of digitization, as the country shift from analog cable TV to digital. The budget has nothing to say for the Industry in general.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which claims itself as the biggest political party in the world, has a whopping cash and bank balance of Rs 7,113.80 crore against the principal opposition Congress party's Rs 857.15 crore as on March 31, 2024, according to figures provided to the Election Commission.
