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Nithya Subramanian

NEW DELHI, March 13

IF you tune in to either All-India Radio (AIR) or Doordarshan, every fourth advertisement is likely to be a Government advertisement. So even if Prasar Bharati may be finding it hard to get the Pepsis or the Levers to advertise, it seems to have no problems in attracting ads of the various Governmental departments.

And it looks like its bonanza time for the national broadcaster, especially with the various departments of the Government going on an advertising overdrive. This may just rev up the dipping revenues for the national broadcaster.

While the revenues of All-India Radio have crossed Rs 100 crore for the first time, overshooting its budgetary targets, the revenues of Doordarshan has taken a beating. Against a target of Rs 550 crore for 2003-04, the national broadcaster has managed to generate revenues of Rs 308.27 crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal.

Officials at Prasar Bharati said that the broadcasting company is looking at getting more Government ads on its platform.

"Off late, 25 per cent of our ads are Government ads. We will put in more effort to get such advertisements," said a senior official.

So you now have the Revenue Department, under the Ministry of Finance, embarking on a service tax awareness campaign, the Registrar General of India spreading the word about the importance of getting birth, death or marriage registered, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) trying to disseminate the importance of buying a life insurance in a bid to expand the market.

Sources said that the Revenue Department has, in fact, invited pitches from various advertising agencies and the advertising budget is expected to be at least over Rs 10 crore. "This year, there are several more services which have been added and the Government feels that awareness must be raised. Therefore, the media campaign," said a source.

Similarly, the Heath Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, had said that her new Ministry would be the biggest client for the Information and Broadcasting Ministry as various initiatives taken by the Ministry would require publicity and the DD and the AIR would be the ideal medium. The HRD Ministry has also been promoting its primary education scheme.

Media analysts said that with the elections round the corner, the Government is expected to only increase its spends further. "They would like to inform the people about the achievements of the Government," said an analyst.

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