Exclusive | Media research in India is highly fragmented: Primetime Intl's Jenish Shah

Primetime International Services Pvt. Ltd is a media marketing company that markets Indian ethnic media to advertisers in India who cater to the South Asians abroad. The company celebrates 10 years of its association with Sony Entertainment Network channels in the International markets for their airtime sales.

Primetime India  has been a major player in the field of independent media sales in India. Set up in 1985, Primetime has marketed time and space across media such as television, outdoor, video and more recently radio and digital. Primetime has an enviable understanding of local consumer and advertiser dynamics as well as a tested sales staff and infrastructure across the key centres of India. Primetime's plans to become a one-stop solution for International markets for clients based in India. 

Their team is a knowledge based group which endeavors to provide best and wide spectrum of corporate services at one stop. They are a destination where all paths in hunt for advertisers solutions end. Their diversified and dedicated team of professionals have expertise in providing cost effective media solutions. For advertisers based in India who have a distribution presence in the international markets, reaching the South Asian communities is critical for their business success in those markets as they form the core target group for consumption.

They aim not only to provide media reach in the international markets on large TV platforms but also to provide customized solutions to advertisers. Primetime International operates in this scenario offering a single point media representation for Indian ethnic media catering to Indian advertisers who want to reach out to the estimated 25 million strong South Asian population. It is seen that an increasing number of Indian brands not only reach out to the traditionally Indian concentrated markets like U.S ,UK and Middle East but are also exploring emerging markets like Canada, Africa, Australia, Fiji and Caribbean Islands.

Adgully caught up with Jenish Shah, VP, International Sales Primetime International. He shared their future plans, media research and measurability in India and also talks about providing new age media solutions to its advertisers and more.

With regard to the future plans of Primetime International and how they plan to help brands communicate with their target group in the international markets in a more interactive manner Jenish Shah said, “We work as per the needs of the advertisers and hence we have advertisers as our starting point. Our mission statement also clearly states that ‘To provide cost effective advertising solutions through innovative and new marketing options’. We are currently working towards putting together a roadmap to increase our offerings to advertisers. We plan to bring together various media vehicles like On Ground events, Online and adding more of non competing channels to our anvil.

They aim  not only to provide media reach in the international markets on large TV platforms but also to provide customized solutions to advertisers. He further spoke about how they view the TV channel market internationally and elaborated on Sony Network International Reach. He said, “South Asian Television market internationally is pegged at around 500 million USD which in a major way constitutes distribution, ad sales, content syndication etc. Currently there are approximately 48 South Asian channels present internationally and lot more going international in the next couple of years. It is an interesting phase for advertisers who are looking to advertise in the International markets. SET is one of the leading networks in the International markets. It reaches out to about 125 major countries reaching out to more than 10 million viewers globally.

When asked how he would rate the media research and measurability in India vis a vis the international market, Shah said, “Media research in India is highly fragmented. Honestly with 450 plus channels in India as a media planner it is highly difficult to plan a media campaign. The good part is that there is a measurement system currency available which is TAM in India which helps our media buyers to decide and provide some measurability to advertisers. Though recently serious questions have been raised on the credibility of the medium, it still continues to be widely accepted. However, internationally there is no system available for TV measurement.  TAM has been introduced in UAE but still a large part of the globe does not have any  measurement. Sporadic research has been initiated by networks like Zee and STAR but it still remains a mystery for large advertisers. Here also we should not forget that these channels  are targeting the niche audience which is 2 – 5% of the total population.”

Recently Primetime initiated work in providing new age media solutions to its  advertisers. He confirmed this move which he said was long pending and they are glad to have done so.

In conclusion Jenish Shah said, “Yes we have indeed moved into new media. This was long pending but we are happy we have finally moved into this space. Primetime started its digital operations in the year 2011. We have a company called Marmalade Digital which provides digital media solutions. Marmalade will be the first company in India to introduce the DSP platform and more  details can be availed on our website www.marmaladedigital.in.”

Jenish Shah has completed his Masters in Business Administration from Institute for Technology and Management, Mumbai – specializing in Marketing. He has worked in online space for more than 3 years in different capacities and handled clients like HSBC, HDFC Bank and others. He is a Search Engine Optimization specialist and also Pay per Click Certified. He has been associated with Primetime since April 2008. He also takes care of the New Media division which takes care of the Online and Mobile Space. 

Media
@adgully

News in the domain of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Business of Entertainment

More in Media