Dr H S Paul
NEW DELHI, May 24: Media has been one of the most suffered sectors due to Covid-19 pandemic. The Print Media has lost significantly in circulation and also suffered huge Ad revenue loss. Electronic Media also lost heavily in Ad revenues, the Outdoor Media got all orders cancelled owing to no traffic on roads due to lockdown, the Events business drew blank as there were no events allowed in this period.
This was revealed in a Research Report of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry “Outlook of Media and Entertainment Industry in the COVID Scenario”.
The Report was submitted to the Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar by Sanjay Aggarwal, Sr Vice President, Mukesh Gupta, Chairman- Media & Entertainment Committe, Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General and Yogesh Srivastav, Principal Director, PHDCCI.
“COVID pandemic has caused mass disruptions to the Nation’s economy, its trade, industry and the lives of citizens. There is no industry or sector of the economy which has been left unaffected by this wave. As the world has accepted the Covid-19 as the new normal, the crisis has also impacted how different forms of media is consumed in the world of today,” the Report said.
“PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry appreciated the Government for undertaking continuous reform measure to support industry, trade and economy to break free from the grip of Covid crisis,” said Sanjay Aggarwal, Sr Vice President PHDCCI.
The report suggested that one of the major impact of Covid on the MSME industry was the instability caused and a downfall in the advertising revenues across all media segments. Radio, TV, Print, Outdoor (OOH) out-of-home media saw a significant decline in the advertising revenue.
“This falling advertising revenue trends is expected to pose a significant threat to the industry as Advertising is a prime source of revenue for Media. We urge the Government to make a conscious effort towards ensuring full utilization of its annual advertising budget in the respective financial year,” said Committee Chairman Mukesh Gupta.
Sr Vice President Sanjay Aggarwal said that PSUs, Corporates and industry stakeholder should also make a consciously connect with their consumers by reaching out to them through effective advertising campaign.
“We urge the Government to direct all other Ministries, DAVP, State Govts, PSUs etc to clear all outstanding payments of the entire media industry, which is a significantly large amount,” said Mr Aggarwal
“As a goodwill gesture and keeping the importance of Media industry’s role in these critical times, the development of economy as well as socio-political fields, the Government must pay salaries for the lockdown period for those employees of Media who are registered with ESIC. This will go a long way in restoring the faith in the government by the media industry,” the report further said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
