Pakistan Government Ad Spend Cuts Trigger Media Business Shakeout

Pakistan's 88 billion rupee media industry is in the midst of a major shakeout after a long period of rapid double-digit growth since the turn of the century. Hundreds of journalists and other staff have lost their jobs. At least one TV channel, Waqt News, has closed while several others are downsizing. While such consolidation was long overdue after nearly two-decade long period of explosive growth, the PTI government's decision to reduce advertising budget, which constitutes nearly a quarter of all ad spending in the country, appears to be the main trigger. Those affected by consolidation are accusing the government of exercising press censorship by cutting its ad spending.

Pakistan Ad Spending. Source: Aurora/Dawn

Rapid Growth:

Rising buying power of rapidly expanding middle class in Pakistan drove the nation's media advertising revenue up 14% to a record Rs. 76.2 billion 2016 and another 12% to Rs. 88 billion in 2017, making the country's media market among the world's fastest growing media markets.

Global Advertising Growth 2016. Source: Magna

Industry Shakeout:

Massive commercial media growth in Pakistan has been most apparent in terms of private TV channels growing from just one in Year 2000 to over 100 today after President Musharraf's deregulation of electronic and other media.

Explosive growth with many new entrants is the fundamental business reason for the recent wave of consolidation and shakeout. Shakeout is a business term used to describe the consolidation of an industry or sector after it has experienced a period of rapid growth in demand followed by oversupply.

At least one TV channel, Waqt News owned by Nawai-Waqt Media Group, has closed while several others are downsizing.  “We are trying to compile exact figures of the affected media persons. So far, we can say that around 1,000-1,500 workers have lost their jobs or faced cuts in salaries in the past few weeks,” Muhammad Afzal Butt, president of one the main factions of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) told  The News Sunday (TNS) this week.

Government Spending:

About a quarter of Rs. 80 billion ad revenue comes from federal and provincial government ads in the media. Some of the TV channels receive as much as 50% of their revenue from the government.

"The government has cut its media spend by more than 70% and companies by almost 50%", according to a leading advertising agency owner who spoke to Dawn.

Global Advertising Growth 2018. Source: Magna


"The (federal) government used to spend some Rs. 10 billion on advertisements annually, which was increased up to Rs35 billion in the last years of the (Nawaz Sharif's PMLN) government," Fawad Chaudhry,  federal minister of information,  told The News Sunday (TNS).  This tax-payers’ money, says the minister, was used by the previous government to bribe the media for favorable coverage.

Digital Adverstising:

Growing slice of the media ad spend is being claimed by online advertising with accelerating broadband penetration in Pakistan. Most recent data from Pakistan Telecommunications Authority shows that 62 million Pakistanis now subscribe to mobile broadband and this number is increasing by one to two million new subscribers each month.

Digital media spending rose 27% in 2015-16 over prior year, the fastest of all the media platforms. It was followed by 20% increase in radio, 13% in television, 12% in print and 6% in outdoor advertising, according to data published by Aurora media market research.

Summary:

Significant reduction in government spending on advertising has triggered a long-overdue shakeout after almost two decades of rapid media growth in Pakistan. About a quarter of Rs. 80 billion ad revenue comes from federal and provincial government ads in the media. Some of the TV channels receive as much as 50% of their revenue from the government.  Hundreds of journalists and other staff have lost their jobs. At least one TV channel, Waqt, has closed while several others are downsizing. Those affected by consolidation are accusing the government of exercising press censorship by cutting its ad spending.


Here's a video discussion on Pakistani media business with Misbah Azam, Sabahat Ashraf and Riaz Haq.


https://youtu.be/Nz1axuB5j-Q





Related Links:

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FMCG Growth in Pakistan

Is Media Free?

Pakistan Retail Sales Growth

Advertising Revenue in Pakistan

Pakistan FMCG Market

The Other 99% of Pakistan Story

PSL Cricket League Revenue

E-Commerce in Pakistan

Fintech Revolution in Pakistan

Mobile Broadband Speed in Pakistan

Comments

Riaz Haq said…
DIGITAL SPENDS IN PAKISTAN WILL GROW BY 47% IN 2018 – MAGNA STUDY

According to Magna, Pakistan’s advertising market is expected to grow by 13.7% in 2018, reaching $916 million. Magna’s intelligence team found that 73% of media spends are concentrated on television, with spending growing by 14% in 2018.

The report found that the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and Pakistan’s surprise win over India contributed towards strong ratings, as did the Pakistan Super League initiated by Habib Bank Limited and Spark/Blitz of Publicis Groupe.

“The 2018 Elections are expected to create inventory shortage and generate double-digit inflation,” said the report. “In 2019 the Cricket World Cup will be a massive driver, yet again. Digital media is under-developed with just 3% of total media revenues, but growing quickly (+47% in 2018). Social Media is the fastest growing internet category (+70% in 2018), with already 16% of the population being active of which 14% through mobile devices.”


http://www.madvertising.pk/magna-apac-advertising-will-grow-7/
Riaz Haq said…
The dawn of advertising in Pakistan (1947-2017)

https://www.dawn.com/news/1398497

Pakistan’s first digital companies were born from small departments, developing websites within larger software development companies. From thereon, until as late as 2006, two years after the entry of Facebook and a year after YouTube came into existence, it never occurred to anyone how user-unfriendly these websites were.

They were fully functional, but they lacked aesthetics and did not even attempt to make the user experience easy. The flaw was that technology people are very good with coding but useless at design and communication.

In 2008, the multinational companies began to wake up to the opportunity and did the smart thing – they asked their advertising agencies to develop their websites or at the least, design them so that the software houses could build a better user experience.

Oddly, most agency owners failed to spot the opportunity this presented. However, along the way, something happened independently that forced the advertising agencies to look at digital as a viable source of revenue.

Between 2000 and 2010, agency revenues had started to shrink. Revenues from print jobs had gone as clients preferred to work directly with the printing presses. Then came the media buying houses and the agencies lost their commission revenue on media. Finally, as more and more film directors started to work directly with clients, TVC production also went, resulting in the closure of in-agency AV departments.

Desperate, the agency owners looked for anything that seemed like an opportunity and the fact that the software houses were so bad creatively, was a good way to generate some revenue.

Of course, in typical Pakistani agency tradition, they did it in the most unprofessional way. Interns, fresh out of college, were hired to handle their clients’ digital requirements. By 2010, blue-chip companies began to take an interest in social media.

Although the first digital agencies had started popping up in early 2000s, it was not until 10 years later that they began receiving serious business propositions. Along the way, clients experienced many frustrating moments, not least because if the software houses lacked creativity, the agencies lacked technological know-how in equal measure.

It has been a long journey. However, today, the frustration has shifted from the client end to the digital agency end, which, to their credit, eventually managed to evolve at a breathtaking speed. It was the clients that were lagging behind.

Even as late as 2015, 26 years after the birth of the World Wide Web, most clients still thought a digital presence meant only having lots of ‘likes’ on Facebook posts; quite astonishing, considering that the version of the software I am using to write this article will be outdated in less than six months. So imagine the frustration digital agencies experience when their clients are still living in 2006.

So, while during the late nineties and early 2000s, agencies spent much of their time trying to catch up with their clients’ digital requirements, today, the clients are the ones who need to catch up with global trends. And they must do so quickly. There was a time when each country could conceivably choose to adopt technology at their own pace; today, this is no longer practical, simply because the speed in the evolution of technology does not permit this any longer.

What is required is the rapid synchronisation in the digital capabilities of the digital agencies and of their clients in Pakistan.
Riaz Haq said…
Dwindling advertisement revenues for print and electronic media in Pakistan have brought several news organisations on the verge of closure or staff layoffs in hundreds. According to the chief executive of a leading advertisement firm in Islamabad, the private sector—including banks, textile industry and telecom firms—has slashed their advertisement budget by 50 per cent during the past few years.

https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/11/22/pakistan-media-spend-ownership-layoffs


The executive also said the provincial governments of Punjab, Sindh—the main contributors of advertisement revenues for print and electronic media—and the central government in Islamabad have slashed their advertisement budget by 70 per cent, leaving the media industry in a bad financial situation.

A compilation of advertising spend collected from multiple sources, Dawn reported, estimates that the market size has grown from Rs 66.9 billion in the financial year 2015 to Rs 87.7 billion in 2017. However, the growth share of electronic and print media shows a decline.

This is also evident from the inability of media organisations to pay salary to their staffers and layoffs of hundreds of journalists in Pakistan. Afzal Butt, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of journalists, said that over the past eight months, nearly 500 journalists lost their jobs due to the bad financial situation.


Last month, Waqt Television, a leading news channels owned by the financially-strong Nawa-e-Waqt group of newspapers, decided to shut down its operations suddenly. No prior notice was given to its employees. It closed down all bureaux in different parts of the country and asked its employees to leave the premises of the TV station immediately.

For both electronic and print media in Pakistan, government advertisements act as the backbone of their finances. “The government, both provincial and central government in Islamabad buy airtime in leading television channels during prime time hours (sic) this subsidises their financial operations,” said a senior government executive. Similarly, governments subsidise operations of leading newspapers by providing them with advertisement revenues.


In August 2018, the Pakistan senate was informed that the government provided advertisements worth Rs 15.74 billion to print and electronic media from 2013 to 2017. In the initial year of its growth, electronic media in Pakistan was greatly dependent on advertisement revenues from big telecom firms for their financial strength. The situation is not the same anymore.

“During the last few years, major telecom companies have slashed their advertisement budgets … They (telecom companies) started with a big budget in 2000 and proved to be a lifeline for the newspaper industry,” says Fasih-ur-Rehman, political editor of a local newspaper. “Economic crunch led to slashing of their advertisement budget,” he added.


An analysis in Dawn states: “The newspaper industry has its own demons to overcome. Watching resignedly as companies took a substantial portion of their media spend from print to digital platforms to reach out to their target markets, the good-old trusted newspaper is faced with a mortal threat as incomes fall drastically.” It adds, “Thus starved of resources, newspapers and magazines have shed pages and created redundancies of their own. Some are finding it hard to pay salaries to their retained employees, contributing to the unrest and the increasingly vocal protest among journalists and other workers in the industry”.

On October 9, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists staged a protest in front of Parliament house. The entire leadership of the National Press Club was in attendance at the protest demonstration in front of the Parliament building.
Riaz Haq said…
Journalist Saleem Safi accuses #PMLN and #NawazSharif of corrupting #Pakistan #media with "Lifafa" (Checkbook) #Journalism in #Pakistan. #Lifafa #corruption https://youtu.be/YoqA_W0qJ8o via @YouTube
Riaz Haq said…
Publicis Media brand enters Pakistan after winning $19 million Nestlé account from Wavemaker New CEO Benish Irshad intends to run the media agency network differently—representing a new diverse generation of talent.

Read more at: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/publicis-media-brand-enters-pakistan-after-winning-19-million-nestle-account-fro/473154

After winning the media business of one of Pakistan’s top five advertisers following a rare competitive review, the Publicis Media brand will now enter the market to handle Nestlé’s $19 million account. Starcom COO Benish Irshad, who led the successful pitch, will now become CEO of Publicis Media in Pakistan, introduced to avoid client conflict, after wrestling the major account away from incumbent Wavemaker after nearly 15 years. In Pakistan, Starcom and Mediavest, Spark Foundry and now Publicis Media are all run as affiliates through entities owned by in-market marcomms company Z2C Limited. Zenith is associated with another affiliate at a different company. Irshad now becomes the youngest leader of a major affiliate agency in the market and intends to use her ability to tap into the culture and values of younger Pakistanis to run the business differently from most others. In fact, she tells Campaign Asia-Pacific that driving conversion with Gen Z and helping to digitally transform to engage a new generation of consumers were among the key objectives Nestlé laid out its review, the first media review by a top five advertiser in the market in more than ten years. “There is always a lot of talk of advertisers targeting Gen Z, but I think it’s very important to step back and understand what this generation wants and where this generation is found because they’re definitely not watching TV”, Irshad points out. This, of course, runs in sharp contrast to the high proportion of TV spend in the market. Irshad says the pitch involved many young people working collaboratively through a Covid-induced hybrid model from across Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Riyadh. “A fundamental difference is the way we are preparing ourselves for the future in building the talent for us to be talking the same language that our consumers are and understanding where they are,” she says. She points to Z2C’s large second-party data hub and its recent $2.7 million investment in social listening and influencer technology firm Walee as keys to staying in tune with consumer preferences. She says its similarly imperative to align with global advertisers who increasingly want mobile-first campaigns and more connections to gaming. New talent, new culture Now, as Irshad puts together a core team of 25 to 30 employees to work with Nestlé on everything from dairy and childhood nutrition to cereals to beverages like water, coffee and juices, she tells Campaign she sees an opportunity to simultaneously drive change in culture and industry practices for the benefit of the entire industry in Pakistan. In her own agency, it first means applying much of her earlier experience of developing teams brand-side at Procter & Gamble and Lotte. Media agencies, she says, have been less adept at providing clearly defined career paths, leading many employees to assume they will work for a couple of years agency-side before moving on to brands or elsewhere. This, she says, is a shame, considering how dynamic media has become and the kind of growth it can offer.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan: Newspapers fight for survival as sales plunge
Jamila Achakzai Islamabad
11/22/2022November 22, 2022
Print journalism subscriptions and readership have been plummeting as people increasingly get their information from digital sources.

https://www.dw.com/en/pakistans-newspapers-fight-for-survival-as-sales-plunge/a-63845118


Mujahid Hussain, a news hawker in Islamabad, says he is afraid of losing his job amid a downturn in newspaper sales in Pakistan, where people are increasingly getting their information from digital and social media platforms.

"My employer often talks about a slump in newspaper sales and a possible business shutdown. So even if he doesn't close shop, my job is definitely on the line," the 42-year-old father of three told DW.

Hussain pointed out he has already experienced massive pay cuts over the past three years and that his family is struggling to make ends meet.

Many other news vendors in the South Asian country share similar woes.

It was not always like this, however.

Even until a decade ago, the newspaper industry thrived in the country. Daily newspapers, weeklies and magazines used to be a must in offices, living rooms and cafes.

But print publications were first eclipsed by the dozens of private TV news channels that were launched during the presidency of General Pervez Musharraf between 2001 and 2008.

Then came affordable smartphones, social media networks and widespread internet connectivity, which further dented newspaper sales as more and more people began to consume news on online platforms.


Hawkers' lives hit hard
Since the downturn in the newspaper industry has particularly affected hawkers, who mostly work part-time for meager wages, these low-paid workers are taking on other informal jobs to make ends meet.

"Successive governments haven't taken interest in the welfare of newspaper hawkers, so they are generally disheartened, insecure and always on the lookout for better options to make money," said Aqeel Abbasi, the general-secretary of the Newspaper Hawkers Union.

He explained that before Musharraf's government liberalized the broadcast media and telecom sector, Rawalpindi had around 1,600 newspaper vendors and Islamabad 700.

But with the plunge in sales, the number of vendors has dropped to 900 and 480 respectively, he said, stressing that the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic crisis had accelerated the trend.

Another problem compounding the woes of newspapers is their reliance on government advertizing for economic survival.Outlets that are critical of government and military policies have had a tough time generating enough advertizing revenue in recent years.

Will they survive?
News hawker Hussain warned that if the fall in sales did not stop, the print media would have no other option but to get rid of most of its workforce.

Some senior journalists share a similar view.

Salim Bokhari, who once edited the leading English-language newspapers The News and The Nation and currently heads the digital media team at the City News broadcast network, said that "no one wanted to spend time reading through newspaper columns" given "the ocean of information available on mobile phones."

He said newspapers might disappear if the trend continued, although he did not believe that this would happen that soon.

"The electronic media era will ultimately make newspapers' doom. The advertizers have diverted their money to TV channels and even the government prefers electronic media for advertisements," he pointed out.

Hassan Gillani, a media development professional, was more optimistic.

"Newspaper readership might have declined after the emergence and development of electronic media but it's unfair to suggest that print media could soon become a thing of the past," he said.

Riaz Haq said…
Video Streaming (SVoD) - Pakistan
Pakistan

https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/video-on-demand/video-streaming-svod/pakistan

HIGHLIGHTS
Revenue in the Video Streaming (SVoD) segment is projected to reach US$161.10m in 2022.

Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2027) of 22.93%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$452.20m by 2027.

In global comparison, most revenue will be generated in the United States (US$34,100.00m in 2022).

The average revenue per user (ARPU) in the Video Streaming (SVoD) segment is projected to amount to US$9.61 in 2022.

In the Video Streaming (SVoD) segment, the number of users is expected to amount to 25.4m users by 2027.

User penetration will be 7.3% in 2022 and is expected to hit 10.1% by 2027.
The usage share of Netflix amounts to an estimated 50% of the Videostreaming (SVoD) segment and the selected region in 2020.
Riaz Haq said…
Ad revenue in Pakistan


https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144596#:~:text=OOH%20ad%20revenue%20increased%20by,Rs%200.07%20billion%20(5%25).


Total Ad Revenue Rs. 88.73 billion in 2021-22

Total ad spend (revenue) has increased by Rs 13.09 (17%); in FY 2020-21, it increased by 17.04 (29%).


---------


In FY 2020-21, the combined revenues of Facebook, Google and YouTube accounted for 85% of the total ad spend on digital; this year, they account for 87%.

----------

TV ad revenue increased by Rs 4.64 billion (14%).
Digital ad revenue increased by Rs 3.15 billion (19%).
Print ad revenue increased by Rs 0.21 billion (2%).
OOH ad revenue increased by Rs 3.7 billion (44%).
Brand Activation/POP ad revenue increased by Rs 1.26 billion (50%).
Radio ad revenue increased by Rs 0.07 billion (5%).
Cinema ad revenue increased by Rs 0.06 billion (60%).

TV percentage share decreased by 1.4.
Digital percentage share increased by 0.27.
Print percentage share decreased by 2.19.
OOH percentage share increased by 2.51.
Brand Activation/POP percentage share increased by 0.93.
Radio percentage share decreased by 0.17.
Cinema percentage share increased by 0.05.

------

TV percentage share decreased by 1.4.
Digital percentage share increased by 0.27.
Print percentage share decreased by 2.19.
OOH percentage share increased by 2.51.
Brand Activation/POP percentage share increased by 0.93.
Radio percentage share decreased by 0.17.
Cinema percentage share increased by 0.05.

-----------------

Compared to FY 2020-21, the rankings of the Top Three newspapers remain the same.
Most newspapers have registered slight increases in their revenues.

-------

Compared to FY 2020-21, the Top Five channels have retained their positions.
In FY 2020-21, Radio Awaz Network was #7; this year it is #9.
In FY 2020-21, FM 105 was #9; this year it is #7.

-----------

Compared to FY 2020-21, the rankings of the Top Seven channels remain unchanged.
In FY 2020-21, PTV Home was #8 and Samaa was #9. This year, their positions are inverted.
In FY 2020-21, PTV Sports was #14. This year, it is #10.


-------

In FY 2020-21, the combined revenues of Facebook, Google and YouTube accounted for 85% of the total ad spend on digital; this year, they account for 87%.

-------------

Compared to FY 2020-21, the rankings of Lahore (#1), Karachi (#2) and Hyderabad (#8) remain the same.
In FY 2020-21, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Islamabad and Multan were #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7, respectively. This year, they are #4, #5, #7, #3 and #6.

---------

Product categories that were introduced this year are Real Estate (#1) and Retail/Online (#5).
In FY 2020-21, Beverages, FMCGs and Telecoms were #1, #2 and #3, respectively. This year they are #2, #3 and #4.
In FY 2020-21, Fashion and Electronic Appliances were #4 and #5 respectively. This year, they are #6 and #7.

----------

Compared to FY 2020-21, the rankings of all the elements remain the same.

Riaz Haq said…
TV Viewership Trends
FY 2021-22

https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144667/tv-vieweship-trends-fy-2022-23

Compared to the previous fiscal year, the average number of viewership hours decreased by 14%.

Viewership ranges between 3.3 and 2.7 hours a day; it is highest in Karachi (3.3 hours) and lowest in Non-Metro Punjab and Urban Balochistan (2.7 hours).

Compared to the previous fiscal year, viewership has decreased across Pakistan, except in Non-Metro Sindh.


Entertainment channels (40%), unmatched channels (26%), and news channels (19%) have the highest market share. Last year, unmatched channels had the highest share (40%), followed by entertainment channels (36%) and news channels (14%), respectively.

All Genres:

Viewership has decreased among all SECs:
SEC A: Viewership has decreased by 13%.
SEC B: Viewership has decreased by 12%.
SEC C: Viewership has decreased by 9%.
SEC D: Viewership has decreased by 15%.
SEC E: Viewership has decreased by 19%.
Viewership is highest in SEC E; this was the case last year.

Entertainment Channels:

Viewership has increased or decreased among most SECs:
SEC A: Viewership has increased by 2%.
SEC B: Viewership has decreased by 3%.
SEC C: Viewership has increased by 1%.
SEC D: Viewership has decreased by 9%.
SEC E: Viewership has decreased by 9%.
Viewership is highest in SEC C; last year it was highest in SEC E.

Unmatched Channels:

Viewership has decreased among all SECs:
SEC A: Viewership has decreased by 49%.
SEC B: Viewership has decreased by 47%.
SEC C: Viewership has decreased by 38%.
SEC D: Viewership has decreased by 45%.
SEC E: Viewership has decreased by 41%.
Viewership is highest in SEC E; this was the case last year.

News Channels:

Viewership has increased among all SECs:
SEC A: Viewership has increased by 15%.
SEC B: Viewership has increased by 17%.
SEC C: Viewership has increased by 17%.
SEC D: Viewership has increased by 35%.
SEC E: Viewership has increased by 11%.
Viewership is highest in SEC B; this was the case last year.

Children's channels:

Viewership has increased or stayed the same among most SECs:
SEC A: No change
SEC B: No change
SEC C: Viewership has increased by 22%
SEC D: Viewership has increased by 12%
SEC E: Viewership has decreased by 8%
Viewership is highest in SEC E; this was the case last year.

Sports Channels:


l Viewership has increased among all SECs:
SEC A: Viewership has increased by 167%.
SEC B: Viewership has increased by 120%.
SEC C: Viewership has increased by 100%.
SEC D: Viewership has increased by 150%.
SEC E: Viewership has increased by 125%.
l Viewership is highest in SEC B; last year it was the highest in
SECs B and C.


Movie Channels:


Viewership has stayed the same among most SECs:
SEC A: No change.
SEC B: No change.
SEC C: No change.
SEC D: No change.
SEC E: Viewership has decreased by 33%.
Viewership is highest in SECs B, C, D and E; last year it was the highest in SEC E.


Regional Channels:

Viewership has decreased or stayed the same among all SECs:
SEC A: No change.
SEC B: Viewership has decreased by 50%.
SEC C: No change.
SEC D: Viewership has decreased by 50%.
SEC E: No change.
Viewership is highest in SEC E; Last year, it was the highest
in SECs C, D and E.


Cooking Channels:

Viewership has stayed the same compared to the previous year.


Music Channels:

Viewership has decreased or stayed the same among
most SECs:
SEC A: Viewership has decreased by 33%.
SEC B: No change.
SEC C: No change.
SEC D: Viewership has decreased by 50%.
SEC E: No change.
Viewership is highest in SEC A; this was the case last year.


Religious Channels:

Viewership has decreased in all SECs by 100%.

NB:

Figures in this section are based on data collected from Medialogic’s Hybrid Panel which covers 100+ cities and towns and 3,000+ reported households.

Cable penetration in Pakistan’s urban areas stands at 97%.

The data is primarily based on urban regions in Pakistan, and the target audience is limited to C&S individuals only

Numbers have been rounded up in certain instances.*

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