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With elections for the assembly and Lok Sabha barely a few days away, leading media houses in the state have amended their marketing strategies to generate maximum revenue from political advertisements.
Some media houses have hiked their rates in anticipation of surge in the ads from the political parties, which have embarked on the publicity campaign in the run up to the general elections.
“We have doubled the rates for the political advertisements to Rs 1600 per square centimeter (sq cm) for the impending election. All the ads will be published on cash and carry basis”, said Sanjay Mishra, Assistant General Manager of Sambad, a leading vernacular daily of the state.
Stating that the rates are, however, negotiable, he said, it will be applicable till election campaign comes to an end 48 hours before the polling day.
Dharitri, another leading regional daily, however, has not inflated its rates and will continue to charge at the normal card rate for the political blitzkriegs.
It charges Rs 800 per sq cm for the inner page and Rs 1400 per sq cm and Rs 1100 sq cm for the front and back pages respectively.
“We are charging the full card rate and the ads are carried on 100 per cent advance basis”, said Himansu Hota, Director Marketing at Dharitri.
Counterparts, electronic media too have joined the race to grab the opportunities thrown by the impending elections.
“We have introduced an election campaign tariff separate for the ensuing electioneering. The rates are applicable from January”, said an official of Odisha Television network that runs a leading 24x7 news channel OTV, entertainment channel Tarang, music channel Tarang music and devotional channel Prarthana Tv.
Another leading regional channel, ETv Oriya has enforced a special rate for political ads, which is higher than the normal card rate, keeping an eon the elections.
Polling will be held simultaneously for the 147-member assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha in two phases: April 10 and 17. In the first phase, elections will be held for 10 parliamentary constituencies and 70 seats of state assembly, mostly belonging to southern and western parts of Odisha. The second phase of polls will be conducted on April 17 in 77 assembly constituencies and 11 Lok Sabha seats in the coastal belt.
