BTL rules in rural, says Prashant Mandke

The potential

Currently, in rural markets, the top categories are personal care, hair care and telecom. If you see it population-wise, almost 883 million people are using some of these categories. Other categories like automobiles and consumer durables are also growing. So overall, the scenario looks good.

The BARC rural data impact

The first thing is going to be that media planners and marketers will be more confident about the integration of television into their mainline plans for rural. It is happening, but it will be more than what it currently is. The data will help them plan confidently, which will, in turn, get more advertisers on board. And this, in turn, will expose more rural consumers to brand advertisements. 

Current viewership numbers

In my experience, as far as the rural markets are concerned, television plays a secondary role at this point of time primarily because of its [limited?] reach. The top rural markets of UP, MP, Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, have less than 40 per cent of reach in terms of television, so marketers are limited in their approach to how much of TV they can utilise in their brand promotions.

TV v/s BTL for rural

As far as TV as a medium goes, it will certainly gain a little more in terms of marketer traction for rural markets. Power availability plays a crucial role in rural viewership and the prime time may vary depending on where there is electricity. Overall, in rural markets, BTL leads in terms of demand generation, brand visibility or brand building, but TV's contribution will go up because of the data, which will help marketers and planners.

Thoughts on content strategy:

There may be some change in the mix, but nothing dramatic.