"Previously, volume of TVCs would decline with the start of load-shedding, but print and outdoor advertising would normally increase. That is not happening this time," said Nirmal Raj Paudel, immediate past-president of Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN). [break]
Paudel added due to lack of impetus, many industries are on the verge of closure and for obvious reasons, they have reduced advertising budget with the start of load-shedding.
The revenue of TV channels has gone down by 60 to 80 percent due to load-shedding in prime time. Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar, chairman of Avenues TV and CEO of Advertising Avenues Nepal, said as power cuts have crossed more than 12 hours a day and price of petroleum products has also increased, TV channels are finding it difficulty to meet their operation costs.
According to agencies, advertisers would shift their focus to print media, radio stations and billboards but now they have cut down on ad budget.
Santosh Shrestha, general secretary of AAN, said this year multinational companies have already reduced their budget for the load-shedding season in their annual plan. "Mostly campaign based advertising and small scale industries have reduced their budget for the load shedding season," said Shrestha.
According to Paudel power cuts have also increased overall ad costs for ad agencies because they have to make arrangement for alternative power sources.
"Load shedding increases advertising expenses by 40 to 50 percent as price of petroleum products has also gone higher and ad agencies have to bear additional expenses as clients are not willing to pay extra cost at a time when their ads have limited visibility due to load-shedding," said Paudel.
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