Industry body PHDCCI urges govt to use entire annual Ad budget to help media cos

Mumbai: Industry body PHDCCI has urged the government to use its entire annual budget for advertising to help media companies which are struggling to survive because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis.

The request is part of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s research report, ‘Outlook of Media and Entertainment Industry in the COVID Scenario’, presented to minister of information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.

As per PHDCCI, the economic slowdown, made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to pull down the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry’s revenues by 16%, or Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal. The report says that one of the major impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on the Rs 1.3 lakh crore sector has been the instability caused and a decline in advertising revenue across all media segments— radio, TV, print and outdoor.