Viacom-Star merger will reduce bargaining power: Advertising industry

The merger of the Indian media business of Walt Disney with Reliance Industries’ Viacom18 will create a “significant dominant player”, which might reduce the bargaining power for media buying agencies, the country’s advertising industry has said.

The Rs 70,000-crore behemoth, created post-merger may enable it to exert greater control over pricing and inventory of media rights and also influence over content, advertising industry leaders said.

According to the experts, the merged entity will almost have a monopoly in sports properties as it will collectively control 75-80 per cent of the Indian sports market, in both linear TV and digital platforms and may uptick the rates.