Love/hate may be the best way to describe humans’ collective relationship with Valentine’s Day. As in, love the partner; hate the restaurant-reservation scramble. Or love free candy; hate the looks of pity from people who think that “single” is the saddest word in the world.
Mixed emotions haven’t slowed spending. According to an American Express survey, consumers expect to shell out an average of $196 on the holiday this year, an 8% jump from 2011. More than half plan to pick up a gift — 54%, vs. 41% last year. And a growing number of singles are getting out there, making V Day their day, too.
And why shouldn’t they? In her new book, Outdated: Why Dating Is Ruining Your Love Life , blogger/author Samhita Mukhopadhyay takes on society’s narrow relationship conventions, which tend to ignore, for example, race/class/sexual orientation differences¬¬. When few reports that married adults barely outnumber singles in the US, it’s big news, but among African Americans and Latinos, the unmarried have been in the majority for a good while (PewResearch.org, 11 December 2011). They still have love, partnership and community in their lives, just in different forms.
Mukhopadhyay’s Occupy Valentine’s Day Tumblr campaign urges everyone to celebrate the full spectrum of relationships, and to do it on their own terms. With an army of unapologetic singles out there, Valentine’s Day could look more like it did in the third grade: Everyone gets something and no one feels left out.
What does this mean for marketers?
1. Leaving out singles in any Valentine’s Day promotion is leaving money on the table. They’re not also-rans. And even bitter singles are sick of having the bitter-single cliché shoved in their faces.
2. Friends and family aren’t just highly valued by both single and coupled African American and Latino consumers. They’re leaned on in ways that can make giving something back on Valentine’s Day an easy sell.
3. Celebrating independence may work with single black women (and most single women, really), but it’s low on emotional resonance. Fulfilled, happy, optimistic, complete — how independence makes them feel is what connects.
4. Standard Valentine’s Day expectations seem a little grown-up to down-aging adults in their 20s and 30s. Fun and whimsy in messaging could take the edge off all the pressure.
5. Casting a wider love net won’t keep people from buying flowers and chocolate. In fact, it could mean buying more of everything — for the spouse, mom, friend and/or oneself.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
India’s DTH base ends 2011 with 45 million subscribers
India’s DTH pay TV market ended 2011 with almost 44.4 million subscribers, 30 million of which were on a net basis. This is equivalent to 25-30 per cent average market share, according to Media Partners Asia’s (MPA) latest research findings.
Dish TV continues to lead with a market share of 28.2 per cent, while late entrant Videocon D2H has seen robust additions to surpass Big TV. Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have 19 per cent and 16 per cent market share, respectively.
Big TV and Sun Direct have seen limited growth due to funding, churn and legacy satellite issues.
In November 2011, major operators implemented price increases, largely across basic packs, while also lowering trade margins by Rs 200-250 per new subscriber (US$ 4-5 per subscriber). The price hikes should boost ARPUs (average revenue per user) and, together with lease rentals, will help offset rising subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) from a depreciating rupee. Lowering of trade margins post festive season will also help to check the high rotational churn in the DTH industry.
The fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 marked a fresh peak and trough for the DTH pay TV market in India in terms of gross subscriber additions. While the industry added 1.6 million subscribers in October, a mere 0.61 million came on board in December. The quality of subscriber additions from this point onwards is expected to be superior, resulting in improved churn and better yields.
If key issues on capacity and after-sales service are addressed, the government’s mandatory digitalisation drive could be a significant catalyst for DTH to grab high-ARPU customers and increase reach in larger TAM meter markets, says the MPA research. MSOs envisage about 15-20 per cent churn in cable subscribers to DTH. Some operators expect this could grow in excess of 30 per cent in the early stages of Phase I deployment.
There is also a need to ramp up after-sales service by DTH companies, as the lead time to address a given complaint ranges from three to five days and is highly subject to the minimum number of enquiries received and the number of on-ground engineers. Satellite operators are also concerned about the capacity constraints to carry signals on the currently used FSS or Fixed Service Satellite band. Amongst major DTH operators, Dish and Airtel are adequately placed in terms of channel capacity for Phase I mandatory cable digitalisation.
Dish TV: It has launched its DVR service for its HD subscribers called truHD+. The DVR service is priced at Rs 2,690 per subcriber, which is at a steep discount of 45-55 per cent compared to its competitors’ offerings. The company has launched a new marketing campaign – ‘Dish sawaar hai’ – with an ad spend of Rs 25 crore. Out of the total gross base of 12.5 million subscribers on Dish TV, about 2 per cent are on HD.
Price hikes in November and a more aggressive push on HD services will improve ARPUs, but SAC will remain under pressure. Subscriber additions will remain slow as indicated from the company’s revision in guidance of annual gross subscriber additions from 3-3.5 million to 2.6-2.7 million.
Tata Sky: The company has recently introduced on-demand services, which includes catch-up TV and access to a library of 500-1,000 movies for premium subscribers. Tata Sky has been the most aggressive on value-added services, which on average contribute a relatively high 9-11 per cent to its monthly subscription revenues. Moreover, the segment is profitable net of all expenses including content, bandwidth consumption, advertising, promotion and taxes. Also, the operator leads the market in terms of the contribution of HD subscribers to monthly additions. Most of these additions have come from its existing subscribers upgrading to HD.
Airtel: Metros constitute 8-11 per cent of monthly subscriber additions. The company remains focused on its core operations, ramping up customer care services, HD content offerings and stocking up STBs. The company’s ARPU is tracking at Rs 160 per month.
Videocon D2H: The fast-growing DTH operator is looking to sell a minority stake of around 20-25 per cent to a PE firm, according to the MPA report.
Article source: Info@BestMediaInfo.com
Dish TV continues to lead with a market share of 28.2 per cent, while late entrant Videocon D2H has seen robust additions to surpass Big TV. Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV have 19 per cent and 16 per cent market share, respectively.
Big TV and Sun Direct have seen limited growth due to funding, churn and legacy satellite issues.
In November 2011, major operators implemented price increases, largely across basic packs, while also lowering trade margins by Rs 200-250 per new subscriber (US$ 4-5 per subscriber). The price hikes should boost ARPUs (average revenue per user) and, together with lease rentals, will help offset rising subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) from a depreciating rupee. Lowering of trade margins post festive season will also help to check the high rotational churn in the DTH industry.
The fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 marked a fresh peak and trough for the DTH pay TV market in India in terms of gross subscriber additions. While the industry added 1.6 million subscribers in October, a mere 0.61 million came on board in December. The quality of subscriber additions from this point onwards is expected to be superior, resulting in improved churn and better yields.
If key issues on capacity and after-sales service are addressed, the government’s mandatory digitalisation drive could be a significant catalyst for DTH to grab high-ARPU customers and increase reach in larger TAM meter markets, says the MPA research. MSOs envisage about 15-20 per cent churn in cable subscribers to DTH. Some operators expect this could grow in excess of 30 per cent in the early stages of Phase I deployment.
There is also a need to ramp up after-sales service by DTH companies, as the lead time to address a given complaint ranges from three to five days and is highly subject to the minimum number of enquiries received and the number of on-ground engineers. Satellite operators are also concerned about the capacity constraints to carry signals on the currently used FSS or Fixed Service Satellite band. Amongst major DTH operators, Dish and Airtel are adequately placed in terms of channel capacity for Phase I mandatory cable digitalisation.
Dish TV: It has launched its DVR service for its HD subscribers called truHD+. The DVR service is priced at Rs 2,690 per subcriber, which is at a steep discount of 45-55 per cent compared to its competitors’ offerings. The company has launched a new marketing campaign – ‘Dish sawaar hai’ – with an ad spend of Rs 25 crore. Out of the total gross base of 12.5 million subscribers on Dish TV, about 2 per cent are on HD.
Price hikes in November and a more aggressive push on HD services will improve ARPUs, but SAC will remain under pressure. Subscriber additions will remain slow as indicated from the company’s revision in guidance of annual gross subscriber additions from 3-3.5 million to 2.6-2.7 million.
Tata Sky: The company has recently introduced on-demand services, which includes catch-up TV and access to a library of 500-1,000 movies for premium subscribers. Tata Sky has been the most aggressive on value-added services, which on average contribute a relatively high 9-11 per cent to its monthly subscription revenues. Moreover, the segment is profitable net of all expenses including content, bandwidth consumption, advertising, promotion and taxes. Also, the operator leads the market in terms of the contribution of HD subscribers to monthly additions. Most of these additions have come from its existing subscribers upgrading to HD.
Airtel: Metros constitute 8-11 per cent of monthly subscriber additions. The company remains focused on its core operations, ramping up customer care services, HD content offerings and stocking up STBs. The company’s ARPU is tracking at Rs 160 per month.
Videocon D2H: The fast-growing DTH operator is looking to sell a minority stake of around 20-25 per cent to a PE firm, according to the MPA report.
Article source: Info@BestMediaInfo.com
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
What being slim means for Indian consumers?
Provided by: Iconoculture Quantified Analysis
Source date: W1.1, 2010
KEY INSIGHTS
More than half of Indian consumers, regardless of lifestage, equate slim with healthy. This indicates that health concerns may be the top reason why people in India keep a diet or exercise to lose weight.
The second most popular association for being slim is “I am in control of my life,” which may relate to portion control and over-eating.
Being slim also translates to attractiveness. Youth, young adults and midlifers all have the same set of statements that they associate most with being slim.
The only exception is seniors, who think that their slim figure may be a sign of weak health.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
Consumers are bombarded with media messages of slim models/actors/public figures who are made up to look half their actual age in TV commercials and public propaganda material. Slim, therefore, means young and healthy, to a majority of consumers. The idea of losing weight, exercising and keeping fit are equated with good health in these media messages.
Youthful looks are very important to consumers fighting the ageing battle. Being slim somehow wins half that battle for them.
This data information is provided by © 2012 Iconoculture, a Corporate Executive Board company. Iconoculture is a registered trademark of Iconoculture, a Corporate Executive Board company. All rights reserved.
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