Prasar Bharati invites e-tenders for multimedia and media sales agency ahead of its OTT launch: Exclusive
The public broadcaster is looking for a multimedia and media sales agency for branding, marketing, promotion and media planning, sales and buying of Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform.
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is accelerating its foray into the OTT(over-the-top) space, this time seeking media sales muscle. After releasing a draft RFP (Request for Proposal) last year outlining the platform's features and goals, the pubcaster issued a fresh e-tender on April 19 for a multimedia and media sales agency contract.
The e-tender invites bids from pre-approved DAVP (CBC) multimedia and media sales agencies for a Rs. 4 crore contract (including taxes). The scope of work for the agencies will include branding, marketing, promotion, media planning, sales, and media buying for the platform across pre-launch, launch, and post-launch phases.
The chosen agency will be responsible for crafting a comprehensive strategy to generate excitement for the platform using various media channels. The contract spans the first 12 months following the launch and is extendable up to another 12 months based on performance review.
As per the tender document accessed by Storyboard18, scope of work related to media planning, selling and buying includes, media plan development, refinements, and amendments, as needed throughout the course of the fiscal year, create holistic media plan recommendations reflective of the key metrics, research against the target audience, and creative direction to satisfy the vision of reaching rural and urban audiences for a diverse and inclusive reach supporting a monetisation plan for the OTT , targeting audience development for all core general market targets.
“Media planning will include the use of all media vehicles as needed based on strategic direction which includes network TV, cable TV, radio, consumer print, trade print, outdoor, etc,” said the document.
Selling responsibilities on the other hand include media sales strategy development.
Empanelled agencies would be required to create a comprehensive media sales and monetization strategy, including identifying target audiences, setting pricing models, and defining sales channels for the OTT platform.
Creating an inventory pipeline for advertising on the OTT platform and bringing in hyper local advertising and creating a mechanism for attracting advertising on the OTT platform will also be part of the key responsibilities for these agencies.
The document also outlines the fact that with nearly 78 (and growing) OTT platforms already vying for audience attention, Prasar Bharati faces a significant hurdle of standing out in a crowded market.
“The challenge that lies ahead of PB is cutting through the clutter of almost 78 (and counting) OTT platforms that are already available in the Indian market, and what difference are they going to make on OTT that will give them the scale as well as avenue of fresh revenue to sustain the initiative. As a National Public Service Broadcaster, PB intends to primarily make content available to the masses free of cost or minimal charge for select content (at least in the initial phase),” they said in the document.
Therefore the source of revenue for the platform would be predominantly platform advertising, licensing fee, aggregator fee or a revenue share model.
Bids for the tender open on May 3rd, 2024, with a required earnest money deposit of Rs. 8 lakh.
