'IPL outcome has debunked myth about TV's death'

Amin Lakhani, chief executive for South Asia at GroupM-owned media services company Mindshare, said that both Disney Star and JioCinema, the TV and digital rights holders of the Indian Premier League (IPL), have failed to achieve their threshold advertising potential this season.

- Gaurav Laghate & Varuni Khosla

While digital has grown, he said that the myth that TV is dead was disproved. In an interview on the sidelines of the 16th edition of the Goafest, an advertising festival, he spoke about the signs of revival and growth in sectors such as fashion, consumer packaged goods and auto while pointing out that some categories and brands continue with a cautious approach. The start of 2023 has been slower than envisaged in multiple ways, he said. Edited excerpts:

How has the standoff between traditional TV and digital played out for the advertising industry during the IPL?

From the overall aspiration perspective, both digital and TV have not achieved their threshold potential this year. While IPL has done well, there is still a lot of potential left to be achieved in digital, both from the connected TV and from the other perspective too. From the industry’s standpoint, the entire TV versus digital war may not have played out well at all. While I believe in the growth of the digital medium, numbers demonstrate that you cannot rule out TV in India. It can build strong brand connections. But it is not one versus the other medium since you cannot just write TV off.

But the digital campaign was that TV is dead. Is that true?

Star has done the out-of-home or OOH distribution smartly. The viewership on TV has become better. It is proven that people are spending time watching the tournament on TV. The myth that TV is dead has been disproved.