MIB doesn't issue ads in foreign media: Prakash Javadekar

Congress MP Manish Tewari in his Twitter post revealed his exchange with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, where he asked for details regarding Government of India's ad spends. He tweeted that he requested the ministry to divulge details of GOI's yearly amount spent on print, broadcasting, social media and outdoor advertisements between May 26, 2014, and September 30, 2019.  He also sought details about the amount of money GOI spent on ads in foreign media.  Here’s the tweet:

Put forth queries to the @MIB_India regarding the yearly amount spent by GoI on Print, Broadcasting, Social Media & Outdoor Advertisements between 26th May 2014-30th September 2019 & it's share in the revenue of Top 20 Indian Media Cos.#MyVoiceForPeople pic.twitter.com/djuCUiYiIX

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) December 29, 2019

In the four-point query, Tewari also inquired about the share of the Government advertising in the revenue streams of the top 20 India media companies between April 4, 2014, and September 9, 2014.

In his final point, he asked whether there was any “cost-benefit analysis done to benchmark the efficacy of the Government’s media/publicity/communications outreach programmes/strategies” for the money spent on ads.

The query was addressed by Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, who in his reply wrote: “The Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) releases notices, tenders, auctions, recruitments, etc. and also undertakes awareness campaigns and dissemination of information about the government schemes and programmes through various media.”

He wrote to Tewari, saying that the details about the release of advertisements on various media between the said dates are available on BOC’s website (http://davp.nic.in).

The most critical points in Javadekar's response was the revelation that the per sq cm rate of ads in print media has increased from Rs 42.31 to Rs 62. 13. But the average per year print media space of advertisements given by the BOC has reduced during NDA’s rule between FY 2014-15 and 2018-19 to Rs 10.95 crore sq cm from Rs 11. 88 crore sq cm in UPA II rule between FY 2009-10 and 2013-14.

He also addressed Tewari’s query related to the revenue streams of the India media companies, saying that the GOI does not maintain details about them. He also emphasised that the ministry does not issue advertisements in foreign newspapers and TV channels.

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