Nepalese Government, after a long series of events, has finally settled down to impose the “Clean Feed Policy”.

Before we straight dig into the matter, I’d like you to count the number of Indian TV advertisements and compare it with the number of Nepalese TV advertisement you remember. No doubt, the number is higher on the Indian side until and unless you only had “Nepal TV” broadcasting on your television or you count Indian companies’ ads dubbed in Nepali in Nepalese side.

Most of us being brought up in a generation where televisions were at a boom, there is a high percentage chance of us having more memories of watching Indian channels than the Nepalese ones which is a totally fine thing! There were not enough Nepalese TV channels with good and entertaining shows. Because of which an “average” television viewer will prefer an Indian channel over a Nepalese channel even today. And not to mention the fact that these Indian channels play advertisements of Indian products and services.

Now here’s where government’s policy comes into play!

Indian channels who are broadcasting these advertisements of Indian and Multi-National companies into Nepalese Televisions over a decade now, have not spend even a single rupee. This level of mass advertisement must be of huge price to these companies since both markets and its consumers share some common characteristics. And in return with no investment at all, they are able to sell their products and service and strengthen their brand image.

This is why the Nepalese Government has come up with this policy.

The policy states that the Indian or Multi-National companies are not allowed freely broadcast their advertisements and the Indian channels should now maintain “Clean Feed”, which means they should broadcast shows without advertisements in it.

 

Why is this policy good?

 

• Growth of Nepalese Advertising market:

For now, Indians and multi-national companies are greatly benefited through Indian channels.

But after the implementation of the “Clean Feed” policy, companies need to deal with Nepalese channels in order to broadcast their ads and also deal with Nepalese Advertising Agencies in order to make ads in the local language specifically targeting Nepal.

Thus, this is a great opportunity for the growth of the Nepalese Advertising market.

• Competitive Advertisement:

The amount of money a Nepal based company has to spend on a TVC ad is comparatively way high because of less concentration in the advertisement in the market. On the contrary, companies from outside are reaching out to more audience than Nepalese companies through Indian channels.

As soon as Multinational companies enters Nepalese advertisement market, the market becomes highly competitive and companies will reach out to similar number of audience in identical price range.

• Employment Opportunities:

The need for human resources in ads thereafter will increase in different forms. Either be it a writer, an actor, a cameraperson, a director and the list continues on and on. This will help to increase the employment rate and also the living standard as a whole.

Imagine Nepalese superstars like Rajesh Hamal playing in ads of multi-national companies.

How good would it be!

• Aid to Balance of Payment:

Well, by now most of us are aware of the fact that Nepal is suffering from trade deficit and our economy is totally import oriented. Moreover, our BOP with India is more than 7 Arba on the negative side.

If the government successfully implements this policy, only limited number of Indian ads promoting their products will enter to Nepalese market and thus people will are less manipulated towards them. This effect acts directly proportional to Nepalese products and the consumption also increases.

Besides that, the amount companies spend on Nepali market in order to broadcast their ads also aids on the Balance of Payment.

Okay, time to know if this policy is really worth the hassle?

Being completely honest, the policy may seem like a lot of work for now but looking at the aftermath of the process, it is totally worth it!

Yes, the prices of Indian channels with the implication of “Clean Feed” will increase for sure. The television service providers will have to pay more than double the price. The channels will need to construct a separate control room to implement clean feed which is approximate to the cost of setting up a new, small scale channel.

This load of increase in expense is ultimately put upon the shoulders of the end-users. It is reported that the channels that Nepalese people are watching at Rs. 500 will cost somewhere near Rs. 2000.

The television service providers are also claiming that the Indian channels won’t provide clean feed channels because of which there may be no Indian channels broadcasting. As per them, this will also violate the right for the entertainment of users.

Conclusively,

Although television viewers badly missed Indian channels on one day banned put by the television service providers, they will slowly but surely shift towards Nepalese channels and be more price-conscious and subscribe for Indian channels that they are really in need of.

This shift in behavior will eventually make consumers think more about the service that they will subscribe for and will also help nation to deal with trade deficit.

We hope this blog article helped you to put things on clear!

If so,

Share your opinion with us!

Good day!

 

Author: Avishek Shrestha Thaiba