Want an office party on air? Pay Zoom

If you are interested in your company's brands getting some hits on TV and none of the channels is interested, don't tear up those promotional plans.

For Rs 64,000-80,000, your brands and parties can get a 10-second exposure on Not Just Page 3, hosted by Pooja Bedi on Zoom, Times TV's newly launched lifestyle channel.

The idea is similar to the sponsored photographs on the front pages of The Times of India's Delhi Times and Bombay Times. A photograph on the front page of Bombay Times costs Rs 332,000. With branding thrown in, the cost goes up to Rs 498,000.

The Medianet rate card for Zoom, a copy of which Business Standard has obtained, says the client can get a minimum of one minute and a maximum of three minutes (more will need approval) on Zoom. The programme will be aired three times.

As part of the package, a 15-second

quote from the company spokesperson can be included in the capsule. One brand can be mentioned per minute and even a logo shot is available for five seconds in a minute.

Apart from featuring your parties for a fee, Times TV can also plan and organise your party and feature it on its channel.

Zoom spokespersons refused to comment on the cash-for-airtime deal. An e-mail to, and a request for, an interview with Apurva Purohit, chief operating officer of Times TV, went unanswered.

While the revenue model for the channel could set the cash registers ringing for Times TV, the television industry is less than excited about the idea.

Raj Nayak, chief executive officer of NDTV Media, whose programme TimeOut covers parties and events, says he will never sell time on air this way.

"We feel that editorial and marketing are two absolutely different and independent areas," he says.