Talk of television’s decline often comes from people who have not switched on a TV in years. Brand audiences in Tajikistan live differently.
At any marketing conference there will be a speaker who confidently announces that broadcast is outdated, viewers have moved to smartphones and short videos decide everything. In a capital-city office with fast internet, this sounds logical. But budget decisions should be based on how your audience consumes content, not on how your open-plan colleagues do. And in Tajikistan, television is still one of the main ways to reach a mass audience quickly.
Where the myth came from and why it does not apply here
Forecasts of TV’s imminent death were born in markets where almost every resident is constantly online and streaming services pushed broadcast aside long ago. For those countries the conclusions may well be fair. Transferring them to local reality without adjustment means building a media plan on someone else’s data.
Media consumption habits depend on where and how people live. If a noticeable part of the audience lives outside the big cities and the family evening is still spent in front of the screen, broadcast remains the shortest road to the mass viewer, and online does not yet fully cover it. So the main question is not whether a channel is fashionable, but something else: where your customers actually are, and which route reaches them most easily and reliably.
Television’s strengths
- Broad reach in a short time. If the whole country needs to learn about a new product at once, television does this faster than most other channels.
- Credibility. Advertising on national television is seen as a sign that there is a serious company behind the brand. This is especially valuable where the buyer’s decision rests on trust: banks, telecoms, large retail chains.
- Full attention. Picture and sound work together, and the viewer is watching the screen rather than scrolling a feed with their thumb.
Weak spots to keep in mind
Television does not let you pinpoint the segment you need: the budget is spent on all of a channel’s viewers, not just your audience. Analytics is harder too: assessing a spot’s impact on a specific person and linking an airing to an immediate purchase or enquiry is much more difficult than online.
Hence the conclusion: the “TV or internet” debate is pointless. It is more useful to ask which result each channel is responsible for. Broadcast delivers breadth and brand awareness. Digital provides precise targeting, engagement and conversions. In a strong campaign the channels share out roles rather than compete with each other.
How to manage TV placement
The effectiveness of a TV campaign is determined not by how many national channels you buy but by how the weight is distributed among them. National broadcast delivers scale and status, but it is expensive. Many people underestimate regional television, although with competent planning it lets you pick up a noticeable share of contacts for less money.
That is why broadcast is not a matter of buying a ready-made package once a season, but a process in which the plan is constantly checked against actual airings and adjusted when needed. A campaign managed every week almost always performs better than one that was bought and then left unattended.
The takeaway for marketers
Television in Tajikistan is not leaving the stage; it holds a clear place in the media mix. It is not a rival to digital but a partner: broadcast brings in the mass audience and builds trust, while online channels add precision and nudge people to act.
By abandoning TV to follow fashion, a brand may lose the shortest route to its customers. By using it deliberately, in combination with other channels and with regular monitoring of airings, a company gains fast mass reach and audience trust. A channel should be judged by its results, not by trends.
Building a media mix with television?
SKY Central Asia plans and buys TV, radio and outdoor placements, tracks airings and links broadcast with digital channels. Tell us about your task on our contact page or see what our media services include.
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