MUMBAI: The government’s ad playbook is getting shorter, sharper and decidedly more vertical. The Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) has invited financial bids from 36 currently empanelled multimedia agencies to establish L-1 rates for a new set of creative deliverables, including shorter television commercials and original vertical videos for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and Facebook Reels.
The financial-bid exercise has been issued through an addendum to the existing Request for Proposal (RFP) for empanelment of Multimedia Agencies with Rate Card under the Executive Panel. Agencies have until 6 October 2026, 5 pm, to submit their bids.
The exercise is not a fresh empanelment round or an open call for agencies. It is specifically restricted to the 36 agencies currently empanelled under CBC’s Executive Panel, provided their empanelment and rate contract remain valid on the last date for submission. Agencies on the Base Panel are not eligible to participate.
The objective is to plug gaps in the existing L-1 Rate Matrix by introducing standard rates for creative formats that were not covered earlier. Once finalised, the new rates are expected to be incorporated into the existing matrix through an amendment or addendum for the remaining contract period.
Among the new television categories are original TVCs of up to 15 seconds, 16-30 seconds and 31-45 seconds, with subtitles. The rates are intended to cover the entire production chain rather than just filming, taking in concept development, scripting, storyboarding, art direction, casting, shooting, editing, equipment, crew, music, voice-over, visual and sound effects, subtitles and graphics.
The move also gives short-form video its own rate card, reflecting how quickly social-first formats have moved from supporting content to a core part of campaign production. Agencies have been asked to quote rates for original vertical videos of up to 15 seconds, 16-30 seconds and 31-60 seconds.
These videos are intended for platforms such as YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and Facebook Reels and are expected to be shot originally in the field using mobile phones or cameras. CBC has specified production requirements including 1080p resolution at 30-60 frames per second, with gimbals or stabilisers, lapel or wireless microphones and portable lighting wherever required.
The production scope does not end with the vertical master. Agencies will also have to provide a 9:16 master and adaptations into 1:1, 4:5 and 16:9 formats where required, making the content suitable for different digital placements.
Concept and scripting, music or voice-over, location shoots, casting, text overlays, graphics and incidental production expenses are also included in the scope of these short-form deliverables. In effect, CBC is seeking an end-to-end production rate rather than a simple shoot-and-submit quote.
The new category is deliberately separated from the existing quickies or snackable content category. That earlier category largely relies on existing or stock footage, client-supplied material, graphics or animation, whereas the new vertical-video rates are aimed at original field production.
The distinction is significant as government campaigns increasingly have to work across multiple screens and formats. By separating original short-form production from adaptations and existing-content formats, CBC is looking to create standardised L-1 rates for work that has evolved considerably since the existing rate matrix was established.
CBC has also drawn a line between content creation and media buying. The multimedia agencies are empanelled for producing creative assets and delivering the specified services, but their Executive Panel empanelment does not extend to releasing or placing advertisements across digital, television, radio or print media.
The 36 agencies eligible for the exercise were originally empanelled by CBC in June 2025. The panel’s tenure runs from 16 June 2025 to 15 June 2027, giving the current rate-setting exercise a place within an existing two-year empanelment framework.
The Executive Panel comprises AdFactors Advertising LLP, Airads Limited, Angle Advertising, ANJ Creations Private Limited, Ankur Media Pvt Ltd, Bubna Advertising, Collective Artists Network India Pvt Ltd, Concept Communication Limited, Crayons Advertising Limited, Creativeland Asia Pvt Ltd, Degree 360 Solutions Pvt Ltd, Dot Communications, Expression 360 Services India Limited, Graphisads Limited, Invicta Media Private Limited, Kautilya Multicreation Pvt Ltd, Laqshya Media Limited, Mode Advertising and Marketing Pvt Ltd, Moving Pixels Private Limited, Network18 Media and Investments Limited, Panchtatva Advertising, PG Advertising P Ltd, R K Swamy Ltd, Sharad Advertising Pvt Ltd, Span Communications, Square Communications Pvt Ltd, Sreshta Communications, Stark Communications Private Limited, SuperAaditya Ventures, ThinkingCap Creatives Pvt Ltd and Vermmittion Communication Pvt Ltd.
The remaining five agencies are Bennett Coleman and Company Limited, Ogilvy and Mather Private Limited, Prachar Communications Private Limited, Promodome Communications Pvt Ltd and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.
CBC’s June 2025 notification had placed 31 agencies in the Executive Panel with Exhibition deliverables and five in the Executive Panel without Exhibition deliverables. The current financial-bid process therefore builds on an existing pool rather than changing the composition of the panel.
For agencies, the latest addendum effectively puts a price tag on formats that have become increasingly central to modern campaigns. For CBC, it provides a mechanism to bring short TVCs and original vertical content into the same standardised L-1 framework while keeping production and media placement as separate functions.
With the 6 October deadline approaching, the immediate task for the 36 eligible agencies is to put numbers against a creative menu that now stretches from 15-second TVCs to 60-second vertical videos and across multiple aspect ratios. The exercise reflects a broader shift in government communication towards content that can move as easily from the television screen to the smartphone screen as the audience does.
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