TV ad volumes in August saw strong double-digit growth over pre-pandemic times. With the festival season kick-starting with Onam, the month also recorded the highest ad volumes on TV since the second lockdown in April this year.
According to estimates by the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), ad volumes in August stood at 158 million seconds, up 23 per cent compared to August 2019. This was nearly 17 per cent higher than May and 19 per cent higher over August 2020.
The audience measurement agency noted that in August there were 2,803 active advertisers on TV. Also, Onam Week 2021 recorded 2.23 million seconds of ad volumes, 13 per cent higher than 2019.
Strong upward trend
“The number of advertisers and brands turning to television continued to increase with August 2021 recording the highest number of active brands and advertisers for the year. We continue to see a strong upward trend in the e-commerce category and a new category, corporate and brand image, joining the top 10 sectors,” said Aaditya Pathak, Head of Client Partnership & Revenue, BARC India.
“As we kickstarted India’s festival season with Onam, we have seen growth in ad volumes in Malayalam channels for Augustcompared to previous weeks and also compared to previous years,” he added.
Ad volumes of the top 10 advertisers on TV grew nearly 29 per cent. FMCG continued to dominate with the highest share with 92.9 million seconds registering a growth of 22 per cent over August 2019.
“With 4.4. million seconds of ad volumes for ‘Corporate and Brand Image’, the sector witnessed a staggering growth of 570 per cent over August 2019 . E-commerce and BFSI sectors grew 109 per cent and 110 per cent in August 2021 versus August 2019,” BARC added.
FMCG, e-commerce, building, industrial and land materials/equipments, corporate and brand image and auto, were the top sectors that dominated by share, it added.