Ad volumes on TV in times of a pandemic ― a closer look

Even as advertisement volumes on television climbed 34 per cent in the second half of 2020 over the first half of the year ― with positive trends reflected across advertisers in consumer goods and personal care categories ― this needs to be seen in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic that left people confined to homes, the kind of product categories that saw ad volumes rising, along with comparisons with ad-spends of similar brands on other mediums, said experts.

“Television continues to be the screen of the household and the most important medium for all the major advertisers to reach their audience pre-pandemic and post lockdown too,” Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India claimed in a statement on Monday. It said that the top 20 advertisers in 2020 increased their ad volumes by 10 per cent over the top 20 advertisers in 2019, even as overall ad volumes on TV contracted by 3 per cent year-on-year in 2020.

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Furthermore, the top 20 brands in 2020 ― which include Dettol Toilet Soaps, Dettol Antiseptic Liquid and Lizol ― saw increase in ad volumes of 23 per cent over the top 20 brands in 2019, said BARC. The top 20 brands in 2019 included Santoor Sandal and Turmeric, Trivago and Colgate Dental Cream.

“This claim of BARC that “television continues to be the screen of the household and the most important medium for all the major advertisers to reach their audience pre-pandemic and post lockdown too,” is not based on an apple-to-apple comparison. Let’s knock off the contribution of brands that were exploiting pandemic-specific opportunities such as Dettol Toilet Soaps, Dettol Antiseptic Liquid and Lizol (they increased ad volumes phenomenally) and then look at if there has been growth. Also, we can’t look at the ad-spends of such brands only on TV ― look at the way these brands increased their ad-spends per se,” Giraj Sharma, founder-director of Behind the Moon, a brand consultancy, told BusinessLine.

The numbers may not be attributed solely to the influence of TV, but more as a one-time aftermath of the pandemic-induced lockdown, Anuj Kapoor, Assistant Professor of Marketing at IIM-Ahmedabad, pointed out. The lockdown meant that shootings were stalled and new content was limited, resulting in people watching old time hits on TV, he explained. Social distancing also resulted in fewer ways of interactions outside, again propelling people to tune into TV at home, he added.

“With lockdowns lifted and things getting back on track, individual consumption of content using digital devices will increase, and the trends for TV’s dominance will go down,” said Kapoor.

As for the other trends that BARC’s data revealed, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector had the highest ad volumes in 2020, followed by digital, automobile, BFSI, education and durables sectors. In line with the heightened awareness about health amid the Covid-19 pandemic, ad volumes of antiseptic and personal care categories saw a boost, with ad volumes for Dettol Toilet Soaps and Dettol Antiseptic Liquid going up by 118 per cent and 136 per cent respectively. Ad volumes of Horlicks also surged by 60 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2019, said BARC.

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Hindustan Unilever emerged as the biggest advertiser on television in 2020 with a 30 per cent growth in ad volumes over 2019, followed by the Reckitt Benckiser Group, which saw its ad volumes growing by 37 per cent year-on-year in 2020.

It is also important to watch out for the kind of brands and products that can be sold using television, Kapoor said. “TV as a medium is better suited for selling and advertising products that solve some primary need or are more for family consumption like cooking oil, family health and hygiene products, etc. Since consumption of such products increased during lockdown, ad spend and volume on TV also increased. And that’s what the numbers exactly suggest,” he explained.

The news genre, with a genre share of 31.70 per cent, emerged as the one with the highest share of ad volumes in 2020, followed by general entertainment channel or GEC (across languages) at 25.20 per cent, and movies at 23.40 per cent, BARC found. The drop of 1 per cent in ad volumes in the overall GEC was largely due to a 9 per cent drop in ad volumes for the southern GEC channels, said BARC. Ad volumes on Hindi GEC grew by 10 per cent year-on-year in 2020, while other regional GECs marked a growth of 8 per cent in ad volumes in 2020, compared to 2019.

However, English GEC channels’ ad volumes saw a 52 per cent y-o-y decrease in 2020.

That the ad volumes of GEC were almost at par with 2019 (just 1 per cent drop), while the ad volumes of English GEC dropped a whopping 52 per cent, can be attributed largely to the English GEC audiences shifting to over-the-top (OTT) platforms, said Sharma. “The shift seems irreversible at this point in time till the English GEC content changes radically and is available exclusively to TV audiences, which will take a lot of doing,” he added.

Perhaps the ad budgets that earlier went to English GEC Channels shifted to digital and this may be the new normal, added Sharma.

At the end of the day, the promotion and consumer purchase journey starts from one medium and ends at another, Kapoor reminded. “Therefore, marketers need to think about an omni channel marketing strategy and can’t ignore one channel completely,” he said.

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