After COVID dip, TV ad volumes grow 22 pc in 2021

Mumbai (Maharashtra, India): Overall television advertising volumes grew 22 per cent to 1,824 million seconds in 2021, after getting hit in the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said on Monday.

The overall volumes had declined to 1,497 million seconds in 2020 from the 1,542 million seconds in 2019.

The BCCI-promoted cricketing tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) did not seem to reflect the broader interest among advertisers, with BARC saying that the volumes in 2021 were at par at 16.80 lakh seconds.

The growth in the premium high-definition channels advertising at 11 per cent did not keep up with the same in the standard definition segment at 22 per cent, it added.

From the overall perspective, the top-ten advertisers accounted for 780 million seconds or a little less than half of the volume, while the next 40 accounted for 340 million seconds, the report said.

BARC's head for client partnerships and revenue function Aaditya Pathak said 2021 got them much needed cheer to the broadcast industry, and over 9,000 advertisers chose television as a medium to push their messaging.

TV had a total of 9,239 advertisers and 14,616 brands advertised on the medium in 2021, of which 4,483 or nearly half were either new advertisers or returning ones, as per the report.

The fast-moving consumer goods category at 1,117 million seconds accounted for the highest share in the overall volumes, followed by e-commerce at 185 million seconds and building, industrial and land materials/equipment at 60 million seconds, it said.

Among the TV genres, the Hindi general entertainment channels garnered the highest share of advertising volumes, but the Bhojpuri segment has seen a doubling of volumes in the last two years, it said, adding that Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Assamese language channels posted over 40 per cent growth over 2019.

The Tokyo Olympics, which got delayed to 2021 due to the pandemic, saw 4.6 lakh seconds of advertising, which was almost at par with the games' last edition at Rio De Janeiro in 2016, it said.

A total of 34 advertisers and 61 brands advertised during the Tokyo Olympics, and nearly a third of the Ad Volumes during the Tokyo Olympics featured Olympians, the report said. (PTI)