Indian marketers and brands continue to place their trust in television once again as India kickstarted its festive season for 2021. As per BARC India’s THINK report – August ’21 Ad Volume Analysis, August 2021 recorded the highest Ad Volumes on TV since the second lockdown in April 2021 with 158 million seconds. August 2021 saw 17 per cent growth as compared to May 2021, 25 per cent vs. June 2021 and nine per cent vs. July 2021. With 2803 active advertisers and 4415 active brands in the same month, there is a 23 per cent growth over August 2019 and 19 per cent growth over August 2020.
BARC India head of client partnership and revenue Aaditya Pathak said, “As we kickstarted India’s festive season with Onam, we have seen growth in Ad Volumes in Malayalam channels for August 2021 compared to previous weeks and also compared to previous years. 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 rand Image, joining the top 10 sectors. Bhojpuri language channels are recording strong growth with Ad Volumes being almost at par with Punjabi and Marathi language channels.”
Ad Volumes of the Top 10 advertisers grew by 29 per cent while the next 40 saw 19 per cent growth and the remainder, 22 per cent growth in August 2021, versus the same period for 2019. FMCG continued to dominate with the highest share with 92.9 million seconds of Ad Volumes and has grown by 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 where it had recorded 0.7 million seconds.
E-commerce and BFSI sectors grew by 109 per cent and 110 per cent in August 2021 versus August 2019. FMCG, e-commerce, building, industrial and land materials/equipments, corporate and brand image and auto, are the top five sectors to dominate by share.
Ad volumes for Bhojpuri language channels grew by 113 per cent in August 2021, recording the highest growth across languages over August 2019 followed by Punjabi with 47 per cent, Marathi with 32 per cent and Hindi and Tamil at 28 per cent each. Hindi language channels however continue to dominate share with 49 million seconds followed by Tamil and Telugu with 17 million seconds and 13 million seconds. Onam Week 2021 recorded 2.23 million seconds of Ad Volumes, 13 per cent higher than 2019. Ad Volumes during Onam Week 2021 for Malayalam Channels also increased by 22 per cent compared to the previous four weeks, reaffirming a strong start to the festive season.