After going by way of a lull for quite a few months due to financial uncertainty induced by the Covid-19 pandemic, tv marketing has shown mild indicators of revival for the duration of the festive season, in between the months of September and November.
As per BARC India, marketing volumes grew by 10-11% more than 2019 for the duration of Dussehra and Diwali 2020. Ad volume for Ganesh Chaturthi was up 7% more than final year. The business is now counting on sustaining this momentum till the finish of the existing economic year.
Another study, by TAM, located that there had been 655 new advertisers who created an look on common entertainment channels in 2020 versus 2018 and 2019 for the duration of the months of September-November. These new advertisers had been led by Facebook, Airtel Payments Bank and Whitehat Education Technology.
However, the quantity of categories and advertisers spending on GECs fell for the duration of the festive period. The quantity of advertiser categories dropped from far more than 375 in 2018 to about 330 in 2020. In 2020, there had been about 280 fewer advertisers on GECs as opposed to 2018.
The spike in marketing volumes tells only half the story. Advertising income for major broadcaster Zee Entertainment Enterprises was down 26% y-o-y in Q2 of FY21 at `902.8 crore for the quarter. In Q1 FY21, even though, the company’s ad income had fallen by 66% y-o-y.
Not surprisingly, a huge chunk of ad spends went into IPL 2020. Ad volume in the sports genre was up by 86% more than 2018. “This festive season was anchored around IPL and as expected, it took the lion’s share of the pie,” says Deep Drona, COO, Enterr10 Television.
Unlike other years, marketing for the duration of the final couple of months was dominated by ed-tech, gaming, and fintech brands such as Byju’s, White Hat Jr, Dream 11, MPL, and CRED. “These companies, which are possibly flush with fresh funding, will continue to advertise for the next few months to acquire new customers and build their brands,” observes Kishan Kumar, chief development officer, Wavemaker.
A shift in customer habits towards e-commerce and a rebound in demand for FMCG merchandise will hold kitchen fires burning for broadcasters. For instance, India’s biggest advertiser Hindustan Unilever spent `1,936 crore in the July-September quarter, 17% much less than what it spent for the duration of the identical quarter final year. Marico MD and CEO, Saugata Gupta, stated in the company’s earnings contact that investment in marketing commit is at 9.5% of sales which is pretty much close to pre-Covid levels for the firm.
“About 80-90% of FMCG ad spending is back as compared to last year; this is a sign of revival. However, there is pressure on broadcasters to sell ad slots at discounted rates and the unit price of advertising is not back to pre-Covid levels. Several brands are moving spends from TV to digital media,” informs Pawan Jailkhani, chief income officer, 9X Media.
Bigg Boss, the major non-fiction show from the Viacom 18 steady, has pinned its hopes on capturing ad spends from Dussehra to Christmas and New Year. The firm has roped in 15 sponsors for Bigg Boss this year. Mahesh Shetty, head – network sales, Viacom18, says the gap in between the volume of advertisements and income earned is narrowing. He expects marketing commit for the duration of the second half of the fiscal, that is, October 2020-March 2021 to register about 5% development y-o-y.
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