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New Delhi: Advertising volumes on television bounced back in 2021, delivering an all-time high of 1,824 million seconds, and a 22% and 18% growth over 2020 and 2019, respectively, according to a report by TV viewership monitoring agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India.
TV had a total of 9,239 advertisers and 14,616 brands advertised on the medium in 2021.
The top 10 advertisers accounted for 780 million seconds of ad volumes, and the next 40 accounted for 340 million seconds, the report said. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) category continued to lead with a share of 1,117 million seconds of ad volumes in 2021, followed by e-commerce with 185 million seconds and building, industrial, and land materials or equipment with 60 million seconds. Television also continued to be an important medium for the corporate brand image category which doubled its volume over 2019 with 24 million seconds.
The e-commerce category had a total of 587 advertisers in 2021, a 67% jump over 2019.
Media, entertainment or social media, education, online shopping, matrimonials and financial services were the top five sub-categories within e-commerce. Ad volumes for education grew by 461% and that of financial services by 153% over 2020.
Cricket extravaganza, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Star network, registered a total of 1680 thousand seconds of ad volumes with 119 advertisers and 228 brands in all. There were 59 new advertisers and 158 new brands for the season. The top 10 advertisers for the season contributed 35% of the ad volumes. With 466,000 seconds, ad volumes for the Tokyo Olympics were almost at par with Rio Olympics that was held in 2016. There were 34 advertisers and 61 brands that advertised during the tournament. Also, 31% of the ad volumes during Tokyo Olympics featured Olympians, BARC said.
As far as languages go, regional language channels recorded strong growth in 2021.
Ad volumes for Bhojpuri language channels doubled over 2019 and Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Assamese language channels posted over 40% growth as compared to 2019. Southern language channels including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, grew by 26% over 2020. Hindi alone registered 18% growth over the past two years.
The first quarter of 2021 kickstarted on a positive note having registered 24% growth over 2020 and 21% growth over 2019. Despite lockdowns on account of the second wave of covid-19, ad volumes for the second quarter of the year were relatively higher at 417 million seconds as compared to the same period in 2019 which had recorded 399 million seconds, BARC said.
The fourth quarter brought good news for broadcasters with a festive season that recorded 489 million seconds of ad volumes, the highest ever for a quarter.
Television commercials with an average duration of under 30 seconds, were most favoured by advertisers while spots more than 60 seconds were least preferred. The average commercial duration has been reducing year-on-year, BARC said. The prime-time band, from 8 pm to 12 am enjoyed the maximum share of ad volumes at 27%. The share of ad volumes for the four time bands, 8 am -12 pm, 12-4 pm, 4-8 pm and 8 pm-12 am, has remained the same since 2019.
“2021 certainly brought much needed cheer to the broadcast industry. The year started off on a positive note and also ended on a high with the festive quarter. Year on year, despite pandemic impediments, television has repeatedly proved effective for every penny spent for advertisers and brands," Aaditya Pathak, head, client partnership and revenue function, BARC India said in a statement calling 2021 a positive year for the industry that witnessed growing value for both advertisers and broadcasters.
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