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MUMBAI: The battle for Bihar in 2020 wasn’t just fought on dusty village squares and opposition rallies. It raged across television screens and newspaper columns, with political parties unleashing millions in advertising rupees to woo voters. TAM Media’s advertising expenditure data reveals a lopsided affair: television gobbled up a staggering 93 per cent of all political advertising spend, leaving print media to scrap over a measly 7 per cent.

The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the undisputed heavyweight, commanding 38.7 per cent of overall ad insertions—more than double its nearest competitor. On television, where the real money flowed, BJP’s dominance was even more pronounced at 41 per cent of all ad slots. The National Democratic Alliance, its coalition partner, secured 17.4 per cent overall, with an 18.6 per cent share on television.

Congress, despite its third-place finish in overall spending at 17 per cent, displayed tactical nous in print advertising. The party ranked second in newspapers with 7.1 per cent of insertions as a standalone advertiser, while a Congress-led coalition (Congress-I/RJD/CPI variants) topped print spending at 15.7 per cent—edging past a BJP-led alliance’s 14.1 per cent.

Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal United rounded out the top five, with 11.9 per cent and 8.9 per cent of overall insertions respectively. The fragmented opposition was evident in the numbers: 25 other parties collectively managed just 6.1 per cent of ad insertions, with print media seeing an even messier 44.6 per cent split among 15 smaller players.

But the real story lies in the timing. TAM Media’s week-by-week analysis reveals a campaign that began as a whisper and ended as a roar. For the first six weeks—from early September through early October—political advertising barely registered on television. Print maintained a modest but steady presence during this period, with a slight peak in week three.

Then came the deluge. From week seven onwards, television advertising exploded in a dramatic crescendo. By week nine (25-31 October), TV ad insertions hit their peak at 42 per cent of the entire campaign’s television spend—a staggering concentration just days before polling. Print advertising followed a similar trajectory, peaking at 31 per cent during the same crucial week nine, though it maintained a more consistent presence throughout the campaign compared to television’s late surge.

The pattern is unmistakable: parties held their fire until voters’ attention was sharpest, then carpet-bombed the airwaves in the final fortnight. Week ten saw a slight decline as polling day arrived, but by then the damage—or persuasion—was done.

The data, covering political advertisements across Bihar’s television channels and publications during the election period, paints a clear picture: in Bihar’s ad war, television was the main battleground, BJP brought the biggest guns, and everyone saved their ammunition for a final, frenzied assault on voters’ senses. Welcome to democracy, Bihar-style—where timing is everything and the biggest megaphone usually wins.