ITV

Tag: TV AdEx

  • After two years of muted celebrations, India’s festive spirit is back once again: Disney-Star India’s Kevin Vaz

    After two years of muted celebrations, India’s festive spirit is back once again: Disney-Star India’s Kevin Vaz

    Mumbai: With the return to normalcy and restrictions having been lifted, broadcasters are upbeat about revenue growth during the festive season. Disney Star head of network entertainment channels, Kevin Vaz, is no exception. He tells Indiantelevision.com that the festive season this year is one of the best so far.

    “The sentiment of both the viewers and the advertisers is extremely positive. As a network, we have always celebrated the festive season with much fervour, and our goal this year is to up the entertainment quotient for our viewers when families sit down to watch their favourite content together. This year, we have an exciting content line-up across our Hindi and regional channels to ensure the same. With our strategically planned content pipeline, this festive season, we aim to enhance the viewing experience with more exciting content and build a deeper connection with our viewers. “

    Talking about how he sees the overall TV Adex faring during the festive season, he said that the overall market is extremely positive. “After two years of muted celebrations owing to the pandemic, India’s festive spirit is back once again. There is a great deal of optimism in the market this year and brands are eager to spend.”

    When asked about price hikes that the broadcast industry has gone for, he pointed out that local advertisers have come back after two years and high pricing categories are also reviving, which is adding to the AdEx this festive season. “Also, to ensure higher absorption capabilities, we have lined up our best festive content to entertain the viewers. There are various tentpole properties, festive events, and blockbuster movies planned, improving the overall monetisation capacities of the broadcasters. The advertisers will leverage these to reach out to their customers during the festive season, thus driving overall adex growth.”

    When asked if inflation has been a challenge to yield maximisation during the festive season, he explained that brands have not had the opportunity to engage with their target audience in the last two years and this year there is no stopping them.

    He elaborated on the strategy to work with national and local brands in India. Onam always sets the tone for the festive season. He said, “From what we have witnessed on our Malayalam channels, I can say the season is off to a great start. There is a rise in the local/retail sectors coming forward, aided by positive consumer sentiment. Similarly, Ganesh Chaturthi and Dasshera were great for Star Pravah and Star Jalsha, respectively. All of this has already paved the way for the upcoming Diwali outputs.”

    He also noted that there is more brand integration compared to last year. “Brands are increasingly looking for innovative brand solutions to engage the audience. Maruti Suzuki launched its latest car, the Grand Vitara, on Star Plus’ non-fiction show Ravivaar with Star Parivaar. Reliance Trends collaborated with us on Star Jalsha to launch the celebratory campaign, Trends Saj Parbon 2022, to usher in the spirit of Durga Puja and inclusivity. We are also seeing brands like Flipkart and Max Fashion doing vignettes to increase their festive sales.”

    In terms of spending by various categories, he said that categories like consumer durables, electronics, retail, jewellery, fashion, and lifestyle are going all out this season. “These categories provide the boost and make the difference between a festive quarter and a regular quarter. Some categories have not been able to advertise for the last two years; they are coming back with a bang.”

    When asked about how much of TV’s annual ad spend happens during the festive season, normally, he said that in the last two years, the share of TV’s annual spend during the festive season increased drastically due to other months impacted by the pandemic. “This year we are seeing similar trends to the pre-pandemic year 2019, where the share during the festive quarter was higher than other quarters marked by categories like consumer durables, electronics, retail, jewellery, fashion, and lifestyle.”

    “The festive season is a great time for categories like consumer durables, electronics, retail, jewellery, fashion, and lifestyle to advertise. While the regular categories like FMCG and e-commerce continue to advertise all year round, it is these categories that drive the festive spending.”

    He, however, added that the biggest icing on the cake is the auto industry. “Normally we would see two or three manufacturers advertising during Onam. But this year, every manufacturer was advertising. That will be the standout category this time. In fact, Maruti Suzuki launched its latest car, the Grand Vitara, on Star Plus’ non-fiction show Ravivaar with Star Parivaar.“

    Content line-up

    For Onam celebrations, Asianet had a line-up of movies and shows like Bro Daddy, Bheeshma, Twenty One, and Lalitham Sundaram. During the season, the channel brought special non-fiction formats, including cookery and celebrity chat shows.

    Asianet announced the tagline “Anudinam Valarunna Atmabandham” (a relationship that grows every day). The theme and proposition of Onam, he explains, was to help Malayalis celebrate with the best entertainment on offer – blockbusters, events, Onam themed shows etc.

    In Maharashtra, viewers witnessed Star Pravah Ganeshutsav 2022 to welcome Ganesh Chaturthi. In West Bengal, the prime attraction was Mahalaya. This was a two-hour pre-festive event paying special tribute to Devi Durga, and Vaz said that it witnessed more colour and energy.

    Star Jalsha launched a non-fiction show called Dance Dance Junior Season Three (on 6 August) in Bengal, in which the participants celebrated Durga Puja through the dance medium.

    Tamil and Telugu audiences were delighted by the grand and much loved show Bigg Boss at Star Maa on 4 September and at Star Vijay on 2 October. 

    In Hindi, Star Plus launched Rajjo on 22 August.

    For movie-loving audiences, blockbusters were aired across the Disney Star network – Vikram (Star Gold, Star Vijay, Star Maa, Star Suvarna and Asianet), Akshay Kumar starrer Samrat Prithviraj and Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera (Star Gold), Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal on Star Vijay, Kishmish & Belashuru on Star Jalsha.

  • TV Adex likely to grow by 13% in 2022, says ZEEL ad sales chief Ashish Sehgal

    TV Adex likely to grow by 13% in 2022, says ZEEL ad sales chief Ashish Sehgal

    Mumbai: Despite the threat of inflation, which is already hurting the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) category, which accounts for around 40 per cent of the television advertising market, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) chief growth officer – ad sales, Ashish Sehgal expects the TV Adex (TV advertising exchange) to grow by 13 per cent in 2022.

    He said that so far this year, due to the declining impact of Covid-19, the growth stood at 10 per cent. However, this was not the case last year due to the pandemic restrictions. He expects local brands, which were absent from the market for the last couple of years because of Covid-19, to make a strong comeback.

    “In January due to Covid-19 the TV Adex went down a bit, but from February the Adex started to grow. Due to the IPL, things have been good since February. Entertainment, cinema and even news have enjoyed a good run. Elections benefit the news industry in the first quarter,” he added. “The TV Adex should have grown by 10 per cent over the previous year so far. By 2022, it should grow by 13 per cent.”
    He proceeds further by adding that inflation is mainly hurting FMCGs. “Even in auto, the activity is growing now. New launches will happen. Telecom is advertising. BFSI has been quite active over the past six months. BFSI may slow down in July and August but in the upcoming festive season it should pick up. When the LIC IPO came, LIC advertised. I see other companies in insurance and banking following suit in terms of the same activity. The new D2C startups are bringing in a lot of money. E-commerce ad spends from the likes of Flipkart and Amazon will only grow in 2022.”

    When asked about startups experiencing funding slowdown and potential impact on ad spending he said that they will shift money from cricket to less expensive avenues like entertainment. “Companies will pump in money into the entertainment category. Earlier, they were putting money into cricket but now they are diverting money into cheaper genres like entertainment. Of course by the time the funding slowdown hit startups the IPL ad deals had already been done. Also, the IPL ratings were down but the deals are signed now. IPL made more revenue than last year.”

    Speaking about the same, he added, “but cricket might get impacted by startups shifting track going forward. These startups are also advertising in print. You have to remember that D2C startups cannot stop advertising otherwise their customer acquisition strategy will get affected. They are looking at cheaper options and are aiming to rationalise their ad spends better.”

    Sehgal feels that the English genre is likely to benefit from the New Tariff Order (NTO) because the ad pie is small. The subscription revenues now are important for them. “As far as music is concerned the genre is benefiting from free-to-air (FTA) viewership. Infotainment is in the same boat as English but it is slightly better off because there is not much content on OTT. So their ad revenue situation is better.”

    According to ZEEL, from his perspective, entertainment accounts for around 65 per cent of revenue, but cinema is also growing. “We have the largest cinema library as well as the largest number of cinema channels. Tentpole properties are very important for the topline. In cinemas, a lot of movie premieres are lined up, which was not the case last year. This will propel ad revenue.”

    Talking about the importance of regional channels, Sehgal said that the major ad revenue growth for ZEEL is happening here, whether it is in the South, Punjabi, Oriya, Bangla or Marathi. “They all are contributing to the growth. They can tap into the local retail brands. Their contribution was subdued for the last two years due to Covid-19. Now, they are back in business and so they are advertising now.”
    Simultaneously, he mentioned the OTT as an addition to TV not eating the TV’s pie. “Today advertisers use the TV for reach and OTT for re-targeting. The AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) consumers are similar viewers to TV. The kind of content being watched on OTT AVOD is the same that airs on TV first.

    Explaining ZEEL’s strategy for ad solutions, he said that the company’s branded solution team has created an Ad funded program. “In some shows, brands get integrated which allows them to be present within the content. In addition, ZEEL helps brands through influencer marketing where characters from shows become influencers for brands. Commercials are created.”

    Sehgal believes the number of pay television channels consolidation will stay the same, as the number of non-premium channels is not growing. The only new channels are in the FTA space. “Everybody has their space. In an unexplored market, a new pay channel might be launched which we did in Punjab two years back, but not otherwise, channels will sustain. FTA will also sustain as the viewership is different. Advertisers use FTA channels as there is no other medium to reach that consumer.”

    He also noted that news will do well as it has a wide reach from pay to FTA. “In metros, event development led people to switch to news channels even on direct-to-home (DTH). News is a unique genre, from metros to rural the audience is available, for advertisers news has separate FTA space. Also, for the upcoming 2024 general elections, the government (in the next four to six months) will start pumping in money. The news genre will certainly fetch the majority of this fund. The state elections are an addition to this genre.”

    “The four big networks including ZEEL adhere to the ad cap guidelines and they do not violate them. For ZEEL it tends to be 12+2,” he concluded.

  • TV, radio, digital record surge in ad volumes; print lags behind: TAM report

    TV, radio, digital record surge in ad volumes; print lags behind: TAM report

    Mumbai: TV, radio and digital witnessed recorded massive growth in ad volumes, however, print media lagged behind in the race, according to TAM AdEx Report that gives an overview of advertising sector for the year 2021.

    The report further provided notable details for retail players across mediums.

    Some of the key findings of TAM Adex 2021 report are as follows:

    TV

    In the television sector, Q4 witnessed 26 per cent ad volume growth compared to Q1 of 2021.

    Ad volumes of the retail sector on television slightly dropped by nine per cent in 2021 as compared to 2019.

    Retail outlets of jewellers alone contributed 54 per cent to the ad volume share of the retail sector. News channel genre topped preference list of retail players during 2021.

    The top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 50 per cent shares of ad volumes in 2021 with Lalitha Jewellery Mart topping the list.

    Ad volumes of the retail sector on television plunged by 39 per cent in 2021 over 2020. Lowest ad volumes observed in May 2021 and June 2021 which was during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

    Advertisers of retail sector preferred 20 to 40 seconds ad size on TV

    Print

    Ad space of the retail sector in print fell by 44 per cent and 29 per cent in 2020 and 2021 respectively over 2019.Retail outlets of electronics and durables led the list of top 10 categories of the retail sector.

    Top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 20 per cent share of ad space in 2021 with Reliance Retail leading the list.

    Top 10 brands accounted for 19 per cent share of ad space in 2021 with Big Bazaar leading the list.General Interest publication genre added 99 per cent share of sector’s ad space.

    Ad space in print witnessed double digit growth in January, August and October-November 2021.

    As compared to Q1 of 2021, Q4 witnessed 74 per cent ad space growth.Among four zones, South topped for retail advertising with 46 per cent share in print during 2021.

    Sales promotion for the retail sector accounted for more than 70 per cent share of ad space in print.

    Radio

    Ad volumes for the retail sector grew by 77 per cent in Q4 over Q1 of 2021.Ad volume for the retail sector on radio dropped by 37 per cent and 5 per cent in 2020 and 2021 over 2019 respectively whereas ad volumes rose by 40 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020.

    October 21 registered the highest share of ad volume for the retail sector followed by 11 per cent in August 2021.

    Top 10 advertisers accounted for 21 per cent share of ad volume in 2021 with Zota Healthcare leading the list.

    Among the top 10 retail brands, four brands belonged to retail outlets- jewellers category. Maharashtra was the top state with 18 per cent share of ad volumes followed by Gujarat with 17 per cent share.

    Advertising for retail was preferred in afternoon and evening time-bands on radio.

    Digital

    Ad insertions of the retail sector on digital plunged by 29 per cent in 2021 over 2019. Highest percent observed in December 2021 which had 15 per cent of total digital ad insertion shares. Compared to Q1 of 2021, Q4 witnessed more than two times ad insertion growth.

    After the second wave of Covid, December 2021 had the highest share of ad Insertions followed by September 2021.On digital medium, electronics and home stores were top retail categories with 26 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.

    Ad network topped with more than 70 per cent share of transaction method for retail sector in 2021. Top 10 advertisers accounted for more than 40 per cent share of ad insertions in 2021 with Infiniti retail leading.

    Top 10 brands accounted for 44 per cent share of ad insertion in 2021 with Croma leading the list.

  • #Retrace2021: Content and advertisers return to TV, AdEx remains elusive

    #Retrace2021: Content and advertisers return to TV, AdEx remains elusive

    Mumbai: 2021 was the year of the paradox. The return of LIVE sports and original programming on TV continued to attract new and more advertisers to the medium ensuring a phenomenal growth in ad volumes over 2020 and 2019. While it seemed like the marketers catering to ‘revenge buying’ consumers were on a ‘revenge spending’ spree, the decline in ad rates that had set in as a result of the pandemic, failed to rationalise through the year except towards the end of the festive season.

    Effectively, this meant that despite the economic recovery, positive consumer sentiment, availability of fresh content, and willingness of advertisers to spend, the 2021 AdEx could not reach pre-Covid levels. The negative trend was witnessed across categories.

    Also read: New advertisers make up 19% share of TV ad volume in Nov : Barc India

    According to the third edition of Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India’s yearbook titled ‘The Year After 2019’, TV viewership grew by nine per cent in India in 2020. Yet given the circumstances, advertisers reeling under economic losses used the medium either sparingly or judiciously, mainly to maintain brand recall in anticipation of the reopening. With re-runs of old shows dominating the scene, almost all of television was functioning on a second-tier channel level in the context of content as well as ad rates.

    Picking up from the previous festive, 2021 began on a positive note with some fresh programming and the IPL motivating advertisers to place bigger bets on the medium. The second wave in May-June, however, postponed this recovery to the second half. Even as the rush of new FTA channels launched in 2020-21 and regional ones were making a significant contribution to ad volumes, broadcasters were now equally focussed on achieving pre-Covid ad rates.

    In addition to leveraging their leading IPs to negotiate a ‘fair’ deal once again, channels sought to up the ante with new shows (fiction and non-fiction) and seasons, as well as with LIVE sports programming. According to media planners, AdEx recovery started from July, surpassing 2019 levels in September-October. Contingent upon the possibility and severity of the third wave, it is hoped that this momentum aided by government spending on election campaigns until March 2022, will very soon lead to a full-fledged recovery for the industry.

    Content makes a comeback

    The efficient content strategy of regional adaptations like Star Plus’ ‘Anupamaa’ and ‘Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin’, and reruns implemented by broadcasters to tide over the pandemic turned out to be a success. Buoyed by the TRPs of the reruns, many channels brought back their popular shows and stars with new seasons and narratives in 2021.

    While ‘Sasural Simar Ka’ and ‘Balika Vadhu’ returned on Colors, SET launched season two of its popular series ‘Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi’ and ‘Bade Achhe Lagte Hain’. Star Plus came up with the new edition of ‘Sasural Genda Phool’. After premiering the second season of ‘Saath Nibhanaa Saathiya’ in October 2020, the channel also re-launched the much-loved mother and daughter-in-law duo of Giaa Manek and Rupal Patel in ‘Tera Mera Saath Rahe’ (August 2021). Star Bharat chipped in with ‘Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 2’ in March.

    Also read: Shark Tank to get an Indian adaptation, set to air on Sony TV

    Beginning the year with ‘Teri Meri Ikk Jindri’, Zee TV introduced six new fiction shows this year and a history-based series ‘Kashibai Bajirao Ballal’. On the non-fiction front, apart from bringing back ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’, it launched the new music league championship ‘Indian Pro Music League’. ‘Dance Deewane’ on Colors TV, ‘Dance Plus’ on Star Plus, ‘Super Dancer’ on Sony TV further added to the non-fiction list. Bringing new formats to the reality TV genre were Colors’ visual-based quiz show ‘The Big Picture’ hosted by Ranveer Singh and SET’s business reality television series ‘Shark Tank’.

    Also read: Viacom18 eyes a bumper festive season, with new show ‘The Big Picture’ set for launch

    Return of LIVE sports

    The return of LIVE sports further bolstered the recovery, with a host of new advertiser categories banking on TV to build reach. Whether it was the cryptocurrency brands, gaming, ed-tech or D2C brands, Television saw the ad volume rise across channels. While the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was halted mid-way due to the second wave, it made a comeback in September, with the T20 cricket World Cup. It was followed by the India-New Zealand Test series.

    The year also saw other major sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which was held amid Covid restrictions, and set the stage for India’s spectacular performance across different sports. Not only did India win its first-ever Gold in Athletics (Neeraj Chopra), it witnessed brilliant performances in Hockey, Boxing, as well as weightlifting. Over 48 million viewers watched EURO 2020 on its official broadcaster Sony Pictures Sports Network (SPSN), as per the data shared by the network for its entire coverage of the first 36 matches of the tournament from 11 to 25 June.

    Also read: Over 48 million viewers tuned into SPSN to watch UEFA EURO 2020

    Also read: Star Sports Network logs 3.8 million AMA for 1st India vs England Test

    Then, there was the India-England Test cricket series, ICC World Test Championship Finals in June, India-Sri Lanka series, India-Australia women’s cricket series. The year ended with the return of the Pro-Kabaddi League (PKL) in Bengaluru. 

    Phenomenal recovery in ad volumes

    An analysis of Barc’s monthly data reveals that TV showed a strong recovery in ad volumes since the beginning of 2021, and a noticeable growth over 2020 and 2019 levels. In 2020, TV ad volumes contracted by three per cent over 2019. However, in 2021, ad volumes grew over the last two years for most of the months except March (data not shared), May which saw a marginal de-growth of 3.5 per cent, and December (data unavailable).

    Also read: October records highest TV ad-volume in 2021

    According to media planners, the growth in ad volumes was supported by the launch of new channels in 2020 and 2021 which led to an increase in inventory on TV. Several new channels were launched to cater to the free-to-air audience including Ishara TV (FTA), Dhinchaak TV (FTA), Enterr10 Rangeela (FTA), Sun Marathi (FTA), Zee Pichar (Pay), Zee Thirai (Pay), Shemaroo TV (FTA), DD Retro (FTA), Dum TV Kannada (FTA), Azaad TV (FTA), Colors Cineplex Bollywood (FTA), Dhinchaak 2 (FTA), Republic Bangla, Times Now Navbharat HD (Pay), ET Now Swadesh and Gubbare TV.

    Regional channels also scripted their growth story in 2021, with several Southern languages, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Bhojpuri recording a consistent growth in ad volume, not only over 2020 but also 2019 levels. In Q3’21 (July-August-September) almost all language channels saw growth over Q3’19. 

    Also read: Regional TV channels ride the growth wave, show surge in ad volume

    Also read: Television welcomes over 850 new advertisers in July 2021: BARC India

    While the launch of new channels increased the advertising inventory on TV, their contribution to the overall spend is not significant, according to media planners.

    Another reason for growth in ad volumes on TV is the emergence new advertisers in the second half of 2021. As per Barc data, in H1’21 FMCG advertisers dominated on TV accounting for 65 per cent share of the total ad volumes (springing back to action, were also hit by the pandemic, ad spends not as before). But starting from July new categories (compared to H1’21) started advertising on TV. The data for Q3’21 shows that new advertisers comprised 54 per cent of TV ad volumes compared to 41 per cent in 2020 and 45 per cent in 2019. (Note – new advertisers: not present in previous quarter). Similarly, new advertisers had 22 per cent (not present in Jan-Sept) and 19 per cent (not present in Jan-Oct) share of total TV ad volumes in October and November, respectively. 

    Also read: #Retrace2021: The emergence of new advertiser categories in sports genre

    The AdEx paradox

    A like-for-like comparison of top channels on TV show the AdEx trend for 2021 compared to the last two years. The graph below shows that TV ad spends began recovering in July and only increased over 2020 and 2019 levels beginning in August.

    Why compare only the top channels? “The 80/20 principle applies to TV where the top 20 per cent channels get 80 per cent of the ad spends,” explained a media planner. “It was only in the second half of the year that we saw AdEx recovery starting from July, with spends matching 2019 levels during the months of September-October. Otherwise, most of the year was lagging in terms of spends compared to 2019, except in April during IPL, just before the second wave of Covid-19 struck.”

    Also read: Global cost of TV advertising up by 5%: Zenith

    According to E&Y estimates, TV advertising revenues declined by 21.5 per cent in 2020 from Rs 320 billion to Rs 251 billion. The Madison Advertising report estimates that TV AdEx was down by 11 per cent. (Note: TV advertising revenues is different from TV AdEx; TV AdEx may look only at top channels to exclusion of others)

    “The festive period this year has given the much-needed boost to businesses across sectors, including the television industry,” remarked Carat India vice president – digital media planning Megha Ahuja. “The strong growth was driven by two sporting events (IPL and ICC T20 World Cup), GECs and news.” Ahuja expects this growth in AdEx to continue for the next couple of months. “We have elections next year. The government has already started spending on ads, and will continue to do so till March 2022,” she reckoned.

    According to OMD Mudramax senior partner–client lead Sri Harsha, TV adex is expected to make a complete recovery by the end of 2021 and show slight growth over 2019 Adex levels, despite, most of the advertisers losing first-quarter advertising due to Covid second wave.

    “Advertisers still acknowledge the fact that TV is the go-to medium for mass reach. Gone are the days when FMCG, Telecom, Auto, BFSI & Consumer durables contributed the lion’s share to the overall TV Adex. This scenario has changed with the advent of new categories like E-commerce, Fintech, Online education leveraging hugely on TV leading to the growth of Adex. A lot of advertisers are still in the anticipation of current news channels ratings which are not available for over a year now. This will help advertisers apportion definite budgets to news leading to the future growth of TV AdEx,” said Harsha, adding that the average time spent by the consumers watching TV hasn’t dropped either- maintaining 3.5 -4 hrs a day as per BARC – reinstating confidence among the advertisers.”