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 mn seconds. August 2021 saw 17% growth as compared to May 2021, 25% vs June 2021 and 9% vs July 2021. With 2803 active advertisers and 4415 active brands in the same month, there is a 23% growth over August 2019 and 19% growth over August 2020.

“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 Brand 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,” said Aaditya Pathak, Head of Client Partnership & Revenue, BARC India.

Ad Volumes of the Top 10 advertisers grew by 29% while the next 40 saw 19% growth and the remainder, 22% growth in August 2021, versus the same period for 2019. FMCG continued to dominate with the highest share with 92.9 mn seconds of Ad Volumes and has grown by 22% over August 2019. With 4.4. mn seconds of Ad Volumes for Corporate and Brand Image, the sector witnessed a staggering growth of 570% over August 2019 where it had recorded 0.7 mn seconds.

E-commerce and BFSI sectors grew by 109% and 110% in August 2021 versus August 2019. FMCG, E-commerce, Building, Industrial & Land Materials/Equipments, Corporate and Brand Image and Auto, are the top 5 sectors to dominate by share.

Ad volumes for Bhojpuri language channels grew by 113% in August 2021, recording the highest growth across languages over August 2019 followed by Punjabi with 47%, Marathi with 32% and Hindi and Tamil at 28% each.  Hindi language channels however continue to dominate share with 49 mn seconds followed by Tamil and Telugu with 17 mn seconds and 13 mn seconds. Onam Week 2021 recorded 2.23 mn seconds of Ad Volumes, 13% higher than 2019. Ad Volumes during Onam Week 2021 for Malayalam Channels also increased by 22% compared to the previous 4 weeks, reaffirming a strong start to the festive season.