BENGALURU: Indian television broadcasters have a reason to smile in 2018. During the first 32 weeks of 2018, the top 10 advertisers from Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) placed 21.42 per cent more television insertions than in the first 32 weeks of 2017. The combined total number television insertions by BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers across genres for the first 32 weeks of 2018 were 13,255,057 as compared to 10,916,451 insertions during the first 32 weeks of 2017. 

If ad insertions by the top 10 advertisers are a yardstick for the increase in television ads, broadcasters and marketers can definitely expect ad revenues to perk up with more number of advertisements during the fag end of 2018. The major Indian festival season is yet to come – hence the ad tempo can only go up.  If one were to go by the trends of 2017, the number of ad insertions in 2018 could go up by 15 to 20 per cent as compared to the previous year. During the last 20 weeks of 2017, average television advertisements per advertiser among the top 10 advertisers per week had gone up by 16.97 per cent as compared to the first 32 weeks of 2017. Between weeks 33 to 52 of 2017, the average weekly TV ad insertions by BARC’s weekly list of top 10 advertisers had gone up to 27,163.66 from an average of 23,222.52 during the first 32 weeks of 2018.

Please refer to the figure below for the weekly comparison of the combined total insertions of all the top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 respectively.

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There were 27 advertisers that were present at least once each in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018. Hindustan Lever Ltd or HLL was the biggest advertiser by far during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 with an average of 122,725.65 and 129,604.28 weekly insertions respectively (5.60 per cent increase). At second place was Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd (RBIL) with an average of 59,340.66 and 95,546.63 weekly insertions during each of the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 respectively (61.02 per cent increase). Both HLL at ranks 1 (HLL- 32 weeks) and RBIL rank 2 (29 weeks)/rank 3 (3 weeks) were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017. HLL was ranked first as top advertiser for 25 weeks and second for 7 weeks, while RBIL was present at rank 1 for 7 weeks, rank 2 for 24 weeks and rank 3 for 1 week during the first 32 weeks of 2018.

In 2017, only the above mentioned two advertisers were present in BARC’s top 10 advertisers list during all the first 32 weeks of 2017. This year besides HLL and RBIL, ITC Limited (ITL) and Cadbury India (Cadbury) were also present in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 advertisers during all the first 32 weeks of 2018. Both the companies’ – ITC and Cadbury’s average weekly insertions in 2018 were higher than their average weekly insertions in 2017. ITC, which was ranked third in 2018, had average weekly insertions of 33,002.88 in 2018 (32 weeks average) as compared to 18,959.9 in 2017 (20 weeks average), or a 74 per cent y-o-y increase during the periods under review. Cadbury’s average weekly insertions in 2018 were 18.41 per cent more at 27.410.88 (32 week average) as compared to 23,150.03 (31 week average) in 2017. Please note that the growth of average number of weekly insertions has been calculated by determining the average weekly insertions in the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 only when these brands were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top ten advertisers across genres. The actual difference may not be the one mentioned above.

Most of the advertisers’ average insertions per week when they were present in BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 advertisers across genres have increased in 2018 as compared to 2017. Some notable examples are Procter & Gamble (38.51 per cent increase); Amazon Online India Pvt Ltd (16.47 per cent increase); Colgate Palmolive India Ltd (6.44 per cent increase); Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (17.03 per cent increase); Marico (33.05 per cent increase), etc. 

A few of notable players that have had a y-o-y fall in their TV ad insertions during their presence in BARC’s weekly lists during the first 32 weeks of 2018 are Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved (Patanjali) (-5.70 per cent*), Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (-2.03 per cent*) and Ponds India Ltd (-4.48 per cent*).It must be noted that fall in percentages have been derived by calculating the difference in average weekly insertions in 2017 and 2018 only when these brand owners were present in BARC’s weekly list of top 10 advertisers during the first 32 weeks of 2017 and 2018 respectively. The actual difference may not be the one mentioned above.