Bihar elections 2025: TV takes 86% of poll ads, BJP leads across platforms

New Delhi: Political advertising during the Bihar assembly elections in 2025 was largely dominated towards television, with TV accounting for 86% of total ad insertions compared with 14% in print, according to AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research.

The data covers the period from September 1 to November 11, including the election dates of November 6–11.

Across both mediums, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the most active advertiser with 54.2% of overall insertions. Rashtriya Jantadal followed with 27.6%, while the National Democratic Alliance contributed 6.1% and Congress 2.5%. Other parties and smaller advertisers together accounted for the remainder.

On television, BJP dominated the landscape with 68.4% of insertions, followed by Rashtriya Jantadal at 31.5%. Minor shares were recorded for Aam Aadmi Party (0.1%), Jan Suraaj (0.1%) and Jantadal United (0.03%).

Print activity showed a different trend, with the National Democratic Alliance holding the largest share at 43.6%, followed by Congress (18.1%). BJP contributed 10.3%, while Jan Suraaj (6.7%) and Jantadal United (4.6%) were also active. Ten other advertisers together made up 16.7%.

Weekly patterns indicate that almost no political advertising appeared on TV during the first six weeks of the election window. TV activity began increasing from Week 7 and peaked during Week 9 (38.97%), followed closely by Week 10 (37.37%).

Print, on the other hand, was active from the start of the monitoring period, with the highest volume recorded in Week 10 (42.55%), corresponding to November  2–8. Earlier weeks saw modest but steady activity, before climbing sharply in the final phase of campaigning.

The analysis is based on political advertising from all parties on Bihar TV channels and Bihar print publications during the designated election period.