YouTube’s dominance debunked? TV is still the king of the ad world, say industry experts

New Delhi: According to the latest FICCI-EY report, digital media will become the largest segment of the M&E sector in 2024, breaking TV’s 25-year hold on the pole position. As per the report, digital media grew by 17% to reach Rs 802 billion and became the largest segment in 2024, overtaking television, which was the largest segment for 20 years.

This data indicates digital dominance over television in advertising. But is it really the case? Can YouTube replicate the deliverance of television? Top industry leaders in the M&E sector believe that TV is still the strongest and emerges as a winner in this locked-horn situation between YouTube and TV. 

According to industry leaders, the advertisers are riding on the back of a misnomer that YouTube – the biggest digital medium for advertisers – is a better advertising platform than television. 

Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer (Digital & Broadcast Revenue), Zee Entertainment, firmly asserted that it is imperative to “break the misnomer that YouTube has the highest reach.” 

Adding density to his statement, Sehgal noted, “Television still has the highest reach. It is 800 million versus YouTube’s 500 million. Data speaks about that. There is higher attention on television. And if I add OTT to the equation, YouTube still has a long way to go.”  

Durable vs Dopamine

When it comes to brand building, the message remains for a longer period of time when it is received through television (linear, CTV, free, and OTT). According to Sehgal, this happens because the message is accepted in a very relaxed environment. 

Whereas on YouTube, Sehgal advocated, the message is doused in a dopamine-centric culture. “You engage, you forget, you are neurologically disturbed,” ZEEL’s top executive said. 

When it comes to choosing advertising mediums, the actual discourse that should get the limelight is the attention span. Professionally curated content that is dominant on television is much more attention-grabbing than, say, a minute of content or user-generated content (UGC), argued Ajit Varghese, Head of Revenue (Entertainment & International), JioStar.

‘Relationship with content translates to the relationship with brand’

ZEEL’s Sehgal revealed doing a neurological study on the proportionality existing in screen sizes and ad impact. According to the study, large-screen content, primarily linear and connected TV, had roughly 15x better ad impact than the smaller-screen content that is primarily viewed on YouTube.

The involvement with large-screen content, say, a daily soap, over time, builds a relationship between the consumer and the content. This relationship, with trust as its bedrock, translates easily into the consumer’s relationship with the brand being advertised with that show, Sehgal noted. 

Coming forth with a bit of a balanced approach, Prasanth Kumar, CEO – South Asia, GroupM, advocated creating compelling content, be it large-screen or YouTube-based UGC, for advertising to actually reap benefits for the brands. 

Context in content

Kumar also threw light on the brand’s specific purpose. “I believe it's largely driven by a brand's specific purpose. Quantity and quality both hinge on what the brand aims to achieve. Investment and planning naturally follow that context. 

We're in a unique period with modern marketing, audiences, and behaviours, especially due to the opportunities of the last five to seven years, which we're still exploring. Brand solutions are now tailored to specific tasks. TV has offered clear insights into quantity versus frequency. Digital learning is ongoing,” said GroupM’s Kumar. 

Ashwin Moorthy, CMO of Godrej Consumer Products, aligned his thoughts with Kumar, saying, “Context matters.” Zooming in on this perspective, Moorthy said, “Brands pursue different objectives: cultural conversations or immediate online sales. These goals influence media choices. Currently, marketers prioritise quantity due to established rules and its perceived effectiveness. Context, however, enhances quantity's viability by driving entertainment and viewership cost-efficiently. 

Attention spans vary across media, which provides qualitative insights. We already intuitively recognise this, as evidenced by differing ad spend ratios across similar advertisers, a recent shift. Some decisions are based on intuition, others on client-specific data, and we're still observing how this evolves.”