Industry worried over 9% drop in TV ad volume in first week of festive season

New Delhi: The first week into the festive season beginning with the Navratri festival on October 3 was below expectations from the festive ad volume standpoint.

The AdEx India report by TAM Media Research analysis showed that there was a 9% drop in the TV ad volume during October 3 - 8 over the first week of Navratri last year between October 15 to 20 in 2023.

The analysis is based on ad volumes in secondages for TV commercial ads only excluding promos and social ads.

In terms of category of advertisers, there were 312 categories active during the first week of the festive season this year, an eight per cent drop from 338 categories that advertised during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Similarly, there was a drop of about 9% in terms of number of advertisers present across television.

A total of 1,475 advertisers were active during the first week of 2024 Navratri compared with 1,626 advertisers who advertised during the same period last year.

Among the top 10 categories present across TV this year, Two Wheelers, Paints and Moisturising Lotion/Creams were new entrants over the same period last year.

Two Wheelers, which did not feature among the top 10 categories last year, was the second largest category his year after Toilet Soaps.

E-commerce, Media, Entertainment and Social Media as a category saw fewer ad volumes this year as the category slipped from the fourth position last year to the seventh position this year.

Three categories that went out of the top 10 categories this year were milk beverages, biscuits, and tea.

Top 10 categories of advertisers between Oct 3 - 8, 2024

Top 10 categories of advertisers between Oct 15 - 20, 2024

As the industry observers closely watch the trends with optimism, they predict a muted growth for television this festive season.

“Look at the Reliance Industries’ results for the September quarter. It gives a sense of a flat market where brands are struggling to sell. This kind of sentiment may dampen the festive spirit and it appears that the market will struggle to meet the overall adex predicted by GroupM’s This Year Next Year for 2024,” said a top advertiser on the condition of anonymity.

On the other hand, a few analysts were of the view that the ad spends will go up as the sales go up during the ongoing festive season.

It is true that advertising is shifting from traditional to digital but that is another sign of lesser ad spends from brands across categories, said a media agency head when asked about the medium-wise trend.