Television, a mainstay for established brands, saw a second consecutive year of sluggish growth, according to Madison advertising reports. The medium recorded a low single-digit growth of 7 percent.
“In absolute terms, TV AdEx has moved up and is now at Rs. 32,886 crores, but its share is steadily declining from a high of 42percent in 2020 to 33 percent in 2023.In 2022, digital became the largest shareholder in AdEx overtaking television’s numero- uno status which it had maintained for 8 years,” said the report.
According to Madison analysis, a major reason for the lacklustre performance of linear TV during 2023 could be attributed to the intense competition that emerged because of the splitting of ownership of IPL TV and digital rights and Jio’s decision to allow streaming of IPL free of cost.
This decision along with competitive rates and several viewer-friendly features diverted a fair amount of IPL money to digital. In addition, IPL on connected TV sold like TV, on a cost per 10 secs basis found many takers.
A saving grace as per the report was a busy sports calendar in the second half starting with the Asia Cup in September, followed by the India versus Australia series, the Asian Games and finally the ICC Cricket World Cup in October/ November.
“In our assessment, TV AdEx without the sports genre would have grown by only 4 percent,” said the report.
Like for digital medium, the disappearance of many start-ups and real money gaming companies from the advertising ecosystem impacted broadcasters.
“Despite being a medium that can potentially offer 900 million viewers with 240 minutes of average daily viewing time, it is surprising that TV is under pressure,” said the report.
The report also said that there was a 2 percent drop in advertising FCT (free commercial time)in 2023 over 2022. A drop was witnessed for 9 out of 12 months with only a marginal increase of 2percent in April to June quarter.
In terms of ad revenue, quarters 1, 2 and 3 were subdued and Q2 despite IPL registered a growth of only 2 percent compared to substantial increase in earlier years.
However, Q4 brought cheer to TV AdEx when it grew by 17percent mainly on the back of festive spends, ICC Cricket World Cup and increased spends by government institutions and political parties during assembly elections.
Read More: 2023 AdEx slips just below Rs 1 lakh crore, lowest growth in 6 years: Madison
FMCG advertisers increased their spend on TV from Rs. 13,725 crore to Rs. 15,353 crore, an increase of 12percent. This resulted in an increase in their category contribution from 45 percent to 47 percent in TV AdEx.
Education and Edtech saw a dramatic drop at 41 percent taking the category’s rank from number 4 down to number 8.
E-commerce too saw a drop of 12percent in spends, but automobiles on the back of good sales and new launches increased their spends by 21percent and so did household durables.
Read More: Digital ad growth stumbles in India in 2023, startups and regulations play spoilsport: Reports