Indian marketers and brands continued to place their trust in television once again as India kick started its festive season for 2021.

According to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India THINK report —August ’21 Ad Volume Analysis — the month recorded the highest ad volumes on TV since the second lockdown in April 2021 with 158 million seconds.

August 2021 saw 17 percent  growth as compared to May 2021, 25 percent vs. June 2021 and 9 percent vs. July 2021. With 2,803 active advertisers and 4,415 active brands in the same month, there is a 23 percent growth over August 2019 and 19 percent growth over August 2020.

“As we kick started India’s festive season with Onam, we have seen growth in Ad Volumes in Malayalam channels for August 2021 compared to previous weeks and also compared to previous years. The number of advertisers and brands turning to television continued to increase with August 2021, recording the highest number of active brands and advertisers for the year.

“We continue to see a strong upward trend in the e-commerce category and a new category, Corporate and Brand Image, joining the Top 10 sectors. Bhojpuri language channels are recording strong growth with Ad Volumes being almost at par with Punjabi and Marathi language channels” said Aaditya Pathak, Head of Client Partnership & Revenue, BARC India.

Ad volumes of the Top 10 advertisers grew by 29 percent, while the next 40 saw 19 percent growth; the remainder registered 22 percent growth in August 2021 vs. the same period for 2019. FMCG continued to dominate with the highest share with 92.9 million seconds of ad volumes and has grown by 22 percent over August 2019.

With 4.4. million seconds of ad volumes for corporate and brand image, the sector witnessed a staggering growth of 570 percent over August 2019 where it had recorded 0.7 million seconds.

E-commerce and BFSI sectors grew by 109 percent and 110 percent, respectively, in August 2021 versus August 2019. FMCG, e-commerce, building, industrial and land materials/equipment, corporate and brand image and auto are the top five sectors to dominate by share.

Ad volumes for Bhojpuri language channels grew by 113 percent in August 2021, recording the highest growth across languages over August 2019 followed by Punjabi with 47 percent, Marathi with 32 percent and Hindi and Tamil at 28 percent each.

Hindi language channels however continue to dominate the share with 49 million seconds followed by Tamil and Telugu with 17 million seconds and 13 million seconds.

Onam Week 2021 recorded 2.23 million seconds of ad volumes, 13 percent higher than 2019. Ad Volumes during Onam Week 2021 for Malayalam TV channels also increased by 22 percent compared to the previous 4 weeks, reaffirming a strong start to the festive season.