New Delhi: Political parties are expected to spend as much as ₹ 300 crore on advertising on television news channels during the ongoing 17th Lok Sabha elections, according to media buyers. Experts believe news channels would get more than 50% share of the overall election advertising expenditure on television, which is expected to touch ₹ 500 crore.
A GroupM ad forecast report said that Indian advertising spending is expected to grow by 14% to touch ₹ 80,678 crore in 2019, the fastest in four years, driven by the cricket World Cup and LS polls.
“The viewership of news channels across languages goes up significantly as they cover elections from the ground. There are other general entertainment channels (GECs) that are part of the plan. As there has been no approval on political ads on sports channels, they will have to make the best of what is available," said Navin Khemka, CEO, MediaCom, South Asia.
Election advertising uses a small window of opportunity with most political parties rushing with TV advertising at the last minute in a bid to make a big splash.
The election advertising spending may go up to ₹ 1,000 crore across platforms with television taking the lion’s share, according to an estimate by media buyers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been running campaigns under Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar (once again a Modi government) while the Congress is promoting itself through the Ab hoga Nyay (justice will happen now) slogan which is also a reference to the Nyuntam Aay Yojana, the party’s minimum income guarantee promise, and its key poll-pitch.
ABP News Network, which runs news channels in Hindi and regional languages, stated that it is running multiple election-related programmes, shoring up its ad revenues. Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP News Network said revenue during elections has grown significantly over the years along with the consumption of news.
“The revenue that comes to a news channels during elections is divided into several phases. The first is the umbrella sponsorship of the programming that continues for close to three and a half months during general elections.
The second form of advertising comes for events that are created around polls. The third comes for high viewership days, opinion polls and polling days, which attract the highest revenue. Besides, there is advertising on counting day and the government formation day," said Pandey.
According to Vikas Khanchandani, CEO, Republic TV, the viewership for news will soar to new highs on account of huge viewer interest and engagement.
“The reach of Hindi news channels offers huge visibility for brands. Most leading networks would raise an additional 50-70% revenue in the quarter ending June 2019," he said.
