India is a land of secularism and diversity, consisting of approximately 33 crore deities who are worshipped. The recent consecration of the Ram Lalla Mandir in Ayodhya was a celebration all across the country as it was considered the homecoming of ‘Lord Rama’. The consecration ceremony was televised across news channels in the country as viewers remained hooked on the holy event. The run-up to the event was approximately a month long. While viewers continued to watch the ceremony and were hooked to their devices, it was the news channels which capitalised on the ceremony to churn out advertising moolah. “Any event of viewer interest or national significance results in a spike of eyeballs. The consecration ceremony was a national celebration. It was the epitome of appointment viewing. The channels expected a huge spike in viewing numbers. A lot of big brands had pre-booked their slots. There was a lot of live insertion of ads happening apart from the free commercial time. L-bands were hugely monetised,” Pankaj Krishna, founder and CEO, Chrome Data Analytics and Media, told BrandWagon Online.
Ceremonial capitalisation
News channels drew a lot of attention as viewers were keen to witness the consecration ceremony of the Ram Lalla Mandir. These channels used various strategies to capitalise on the consecration of the Ram Lalla Mandir. According to industry experts, the entire Pran Pratishtha ceremony assumed great importance and remained the focal point of most coverage for several days. “For News18 India, for instance, we had a massive line-up of programming that ran over several weeks. In fact, we had a long-running bulletin that updated viewers on all developments daily, we even did an on-ground event in Ayodhya as early as December. The coverage of the Ram Mandir consecration of course peaked in the week leading up to the ceremony,” Aditya Tandon, vice president- marketing and product, Hindi news cluster, News18 Network, said.
Moreover, news channels aired different formats of shows leading up to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. These formats included documentaries, audience-based shows, panel discussions and spiritual shows, offering an immersive experience. Furthermore, literary events including a gathering of poets (Kavi Sammelan) were also a focal point. Industry experts opined that technology also played a part in providing the viewers with a 360-degree immersive experience for viewers. “From a production pov as well, the channel innovated and used advanced graphics capabilities to bring to the viewers a unique experience – the Virtual Ayodhya – wherein an on-screen Pushpak Viman was created to give viewers an aerial tour of Ayodhya City,” Tandon added.
To be sure, news channels decided to capitalise on different mediums as well. The ceremony was also live-streamed on the digital platforms of a few news channels. As per various media reports, Living Media Group-owned Aaj Tak recorded a peak concurrency of 18 lakh viewers during the consecration ceremony of Ayodhya’s Ram Lalla Mandir on YouTube. Additionally, CNN-News 18’s YouTube channel recorded a concurrency of 3.33 lakh viewership during the Pran Pratishtha ceremony, followed closely by India Today at 3.19 lakh viewership and Times Now at 2.05 lakh, according to data by DataBeings, a data analysis company.
According to Chrome Digital Track’s data analysis, the top three news live streams contributed to 77% of the total view share during the event. Aaj Tak Live, with average concurrent views of 27.08 lakh followed by India TV Live and ABP News Live with 6.22 lakh and 5.96 lakh average concurrent views, respectively. Furthermore, the data revealed that Connected TV (CTV) witnessed a surge in viewership, recording seven million unique views on the same day. The Connected TV universe, comprising platforms like Samsung (Tizen OS) and Jio Fiber, saw contributions, with Samsung accounting for over 15-22% and Jio Fiber contributing to five to 10% of the CTV universe.
Advertisers’ big bet
Interestingly, as per a TAM report, the ad volume decreased by 14% on January 22, the day of Ram Mandir’s inauguration as compared to January 21. Moreover, the ad volume increased by one percent on January 23 as compared to January 24, 2024. The leading sectors on the day of the consecration ceremony were foods and beverages, services, building, industrial and land materials, auto and personal healthcare. The top five sectors had a collective share of 56%. Additionally, the ad themes based on the inauguration of the Ram Lalla Mandir had the highest share of ad volume on January 22 at two percent.
The ceremony was a live non-stop broadcast, meaning no ad slots since the ceremony was being broadcast in real-time. News channels had to get creative to advertise. According to industry experts, logos and content integration are high-impact solutions, delivering high impact, especially on high-news value days. “From RSPL, Canara Bank, Dabur India, Finolex Industries, and Creamy Foods, among others, advertised on the very day. The billing on the day of the ceremony had a threefold increase as compared to regular billing,” Avinash Pandey, COO, ABP News, highlighted.
Furthermore, new channels also explored other advertising options apart from its advertising inventory. “In addition to the advertising inventory, there were many other advertising options that advertisers availed including NFCT such as J bands, Astons,” Tandon stated.