Overall ad volumes on TV recorded a 6% drop during April 25- May 1, 2020 (week 17), standing at 205 lakh seconds, when compared to week 16 (April 18 – 24, 2020 ) at 219 lakh seconds, according to the data provided by TV audience measurement body, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) in collaboration with Nielsen. The report titled, ‘How are Media Habits Changing as India Enters Week 6 of the Lockdown’ also highlighted that the advertisement volumes are on a downward slope as news and movie channels recorded a 7% drop in ad volumes in week 17. While the music genre recorded the highest dip in ad insertions at 19%, general entertainment channels (GEC’s) ad volumes continued to remain stable.
Despite the drop in ad volumes, the total number of brands advertising on TV rose 10% to 2138 brands in week 17 as opposed 1948 brands in week 16, the report reveals. The count of new brands also recorded an upswing of 53% with 395 new brands/variants. However, their contribution to the overall weekly FCT was only 3%. Similarly, total advertisers on TV grew by 9% to 1430 advertisers as opposed to 1310 advertisers in week 16. Interestingly, the number of channels on which the top 50 brands advertised increased 15% to 99 channels in week 17 as opposed to 86 channels the previous week.
Interestingly, while the top 10 advertisers reduced their inventory, the next 40 advertisers increased their ad inventory by 9% in week 17 over the previous week. Essential services such as banking/finance, food and beverages, household products, personal healthcare, telecom, and social services led the charts at 46% that is 94 lakhs seconds, followed by social at 29% amounting to 59 lakh seconds. Services account for 16% to the total ad volumes which amounts to 32 lakhs and the rest 9% is accounted for by other categories.
The report, which also revealed data on content consumption on smartphones, highlighted how content consumption on smartphones has increased 16% in week 17 with users spending 3.54 hours a day on their devices as opposed to week 15. Out of this, nearly 18% is spent on messaging apps, 15% on social media apps. Meanwhile, 15% is spent on video streaming apps, while gaming accounts for 11% of the total time spent in week 17.
Keeping in mind the recent Bollywood celebrities’ deaths, nearly 16% of Google searches in week 17 was regarding Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor, and Covid-19, respectively.
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