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Top 10 advertisers cut TV ad volumes by 14% in a year: Report
The decline suggests a shift in advertising budgets towards digital platforms as brands seek to reach target audiences more effectively.
The decline by major FMCG and auto majors points to a possible shift in marketing strategies, and cautious spending. (Photo by Daria Volkova on Unsplash)
With average weekly TV ad time dropping by 14.6%, India’s top 10 television advertisers have cut back on television commercial (TVC) volumes significantly over the past year, as per a media report.
The report citing the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), mentioned that in May 2024, the top 10 advertisers clocked an average of 15.30 million seconds of TV ad time per week. The same increased to 15.71 million seconds in June, the highest recorded in the 12-month period, but saw a decrease thereafter, said a Business Standard report. By July, the number dropped to 13.77 million seconds, followed by 15.12 million seconds in August and a marginal increase to 15.29 million seconds in September.
Although a more consistent slowdown set in from October, with ad volumes sliding to 14.56 million seconds that month, and then to 13.98 million seconds in November. The steepest decline was seen in December, when volumes plunged to 11.45 million seconds, the lowest in the year-long dataset.
The report further mentioned that a minute recovery followed in early 2025, with volumes ticking up to 11.72 million seconds in January and 13.92 million seconds in February. The figure peaked again at 14.50 million seconds in March before falling back to 12.74 million seconds in April and 13.07 million seconds in May 2025.
The data tracked weekly averages and reflected the total advertising time purchased by India’s top 10 TV advertisers, including major players from FMCG, telecom, e-commerce, and automobile sectors.
The decline suggests a shift in advertising budgets towards digital platforms as brands seek to reach target audiences more effectively.
The shift towards digital among TV advertisers was also evident in a recent TAM AdEx report. A quick recap of 2024 showed that advertising volumes on television, once considered the most efficient medium, saw a decline of 4% compared to the year before (2023).
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