Lockdown impact: Ad volumes once again show growth on TV

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After seeing a drop in ad volumes in week 14, i.e. week starting April 4, TV is seeing advertisers coming back to the medium.

According to recently released BARC data, FCT (Free Commercial Time) on TV increased by seven percent and FCT was recorded at 22 million seconds in week 15 that is week starting April 11. The advertiser count in the same period was 1021.

Free commercial time is defined as the amount of secondage bought on a channel.

Inventory levels of top 10 advertisers grew by 18 percent in week 15 compared to week 14. As for the next 40 advertisers, the inventory levels grew by 10 percent.

“Inventory is crawling back as in some areas supply chain has resumed, said Sunil Lulla,” BARC CEO during the webinar titled ‘Deep Dive into content and advertising consumption during COVID.

Biggest beneficiaries in terms of growth in ad inventory are news, movies, kids content.

But the surprise element was the sports genre which saw recorded highest FCT in last three weeks.

In week 15, sports channels saw 10 lakh FCT, up from six lakh FCT recorded in week 13 that is week starting March 28.

Movies recorded 42 lakh FCTs in week 15, up from 36 lakh FCT in week 14.

As for GECs they have maintained the FCT levels at 49 lakh.

FCT levels in the news genre went up from 82 lakh in week 14 to 86 lakh in week 15. Top advertisers in this genre were Government of Madhya Pradesh, Reckitt, Amul, HUL, LIC with FCTs at 3.7 lakh, 2.9 lakh, 2.8 lakh, 1.9 lakh, 1.5 lakh respectively.

Contribution of essentials grew from 42 percent in week 14 to 46 percent in week 15.

Essential products considered are banking/finance/investment, food & beverages, household products, personal care/personal hygiene, personal healthcare, Telecom.

Inventory of essentials amid all genres was highest on kids and movie channels at 75 percent and 62 percent respectively.

Plus, repeat telecast of shows like Ramayan and Mahabharat have been big contributors in driving FCT on TV. Daily FCT hovered around 1900 to 2000 seconds across both programmes.