TV ad volumes breach pre-COVID level, but revenues are still lower

TV ad revenues last year had dropped to Rs 251 billion from Rs 320 billion in 2019.

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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While advertising volumes have breached pre-COVID levels on television, revenues are still lower due to the impact of the second wave of coronavirus.

According to a report by TAM AdEx, an advertising monitoring agency, ad volumes on TV rebounded in January-June 2021, with a strong growth of 21 percent over January-June 2019.

However, when it comes to ad revenues on TV, it is still lower than pre-COVID levels.

"Volumes would have gone up because newer channels got launched, many regional channels got launched and many others increased their inventory in tough times. So, inventory has gone up. But ad revenue, while it was largely back at pre-COVID levels in January-February-March quarter this year, as far as April-May-June period is concerned we are still 10-15 percent lower versus pre-COVID. So, the first half of 2021 has seen a decline versus H1 2019," analyst Karan Taurani, senior VP, Elara Capital told Moneycontrol. 

Several smaller channels are lagging in ranking because their pricing is much lower versus pre-COVID, and that is the main reason why they have increased their ad inventory.

Even ad rates for all properties have not gone back to pre-COVID levels.

While it is increasing for certain non-fictional properties, as far as fiction is concerned there has been a price correction, leading to a decline in ad revenues, added Taurani.

TV ad revenues last year had dropped to Rs 251 billion from Rs 320 billion in 2019.

Major broadcasters like Zee Entertainment and SUN TV are also seeing a drop in ad revenues despite witnessing increased ad revenues during the festive season last year.

"The channels (Zee Entertainment and Sun TV) had come back to growth trajectory in the October-November-December quarter last year during the festive season but that was because of pent-up demand. In January-February-March quarter, they (channels) were flattish towards pre-COVID. Now again there is a decline," he said.

It is estimated that Zee Entertainment will see a 20 percent decline in ad revenues in Q1 FY22 versus Q1 FY20.

As for SUN TV, it is likely to witness a 25 percent decline during the same period.

This is mainly due to the negative impact of the second wave of coronavirus, which also resulted in a two-week halt in shooting of general entertainment channel (GEC) content in April this year.

Despite the impact, things were not as bad for TV as last year.

Experts say that the negative impact of the second wave was much lower as compared to the first COVID-19 wave. This is because many broadcasters were able to shift shoots to alternate locations outside Maharashtra where there were no restrictions.

In addition, this year the lockdown was state-wise unlike the nation-wide shutdown last year, allowing many business verticals to function through the delivery/e-commerce mode.

Added Taurani: "FMCG continues to drive the ad spends. Last year, many brands were not prepared for ad spends. Some of the internet brands have made money. They have reaped the benefits of this entire change. Auto, jewellery was impacted but other categories like OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), telecom, internet and e-commerce companies were better prepared this time. That's why the spending from them would have supported the overall adex (advertising expenditure)."

Another important factor that has helped both ad revenues and volumes this year is that the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was held partially.

If we look at ad rates this year at IPL 14, Star India charged around Rs 14 lakh for 10 seconds, 10 percent higher than IPL 13.

Also, compare this with other big properties like Bigg Boss or The Kapil Sharma Show, the ad rates are in the range of Rs 3-5 lakh for a 10-second slot.

In addition, Star India which sells 3,000 seconds of ad inventory every IPL, was able to sell most of it by mid-March this year.

With TV showing strong resilience, Taurani expects that advertising revenue on TV will be 95 percent of pre-COVID level by the end of 2021.

"So, FY22 ad revenue will be equalling to FY20," he predicted.