The delicate majority of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government is most likely to trigger an intense advertising battle in the coming months, especially with the budget being around the corner. All eyes will be on the newly-elected government as it shares its roadmap for the country.
“Both the ruling NDA and the opposition alliance - INDIA Bloc - are expected to escalate their ad spending efforts until the next general elections in order to sway the populace, creating a competitive and lucrative environment for media outlets," senior media executives told e4m. The upcoming Assembly contests are likely to serve as trailers.
Notably, the Union and State governments and political parties are traditionally among India’s major advertisers for the news genre across TV, Print and Digital. Between FY18 to FY22, the Union government issued advertisements worth Rs 1,830 crore to newspapers and Rs 525 crore to TV channels, as per the official data.
They have gradually hiked their digital spends over the last few years, realizing the consumption shift across urban and rural India. For instance, the BJP and the Congress spent over Rs 100 crore and Rs 45 crore, respectively, on advertising on Google in the recently concluded general elections.
Mona Jain, Chief Revenue Officer at Zee Media Corporation Limited, stated, “Both the government and opposition parties are likely to ramp up their communication efforts through media. We anticipate that once they settle in and finalise their strategies, we will see an increase in ad spending.”
Notably, BJP (240) fell short of the majority mark-272- this time forcing it to rely on its ambitious allies to form the government. The Congress-led India Bloc, which won 233 seats, has decided to sit in the Opposition as of now but has stated that it is in the “wait and watch” mode and claimed that dissent is already brewing in the rival camp.
Meanwhile, three crucial states - Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana - are going to polls in the second half of 2024. Delhi Assembly polls are likely to be held in January 2025. Currently, while Maharashtra and Haryana are ruled by NDA parties, Jharkhand and Delhi are under the INDIA Bloc allies. Both alliances will try their best to win these states to accumulate more power in the country and the numbers in the Upper House – the Rajya Sabha.
"Today the biggest clients for media companies are government advertisements and political party advertisements. With a resurgent opposition, there will be a bigger effort to gain the mind space of citizens. Since state elections are a few months away, we will see higher ad spends from government and political parties in the current political equation,” shared Sandeep Amar, digital expert and founder of pdlab.me.
The anticipated increase in political ad spends is likely to benefit segments of the news media industry, including television, print and digital platforms.
Karan Taurani, Senior Vice President & Research Analyst (Media, Consumer discretionary and internet), also hopes that the fierce competition between the almost equal rivals could lead to an uptick in advertising revenues of news platforms in the coming days.
This surge in advertising will provide a much-needed lift to TV and Print revenues, which have faced various challenges in the recent years barring the general election period. Both sectors are nevertheless growing albeit at a slow pace compared to the digital platforms.
India’s advertising revenue in 2023 was roughly Rs 1.4 lakh crore, as per a GroupM report. The agency predicted that it may cross Rs 1.55 lakh crore in 2024. Roughly, half of this is likely to go to digital advertising.
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