Radio to TV, festive advertising volumes in India decline sharply: Report

India’s festive season stretching from the first weekend of August till end of October is an important indicator of consumption in the economy. An analysis using data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) and TAM AdEx, done by media agency veteran Shripad Kulkarni, shows that advertising volumes in key categories such as print, television, radio and outdoor has declined sharply during the period this year over last year. Kulkarni attributes the decline to smaller companies opting not to advertise in a slowdown. He also says that larger companies are rationalising their ad spends. Half-page ads, he says, have doubled in terms of rate of growth year-on-year, while full-page ads have declined by 18 per cent and small ads have fallen by 28 per cent from a year ago in print.