TV ads: Mobile cos beat FMCG

With Bharti Airtel making it to the list of top-ten advertisers of the year, cellular phone service providers as a category have overthrown fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products such as toilet soaps and shampoos to emerge as the top advertising category on television in 2007.

On radio, the top two slots were cornered by Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel. Hindustan Unilever (HUL), however, remained the top advertiser on television in 2007, as did Maruti Suzuki in print media. Reliance Communications was the top advertiser for radio in terms of ad volumes, according to a study conducted by TAM Media Research.

Tata Sky, as a brand, scored on all fronts - the second most-advertised brand in print, third on radio and seventh on television. On the other hand, Vodafone was conspicuously absent from all such lists this year.

The rankings, which spanned categories, advertisers and brands, were based on ad volumes in terms of seconds for television and radio, and in terms of column centimeters (print) for January-November 2007 compared with the volumes in 2006. 

The total ad volume on television, contributed by the top-ten categories, went up by 21.8 per cent during this period. Radio enjoyed the highest growth in ad volumes (169 per cent), while print ad volumes actually declined by 8 per cent.

The top advertiser on television remained FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever with 19,995,000 seconds of ads, while Reckitt & Benckiser, the makers of popular brand Dettol, came in second, but far short of HUL with 8,470,000 seconds of aired advertisements.  

The top brand was National Rural Health Mission, followed by Airtel Cellular Phone Service, which did not feature on the list in 2006.

Cellular phone service providers moved from the fifth position last year to the first this year. Volumes of mobile phone ads increased by a mere 2 per cent and the category slipped from the third to the eighth position this year.

The new entrant this year was the internet and SMS service category, which came in fourth with a total ad volume of 8,401,000 seconds.  

The top-three slots in print advertising remained unchanged - educational institutes, property and real estate and corporate brand image - in that order.

The total ad volume in print contributed by the top-ten categories actually declined by 8 per cent, from 57,536,000 column centimeters to 52,766,000 column centimeters in 2007.

Although automaker Maruti Suzuki retained its position at the top, Bajaj Auto, the second name on the 2006 list, slipped to the ninth position. The top brand in print advertising was Indian Institute of Planning and Management, retaining its position of the previous year.

With a two-and-a-half times increase in ad volumes by cellular service providers and a 181 per cent increase in ads by the real estate segment, radio enjoyed an increase in ad volumes from 10,137,000 seconds to 27,240,000 seconds.

Once again, cellular phone services topped the total ad volume in this medium in 2007, followed by property, real estate and TV channel promotions. In 2006, TV channel promos had topped the list, followed by property and real estate and cellular phone services.

Social advertisements, cars and jeeps were new entrants in the top-ten list on radio this year. Reliance Communications was the top advertiser in this medium, edging out the previous year's winner, HUL, which slipped to the fourth position.

Bharti Airtel was second on the list. Reliance Mobile was also the top brand advertised on radio this year. With 2,142,000 seconds of aired ads, it was way ahead of Zapak.com, which clocked a total ad volume of 603,000 seconds on the air waves.