For all the growth seen by the online media, television continues to hold sway among the masses, especially when it comes to providing them with pure and unbridled entertainment. From sitcoms and family dramas to reality TV, music, and, of course, movies, the television entertainment channels offer advertisers a captive audience of millions who watch their favorite content to unwind and relax their minds. This makes it much more conducive to engage with the advertising in question than it normally would.
This is not lost on advertisers who happily leverage the daily viewing experience of their target audience to strategically woo them with advertisements that cleverly plug their products and services to a highly receptive group of people. With as many as 210 million households watching TV in India, amounting to 892 million viewers, television advertising in India packs quite a punch.[[1]]
Though the overall share of television advertising has seen quite a fall against the backdrop of rapidly rising digital advertising, General Entertainment Channels led the television ad spend, cornering 41% of the total. This was followed by sports and movie channels, meaning that entertainment was king when it came to ad spending on television in India. [[2]]
The reasons behind the popularity of entertainment channels are many, ranging from great audience reach, superior credibility, more focused targeting, and better brand recall. Given that one of the major reasons behind the soaring popularity of digital platforms with regard to advertising is their ability to provide instant gratification and round-the-clock sensory stimulation to their target audience, one can view the popularity of television entertainment channels in a similar light.
Marketers and brand managers know this and are, therefore, quite happy to make entertainment channels a part of their advertising budgets. It is no coincidence that they often use the services of new age stars from the worlds of sports and cinema, boasting a huge online following in the TV commercials they make to plug their wares. For all the advantages of new age digital advertising, television still retains its relevance in the Indian market as an advertising medium of consequence.
For those writing the obituary of television as a viable communication medium in the digital age have been premature to do so. The medium is adapting and finding newer ways to stay relevant. With AI making rapid strides and already possessing the capability of creating world-class television commercials at a fraction of the current costs, who knows how that will impact the performance of television advertising in the times ahead? Television is far from a spent force and may soon see a resurrection yet.
[[1]] https://www.barcindia.co.in/whitepaper/barc-india-tv-universe-estimates-2020.pdf
[[2]] https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/research/digital-dominates-e-commerce-ad-spend-in-2024-with-63-per-cent-share-report/120201062#:~:text=Amazon%20Online%20India%20was%20the%20top%20advertiser,radio%2C%20and%2023%20per%20cent%20in%20digital.&text=General%20Entertainment%20Channels%20(GECs)%20attracted%20the%20largest,cent%2C%20followed%20by%20Sports%20and%20Movie%20channels.
Feature Photo by Huỳnh Đạt from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-crt-tv-2251206/
