Reckitt Benckiser India, Amul and Life Insurance Corporation of India were the top advertisers on news TV in the first half of 2022, a study by TAM Media Research, which collects and analyses audience behaviour and brand communication data, has found.

Reckitt Benckiser is an international consumer goods company which sells such brands as Dettol, Durex and Harpic in India.

The study, done by AdEx India, a division of TAM Media Research, also found over 3,200 TV advertisers in India advertise in the news genre alone, and nearly 34 percent of all ads on news TV are played during evening primetime.

India’s news TV relies heavily on ads for revenue and the study breaks down the advertising pattern.

Key findings

• Ad volume in the news genre grew 33 percent in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2020 and 5 percent compared to the same period in 2021.

• More than 3,200 advertisers advertised exclusively in the news genre during this period. Hari Bhoomi Communications, which owns the Hindi daily Hari Bhoomi and TV channels Janta TV and INH, was the top exclusive advertiser, followed by ITV Network, the Kute Group Dairy, Creo Valley, Oasis Distilleries, Rajasthan Patrika, Praadis Jewellers, National Stock Exchange Of India, Vihan Modular, and Lisaa School Of Design.

• The top 10 advertisers contributed 18 percent of the ad volume on news TV. Reckitt Benckiser India was the top advertiser, followed by Amul, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Hindustan Unilever, SBS Biotech, Patanjali Ayurved, Ultratech Cement, MDH, Vishnu Packaging, and Think & Learn.

• Ultratech Cement, MDH and Thick & Learn were the new entrants in the top 10 advertisers in January to June 2022, with Ultratech Cement moving up 24 places to the 7th position.

• Primetime (6 pm to 11 pm) was unsurprisingly the preferred slot for ads on news TV, accounting for 34 percent of the total ad volume, followed by the afternoon slot (noon to 4 pm) with 20 percent, morning slot (9 am to noon) with 18 percent, early morning (6 am to 9 am) with 14 percent, evening (4 pm to 6 pm) with 9 percent, and night (11 pm to 6 am) with 5 percent.

• Hindi news TV got the lion’s share of the ads, with over 20 percent. Hindi regional news got 13 percent, Bengali and Tamil news nearly 8 percent each, and Telugu 7 percent. Together, these five subgenres accounted for over 55 percent of the ad volume on news TV.

• At 79 percent, ads in the corporate/brand image category recorded the fastest growth in the first half of 2022. Ads for e-commerce and gaming brands grew three times in volume and for vocational training institutes 3.9 times.