Even before India starts its polling on 7 April in the Northeast (with the last polls on 2014 in the ), the media is a substantial winner.
. According to the annual advertising market projection by GroupM, the global media investment management arm of the WPP Group, print advertising in India will grow at 8.5% in 2014, up from 4.6% last year. This growth is largely attributed to the likely increase, in double digits, in advertising by state and central government departments and political parties ahead of the general election.
Print also gained from the
The front page of The
assembly election advertising late last year. Despite an overall slowdown last year, the media and entertainment sector grew well, and and within the industry, print advertising grew highest partly because of the election- related spending. Jehil Thakkar, head of the media advisory at KPMG India, says, “Print had a better year in 2013 as five states went for elections and contributed substantially to ad revenues.”
However, both print and television are an important part of the media plan of national parties ahead of the general elections, says Ashok Venkatramani, CEO, ABP News. Television is said to be less expensive while providing a wider reach. Other media executives are more sceptical of the electoral advertising boom. “Political advertising will only help some, and that too, temporarily,” says Arunabh Das Sharma, president, Bennett Coleman and Company. “It’s not going to be a huge bonanza overall for the industry. Some regional players will see some uplift.”
However, in addition to the temporary election boost in advertising, the continued emphasis of consumer product companies on rural markets that benefited from last year’s ample monsoon can also help healthy growth of print media revenues this year. According to media experts such as Thakkar, many advertisers are giving up their cautious approach on the economy and are backing the extensive reach and localization benefits offered by the print media.
Last year, Bennett and Coleman entered the Bengali market with Ei Samay and Kasturi and Sons launched The Hindu in Tamil. At the same time, DB Holding continued to expand editions of its Marathi daily Divya Marathi albeit at a slower pace than in its launch year. The Hindi print market grew by 10.5% while the overall vernacular market comprising more than 20 languages grew by 10% in 2013. Moreover many Hindi dailies including Amar Ujala and HT Media’s Hindustan grew especially well in language markets that are still under-served and which are experiencing increases in both literacy and disposable incomes. Thakkar of KPMG foresees continued expansion by national newspapers groups in the regional language daily segment, “We will see more regional language papers in coming months and the already present English dailies will also
expand to provide local and regional content.”
In 2012-13, while the GDP grew by 5%, the print media industry
ndu Tamil edition
(advertising plus circulation revenues) grew by more than 8%. In 2013-14, while the GDP grew by 4.9% in a challenging economic environment, but with print advertising boosted by election advertising for both the state and national elections, the growth figure is likely to be around 8.5%.
Notably the growth in print advertising spend went entirely to newspapers while magazine advertising as a whole shrunk by anywhere from 4 to 5%. While the
overall media advertising market is expected to grow by 11.6% in 2014-15 it is reasonably certain that the elections have added at least 2.5% to ad spend in this year. Newspaper revenues including advertising and circulation should grow by 8.8 to 9% in this financial year from 1 April 2014 to 31
March 2015.
