Retailers increase ad spend on TV

Organised retailers in India are not only expanding their physical presence, but are also increasingly making it felt on television airtime through advertisements as they grapple to attract more footfalls.

According to data collected by AdEx India, advertising by retail industry reported a 12 per cent increase on television during January-May 2007 compared to the same period last year.

As many as 255 new advertisers from the retail sector made debut on TV advertising during the period, the AdEx study said, but added that contribution by the sector to the overall ad industry remained at one per cent.

Interestingly, south India-based channels benefited more from the loosening of purse string by retailers with almost 60 per cent of big retailers preferring them, whereas East Zone channels accounted for maximum ad volumes of small players.

Top five retailers, which accounted for 33 per cent of ads in January-May 2007,

include Subiksha, Saravana Stores, Pantaloons Retail India, Kala Zone Silk Mills and Jayachandran Textiles and Gold.

Overall, January-May 2007 saw nearly 700 ads per day by retailers out of 45,000 telecast on television per day during the said period.

Nearly half of the advertising volumes was accounted for by general entertainment channels. Apart from GEC and news genre, independent retailers also advertised on music channels. 

Among the new entrants, top three slots were secured by Home Town (a home solutions store chain of Future Group) followed by Great Eastern Technocity (an electronic departmental store by Great Eastern Appliances) and The Mobile Store (mobile retail outlet by Essar Telecom Retail). Seasonality played a role in advertising trend on TV during 2006 with October being the month in which the retailers spent heavily on advertisement.