Advertising Mathematics of the Automobile Industry
The Automobile industry has come out as the one spending more on advertising in 2019, with Maruti Suzuki being the top most advertiser across TV, print and radio.
The Indian Advertising Industry is going through its best phase and it is evident from the growing ad spend of its top categories, one being the automobile industry. According to the AdEx report, a division of TAM Media Research, the growing ad volumes of cars were reflected in all traditional mediums- TV (17%), Print, (15%) and radio (7%), between January & March 2019, as against the same period last year. This year, among the three mediums, television tops the chart with 58% in terms of ad insertions followed by radio at 37% and print at 5%.
Who Topped the Charts?
Maruti Suzuki has emerged as the top most spender for the first three months of this year. Its maximum ad spend was on radio, followed by digital, print and TV. The second in line is Mahindra & Mahindra, which spent more on TV, digital and print.
In terms of TV programming, the most preferred genre turned out to be news bulletins (32%), followed by feature films (22%).
For the print category, North zone stood first with a contribution of 34% of ad spend. Additionally, New Delhi was the highest pan India.
Talking about radio, Maharashtra (19%) topped the charts for the highest spend, followed by Gujarat (18%).
Past Year Trends
As per reports, automobile’s contribution and growth across TV, radio and print in 2018 was 11%, after FMCG at 37%.
Fueled by Auto, TV industry grew at 19%, recording the highest in last three years. The print industry recorded 19% growth, owing to the automobile sector. Talking about radio and OOH, the auto industry contributed 9% and 3%, respectively.
Will the Trend Continue?
This year, the overall ad market is expected to grow at 16.4%, owing to the elections, cricket, and increased government and rural spending. As per reports, the total AdEx is expected to reach Rs. 70,889 crores in 2019. The largest contributors to will again be FMCG, automobile, retail and e-commerce.
However, talking about the automobile industry specifically, according to data collected by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), retail sales of cars and SUVs dipped 2% in April to 2.42 lakh units. This is a 16.7% drop from last year in the same period.
This is indicative of the automobile industry hitting a low, which in turn will reflect in less ad spends by the industry players. Some of the possible reasons that can attribute this change might include- tight liquidity, raising commodity prices, declining sales, high insurance costs, general elections, etc.
Having said that, with new players like Citroën and MG entering the Indian market, the auto industry will witness some big changes. These new players are definitive to prepare their marketing and advertising ploys to generate better awareness and sales. Their investments and ad spends are expected to be huge. All eyes on them!
