Assocham: Print is the preferred medium for advertising, and not just the flavour of the season

According to Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), these sectors top the list of those who opted for print medium for brand promotions between January and September 2007, according to Assocham''s analysis on `Emerging Advertisement Patterns of 10 Leading Sectors''.

The study also reveals that government at centre and states including UTs opted for print for promoting their populist schemes during the period, which clearly indicates that the print medium makes a larger impact for gaining returns as compared to other mode of advertising, opines Assocham President. Venugopal Dhoot. He sees this trend continuing for the print media, even beyond the festive seasons.

The Chamber''s analysis says that promoters mounted huge ad campaigns to apparently build and nurture their brand image, increase market penetration, and increase business volumes to attract the utmost public attention.

Dhoot pointed out that another reason for choosing print to disseminate the message was to nurture a better image in the eyes of suitable urban, semi-urban and rural consumers given the print medium''s larger impact.

According to Dhoot, pre-launch and launch activities of the real estate sector occupied nearly 30 per cent of total commercial ads, followed by employment & education at an estimated 18 per cent. The automobile sector marketed its brand image in print came in third at around 15 per cent, and FMCG, Consumer Durables and Banking & Finance were the other key sectors with their percentage ranging around 11-12 per cent.

The remaining ad-space was shared by tourism & aviation, telecom, and IT & ITES (BPO) sectors, along with the central and state governments.

FMCG occupied the largest share of over 42 per cent ad space on television, followed by 24 per cent of consumer durables, and 20 per cent of automobiles.

According to ASSOCHAM''s study, the key factors for choosing print media are:

• The flourishing growth and massive investment plans of these sectors.
• The impact of advertising in print is higher than TV, despite its high cost of advertising compared to its competitors. Print media in India reached over 225 million people in 2006, compared to 115 million homes mapped by TV.
• Special feature supplements by leading newspapers especially cater to the interests of real estate, jobs, career & education, travel and auto sectors.
• 2006 saw print media grow at 24 per cent, while TV grew at 21 per cent. Of a total of Rs19,000 crore in ad spends in 2006-07, the print media took 49 per cent, compared to TV''s share of 41 per cent.

According to the study, the following is the ad pattern for the Jan - September 2007 period.

Assocham clarifies that the television industry has not lagged behind, and is growing rapidly. Presently reaching 115 million homes, the industry will reach over 210 million homes within the next 4-5 years according to its projections.

Residential accessibility to C&S (cable and satellite) has increased by 12 per cent from 61 million to 68 million this year, and Assocham foresees ad-spends on television growing at 49 per cent over the next 2-3 years.

According to the study, advertising revenue for cable television was $1.02 billion in 2005, which is forecast to grow to $2 billion by 2012.

According to Assocham estimates, over 2,200 newspapers and magazines have debuted in India. Foreign print media are also keen to enter India at large scale and even foreign magazines such as Men''s Health, Maxim, Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping are in India for licensing tie-ups where the Indian partner uses their titles for share of ad revenue.